"Republicans are playing the strongest obstructionist role we have ever seen," Senator Bernie Sanders notes. Sanders and his Senate colleagues have been trying to pass a financial reform bill that now hangs in doubt, with some Republicans changing their minds and with the death of Robert Byrd this week. As for immigration reform, or energy legislation? Don't bet on it, with the Party of No filibustering nearly every piece of legislation that comes their way.

Senator Sanders joins us via Skype from Washington to talk about the ongoing struggle to get even weak bills passed. The stimulus and health care reform were small steps forward, he points out, but at least they were steps in the right direction.

Nomi Prins, former Wall Street trader and author of It Takes a Pillage, says that the current financial reform legislation is like throwing your extra junk in the attic and pretending that your house is clean.  She says that it allows banks to keep all sorts of securities off their balance sheets--that it does nothing to prevent, in short, the kind of shady dealings that helped land us in this financial mess to begin with.

Together with Roosevelt Institute Fellow and blogger Mike Konczal, Nomi joins Laura in studio to discuss the financial reform legislation, its chances of passage, and what it would do--and wouldn't.

Finally, Hanna Rosin wrote about "The End of Men" at the Atlantic. But Daisy Hernandez at ColorLines pointed out that gains for some privileged women doesn't mean equality is around the corner. Laura has some thoughts about the "he-cession" and race.