another defeat for the unions. iowa here we come. republicans get ready to rumble. >> come from 9:00 to 5:00, we have an air-conditioned tent, we have chairs, we have randy travis live. we're going to have a petting zoo for kids and food. it is fun and entertainment. and we've got them. nato takes out the taliban fighters who shot down our service members in afghanistan. good day i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. financial stocks are pulling waug street down beginning with fears of trouble in france's banking sector. just another blow that wipes out any gains from a positive response yesterday to the fed's promise to keep interest rates low for the next two years. joining me now cnbc senior analyst ron ensigna. try to make some sense of this. where does it end? >> it's getting increasingly

harder to answer questions like this. there were rumors going around about the potential insolvency of one or more french banks who own a lot of debt of europe's periphery, greece, spain, italy ireland or portugal. there's that concern. a lot of these frnch banks bought a lot of our toxic assets earlier in the decade. i suspect they haven't marked those down fully either. all the rumors are denied. it led to this sell off this morning that should have been greeted with some follow through after the big rally yesterday on word that the fed is going to hold rates low for at least two more years. >> ron, at this point are there any new york banks that still have exposure? they were recapitalized from tarp. there was a sense at least that our financial sector was in better shape, but they seem to be pulling the markets down. >> from a perspective comparing american banks to europe ban banks right now would be a

mistake. we did raise extraordinary amount of capital for the u.s. banks. they were well capitalized. there have been some concerns that bank of america may need to raise additional capital that's been a big drag. although the company's ceo has denied that. i think that we are in a much better position than the european banks. we don't have that much direct or indirect exposure to europea. it's not an inkrshl amount. it's not enough to tom the system. people worry about contagion. it should if we see further deterioration in europe or a collapse there. it would be inescapable to not have some problems here at home. >> finally, ron, you're a veteran fed watcher. how did you read what happened yesterday? the fed was divided in the open market committee on policy. they took some steps. didn't do perhaps as much as some might have wanted. >> unfortunately the fed is started to look like the rest of washington, where you have a group, a minority that the

trying to hold policy hostage that their views that inflation is a bigger problem for us. i've been arguing that the policy risks in the united states and deplags are the two things to worry about. there's no way the fed can get tight here. i thought it was remarkable that they announced they would hold rates at zero for two years. i think they're going to do more. they may buy longer dated treasuries. they might stop paying banks to hold their cash balances at the fed. i think they may do as much as is possible to push money into the economy to try to stimulate growth. i think what they're fighting now a fiscal war where the rest of washington wants to cut deficits to such an extent it might harm the u.s. economy. so all this now sits on the shoulders of the fed. i suspect they're not done. but i think the worries about a global recession and global deflation their pressures overshadowed the announcement yesterday and led to this route on wall street and the weakness we've seen overseas as well.

>> ron insana, the fed may not have many more tools but they're the only game in town. >> i think people misperceived that fact. the fed basically has no stamp your, theoretical or practical limits on how big the balance sheet can get. most people don't i think read enough fed literature in the general population, why would you, the fed can in a desperate move would guy real goods and services in the economy i have been told by people who know just how the fed works and should we face a 1930s style scenario there is more the fed can do. >> sure, there is. >> there are theoretical limits, but maybe not practical limits. >> thank you, ron. with us now cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood and steven wiseman editorial director and policy fellow with the peterson substitute for economists. first to you, john, what the market is doing is tying the

president's hands. let's talk about the new appointees. we've got nine out of 12 at this moment. i haven't checked as to whether or not we have a message yet from nancy pelosi. we know who nine of the 12 are. what do you see coming from this group. >> reporter: we have not seen nancy pelosi's picks yet. we heard from speaker john boehner who appointed hensarling to be co-chair of the panel along with dave camp and fret upton considered more moderates. different people can take encouragement from different factions. i must say the view from the white house is that the makeup of the individuals on the committee is perhaps less important than some people think for two reasons. one, that the views of those people could evolve. we didn't know that the views on gang of six would evolve as they did toward tax increases. but secondly because as a practical matter in congress leadership ultimately makes most

to have decisions and there will be tremendous pressure brought to bear on the members of that committee from leadership -- from the democratic and republican side. mitch mcconnell appointed his members. john kyle, portman, an establishment republican. somebody who served as president bush's budget director. and you've also got pat toomey who is one of the people who said it might not be so bad if we didn't raise the debt ceiling. all sides represented on this committee. >> and at the same time steve wiseman, we've had so much gridlock. and already concerns about the economic appointments late yesterday. patty murray the she is the incoming budget chair. what everyone is focussing on is he's the head of the democratic congressional senate campaign committee is in charge of candidates of protecting democratic incumbents and raising money for them. that was the controversy there. and of course, john kerry who wanted very much we understand to be on this committee and the

finance chairman max bacchus. it's as john was pointing out, it's not really up to this committee. >> it's more up to the leadership. they'll be the surrogates on the committee. there are three things i think that need to be watched. first, is defense cuts versus revenues. i think the fact that the second round of cuts that were culled for by the default deal were cutting so deep in defense is going to confront republicans with choices that they might not want to make between you do you cut defense or increase revenues. there's another little noticed fact or phenomenon which is that health care costs in the last year or two have not grown at the pace that they have historically over the last ten years. >> that's a headline. >> that's an interesting and very little known phenomenon. what you might watch for and john you might have some

thoughts about this, is whether or not they're going to try to save some of the money by changing assumptions on health care costs increases. >> that's sort of a given where you can pocket the change. john, one other thing that people were pointing out earlier today is that the big lobbyists in town, particularly the tax lobbyists, the various industries would have an interest in getting something through this super committee because the choices in that trigger are so draconian. >> absolutely they are. steve wiseman is right. the defense cuts are a big lever for action in this special committee. so are the cuts in everybody's 401(k) that are happening right now. that's put pressure on everybody to come together not just on this committee, but also when congress comes back in september. it's interesting that the initial position staked out by republicans in the congress is we don't want to hear, we don't want to take up president obama's ideas on extending the payroll tax cut or

infrastructure. when the president goes out on the road next week he can try to put some pressure on them. meantime the lobbists are going to be all over that special committee and that's one of the reasons high tax reform is so difficult. we saw that in the 1980s. those pressures when circumstances are life, can be overcome. >> and briefly, steve, you and i were there many the 80s watching that tax reform process. that's when this town goes crazy. it all does happen behind the scenes. >> it all does. those were the years of real giants, though, like jim baker and others who could make deals behind the scenes. i think another thing to watch is wloernt in return for some short-term stimulus like a payroll tax extension the democrats might agree to longer term retrenchment. i would say that's another thing to watch for out of this

committee. >> thank you so much. thank you, john. continue your construction on the north lawn of the white house. when will it be over? on a serious note here, nato forces have now taken out the taliban fighters responsible for killing 30 americans in afghanistan. we're live next in kabul. plus, the white house slaps new sanctions on syria. but will it make a difference? send me your thoughts on twitter. and follow the show online. ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. energy is being produced to power our lives.

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welcome back. this just in, jay carney has announced that the president will be meeting with fed chair this afternoon and tim geithner, the treasury secretary. they do meet rather regularly. this obviously on a day like

today after everything else that happened takes on a new significance. meanwhile ark nato air strike has killed the taliban fighters who killed 30 american servicemen and eight afghans when their helicopter was shot down in afghanistan. the thursday was announced today by the new commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan. >> at approximately midnight on 8 august coalition forces killed the taliban insurgents responsible for this attack against the helicopter. did we get the leader that we were going after in the initial operation, no we did not. we're going to pursue that network. we continue to develop the intelligence. we will continue to exploit that target. we will remain in pursuit. >> general allen shed some more light on the nature of that u.s. mission that ended with so much terrible loss of life. for that we are joined in kabul. what do we now know about the mission? what were they doing in terms of

rescuing the rangers? >> reporter: hi there, andrea. we are getting some new information from general allen. before we heard that operations forces came to that region, the district to help u.s. army rangers who were set to have been pinned down. general allen is saying in fact they were not pinned down that the insurgerisy were trying to flee that's when they called for support to come in. the special force were on their way in that chinook helicopter to try to stop the taliban from leaving that village. and then as we know, the taliban then shot down that chinook helicopter killing those 30 americans as well as eight afghans. what we also know is how they found the ones responsibility for shooting down that helicopter. it was an insurgent leader who actually fled north just the district north right above the district. they found him and his men in a wooded area. that's when they called the f-16

fighters to drop those bombs and kill him and the taliban insurgents that operated under him. as you mentioned and as we heard general allen say that wasn't the same insurgent leader that the special op ration forces were coming after on saturday. >> so general allen is basically defending the operation that led to their death. is there any second guessing internally about that mission? >> i don't think there's much second guessing going on right now about that mission. i think this was an unlucky day for the nato forces according to the military here. they use the chinook helicopters, they use other helicopters dozens of times a night in different various raids throughout the country looking for these insurgent leaders. unfortunately that night the taliban had their target in sight. they were able to shoot that rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire to bring that

helicopter down. general allen mentioned that this is not going to make them not use those chinooks in the future. in fact, these operations will still be ongoing throughout the country. >> thank you so much for your report from kabul. meanwhile here the treasury department today announced new sanctions against syria as the regime continues its crockdown. the u.s. is targeting a syrian bank and a mobile phone company both of which have helped fund the government's violence against protesters. we're joined by wes moore. wes, great to see you. first of all, let's talk about syria and what we now know the. the u.n. is taking up its condemnation of syria from last week. they're having a meeting this afternoon in advance of that the u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice spoke out again today. here's what she had to say. >> in the view of the united states he has lost his

legitimacy to rule. and syria would be a better place without him. >> that is the same thing that jay carney has just said at the briefing but it is not that further step saying the united states, the president of the united states believes that assad should be removed. they are not taking that step yet. they may in the next couple of days. they've been reluctant to take that step, why? >> they've been reluctant to take the step because i think they understand the limitations of unilateral action for the united states. even as we increase looking at different sachs options that we have that we can put towards syria. the main criteria that we're looking for. the main restrictions are restricting access to u.s. capital markets and restricting payments to contractors that do work within syria. the united states knows the unilateral action is fot going to get assad to move at all. this has been to be an international effort. >> of course, we did see some marginal change because the king

of saudi arabia who has been backing up assad has been reluctant to break he took that step over the weekend followed by kuwait and bahrain. there is at least a division now in the arab league and the potential of getting more support for the west against assad. >> that was a big step. some people they say what's the difference between syrian and libya? one of the big crucial apss is you had unanimous arab league support and condemnation of libya which has not yet come to fruition within syria. the move by the king was a big deal on this. >> the turkish foreign minister is in syria today who has been in constant contact with hillary clinton and others. we are working through turkey to try to put pressure on assad. this is a wire reporter, we have not confirmed this. that syrian forces have killed

11 svlians in an armored assault in part of homes to crush protests, syrian observers for human rights say very hard to confirm any of this because we don't have wernl journalists in there. >> one thing that we're seeing we're watching this happen daily. we're watching the death toll continue to rise and how the internet community reacts to it becomes important. is challenge that we have do have with the situation are really three countries. one is russia and china and how they will actually move the u.n. security council to act on what's happening in syria. the other wild card is iran. iran has recently said that they're willing to pump in $5.8 billion of aid to syria if the national committee decides to withhold payments this is something the yoits and the international community really have to contend with. >> the u.n. security counsel as we know issued only a condemnation as a president statement quote unquote not a resolution. so they have not yet gotten russia or china and to others to

get on board. thank you very much. and three days to ames. will it be the end of the world for t paw? the prettio briefing next on "andrea mitchell reports." time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. designer lolita healy coppery righted her first cartoon character when she was just 12. 20 years later she did the same thing with martini glasses. he collection took off, so she licensed the brand for everything. for more watch "your business" sunday morns at 7:30. network -- a living, breathing intelligence that's helping people rethink how they live. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. ♪

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and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. three days until the draw poll in ames, iowa. the campaign kickoff will be there. tim paw lentity is trying to prove -- tim pawlenty is trying to prove he's a fighter. and the nine candidates on saturday's ballot including michele bachmann you see here there, these are live pictures are going everything they can to not get overshadowed by the newest name in the race, texas governor rick perry. not even on the ames ballot. so, lest talk about who's up, who's down and who's getting worried going into ames. clearly tim pawlenty nervous about being eclipsed by michele bachmann. and now we've got rick perry on

the horizon. >> right. i think there's a school of thought in iowa that it's tim pawlenty's do or die state. he's committed significant time and resources. he's really worked on the campaign trail. committed a lot of his scant resources there. there's signs in the polls he's struggling to gain some traction. clearly he has to have some kind of strong performance there. the question is does it matter if he wins it or not? i think there's plenty of evidence to show that the field is so fluid at this point and the entry of michele bachmann in the race and now the pending entry of rick perry changes the dynamic it's hard to say whether it's going to be do or die for him or not. certainly it's a critical moment for his campaign. >> he's going to make his iowa debut in waterloo which is of course the birthplace of michele bachmann. here she is and not john wayne, i should add. here's coming the day after when whoever wins the ames straw poll

is expecting to get to some kind of play and media attention and now rick perry comes to town. >> right. it's a pretty smart play by the perry campaign. it steps on a big bit of the momentum whoever wins the straw poll is going to have coming out of ames. keep in mind he could get an additional boost rick perry while he's not on the ballot they're open to write-ins this year for the first time. that changes the equation. if lst a large write-in number that's evidence of some pretty strong support in iowa. but by having an event in south carolina. having an event in 0000 in advance of going to waterloo, rick perry all but guarantee he's a big part of the story coming out of iowa. whoever wins iowa is going to have some of that momentum slow. it's the nature of the process. mitt romney live pictures of mitt romney and michele bachmann today in ames. so it is heating up. and thanks to charlie from politico and we are taking the show on the road to iowa.

join us this friday live inand miss a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" live from the ames straw poll starting at 4:00 eastern. that will be followed by a special edition of "the daily rundown" with our pal chuck today live in ames starting at 6:00 eastern. that's this saturday only on msnbc. so is it a super committee to the rescue? nbc's luke russert joins us live from the capitol next. plus are police equipped to battle the protesters as violence continues to spread across the uk. we're live in london. and the nightwide hunt for florida's fugitive siblings comes to a dramatic end in colorado. specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information.

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listen to this. three out of four americans don't get enough vegetables. so here's five bucks to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that's a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us. topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports," moments ago we got word that all three fugitive siblings are florida have been arrested in colorado apparently after a high speed chase.

the siblings are all being held at a hospital after at least one was reportedly shot during that pursuit. lee, dylan and ryan dougherty are accused of armed robbery and have been on the lam for more than a week. not winning. charlie sheen's wild ride with an official d.c. police escort when he was late for a performance here has cost a leading d.c. police division commander his position. the commander has been demoted over his handing of the controversial celebrity escort policy. a miracle recovery. a 12-year-old boy rescued five days ago after getting caught in a rip tide off the coast of washington has now regained consciousness. he is recovering. even though he was under water for as long as 20 minutes before that rescue. dramatic rescue and good news. new research from the national institutes of health shows that a blood test may be able to determine a baby's sex when the mother is only seven weeks pregnant.

according to the nih, it is safe, effective and accurate 95% of the time. a lot of moral implications there. . and in texas, a houston highway was closed overnight after an 18-wheeler's cab separated from the trailer and ended up caught in a free way sign. luckily no one was hurt. an overwhelming show of police force seemed to quiet rioters in london last night. the violence has spread for a fourth straight night. police across the country have made more than 1 00 arrests since the violence began over the weekend. michelle is joining us live from london. it's been hard to figure out how this started. i know it was triggered bier one arrest, a controversial arrest. it does seem like much deeper roots to this violence. anger that's been building up for quite some time. >> reporter: wherever something like this happens everyone wants to discuss it and try to find some underlying cause.

tends to be really complex. it seems like no one can really come up with an answer that's satisfactory or solvable at least not in the short-term. we've heard a lot from the government and police saying that they felt like any initial cause or, you know, soes longical feeling that sort of sprang up after the shooting of a man by police devolved into criminality. some of it they felt was motivated by theft. these kids were attacking government buildings or police stations. they were stealing sneakers and electronics. that said, look at what they are? they're young people who many of them feel that they don't have a lot olose. within the communities now laering a lot of discussion as some of the anger subsides. over the lack of stuff to do for these kids. a lot lack of opportunities, a lack of jobs. social activities during the day. and they blame the government for taking away funding for things like that while pouring

it into other things including many say the olympics, andrea. >> that's going to be a next chapter in this potentially. thank you very much michelle in london. and today we learned who is going to be on that congressional supercommittee. they have only until thanksgiving to find another $1 trillion plus in budget cuts. luke russert is nbc news capitol hill correspondent and joins us. luke, we're still waiting on nancy pelosi at this hour unless you know more than we knew earlier. we've got nine out of the 12. it looks lick a pretty middle of the road with a few exceptions group. >> reporter: that's right. we are still waiting on mrs. pelosi to make her picks well known. we expect that to perhaps come later in the day. we hear soon. in terms of the ones that we've heard from especially today on the republican side. some interesting selections from john boehner. two gentlemen from michigan. ways and means chairman dave camp. fred upton as well as the house

jeb hensarling. he's trusted by conservatives. he's not a firebrand. he's well liked by a lot of democrats. dave camp is someone who's been more moderate in the past but is still respected and liked by conservatives. he's somebody who has been open to all types of tax reform. that's an issue with his addition to this committee would most likely be looked at in a more intense way. fred upton's someone who is regarded as a moderate a few years back. he moved more to the right to maintain his committee chairmanship has gone after the epa. on the republican side in the senate, interesting selection john kyle has you know the number two to mitch mcconnell. someone who's very close with him. he's retiring at the end of his term here. he was expected to have the senate gop leadership mode on this. two interesting selections, rob portman possible vp nominee in

2008. someone who's known for these types of issues in terms of deficit spending and pat toomey. he's more of the firebrand. he was a huge club for growth guy in pennsylvania as well as being backed by the tea party. if you wanted to look more left and right, patty murray the dccc chair joined by john kerry. it's going to be an interesting mix. >> you're going to be busy up there, luke. give us a shout if nancy pelosi decides. >> reporter: indeed. i think this kerry addition is quite interesting because of his 2004 experience. he's someone who a lot of folks think he's very far to the left. he's willing to do business especially at this stage in his career. he could be secretary of state if obama wins a second term. >> exactly. if not sooner. joining me now democratic strategist tad devine and

michael steele. this is an interesting mix, if anything is going to get done, it's going to be done this committee because they fear the triggers. they and all the lobbyists fear the automatic cuts which cannot be negotiated. >> it sound like we don't know all the members yet, it sounds like reasonable people are being appointed by both sides. one of the three representing the far end of the party. nevertheless people who can sit down and talk to one another. it's in their interest. in in the country's interest to accommodate one other. >> this could be the last best hope of getting something done and showing the markets and the american people that their government can lead. >> two more important constituencies for democrats and republicans. i think the picks are solid. i just tweeted on the way over here that the house picks i thought were solid, sensible, representatives of the party who will be able to go and negotiate the best deal possible for the country. i know that some folks are sort of screaming about patty murray. but at the end of the day she's

chairing a committee. she's -- >> incoming budget chair as well as -- >> absolutely. it's not just about her role in the dccc or working with the senatorial committee. it's what she's been able to do and what she will be in this committee is what harry reid and others were looking at. she's a good compliment to toomey or, you know, some of the others that are out there. i think this is a balance that is necessary and needed right now and we'll wait to see what nancy pelosi who she puts on the table to round this thing out. they should get to work immediately. a trillion dollars is not an easy number to come up with in 30 or 60 days. i think it's going to be a busy end of the summer and early fall for them. >> at the same time the president facing a lot of criticism from some democrats as well. he's got in gallup a 47% approval rating which isn't bad considering everything they've been through. maureen dowd wrote, faced with a country keening for reassurance

and reinvention obama seems at a loss regarding his political skills he turns out to be a odd case of a prague natist who can't learn from his mistakes and adapt. >> listen it's that time of year in washington. we're in august the president's going to take some hits. i found that poll very good news for the president. if you look at it closely he's ahead in 16 states in the district of columbia and ahead in the sense he has a 50% job approval or better. that's 215 electoral votes. and to find the other votes you need to win the presidency there are a lot of options for him. as i see it right now, there's a lot of talk about the president being weak on the back foot. i see the president with a solid foundation to build on in terms of lek trorl college support. if he runs a great campaign as he did last time, i think he's going to win it. >> what about florida, what about ohio what about winning north carolina and virginia? >> listen one or more of those states is going to have to be in. ohio's lost a couple of votes. florida has picked up some

votes. if you start with the base that he has a very solid base, if you look at the option for putting other states together i think you find if he wins a state like virginia, for example, he can win the presidency. if he wins virginia or north carolina he's almost unbeatable. if he wins florida there's no way the republicans can win. i see it as someone who's done this over the years with a lot of options. >> do you guy haves to fold your tent? >> oh, yeah. it's nice. >> quit while you're ahead. >> i think he puts out an optimistic scenario for the president. i think the president's got some real problems. he's forfeited a lot of ground. he still has a left base that he has to contend with and shore up going into these elections in november next year. i think republicans are still kind of figuring out themselves. >> host the strongest candidate against him at this point? the general election? >> to be honest i don't know?

i don't think that's very clear right now. we've got the perry he's a number two in national polls and he's not in the race yet. i think there's a lot of sorting out to be done on the right side of the field before we can see what a head to head looks like for obama. the president has forfeited a lot of leadership points on this discussion. really having to make up a lot of ground. he may be up 50 points or 51 points in some of these states, 15 states. but i don't think it's enough to give him the election next year at this point. >> michael steele, ted, great to see you again. >> and thank you both. and coming up next, making the grade. schools finding new solution to their budget problems. make the parents pay. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose.

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in multiple studies during the past 14 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur such as, infections, lymphoma or other types of cancer, blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. make today the day you talk to your rheumatologist. and ask how you can defend against and help stop further joint damage with humira.

i'm tamron hall coming up on "news nation", a grand jury will decide if three white teenagers accused of targeting and killing an african-american man will be charged with a hate crime. this after witnesses heard the boys screaming quote, white power. police say the teenagers were on the mission to mess with an african-american. we'll talk with an attorney representing the family of the man killed. plus -- unbelievable video. that's a sightseeing tour or what was supposed to be a fun tour in alaska it goes terribly wrong after a massive glacier breaks apart dangerously close to the boat. get an update on the tourists who were injured plus talk to the person who shot that stunning video. "news nation" only 15 minutes away. now to our continuing series, making the grade. the public schools debate has move from the courthouse torque the state house and to the kitchen table.

as schools begin charging fees for programs, sometimes even textbooks parents are faced with difficult choices when it comes to educating their own children. michael griffith is a policy analyst at the education commission for the states and joins us from colorado. patients are being asked to lay out money for things that we've always taken for granted. how have all these budget cuts filtered will you the state and affecting local school districts? >> it's an issue we've seen nationwide. the issue comes down to districts will tell you we're looking state funding, we're looking local funding. we have to make up the difference somehow. it's a choice of charging parents a fee or discounting some programs. and so, you know, we've heard more and more of this happening around the country and quite frankly it's a disturbing trend. >> it's a curbing trend because what you are faced with then are

disappropriation cuts on those who can pay and those who can't pay. those hit the hardest in the cities and rural areas get hammered and their kids are not educated. >> that's right. if some of these fees are supposedly voluntary. the way they're sent to parents it doesn't seem that way. one of the co-wokkers stated the supplies she needed to bring with the student on the first day. at the bottom it said and there's a $45 school fee attached to that. what it should say is the school fee is voluntary. you can't deny a student entry into school because they can't afford to pay the fee. it should also clearly line out how you can appeal what you can do and what the ramifications are if you cannot or will not pay these fees. and you know, in some cases parents are implying that if we can't afford this, either my student can't attend the school or my student can't take these certain courses and that's not

something we want to see happen to low income or even moderate income families. >> this seems to be breaking the essential contract that we've always had in this country since the 19th century of public education being available to all. >> you're right. it's gotten bad enough in certain states like california a group of papers got together and sued saying it's no longer become a free education in our system. that between all these fees we're being charged and even if there is a voluntary out for some of them, if parents don't understand that, it puts a lot of pressure on them. so yes, it really crosses that line between, you know, the idea of it's a free education for all students regardless of your family income. and it is one of those things that it's not just the number of fees but it's the specific courses that kids need to get on to college that tend to charge these fees. >> which becomes a self-perpetuating cycle where the kids who are disadvantaged

in elementary and secondary education can't afford to go on, aren't prepared to go on and then have their futures completely altered by what's happening now in the public school system. michael griffith, thank you very much for joining us today. and join msnbc this sunday august 14th, at 00 for a special two-hour program, a stronger america making the grade. live from detroit hosted by my friend and colleague tamron hall along with jeff johnson. and be part of the conversation now at facebook.com/strongeramerica. and what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours. that's next. but first, forget no crying in baseball. there were plenty of tears at a minor league baseball game in spokane, washington, monday might when sergeant chris whiteman surprised his wife and twin daughters in the middle of the fourth inning.

he's back from his third tour in afghanistan. look at that happy reunion.

which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor jonathan capehart is an editorial writer for "the washington post" and joins me now. hey, jonathan. >> hi, andrea. >> so much happening on the economic front. the president really has got to sort of get his arms around this. i don't know what he can do, but he is meeting with the fed chairman later this afternoon and the economic team. >> right. he's having a big, as the white house is saying, a regularly scheduled meeting with fed chairman ben bernanke, treasury secretary tim geithner, chief of staff bill daley and also economic advisor gene sperling. clearly they have a lot to talk about in this meeting given the

gyrations in the market, up 600 points monday, up 400 points and down the last time i saw 288 points today. clearly, there's a lot of anxiety and anxiousness out in the country over what's happening to this country economically, so they have a lot to talk about today. >> some democrats even beginning to say that the president needs to show more leadership, not sure what he can do, but wanting to see something out of the white house. >> right. it's in these situations when there's anxiety and concern. people want to know that somebody is at the helm, somebody is trying to do something to get a handle on this situation. people talking about asking the president to ask congress to come back to washington, what that -- you know, to what end, i don't know, but, you know, i think a lot of people hope that the administration will move quickly once summer is over and people are focused after labor day. >> jonathan capehart, thanks so much and we'll see you at 3:00 filling in for martin bashir,

excited about that. >> thanks, andrea. >> that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," and tomorrow on the show we'll talk about 2012 politics with the senior advisor to the pawlenty campaign. to the new yorkers about that profile he's down on michele bachmann and "washington post"'s eugene robinson and cnbc's jim cramer joining us. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "newsnation." hi, tam. >> next hour, we're following breaking news from washington and wall street. the dow took another sharp slide after yesterday's huge rebound. in the third straight day of market may hernlgs and we know the names -- we now know the names of most of the lawmakers who will make up that super committee whose mission is to cut the nation's debt, and already republicans are slamming one of the democrats selected for the subcommittee. why? plus, breaking news, three siblings who are the focus or were the focus for a nationwide manhunt. "newsnation" is just minutes away. ♪

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hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the "newsnation" is following breaking skremts on wall street and in washington. on wall street, it's another tumultuous day with two hours left in the trading day. the dow is now 291 points. that's after yesterday's 430-point rally following monday's plunge of 635 points. what's going on there, and from washington, the president prepares to meet with fed chairman ben bjork they afternoon. we now also know that 9 of the 12 members of congress who will sit on the new super committee. they are charged with coming up with another $1.5 trillion in federal budget cuts. let's bring in nbc's kristen welker at white house. before we get to those selected for the super committee, let's talk about the meetings the president will have later today. what do we know? hi there, tamron. the president will meet with ben bernanke, timothy geithner,