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what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," gun fight. the assault weapons ban heads to a showdown on the senate floor out of committee now. but not before it got personal between freshman republican ted cruz and the bill's veteran sponsor, democrat dianne feinstein. >> the question that i would pose to the senior senator from california is would she deem it consistent with the bill of rights, for congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the second amendment in the context

of the first or fourth. >> it's fine you want to lecture me on the constitution, i appreciate it. just know, i've been here for a long time, i've passed on a number of bills, i've studied the constitution myself. i am reasonably well educated. and i thank you for the lecture. incidentally, this does not prohibit you use the word prohibit. it exempts 2,271 weapons. isn't that enough for the people in the united states? do they need a bazooka? do they need other high-powered weapons that military people use to kill in close combat? i don't think so. >> president obama tries to lay on the charm offensive now with the senate republicans today. that's a tough crowd. >> be surprised to hear that my conference opposes this left-wing manifesto masquerading

as a responsible budget. >> plus, chris christie is out and the donald is in. what is cpac thinking. and women senators make a difference, for the first time in a decade. the armed services committee takes on the brass for not prosecuting sexual assaults in their ranks. >> if you think you are achieving discipline and order with your current convening authority framework, i'm sorry to say you are wrong. and every victim that has come in front of this committee and every store why very have heard over the weeks and months shows that we have not even begun to address this problem. >> senator jill gillen brnd joins us. >> we cardinals noticed some things immediately that he was doing differently. he greeted each of us as brothers down just on literally

on the same level we were you heard this story, when we left to go over to st. martha where we've all been staying, where he's been staying with us, they had his limo ready. he got back on the bus with us, like he been doing for the whole conclave. >> a lot of humility in rome, but not on capitol hill, good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington, president obama is back at the capitol, meeting with senate republicans. and one of their freshman members, texas senator ted cruz was already dressed down today by senate democrats after he questioned the constitutionality of dianne feinstein's proposed assault weapons ban. >> would she consider it constitutional for congress to specify that the first amendment shall apply only to the following books? and shall not apply to the books that congress has deemed outside the protection of the bill of rights. >> one, i'm not a sixth grader. senator, i've been on this committee for 20 years. i was a mayor for nine years. i walked in, i saw people shot.

i've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. i've seen the bullets that implode. in sandy hook, youngsters were dismembered. look, there are other weapons. i've been up, i'm not a lawyer, but after 20 years i've been up close and personal to the constitution. i have great respect for it. >> joining me is connecticut senator chris murphy. i brought my handy constitution today, senator. just to make the point. this was not a fair fight. because ted cruz, somehow thought he was going to take on dianne feinstein, who began her career in politics facing the bloodshed in san francisco when she was elevated to become the mayor after the assassinations there? the personal experience of dianne feinstein informs this. and the personal experience of being a senator from connecticut, and representing as a congressman, the newtown area

certainly informs you on this issue. >> well that's absolutely right. the fact is that when this tragedy hit newtown i was there at the firehouse that day as families watched and wait ford their kids to come back and they didn't show. when we realized what had happened, we had far too many colleagues i could call to ask for advice on how i could be relevant to the healing process, there are way too many cities, way too many schools and communities that have gone through this. this is not a fair fight for a number of reasons. it's not a fair fight because ted cruz is not going to beat deian feinstein on question of constitutionality. there's no question about whether or not the assault weapons ban is constitutional. why do we know that? we had it in place for ten years in this country and it was never declared unconstitutional. just like with the first amendment that senator cruz referenced, there are limitations on our rights, you can't stand up in a crowded theater and shout fire because that's dangerous, just like you shouldn't be able to own a

military-style assault weapon or a magazine that holds 100 bullets, because that's too dangerous as well. there's no constitutional argument here. and i think most people know that. >> senator, the bottom line though, is that ted cruz has the politics on his side. because even democrats tell us that dianne feinstein's bill will not get more than 50 votes on the senate floor. and she would need 6 to reinstate the assault weapons ban. she may have the law on her side, but she's got the nra and ted cruz against her. >> there's two questions to explore here. one, i degree it's going to be hard get the votes for the bill in full. there are pieces of it that are still really important. for instance, included in the assault weapons ban, that passed the judiciary committee today is this ban on magazines that are over 10 bullets. frankly i think that would have a bigger effect on the mass tragedies than the overall bill would. i think we can preserve major pieces of the bill.

even if we can't preserve the entirety of it. the second question is this, ted cruz doesn't have the politics on his side. because 90% of american citizens want full background checks bill passed. the vast majority want an assault weapons ban put into place. and the fact is, i think there's going to be real push-back at the polls in 2014, if republicans in this place and across the way and the house of representatives become the party of assault weapons, i think it's a bad place for them to be politically and it's certainly a bad place for them to be when comes to protecting our kids. >> senator chris murphy from connecticut, thanks very much. and now for our daily fix. chris solissa and amy walter national editor for "cook" political report and msnbc white house correspondent, kristen welker. chris, we've rarely seen this kind of showdown on the hill and the interesting thing about ted cruz behind the scenes has

offended john mccain, lindsay graham, over the filibuster against john brennan he has managed to ruffle a lot of feather in both political parties. ted cruz has promised to shake things up in his own party. remember during the confirmation hearing for chuck hagel, remember during the benghazi hearings with senator clinton. he was tonally the most aggressive. he is not playing by the traditional rules of the senate. and to be frank, the people who support ted cruz, many of the people who voted for him, that's exactly what they want. >> but amy walter, at some point the senate is senate. he's going to need republican

support and democratic support to get through something he needs. john mccain called him a whacko bird. >> the other day ted cruz said i take that as a badge of honor. to chris's point, you have to give ted cruz some credit. which he came with this tea party fervor and it hasn't gone away. but the senate and the house are two very different places. folks in the senate will tell you this is the place where decorum and rules and you know, the relationships matter much more than in the house. so he's never going to win mr. congeniality with either party. the one thing i want to note when we look at those two, the back-and-forth between those two. the real problem for dianne feinstein, isn't necessarily ted cruz. it's democrats who sit in red states. especially democratic senators in red states who are up in 2014. they're not going to get into a constitutional battle with dianne feinstein. they don't want it to be public. but they're not going to be comfortable at all supporting something like this.

>> and kristen welker, at the same time the president back on the hill today. what we have enter the reporting from mark murray and dominico and chuck todd, is that the tea party republicans were dead set against the president, but there was a willingness by the legislative branch, if you will of the house republicans, those in the leadership who want to get something done. who are willing to listen to the president, especially as he was putting entitlements right there on the table. >> and i've been talking to my sources who were a part of that meeting yesterday. who say you could really feel the divide. that there was a sort of branch who thought that the president was willing to find some common ground with them. and of course, others more conservative who said they're just not going to raise taxes. we saw that reflected to some extent in the op-ed that house speaker john boehner wrote today, in which he really called on the president to come forward more with entitlements, to be willing to give up more on entitlements, that of course is the other big sticking point in

these negotiations. i can tell you, andrea, that according to a senior administration official, the president is planning to have more of these meetings, once he returns from israel. apparently during this so-called charm offensive, which really started last week and continued into this week. a number of republicans did express a desire to have more meetings. so in terms of what got accomplished, everyone agrees this was really a first step. and nothing major was accomplished, nothing tangible. however, there is a sense that there will be future conversations and that there is some potential room there for movement. >> andrea? >> and chris icillizza, we're told now that. amy was right, supporting it and is one thing. going out and saying to mark pryor from arkansas, mary la

landrieu, i need to have you here on this, this is a vote i need you on. he's probably going to have to say that. if they do have a grand bargain entitlement reform, he's going to have to say that anyway to a lot of these people. the question is what does he pick to ask them for. i can't imagine he picks on the assault weapons ban. because i think their own internal state politics are such that even if the president said i need you, i'm not sure some of the people i just named would say yes. >> aimy, we're going to be talking about cpac in a few minutes. notably, the donald has an audience, sarah palin has an audience there. chris christie does not. governor mcdonald, bob mcdonald, hardly a raging liberal from virginia is not invited. how do they make these decisions? >> well -- >> why are they so relevant? >> and this is the question,

which is what cpac was and what it is. now certainly it's a place where they get a lot of attention. certainly from the press. so it's a good place to try out your stump speech if you're an aspiring politician. especially if you're looking to go into make the next tier of office. but we also know that time after time, the straw poll winners at cpac are people like ron paul, these aren't exactly the kinds of folks who show up as the participants. aren't the kinds of people who are necessarily the establishment of the republican party. but i think the more important thing is you have a party right now that is really divided between a party that wants to go forward, talk about the fact that they have a demographic problem. and then parts of cpac which say, we need to be back to where ronald reagan was in 1980. in 1980, ronald reagan with as looking at an electorate that was 89% white. the next candidate who is going to be running in 2016, is looking at an electorate that is 70% white if they don't discuss

that and bridge that, they have real problems. >> and ronald reagan, the pragmatist would be the first to acknowledge the demographic change and reshape the party in order to win. >> that's right. >> thank you very much amy walter and kristen and chris cillizza. next, we head to rome, what are we learning about the newly elected pope? and actor and activist, djimon hounsou just back from japan. ♪ 50% more buckarooooooooos ♪ 50% more yeeeaaahhhh!!!! ♪ 50% more yeah yeah [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on every purchase, plus a 50% annual bonus on the cash you earn. it's the card for people who like more cash. ♪ 50% more boogie ♪ what's in your wallet? cashhhhh!!!

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surprising election of pope francis marks many firsts as crowds at the vatican cheered his first papal appearance, hispanic americans celebrated the first latin american pope. jesuits welcomed the first jesuit pope. very big departure and catholics

around the world embraced the first noneuropean in more than a millennium. but no one was as thrilled as the people of argentina, who filled the streets outside of the pope's cathedral in buenos aires last night. nbc's miguel almaguer is in buenos aires for us. >> andrea, good afternoon, a sense of normalcy has returned to the cathedral here, where the pope was the archdiocese for more than a decade. there was certainly an all-night party here last night, as hundreds poured into the street here, just a few miles away, about five miles away we spent part of our day in the slums of buenos aires, where we were told by many people that the pope was a man of the street. he often ate with the needy. cooked for the needy and prayed for the needy on a daily basis. when we were there they held his picture up, they praised him and said, they couldn't have been happier that he would be the next pope. in latin america, 40%, four out of every ten catholics live in

this region alone. so the pope is a big deal here. they are celebrating all across the region. here in argentina, in brazil, and in the united states. last night we saw celebrations in miami in los angeles, even in denver. many looking forward to having a pope represent a latin american country. tonight many eyes are back on rome, as many wonder when the pope will return back here to argentina. andrea? >> miguel almaguer, thank you so much from buenos aires. joining us from the vatican, msnbc's chris jansing. nbc's ann thompson and nbc news vatican analyst, george weigel. ann thompson, we're talking about a very different different pope from anything we've ever experienced before. what is the significance of them choosing a latin american. despite the fact that he is 76 years old or perhaps because he is 76 years old and satisfied

the old guard as well as the aspirations of the diaspora. >> i was talking to cardinal timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york. i said why did you choose former bish bishop bergoglio to be the pope? they believe this man, given his track record in buenos aires can do this. he is an honest man, an outsider and that was also very important to them. can he come in here, he understands it from their perspective. being you know, being the leaders of dioceses around the world. they think he's the guy who can clean it up. he's got a big job ahead of him.

>> talk about the significance of him being a jesuit. this is so special, to many of us so familiar with jesuit institutions, the jesuits by definition do not aspire to ascend to the heights of the papacy. >> andrea, jorge maria bergoglio is a pope of the old school. he's something of a contradiction within his own religious community. a man of robust orthodoxy. who was a reforming provincial of the jesuits in argentina. that didn't go over too well with some of his jesuit brethren. they exiled him at the end of that period to a high school in northern argentina. from which he was rescued by john paul ii. what it does mean is that this is a man of high intelligence. deep spiritual life, and real personal discipline. which we've seen in the

simplicity of his presentation of himself to the church and the world since his election yesterday. >> and chris jansing, you've covered this so deeply. there's a real disconnect between many american catholics and the vatican on the subject of women. on the subject of what role the nuns should have. on social issues. but as george weigel was just saying. this man while from a different part of the world and from a different part of catholicism is very orthodox in his ideology and that is not going to change. >> no, and i think if american catholics had an idea that any of the 115 cardinal who is might have been selected were going to come out of that conclave and suddenly allow priests to be married or women priests or was going to change church teachings on things like abortion and contracepti contraception, that was never going to happen. but when i've been talking to people, including as ann did timothy dolan today.

they tried to emphasize on the work he's done. this is someone who has done extraordinary work with the poor. and who lives it in his daily life. you've probably already heard the stories about how he doesn't live in a palace. he lives in a simple apartment and cooks for himself. i was just over at the vatican and talking to some of the folks there. the peep who prepared his rooms. they closed them down after pope benedict decided to step down. he sent all the cleaning people home except for all one person. this is someone who is used to riding a public bus, now the leader of 1.2 billion people. he'll be at the highest reaches of religious power. but he is someone who deeply understands the suffering of the poor and is determined to do something about it and has a chance to influence, andrea, on a much wider stage. >> and ann, is there a potential for controversy in that argentina has such a troubled political past, what about the dirty war in his role in the

church? are some going to suggest that he did not stand up enough during that dark period in argentina's history? >> i think some people are already suggesting that, andrea. i think what's interesting, if you go back to the homily by cardinal soldano at the mass before the conclave, he urged the next pope to take up international issues. and i think that you know, by seeing, by choosing a pope from latin america. you've now brought a different aspect to the papacy. and some criticism of benedict has been that he wasn't out there on the world stage advocating for the issues that are dear to catholics around the world. social justice for example. and maybe pope francis will start to do that. and just one other point, andrea. i mean just in 24 hours, we've seen a dramatic difference. and chris and george alluded to this. today, pope francis drove in a car, not in a limo, went to the

house where the priest residence where he was staying, picked up his own bag, paid his own bill, said hello to some people and left. i mean it's really sort of extraordinary. these signs that you see in the first 24 hours, how they can set a tone for papacy. i think that's what we're seeing today. >> and if nothing else, that will spark the reforms, the much-needed reforms you've all been reporting are desired for the kuriae there. >> thank you very much. and up next, the conservative cattle call here at home, live at cpac as republicans look to rebrand and rebuild. [ male announcer ] what?! investors could lose

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they live in a little small apartment, they share one car. they want, they're not freeloaders, they're not liberals. >> florida senator marco rubio, speaking at the cpac convention. a gathering of the leading conservatives. obviously rubio speaking to one of his big issues which is that the republican party needs to get right on the immigration issue. nbc's kasie hunt joins me. tell me about the meeting, it's been very controversial, who is invited, who's not invited. this doesn't sound like the big tent. >> well as you know, andrea, there's significant controversy over the folks who weren't invited, namely new jersey governor chris christie and virginia governor, bob mcdonald. the chair of the conference was saying he doesn't actually think that they should change the way the tent is shaped, in order to accommodate people who don't really hold to conservative values, so you're already seeing the identity crisis to play out

here. >> and marco rubio what is his role? he's talking -- as we see him there, about immigration and how to frame an immigration compromise. which clearly will take the party past where it was in the primary season. which many team was a disastrous step backward. settle that's his signature issue. something he's stepped out in front of and something that republican leaders have wanted him to take the lead on. because as the new face of the party he's in a unique position to be able to do it. in the speech, he's made a pitch that is a little bit more communal that other speakers, saying while the government may not be exactly what defines the country, we still have an obligation to those around us. that we still have an obligation based on our communities, which is a difference in tone from some of the others who stepped up and talked about strictly individual liberty. >> what is the buzz about mitt romney? his first post-election big speech tomorrow and he's not

always been a favorite of cpac. but he's got a time slot tomorrow just about 1:00? >> he's won the straw poll that they hold at the end of this event, several times previously, the buzz here i would describe as muted. folks are a little bit questioning what they might hear from him, not sure what to totally make of it. it was here last year that romney made the remark that he was quote-unquote severely conservative, something that trailed him throughout the election. >> kasie hunt, thanks for being with us from cpac. up next, combatting sexual assaults, senator kirsten gillenbrand. eater. well now i'm her dietitian and last year, she wasn't eating so well. so i recommended boost complete nutritional drink to help her get the nutrition she was missing. and now she drinks it every day. well, it tastes great! [ male announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals,

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women senators are finally bringing the epidemic of sexual assaults in the military to light. a major issue at wednesday's hearing was the convening authority of power used by an

air force commander to overturn the conviction in a sexual assault case brought against a fighter pilot. new york senator kirsten gillenbrand and pressed a judge advocate in the air force on the case. >> i think both the jury and the convening authority did their duty. >> well as they reached the opposite decision, in one instance justice was not done. which instance do you believe justice was not done? >> i can't say, i'm not going to conclude that justice was or was not done. what i will conclude is that all parties did their job from my review all parties did what they were asked to do by the law. >> well one of the parties was wrong. and if you are the victim in that case, to have gone through eight months of testimony of providing evidence, i can assure you she does not believe justice was done.

>> senator kisten gillenbrand chair of that subcommittee on military personnel joins me now. senator, it has not gone unnoticed that this is the first hearing in ten years on this subject. it's only when you became chairman, chair of the committee and we have, have 20 senators who are women. that this issue is getting focus. coincidence? >> no. i don't think so and that's one of the reasons why i've been such a strong advocate of asking more women to participate in politics, to vote, to be heard, to run. because when women are at the table, different issues are discussed, it's a broader agenda and it's an agenda that looks out for all americans, and oftentimes those who are voiceless. i think this is an instance where, this isn't anything new, there's been sexual assaults in the military for a very long time. in fact more sexual assaults against men and that women. it is such an issue that is crying out for unbelievable reform, oversight and accountability. and it's heartbreaking, andrea, when you look at the numbers to have 19,000 sexual assaults a year and only 190 convictions.

that means one out of 100, we have accountability. >> and as you pointed out yesterday, a huge percentage of those who are convicted return to their commands so what does that say to the victims? it's remarkable. >> it's part of a very serious problem. if you have 19,000 allegations, but only 2400 are even reported, that vast number aren't reporting because they do not believe -- this is the testimony we heard yesterday. they're afraid, they're afraid of retaliation. they're afraid of being held accountable for something they've done. they're afraid of not being able to stay in the military and having no ability to be promoted and to do their service. so i can tell you there's something wrong with how the military is prosecuting these cases, reviewing these cases. if there is no justice, if justice is not served, there would be no reason why a victim would ever come out and make a formal allegation. >> i don't understand the military code of justice in that it was a reason for dismissal

for expulsion from the military until last year, if you violated don't ask don't tell. yet, if you were found guilty in a military court of a criminal assault, of rape, you could go back to your unit. how is that possible? >> it's outrageous and it's something that should outrage every american. when we look at our best and bravest, our strongest, our most courageous. when you enter the military, you may expect to lose a limb. you may expect to lose your life. but no one should be expecting to be assaulted or raped by one of their colleagues. >> i want you to play the staff sergeant rebecca avila who testified yesterday was one of the witnesses, describing what happened to her. >> i can't tell you a single day that i was in my unit that didn't go by without some type of rape joke, sex joke. sex play simulated sex play between men. i mean it was, we had a sexual assault and harassment training that we went through and one of our sergeants got up on the table and stripped completely

naked and danced and laughed at it. that's the kind of culture i lived in on a daily basis. >> and this was after the criminal assault on her. so this, this is only the environment that she returned to. >> that's one of the problems, andrea. that this is a cultural problem that needs a full 360-degree review. and that's why we focused a bit on this convening authority. it's the structure in the military where a general or someone if the chain of command has the authority to review whether a case even goes to trial. and if there is a convention, they get to review again and overit it if they see fit. if someone in your chain of command has that kind of authority, a lot of victims should feel they will not get justice in the system. because if the culture is so sexist, inhospitable for the kind of respect that men and women should share in the military, it will undermine people's confidence that they have a chance or hope of receiving justice.

>> thanks to you for convening this, for chairing it. from claire mccaskill to jean s shaheen. that hearing was compelling. >> we will change this, andrea, we will be writing electric legislation. we will make a difference on this issue. >> thanks very much, senator. and coming up, in the headlines, also, on andrea mitchell reports, the tsa will face tough criticism this afternoon. congress has a hearing on its decision to allow small knives on planes, despite objections from airlines, pilots and flight attendants, the tsa chief tried to explain his position this morning on the "today show." >> the challenge becomes if we focus on something that will not cause catastrophic failure to an aircraft and miss something that could, then we haven't done our job to the millions of people you know, 12.5 million people who travel every week. 630 people every year just in the u.s.

i want our focus to be on the highest threat items. and here we go again. carnival cruise ship has run into trouble. this time, the ship, the carnival dream suffered a generator failure while docked in the caribbean. passengers stuck on board with overflowing toilets, reports of power outages. some denied. the cruise line denies the ship lost power at any time. carnival is trying to fix all of its, fix this and get its passengers back to florida from st. maartemaartens. targeting the global gun trade, we'll talk to oxfam global mans, djimon hounsou. boom. clothes look amazing, and daddy's a hero. daddy, can we play ponies? right after we do foldies. tide boost is my tide. what's yours?

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the proliferation of guns in south sudan is a growing threat to the peace and stability of that new nation. after gaining independence two years ago, now activists are urging president obama to endorse the international arms trade treaty to stem armed

violence around the world. and djimon hounsou is an actor and oxfam global ambassador and just returning from the region last night. and raymond offenhauser is the president of oxfam america. sorry for typos here. thank you both for coming. what did you see in sudan that persuaded you again of the importance of controlling the weapons that are contributing to this continuing violence? >> well what i saw in sudan in south sudan specifically was a almost i think out of a hollywood movie, where you have young boys with ak-47 and girls of my own daughter's age, nursing their babies with an ak-47 on the side. that, the vision of that, it was extremely shocking and given the fact that i myself am from west africa, experience in my early days civil war in my country, it's a vivid reminder of what i

could, i could have become myself. >> and that experience, your own experience and your own family, inspires you to want to do something about this aspect of continuing violence. >> absolutely. i mean we really need to you know, champion our president obama to really strongly you know, impose a treaty, an arms treaty here. and i would absolutely help, all of those developed countries in africa to you know, avoid conflict. >> where are the weapons coming from, ray? >> well interestingly enough, the united states exports 50% of the weapons in the world. the rest of them come from some eastern european countries, russia and china predominantly and the variety of other smaller producers. >> and what is the diplomatic impediment to making this happen? >> well, it's been, this has been an issue that's been around for almost 100 years and this treaty is something that's been worked on over the last ten.

and there are a vit of different views about what should be in the treaty. should ammunition be included or not. what's the scope of the type of weapons that should be included. there's been a variety of debates about that issue. although i should say i think there is, within europe and a variety of other countries around the world, pretty strong support for getting some kind of a treaty. i think the discussion and debate is about some of the elements within the treaty itself. >> are we talking about the same actors here? are we talking about armed exports, the gun manufacturers, the same people who are fighting so far successfully against gun legislation here at home? >> i think, i mean basically you know, there's going to always be weapons produced for the defense of nations and there's going to be import and export of weapons. i think the real issue here is what we don't have in the world right now is standards governing the import and em port of those weapons across international boundaries, only 52 countries in the world have provisions for monitoring the import and export

of weapons this treaty would universalize the principle. what would be exactly the practices of monitoring the united states currently has in place. that's really what we're after at the core of the treaty. >> djimon, from what you saw in south sudan, what is the progress of this young country? >> wow. well it's a progress, the conditions are quite unfathomable in a sense i mean even witnessing the treatment of women, i mean the women come second to a cow. and. >> cows are more valuable as a matter ever property. >> it is the main trading good basically. it is like you know, money in the bank for them. so and cows are yeah, more important than women for them. >> and what about the conditions that children are living in? >> well there's no education. you know obviously strong lack of education. and children that you know, the

ones that have the ability to receive a minimum education, the education is limited to three to four months a year. >> and food, supply of food and clean water and of course the lack of water leads to the diseases. >> right. >> what more should the united states be doing to just in terms of humanitarian aid, at a time of budget crisis when the foreign aid budget is under huge pressure and usaid doesn't know where its next dollars will be coming from. >> there's big debate about the whole foreign assistance act as you say, i think in the humanitarian aid, the united states has provided 50% of the humanitarian aid provided around the world and sudan has been a big recipient of it. at this point in time there's a good deal of continuing conflict on the border between sudan and south sudan. i think one of the points i would make that's in relation to what you were asking djimon

about the situation in sudan and more broadly in africa is a consequence of weapons movements. is that since 1990, until today, there's been some 280, estimated that $284 $284 billion has been lost to african nations as a consequence of conflict. that's money that to some degree almost equal what's we put out in foreign aid. so that money could be used for schools and health clinics and water and all the things needed on the humanitarian basis. in some sense, in the degree to which we get a treaty and we can eliminate the flow of arm and reduce the availability and ease of access, particularly to ammunition, i think it will help reduce human rights violations and improve opportunities in many of these countries. he? thank you. you just came from the hill. you talk with senator murphy. you're bringing your experience and your celebrity and your roots to this whole issue. and we thank you for doing that. >> thank you for having me.

>> thank you both. coming up, what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next. zap technology. departure. hertz gold plus rewards also offers ereturn-- our fastest way to return your car. just note your mileage and zap !

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you'll help them feel good and even perform better in school. the more you know. i was told i got ten measly minutes. but just in case, i bought 13 hours worth of information. >> which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris list issa, i don't think they'll be fbling at cpac. it is an interesting show of where the party is moving at least. that wing of the party. >> absolutely. i would say if you think, if you think that he thinks that is good politics, you can tell, bringing out those binders, he referenced it multiple time in the speech why he did the filibuster. what it stood for. and a fascinating juxtaposition. marco rubio followed by rand

paul. two of the three or four or five most likely people to run for president and be in that top tier for president. very different images of what the republican party should be and what it can be by the speeches they gave. >> they had binders but not binders for the women. but they will have mitt romney tomorrow so he emerges on the political front. not that the party seems terribly embracing but he will have a shot. >> remember, he dropped out of the 2008 presidential race at the 2008 cpac. >> whether or not it is still powerful, we'll see. thank you very much. chris cillizza, thank you very much. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." >> in our next hour, smoozing for president obama, meeting with leaders on capitol hill. two conservatives gathering for the annual conference. we'll have the latest on efforts to reach the grand bargaining in what the first read team calls the identity crisis at cpac.

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