ceiling. so that's what we'll see play out in the coming weeks and the lines are being drawn on this front. president obama saying that he's not going to agree to a package that only involves spending cuts, but republicans, house speaker john boehner saying that that is what they are going to be fighting for. the white house has gotten leverage after this last budget battle because, remember, it included tax hikes on wealthier americans as well as spending cuts and they think that will give them more growth fund as they enter this next round of negotiations. house speaker john boehner saying he's essentially done negotiating with the president one-on-one. we might see different folks sitting at the table early on in these next round of negotiations. i can tell you that president obama according to my shoreses at the white house will be hitting the road very close after the inauguration. he believes this is one of his strongest tactics to make his

argument to the american people to let them pressure congress to get something done. you heard him preview this argument that if the nation does not increase its debt ceiling and if this becomes a long, drawn-out battle like the one we saw back in 2011, the economy will suffer greatly for it. so the battle lines are getting drawn, craig. get ready for another big washington with, knockdown, drag-out fight. it sounds like it will be debt ceiling before immigration. >> well, i wouldn't say that. i have been talking to my sources here who say that the president is still very focused on his second term agenda which includes immigration reform and enacting stiffer gun control laws and also some new energy policies in terms of the timeline, the white house is still working all of that out, but they say that the president is determined not to have these budget battles derail or side line his other policy goals. a lot of analysts are looking at

the situation and saying it's tough to do that and there are more budget battles that are on the horizon that will take up a lot of time and public attention and consumption. >> kristen welker. honolulu. kristen, thank you so much. we'll check in with you later. one piece of good news for president obama from the victory in 2012, it's officially in the books. the election that dominated the airwaves finally came to a close friday when a joint session of congress led by vice president joe biden confirmed the 332 lech ral votes for president obama. so who will be the next lawmaker to receive that same honor? joining me now, brian bointler and amy stoddard from the hill. thanks for coming in on a saturday. amy, let me start with you. a few weeks ago, this conversation was all about hillary clinton, but there are other names making news right now. let's start with a man we just

saw, america's happy warrior, vice president joe biden had a good week. age might be a factor, though, but can we discount the role he's played in the most important fiscal deal of the last few years? >> no, we can't, and i think he's underrated. i think he's underappreciated. he is the subject of many jokes as everyone knows. >> he's had one or two, but he has clearly been just really an incredible players in many dram as and key legislative battles getting to a decision on the 2012 election on the package of tax cuts and getting to a deal in 2011 to avert default, getting to a package to avert the fiscal cliff, all at the 11th hour and because of his longstanding relationships on capitol hill of trust.

that haven't gone badly that have held up over time and even while he's been in the white house serving with president obama. so he'll be very important to president obama's ability to deal with republicans in the months to come and in the years to come. >> brian, this is one of what joe biden's biggest fan his to say this week. take a listen. >> he is exactly who he is. he's the same person at home. he's the same person at home depot and the halls of congress and that's one of the reasons he's so successful among democrats and so successful across the aisle with republicans over the course of 36 plus years on the national stage. >> there's his son there bo biden, we should note from "jansing & company" this week. how will a biden run in 2016 be different from what we saw in 2008 and even what we saw in 1988. he's not going to be a senator -- he was senior senator, but senators from delaware don't have the same

sort of national platform that he has as vice president. so does that -- he's kind of gotten almost like a cult following, not just with politicos, but with regular people because, you know, his campaignantics, during obama's reelection sort of, you know, became headlines and became news stories. >> they want him to have his own reality show. >> i'm not exactly sure how exciting it would be. >> amy, there's a lot of talk this week about paul ryan's vote supporting the fiscal deal and what his role would be in these upcoming fiscal cliff -- not fiscal cliff, but fiscal negotiations. from a political perspective, what should we expect from the house budget chairman in the months ahead. >> we're not so sure at this point. it was very clear when he returned to the campaign trail after mitt romney lost to president obama that paul ryan wanted to be part of the negotiations on the fiscal deal

and wanted to be at the speaker's side and he was, we just didn't see it. he was with him all along helping with negotiations and decision its decisions as you saw in very politically and brave supported the speaker and passed a bill with majority democrats. that is a vote that senator marco rubio took a pass on over on the senate side and could be a problem for paul ryan if he wants to run for president in 2016 when he's in the primary process and the purists tell him that was a tax hike and a sellout. he did say i came here to do things. he wanted to vote for a tax cut and everyone's races had been raised and the cut cut battle is one he may notten game. >> he might not have a -- and he remains even when it's not public verien teg ry en teinteg

negotiations. >> where does that leave him in 2016, do you think? >> rubio is much more clearer than robin. he's an ideological member and a team player on the other and he has long standing on congressional republicans and he wants to make sure that he's protected when it comes to the primaries in 2016 from the base. he doesn't have, you know, paul ryan can go to the base and if they are upset about the fiscal deal, he can say look at my record, it goes back over ten years, i'm the guy who basically voted the republican party platform which is sort of this conservative architecture that you support. i'm the real deal. marco rubio has to prove to his bona fides and that's what happened with that vote. >> thank you so much. we'll have you back later in the hour. right now, though, u.s. troops are on the ground in turkey close to the syrian

border and patriot missiles are also on the way. the two-year conflict in syria has now killed more than 60,000 people in that country. according to the united nations, officials there are calling it, quote, truly shocking. anabelle roberts is in london live for us this afternoon with the very latest. anabelle? >> reporter: craig, yes. the u.s. troops are there at turkey's request as part of the nato deployment reinforcing defenses along the country's border with syria. the missiles are on the way and will be operational toward the end of january. meanwhile, inside syria, the bloodshed continues. people caught up in this latest explosion race to help the victims. it's believed this is the aftermath of an air strike that hit a gas station four days ago. at least 30 people were killed here. just north of the city, two days later, another gas station went up in flames.

it's thought this blast was caused by a car bomb. no one has claimed responsibility. the violence in syria continues as forces loyal to president bashar al assad fight over territory with rebel groups. footage of summary executions can be found on the internet. where this film comes from is uncertain. here two rebels are tortured by men in military uniform and killed. >> every day, the death toll mounts. the united nations estimates 20,000 have been killed and they estimated true figure is probably much higher. >> more than half a million have fled the bloodshed and kreshtly living in camps along syria's border like this in jordan. >> american soldiers have started arriving in turkey. 400 are being deployed here to deploy nato anti-missiles across turkey to bolster defenses against the chaos of syria.

for 21 months, fighting has been tearing this country apart and there is still no political solution in sight. >> syrian state media has just announced that president assad will deliver a speech tomorrow. that's extremely important as he hasn't spoken about the conflict for several weeks. they say he's due to talk about developments in syria and the region. craig? >> anabelle, very quick question before i let you get out of here with regard to the rebels and their fighting prowess. how can we characterize it now versus six months ago? >> well, i think the rebels are certainly concerned that their supplies are running out and they're not getting the reinforcements they need and they're not getting the funding that they need and these are certainly complaints that we've heard reported from syria. so i think the real question is this seems to be turning into some kind of stalemate and that there is no political solution in sight.

>> anabelle roberts, thank you very much as always, for your work. coming up, back to politics, what could drive barney frank back to washington, the day after his retirement became official. we'll talk about that and up next, what freshman year is like for new members of congress. we've got one of them. who will join us on the other side of this break. don't go anywhere.

president kennedy in congress, joe kennedy iii joined the freshman class of the 13th congress. he replaces retiring congressman barney frank. joe iii is the grandson of the late robert kennedy who was assassinated while running for president in 1968. he is the first member of the kennedy family to serve in congress since patrick kennedy of rhode island retired back in

2011. this year's freshman class helps make the 113th congress the most diverse in history. new members include as we just reported there, kennedy was the first openly bisexual member, a former army helicopter pilot who is also a double amputee, a record number of women, a record number of minorities, congress's first buddhist member along with a couple of entertainers and a novelist as well. let's bring in one of those new members, a newly sworn in from oklahoma's 2nd district, a small businessman, we should note. not an entertainer. good to see you, congressman. congratulations. >> thank you. thank you for having me on. >> how has your life changed in the last 48 hours? >> you know, it's something we've been working towards this whole time and so this is just another step in our life. something we've been expecting so i don't know if it's really changed. we're just excited to go to work. >> why did you run and what do

you hope to work on? >> you know, the simple fact and the reason why i got in this race is because i got fed up and i simply mean that. i sat back in my office before i got into politics and i constantly heard republicans and democrats alike said they were trying to create jobs and as a business owner it seems like what they're doing is making it tougher and tougher for us to go to work and i got fed up, and i thought if i'll do something about it and if i want to say involved. if you want to stay in business get involved in politics. i put my money where my mouth was and decided let's go to washington and give them the business point of view. >> what should congress be doing to create those aforementioned jobs. >> nothing. get out of our way. we got in business because we want to stay in business and the way the government works right now is they punish you for success. it seems like the more success you obtain in government the

more regulations come down on you. we spend half our time filling out paperwork where we can be productive doing our jobs and doing what we got in business to do. instead we spend all of our time hiring people to fill out paperwork and navigate through the red tape and the red tape is getting thicker and thicker. >> give me a good example. something that should be rolled back or eliminated immediately. >> well, national healthcare. >> now wait a minute. congressman. congressman, i'm going stop you because what you just said -- >> you asked me and -- >> if we're talking about something that's politically feasible and it's been demonstrated time and time again. that is noting in that's politically feasible and how about we move on and talk about things that we can do in this country that would actually create jobs instead of waging battles for the past two years. >> hey, look, in all truth, government doesn't need to be

trying to create jobs. they need to get out of our way. >> okay. >> the more and more they get involved in the private sector the more and more they screw it up and if we can simply move them out of our way we can get moving again. they're -- sir, come to my office one day, walk down my -- walk down the long hall of my office and you'll find office after office full of people doing nothing, but pushing paperwork trying to comply with all these different regulations from the department of labor to osha to epa and on the backs of national health care. >> it sounds like that's what i'm hearing. >> absolutely. >> a specific regulation? >> like i -- let's just go the payroll department. let's just go with the payroll department and see all of the paperwork to just employ one person how much paperwork it requires for a business owner to fill out. and then you go out and you

start bidding jobs and you've got to, say we're going to be putting utility line for a mile long in the ground and we got to do all these environmental impact studies and we have to deal with fish and game and all these agencies just to be able to get started and a lot of them are redundant and if a congressman or someone in washington would actually come and work with us one day. >> yeah. >> and see how many departments we've got to go through that are redundant that are piled on top of each other, they would even sit back and laugh. and for those that haven't been there, i'm not doubting you for not being in business. >> sure. >> but it's really hard for someone to understand what it's like unless you've spent one day in our office. we spend literally 40 cents on every dollar that comes in our company to comply with mandates and regulations. 40 cents on every dollar. >> last question here before i let you go. >> no problem.

>> as a congressman, are you going to be, not to oversimplify, a compromiser or more of a fighter, more of a purist? >> you know, i believe in negotiating. i don't believe in compromising or who i am and my core value, but i've been sitting at the negotiating table since i was 20 years old and there's a right way and wrong way to get things done and republicans, not all republicans are right and not all democrats are right and there are good ones and bad ones on boeing sides and so what we need to do is drop the label of republican and democrat. do what's best for the country because we were sent there to represent the people and not represent the party and so often we draw the line between republican and democrat and say hey, look, weir not going to work with you because you're a republican, or because you're a democrat. we didn't do hardly anything together. how are you supposed to work for someone if you haven't been able to --

>> amen. >> so why is that? >> did you make an effort to find democrats to take to the starbucks. >> absolutely. i walked up to everybody i could and even though there were not assigned busses where there would be a republican bus and a democrat bus and they weren't a signed busses, but if you didn't do anything together, people have a tendency to sit with each other. >> the republican bus is on the right side and on the democrat bus is on the left side and i thought hey, so i went on the got on the democrat bus and i sat down and had a long conversation with the other business owners over there, too and we got along great. i still talk to the members. in fact, during the swearing in i sat over on the left side and the democrat side. >> you may want to be careful with that, congressman. that's a sure-fire way to end up to a crappy committee. >> no, you know, i've let everybody know right off the bat. i don't agree with everything the republican party does and i don't agree with everything the democrat party does and i'm sure

there are members on both sides which i know there is that are just like me. we went out there for one reason and that reason is to represent the american people and we're willing to work together to figure out the best way to make that happen. >> i swear this is the last question because we definitely have to go after this. one thing that you don't agree with that the gop stands for or has tried to implement over the last year or two. one thing. >> well, i didn't really agree with the idea of raising taxes. >> you know what? and you know what? we'll have to end there because that would be a two or three-minute longer conversation. >> i know. mark wayne mullen from oklahoma. we certainly hope you continue hopping on the wrong bus. we try to bring it to the nation's capital. >> the right bus. >> sir, thank you so much. the pakistani teenager nearly killed for her push for girls' education rights now back with her family, but will she be

returning to pakistan to continue her fight? the latest on malhala's story coming up. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. take long. i'm done. are you thinking what i'm thinking? ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ okay. all right. oh! [ female announcer ] the 2-in-1 swiffer sweeper uses electrostatic dry cloths to clean better than a broom. and its wet mopping cloths can clean better than a mop in half the time so you don't miss a thing. mom, have you seen my -- hey! hey! he did it. [ female announcer ] swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back.

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every personalized document to answer any questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected. after a huge outcry, congress approves a small part of the bill providing relief funds for those hit by super storm sandy. a fight for the rest of the money is still to come. i'll be joined by the mayor of one of the areas that needs help the most. plus, barney frank wants to be a senator now days after saying how eager he was for peace and quiet. his change of heart next. this is msnbc, even on the weekends, the place for politics. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. hmm, we need a new game.

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begging for. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on new jersey and new york are absolutely furious and asbury mayor johnson is here. are there members of congress, perhaps who underestimate the destruction that the storm caused? >> i really can't tell you. i'm not sure what's going on. we have yet to see any major leader of congress come to the ground in new york or new jersey and actually visit. >> not to my knowledge, and so for -- we have a lot of people, we hear a lot from congress saying that perhaps the disaster wasn't as -- as disastrous as people tell us, where the damage wasn't as great, but they don't know what they're talking about until they've been down on the ground with the people of new jersey. >> congress is ready to approve $9.7 billion in federal funds and that's about 15% of the $60

billion package and money designated for people who have flood insurance. what's going to happen to them and how are people without flood insurance in your town in particular how have they been able to hold it together. >> they're not, and that's exactly the truth of the matter. >> we have people and let me just drill down on this. we have college students that have dropped out of college because of this, because of home disasters. we have 72,000 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed and that's just in new jersey. so we have people outside of their home, outside of their jobs, outside of their lives and there are people waiting and here we are in january, in the midst of winter. so we have a whole bunch of people that are asking, that are begging for help. >> critics of the bill have said that one of the problems is that it was laden with pork. what's your response to that? >> well, you know what? there's a point, and i

understand. i've been listening very carefully to what they have to say, but you know, the time to debate the lifeboats is not after the titanic has hit the iceberg and that's exactly what's going on right now. we need help now, and if you want to talk about fema or you want to talk about our disaster response in the united states which i believe that we do need to talk about because i can compare our disaster response or disaster system almost to our electrical grid. both are outdated and they're dealing with 20th century policy with 21st century needs. >> we'll leave it there. thank you so much for your time. we do appreciate you being here and i especialliy appreciate th washington redskins pin. >> i'd a proud redskins fan. barney frank retired after more than 30 years of the house of representatives. he told "the boston globe,"

quote, i'm ready to get out of here, but did anyone expect barney frank to go quietly? now after less than a day without his house seat, the former congressman wants out of retirement. frank telling msnbc's "morning joe" yesterday, he wants duval patrick to appoint him that will be vacate if and when john kerry becomes secretary of state. >> if i -- in fact, i'm not going to be -- i've told the governor that i would like frank to do that because i would like to be a part of that. >> i want to bring in "the boston globe" statehouse bureau chief frank phillips and you're sitting there in congressman frank's home district right now. is anybody there surprised at all? i think we are a little surprised. he has been talking about it for several years, i've had private conversations with him over the last few years.

he's tired of talking about it and in the last few days he's talking now that he wants to go back into the u.s. senate and get involved and get involved and they were controversial issues. >> i think the colleagues of the globe, thaw talked to the former congressman yesterday and did he give youio insight as to why he may have changed his mind about wanting to leave issue what wash. >> he said there are a lot of issues on the table and the fiscal cliff issues and the debt issues. i'm thinking assault weapons ban proposals, and he has a chance to go to the senate and from the democrats' point of view, what better voice for them? he's an experienced legislator on capitol hill and knows how to cut deals, as partisan as he's been with a very sharp tongue. he works across the aisle very well. he would be a good choice for

the democrats from massachusetts whether the governor is inclined to put him there or not. >> let's talk about that. >> barney frank added that he is, in fact, on the short list. did the congressman, did he put governor patrick in a tough spot here? >> he kind of did. >> for that, i don't think he'll get the appointment. i think there's a good chance that the governor doesn't want to look like he's been shoved around and forced to do this. he's got some other ideas and i think he wants to make his own imon this and it's just for four, five, maybe six months in the confirmation process and, so i think he's -- his chief political advisers thwarted that this is not a good appointment. >> who do you think it's -- who do you think is not in step?

>> perhaps vicky kennedy. the widow of the late senator edward kennedy. she's a taf rid of the governors. she hasn't said no to it. she could be one of them and one of the minor political figures who would love to have it. it's up to patrick and he could really pull somebody out of the hat that would not even know it. >> frank phillips, boston globe, thank you so much for that insight. i do appreciate you. >> thank you for having me. >> malala back with her family after three months recovering in the hospital with a gun shot wound to the head and she is making excellent progress and it will help her to be with her family full time as well. they're living right now in the united kingdom because the taliban says it would shoot her again. malala became a target after she campaigned for women in

afghanistan. my friend and colleague has been covering the story since the beginning. good of you to come in on this saturday. first of all, remarkable recovery. how is she doing? >> she's doing well by all accounts. sources close to her say she's recovering well. this girl was shot in the head at point-blank range and she's only 15 years old. so by all accounts, being able to walk out of the hospital in her own two feet is a major milestone when it comes to her recovery. she's got a physical recovery to make after a long surgery and hopefully at the end of this month and then, of course, there's a psychological recovery and there's a lot of trauma when it comes to being shot by the taliban and this girl has a long road ahead of her. >> she's committed to her fight for education in pakistan. will they come back? >> it doesn't look like it right now. certainly they've been saying and pakistani officials have been saying, but they want to go

back, and you think how can they? the taliban have said they will try to kill her and her father? they do come back. there's still a very real threat in her home district and girls go to school with an armed guard outside and there's been an uptick in violence and the taliban has been targeting health workers and teachers so the threat is still very, very real and this is a girl whose portfolio has extended and the impact she's having is not just there, so i think she will continue to have an impact across pakistan and around the world. >> what implications has this had and will this continue to have, potentially, for the future of girls' education in that country? >> i think it's still too early to say. certainly if there's anything good that's come of this attack on malala is there's finally a conversation that's been had that's never been had at the highest level. education has never been

priority f priority. and they spend 3% of their budget on education and that's abysmal. single digits in some parts for women in the country. we're talking about a country of 180 million and the vast majority of them are under the age of 25. a lot of work to be done. >> that's astounding and malala will inspire some of that change. >> that's one of the things that this story has done is highlighted that, because i for one, had no idea the chasm that existed with regard and just splitting my education between that country and the rest of the industrial world. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much. >> appreciate and continue to follow the story and come back with an update, a happy update, we hope. >> hope so. save my son. it is a unique tfr of it effort aimed at helping some of the young men at greatest risk in our society. it is a fantastic program, if you haven't checked it out yet. i'll talk to the host about this series. we'll talk about whether with the effort is working.

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>> correcting a problem in its early stages is oftentimes the best remedy for many troubled young black men. it could very well be their best shot at a productive future. that's the premise behind tv-1's save my son. it debuted last season and hosted by a guy named steve perry and his blunt, no-nonsense approach to help teenagers find redemption. it's today's what's the big idea. steve's joining me live from hartford, connecticut. dr. perry, always good to see you, sir. >> nice to see you, craig. >> on this show you take us into these kids' homes and offering real-life solutions and it's a blunt approach for folks who have not seen the show, to problems like education, problems like stealing and problems like abandonment. when did you decide this would be an effective method of teaching and parenting. >> one of the things most of us don't realize is how bad off our

boys are, not just our black boys, but boys in general. if you took a look at participation of college rates of men versus women you'd find since 1974 the rate of participation for men is far less than it is for women. in fact, you can go to the rate of incarceration. of the 1.4 million prisoners in the united states of america, over 1.3 million are men. the system, both the education system and the justice system are sexist towards men. >> you describe what you do on the show as a movement. explain that for me. >> because it's more than just a show. it's more than just a conversation about the entertainment on tv. it's showingio you that there are endemic issues that we can, in fact, find solutions to. some of them are direct, one to one, showing a young man love. what you've seen on "save my son" is when i sit down with a young man in most case whaes

they are missing is love. what happens is the very circumstances that brought them to us began to overtake them so it has to be a movement and what i'm finding is we get thousands, literally thousands of e-mails and texts from all over the country in different parts of the world from mothers and fathers raising young men, saying i just don't know what to do. >> dr. perry, how do we get here? by that, you mentioned you pointed out statistics there and you talked about the chasm that exists young boys and young girls. >> if you look at 1954 stats in terms of the overall disproportionate participation of african-americans in successful schools, we found that that made the system racist. now if you look at the same data, we find that it makes them inherently sexist. the affirmative action did work. they worked well for women. >> income, not just white women, but black women, as well, from 1974 and this is the census

data. 23% of african-american women participated in one generation. if you look at latinos and now it's over 35%. if you look at white women it went from 35% to 57% and what that means is this, when you give men just a little education, their rate of incarceration virtually goes away. in fact, when you look at african-american men, with just some college, less than 2% chance of going to prison. >> quickly, before i let you go out of here. has this show at all affected your relationship with your own kids? >> it has, quite a bit. i'm missing my son's basketball game right now and i feel bad about it because i understand that so many of the boys i spoke with just needed their dad or someone to get out of their game. >> i'll let you get out of here and maybe you can catch the second half. >> you come back. >> thank you, craig. >> what makes this new congress unique? we'll tell you. we'll tell you what it is and how it might have an impact on some major issues. come back. [ male announcer ] the more you lose, the more you lose

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>> you are well and faithfully charged with the duties of the office, so help you god. >> i do. >> love you. >> the diverse new senate includes tammy baldwin right there. one of the 20 women senators and the first openly gay lawmaker to serve in the upper chamber >> i do. >> congratulations, senator. and congratulations mom. congratulations. do you have any family? >> south carolina's tim scott of course the only african american serving in the senate and the first black senator from the south since reconstruction, believe it or not. what can we expect from the new members that comprise the with weave of diversity. ab, let's start with tammy

baldwin. coming from the same tat that put ron johnson in the senate not long ago. will she be a political soldier for progressives or be more moderate in representing a swing state? >> that is an interesting question, she is a known progressive. but wisconsin is a state of ticket splitters as you know, many wisconsin voters will vote for a democrat and republican on the same day, re-electing paul ryan and voting for president obama for example, she will have to look at the change demographics in her state. the first couple years she will vote like she has before and remain on the, you know, on the progressive side. it is a challenge to the members coming in, obviously, because whether you are a progressive or a conservative, the congress is so grid locked and so pair liesed right now, it's incumbent on anyone who wants to make a

difference to move to the middle and break away from the party a bit, to talk to the other party to be at the center where the deals are getting done. >> brian, let's talk about a woman having trouble moving to the senate -- moving to the center. a biggest star, elizabeth warren. do you see her being out front immediately or taking the approach that we have seen from other figures, laying low and learning the ropes and taking time to build relationships. >> i think given that she, through her public service has fostered relationships, she has a head start in that regard, she is a pro active as a policy thinker and now policy maker. i kind of expect her to be more out front than the more new to particulars members of the house and senate. if she has presidential ambitions in 2016, she will

watch where she is falling on which side of the negotiating deals. ab, let's talk about my fellow south carolina resident, tim scott. how high can his star rise in the gop, ab? >> i think very high. south carolina, as you know i believe elected the first african american in the senate, he is a young star among tea party conservatives and i think he will have as a senator, in a job that seems like it will be safe for him. a real spotlight basically. in not only in the south, but where the south meet it is the north and the rest of the country in republican politics, traditionally been a southern party, but it needs to spread out and make new coalitions and try to capture majorities in other parts of the country.

he is perfectly positioned as sort of the historical figure to keep the spotlight, he wants to be part of the effort to grow the party. >> i think one of the most important things that you mentioned, he has become a king maker on of sorts for republican presidential wanna-bes that have to go through his state to do it. do appreciate your time on a saturday afternoon. >> thanks. >> i am dwragz, expected to be another major issue -- immigration, expected to be a major issue in the congress, i will talk to a leading voice in the fight for immigrant rights. up next though, the final bill for the fiscal cliff deal, what it's actually going to cost you. there's some pork in there. dry mouth may start off as an irritant. it'll cause cavities, bad breath. patients will try and deal with it by drinking water. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it,

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breaks tacked on to the fiscal cliff deal, they are exactly the kind of thing that gets the tea party in a twist. we will see where all the money is going. welcome in of course you are watching msnbc, the place for follow particulars and the fight over sandy recovery funds are fuelling controversy, but there's another victim of sandy that you may not have heard of. and it's official, the election of 2012 is over, what it took to make that happen and how the next one is already sneaking into the conversation. the big fights coming up in d.c. are all about our money, from how to spend it to who should pay. the president warning republicans that he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling deal, but several gop senators warn they could shut government down to get what they want and that of course is spending cuts. this is what i was told efarlie today. >> the extreme right wing wants

to shut down the government because they do not like the government at all. they would have no government unanimous this government. the tea party represents a good 100 votes on the other side. >> for more on all of this, i want to bring in nbc white house correspondent, kristin welker, what is the president looking at when he heads back east? >> reporter: well, a lot of budget battles, despite that the fight over the fiscal cliff was resolve happen. they will face three big budget battles coming up on the horizon and analysts say that could sideline part of his second determine agenda which he will map out once he leaves hawaii. president obama soaking up on the final hours of vacation before he and congress engage in their next fiscal fight. at the top of the list, the debt ceiling, which is like the nation's credit card and it's about to