The Ed Show for Monday, April 7, 2014

THE ED SHOW
April 7, 2014

Guest: Michael Hiltzik, Bernie Sanders, Mitch Ceasar, Zerlina Maxwell,
Goldie Taylor, Jan Schakowsky

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening Americans and welcome to the Ed Show
live from New York. Let`s get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans may have problems continuing to make the
anti-Obamacare argument.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all thought that perhaps once this bill passed
that maybe we`d be proven wrong.

BARACK OBAMA, 44TH AND CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This law is
doing what it`s supposed to do. It`s working.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let`s love people.

I`m not denying that there and a few people have been helped. There are
some.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And whatever the real members are.

OBAMA: 7.1 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not for the better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the politics of this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Obamacare is a loser for Democrats going
through this election cycle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight folks. Thanks for watching.

You know, if you had been in a time capsule for the last five years and
just happen to wake up yesterday morning, you would have thought that
healthcare in America had failed.

Give me a number. What would it take, what number would the mainstream
media be happy with to think that we`re definitely headed in the right
direction when it comes to healthcare reform in America, were affecting
people`s lives.

You can`t get somebody to just come out and get after it on any of the
mainstream shows on Sunday, this is working. They just can`t bring
themselves for say it.

Give me a number. What number are they looking for? What is the magical
number?

Well, it`s just a situation where they`re just looking for the black cloud
in the silver lining, that`s how I view it.

So I thought we`d start the show tonight with a brand new chart. What the
heck.

This is the rate of Americans who are insured, uninsured in America. The
number of Americans in this country who are uninsured is now down to 15.6
percent. It`s the lowest number since 2008. It wasn`t that hard for me to
say that. It`s kind easy. It`s a number. It`s verifiable and there it
is, uninsured Americans. That number has dropped. It`s the lowest number
since 2008.

What`s this mean?

Well, I`m going to come to the conclusion that Obamacare is working and
these numbers are just part of the puzzle to prove it.

Now, as of March 31st, if this is the number, 7.1 Americans have enrolled
in Obamacare. And of course the Republicans, they`re still doubting it.

Here`s what the talking head for talking about on the Sunday shows. Here`s
how they`re rationalizing 7.1 million Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The seven million figure, it could be at the end of
the day, you know. You hear numbers anywhere up to -- as much as 85
percent of those people were already insured. So you`re not talking about
getting new people onto the plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many net winners and how many net losers? We know
that there are millions of people who are throwing off their healthcare and
they may have gone on the exchanges and got a (party)? How happy are they
with it? Did they like what they got?

FMR. SEN. JOHN E. SUNUNU, (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE: If you only look at the
enrollment figure, you miss the question of how many of them were
previously uninsured.

So you have to multiply it by about 80 percent, (runs) as 80 percent
probably would be the number that actually pay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since we don`t know what these numbers mean and since
the rollout has been rather disastrous, the American people at the time
when they have such distrust of government in general, see quite clearly
that the people that passed the bill really never did have any idea what
they were doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Sell hard, sell negative and don`t back down.

We really don`t know of this is a real number or not. I`ll get to that in
a moment.

First of all, Conservatives will never give them bone trying to spin the
numbers into nothing. Actually it`s zero.

Now, this number is legitimate. It`s legitimate for a number of reasons
and I believe it`s here to stay and it`s only getting bigger.

Remember, private insurance companies are reporting these numbers. Private
companies are reporting up to 90 percent of the people have paid. Since
when do the Republicans have a war against the private sector? I thought
they loved the private sector? But Conservatives are making the case that,
"No, this is a failure." They just can`t admit defeat. Once again, I ask
them to surrender. It`s here to stay.

Although if this number is not correct, if this number is wrong, if there
really aren`t 7.1 million people that have signed up, what does that mean?
It means it`s disastrous for the Democrats across the board because they
are the ones who have ushered in healthcare reform in America.

Healthcare reform will be I think in serious trouble if this number is not
correct. President Obama`s legacy will be terribly tarnished. And the
entire Democratic Party could be in real danger of losing elections, not
just this midterm. You think after this midterm that Obamacare is all done
with? Well, are we done with that?

No. If this number is wrong, this man will have a real negative effect in
14 and 16. Who will run with President Obama if that number is not
correct? There are absolutes. That is an absolute. Politically, nobody`s
going to want to stand with President Obama in the next two election cycles
if the numbers aren`t right.

Now, the key here is the number is very verifiable. This proves Obamacare
is working. And if there was ever a time to embrace this law and run with
it, now is the time. This man is correct. He`s on point. He said the
website would be fixed, it was fixed. He said there would be
procrastination, there was procrastination. He went to the firewall
promotionally in the last 30 days and it had an impact.

Bottom line is we still don`t know the number but we`re all pretty
confident it`s north of 7.1 million.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi who agrees with me, she says, "No problem."
No problem whatsoever talking up the law in the Sunday shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) MINORITY LEADER: We are celebrating the fact that
we have over 7 million who have signed up, not counting the 3.1 million who
are on the policies of their parents until they`re 26 years old, not
including over three million and probably closer to five million on
Medicaid could bring us closer to 15 million people.

One person says one thing. Seven million people, seven million people
signed up. The Congress of the United States, which wrote the bill, the
members that are proud of what they have done are happy to not run away
from what we have done. I`m very proud of what we have accomplished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: So, how could Brit Hume sound so different from Nancy Pelosi on
this?

Well, unfortunately, not all Democrats are listening to Nancy Pelosi, not
all Democrats are on board and that`s not good.

Alison Grimes in Kentucky, she`s trying to oust long-time Republican
Senator Mitch McConnell. I think she`s got a pretty good shot at it. It
looks like she`ll be running the fix-it-Obamacare program.

After praising the success of Kentucky State Exchange, her senior campaign
advisor said this which shocked me.

"The law isn`t perfect and that what we need are common sense solutions.
What Alison has always said is Democrats and Republicans need to come
together to fix the law."

What? Fix 7.1 million people? 7.1 million fixed themselves when it came
to healthcare. Come on now, if there was ever a state to run on Obamacare,
it would be your state Ms. Grimes, Kentucky. They`re exchange, Kynect has
been hugely successfully.

By March 31st, they enrolled over 370,000 people in the state of Kentucky.
This number includes 250,000 people who are previously uninsured and they
want to run on a fix it campaign? Mitch McConnell has got to be sitting in
his office right now saying, "Wow, I got 250,000 people that are talking
the way we want to and we didn`t even help them get insurance."

Overall, the uninsured rate in Kentucky, here`s one for you, its dropped 40
percent. 40 percent of the uninsured people in Kentucky now have it. Wow.
Alison Grimes` campaign is in deep trouble if she can`t embrace these
numbers and so are other Democrats across the country. They should be
throwing Kentucky`s success right in the face of Mitch McConnell every
single day. This is a winnable seat and she`s running around talking about
Republican talking points about, "Well, we got to fix Obamacare." Fix
what? We`re on a roll. This is an unbelievable start.

OK, the law is not perfect and it needs to be fixed. Give me a break.
C`mon Democrats, this is (spying tied). You`re not going to beat Mitch
McConnell with an attitude like that. It`s all about being positive
saying, "Look, what we have done for Kentucky. We have affected a quarter
of a million people in the healthcare system that never had insurance
before." And this guy right here, he had nothing to do with it.

Either the Democrats are going to be supporting Obamacare or they`re not.
It`s that simple.

So if anybody is going to take up Alison Grimes` approach to healthcare
across America, it`s a crap shoot. If you can`t walk into a town hall
meeting and say more people in our state have health insurance then before
the last guy went in or whoever is representing that district or state,
then what are you running for? What`s the sense of being in public
service? You affect people`s lives. You`re afraid to stand up and say
that, "But we got to fix it." Fix what? You could fix every law in
Washington, every law needs fixing, let`s start with campaign finance
reform.

Let me get back to this 7.1 million people. Why are the right wing talkers
going absolutely nuts over this number? Why are they doing this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Why should anybody
believe it? Why can`t the government prove it? The real question is when
have they not lied about Obamacare?

GLENN BECK, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This complete bogus, this
is a complete bogus fairy tale. This is completely made up, this is
nonsensical.

SEAN HANNITY, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Just because team Obama
cooked the books on the promise that you could keep your Doctor, keep your
plan and you`re going to pay less, you wouldn`t expect them to lie on this
would you? Of course you would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Well, now, it`s interesting those three guys Limbaugh, Beck and
Hannity are concerned about this number, 7.1 million Americans.

First of all, they`re probably the wealthiest broadcasters on the right
side. Don`t they have resources? Hannity always brags about how many
people work for him, Hannity always brags about -- if he moves his show to
Florida, how many lives is going to affect?

Let see, Beck has got the blaze. Limbaugh`s got just about everything, any
right wing talker wants. You guys have all these resources but you don`t
have anybody on staff who will go after this number. Prove that it`s
wrong. Because if you can prove that that number is wrong, then the
Democrats are going to be in big trouble and then you`ll be able to say, "I
was the one that came out and proved that 7.1 million Americans . " that`s
not right.

Use some of those resources. Use some of those websites and get after it.
I`ll just sit back and follow your coverage, because it`s going to be very
entertaining. You can`t disprove that. Call up the insurance companies
who were publicly held. See if their CEO wants to lie about how many
people have signed up. This is easily verifiable. We`ve had a week of
critics including the Sunday shows questioning whether there`s 7.1 million,
questioning whether it`s successful or not, but nobody wants to throw any
resources and finding out whether it`s the truth or not.

Gosh, come on, give us a little Benghazi work, will you?

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question, "Is the Main Stream Media being fair to Obamacare? Text A for
Yes, text B for No to 67622, you can always go to our blog, leave a comment
there @ed.msnbc.com, we`ll bring you the results later on in the show.

Let me bring in Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Independent.

Senator, great to have with us tonight. Your response to Republicans
trying to smear the enrollment number, sir.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: Ed, it is -- it`s laughable if we were
not really pathetic and if we were not dealing with the lives of tens of
millions of people.

The Unites States remains the only country in the industrialized world that
doesn`t guarantee healthcare to all of its people has a right. Second of
all, the Republicans have opposed the Affordable Care Act from day one. It
is their nightmare that it succeeds. Thirdly, these are the same guys that
want to end Medicare as we know it, converted it into a voucher program.,
who want to make massive cuts in Medicaid, who had eight years under Bush,
knew something, even a little thing about healthcare, they did nothing.

So these guys have nothing at all to say. And their nightmare is that as
millions of people begin to get affordable healthcare, as the Medicaid
program expands and people who`ve never had health insurance in their lives
finally are able to go in to a doctor. For the Republicans, this is a
nightmare. Imagine if the United States government does something for
ordinary people and not just billionaires, what kind of nightmare is that?
That is what their furious at.

SCHULTZ: Senator, the number of uninsured has fallen to the lowest level
since 2008.

SANDERS: Right.

SCHULTZ: Is it Obamacare? What is it?

SANDERS: Well, of course it`s Obamacare. When you`re talking about seven
million people getting in to the exchange, millions of young people getting
insured for their parents` insurance policies, and millions more getting
Medicaid for the first time in their lives, what else do you think it is?
It is of course significantly Obamacare.

Now, we have got to do more. We have got to do more. But it is -- this is
a very important step forward and it is exactly what Republicans are
fearing.

Look, at the end of the day Ed, the American despite the Koch bothers,
despite right wing Republicans, they like Social Security. They think the
government should be involved in retirement. They like Medicare. They
like Medicaid. Republicans want to cut all of these programs and if we can
bring forward a new program which says to Americans, "You know what? You
are citizens of this great country, you have a right to have healthcare."

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: What a terrible political moment it is for Republicans.

SCHULTZ: Senator, coming in about 15 minutes, there`s going to be a vote
on the Senate floor long-term unemployment benefit extending and making
them retroactive. Your call, what`s going to happen?

SANDERS: I believe Ed, and I knock on wood or whatever this thing is that
we are going to have the 60 votes that we need. We have finally gotten
some Republicans to come on board. This will provide insurance to some two
plus million Americans who are at the end of their rope, long-term
unemployment remains a very, very serious problem. It is not only the
right thing to do morally. It is the right thing to do economically .

SCHULTZ: OK.

SANDERS: . we`re going to put money into the hands of people who need it
and will spend it.

SCHULTZ: You think you got the 60, you think they`re there? And that of
course .

SANDERS: Now, that maybe proven wrong in a few minutes .

SCHULTZ: OK.

SANDERS: . but I do believe we do.

SCHULTZ: OK, that will force the hand of Boehner and we`ll talk more about
.

SANDERS: Exactly.

SCHULTZ: . of that later. Senator Bernie Sanders, good to have you with
us tonight.

Let me bring in Michael Hiltzik, a columnist for the L.A. Times. Michael,
there are -- Republicans are keeping saying that the number seven million
is meaningless, the number of signups, because people haven`t paid. What`s
response to that?

MICHAEL HILTZIK, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Well, you know, it`s certainly in the
Republicans` interest to try to knock down this figure anyway they can.
They`ll talk about, the number of people who haven`t paid yet. They`ll
talk about the number of people who were previously insured. All of these
things, I think these are all marginal issues. The fact to the matter is
they we`re going to see 80, maybe more than 90 percent of the people who
enrolled in the qualified health plan, paying their bills, they`re not
enrolling just to be deadbeat,.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HILTZIK: . we`re going to see about a half, maybe 60, maybe even 70
percent did not have insurance in the past when you combine the enrollments
on the exchanges with Medicaid. These are as you pointed out, this is a
big problem for the Republican Party because their Plan A was to knock down
and knock out Obamacare and now they need a Plan B.

The nearest they have, there should have been Plan A minus right now. But
they`ve got a long way to go before they come to grips with the fact that
this really has been a successful launch.

SCHULTZ: And it has been a successful launch. There`s no question about
it. And the fact is these private insurance companies, they are
accountable to their stockholders. They have to come up with accurate
numbers, correct?

HILTZIK: Well, it`s not only that, the insurance companies they`re coming
up with accurate numbers. And by the way, they`re pleased with the number
for the most part that they`re seeing. But let`s not forget that the
biggest numbers are coming from states that ran their own exchanges.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HILTZIK: California, 1.2 million enrollees in the exchange, 1.1 million on
Medicaid, New York, 450,000, maybe a half a million in each of those
categories. They`re not -- they`re giving figures to the Obama
Administration, they`re not getting figures .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HILTZIK: . from the Obama Administration. So I think you can take a lot
of these numbers to the bank.

SCHULTZ: And how important is this drop that we`ve seen in the uninsured,
the best numbers since 2008?

HILTZIK: Well, look, this is the bottom line and all of this figures we
have the Gallop Poll, we have Mackenzie, we have the Rand Corporation.
They`re all pretty much within the same range. And what they show is at
least five million Americans have insurance that they did not have before,
maybe as many as 10 million Americans just in this first year going back to
2010.

So, yeah, this is a real achievement. And I think more Americans are
coming to the recognition that that sell and I think more Democrats and the
media are beginning to change their narrative.

SCHULTZ: I think it plays into the hands of the Republicans for a Democrat
to run around, running on A, we`re going to fix Obamacare. Do you have
thoughts on that? I mean .

HILTZIK: Well, well .

SCHULTZ: . it`s almost as if they`re being walked right in to a negative
narrative because they don`t want anybody pointing at them later.

HILTZIK: Well, it depends on how they put it. Look, you pointed that --
just a few minutes ago that most big laws they do need help, they do need -
- they need fixing. I think the way to think about this is that, this is a
solid foundation to improve the law from where it was, that we always knew
and we`ve certainly seen that there are flaws. But .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HILTZIK: . so what, there are flaws in Social Security still, that`s 85
year old law. So, yeah, we`ve got a solid foundation, we need to build it
on in, and we need the Republican Party to stop talking about repeal and
help do what has to be done.

SCHULTZ: Michael Hiltzik of L.A. Times, good to have you with us. Thanks
so much.

Remember to answer tonight question there at the bottom of the screen.
Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and on Facebook, like us on
Facebook, I appreciate that. We want to know what you think.

Coming up, Conservatives take issue with President Obama`s plan to close
the gender wage gap. Rapid Response Panel weighs in on that. The GOP`s
war on women continues.

But first, Jeb Bush softens his language on immigration ahead of his
decision in 2016.

Trenders is next. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: All right, what`s hot what`s not, time for Trenders Social Media.
This is where you can find us. Facebook.com/edshow, twitter.com/edshow.
Actually I followed the basketball game on Twitter the other night, it was
kind of fun. People are giving me the score and everything else. And also
ed.msnbc.com. On the radio, Monday through Friday, noon to 3:00, SiriusXM
Channel 127. You can get my podcast at wegoted.com.

Ed Show Social Media Nation has decided. We`re reporting.

Here are today`s top Trenders voted on by you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shake it, dock it.

SCHULTZ: The number three Trender, deep space 999.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are (inaudible), you will be assimilated.

HERMAN CAIN, RADIO HOST: I believe homosexuality is a sin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if sin is sin, who knew?

SCHULTZ: Herman Cain`s website compares the gay community to Star Trek
villains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that you believe that being gay is a choice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Captain, they have abducted.

CAIN: You show me the science that says that it`s not and I could be
persuaded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The resistance is futile.

SCHULTZ: The number two Trender, Paul Bear

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: 9/11 became an excuse for a war that they
are and wanted in Iraq.

SCHULTZ: Mother Jones uncovers video of a Kentucky senator taking Dick
Cheney to task on Iraq.

PAUL: There`s a great issue that Dick Cheney in 1995 defending Bush number
one.

DICK CHENEY, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Because if we
go on to Baghdad we would have been all alone, there wouldn`t been anybody
else with us.

PAUL: Dick Cheney said it wouldn`t be a bad idea and that`s why the first
groups didn`t go into Baghdad.

CHENEY: It`s a quagmire if you go that far.

PAUL: Dick Cheney didn`t finish the work for Halliburton, makes hundreds
of million of dollar from the CEO.

Next thing you know, he`s back in the government, it`s a good idea to go
back to Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re one of the chief architects of the Iraq and
Afghanistan campaigns.

PAUL: When the Iraq war started, Halliburton got a billion dollar, no big
contract.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has it been worth that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.

SCHULTZ: And today`s top Trender, Bush league.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is getting a lot of
attention.

REP. JEB BUSH, (R) FLORIDA: Not running has generated more interest than
if I said I was running.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speculations about whether he will make a run for the
White House continues.

BUSH: Maybe a year from now.

End of the year, I`ll make a decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve had enough Bushes.

SCHULTZ: Jeb prepares for a 2016 decision while softening his stance on
immigration.

BUSH: They come here because they want to provide for their families.
Yes, they broke the law, but it`s not a felony, it`s an act of love, it`s
an act of commitment to your family. It shouldn`t rile people up, that
people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining me to tonight Mitch Ceasar, Chairman of the Broward
County Democratic Party. He`s been in Florida politics for some 40 years.

Mitch, good to have you with us tonight. First of all, do you think Jeb
Bush is going to run? And do the people of Florida, do they have sense
that he`s going to run and seek the nomination?

MITCH CEASAR, BROWARD CO. DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, I think any Bush by
genetics has to think about running for president. But he seems to have a
very odd perspective on his value. He had made comments over the weekend
in Texas saying he hoped he would not be pulled in the vortex of mud and
talked about that he hoped he wouldn`t have to go to the cattle calls in
Iowa or in New Hampshire.

He needs to understand that this is not the Republican Party of his father.
This is the Republican Party of his grandfather. And it sure isn`t the
Republican Party of his anymore. Those days are long gone.

SCHULTZ: So do you think there`s Bush baggage? Let me ask that, is
Florida Bush tired? Could he win the state?

CEASAR: Well, it`s an interesting question because, you know, with Hillary
Clinton thinking about getting in, they`re talking about whether it`s Bush
fatigue, there`s Clinton fatigue. I think what happens is when Hillary
Clinton gets in, that creates a greater fatigue problem for Bush. But
interestingly doesn`t cause one for Hillary, because her race, her
candidacy is historic. His is just another Bush guy running. Kind of like
let`s sit on the couch and open up another bag of pork rinds.

SCHULTZ: Is that what it would be? Let me -- Holy smokes, I mean, so you
think it would be just more Bushisms, that there`s not enough separation
between Jeb and his brother and his dad?

CEASAR: Yeah, I think that it`s clearly fatigue. And I`ll make this
prediction actually way ahead of our time here that if indeed it comes down
between Hillary and Jeb Bush, I will predict tonight that Hillary will
Florida and put to rest the Bush legacy whatever it maybe. It`s not a good
brand anymore. And frankly, you know, because of the Tea Party -- now the
groups, you know, with the decline of Chris Christie, the money, the old
established Republicans .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CEASAR: . were looking for another supposed adult in the room.

SCHULTZ: There`s been opening there for Bush because of that.

CEASAR: Absolutely.

SCHULTZ: OK.

CEASAR: There wasn`t -- there was no talk of him before.

SCHULTZ: All right. What do you make of this comment, "it`s an act of
love?" Illegal immigration being an act of love, I mean, is this part of
the New Republican re-brand and Bush is the one that`s going to run it up
the flag pole to see how this works?

How is that going to go with Marco Rubio or John McCain or Lindsey Graham
of the Right Wing is -- I mean, I`ve never heard of a Republican talk about
-- put it like. Coming across the border illegally is an act of love and
we got to be sensitive to that.

CEASAR: Well, I guess he`s obviously never read the Republican Party
platform for the last number of years. I think his party is going to be in
a very different perspective than his. I think because he, you know,
represented Florida and had a good relationship with the Hispanic community
and speaks Spanish that that would be enough to say all the Hispanics
whether Cuban, or Puerto Rican, or Colombian, Argentinean, Mexican whoever
they are, are all going to fall in line. Well, that`s not the nature of
the Hispanic community. And frankly, the days of Jeb Bush have gone by.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CEASAR: We`re in a different type of state, the demographic has changed
and it`s not with him.

SCHULTZ: All right. Mitch Ceasar, good to have you with us tonight.
Thank you so much.

Coming up, the Conservative war on women continues as President Obama
pushes close, pushes to close the gender wage gap. Rapid Response Panel
weighs in on that.

And later, seven Republican House members now urging John Boehner to vote
for unemployment insurance. That`s moments away. Congressman Jan
Schakowsky responds.

But I`m talking your questions next on Ask Ed Live. Stay with us. We`ll
be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Love hearing from our viewers,
appreciate the questions. Ask Ed Live, here we go.

First question tonight comes from Toni. "What will it take for Democrats
to keep control of the Senate and regain the House?"

Three things, turn out, turn out, turn out. There`s more of us than there
are of them, we turn out, we win.

Next question is form David. See, his -- "Who do you want to see win the
NCAA Finals? UCONN or Kentucky?"

Really, UCONN or Kentucky, tonight? No offense basketball fans, but it`s
getting in the way of "Blacklist." I`m watching "Blacklist" tonight.

Stick around, Rapid Response Panel is next.

JANE WELLS, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I`m Jane Wells with your CNBC Market Wrap.

Stocks slide again ahead of the official start of earning season. The Dow
plummets almost a 167 points. The S and P falls 20, erasing all gains for
the year again. And the Nasdaq drops 47.

Stocks fall, gas prices rise. According to Lundberg Survey, the average
price for a gallon of regular rose nearly 5 cents to 360 over the last two
weeks.

And America is back on a borrowing spree. Consumer borrowing rose more
than expected in February due to a surge in car and student loans.

That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. The Right Wing war on women is
escalating. Conservatives are taking issue with President Obama`s plan to
sign two executive orders aim that helping advance the issue of equal pay
from men and women. Now, new rules would stop federal contractors from
retaliating against employees who discuss their salaries with other
employees on the workplace. They would also force federal contractors to
give the labor department data about their employees pay along with their
race and gender.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, HOST, SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRET BAIER: Many Republicans feel
that it`s undue burden to, to companies to file this paperwork. But you
would think that this would be no brainier and that`s what the
administration is trying to do, is trying use it as a political issue.

STEVE DOOCY, CO-HOST, FOX & FRIENDS: Well, because Bret, they invented
this, you know, and Mitt Romney was running against Barack Obama. They
invented the phony war on women. But, nobody really turned around and said
"By the way Mr. President, what about your White House, women are not
making as much there as they -- as the guys do." So, you know, it -- it`s
embarrassing when you peel back the onion and you look right there in
what`s going on.

BRIAN KILMEADE, CO-HOST, FOX & FRIENDS: It makes you cry when you peel
back an onion.

DOOCY: There you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Well, trying to accuse President Obama being unfair to women just
really isn`t going to cut it. That is a joke. But, if that is the case
and the president needs to address that and he will. President Obama has
been the champion for closing the wage gap between the richest 1 percents
as well as the gender wage gap in America. Congress has done nothing to
help him both of the executive orders mere provisions in the Paycheck
Fairness Act which Congress has failed to pass twice.

Joining me tonight, Rapid Response Panels, Zerlina Maxwell, Political
Analyst and Contributor of the Grio, and also, Goldie Taylor, MSNBC
Contributor and Columnist for the Grio as well.

All right. Let me give you the old guard to start the conversation
tonight. This is Lamar Alexander from Tennessee. He says that the
paycheck fairness bill would not help women make more money and would only
result in more lawsuits. Zerlina, what`s you reaction to that?

ZERLINA MAXWELL, THEGRIO.COM CONTRIBUTOR: That`s crap, right? Because I
think the bottom line here is that women need to know that they`re not
making the same as their co-worker. When I was in my early 20s, that exact
thing happened to me. I was talking to a male co-worker who has the exact
same job that I did, and he was making more money. And that allowed me to
then to go to my boss. Now, the law would prohibit my employer from
retaliating against me for that discussion, which I think every woman and
every man would agree is a perfectly acceptable thing to be talking about.

SCHULTZ: Goldie, this executive order is only going to apply to 22 percent
of the workforce, of course, these federal employees and not even half of
that is women. What impact is this going to have?

GOLDIE TAYLOR, THEGRIO.COM COLUMNIST: I think the real impact here is that
those one in five Americans who are going to be impacted in this way.
Would they happen to know the other four in five Americans who are not
impacted? They may indeed press this Congress to do its job, to do its job
and cover the other 80 percent of Americans who do not have the right of
equal pay, who do not have, say, the right of a higher minimum wage and
living standard wage that this president sort of signed in for federal
contractors.

This impacts every federal contractor that sells or sells goods or does
business with this federal government. That is all -- that happens to be
an awful lot of firms and that puts a lot of pressure on those terms really
to do the right thing. And when you talk about women in the workforce,
going to work and doing an honest days work for an honest days pay and not
receive an equilibrium in pay with their male counterparts, that ought to
smell pretty bad to Republicans. That`s going to smell pretty bad in the
ballot box this fall if they can`t get behind it.

SCHULTZ: Well, speaking of the ballot box, the American Association of
University Women, they`ve got a 98 percent of voting record when it comes
to turn out. They`ve got a 170,000 members. They`re organization of a 130
years. They went down to Arkansas recently and got mark prior to sign on
as a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Now, I want both of your
reaction to this. Is this a winning issue at the polls? Is this going to
motivate women to say, "Hey, look, Republicans, Independents, the
Conservatives are doing it for me. They`re not the warriors for the women
on this when it comes to pay. What do you think Zerlina?

MAXWELL: Yes, because there are 400,000 reasons why. 400,000 is the
number of lifetime earnings that women are losing. I mean, literally, our
wages are being stripped from us. I don`t want to retire and not have the
same amount of money as someone who did the exact thing job as me. And
$400,000 means that women would be lifted out of poverty when they retire
because the largest number of people in poverty are women. And so, I think
that, you know, 400,000 reasons is definitely a reason whether I`m a
Republican or a Democrat. Why aren`t Republican women on board with this?
Why do they think in 2014, we should be living like we`re in episode of
madness (ph)?

SCHULTZ: I guess my point is, is that if the American Association of
University Women can go to Arkansas and get mark prior to sign on to it .

MAXWELL: Right.

SCHULTZ: . Goldie, why wouldn`t this work anywhere?

TAYLOR: I think it does work everywhere. You know, I saw a study recently
that show that men thought that women in their households, their wives,
voted the same way that they did. Of course, women answered that same
survey and said they didn`t vote the same way that their husband did. And
so, it seems to me that women who are voting with their pocket books as
well, they`re voting with their wallets. And so, when you talk about, you
know, denying women in equal pay or denying, you know, half the woman --
more than half the women in this country, half -- more than half of the
people who earn minimum wage happen to be women. And so, when you talk
about not raising the minimum wage, women take that to heart and they take
it directly .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

TAYLOR: . into the ballot box. So I think some of these male legislators
are misjudging their constituents. They`re misjudging the idea that women
aren`t going to vote on this issue and women who also happen to be
Republicans.

SCHULTZ: And I thought you heard that clip that we played earlier that
Conservative narrative now as it was a phony war on women in 2012. Goldie,
what do you think? We got this phony war going on there now. There are no
women`s right to issues being attacked by state legislatures across the
country. That`s all phony. Your response to that.

TAYLOR: Well, you know, it`s just this phony as they would say. Some of
these employment discrimination laws are. You know, I think that -- and
we`ve heard some Republicans say just that. They have said that, you know,
when I lost (ph) a lawsuit about equal pay that that`s a frivolous lawsuit.
Well, it is isn`t frivolous to me if I`m trying to feed my family, if I`m
trying to keep a woof (ph) over my family and said, that isn`t frivolous to
me.

And so, to continue to discount, you know, the way that people try to
survive, cope and make it in this world, continue to discount the daily
lives of everyday working Americans, I don`t think we`ll pay off for them
in the voting booth quite in the way that they think that it will. I think
the White House and this, you know, casts of Democrats in Washington today,
this is the first time they are coming together around an issue in a
cohesive manner that they can truly take to November and I really hope that
all of them get on board and do it.

SCHULTZ: Zerlina, what about war on women? Is that a player in 2014 the
way it was against Mitt Romney? It was very clear, and of course, the
Paycheck Fairness Act and all of the abortion laws that have been attacked
on the state .

MAXWELL: Yeah.

SCHULTZ: . level. I mean, is this something that should have some
resource behind it from the left?

MAXWELL: I think so. I mean, I think that certainly we have women`s
groups, but I think Progressive organizations and Super PAC money need to
go into messaging to young women, single women, women that are more likely
to vote Democrat but may not consistently voting .

(INAUDIBLE)

MAXWELL: Yes, absolutely. Because $0.77 is the average and, you know,
particularly in areas where there`s strong union, strong unions, that gap
close it. And so, I think that Democrats are on the right side of this
historically end right now and we need to push that. So, single and young
women go out to vote in November because we can really make a different.

SCHULTZ: All right. Zerlina Maxwell, Goldie Taylor, great to have you
with us tonight. Thanks so much.

MAXWELL: Thanks Ed.

SCHULTZ: Still ahead, Newt Gingrich thinks he`s got the solution to
equalize the middle class and the wealthy. Pretenders, next. Stick
around. We`re right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight, Chump Change. Newt Gingrich, the
Supreme Court`s decision to end aggregate limits on campaign donations, has
the rich really getting this days? Gingrich says the new attack on limits
will actually help the middle class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. NEWT GINGRICH, (R-GA) HOUSE SPEAKER: Candidate should be allowed
to take unlimited amounts of money from anybody and you would overnight
equalize the middle class and the rich.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Oh, not even close. Lose campaign finance laws allowed Gingrich
to service a personal politician for billionaire casino magnate, Sheldon
Adelson. Adelson gave Gingrich a life line, the largest single donation in
history. Despite disgraceful performances at the ballot box, Adelson`s
cash dump kept this train wreck running.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: Schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one
master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school.

The left has collapsed as a moral system in this country. And why you need
to reassert something as simple as saying to them, "Go get a job right
after you take a bath."

We will have the first prominent base on the moon and it will be American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And it would be great if you send Sheldon Adelson there, huh. I
bet Sheldon called him up after that debate, said, "Hey, can you work on
that school janitor thing?" Give me a break. Families on the middle class
can`t compete with a checkbook like Adelson`s. If Newt Gingrich thinks
funding a fraud equals funding fairness, well, you can keep on pretending.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is a story for the folks who
punch it, take a shower after work. You`re looking live at the United
States Senate floor where senators are voting as to whether to pass a five-
month unemployment insurance extension bill. Will it happen? More than
two million Americans, two million Americans have lost their benefits since
Congress let the Federal Emergency Unemployment Program laps back in
December. A lot of people have been thrown off the roll since then, and
unemployment continues.

If today`s bill passes, it`s probably going to be a showdown on the House.
Now, if it`s up to Boehner, he don`t want anything to do with this, dead on
arrival. He doesn`t want to put a bill up for a vote on the House floor.
But some of his Republican colleagues are now putting pressure on him. On
Thursday, seven House Republicans headed up by Peter King of New York sent
a letter to Speaker Boehner asking him to pass the Senate`s bill.

They want the House to produce an alternative instead of sitting around
doing nothing. They`re obviously hearing a lot of it back home. Time is
running out. There`s only four days left until Congress takes another
break for two weeks.

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois joins me tonight, who told us last
week that, gosh, if they put it to the floor, there`d be enough votes. But
this is something new. Now, you`ve got a number of Republicans who were
asking Boehner to act on the Senate.

Will they do it? Will Boehner move on this? Who`s putting -- put pressure
on the seven Republicans in the House? Good to have with us Congresswoman.

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, (D) ILLINOIS: Well, the Republicans who are for the
extension of unemployment benefits understand that that`s really important
for them in their districts. And I do believe that if John Boehner would
have call a clean bill that it would get the votes. The problem right now
is John Boehner is talking about things like adding the approval of the XL
Pipeline or saying that employers don`t have to pay the healthcare benefits
unless someone works 40 hours a week.

So he`s looking at all kinds of extraneous things. But, I am hopeful that
in a few minutes, we`ll know that the Senate has actually passed this
extension. It`s now 2.35 million Americans. And I`m wearing a sticker,
this is the number of people in Illinois, a 153,400 that have a, you know,
needed. And by the way, that`s $300 million that Illinois has lost because
these people have not gotten their unemployment checks.

SCHULTZ: Well, it`s not very often the Senate get 60 votes. And this is
been out there. The Republican said back there in the Christmas break,
over the Holidays that they would address this. Well, they`re doing it in
the Senate. But how much of a bargain do you think Boehner is going to be
looking for? He`s not going to get XL Pipeline out of this. He might try
to get something else, but, I mean is that -- will he cave on just a clean
bill?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I`m certainly hoping that the pressure will be enough
from some of his own -- members of his own party and from his own state.
People like Rob Portman that will talk to him about extending unemployment
insurance benefits, I mean, after all, he has the gesture, and it`s in
Ohio, and they are hurting. And so, I`m hoping that he will finally see
the light and move on. It`s going to help some of his targeted members.

SCHULTZ: Would this be retroactive? Would this go all the way back to the
beginning of the year for this folks?

SCHAKOWSKY: Yes. The Senate Bill, it would. And hopefully, that will go
again, you know, I -- the best deal would be to pass whatever the Senate
passes to do that in the House of Representatives. If he starts fooling
around with another bill and all kinds of additions, but yes, it would be a
retroactive in the Senate anyway.

SCHULTZ: Some of the -- in the Republican caucus, Cathy McMorris Rodgers,
head of the Republican conference said that they wanted to wait and see
what the Senate was going to do, which makes me believe that, well, if they
really do get 60 votes over there, we`re going to be forced to do something
about it. How much of influence do you think these seven Republican House
members are going to have on Boehner?

SCHAKOWSKY: I think they will have influence because these are people that
they want to keep. You know, we need 17 seats to take back the House, some
of those people are in very vulnerable districts, swing districts where
there`s a lot of Democrats that will be mad if unemployment insurance is
not extended. And so, I think he have to take the politics into
consideration.

SCHULTZ: Is this how minimum wage is going to go?

SCHAKOWSKY: That will be good if this is the way minimum wage, to extend
and pass the minimum wage increase, and then the House feel pressure to do
the same. I think many of the same Republicans would want to see that
raise as well.

SCHULTZ: Congresswoman, I want your take on the 7.1 million and the
pushback by the Right Wing saying that these are phony numbers, that this
is a joke, it`s a masquerade, the numbers aren`t real. What are the
numbers? And in your opinion, how verifiable are they?

SCHAKOWSKY: I`m sorry, which numbers Ed? I`m sorry.

SCHULTZ: The healthcare numbers. The healthcare numbers that .

SCHAKOWSKY: Oh please, you know, if that`s the best that they can do, Ed,
to say that the, you know, that those numbers that were some how cooking
the books, actually, most of those numbers came from the states all
together. And so, there was no real opportunity for the federal government
to cook the book. Those are the real numbers of people who have now taking
private health insurance. And it`s really good news and they can`t bear
it.

SCHULTZ: And what do you think the number will be a week from tonight when
the sign up is over in 24 hours? They have until the 15th.

SCHAKOWSKY: Oh, I think we`re going to see, you know, we know that there
was this mad rush of people who went to the website. We could perhaps see
a million more. We`ll see that it`s going to be a lot more. Anybody who
is the queue will be eligible.

SCHULTZ: OK. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Chicago, here on the Ed Show.
Thanks so much.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the
screen. Always do that. Tweet the show as well @EdShow and that is the Ed
Show. I`m Ed Schultz. Politics Nation with Reverend Al Sharpton starts
right now. Good evening, Rev.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
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