backing down. >> it's been barely 100 days since 20 innocent children and 6 brave educators were taken from us by gun violence. >> she just wanted to teach little kids. and that was her goal and she died doing it. >> it is our first impulse as parents to do everything we can to protect our children from harm. >> our daughter, grace, was 7 years old. she couldn't wait to go to school. >> there are some powerful voices on the other side. >> they call us crazy? >> let me tell you, the people here they don't forget. >> slaughter of 20 children. you can't get anything done. >> we need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at that time wasn't just a bunch of platitudes. >> never before have we seen our babies slaughtered. >> less than 100 days ago that happened. the entire country was shocked. shame on us if we forgot. i haven't forgotten those kids.

shame on us if we forgot them. ♪ save me, somebody save me ♪ yeah ♪ save me >> as we're learning more about the shooter who claimed the lives of 20 children and 6 school staff in newtown, connecticut, president obama is leading a renewed push for gun violence prevention. jumping back into the heat of the gun debate, the president joined a nationwide day of action. flanked today by mothers who are urging congress to enact reforms including some whose children were gunned down at sandy hook, he vowed not to forget their anguish. >> the notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in newtown happens, and we've moved on to other things? shame on us if we've forgotten. >> the president acknowledged that those opposed to any reforms are counting on inertia and inaction to maintain the status quo.

>> there are some powerful voices on the other side that are interested in running out the clock or changing the subject or drowning out the majority of the american people to prevent any of these reforms from happening at all. so i want everybody who's listening to make yourself heard right now. if you think that checking someone's criminal record before he can check out a gun show is common sense, you've got to make yourself heard. >> the president urged americans to keep the pressure on by contacting their members of congress. his address coincided with 140 events in 29 states across the country as part of the day of action. new york mayor michael bloomberg's group released new ads featuring newtown families. >> she just wanted to teach little kids. and that was her goal and she died doing it. wonderful. >> that was the last i ever saw jesse alive. >> i want to prevent any other family from having to go through what we're going through. >> all this comes as new court

documents reveal the chilling details of the carnage that claimed those young lives. for the first time, we know that 154 bullets were fired into that classroom rampage that lasted less than five minutes before lanza took his own life. the evidence at adam lanza's deadly determination lay by his body. 10 magazines of 30 rounds. most of them emptied out. at lanza's home what can only be described as an arsenal fit for war. a list of weapons recovered there includes rifles, knives, three samurai swords, and some 1,600 rounds of ammunition. now, the warrant detailing those weapons runs pages and pages. including item number 57, a blue and white duffel bag containing ammunition and lanza's certificate from the national rifle association. we should note the nra has said in a statement that no record of a member relationship exists. i want to bring in our panel now. with me in new york, msnbc

contributor joy reid, managing editor of the grio.com. and in washington, political analyst david corn of "mother jones" magazine. thanks for joining me, you guys. >> great do be here. >> good to be with you. >> joy, i want to start with you. you hear about the arsenal amassed by lanza. first of all, i'm thinking how is it possible that somebody, even if it was his mother, is able to amass that kind of weaponry and ammunition and it didn't send off any kind of signal anywhere to anybody? but then the firepower that he carried into the school, 10 magazines, 30 rounds each. most of them emptied into the bodies of those children and teachers. and, yet, we're having -- where are we on this conversation about limiting high-capacity magazines? >> no, i mean, i think where we are is there is an entity to which adam lanza apparently wanted to belong, the nra whether they want to claim him or not, let's not mince words, stands for the ability of people like adam lanza to amass that arsenal, stands for the ability

of the people like his mom to empower her son who she maybe knew he was troubled, maybe she didn't, to help him amass that kind of arsenal. they stand for the ability of potential mass murderers to have any weapon they want any time they want with as little scrutiny and little impediment as possible from government. the nra is on the side of the adam lanza faction. people who may not be necessarily violent like him, but maybe enamored and fascinating and obsessed with guns as he is. whether the people who want to amass these weapons are sane or insane, whether they have good intentions or bad intentions, whether they just want them to collect, or whether they want them from truly nefarious purpose, the nra stands for those peoples' ability to get as much weaponry, as much bullets, as many magazines, whatever they want, cart blanche. that's what their stated position is. they're not even for background checks. that having been said, the think the president today outlined something very important. he said, that extreme position that i just described, is a vast minority position.

>> that's right. >> a 10% position. >> that's right. >> you can either be a 10%er who says get whatever you want, as much as you want, whether you have good purposes or bad, or be a 90%er who says let's do something about it. >> but joy, it's not a simple 90%/10% equation. if it were, things would be pretty good for the 90% side. we talked about this, you and i, over the last few months. there is this thing called the intensity gap. if you look at the people who want to have an armed society, like the nraers, you know, you ask them about their top ten list of things they care most about, having guns and high-capacity magazines is not just one, it's one, two, three, four, five, maybe six and seven. the rest of the country, which sees this has being somewhat crazy, says, you know, we really don't want this, but we're also concerned with other things. it's not guns and the possession of ammunition are not the, you know, or the fight against it, is not the main focus of our lives.

so we have this tremendous classic case here where there's a wide-ranging consensus and, yet, you know, the political energy is on the side of a very small minority and the president kind of spoke to that today when he said shame on us if we forget, if we don't keep it up, if we don't do this, if we don't do that. because, you know, he knows, and he said it, they're going to wait us out. that's happened a lot of times in the past. >> to that point, guys, i mean, david, i'm going to start with you, i mean, we've heard mayor bloomberg talk about that, that for so long there was one voice that was drowning everything out. and certainly, i mean, never before that i can remember, even going back to the '90s, you know, having worked in the clinton administration, we are seeing ads, we are seeing, you know, all kinds of efforts by, you know, gabby giffords and her husband, by mayors against imlegal guns. so many more groups. organizing for action. really trying to come together and create that counterbalance. are we saying that that is not going to have an impact?

>> well, we're seeing that it's -- it may not have as much of an impact in terms of results that we want. i mean, look at what all they've done. you know, we have this terrible shooting in newtown. i mean, the aurora shooting didn't, you know, provoke as much attention and organizing. we have the bloomberg throwing in millions of dollars. some of us i think are uncomfortable with because no one wants anyone to win a debate with money. but you have a lot of voices finally speaking out. it does seem there is, you know, nearly critical mass here. and even with all that it still is difficult to get anything through the democratic-controlled senate, yet alone republican-controlled house. there's been such an imbalance in this fight over the last 10, 20 years. democrats running away, too, going back to the '90s, may take more than in the past few minons

to level the playing field. >> in indiana, you have joe donley coming out saying he's for background checks. the numbers you talked about earlier today, pretty staggering. the overall numbers suggest maybe a little bit of the support has waned. for background checks state by state, those numbers are still very, very high. where is the disconnect? i know we've talked about this intensity gap. it feels like we are doing -- people are trying to do, and the president was sure pretty hot about it today saying call your member of congress. what's going to be the thing that makes it up? >> well, the thing is, you know where there's not an insensit e insensitivity gap, the women standing behind the president. if you lost your child, a 6-year-old, or had a daughter who her whole life wanted to teach like that dad who teared up in that ad. a member of your family has been shot dead and lost their life for no reason, as the president said in a blink of an eye, all their future gone. you don't have an insensitivity gap. you care about it. no surprise in colorado, where there was no intensity gap, where the people saw aurora, absolutely outraged and said,

never again am i going to be afraid to go to the movies. colorado has a law on the books signed by the governor. >> interesting to see if connecticut will follow. >> the intensity is local. the thing is congress operates in a national vacuum. because look, you've got these senators who are worried about their whole state. if the intensity is in their state, you could get a senator to do it, get a governor to do it. broadly congress is covered by the nra. they're covered by the nra's propaganda. >> quickly, david. >> iswe're still seeing problem getting a law passed in connecticut. god, if they haven't moved fast enough, it may be the lesson you have to jump on this stuff really, really quickly because you're up against so much money and, you know, and, of course, you know, in the house you have these gerrymandered districts as well. so even when you have intensity across the state, within certain districts, it's still not good politics. the nra has spent a long time -- you know, they knew this moment was going to come. they know that moments like these are going to come. and unfortunately, they may come

again. >> all right, guys, we have to leave it there. >> hold a fence against this. >> okay. we have to leave it there. to that point, it will be interesting to see if in the days and weeks to come now that this report, and we're learning so much more from the police reports about what was happening in connecticut, if that doesn't actually put some measure -- it's going to be hard if you're a legislator looking at 154, you know, bullets. >> you'd think so, yeah. >> let's hope. >> they should go to some funerals. go to some funerals and parents should open the caskets. >> joy reid, david corn. talking about the report out of connecticut, let's turn to nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isikoff who joins us from danbury, connecticut. you've been digging through the information. we've had now shocking details coming out throughout the day. where do things stand at this point? what have we learned? >> reporter: probably the most significant disclosure here is just the vast array of firepower and weapon we adam lanza

accumulated. we know 152 bullets fired out of the bushmaster assault rifle he had in the school that day. 10 high-capacity 30-round magazines were at the scene. that's how he was able to get off so many shots in such a short period of time. less than five minutes. in addition, from the police search of his home, two rifles, a pistol, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. other weaponry, three samurai swords and a sphere in his car, a llo a loaded .12 shotgun. a lot that adam lanza accumulated and most relevant to the current gun debate you've been talks about, karen. >> we talked earlier about the nra certificate. there was one for adam lanza and one for his mother, nancy. the nra responds in a statement that says "there's no record of a member relationship" -- i love

that terminology -- "between newtown killer adam lanza nor between nancy lanza. with the national rifle association. reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory." and, yet, these are some of the items that have been recovered, according to the court documents. correct? >> reporter: right. well, look, that statement speaks to a member relationship. and there are lots of other ways adam and nancy lanza could have gotten nra certificates. there's gun safety courses. there's gun training courses. all of which if you go on the nra website offer some sort of certificate. i press the nra this afternoon. did they have a record of any sort of -- any sort of training course or other kind of course that would have gotten adam lanza a certificate? they say they really didn't answer the question. they said they didn't have a

record, but they said many of these certificates are given by local nra clubs. so it's not really clear. all we know is what's said in the search warrant affidavit that was released which does specifically refer to an adam lanza national rifle association certificate and statement about there being no member relationship by the nra. not necessarily a contradiction. >> well, clearly we're going to be learning more as the days and weeks continue. nbc investigative correspondent michael isikoff, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. next, how will this issue and others play in the growing number of open senate seats? stay with us. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics.

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the 2014 senate races may have to do without the star wattage of ashley judd. that doesn't mean there won't be drama. the democrats are defending 21 senate seats from the gop's 13. that's not the worst of it for dems. seven of those seats are in states carried by mitt romney, and remember, the gop only needs to flip six seats to take the majority. now, while senators are being lobbied on their gun control positi positions, the president was urging members to stand firm. >> and if enough members of congress take a stand for cooperation and common sense and lead and don't get squishy. >> joining us now, jimmy williams, a democratic strategist, and dr. james peterson, an associate professor at lehigh university and an m msnbc contributor. thanks to both of you for joining any. >> thank you.

>> jimmy, i want to start with you. you know, obviously we've seen the nra try to play big and play big in many races. how far, though, can they press this strategy in 201? i mean, the president was also talking about the 90% versus the 10%. obviously that's not a clean 10%-90%. at some point, americans, there is momentum. aren't we going to see americans saying, you're wrong, enough is enough, we don't want this anymore? >> look, senators are insulated people, if you will. i mean, they run, they have a six-year term and they hardly ever go home, to be brutally honest about it, unless they live back there like jon tester. you have a lot of members who represent their states. heidi hitekamp, she's not going to vote for gun control and she's not in cycle. look at the ones who are in cycle. there are nine of them. you just put up the chart. a lot of those folks are from either red or purple states and they're up for re-election and don't want to go against their

constituents. it doesn't matter how many newtowns or columbines we have. that's never going to stop unless you bring children into the capitol, the living relatives of the relatives into the capitol and make them knock on the doors and say, hey, i lost my brother, he's dead, i buried my brother. if you don't do that, you're never going to guilt them into voting for something that's worthwhile. i hate to say that. that's a simple fact. here's what's worse. if the senate were to pass a major bill, guess what? then it's got to go to the house. do you think for a second those republicans, those tea party gerrymandered republicans are ever going to vote for that? h erks lr hell, no, they're not going to do it. >> i'm going to remain optimist optimistic, jimmy. >> i'm sorry. >> i do take your point. i think one of the things that's been interesting, state by state we are seeing some of these numbers where support, for example, for background checks are relatively high, so it seems like it -- you know, some of these guys are being targeted. would be interesting to see what kind of outcome that has.

dr. peterson, you know, traditionally in the midterm election, it's bad for the party that's in the white house. it's a different electorate, midterm electorate. you don't have the same people turning out to vote you do in the presidential years. >> right. >> with issues like gun control and immigration out there as hot issues, is that potentially going to push some voters to come out who may not otherwise in a midterm election? >> yeah, i really hope so. my hope is that the coalition of folk that put obama back in office will become what we call supervoters which means they'll vote successively in some of these interim or off-year elections and that will help consolidate the kind of progressive forces in this country right now. i also think that the kind of culture wars and the discourse around what the supreme court is doing should be galvanizing progressive-thinking people to get back into the booths in 2014. you know, jimmy is being sort of honest and it sounds pessimistic. >> that's jimmy. he's going to give you the cold

truth. >> sorry, guys. >> he's giving us -- no, no. he's giving us the truth and it sounds pessimistic, but i'm optimistic progressive energy around other issues will challenge voters to get into the booths consistently around these particular issues. listen, i also have faith in human compassion, and i hope that people don't have to have a relative of their own die senselessly from gun violence to appreciate why other americans are interested in getting common sense gun safety in place. i mean, if that is the only way -- >> i hope so, too, but here's part of the challenge. jimmy, this is something you and i have talked about. so far we've been talking about the federal level. >> right. >> but i want to show everyone something because this is a list from earlier today on the website of the legislative arm of the nra, and it's a list of updates on how nra-favored bills are doing in every one of those states and every one of those states listed has on open senate seat next year. >> right. >> they are very good at focusing on the state level. they are very good, frankly, at focusing on those state legislative races and their

ability to get things passed at the state level, aren't they? >> yeah, i think that's very true. the nra has always been blanketed out across the country, even in urban states, if you will, or say, through more urban populations. they are -- they have a presence in all 50 states. let me go back to something james just said. this is very interesting. what we know is that by june 31st, the supreme court is going to rule on affirmative action, the voting rights act, and marriage equality, or gay equality, if you will. let's assume for a second, i'm going be negative nilly naysayer for a second. >> again? >> again. let's say the court strikes down affirmative action, strikes down the voting rights act and says no on marriage equality? i can guarantee you something. this is something james just alluded to. watch what happens with voter turnout with kids under 30 or young peep under 30, african-americans, the gay population in this country, and you will see unprecedented levels of voter turnout in 2014 when the numbers are down and i guarantee you we will rip people

apart for that if the court does that. that will be the biggest motivator you've seen, we have seen in our lifetimes at least. >> i think it's likely to be that and then also i think immigration reform. i actually believe gun control. how people vote is going to matter. >> if you merge it with the gun control debate. >> there are so many issues on the table. >> guys, we got to leave it there. >> there are so many progressive -- >> jimmy williams, dr. james peterson. thanks so much. >> thanks, karen. coming up, sarah palin is loaded for bear and, again, laughing all the way to the bank. stay us. >> naturally this terrorist foot shower threw representatives into a panic including the span sor sponsor of the law who sounded the alarm and demanded answers and got one. when the building manager sense an e-mail to reassure concerned lawmakers that the fixture was in, in layman's terms, a mop sink.

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to keep this from happening to me again. it's working. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. it can happen to anyone. talk to your doctor. from dodge ball natural selection, to the war on easter and bible thumpers. here are today's top lines loaded for bear. >> the easter bunny now on the run. >> whether it's john mccain or marco rubio. >> pathway to citizenship, an earned one, a tough one. >> if you really believe in border security, shut up about illegal amnesty. >> dodge ball is a natural selection. the guys who are shaving in fifth grade are always going to win. >> everything reverses in 11th grade when we're all shaving. >> yeah, right. >> exhibit "a." >> you have to have an umbrella. it's raining men out. >> said his views are e evolving. >> i've known a lot of same-sex

couples. for them to be treated differently isn't fair. >> i don't believe we need to act like old testament heretics. >> nobody is homophobic i'm aware of in. >> group, be they gays, who believe in bestiality. >> we're going to lower the goal down to six feet, that way everybody can slam dunk the ball. >> i think it's part of culture. an interesting topic to people. >> never realized a human being could be gay until my wife and i accidentally made one. >> the opposition is in the process of crumbling. >> if they cared about gays, they would have been onboard in the beginning. >> marry 18 people, marry a duck. >> quack, quack. >> bill o'reilly has flip-flopped. the gayest of all beach sandals. >> the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the bible. >> how many of you who watch fox are bible thumpers? you're sort of marginalized. >> sarah palin stole the show at this weekend's cpac convention. >> he's got the rifle, i've got

the rack. >> sarah palin jumped in and supported rand paul, marco rubio. >> don't let the big consulta consultants, big money men and big, bad media scare you off. >> someone cast a spell on a youtube comment, and it came to life. let's get right to our panel, joining us now, dana milbank, political columnist for the "washington post" and republ republican strategist susan delpersio. thanks for joining me, guys. >> thank you. >> dana, sarah palin, she's back, with a new video loaded. is this a big comeback? i knew you'd have fun with that one. >> it's like the broadway actor, she's off broadway, then she's off-off broadway. soon she'll be doing retirement homes. she keeps trying it. i don't think -- susan may feel otherwise -- i don't think anybody in the party is particularly taking her seriously. not able to generate the crowds or the money that she once did. and getting ever more zany each

time. but she's really, really good for msnbc. >> now, wait a second, though, dana. i mean, she clearly does -- i don't know who they are, but there is some faction within the republican party, the tea party, the far right, that likes her. i mean, she had a prime spot at cpac. so somebody's paying attention. >> absolutely. absolutely. there is a -- i don't know what the percentage is of the conservative movement of the republican party. maybe it's 20%. it could be as high as that. it's a minority of the party. the problem is, there are so many entertainers sort of vying for the crazy faction, if you will. you know, how does sarah palin now distinguish herself from michele bachmann and allen west and, you know, any number of a few dozen members of the house of representatives? she no longer really has any sort of monopoly on that, and the problem is with each of these guys you have to get a little bit crazier each time to

keep grabbing the headlines. >> the fact is if she was so popular, she'd still be on fox drawing in numbers. the problem is no one's buying what she's selling. i mean, when she went up to cpac, her big line was using a big gulp cup. you have to deliver more than that when it comes to -- >> they put her on the stage. >> listen, you know, you're asking what her popularity is, where she stands in the party. i mean, she still does draw in some crowds, but certainly nowhere what they used to be. when she used to endorse someone back in, like, 2010, within four, five hours, raise $50,000, $60,000 off of a like on twitter. that kind of thing. or facebook, rather. but now, she really is not playing that big of a role. and she wants to reinvent herself. >> is it that or because after she raised that money the last time so much of it actually went to her vacation and not necessarily the candidate that may have dried up the fund-raisi fund-raising? >> well, you know, i haven't looked at her finances yet. it's not uncommon to see on both sides a lot of these guys who go

into the private, public sector, if you will. >> i'm going to let that go because you're my friend and i know you hate having to defend her. but, hey -- >> not defending her. >> dana, mitt romney made some news earlier this week. just speaking of people trying to be financial king makers in the party. he's organizing a conference in utah this summer that will bring together big whigs in the republican party. it seems like you've got inasmuch as there are various ideological factions in the party, we're seeing fiscal factions or fund-raising factions within the party. are we going to see a duel between he's the establishment guy, sarah is trying to be the outside don't listen to the washington person? >> well, if mitt romney feels that he is still the leader of the republican party, he's in a majority of one on that particular subject. the problem, of course, when you're out of power, as republican party is now, you don't have an obvious leader, so

people vie for it, is it john boehner, is it mitch mcconnell, is it reince priebus? i argue it's probably ted cruz and rand paul. they're the ones everybody's following. everybody can be out here freelancing now. very hard to get any sense of party unity going here. and i don't expect that mitt romney is any more likely than sarah palin to create that. >> depends on what he wans to do as far as a role in the party. if he's trying to be a leader, he will not be successful. let's not kid ourselves. both sides of the aisle try to raise money. if he goes out there and is an effective fund-raiser in a quiet sort of way -- >> that's the point. >> -- you might have something. >> dana, tell me if you disagree. you've got, yes, cruz and rand paul are the ideological sort of leaders, if you will, but still, you know, romney's got access to a cadre of donors, if you're running in 2016, you want to get yourself in front of those folks, correct? >> well, that's true. surely mitt romney has abandoned

any interest in his future, and if people are interested in running, they probably want to get behind somebody like karl rove who's proven very good at gathering the money of wealthy people, if not spending it terribly wisely. so there's a lot of potential king makers out there, but, look, i think it's the ideological guys in the party who are driving things now because we're far away from an election. it's not really about money. it's about generating headlines. >> so speaking of one of those ideological guys in the party, and switching gears, iowa congressman steve king who is apparently going to potentially run for senate in iowa, happened to be going after the president's children for taking a vacation in the bahamas. now, how does this fit in to the republican branding exactly? or any kind of solid senate strategy? yes? >> you're asking me, karen?

>> yes, i am. i mean, seriously when you're at the point going after the president's children, i mean, come on. >> you would think steve king would have seen that didn't the nra learn its lesson when it was going after the security of the president's children at their school? it was not like they were vacationing in north korea or something. aren't we on good terms with the bahamas? >> susan, you knows, the other piece of this revealed earlier this week, there's been this agreement you don't really reveal where the president's kids are vacationing for security reasons. that got blown. and then, you know, he sort of decided to blow that up even more by attacking their desired location. who cares. if the kids want to go to the bahamas and their parents pay for it, who cares? >> there were additional security costs. i afree with you. that's part of the package when you're electing a president and a family and where they go away. i would say to republicans, remember what happens when you get into office, return to office, and if that family has

children and what they're going to do. frankly i'm more concerned about the million dollars it costs for the bidens to go to london and paris than i am where the children are going. they're allowed to be kids, too. >> you know, i think either way, it's, again, when we're at the point where we're using the children as part of our attack, that is not a good place to be in general. all right. thank you, dana milbank and susan. next, the president calls for compromise. and others? not so much. stay with us. >> if you really believe in border security and are telling people that you don't want to talk about amnesty until the border is secure, why don't you shut up about illegal amnesty and make sure the border is secure? >> and that's the key. ♪ shut your mouth [ male announcer ] this is bob,

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citizens across the nation to hold their representatives accountable and move forward with gun safety legislation. speaking alongside parents of the newtown victims, the president urged americans to never forget the young lives that were lost. >> cried enough, we've known enough heartbreak. what we're proposing is not radical. it's not taking away anybody's gun rights. something that if we are serious, we will do. >> nbc's peter alexander is at the white house. peter, it's a very emotional appeal from the president. public support for some of the stiffer measures has dropped some since the shootings. i understand the president is going to be making more additional appearances to talk about gun legislation in the coming weeks? >> reporter: yeah, karen, you're exactly right. in fact, it's going two o be ne week, next wednesday the president is going to travel

from the white house to denver, colorado, meet with local law enforcement members, community leaders to reemphasize this effort, his push for anti-gun violence and stricter gun laws. but you really captured, i think, what the president's delivered today, which was a real emotional appeal. a way that we don't often hear a man who is very generally pretty reserved during a lot of his remarks. he was impassioned in his comments today. he said shame on us if we've forgotten newtown. now about 100-plus days in the rearview mirror at this point. he was putting pressure on lawmakers who will likely begin debating this the week of april 8th saying they should follow his lead on this issue. and i think the thought that all of us left that room with today was the simple fact that the president is making it very clear that he's been frustrated by some of the accusationss tha he's been lax on this issue, making it clear he views this as an issue he's going to continue to fight for forcibly.

>> shifting gears. there's another issue, immigration reform, where the president is trying to sound confident and keep the pressure on, put the pressure on congress to get a bill. how confident, though, is the white house really that the gang of eight is going to have a draft bill when they come back april 8th? >> reporter: i asked a white house aide about this a short time ago. they noted the fact one of the gang of eight members, chuck schumer, the new york senator said a couple days ago he feels pretty optimistic that they will have a bill to present when they come back to the senate on the week of april 8th. again, john mccain said a couple days ago he, quote, couldn't guarantee anything. but the president, himself, speaking to our colleague at telemundo yesterday said that he was very optimistic about this. he felt strongly about this. i think his language was as well, i've got my own legislation if necessary but he doesn't believe it's going to come to that. the white house feels confidently that this is one of the things they'll be able to move on. they believe very soon. >> you know, peter, before we let you go, what can you tell us

about the president's event tomorrow in miami? >> reporter: the president is traveling as you know to florida tomorrow. i think specifically to the port of miami. the president's intention with this trip which is largely focused on the economy is to say even as we talk about the need for balanced deficit reduction, we also have to focus on what the white house refers to as smart infrastructure, improvements that are necessary. they're going to use the port of miami as a pretty good example of how the u.s. needs to keep up with and stay ahead of the rest of the world in terms of infrastructure and its ability to compete worldwide. that's going to take place tomorrow. that, of course, will hustle back here to have the weekend at home. >> all right. full plate this week for the president. peter alexander. thank you so much. much more ahead, but first, president obama's remarks on the ailing nelson mandela. >> obviously we're all deeply concerned with nelson mandela's health. he's a hero, i think, to all of us. i'm sure that i speak for other

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the va's got a backlog of 900,000 people. mcdonald's handles ten times that many customers in an hour. and may i remind you, they're run by a clown. >> that was jon stewart adding his voice to a very serious problem that should really embarrass every american republican and democrat. documents unearthed by the center for investigative reporting showed more than a quarter of a million veterans waiting a year or more for medical claims to be processed. by one estimate, there are 60,000 vets who waited more than two years. general sinseki vowed to reduce

the backlog to an average of four months by the end of 2015. joining us now, retired colonel jack jacobs, medal after honor recipient, msnbc military analyst, and patrick murphy of pennsylvania, first veteran of the iraq war to serve in congress. welcome to you both. patrick, i want to start with you. just simply, what is causing this backlog? i know there are a number of different factors that the va would cite. what is it? >> well, karen, it's really three things. one, there's more veterans because there are two wars. two, more benefits have been given. and three, they're still not digital. only 3% of the claims they take in is electronically. that's really causing this major backlog. >> general jacobs, isn't part, to the point he was making, part of the problem in terms of the increased numbers of people who are applying for benefits, shinseki made the decision, i know you sat down with him

yesterday, to include vietnam veterans who are suffering from illnesses connected to agent orange, and some of our gulf war veterans and they had not previously been eligible for some of those benefits. isn't that part of -- we're trying to do a good thing but it's having a bad impact? >> as they say, no good deed goes unpunished. it's absolutely true. general shinseki enfranchised a large number of veterans. nose who had illnesses as a result of agent orange in vietnam and pts and so on. it massively increased the franchise. and i asked him, why didn't you wait until your organization was up to speed? it was digitized. you can handle these. and he said, i'm just impatient, i thought it was bad news that these people were not enfranchised. they were not getting benefits, and i decided to do, you know, give them benefits right away even if it would take a long time. but what's happened is, people really irritated when they're waiting a long, long time. the really interesting question

is why an organization like the veterans administration in the 21st century is not yet digitized. that's a bigger problem. and it requires a little bit of investigation to find out why that's so and why the va can't talk at the moment can't talk to any of the other departments. >> you know, patrick, you just mentioned, i mean, this issue, 3%, and so, i mean, the research that i've done, a lot of it is, again, just this paperwork problem. there is just an overload of paperwork. but, so is the problem about mobilization? i know the president has increased funding for veterans affairs. so, you know, where -- where is the system breaking down here? >> well, karen, it's like jon stewart said last night in his segment which was terrific. he said, you have to bring it. we have a saying in the military, colonel jack will tell you, lead, follow or get out of way. when it comes to dijatiatio dig which is critical, they have two

separate types of electronic medical records. they're not talking with each other. four years ago the congress when i was there we said come up with one. it's the same when you leave the department of defense and become a veteran. do you know what happened? a couple omonths ago they said, it's too hard, we're not going to do it. that means president obama has got to say, listen, gentlemen, i'm giving you an order. make this happen. it's too important. that's just one example. so we need basically president obama to start cracking some heads and getting things done. secondly, i would say, we absolutely, we need to have a national, make this a national challenge. karen, you know, most americans do not have skin in the game. it's less than 1% of these veterans who serve. we need to make sure we have a national challenge. that brings me to my third point. it has to be a public/private partnership. we have to get the whole country engaged, and you just can't say, well, government irresponsible, we all are responsible. we all need to answer this call. >> i think that goes to your point, congressman, that given that it's less than 1%, we all have to take some responsibility

for making sure we keep this issue front and center. one of the other issues, colonel jacob, obviously is unemployment. we know the unemployment rate for benefits, veterans, rather, is almost 10%. for the youngest veterans, it's double that. one of the things -- i know you attended -- there's a hiring our heroes event which nbc universal is part of. >> job fair. >> one of the challenges we heard is that some of these guys are not -- guys and gals i should say, have a challenge sort of translating what they did in the field to what they can do here back home. how are -- >> well, that's getting fixed as a matter of fact. i -- i saw yesterday at the job fair a new program that will -- matter of fact, went online yesterday that permits veterans to go right online and it will translate all their expertise they had in the military into things that civilian employers

can understand clearly and give proper value to the things they've done in the military. but there's a lot -- there's a lot to be done yet. >> we're going to have to leave it there, colonel jack jacobs and former congressman patrick murphy, thank you very much. and we'll be right back. on ♪ [ female announcer ] band-aid brand has quiltvent technology with air channels to let boo boos breathe. [ giggles ] [ female announcer ] quiltvent technology, only from band-aid brand. use with neosporin first aid antibiotic. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself.

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