hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 prk m. washington, 7:00 p.m. in paris, 3:00 a.m. on saturday in tokyo. wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you for joining us. up first, house republicans make good on their promise to sue the president of the united states over health care reform. the house speaker john boehner says the suit challenges the president's so-called unilateral actions on health care and accuses the president of abusing his executive authority. john boehner said this and i'm quoting. "time after time the president has chosen to ignore the will of the american people and rewrite federal law on his own without a

vote of congress. that's not the way our system of government was designed to work. the house has an obligation to stand up for the constitution and that's exactly why we are pursing this course of action." let's get to the other battle brewing now between president obama and house and senate republicans when it comes to comprehensive immigration reform. president obama is on his way to las vegas to push a sweeping new executive action on immigration. and republicans are looking for ways to block what they call an unlawful scheme by the president. during a primetime speech, the president unveiled a plan that will affect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants of the united states. it will allow the parents of u.s. citizens a chance to stay in the country, at least temporarily, if they have been here for at least five years. they have to pass a background check, they have to agree to pay back taxes at the same time.

this will expand the so-called dreamers program. that applies to those kids, the young children brought to the united states illegally as children. the president had this message for his critics. >> to those members of congress that makes our immigration system better or question. >> house speaker john boehner has overstepped his authority, first on health care reform and now immigration. he says that undermines the chance for cooperation. >> the president has taken action that he himself has said that those are the king or emperor, not an american president and created an environment where the members would not trust him and trying to find a way to work together,

it was virtually impossible and i warned the president that his actions were making it impossible for him to do what i want to do. >> what are republicans planning to do in response to the executive action? cutting off money to lawsuits and even some voices out there suggesting that republican senator jeff sessions of alabama is the ranking member of the senate budget committee, also the senior member of the judiciary committee. he's joining us now live. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> well, you don't know. that's uncertain at this time. >> your preference is judiciary, budget, what's your preference? >> well, i have an opportunity to do budget but that's not certain so i'm -- we'll just see how it plays out. >> so both critically important committees. we'll see what happens in january. you say the republicans should

react to what the president announced last night with the so-called power of the purse. what are you proposing? >> that's the responsible approach where i think congress would fund the government of the united states and simply use its power not to fund programs that we don't think are worthy of funding. we don't believe the president is acting lawfully. we believe that he's passing policies that are unsound and objectionable to the american people. i think the right thing to do is the kind of response that congress should carry on. not impeachment and those kinds of things are not necessary. we have other powers that we can utilize. >> you have votes in the current senate or the votes in the new senate? >> well, four democrats voted on my amendment that would lead us

to blocking this executive amnesty. clearly a number of democrats would vote to constrict the president's power. many said during the campaign they opposed it. they thought it was an overreach, he should not do it. whether there would be enough votes, i'm not sure. but next congress it should be a stronger vote to curtail this overreach. >> because in the new congress you might have 53 or maybe even 54 republicans. right now you only have 45. to get this ban through, you need 51 or do you need 60? >> probably 60. and -- but i think that's achievable. you only need six democrats. and as i said, four voted with me the last time. this action violated the explicit decision of the united states congress not to approve president obama's request and he's made up his mind to go forward. 5 million people will be given

photo i.d.s, social security numbers, the ability to compete in the job market for any job in america. they are not going to be farm workers. 90% are not farm workers. they will be competing against our workers, immigrant and nonimmigrant alike that are here. it's going to have an impact on working people's wages and their ability to get a job. somebody needs to speak up and ask what's the impact on the american people from this and i don't think that's been discussed sufficiently. >> what's your reaction to when you heard the president say last night, the senate overwhelmingly voted 14 republicans, including the democrats as well, passed comprehensive immigration reform and now for more than 500 days it's languished in the house of representatives. the speaker won't even let it come up for a vote. the president said if you want to change what he's doing last night, simply pass a new bill. >> well, the bill that came out in the senate was sinking every

day and support the talking points that they laid out for it sounded good but the legislating itself did not meet the promises that they made. that by the time it got to the house, that had become clear. and they said it was dead on arrival. so that's the situation we are in. they pushed for things that won't work. my observation, wolf, over the years on immigration is that many people claim they want to do good things and produce talking points that sound good but they won't pass anything. it will actually improve the situation. that's the status we're in today. we need legislation that will actually create a lawful system of immigration, one that we can be proud of and serves the interests of america, the people of america, not some corporate business, not some politician, not some activist group but the interest of america as a whole. that's what our good policy should be and we need to work on

that next year. i think the republican leadership needs to move in that direction. >> if you do, the republican leadership, the new leadership in the house and senate, the president said he'd be happy to sign legislation if you can come up with a bill that he will accept. he'll be happy to forget about what he announced last night and to move on. we'll see if that process moves forward. senator, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> joining us from hartford, connecticut, former attorney general of the state of connecticut, senator blumenthal. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. good to be with you. >> react to what we just heard from senator sessions. the republicans are deeply, deeply angered and suggest that this poisons the atmosphere, especially in the aftermath of the republican gains in the

midterm elections, looking forward to the next house and nate. >> and i hope we can cut through and ease some of the anger partisan controversy and come together in a really bipartisan approach which the senate bill really reflects. i worked really hard on that bill as a member of the judiciary committee where senator session serves. i have great respect for him. this problem really has a human dimension. i came just a few minutes ago from a meeting with some of the folks who will be affected by their ability to stay with their children. parents who are in jobs working hard, paying taxes. all they want to do is stay with their children and there were tears in their eye about this program but it also has a law enforcement function. it enables more effective enforcement against truly dangerous communities and

promotes cooperation by residents of those communities to help police. as a former prosecutor, i would say it's important to focus resources in a way that targets folks who are really dangerous. >> and to the point that republicans make -- and a lot of others make as well the president himself multiple times over the past six years said he didn't have the authority to take these actions unilaterally. he's the president of the united states. he said he's not the emperor of the united states. to that argument, you say -- >> i say -- and it's a good question, wolf, that he is well within his authority. he's deferring action. he's not granting rights to anyone and that's why we need comprehensive immigration reform. this step, as bold as it may seem, is simply a good step in the right direction but not the last step and his action is in

the tradition of president bush. in fact, every president since dwight eisenhower who has used exactly the same authority in exactly the same way, president bush deferred action with respect to 1.5 spouses and children, the same percentage of people president obama did. so he's well within his authority. >> there's an argument that the republicans make on what president bush did, what president reagan did, whether they took steps after the house and senate passed comprehensive immigration reform, a legislation that those presidents signed into law and implementing the law. they've made those revisions. there's been no legislation passed by the house and senate. that's why what they say the president has done is vastly different than what those earlier presidents did. you're a former attorney general. you'll hear that legal argument presumably if republicans decide to take this to court. >> i feel confident that the

courts will uphold the president's action because he is really not in any way changing the law, he's not unilaterally granting any additional rights. he's deferring, in effect, a deportation, a removal so attention can be focused on the folks who should be deported and removed as a first priority. of those 11 million people in the shadows, some will be able to come out and join the legal economy, easing the threats to workers. they will be paying taxes. we will know where the dangerous people are and be able to apprehend thm and deport them. it's a wide use of discretion which every us toesh knows is necessary because resources are short and need to be targeted at

the most dangerous. i think it serves to grow the economy and protect our security. >> senator blumenthal, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> we'll have more on this development coming up later this hour. also coming up, as we await the grand jury decision in ferguson, missouri, there's new information on darren wilson, the police officer who fatally shot the teenager michael brown. an alarming revelation about china's ability to threaten the united states power grid. that's coming up.

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let's get you on the right path. call unitedhealthcare today. fear over a pending grand jury decision whether a resignation would ease the tensions. darren wilson, the police officer who fatally shot michael brown, is offering to step away from the police force to reduce pressure and safety risks on his fellow officers but that may only happen if he's cleared in the august shooting of the unarmed teenager on a ferguson, missouri, street. stephanie elam is joining us. what do we know at this hour? this is a rapidly escalating story. >> reporter: escalating, it's moving, changing. all of that is true. what we understand as far as officer darren wilson and his future with the ferguson police department is that it's fluid. he could end up staying as part

of the department but people i've been talking to say they wonder how effective he could be. one thing that he's concerned about, he does not want time it ahead of the grand jury decision. wolf? >> the national guard is on high alert. there's been numerous calls for calm, including from michael brown's family. are they having an effect? >> reporter: right. i mean, these psas that have been put together, they are out there and it's from members of the community and from people who are not even in this community, like attorney general eric holder and also you hear from mike brown sr. let's listen to what they have to say. >> it's been a legacy of past movements for change from patriotic men and women who demanded action to the franchise

and americans exercising their first amendment right to assembly should look to that as they bring about real and lasting change for themselves and for future generations. >> i thank you for lifting your voices to end racial profiling and intimidation. by hurting others and destroying properties is not the answer. i do not want my son's death to be in vain. i want it to lead to incredible change, positive change, change that makes the st. louis region better for everyone. >> reporter: and these psas are making it clear that they are asking for no violence, no clashes, no unrests whenever a grand jury decision comes out. there's also psas by the st. louis rams players, coach,

religious leaders and the mayor of st. louis as well. they are trying to find different people respected in the community and get them to be a part of the psas. >> let's hope it remains calm demonstrations. peaceful demonstrations are important irrespective of the grand jury decision. the united states power grid vulnerable to a potentially crippling cyberattack. the federal government here in washington says one country is capable of carrying out that cyber warfare. the alarming report is coming up next. female announcer: the mattress price wars

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shutting down the entire u.s. power grid with a single cyberattack. the u.s. national security agency says china, china is capable of carrying that out. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto has more on the alarming revelation that comes directly from the nsa chief, admiral michael rogers. >> wolf, michael rogers was not only very public about this but all of the systems that he believes are vulnerable to cyberattack, water utilities, power utilities, the aviation system as well as financial service companies. it's not a question of if an attack like this would happen but when and he says it would be of dramatic proportions. as you said, he identifies china but also said one or two different countries and nonstate actors acting on their behalf have acted out recon missions to

test the vulnerability. he said we see an attempt to steal information about how our systems are configured, down to the engineering level of detail so they can look where there are vulnerabilities, how they are constructed and how i can get in and defeat them. today there was an official reaction from china's ministry spokesman saying that china forbids such an act but between china and the u.s., this has been an ongoing issue not with just attacks on government systems but private companies. often successful to steal proprietary business situation. it's a serious issue with every legal of government, wolf, and you can tell now from general admiral's comments that it's only becoming more acute. >> jim sciutto, thanks very much. up next, we'll get reaction to president obama's dramatic unilateral immigration action.

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. welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. president obama has made good on his promise to enact immigration reform through an executive order and thrown down the gauntlet to republicans in congress telling them if they are opposed to his action, they

have a simple remedy. go ahead and pass a bill. joining us now, two guests. orrin hatch is a member of the subcommittee on immigration subcommittees. also joining us, democratic congresswoman a former immigration attorney as well. to both of you, thanks very much for joining us. congresswoman, do you believe -- and you've been involved in this immigration battle for a long time -- the president went far enough? >> well, i think the president went as far as he thought he could do based on the legal advice that he received. as i'm sure you know, since really they've had the authority to take deferred action and many presidents have. reagan, the first bush kennedy, george w. bush and on and on. so the question is how far can

that go? and although some of us have suggested he might go further, he is doing what his lawyers have suggested he can do and i respect that. >> all right. let me bring senator hatch into this conversation. you've been involved in this conversation for a long time. you were one of 14 republican senators who voted for that comprehensive immigration reform bill with lindsey graham and marco rubio and others as well. in the past year and a half in the house of representatives, were you disappointed that the speaker didn't even consider what the senate had passed? >> no, because i knew that they had their own problems over there and they wanted to do a series of immigration bills, which i think they were prepared to do, once we turn after january 1st. the problem here is that when zoe mentions the other presidents, take reagan, take

bush, in both of those cases, they had prior legislation that they then enforced, which is what the president is supposed to do, is enforce legislation. some -- >> hold on, congressman. >> some have mentioned 22 times the president didn't have this kind of authority, it would be unconstitutional and so forth. well, i hate to say this, this is not the way to do it. i actually believe the republicans in the house were going to come up with their versions and then we'd solve the problem. i'd like to get it done the right way and so that it's legally done. i'd like to get it done so there's a lasting solution rather than a temporary one which is what the president has done. >> i assume, congresswoman, that you want to get it down as well. the republicans will have a bigger majority in the house and the senate. you're ready to compromise. work with them and see if you

can come up with some sort of framework, right? >> absolutely. we did a count and at the time the count was done, we knew we had the votes to pass the senate bill. we made it clear to the speaker, i was part of this for over four years, we wrote a bill that because of republican concerns, we were not able to introduce. we made it clear you can go comprehensive, do it in pieces, do it serially by the homeland security committee by border security. he just won't do anything. at some point the president has to do his job, which is what he has done now. he can't rewrite the law but there is discretion under the law. for example, senator hatch voted against it but the bill specifically in 1986 the dependence of the beneficiaries and president reagan decided to

give all of the dependents deferred action because he couldn't count separating families. the president has asked congress to act. if they don't like what he's done, they can supercede it. the house of representatives and republicans refuse to act. >> a lot of people look back on what president reagan did in 1986 he went ahead what was widely called them the amnesty bill which became the law giving amnesty to millions of undocumented people who were here in the united states. so was that a big mistake going back then? you remember that. because this current president said he's doing exactly what reagan and bush do. >> reagan had legislation that passed that he implemented and did it the way he thought he should do it and that's the difference. congress is the responsible party to be able to pass legislation like this.

the president has the job of enforcing it and implementing it. the president has taken over both acts of congress and his rights and the rights of the supreme court and incorporated them all into the white house. that shouldn't be allowed. it shouldn't be permitted. now, i have to say that i've been talking with the judiciary committee in the house and they were prepared to go ahead, as soon as we get through the first of next year and come up with a series of bills that they think would be the way to go starting with making sure that the borders are secure. >> let me ask the congresswoman, are you ready to do this piecemeal, smaller steps and then getting the senate to pass moderately smaller steps and then sending it to the president for his signature? >> we've made it clear -- i talked to the chairman of the immigration subcommittee practically every day. we don't agree on everything but i certainly respect him. i talked to the chairman

constantly. no one is talking to us in a bipartisan way about working together. we're prepared to act and to compromise and the president in his speech held out his hands saying, if you don't like this, do your job, legislate, i'll work with you. i would hope that this action is bringing peace of mind to millions of people who have been living in fear, i hope this action will spur the congress to get busy and do their job, which is to provide compromised legislation that can serve the country well. and i've just got to say that on the legal issue, we've just received a letter from dozens of legal scholars pointing out that the president is well within his authority. other presidents have done exactly the same thing. and, in kt fact, the supreme co reaffirmed the branch to defer immigration action in cases such

as this. so we ought to talk about thousand legislate, not get stuck on a legal issue, which is very clear. >> okay. we'll see what happens. >> go ahead, senator. >> that's a nice argument but the president doesn't have a right to violate the law, to violate the constitution and what zoe is talking about is presidential action after and certainly not in granting what really amounts to amnesty to these folks. look, i'm on zoe's side on this. i actually believe we need to do something on this and we did it in the senate. it's not a perfect bill. i was hopeful the house would pass a more perfect bill. i think we will do that. what the president did is not a lasting way of solving this problem. it's a temporary way of not even solving it and creating a huge uproar that is going to make it more difficult to pass real immigration reform. i'm going to work with zoe and others who feel otherwise and

hopefully we can get this done in a way that is decent, honorable and welcoming to people who already are here and aren't going to go home. >> all right. >> so i'll do my best. zoe, i hope we can work together. >> i suspect both of you will be seeing both of you on a house/senate conference committee working outcome pr out compromised legislation moving forward. thank you for joining us, zoe lofgren and orrin hatch, thank you for joining me. let's see if your colleagues can get together and work out some sort of reasonable compromise. that's what your job is. let's hope you guys can do it. appreciate it very much. up next, we're just days away from a deadline for a nuclear deal between iran and the u.s. there are serious gaps in the negotiations. we're going to go live to vienna, austria, to see if a deal can be done before the monday deadline.

the clock is ticking on a deadline for a nuclear deal with iran. monday is the deadline and it now seems that the sides are still pretty far apart. our nic robertson is joining us from vienna, austria. that's the site of the last-minute talks. nic, iran's chief negotiator was supposed to head home to tehran for negotiations. he's now staying where you are in vienna. what are we reading into this? >> reporter: wolf, there's been a lot of moving pieces today. you had the british foreign secretary hammond that flew in. he said still significant gaps. then we had the french foreign minister and he kept his convoy waiting and waiting there. they eventually took off and left the building without him. so he still appears to be here.

so it does seem that people's plans have been changing. we heard earlier in the day that secretary kerry would be going to france this afternoon. that didn't happen. he waited at another hotel. his third tri-lateral meeting with katherine ashton. so that's their third trilateral. we heard zarif was going to go back to tehran. it's really a day of flux but i think the headline at the moment is, there's a real desire to get this done but the gaps are significant, wolf, and we're not hearing anything yet. telling us that the gaps are closing down. >> they can always agree to an extension in these talks for a few more weeks or months, right? >> reporter: there is certainly talk of that. the british have talked about that. what we're hearing from the

state department is that the focus is to get this deal done by the deadline, the 24th monday but the reality is, if they can't do it, there's still a desire to keep the progress that they have made and to keep this effort going forward. what we're told is that the contemplation of failure is too high. so if you can't get it by monday then try to find a way to play this out further, give everyone more time, wolf. >> nic, we'll stay in contact with you. these are critically important discussions under way in vienna. nic, thank you very much. buried under 7 feet of snow. residents of buffalo, new york, are facing a new weather threat. we're going to tell you what's going on. that's next. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops,

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the death toll from the historic snowstorm in the buffalo, new york, region grew today. a man was found dead in his car becoming the snow's 13th victim. residents are facing a new weather threat. flooding from the melting snow and heavy rains that are moving in this weekend. alexandra field is joining us live from buffalo. alexandra, how concerned are officials there where you are about the potential for major flooding? >> reporter: wolf, to put it simply, the governor came out and said that the city could see the worse flooding that they've seen in a very long time. that's why they have acted rapidly to all of the snow that has fallen. these are 1600 dumptrucks. that's right. 1600 of them carting snow out of south buffalo, one of the hardest hit areas. so far they have piled up this mountain of snow. on it, more than 32,000 tons of

snow that has been trucked out of this city. it is so important to get that snow up and out as quickly as possible because we've got rain in the forecast, because we have temperatures warming up once this snow starts to melt. that's when we could see some very serious problems. officials warning that in the lowest lying areas of the city, you could see 5 to 6 feet the snow. they are trying to get people to do as much shoveling as possible and get snow off their roof because when it starts to rain here, the snow gets very heavy and that's when we start to see these catastrophic problems with people's homes. that's what they are preparing for, the one-two punch here. >> let's hope for the best here for all of my friends in the buffalo, new york, area, my hometown. let's hope for the best. by buffalo standards, this is really awful. alexandra, thanks very much. just ahead, a sign of things to come. what about the current showdowns between president obama and the republicans on capitol hill. what does it all mean for the next two years? our political panel is standing by. they will weigh in.

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analyst gloria borger. can they work together over the next two years? they're starting off on a negative note. >> you think? not going to be easy. you've had the leaders of both houses, republican leaders saying this is just sticking a thumb in our eye and today we heard the house speaker come out on no uncertain terms saying i warned the president he shouldn't do this. there is one little piece of this though that leads me to believe that they might be able to compartmentalize to a degree. i don't know if you agree with this. it's in the republican self-interest to get something done or hillary clinton if she's a democratic nominee can very easily run against the republican do nothing congress. there's that piece of it. >> you have these confrontations multiplying because not only is it clear that we're going to see a series of moves to defund this and perhaps a litigation against it. you still have affordable care

act where many republicans want them to do any means necessary to roll that back and i was doing a panel yesterday who said their first priority will be legislation to block epa regulation on carbon emissions. >> i amend my answer. no. >> remember the three nos right out of the box. >> that's part of the republican agenda. mitch mcconnell made it clear on the campaign trail when i was with him in kentucky that that is what he wants to do. he wants to use the levers of the congress to rollback some of the issues that really offend them the most, epa is one. that is why i'm getting the vibe from a lot of republicans that they don't want to distract from those things on things like immigration. i interviewed roger wicker last night, the incoming head of the republican committee to elect republican senators in the next election. he said do i look like my eyes

are bulging out of my head? no. that's what the president wants me to do. >> republican leadership has to tamp down all of the members of the caucus who would rather go out there and either shut down the government or do something and they don't want to risk losing a huge sector of the electorate for the 2016 campaign and that's what's at stake here. >> this has enormous ability and will in fact roll forward into the 2016 presidential race with a republican congress making this big an effort to undo the immigration executive action and to continue to repeal the affordable care act and block epa regulation on carbon. it's almost guaranteed after the congress acts that way that the republican presidential candidates in 2016 will feel compelled to support repealing all three of those and that hillary clinton endorsing immigration action and we'll debate this in the next two years but into the presidential

race. >> you have three or four republican senators thinking about running for the republican presidential nomination including ted cruz and rand paul. how does that fit into all of this? >> i think it's exactly right. they have very loud megaphones. they have the senate floor. they can go there and make their ideas known. i do think that it does give room for debate within the republican party still, which i think call me crazy but it could be healthy. in 2012, everybody was running to the right. self-deportation and so forth. there still is an active debate within the republican party that will play out when it comes to the 2016 primary. >> self-deportation, mitt romney's famous line got him 27% of the hispanic vote. they can't afford for that to happen again if they want to win the presidency. they are all very, very well aware of that. they are also well aware of the fact that this is going to play

out on a separate course in the courts. and we were talking about this last night on the air. it might be more about john roberts than john boehner because that's the future. >> do we assume that republican leadership in the house and senate will do everything in their power, a, to avoid those calls for impeachment of the president and, b, for some sort of government shutdown. >> they want to avoid that. it's not always in your control. they are saying two things simultaneously that may or may not be compatible. they'll fight all three of these. immigration action, affordable care act and climate action, fight all three intently by any means necessary but we won't shut down the government. that's driving along the edge of the cliff. none of them are probably going to happen. >> part of the reason why john boehner could control his caucus the last two years is because frankly he didn't try that hard because if he tried too hard

they would have tried to oust him. his famous line is a leader is only a leader if people are following behind you. if not, you're a guy taking a walk. the question is whether he's a guy taking a walk or corralling people. >> the affordable care act, obamacare, that certainly is an issue. republicans will do whatever they can to derail it. the u.s. supreme court is considering a piece of this right now. the supreme court might be able to do what the republican leadership can't do. >> what would the irony here be if in fact the president's greatest enemy to use that phrase would be the chief justice of the supreme court and not the republican leaders. >> divided government makes them do things unilaterally. >> we expect a decision by the supreme court before the end of june during the current session. that could be hugely significant. thanks very much. we'll continue our analysis as

we always do. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for our international viewers, christiane amanpour is next. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. here we go on this friday. great to be with you. i'm brooke baldwin. could be big, big news in ferguson, missouri, because this grand jury decision could be hours away. the makeup of the grand jury, you have seven men, five women. they've all been sitting on this panel. all of this happening behind closed doors. they could meet for the last time today and that means their choice on whether to indict officer darren wilson for the shooting death of michael brown could come at any time. as the grand jury nears an end to its deliberations, officer wilson may be nearing an end to his time on the ferguson police force because he is in the final stages of