House Dems introduce WORK Act

>>> mitt romney believes all moms are working moms so he should have no problem support ing new legislation introduced by house democrats, called the option to raise kids work act. it would allow, permit low income moms with kids aged 3 and under to stay home, take care of their kids and continue to receive government assist stance. raising children does not count as a work activity under current guidelines for the welfare recipients. as the " huffington post " points out the bill would not level the playing field . low income moms would have to enter the work force once the child reaches four years of age. while moms like ann romney wealthy are still given the option to stay home. it's a step in the right direction, isn't it? it's something mitt romney supported when he was running for senate in massachusetts. back then, romney agreed with the idea of moms staying home with kids until they reached preschool. of course, romfy has since changed his position, adopting a new standard as governor. he explained a few months ago back.

>> wanted to increase the work requirement. even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work and people said, well, that's heartless. i said, no, no, i'm willing to spend more giving daycare to allow those parents to go back to work. it will cost the state more providing that daycare. i want the individuals to have the dignity of work.

>> still, house democrats are optimistic romney will support the bill. telling the " huffington post ," i think we should take mr. romney at his most recent words of changing our federal laws to recognize the legitimacy of raise i raising young children. and trying to contact the romney campaign where they stand, they didn't get back to us. great to have you tonight. the cynics will say, this is pure politics. but it is cornering the romneys on exactly where they stand on the perhaps of stay-at-home moms. is this the mission?

>> the mission is not to corner ann or mitt romney , the miss is to have good and fair policy that says all moms are working moms, and that rather than send the kids to childcare, which may or may not be available and affordable, to send them out into the workplace, to say that these small children, up until age 4, that their moms are working when they stay home and take care of them. so this was an opportunity, actually, to raise this issue, and hopefully get some bipartisan support, including mitt romney .

>> aren't you saying to the romneys, okay, you say it, now show us?

>> exactly. we are. we're saying that this women's option to raise kids ought to be an option available to all moms. as you pointed out, it still doesn't level the playing field entirely because it's only until they reach age 4 and then women would have to go into the workplace in order to get some support from the government.

>> where do you think mitt romney really stands on this issue now?

>> it's so hard to tell, isn't it, ed? i don't know. it changes by day. maybe because the political winds are going in another direction. he certainly has said, and we do want to take him at his word, that all mothers work, whether they work in home to or work outside the home. so we want to capitalize on this great moment and see if he actually will support. i hope he gets back to you. we certainly hope he gets back us to and say he supports the legislation.

>> what would this measure do for low income moms, single mom , one, two kids, two jobs working paycheck to paycheck but maybe have some time in the morning to stay home. how would this help low income moms?

>> first of all, ed, this idea that, well, you just go out and find yourself a job and mitt romney says we'll supply the kay daycare, quality daycare is hard to find.

>> it's expensive, too.

>> something i learned, if you send your kids to daycare, they usually require you to send diapers along with them if they're little children . do you know how expensive diapers are? there are diaper banks not-for-profit organizations helping moms get diapers so they can actually afford them, so their kids can go to daycare and they can go to work. the hypocrisy of the republicans to yesterday they cut $33 billion from nutrition programs, the food stamp program , the snack program.

>> that was the house ag committee, they butchered it. the good news is the ryan plan won't go to the senate before the election. if they did take it up, they would be dealing with these cuts to nutrition that would really hammer families in this country and really take away from kids.

>> kids. exactly. they want to cut these kinds of programs and think moms should go to work. current law says states should have the option of requiring job training or going out to get a job. one of the options not available to poor women is that they stay home with little children and take care of them. that is not a work forpgs them. this would make it that way.

>> congresswoman, thank you.

>>> next, running away from ted nugent 's vial comments about the president. did say that right? the nra is running away from ted nugent . mitt romney still doesn't have the courage to condemn him?

>>> president obama made a historic message yesterday and this photograph has everyone talking. [ male announcer ] whoa, megan landry alert. and she's looking directly at your new lumia, thank you at&t. first, why don't