0 ago. i think that's a very good representation of where it could go. where you're supposed to let your car be driven by the system but you could take control if you wanted to. everyone in the movie was yelling at will, what are you doing, driving your own car? >> eddie alterman of "car and driver," karl brower of kelly blue book, i really enjoyed that, thank you very much. melissa harris perry sitting in for rachel. there's lots of folks out there that are very happy to see you. >> that's very, very kind. thanes, chris. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. now, this was the scene right around 3:00 this afternoon on the steps of the u.s. capitol in washington. everybody out! everybody out! time to go! you don't have to go home but you got to live the heck out of here. yes, there was a mass exodus out of washington today as the house of representative s officially adjourned for their august recess this afternoon. and like teenagers on the last day of school, members of congress just bolted for the exits today. once the final bell rang, bye-bye, see you in a month. washington is now heading off for its summer vacation. their august recess. what do you do when you're heading off for vacation? well, don't you tend to take care of a few last-minute things? maybe you run the dishwasher one last time. you take out the trash. you do all of these things in order to put your house in order. before you leave. and you do that so that you're not faced with a big, stinky mess when you get back home. that's what people do when they're heading out for vacation. turns out washington did the same thing. now, contrary to what you may have heard, they actually did get some stuff accomplished before they skipped town today. for example, we now officially have a brand new u.s. ambassador to the united nations. that's vice president joe biden swearing in samantha power this morning as our new u.n. ambassador. samantha power of course replaces susan rice who's now president obama's national security adviser. a lot of people expected this to be a big, hairy confirmation fight. but samantha power ended up getting 87 votes in the senate. so there you go. u.n. ambassador, confirmed. the senate also confirmed one of president obama's top judicial nominees before leaving town. the senate unanimously confirmed raymond chan to sit on the u.s. court of appeals for the federal circuit. now, that court deals with a lot of important stuff, including trademarks, patents, as well as veterans' claims. we also now officially have an atf director. the senate confirmed b. todd jones to lead the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. this is the atf's first permanent director in seven years. they said it couldn't be done. but it got done. today we also got a look at the new jobs numbers for the month of july. the u.s. economy added 160,000 jobs for the month. the unemployment rate ticked down to its lowest level since before december of 2008. these numbers aren't exactly something to throw a party about. but things are still moving in the right direction. after having let the interest rates for federal student loans double previously, washington finally reached an agreement this week to bring those rates back down. those rates skyrocketed back on july 1st. but congress managed to fix that problem before they left for the summer. you might think that nothing is happening in washington right now, that it's just complete gridlock. but that's not exactly true. congress has gotten a few important things accomplished before taking off for that month of august. so that is the good news. what's the not so good news? well, it's that that sort of productivity is the exception, not the rule. the august recess is one of those dates on the calendar that you can lay down as a marker and see how we're doing compared to previous years. this right here is every congress since 1989. those bars represent the number of bills passed by congress before the august recess. as you can see, on average congress passes somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 bills before the august recess. the last bar that you see there, that was the first two years of president obama's first term. about 60 bills passed before the august recess. and then the 2010 midterms happened. and congressional productivity plummeted. by that august recess, congress only managed to pass 28 bills that ultimately turned out to be the least productive session of congress ever. it was even worse than the go-nothing congress of the 1940s. they passed 28 bills by the august recess. this congress? 22. that's it. as "the washington post" noted today, this session of congress is on track to become even worse than the last session because they've been worse than the do 95 nothing congress. so as much as it might look like there's some incremental movement on some important things like student loans and senate confirmations, this still congress did manage to get a few important things accomplished before they skipped town today. but they also left a few things rotting in the refrigerator. during that press conference today nancy pelosi predicted that congress would not be able to pass a farm bill before the current farm bill expires on october 1st. now, you may remember that republican house speaker john boehner failed miserably to pass a farm bill earlier this summer. a farm bill that he supported was defeated by members of his own party. democrats oppose that farm bill at the time because it gutted the food stamps program that low-income families across the country rely on every single day. republicans at that time proposed cutting spending on food stamps by $20 billion. that's right, $20 billion. again, that bill was ultimately defeated. but before republicans left for vacation today, they announced how they're planning to deal with that bill when they get back from vacation. they don't want to cut food stamps by $20 billion anymore. they now want to cut food stamps by $40 billion. double the amount that they proposed cutting it by just a few months ago. the top democrat on the house agricultural committee said after that announcement, "i don't know what they're doing." so cutting food stamps for the most vulnerable members of our society, that's what republicans announced they're planning to do when they come back from vacation. but the last thing they did before they left? voting to repeal obama care. for the 40th time. house republicans today, in their parting shot before skipping town, voted once again to turn back the clock on the reforms of health insurance industry that despite their efforts remain the law of the land. republicans have spent the better part of the last month trying to figure out ways to sabotage the president's landmark health care law as it goes into effect. but today, they took a 40th shot at just gutting the whole thing. as the great steve bennett pointed out on maddow blog today, if we include the senate, the total number of votes held by congressional republicans to repeal all or part of the federal health care law is 68. 68 votes to repeal obama care. wonder what's in store for the health care reform law when they come back? sort of seemed like washington was trying to clean up the house and take out the trash before they left town. but they also clearly managed to leave a couple of pieces of rotting fish in their refrigerator. on the way out the door and all of that is just waiting for them when they come back. joining us now is congressman rush holt, democrat of new jersey, who is also running for senate. it so is nice to have you here today. >> great to be with you. >> so what is happening in the house? i mean, really. like you look at the senate, there's at least a little bit happening there. you're getting some confirmations. but this? wasn't there once a time when house members went open in august to tell their constituents, here's what we with people who deny evolution? how are you going to deny on health care quality of coverage for women with people who invent their own biology about women? how are you going to negotiate with people on energy with people who deny climate change? >> so i think -- these are such great examples. the climate change question, the question of reproductive rights, and sort of just the biology of how women work and how we production operates. so it sounds to me like you're diagnosing the problem as a kind of vocabulary problem. is it personal animus? is it ideological? is it not sharing the same constructions of what problems are? i mean, what has happened in this congress to make gridlock so prevalent? >> it's ideological. and so we've got -- we've got these ideologues who are elected to congress in 2010, so many of them, railing against government. they campaigned against government. lo and behold, they find they are government, and it's a psychological disconnect they can't deal with. and that tail is wagging the dog. >> so talk to me on this question of ideology, talk about food subsidies. >> let me just say as a scientist, my background is in science, and so i like to see policy rooted in evidence. and i actually think that if you start a debate by finding facts you can agree on, rather than starting in your ideological camp, you can get something done. i mean, i have in environmental matters and open space preservation, most recently in suicide prevention, i got $40 million for -- over the last two years for suicide prevention for veterans and soldiers. you start with the facts. and then you can -- then you can find common ground that you can work toward constructive legislation. >> so this is precisely where i wanted to go on this question of food subsidies, s.n.a.p., the so-called food stamp program. because the evidence, the basis insurance. or to get crop subsidies. by the way, some members of congress who are voting against this bill were getting crop subsidies. and so they were making up their own facts about what needed to be done to be fair to the taxpayer. >> can you imagine if all american homeowners had to undergo a drug test in order to get their mortgage interest deduction on their 1040s? >> that's comparable, yeah. >> exactly. democratic congressman -- >> there's so much we're not getting done. you know, we need to deal with climate change. we need to break up the banks and continue to put cops on the beat on wall street. we need to, you know, stop spying on americans. >> yeah. >> on innocent americans. and instead, we're trying for the 40th time to repeal the obama care. >> which is, in fact, the law of the land. democratic congressman russ holt, so nice to have you here, thank you for taking a little time out of the campaign trail to spend some time here. >> thanes, melissa. lots mor ahead, including an intense weekend for americans abroad. alarming news for women out of north carolina. plus, i try something i never thought i'd get to do on this show. today's the day i've been waiting, stay with us. what are you doing back there? ow! that hurt! no, no, no, no. you can't go to school like this, c'mon. don't do it! no! (mom vo) you never know what life's gonna throw at you. if i gotta wear clothes, you gotta wear clothes. (mom vo) that's why i got a subaru. i just pulled up. he did what now? no he's never done that before! oh really? i might have some clothes in the car. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.
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