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gabe what did we learn from the briefing that just ended a few minutes ago? >> several new developments. first among them sink hole appears to be widening not just deepening. we've also been told a second

home has been compromised by this sink hole. that family was evacuated yesterday. but now they are being allowed for about 25 or 30 minutes to go into their home and collect their belongings. imagine if you were told that your home could collapse and you only had just a few minutes to get all of your personal belongings. that is what's happening right now right before our eyes. the sheriff's department says that they are going into the original house -- they haven't been able to go into the original house just yet but they are also testing the area around the house. even moved the media back several feet while they tested some of the area across the street. again only two homes have been evacuated at this point. this all started late thursday night when this family says that they heard a loud crash. jeremy bush went to the bedroom and saw a huge hole where his brother jeff bush was on his bed. and jeremy bush tried desperately to rescue him. he could not pull him out. but here's what he had to say about that experience.

>> and we heard a loud crash. i ran in there. i heard someone screaming. my brother screaming. and i ran in there. and all i could see was this big hole. all i could see was the tops of his bed. so i jumped in the hole and tried to get him out. and i couldn't get him. all i could hear was -- i thought i could hear him screaming for me and hollering for me to help him. i couldn't do nothing. >> again you are watching live as the family that has just been told that their home may be compromised as the sink hole continues to grow. they are being allowed to go into their home and retrieve some of their belongings. a lot of questions are surrounding the sink hole right now. the sheriff's department and engineers aren't sure what caused it, even though florida is -- they're relatively common in florida. the state has the most number of reported sink holes. but again lots of questions surrounding this particular one. engineers say that they may even have to demolish this home even though right now it appears like nothing happened because the sink hole is still confined

inside the home. but we're waiting to go get more information as it comes out, alex. >> just crazy. that family has maybe 30 minutes right now with all those firefighters around to run in there and get what they can and then hightail it out of there. here's what you can't understand. that the situation happened so fast that jeff's brother could not save him or that he couldn't save himself. i mean, do we know how deep this sink hole is? >> well, that is a question at this point. originally it was reported more than 20 feet. we're understanding it's even more than that, perhaps possibly more than 30 feet at this point. but again officials just aren't sure. as you mentioned that brother did jump in and a sheriff depp had to pull him out. a dramatic situation in florida. >> awful story. thank you. let's go to washington, d.c. where severe spending cuts are officially the law of the land. new word this morning from president obama. he's putting the blame squarely on congressional republicans for not stopping the sequester from taking effect.

>> here's the thing. none of this is necessary. it's happening because republicans in congress chose this outcome over closing a single wasteful tax loophole that helps reduce the deficit. just this week they decided that protecting special interest tax breaks for the well off and well connected is more important than protecting our military and middle class families from these cuts. >> but republicans aren't having any of it in their weekly address today throwing the blame right back at president and democrats. >> these devastating, across the board cuts, first proposed by the president, will affect the lives of so many hard-working americans. the president failed to act, and his senate never passed a bill to replace the sequester. >> well, here's where we stand. $85 billion in federal spending must be cut between now and october 1st. that includes a 9% hit to nonexempt domestic programs and a 13% decrease for defense. let's go to the white house and nbc's kristen welker.

with a good saturday to you, kristen, what else are you hearing from the white house today with this sequester now in effect? >> reporter: good afternoon, alex. white house officials are telling me that president obama is going to continue to try to work toward a solution to stave off these sequester cuts. in the short term. but it's hard to see how that happens, alex. because right now there's really no clear path forward. president obama met with congressional leaders here at the white house on friday as you recall. and those in the meetings say it was really both sides reiterating where they stand on this issue. president obama demanding that any plan include new revenues. republicans saying they're not going to agree to that because they just gave revenues during that last fiscal fight. house speaker john boehner left town, left for ohio. but before he left he sat down for an exclusive interview with nbc's david gregory which will air tomorrow on "meet the press." take a listen to what the speaker had to say. >> but i had asked the president and senator reid to come with a

plan to replace the sequester. listen. we've known about this for 16 months. and yet even today there's no plan from senate democrats or the white house to replace the sequester. in over the last ten months, house republicans have acted twice to replace the sequester. >> reporter: now of course, democrats, the president would push back against that. democrats did have a plan that failed to pass in the senate. president obama has put forward another plan. this administration would argue. but again, alex, it's tough to see how things move forward. and i have to tell you, congress has left town for the weekend. president obama doesn't have anything on his schedule today. there really just has been a lack of urgency in this entire sequester fight when you compare it to past budget battles. so a lot of americans watching with worry on this saturday afternoon. >> yeah, and kind of scratching their heads like what is going on in washington. we're going to see if we can answer that question later. thank you, kristen. joining me now democratic

congressman of california adam schiff. he serves on the house appropriations committee. thanks for joining us. >> good to see you, alex. >> so congressman, do you understand why folks at home meeting scratching their head not understanding why the congress and the president are not working today to solve this issue? >> absolutely. they have a right to wonder what's going on in washington. it is so dysfunctional in the capitol. but they just voted for what the president had proposed which was a balanced way to deal with our deficit and debt that included additional spending cuts but also new revenues. that's not what they're getting. instead they're getting across the board cuts that are being done in an indiscriminate way that are going to cost us 750,000 jobs. one thing i think the americans made clear in the elections, that is that jobs was the top priority. jobs first, cuts second. both important but not to sacrifice economic growth by going to an austerity budget. unfortunately that's where we are. >> we have these furloughs, we have the job cuts.

and you know that you're going to hear from your constituents as will every other member of congress. how confident are you that american people and their outcry against this will foster change? >> it's the only thing that can foster change. i really think that the members need to hear from their constituents that this sequester is just unacceptable. that the sacrificing of 750,000 jobs, which is what is estimated will be lost through the sequester is completely unacceptable. and that the parties need to come to the table. right now only the democrats are sitting at the table. the gop in the house i think decided a month and a half ago they were going to allow the sequester to go into effect, that cuts was their top priority, and that they were okay with the consequences. the speaker pretty much said as much. he was okay with job losses. well, that's not okay. and i think the president is right. it's going to take those republicans hearing from their constituents saying this is not okay. go back to the table. agree to something balanced. and let's get our economy moving again.

>> presuming that both parties, everybody, comes back to the table, where does a deal lie? because the only way to do politics, it seems, most of the time is to compromise. so where does that compromise lie? >> well, there is a compromise that we're going to have to undertake. and it will entail more cuts. the defense department is going to have to be leaner and more efficient. there are going to be additional cuts to defense nondiscretionary spending. we're already at a 50-year low. but they're also going to have to be new revenues. we're going to have to get rid of some of these special interest tax loopholes for the very wealthy, hedge fund billionaires, for the oil industry which is making the highest profits in its history. we can't afford those kind of giveaways in a time of deficit and debt. we're going to have to make changes in the entitlements. the president has already proposed reducing costs in medicare. so all these things are going to have to be done. and frankly, reasonable minds getting in a room together can agree. but right now we don't have a new york partner in the house.

and in fact the gop is at war with itself between the tea party caucus and the rest of the gop. and until we know who we're negotiating with, it's very difficult. >> but let's say a month from now, if a government shutdown is averted and all of that, are we just going to be saying that sequester thing, what an annoying bit of history? >> no. because a month from now and the good news is i think there's a lot of discussion and movement on making sure the government doesn't shut down. but it's more likely that the sequester will continue. and if it does continue, then the pain is going to become more and more severe as every month goes by. because we're making a year's worth of cuts in seven months. and all those cuts are visited on the smaller parts of the budget. so we're going to go from a situation we are even before the sequester where we're investing less in education, in science and research, than we have in the last 50 years to a point where we may be making a smaller

investment than we have in some of those areas in 100 years. that represents the country destroying its own future. and that's somewhere we just can't go. >> may i ask you quickly? you know i'm a california girl. >> sure. >> i've got children that are students in my concern students your state, the students who need the help are going to be the ones that get hit the hardest, that need the most help. can you address that? >> unfortunately that's absolutely true. but with some of those programs that help those most in need, childhood vaccines or head start or college students trying to get by or kids in k-12 that want to go to a reasonable class size or those in special ed. they are going to get hit the hardest. that's why this across the board cut that goes after the good programs as well as the inefficient ones that need to be cut is really a disaster. it's got to be averted. and i hope there'll be a new dedication after people hear from their constituents to come back to the table and fix this.

>> all right. well, democratic congressman adam schiff, thanks. how l.a. wants to bring back olympic glory. that was a great time in 1984. also a heated exchange at supreme court between two justice and a lawyer during a much-anticipated session. the battle of bataan, 1942. [ all ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto-insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. ♪ pop goes the world pop in a whole new kind of clean with tide pods. a powerful 3-in-1 detergent that cleans, brightens and fights stains. pop in. stand out.

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some headlines making news out on the west coast. like many papers across the country the san gabriel valley tribune in california has a front page article on the sequester deadline. you could argue it sums up what americans might think on the whole, washington is totally broken. the oregonian has a story about a new study on amtrak ridership. now passenger trains are making big gains in the portland-seattle area. experts say the findings run contrary to amtrak's reputation

as a bloated federally subsidiaried program. an article on the los angeles times about bringing back the bloik glory restoring the ten murls. with the sequester now in effect, one of the biggest questions what happens next. the president signed an order last night authorizing the government to begin the $85 billion in spending cuts. joining me now political reporter for "u.s. news and world report" lauren fox and white house reporter for the "washington post" david nakimura. good to see you both. >> lauren, your latest article is congress drives focus to prevent government shutdown. >> the two parties failed to come to a table to find a deal that worked for everyone. government shutdown is nothing that anyone wants to deal with. it's something the public would pay much closer attention to if the the government just didn't keep lights on. >> david, you cost white house

certainly. how long before someone blinks? anyone giving you an idea on that? >> i think as lauren said, the white house looks like from what the president said yesterday that they're not going to use the spending resolution in late march to sort of force this sequester issue forward again. the president said he would sign another spending bill that would keep the government open. they're not going to do a face-to-face showdown like that. but you saw from the president's weekly address the white house is going to keep the pressure on. the president is going to go around the country and say the republicans are going to block what i'm trying to do, make smarter spending cuts and not wanting to raise taxes through closing loopholes on the rich. so that's the sort of political calculation i think the white house is hoping that if the sequester cuts are severe enough that people start to feel it, they put enough pressure on congress, then that's going to do the trick down the road. >> but if we get a deal at some point, lauren, what is the timeline for that happening? you may have heard me asking represented an am adam schiff

month from now are we going to say it was a nuisance, annoying. does everything have to be done before march 27? >> the sequester looks like it's here to stay. republicans and democrats may find different ways to allocate those cuts. but it looks like the number is going to be sticking around for awhile. republicans in the house are more focused now on continuing resolution which they're going to vote on next week that would give the defense department a little bit more flexibility when it comes to allocating those sequestration cuts. so i don't think that we're going to see a deal to put off the sequester, although we may just see a couple appropriations bills to make congress able to give the agencies a little more flexibility when it comes to that. >> david, former white house press secretary robert gibbs, also a msnbc analyst, he spoke with us this morning about why no deal was reached to avoid sequestration. let's listen to that. >> many people in congress are far more concerned about a

primary challenge from the right in the case of house republicans than they ever are about being in a district where a democrat can beat them. so right now there isn't a lot that compels working across party lines right now. >> so david, all politics is local, right? even when it does damage to the national welfare? >> absolutely. the democrats, robert gibbs was involved in the president's first campaign. the president just went through another campaign. he said we litigated this. i put my message out there. so did mitt romney. so did the republican party and i won re-election. the country agrees with the direction i want to go which the president calls this balanced approach that includes raising taxes. republicans say look we gave you that in the fiscal cliff fight. we raised some of the rates on the wealthiest americans. we're not going to do it again. to some extent i think the democrats are right in republicans in certain districts do fear a challenge from the right and not going to budge no matter. what i think there's a philosophical difference they've been lit galt for over two years now over the side of the government. this is a test. the tea party is probably the group in washington that's

probably pleased right where the sequester is right now. i think you're going to see going forward can we live with these cuts? with that going forward first of ten years worth of potential cuts. can the white house, can everybody live with this or not. i think we're going to see that play out over the next six, seven months. >> okay. lauren, the president meeting with the congressional leaders from both parties friday. what went on at the meeting? was it just for show? >> i think when john boehner emerged from that meeting looking very frustrated, haggard, kind of tired talking about revenues, i think it was clear republicans and democrats a mile and a half down the road they were not on capitol hill. so it's unlikely anything was going to come of that meeting. folks knew nothing was going to come of it. it was more a photo opportunity than a sequestration summit yesterday. >> what about that widing moment, david, when the president spoke yesterday it caught the ear of geeks fans across america. take a listen. >> most people agree i'm presenting a fair deal. the fact that they don't take it means they shoe somehow do a

jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right. >> jedi stuff there. twitter went wild after this. people are pointing out there's no such thing as a jedi mind meld. just to clarify the jedis are from star wars, everybody. they can do those mind treks. you remember yoda. mind medal are from star track. they're a vulcan ability. you remember spock. so do you think the folksed in the white house were surprised when some of this off the stuff cuff happens? >> leave it to the washington wonks and twitters to immediately fact check every line of the president's remarks. the white house handled it well actually. instead of getting defensive about it they put out a picture on twitter with the president sort of super imposed and obi wan kenobi or something and sort of star wars themed montage and made fun of themselves. the white house likes to use social media to get the message out but they can poke fun at

them selves now and then. >> a little laughter never hurts in a situation like this. thanks, guys. appreciate it. in just a mini will talk sequester with the person i trust most to answer all my economic questions. but first in today's one-minute play back, jimmy fallon pokes fun at how talks in washington about the sequester got heated this week. >> take a look. this week john boehner said "we should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their ass and begins to do something." pretty intense. well, in response senate majority leader harry reid tried to take the high are and said "i think john boehner should understand who is sitting on their posterior. we're doing our best here to pass something." well, boehner responded to that by saying "oh, is someone afwaid of saying a bad word? are you going to get in twouble with your little mommy? to which reid replied no, because i've been spending too

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marie callender's pot pies. it's time to savor. looking live at the capitol building in washington today where no one that we know of is working on solving the latest fiscal crisis, vast across the board cuts. that's why david bernstein is joining me. senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities. also chief economist to vice president biden and a msnbc contributor. welcome. >> nice to be here. >> i'm glad you're here but i was pained for you when you wrote i've come to the end of my rope and can't write about this anymore. >> i can still talk about it but i can't write about it. >> i'm glad we can talk about it. i asked this of congressman schiff. would it help matters if the white house and congress were working today? is anyone working? >> look, i think they ought to be working. because as long as this sequester is going on and most policymakers think it's a bad

idea, not everyone. you can find some as your last segment suggested that think this is fine. but they're a small minority. most policymakers agree that this kind of across the board slashinging and burning of the budget at a time when the economy is still weak ace lousy idea. i get that they're far apart. but i'd like to see them talking to each other at least. >> when are we going to feel it? >> well, look. it's a rolling cumulative kind of thing. there are people who will feel it today. again, a small group. so for example, there are about 4 million people who are on long-term unemployment benefits who right away see a cut of 11% in their unemployment benefits. that's real money for them. that could be over 100 bucks a month for some folks. then there's some of the military delays are starting to kick in. not so much the furloughs yet but things like there was an aircraft carrier that was going

to deploy to the mid east. that's not going to happen. there's some training missions that are being cut back. so kind of a small beginning. but a month from now that's when some of the furloughs start to kick in and it will be more cumulative at that point. >> any chance the economy could slide back into recession? >> i don't think so. the broad agreement among economists is that if this sequester sticks around for the rest of the year -- and i think it could at this point -- it will subtract about half a point from gdp growth. gdp right now is growing somewhere between 1.5 and 2%. this is the broadest measure of our economy's growth. if you take a half a point off that it grows maybe 1, 1.5%. now, recession is typically the economy contracting. so not growing at all. that said, we shouldn't obsess about whether it's growing or shrinking. if it's growing this slowly the unemployment rate will be stuck where it is. and i think that's one of the real problems here. >> what about silver linings to sequestration? any that you see? >> no. i really don't see any silver

linings. that doesn't mean they don't think every dollar the government spends is spent wisely and efficiently. but when it comes to budget cuts, you want to be vertical, not horizontal. you don't want to go across the board because you're going to cut the good stuff with stuff that you should be getting rid of. this is just a very bone-headed approach. >> most company ceos who are worth their salt, they say they can trim 3% of their budgets without harming their companies. why is it so hard, jared, to cut our spending by that amount? >> well, look. i mean, two reasons. one is that there is a dollar behind every -- there's a constituency behind every dollar. when i worked at the white house, michelle obama was talking about her organic garden. i thought that was fine. then we started getting notes from lobbyists from the fertilizer industry, okay? so remember, there's somebody behind every dollar. so that's one thing. second, there may well be and there are that amount of cuts that could be efficiently made. i mean, why do we have 11

aircraft carriers and i think the countries that have -- i think the next highest number of aircraft carriers for any country is something like one. but again, these are across the board. they're not the kinds of vertical, thoughtful cuts that say here's an inefficient program. let's cut that. and i'll bet you ceos that are worth their salt would say yeah, i can cut 3%. i can't cut 3% just across the board. >> all right, jared bernstein, we'll see you back here again. you know we'll be talking about this. thank you. >> thank you, alex. six degrees of kevin bacon. you'll never believe who he's related to. tt>fa@ua÷#-3rw9"qqú hmph! [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft is so soft you'll have to remind your family they can use less. ♪ charmin ultra soft is made with extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. plus you can use four times less. hope you saved some for me. mhmm! you and the kids. we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft.

you don't decide when vegetables reach the peak of perfection. the vegetables do. at green giant, we pick vegetables only when they're perfect. then freeze them fast so they're are as nutritious as fresh. [ green giant ] ho ho ho. ♪ green giant [ green giant ] looking for a litter with natural ingredients that helps neutralize odors. discover tidy cats pure nature. uniquely formulated with cedar, pine, and corn. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." now it's time for headlines on the half. venezuelan president hugo chavez is fighting for his life according to the country's vice president. he has been receiving chemotherapy since recovering from a severe lung infection. thousands took to the street of moscow today in support of

russia's adoption ban in u.s. they're investigating the death of a 3-year-old adopted russian boy in texas. in december president putin passed a moratorium on -- kyra sedgewick and kevin bacon are cousins. the couple took part in "finding your roots" the dna confirmed they are ninth cousins once removed but they've been married almost 25 years. hasn't put a dent in that. the u.s. supreme court released the audio recording of this week's dramatic argument over the voting rights act. the act is one of the most important civil rights laws ever passed. comments by justice antoninscalia. >> i think it is attributable, very likely attributable to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement. it's been written about,

whenever a society adopts a racial entitlementses, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes." >> joining me now is president and ceo of the naacp. with a welcome to you my friend. i want your reaction to the justice's comments. >> i was sitting right there. between me and him was john lewis. i was sitting right behind john lewis. you could feel the the air come out of the room. i mean, this weekend is the 40th anniversary of selma, which was the march across the bridge where john almost lost his life. he was beaten, bleeding from the head, that spurred the passage of the voting rights act. and we thought that everybody understood that the protection of voting rights as a democratic entitlement, entitlement of all of us by virtue of being citizens from the country. to hear a justice from the bench issue such racial incendiary

comment was just too much. >> give me the scenario that you envision if this is overturned. >> you know, we expect that it will be upheld. we are going to prepare for the worst but we are hoping for the best because it has passed -- it has been upheld by the court four times in four decades, most recently just five years ago. it was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support through the congress and senate and signed by president bush less than ten years ago. there were 15,000 pages of testimony. and they spoke to very real places like mississippi where the early part of the 2,000's it appeared black were going to be in the majority for the first time. so the mayor and city council said we're cancelling voting. this very time the justice soto mayor said there's still discrimination in the voting in the cases that rise out of.

we're hoping the justices do the same thing. >> when you listen to states and local municipalities who want to have control of their own voting procedures over their own elections. >> but they do. that's what gets lost here. so first of all, you can do anything that's not discriminatory, right? the only time that they get stopped -- it's very rare -- is when something is actually discriminatory. that sort of control runs counter to the purposes of our constitution. like we believe in this country. you should be allowed to do things that are discriminatory. if you don't discriminate for ten years you can opt out. every single time that a county has said look, we haven't done anything wrong for ten years let us out they have been granted some type of relief. so all they have to do is act right and they can be out of this tomorrow. >> okay. let's take a listen to an exchange. this is coming up between shelby county's lawyer and justices kagan and scalia. >> you said the problem has been solved. but who gets to make that jimt

really? is it you, is it the court or is it congress? >> it's certainly not me. >> that's a good answer. i was hoping you'd say that. >> but i think the question is congress can examine it, congress makes a record. it is up to the court to determine whether the problem indeed has been solved and whether the new problem -- >> well, that's a big new power that your giving us that we have the power now to decide whether racial discrimination has been solved? >> makes a point there. who has the power to decide when racial discrimination has been solved? >> we have a process. the bottom line is that congress does. congress makes this law, it reauthorizes this law. it goes through a very intensive process, much more intensive than the court could possibly go through of hearings that can go on for days. think about it, these arguments run for an hour, right? and they went through 15,000 pages of testimony.

they found that racial discrimination is still a real problem. think of what happened just last year. we saw states like texas pass laws saying we'll let you vote with your gun license but not your state-issued student i.d. and when the justice department looked into what's behind this and what were folks talking about they said oh, look, lo and behold, the demographics of students are much more black and brown in texas than gun owners, that's pardonly why they did this. then you look at florida where you actually had gop consultants to say outright we sought to end voting on sunday because that's a day when black churches tend to organize and other churches don't. so we knew we could drive down black voters if we stopped voting on sunday. unfortunately, it's still with us. it's still -- it changes. it's not the poll tax. it's strict voter i.d. it's not a -- it's not testing people's literacy at the polls saying you can't vote if you can't read. no. we're just going to shorten it

and make it very hard for working class people and poor people like state in florida are disproportionately black. or black churches organized on sunday we'll just cancel on sunday. >> well, long-term fingers cross that this voting rights law does get upheld. i appreciate your optimism. let's knock wood. >> absolutely. >> ben jealous, thank you so much. office politics and the biggest national security threat facing the united states. also we want to hear from you so you can head over to facebook and search "weekends with alex witt" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. building castles, oceans, and lagoons in the place we call home. bold is where everyone comes to play. starting our day off with a good dance and singing us to sleep at night. coloring our lives in ways only bold can do. it's no wonder bold will make your reality, a dream.

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i have direct deposit on my visa prepaid. my paycheck is loaded right on my card. automatic. i am not going downtown standing in line to cash it. i know where my money is, because it is in my pocket. i got more time with my daughter, we got places to go. [ freeman ] go open a new world, with visa prepaid. more people go with visa. [ male announcer ] available at walmart. in today's office politics richard haass tells me why the u.s. is its own worst enemy when national politics is concerned. first i asked about secretary of state john kerry's first official trip overseas and why he's not making a trip to israel. >> the reason is because the president is going to be going there in march. secretary kerry has been to

israel as a senator. so i think on this trip he will go lots of other places in the arab world, to go to places in europe. then i'm not sure if he's going to acop the president, i think he is when the president goes there in march. i think that makes some sense. also one other reason. israel is still forming a government right now. they had the elections a few weeks ago. you don't yet have a new israeli government in place. it's very awkward to visit a country when the government has not been formally formed. >> how critical is it, given the problems on capitol hill relative to the economy, how critical is it to have a stable economy equal national security? >> look, i have a book coming out in about two months. and i say in it the title of it makes it clear. it's called "foreign policy begins at home." i say the biggest national security threat now facing the united states, it's not china, it's not iran, it's not north korea, it's not climate change. these are all significant threats. the biggest national security

threat facing the united states for the immediate future is what is is going on inside the united states. the fact we're not dealing with our deficit or our debt, that our economy is growing at less than half -- roughly about half its historical rate. our k through 12 schools are a scandal. our infrastructure is breaking down and so forth and so on. unless we fix the domestic sources of american power we're not going to be in a position to begin to deal with all the challenges beyond our borders. unless we get it right here at home, how are we going to set an example that the rest of the world is going to want to emulate? unless we get it right here at home, how are we going to reduce our vulnerability say to a chinese decision to stop financing our debt? so we've got to do all those things. so right now we have got to focus at home. i'm not talk about isolationism. i am talking, though, about getting it right here within the united states or we're going to find ourselves weak and vulnerable and unable to lead in the world. >> given your tenure with four different presidents, at what

point did you feel the united states was at its most secure in its standing in the world? where did you feel like you didn't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? >> that's a great question. probably with president bush the father. and the reason is, he was president when the cold war came down. so that year of history essentially ended in 1989. interestingly enough, we always think about 9/11. this was 11/9, 1989 the wall came down. that geopolitical era ended. so here was the united states in a unique position, tremendous power, no geopolitical rival, very quickly the soviet union then unravelled. we had this challenge. the first big challenge was saddam hussein's invasion of kuwait in the summer of 1990. the united states put together an unprecedented international coalition. that successfully evicted him from kuwait at very little cost. one of the reasons we did it was to underscore the argument that

this new era of international relations couldn't be the law of the wild west. it had tonight rule of law. you remember the the president talked about a new world order. i think then there was a feeling of american primacy in the world, that also we were beginning to put our own house in order. the deal over the budget out at andrews air force base. republicans and democrats, a combination of spending cuts and tax raises. the sorts of thing we should be doing now and we alaskan not. and you had, i thought, a seasoned leadership. you had a president who was really experienced with foreign policy. so when i looked at the state of the country and i looked at the state of the world, my sense is that we're going to look back on that period. i think historians are going to be very generous, much more generous about his presidency as time goes on. >> tomorrow at 12:30 eastern our conversation continues with a look at the u.s. relationships with afghan president hamid karzai and who's behind the recent revelations of china's

cyber spying opt u.s. and its infrastructure. now to today's number ones we begin with surf, sand, sun and rainbows. hawaii finishes first on another list. last week it was the happiest state. this week the gallup health weighs well-being index. a couple of reasons for the top ranking. colorado comes in second. minnesota, utah and vermont round out the top five. yeah. yeah. meeting started without me. this is my luck. this is my luck! >> yeah. jim carey "brute almighty" echoing frustrations of traffic problems. texas a & m's annual traffic study found drivers in d.c. spent 67 hours delayed in traffic in 2011. that added up to 32 gallons of wasted fuel in a car. new york ranked second. minute.com's women of 19 --

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the sequester may be here but that doesn't mean the blame game is over, speaker boehner sat down with "meet the press" david gregory yesterday. >> i had asked the president and senator reid to come with a plan to replace the sequester. listen. we've known about this for 16 months. and yet even today, there's no plan from senate democrats or the white house to replace the sequester. and over the last ten months, house republicans have acted

twice to replace the squis ter. >> joining me now for today's strategy talk, karen finny, former dnc communications director and a msnbc political analyst and republican strategist chip saltsman. glad to see you both. so karen, in all fairness was there ever a reasonable offer made by the white house or democrats? because it seems like the entire debate was over just who's to blame. >> i think the who's to blame is really kind of a side issue that was designed to sort of take us away from the heart of the matter which is what are we going to do? who cares who's to blame when we know both sides have skin in the game on this, voted for this. that's how we got here. at this point the democrats put a plan on the table. the president put a plan on the table. but remember the president from the time he signed the budget control act when this whole thing started has been very clear that he wanted a balanced approach that included both cuts and revenues, and that has not changed. and so he's been very

consistent. he has put forward a plan. he has talked about chain cpi and other things he would be willing to look at that would share the pain on the democratic side. the republicans have said -- even when they say we passed two plans already. that was the last congress and both of those plans that were passed had absolutely no revenue. that's been always unacceptable. >> so chip, listening to speaker boehner, he says the democrats never gave a plan. karen is saying they did. here's the stats on that. republicans had a pretty unworkable stance. no tax increases. doesn't that eliminate any chance of a compromise pretty much from the get go? >> let's not forget when we were going over the fiscal cliff, and let me get started by saying fiscal cliff, sequester, now continuing resolution. i hope they work on getting some better verbiage as we move forward. during the fiscal cliff we had all tax revenues, zero spending cuts. and i think the republicans feel like they've given on the tax revenue side, and now it's time to deal with the spending side. and that's where the house

republicans are. i think both sides have been very clear where they are. they've both been very good about blaming each other but there's been no movement towards each other at all. >> karen i want you to take a listen to the president from his press conference yesterday. here's that. >> we will get through this. this is not going to be an apocalypse i think as some people have said. it's just dumb. and it's going to hurt. it's going to hurt individual people and going to hurt the economy overall. >> well, the president and other administration officials have been warning of the apocalypse just as much as everyone else. a.g. eric holder says we're even less safe now. so why did the president change his tune? >> i don't think he was changing his tune so much as he was saying, look, we want to be very clear up front what the impact. there's going to be a very real impact. i think as the president pointed out, it's not going to be felt equally by everyone at the same time across our economy. that being said, as the president he's not going to just

let people starve and let horrible things happen. he's going to try to figure out some way to deal with these problems. but i am saying, the person i thought was the most compelling on this was the army chief of staff who was on morning joe yesterday talking about like with any business, when you have certain cuts coming, that means down the road certain things you have to already start to plan to scale back. and in this case he was talking about some of the services for the families of our men and women in uniform. that's a very real impact that's going to have on people. >> you know what's interesting, chip? we have mitt romney in his first interview since the election. let's take a listen to that. >> he didn't think the sequester would happen. it is happening. but to date what we've seen is the president out campaigning to the american people doing rallies around the country, flying around the country and berating republicans and blaming -- >> isn't that just how you campaign for a policy? every president does it. why is it wrong for him? >> there's no doubt that

president obama is good at campaigning. he's never really slowed down. but i think if you're going to make a deal with the other side you can't run the campaign straight in their face and stick it in their ear. i think he really needs to have real serious conversations and stop the campaigning and try to figure out what is the solution to this. i think the one thing we both agree on is these cuts are not done in the best way possible. i think sequester is kind of a broad sword. we'd rather have a scalpel and kind of do this right. i think what you're going to see with republicans in the continuing resolution over the next couple of weeks, give some flexibility to the departments to do that. but i think the campaign should stop and the policy making should start. >> yeah. karen have to switch gears really quickly. actress and rumored senate candidate ashley judd made her d.c. coming out of sorts yesterday when she spoke at george washington university at a forum there. take a listen to her. >> my question was a little more domestically focused because i know you may be running for political office. but i'm not asking you about that. >> there is an elephant in the room? >> elephant in the room. very good. so do you think she has what it

takes to make a run at mitch mcconnell for kentucky? >> i absolutely do. i mean, ashley judd i will tell you is somebody who i've actually met previously. she has worked on a number of issues. she's the kind of person who doesn't just lend her name to the issue, she actually knows what she's talking about. she does her homework, studies the issues she's speaking about. i think it would be a very fun race. clearly the republicans are already afraid of her since they're already running ads against her. >> thank you, karen and chip. thank you. the sink hole in florida that opened without warning and swallowed a man. it is getting bigger. 4g, huh? verizon 4g lte. 700 megahertz spectrum, end-to-end, pure lte build. the most consistent speeds indoors or out. and, obviously, astonishing throughput. obviously... you know how fast our home wifi is? yeah. this is basically just as fast. oh. and verizon's got more fast lte coverage than all other networks combined. so it's better. yes.

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triggering reductions he opposed but he and congress failed to avert. >> it's important to understand that while not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away, the pain will be real. many middle class families will have their lives disrupted in a significant way. >> meanwhile, house speaker john boehner spoke exclusively to david gregory for sunday's "meet the press." his comments came after he met friday with the president and other congressional leaders. >> in the end, you don't really see a pathway here that's open as you sit here. >> if i did, the meeting at the white house this morning might have gone better. >> $85 billion in federal spending just be cut between now and october 1st. that includes a 9% hit to nonexempt domestic programs as well as a 13% decrease for defense. let's go back to the white house. nbc's kristen welker. kristen, as our saturday continues so does the blame game. what are you hearing there at

the white house? >> reporter: it absolutely does, alex. good afternoon. white house officials are saying that president obama is going to continue to work on this. it appears as though the strategy from this administration is they're hoping that public pressure, public frustration will mount, and that that will force congress to act. but it's really hard to see how that happens because a lot of the furloughs that we have been talking about don't actually go into effect for about a month. so hard to see how action happens in the short term. you heard the house speaker talking about that meeting that happened yesterday here at the white house. it really turned into more of a photo op than anything that actually yielded actual progress. you had both side sort of restating their positions. president obama saying that any deal has to include new revenues from taxes. the republicans, house speaker john boehner saying that republicans aren't going to accept that. they just gave new revenues during the last fiscal fight. but of course the president saying look, i have a public opinion on my side. this i what i campaigned on. president obama yesterday

holding a news conference and putting the blame squarely on republicans. take a listen. >> let's be clear. none of this is necessary. it's happening because a choice that republicans in congress have made. they've allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit. >> now, alex, i'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that republicans are pointing the finger at democrats saying that this is all their fault. so there is a lot of finger pointing going on. not a whole lot of action. congress is not here this weekend. president obama has no events on his public schedule. so there are really no negotiations going on this weekend. the public watching this with a lot of frustration. we've been talk about those fur lows. as many as 800,000 employees who work with the defense department are facing potential fur lows. i've been talking to economists who say the real problem with this sequester is it could have

a big impact on low income americans and middle income americans. that is where a lot of the concern lays. of course, if this sequester is in effect for a long time it could ultimately impact the larger economy and slow growth. so a lot of concern. and washington doesn't seem to have a whole lot of urgency on this saturday, alex. >> they don't. kristen welker, thank you so much. >> thanks. joining me now political reporter anna palmer and msnbc contributor and political editor perry bacon jr. we'll begin with you, anna. what happened in that friday meeting between congressional lea leaders and the president? >> there was a whole lot of nothing that happened. these meetings are really designed as photo ops. there's no staff. there was no expectation frankly that anything was really going to come out of it. even republican leaders were sending press release out beforehand saying there was no way they were going to come to any kind of agreement. >> so perry, let's look at the cuts which are now in effect. i guess some people might be

wondering why congress and the white house aren't hard at work right now this weekend trying to resolve this. >> they have a fundamental disagreement they can't get past which is that president obama says i won re-election. most of the public supports including tax increases along with spending cuts so i'm not going to compromise on that particular issue. speaker boehner says i will not support any tax increases right now. we just had one a couple of months ago and i will not support another one. there's nothing really to discuss right now. as kristen laid out a little bit, the president wants to use this next month when the fur lows actually start going into effect and try to move congress toward accepting some tax increases. so that's why they're not talking is they have nothing to talk about right now because everyone is sort of very hard in their positions. >> okay. another voice joining the chorus, anna, mitt romney now talking publicly months after the november election. here's what he's saying about the sequester. >> what we've seen is the president out campaigning to the american people, doing rallies

around the country, flying around the country and berating republicans and blaming and pointing. now what does that do? that causes the republicans to retrench and put up a wall and to fight back. >> reality is both sides blame each other, of course. is from any way to objectively say who's at fault, anna? >> i think that that is going to be the next 30 days right now you're going see republicans, democrats, we've already seen the war of words of who starting the sequester. but really i think what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks you're going to have obama continuing to go out on the stump, continuing to try to make the case. and at the same time, republicans aren't here. everybody left. the congress is out. there's no real sense that there's going to be a decision anytime soon to move forward on this. >> yeah. you know, perry, you talked about the low and middle income american families. can you get kind of specific on who's going to feel these cuts first and hardest and when? >> you have about 3 million people in the country who work for the federal government. a lot will be affected by the

fur lows. 800,000 people work in the defense department some way. they're talking about 20% pay cuts for those people. most of those people are not upper income americans. most are in the middle range. those will be hurt first. talking about workers not necessarily people serving in the military are exempt. people who do jobs that are not related to directly sort of fighting the war itself. those are the first people. also agriculture, department of justice, agencies like that. talking about up to 20% pay cuts. this is going to affect their ability to spend money and therefore affect the broader economy and also perhaps reduce economic growth in these next few months. >> how do you think this is going play out from here, anna? >> we're looking into the rest of the month of march and really trying to see where there could be some negotiations. certainly in terms of raising the debt ceiling. that is kind of the next big moment where you could see some kind of a deal come together. >> and what do you think in terms of a timeline, perry? are we going to be sitting here

a week from now saying this is an annoying slice of history, or are we going to not likely see a deal for a long time? >> i think march 27th there's a bill that government has to be funded again. so there's going to be a discussion about a bill to fund the rest of the federal government to avoid a government shutdown. you might see in that process that congress and the president agree to cut $85 billion in a more intelligent way. right now we're talking about across the border cuts with no discretion whatsoever to where employees that are very vital are going to be cut as well as employees who maybe could afford a furlough for a day. i think you might have a process where $85 billion is cut in a very smart way, therefore it's not as draconian. not talking about air traffic controllers not being able to work and direct flights and things like that. >> perry bacon jr., anna palmer, many thanks to you both. now to florida and that developing story at this hour where rescue crews are keeping their distance from this house because inside of it a 36-year-old man is presumed dead, this man. he was sucked into a sink hole which sits right underneath his bedroom. meantime the hole is getting

wider. now home of his neighbor is also in jeopardy. let's go to nbc's gabe guiterrez live for us in seffner, florida. what's going on there, gabe? >> reporter: well hi, alex. authorities are trying to gingerly investigate this because as you said they don't know exactly how big this hole is. throughout the morning they allowed -- nobody has actually been able to go in. they've moved the media several feet because they've been running the tests around that house. shortly a little while ago -- >> you know, this might be one of those times we heard a couple of voices there, you guys. it might be that there is some media -- lots of media coverage and somebody next to them was having a report being done live as well. we will get back to gabe as soon as we get that all straightened out. meantime a tale out of iran 33 years in the making. it's not "are go" it's the story of the other 52 hostages, the ones held captive for 444 days.

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the oscar win for "argo" has put renewed attention on the iran hostage crisis and the lucky few who escaped catch tur. burr 52 americans who were held and tortured for 15 months feel they have not received their due recognition and compensation. they're hoping the film is just the boost they need. joining me now is retired marine corps major steve curtly who was an embassy guard before being taken hostage and attorney tom lankford representing the forker hostages. i'm glad you're both here. welcome. steve, describe what you went through in your 444 days in

captivity. >> well, good afternoon, alex. and you know, being a young 21-year-old marine guard i've always said i've weathered this thing better than most there. but then when i talk to people about it, they look at me and point out that i've gone through two mock firing squads where i actually thought i was going to be shot in the head, suffered through a car wreck where the van that we were blindfolded and handcuffed in was run off the road and rolled over several times. i thought i was going to die then. i suffered food poisoning after the the failed rescue attempt when we were spread out across the country of iran. to the point where being awake at night banging on the door to try to go to the bathroom and defe defecating on myself. then just the con stansy of not having any news of knowledge of what was happening with the situation we were in.

again, when we were in isfahan i was in the same room with one of my cell mates and watched him try to commit suicide. and just a number of those things. and always not having any news of what was going on and what was happening on our behalf was a real strug gel steve, are you talking about steven lauterbach who tried to split his wrists? he wanted to end his life? that is one gentleman who tried to commit suicide. there's also a young lady who says her father has been so deeply disturbed by this that she hasn't even seen him for eight years. talk about the depths of despair and the troubles that all of your fellow hostages go through. >> no. i'm aware of steve lauterbach. he's another instant. the gentleman i was with, jeremy miell, the poor guy worked for the cia as an electronics technician. but because he had that ack

nichl acronym associated with his name they were constantly coming in and taking him out, interrogating, threatening him. and it took a couple of weeks of being with him for him to let me know that. and i was caught completely off guard one day after we'd been in isfahan for several weeks. he just took off running and dove head first as hard as he could go into a protruding corner, concrete corner, ripped the top of his head open, gave himself a terrible concussion. and the guards i had to scream at them to get an ambulance. and they took care of him, got him out of there finally. but i just can't imagine what it takes to get you to that level. even understanding that he was being threatened and constantly interrogated. >> tom, i'd like you to explain this argument for our viewers. what exactly are your clients looking for? >> well, after 34 years, we're

looking for justice. iran has had the final word here. they treated these people horrifically, cruelly. during the 444 days by running them into trees, by beating them, by keeping them in isolation, by not allowing them access to toilets and food. many of them lost anywhere between 40 to 80 pounds during those days. and then after their release, any number -- we've lost 12. and of those 12, six had medical or psychiatric problems that led to their early deaths. and that is true of the whole class. it's taken its toll as you pointed out correctly, not only on the hostages themselves but on their spouses and family

members. >> yes. it's interesting because part of the release deal came with an agreement that the hostages would not try to seek compensation against iran, nor would their families. and yet there's one gentleman who was estimated that each hostage ought to be due approximately $18 million for their suffering. tom, do you think the movie "argo" all the focus on this in society right now, is that going to help your cause? >> we think it will. because we were the hostages left behind. and as everyone having gone to the opening of "argo" here at the canadian embassy, every one of the folks that made it out as well as the canadian group that helped them and ben affleck made it very clear in their commentary that the people who were really harmed here were the 52 who were left behind. and iran just shouldn't have the final word on that. >> steve, do you feel that you

were taken care of by the american government upon your return? i mean, i know there was obviously limited things they could do during your captivity. but on your return. >> you know, the best way i can answer that, it's a lot different for me being a young, single marine come, back 21 years. i've tried to turn this into an opportunity and manage it for myself. the problem is, i'm sitting here before you. there are what, tom, 20 hostages in this area? and i'm the youngest -- one of the youngest ones that was there. and the others can't be there. the older people can't be here because they're suffering from depression, they're recluses, a lot of them. and going through a number of things like that. phil ward, i was locked up with

phil ward who was a state department official. and for several weeks. and he was just beside himself shaking all the time, not knowing what was going on with his family, having our captors come in and threaten his family. and he committed suicide here just last october. those are the kinds of things that stick in my mind. and as i think about the people that are really suffering that had families over there. i certainly understand now. i certainly understand now that i have my three sons and wife what they're going through, what they went through and what their families went through. and i think that -- >> no, it is an extraordinary thing that everybody, including yourself went through. but tom, if you look at the algiers accords as i mentioned there's a stipulation you can't sue the government of iran for all this. can a government agreement really sign away a citizen's right to sue? >> well, that agreement, as you

know, was signed under extreme duress. indeed, iran had sent a missive to the u.s. government saying that either you release $8 billion to us or we will summarily execute the hostages. the hostages at the time were being held in evan prison, which is where all the political prisoners in iran were held. a number of them were held across the room for the torture room where they could hear the screams of the people as they were being killed, water joses put down their throats to where they couldn't breathe, never taken out. parts of their body chopped up. and they heard the screaming. to where even today tom shafer, who was the top military officer in the em embassy wakes up in the middle of the night his wife has told me many times of how he has wakened, shot up in bed. he's in a pure sweat and he

hears those screams and cries and he can't get them out of his head. so yes, the algiers accords denied us or barred and precluded us from bringing a lawsuit. we frankly felt congress tried to give us a cause of action after that on at least two occasion. and we believe congress has been responsive to us and that they will now, since the courts have shut the final door, act to help these hostages and finally grant them compensation, redress, and justice. and we're look forward to that. and indeed this tuesday on the house side congressman braley and congresswoman ross laitenen and a plethora of their colleagues are introducing a bill to do that, and the senate is circulating a companion bill as well with senator isaacson

from georgia in the lead. and this will finally give us justice. and we're grateful for that. >> if justice can be served in some sort of monetary compensation given what steve and his colleagues went through. but steve and tom, many thanks to both of you. we'll be following this. thank you. >> thanks, alex, so much. still ahead, ashley judd goes to washington for a speech. but what she didn't say is making people talk. hool break and they're already bored. hmm, we need a new game. ♪ that'll save the day. ♪ so will bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet. the only one with trap + lock technology. look! one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less. with the small but powerful picker upper, bounty select-a-size. ♪ the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom.

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[ birds chirping ] [ male announcer ] with the best lineup of vehicles ever, introducing the new chevrolet. ♪ oh, heavenly day why just go from "a" to "b" when imagination can take you everywhere? ♪ all the clouds blew away chevrolet. find new roads. in vatican city cardinals are one step closer to setting the date for the conclave. claudio, how soon could this conclave start and what kind of a time frame overall are we looking at? >> reporter: it looks like, alex, the conclave will start a bit later than we expected. today the vatican spokesperson told us that the sistine chapel is still open to the public. the sistine chapel of course is the place where the cardinals will lock themselves in until a new pope is elected. well, on monday they will meet to start deciding the start of

the conclave. but we don't expect a decision then. simply because first they need to start discussing all the issues that have rocked the catholic church in the last few years. and that's a good chance for them to shine. because right now, alex, there is no frontrunner. >> none? really? i mean, it's been since february 11th. that's when the pope announced his retirement. so you mean that there are no people who have come forward to sort of that they're the one that all the buzz is around? >> reporter: well, there's not one frontrunner but there's a whole bunch of names that have been thrown out. albier, of course. but that changes every day. let me give you an example of the names that made the news in the past few days. cardinal terkson for instance from ghana it tipped to become the first black pope. his supporters are very active as well. yesterday in rome there were posters started to appear that said "vote turkson" as if it was any other political campaigning. then you've got angelo scalla from italy.

very well-known, knows the vatican inside out. the only thing that's going against him is he's italian. because now the general sentiment is that the time is ripe for a noneuropean to become pope. the list changes every day. >> who's in charge until the pope is chosen? >> reporter: well, if he's a state of the country, a vacancy, the cardinal in charge is the cardinal bertoni, the secretary of state who also was much criticized during the reign of pope benedict xvi because he apparently -- his detractors said he concentrated too much power over himself. so he just may be out of the list of papalium, alex. >> thank you very much. still ahead what lebron james is doing just for laughs is getting some other people thrown in jail. for recipes,

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." let's go to washington now and ready or not the long-dreaded sequester has arrived. the mandatory $85 billion in automatic spending cuts kicked in today after president obama signed the order last night. half those cuts will come from domestic programs, the other half from the defense budget. the president says the effects of the cutbacks will be gradual. >> the longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage to our economy. a slow grind that will intensify with each passing day. >> and the majority of americans agree with the president that sequestration will hurt the economy. in fact, 56% say so in a new gallup poll. 30% believe it will not. sequestration could force about 2 million federal workers in all areas of the government to be furloughed. delays at airports could come with fewer security screeners and the air tower controller cutbacks. the transportation secretary has predicted 90-minute delays at the nation's busiest airports because of fewer air traffic controllers. and the sequester has already

forced vice president biden's air force 2 jetliner to be grounded for weekend trips. that's all right with the vice president. mr. biden says he's always wanted to take the train back home to delaware but the secret service did not want him. to of course he's legendary with his amtrak ridership. but because of the defense sequester cuts, the navy is grounding its aerial acrobatic blue angels. all the thunderbird air shows after april 1st have been canceled. the navy is also discontinuing other public events like the flyovers at funerals. so let's get a new perspective on the sequester from a lawmaker who hasn't been in congress too long or at least long enough to get too jaded. congressman hakim jeffreys a democrat from new york is joining me here in the studio. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> as a freshman newly sworn in congressman, were you surprised by the level of animosity or inabout of both sides to work together? >> i'm certainly disappointed nothing came out of the discussion at the white house yesterday as it relates to dealing with the immediate impact of this $85 billion shock to the system that we've been asked to absorb.

i'm not surprised in fact i think the washington wizards probably have a better chance of winning a kna an nba championsh point rather than dealing with a balanced approach to deficit reduction. on the other side i believe particularly with the tea party dominated house republican conference there's a willingness to try and balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our society. pregnant women, children, seniors, superstorm sandy victims, public housing residents. these are going to be the individuals who will be impacted by these dramatic cuts. >> you know, you're here in the studio with me because you're not in washington work. do you wish that you could be there working today trying to figure this out? >> we should be in washington, d.c. trying to work this out so that we can blunt the impact of what will be initially a slow burn. but over time these cuts are going to sear. they're going to be very hot in their impact on a lot of individuals. i did get the chance earlier today to spend some time with public housing residents

throughout my district. they're very concerned. sequestration will cost the new york city housing authority which manages the public housing stock here in new york city $190 million. these are housing residents who are already living with mold infestation, broken elevators, long-delayed repair, often violent conditions. we need to invest more to make sure that these residents can live with the grace and dignity they deserve. they're forced to absorb cuts that's going to make their quality of life worse than it is right now. >> there are those, though, who say this is just a small minority of people who will be directly affected. how do you respond to that? >> well, that's not accurate. $2.5 billion in superstorm sandy aid will be cut. the district that i represent which includes neighborhoods like coney island and sea gate and brighton beach were devastated. homes were destroyed. people are out, forced to live in temporary shelters, incur tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage.

uncertainty about their future. we already had to confront the possibility that they wouldn't get the aid that they were owed as it relates to what's necessary to rebuild. we thought we got over that hurdle. but now we confront sequestration. $2.5 billion will be impacted. >> and in your area if i'm not mistaken laguardia and jfk as well. you heard lahood transportation secretary saying this will cause huge problems, delays and other issues. what are people saying about that? >> the district i represent is immediately adjacent to jfk. air travel is important to our commerce, to our ability to move forward related to the economy as well as keep social family ties together, education of our children across the country. so the sequestration will impact every aspect of american life. it will begin slowly as the president has indicated. but sooner rather than later people will begin to feel the pain. we shouldn't wait until the pain

has set in before the congress can come together and find a balanced approach to move things forward. >> all right. well, new york new representative hakeem jeffries. thanks you so much. we'll hope you'll be able to get back there and do some good for the country. >> thank you for having me. one department that will not feel the squeeze for awhile is the internal revenue service. nope, furloughs will not be imposed until after the tax season. that will ensure most refunds are processed and put in the mail on time. secretary of state john kerry touched down in cairo, egypt a few hours ago. it's his first time in the arab nation as secretary of state. he flu in from turkey and is currently on the sixth day a nine-day trip through the middle east. with a good evening your time. what is the schedule like in egypt? what happened today? >> reporter: well, u.s. officials traveling with the secretary of state say it is a very intense day of meetings. today the secretary of state met with some of egypt's opposition forces, though some of the more notable figures boycotted that

meeting. he's also meeting with members of egypt's business community. there's no doubt that the u.s. feels that to get egypt's economy back on track there has to be a political reconciliation under way. that hasn't happened so far. tomorrow the secretary of state is going to meet members of the civil society, some of them who have been complaining about a shrinking of human rights if you will. and then he will meet with egypt's president, minister of defense and the powerful intelligence chief. so he does have a very busy 24 hours ahead of him, alex. >> tell me, is egypt turning into what the u.s. had hoped it would after the arab spring? >> reporter: well, there's definitely signs of hope. but i think the overall consensus is it still hasn't turned a corner. it's struggling to get its footing. the transition has been very rough. lots of violence, lots of street protests. the economy has all but collapsed. so it is not the optimistic egypt that many people had hoped for. but nonetheless there have been signs of progress, especially on the issue of media. a lot of freedom of expression,

the right to protest. but still a lot of work that americans, europeans and most importantly egyptians say still has to be done. >> picking up on that freedom of expression, the harlem shake is being used as a form of protest? tell me about that. >> reporter: yeah. well, there's no doubt about it. one of the issues people have been complaining about in egypt is the social restrictions that are being put. that's not anything official. the government hasn't imposed anything. so people here always creative, trying to find ways to protest. they went to the headquarters of the muslim brotherhood which traditionally has frowned on things like public forms of dancing and concerts and sometimes to some extent music. they really used the harlem shake there to try to demonstrate publicly outside the headquarters. it was a peaceful event. not too large of a turnout. nonetheless the protesters got the message across the individual rights of people whether it's through music or expression should not be touched. and it was in their eyes a successful event. it even drew the attention of some muslim brotherhood members who were watching although they

didn't participate. >> but you know, it was peaceful. so there you go. thank you so much. up next, ashley judd speaks but what about a possible senate run? and predicting the future in washington, d.c. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer sweeper, and you'll dump your old broom. but don't worry, he'll find someone else. ♪ who's that lady? ♪ who's that lady? ♪ sexy lady ♪ who's that lady?

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it is time for the big three in today's topics. fear, loathing, sequester, high court and voting and best week worst week. let's bring in my big three panel. editor of citizen jane politics and contributor, msnbc contributor and republican strategist and democratic strategist. good to have you all here. let's bring with president obama and speaker boehner who are not backing down. here's what they said after meeting on friday. >> we shouldn't be making a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things that businesses depend on and workers depend on, like education and research and infrastructure and defense. >> let's make it clear that the president got his tax hikes on january 1st. this discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. it's about taking on the spending problem here in washington. >> so morris listening to john boehner is he right there?

the president got his tax cuts on january 1st so now it's time for some spending cuts? >> i think he's a little right and a little wrong. there's always two sides or three sides to a story, alex. i think that the president did get his tax cuts. we do have a spending problem in washington that democrats need to rally around. it's just not something that republicans should take all the credit. however we do still have that sort of mitt romney thing about closing some of the loop holes. so he's right but there's also more room to close some loopholes to get more rievenue. >> and the republicans and compromise? is that out of the question right now? >> i hope not. compromises i agree with morris. we should close some of those loopholes. republicans did put up revenue. it's time to close some loopholes, reduce spending. but they have to come together. they have to recognize. i'm almost surprised politically that they haven't recognized that a grand bargain would take this off their plate until 2014, which is really what they need right now.

so both sides could use that. >> but i'm listening to you. and you're always very measured. because when it comes to republicans as a whole, though, why aren't they saying all right look we're going to close some loopholes. you and morris on opposite sides of the aisle there you agree there are some loopholes that could be closed. why don't republicans put that out there? >> because they're afraid for primaries on their right. they're more focused on that. and there are those who are principled about it. there's no doubt about it. but if you're not willing to compromise and govern, you're just thinking about your next election. >> you know, also there's one thing that you said. a grand bargain. i'm not for sure we have big-thinking leaders anymore in the congress and on the hill. there was a time we had great leaders and great leadership. we're playing small ball in washington, d.c. the american people have to get fed up and really kick these people out of office. that's what's going to have to happen there both in republicans and democrats. but the key word is grand.

are we going to have grand leadership anymore in washington, d.c.? >> patricia, this was so interesting this past week when democrats got super upset with journalist bob woodward's account of president obama and the origins of sequestration. then woodward saying he received a letter from the white house that he perceived as threatening. so talk about what this episode was all about and why we got so distracted by it. >> i think first of all democrats would much rather talk about bob woodward than what's going on in the federal budget. i almost think republicans wouldn't mind that, either. they'd rather like morris said play small ball. i think the media got so drawn into this. this is a perfect example of washington press corps to get so wrapped up on this, who said what to whom. was it really a threat. we have a federal budget that is busting at the seams. it's because americans are getting older and we have to pay for it. we just have major structural problems in the federal budget. very few people are paying attention to that. they would much rather pay attention to who said what to

whom and who shot john. to me it's very very disturbing. the media is a big piece of the problem what's going on in washington right now. >> also the problem is you have to understand access works both ways, right? so sometimes you're the lion, sometimes you get bitten by the lion. but people have to understand if you want access you can cut off access as well. you want to be an insider you can be cut off because the guy won't use you as a source. >> this white house i think has been particularly a little thin-skinned and have not given the access that they give the impression that they give. i think they're much tighter with the information and much less transparent than they like to think that they are. that's a whole another conversation. i understand why it blew up. but i do think we've got much bigger problems going on. >> that's interesting. let's move onto our next topic there. i want to talk about the high court and voting. take a listen to the audio of supreme court justice antonin scalia over this week's dramatic argument over the voting rights act. >> i think it is attributable, very likely attributable to a

phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement. it's been written about. whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes." >> susan, should a conservative leaning court overturn any part of this voting rights act will there be a political hit? >> there's politics in getting those people to the court and there is also politics within the court. this is a really tough question, i think, for the court to review. because there has been significant changes since that original proposition in 1965. that being said, when you balance it against some of the voting measures we've seen, recently pop up, there still has to be some kind of oversight it appears. and the right course of action would be to let each state

appeal to the federal government to get off of that list. for example we have new york state in the bronx that still requires federal approval to any changes. we should look -- new york should look to change that. >> morris, your reaction to that? >> well, you know, this is particularly a painful issue when you come to african-americans. because when you hear someone like scalia say what he said when the fact is in the constitution african-americans were property, to say an entitlement is a slap in the face and frankly duplicitous on his part. the fact is america has not done the right things with women and minorities. we should continue to stand up to that. if you want fair don't gerrymander to districts republicans and democrats. if you want fairness let people vote and stop trying to take away their opportunity. that's how you fix the away their opportunity. >> i know we had the naacp president ben gellis on and he thinks it will be upheld. do you agree with that? >> i do agree with that because

this law was obviously first passed in 1965. it was re-authorized in 2006 and that's what this question is and the question is not how does justice scalia feel about this law? is it constitutional and did the congress do anything unconstitutional when it passed this and they passed this 98-0 and there's no question of of what congress' intent was when they re-authorized this and i don't see any room for them to strike this down. >> as long as money and politics are involved in voting, there will be a need to make sure people are given a fair shot to vote. >> you make a good point. we'll blister through the best and worst of the week. up fast, fighting seven signs of aging gets harder. introducing total effects moisturizer plus serum. for the ninety-two practices, two proms, and one driving test yet to come. she'll need our most concentrated total effects ever. by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful?

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we are back with the big three with their best and worst with of the week. patricia, you're up first. your picks for best and worst. >> my best, john boehner, congratulation, he brought the violence against women act for a vote, the senate version, even

though he didn't have the majority of his republicans who wanted to vote for it. very important piece of legislation that is now law. my loser is also john boehner which is typical for his life in d.c. these days, but he splits it with mitch mcconnell, harry reid and nancy pelosi. all four of those leaders voted for they is quester and now all four of them are complaining about it. they were for it before and they were against it and that is just not leadership. >> good point you make there. susan, how about you? >> and he's shown that he's going that he'll stay in this fight to battle gun control and he was very successful in 2012. he had a great week this week and i think he'll continue around with it. worst week goes to cpac for not inviting governor chris christie to new jersey to their meeting this week. it's absolutely ridiculous. >> morris, yours? >> my worst goes on detroit.

the city's falling apart and it's a financial situation. my worst, private equity, nine or ten guys will make $1 billion each in dividends and the economy's back and we need to keep this economy moving forward. >> we are so in the wrong business. >> glad you're here with me. >> that's a wrap of weekends with alex witt. i'll see you back here at noon eastern. >> he's crossing the studio right now. there he is. >> have a great day, everyone. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership.