>> the middle class. >> let's put the politics aside and do something that actually works. >> give america a raise! >> every democrat should be on board -- >> we're prepared to vote now. now! >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. it is all in the numbers. always a numbers game. the number will be how many people will go to the polls in november, seven months from now who believe that if they give to the power the democrats and something really good will happen. we begin tonight with a disturbing number every american should really be caring about. $2.1 trillion. that's a hell of a lot of money. u.s. corporations, that's the number they're stashing. $2.1 trillion, offshore to avoid paying taxes to the united states treasury. question, do you think that's fair? you can do something about it. i want to tell you, this number right here, this is a protected republican conservative number. you can count on it if you're thinking about, well, i don't know about november. i know it is a long way off but i'm not sure. this is an absolute. the conservatives and the republicans will never do anything about this. that's their number. that's the number they're always going to protect. the corporations include general electric trick, microsoft, apple, merck, you name them. this number is up. 93% since 2008. it is bad news for american taxpayers. we had a short treasury. every hard working american pays income tax so there's no reason the corporations can't, massive profits can't pay their fair share. you'll never hear republicans say, that's terrible. you won't hear that. although senate finance committee is aware of this number, we got a new cheryl. on tuesday, chairman ron widen of oregon said i do think there needs to be some reforms in this area. i like ron but hello! some reforms? how about a lot of reforms. i would say massive reform to fix this broken system. it is not fair. wait a minute. they're hard. meanwhile the senate finance committee held a hearing yesterday. on the incompetent tax preparers. that's right. who is preparing your taxes across america? we need to make sure they're regulated and qualified. the committee was wasting a lot of time worrying about if waitresses and mechanics are filing their taxes properly. no kidding. they used the two formulas, waitresses and mechanics. 2.1 trillion are stashed offshore and the senate finance committee is worried about nonsense like this as to whether the poor folks are doing things right. on the flip side, working americans are struggling. the first step in helping these americans is what? what do you say we start with minimum wage, since they can't file their taxes properly. come on! it's the focus. their priority needs to be here, not on the middle class and not on how low wage workers in this country file their taxes and who is helping them. now, the committee was concerned about, you know, how much money the treasury was losing because middle class americans didn't have a qualified tax preparer. you know what? that's just playing around on the edges on the treasury problem. the white house is making a big push for minimum wage increase and this plays in all together. it is a domino effect. president obama is taking his campaign on the road and trying to gain support. >> if you have the chance to talk to a congressman who is not supporting it, you need to ask him. do you support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. if they say yes, you should say thank you. if they say no, you should not yell at them. be polite. ask them why not? ask them to reconsider. tell them to join the rest of the country. for once, instead of saying no, say yes. it's time for $10.10. it is time to give america a raise. make a choice. talk about valuing hard work and families or walk the walk and actually value hard working families. you've got a choice. you can give america the shaft or you can give it a raise. >> wow! i find it interesting becausin increasing the minimum wage, that's a no brainer for democrats. the president i think was doing some serious coaching on how to run. unless you're one of these folks. senators mark pryor know tom carper, mark warner and mary landrieu. they have gotten real cold feet when it comes to the minimum wage. how hard is it for these senators to go home to a red state and say, i'm for helping people in the poor sector of america. arkansas senator mark pryor said he will increase a minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour? i'm sure it is a big coincidence that walmart happens to be based down will in good old arkansas. senator tom carp he said a raise to $9 an hour would be a better chance of passing. virginia senator mark warner said he is willing to negotiate with republicans on the rate. i haven't found any republicans willing to negotiate on minimum wage because they're all against it. then we have senator mary landrieu of louisiana. she supports an increase but wants more time to debate the time line on when it is all going to be implemented. and how to address wages for tipped workers. think about that. she is concerned about how we're going to address wages for the poor. remember, senator landrieu, not to pick on her. she was the senator who said it was the cleanest oil produced in north america. you be the judge. now, pryor, warn he, landrieu, what are they? they're all up for re-election. they're red state democrats and they're worried about keeping their jobs. they are afraid of their own shadows in a re-election year and there's no reason for it. look at the numbers in pryor's state of arkansas be 79% of the folks in that state think there should be an increase to at least $8.50 an hour. in warner's state of virginia, 58%. they want to bring the hike up to $9.25 an hour. in landrieu's state of louisiana, wow, 73% support an increase to $8.50 an hour. what is it about these democrats that can't stand up and say, i'm for the minimum wage and we're going to get this done and you can count on me. that's what the president is saying. meanwhile, tom carper, he got kind of luck yimpl you see there is no recent polling on minimum wage in delaware. it is so popular, why would they poll for that? but here's a number that everyone in congress should just grab on to. on the campaign trail, this works everywhere. 71% of americans support an increase in the minimum wage. it is a winner. but the democrats seem to be spending more time about, worrying about what they'll run from instead of what they'll run with. 51% think it should be raised to $10.10 an hour. every person in congress needs to look at these numbers and give hard working americans the benefit of the doubt. and any time they give you any smoke about it, just say well, there is 2.1 trillion offshore that the corporations are being able to hide through or screwed up tax laws. don't you think it is about time to give the little guy a break? you can't sell that? even in a red state? wow! what do we have on the table? here's where. we camden lies all of this. we have $2.1 trillion offshore that we know the republican there's never do anything about. we have the senate finance committee holding a hearing and they're very worried about the middle class and the poor folk of america. whether they're filing their taxes properly and whether they're using a certified prepared tax consultant and if they're getting the proper sxrurns if there is not too much money going back in returns. that's their focus? come on. and of course we have minimum wage on the table. 71% of americans certainly want to have that happen and the democrats in red states. what do they have? they have cold feet. they're not quite sure. you know? i would think by the time we get to the middle of the summer, they'd better be sure exactly what they're running on instead of what they're running from. every day that goes by is a day missed to drive these numbers home to hard working americans who want change. the president ran on helping the middle class. he not only won once, he won twice. you mean to tell me in a red state you're afraid to run on health care. you're afraid to run on equality for women and now we're saying, well, we're really not sure about this minimum wage thing. democrats walk like this, they talk like this, they deserve to lose. ooh, that hurts. what's the alternative? it ain't good. bottom line is that 2.1 trillion will never be touched if republicans have power across the board. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. can you call yourself a democrat and not support a full minimum wage increase? text "a" for yes, "b" for no. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. for more, let me bring in brad woodhouse, and bob schumm. brad, you first. your reaction to these four democratic senators and i don't know how else to say it but they're getting cold feet. there's no fervor in their heart to say we'll get this done. what's wrong with that? >> first, let me say. this i haven't run into a democrat lou doesn't support increasing the minimum wage. at least increasing it over where it is now. either federally or in their states and i think that is big a, big contrast with republicans. we have a republican running for senate in north carolina who believes there shouldn't be any minimum wage at all. i think part of this is the president leading and the president showing that this is safe ground. all the polling you've shown from those states and nationally demonstrates that it is safe ground. i was at an event last week with harry reid and he is leading this effort in the senate along with tom harkin. i trust when a bill comes to the floor and push come to shove, democrats are going to support increasing minimum wage. almost all democrats do. there is some question and some democrats' mind about what it should be raised to. i would say this about $10.10. it wasn't picked out of the air. it is a level that will let most people living most places in this country work full time and live. >> why would we debate the timetable on it when it is over three-year period. it seems to me democrats seem to be not full throated on this. you're either with the workers or not. in 10.10, there is a lot that seems to think it should be a lot more. these democrats are afraid to go into red states and say this is where i stand with workers. bob, your take on this. >> you do have some democrats and it is a deeper problem here who think they can pretend that somehow or other, they're not democrats so they don't have to run on health care. they don't have to run on the minimum wage. they can be something else. maybe they can say they got the money to build a bridge to nowhere. i think that is a big mistake. this happened in 1994 when a lot of democrats fled after the failure of the health care bill. they went out and tried to say, i'm kind of a moderate, different, i'm not one of these guys. and almost all of them lost. so it is stupid politically and it is especially stupid because in a red state, you can run on minimum wage and do very well. in a red state i think you can run on health care. you can say these republicans favor a plan that will allow insurance company to deny coverage for people with preexisting conditions. they favor a plan that will let insurance companies cancel your policies when you get sick. the last thing we need in the mid-term is two republican parties. the real republican will always win. >> well, why would someone not run on minimum wage? what upside is there in a red state to shy away? i really believe this. this is just my feeling. that if the democrats can't energize low wage workers to come to the polls in the mid terms, they're sunk. they have no chance at the house and they're going to have a hard time holding the snaxt there will have tube real motivation. making someone believe that you're really on their side that will move them in an off-year election. if they don't motivate the workers to get organized they'll come up short changed. that's my take on it. brad, you first and then bob. >> look, ed, this issue of wages and wage stagnation and what we call inequality of wages, the most important issue we face. there is a lot of this that falls at the feet of republicans. they have refused to work with this president on anything to create jobs. the best thing we can do for wages is create jobs. if we won't do that, the most immediate thing we can do is raise the minimum wage. it is at a floor for 40 years. it is not worth what it used to be. >> if they don't sell low wage workers, what will happen? >> well, look. then those folks won't turn out. democrats have to go on the offensive. in 2012, president obama who had some pretty tough economic circumstances he has inherited define the term of the election. the question was, who is on your side? who will stand up for the middle class? romney helped them with a 47%. but republicans are prepared to help. they're against the minimum wage. they're against equal pay for women. they don't have a health care plan other than letting insurance companies run the thing and do all the abuses they used to do before. so democrats need to go out there and take this to the republican party. brad is right. we have a strong case on minimum wage but we have a strong case on all these other things and they all come down to a big fundamental question. who is fighting for you? and who is on the side of special interests? what about the 2.1 trillion stashed overseas by corporations? can big company afford minimum wage increase? absolutely they can. the question is, is this an issue? do you think this would resonate with voters that the democrats will do something about that number? you first. what do you think? >> sure, i think it is an issue. i think it could be a big issue. the truth is people aren't doing much about it because there is not a chance it would get through republican house. to take it out to the country. to explain to people what's going on. to make if i can use the term, a populist argument, corporations ought to pay their income taxes like ordinary people do, that could be another powerful argument and it all goes to the central message, the central them a. we're out there fighting for you. the other guys are on the other side. >> you're a southern guy. you have to get into those states and turn this around. >> i hope to. i'll tell you, we've been out there. americans united for change ran a bus tour for two weeks. we're getting ready to go back on the road and we're going to georgia. >> what do you hear? >> i'll tell you, we have a lot of small business owners who come out and say we've already increased the minimum wage and it hasn't hurt us. and i think we've got to get past this antiquated argument. we know businesses can afford to do this. we know they attract better workers. they are more productive. they then have the money to spend in the community. >> all right. great to have you on the ed show. thank you for joining us. remember to answer only the's question, share your thoughts on twitter at ed show and on twitter. we always want to know what you think. coming up, 9.3 million people have signed up for obamacare? 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[ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. we've decided we're reporting here the top trenders voted on by you. ♪ anything you can do i can do better ♪ >> the number three trender. perfect ending. >> the 2014 national champions. uconn finishes a perfect 40-0. >> complete domination. >> uconn sweeps the men's and women's finals for the second time. >> u-could have been women have an you defeated season with the tournament win. >> first time championship has featured two undefeated teams. >> it is the ninth ncaa title for connecticut and head coach. >> couldn't be prouder of the players. >> the number two trender. batter up. >> manager's favorite super hero bat kid was the star of the opening day ceremonies. >> holy superlatives, batman! >> a 5-year-old with leukemia. his wish was to become batman and he certainly did. >> precisely! >> bat kid gets the save at giants opening day. >> you saw it yourself! >> matt cain sign the ball for him. he got a team-sign bat. >> in today's top trender, duck and cover. >> do you love america? you need to vote. >> my kind of guy. >> the president pushes for workplace equality. >> america should be a level playing field. part of that is fighting for fair pay for women. when women succeed, america succeeds. >> while there are unequal consequences for the kissing congressman and his staffer. >> while he is offering his apologies, he is not offering to resign. >> i'm glad he issued an apology. >> he first learned about the i had havio only hours before it went public. it has wrecked my life. adding, we're headed for divorce. congressman mcallister is vowing to run for re-election. as for the women in the video, she resigned. >> no strings attached. >> well, i think it is great that he has decided to say he's sorry. joining me tonight, political strategist angela, i feel terrible for the woman. why does she have to book and he doesn't? why does she get the resignation? i don't know if she did this on her own or for her personal reason or whether she was let go. there may be a lawsuit here. who knows? to the public, there is no sense of fairness in this whatsoever. >> sure. and i think first of all, let's deal with the fact that she probably doesn't want to work here anymore. it has to be a horribly uncomfortable environment. you know, unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon on the hill, an new phenomenon with elected officials, period. you see this kind of behavior and you see them get to wear the s on their chests and sail off into the sunset so hopefully the voters will speak. he won in a special. this was not even a full month after he won the special. so now there needs to be some repercussions on the general. >> just moments ago, we're hearing that the head of the republican party in louisiana has been trying on get ahold of congressman mcallister to ask him to resign. what do you make of that? >> i think it is a good thing to do. particularly when we know in louisiana politics, scandal is not farfetched. it is a major distraction. we all saw he was asking the fbi to probe who leaked the surveillance. >> let's talk about that. this guy has distorted priorities. now he is backing off on that request. he was asking john boehner to see if he could get the fbi involved to see who leaked the tape. really? that's at the top of your list, buddy? i just final that absolutely amazing. it must be a republican thing. oh, okay, i can push this to the side on bended knee and say i'm sorry and it will be okay. >> we've seen them drag out other scandals. we know what's happening with the irs scandals. maybe there's something wrong with the fbi. the issue was he was saying that he's a good guy and people were telling him not to