comes next hour with a procedural vote in the senate. it now looks like they do have the votes to move forward, but this is just the beginning. and make no mistake, it's going to be a very tough fight in the coming days. there is now bipartisan support for background checks coming from nra a-rated senators pat toomey and joe manchin. >> i think we've got a few voting hurdles, and i don't know how they're going to turn out. what we focused on is the right part of this equation, which is can we make it more difficult for dangerous criminals and the dangerously mentally ill to get weapons. >> it's just meant to keep guns out of the hands of people that shouldn't have them. closing down gun show loopholes, internet sales. >> but several republicans remain adamantly against this. senators ted cruz, mike lee, and rand paul may not filibuster, but instead they might object to every single procedural move made by democrats drawing out debate for days, even weeks.

>> in my view for any legislation that is potentially infringing the bill ever rights, taking away our constitutional protections, i think it should be a 60-vote threshold, and that's what i and a number of other senators are asking for. >> but the families of the victims of newtown say they're ready to fight. they've been meeting with senators in washington to ask for a vote. several lawmakers say the families' words were moving, and right now those family members are part of a group that's filibustering the filibuster, reading the names of all the victims of gun violence until the vote takes place. adding to the debate this morning, the website buzz feed posting a video from an american-born al qaeda spokesman, adam gadahn, talking about how easy it is to get a weapon in the u.s. >> america is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. you can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic

assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. >> we should say this is a 2-year-old video, and you cannot get a fully automatic weapon, but you can get a semiautomatic one. and senator manchin this morning pointed to that tape as one of the reasons that background checks are critical. i want to bring in jose diaz and times white house correspondent michael scherer. we're just getting word from kelly o'donnell we're close to getting the details of this bill, the wording of it. in the meantime, michael, what kind of battle are you expecting to see in the coming days? >> i think the hardest part of this battle has already been overcome. i mean, there was a search on for months to try to get a republican senator to sign onto these background checks and there's a really question about where the line would be drawn in terms of expanding universal background checks. originally president obama had wanted these background checks

to apply also to individual gun sales and transfers, if i just sold my gun to my neighbor, for instance, or, you know, met a guy on the street and bought a gun from him. they would also have had to go to a dealer and do a background check. this deal doesn't include it but it's clearly a win. the white house said from the beginning that they weren't expecting to win a lot this year, that they were trying to start a process that would change the conversation about guns in america, and they're on their way to doing this. i think you will have a lot of procedural motions over the next couple weeks and i don't think you will go much beyond this. there won't be much about limiting magazines or assault weapons. if this stays in the senate bill there's a chance it goes to the house and it becomes an issue in the next election which is what the white house wanted. >> it's been interesting to watch how they've approached this. obviously not only with this bipartisan approach but also a lot of emotional appeals out there. let me play a clip of the first lady speaking in her hometown of chicago yesterday.

>> because what i realize was high dia's family was just like my family. hidiah pendleton was me and i was her, but i got to grow up and go to princeton and harvard law school and have a career and a family and the most blessed life i could ever imagine. >> and you wonder, jose, as we watch how this progresses, this particular bill on background checks and as michael points out whether this becomes part of a longer struggle, the emotion like that and particularly the newtown families going to the hill to keep this issue alive, to directly appeal to members of congress, how much of a role that will have played in all of this, jose. >> it has to have a huge role, kris. just think about this. these are families that there but for the grace of god go i, and, you know, i have two children. many of the members of congress have children, and these

families, a direct, you know, communication with members of congress to tell them how their lives have been destroyed forever because of something that they believe could have been curtailed must be extraordinarily effective. i agree with my friend michael, this is, i think, as much as we're going to see on gun control out of the congress this year, and the fact is that it's pretty meager. it's not exactly revolutionary what they're proposing to do, and unfortunately for those who believe that more should be done and fortunately for those who believe that gun control should not infringe on the people, the good people's right to have weapons, i think this is as much as we're going to see this legislative session. >> assuming that, you know, we're looking at background checks as the one big thing here, michael -- >> right. >> we're also hearing that congressman mike thompson and peter king are proposing a deal in the house that looks a lot

like the manchin/toomey bill. is there something that could get in the way? is john boehner the raelg problem? >> there's a lot that can get in the way in the house. it was always a stretch to get it through the senate. and then the idea was you put pressure on the house caucus and split republicans with a bunch of democratic votes. to do that you need leadership cooperation. the leadership controls the floor of the house and they have to be willing to allow a vote that basically will split their caucus. something like 90% of republicans in the house have been endorsed by the nra. that doesn't mean some of them will split from this, but for most of those republicans, it's unlikely they will vote on this issue even for expanding background checks given the nra's promise to score against it. the house is a huge uphill battle. it's a question about whether anything gets through for the president's signature this year. that said, gun control advocates want this vote before the house because they want to be able to advertise in districts on this in the next election cycle.

if it gets through the senate, it is a kind of a win. >> i want to bring in peta carasone. good morning. >> good morning. >> i saw giabby tweeted i'm gla the senators are moving forward on background checks. americans don't want political games, they want progress. how optimistic are you this morning? >> we feel pretty good. many folks were writing the obituary of the background checks movement. so we're happy. senator manchin and senator toomey worked very hard to come to the place that they're at and there's still a lot of work to do ahead, but we feel very good. >> we don't know the exact wording of the bill but given what you know about it, you support it? >> absolutely. it's an expanded background check proposal. it would close the gun show loophole and it would require background checks for internet sales. so that's a reasonable solution that over 90% of americans

support. there's a bunch of amendments coming up and we will have for sure the sausage making in washington but we're happy about it. >> the "new york daily news" editorial board writes about this. the agreement was hailed as a triuch of bipartisan compromise. more accurately viewed it was a smashing victory for the nra. there will be no national assault weapons ban. there will be no high capacity magazine ban. through will will be gun deaths. good news you suggest on background checks but are you disappointed overall? has the nra won this essentially? >> well, look, the nra has had all of the money and all of the influence for as long as we can remember, and that's going to change. it has changed. with the existence of americans for responsible solutions and with the other groups that are in this conversation, those days

are over. so, yeah, we are here to change the makeup of congress and to change the minds of those that are currently elected because there should be a discussion about, you know, something like a ban on the size of the magazines. that's what happened in the tucson shooting. you know, that gentleman was able to fire over 30 rounds in 15 seconds. that's -- no one thinks that's right, so we'd like to see a more robust conversation on that and, sure, i mean, a couple months ago when that was taken off the table in washington talk, we were disappointed, but, look, we're optimistic about where we are today. we know we've got a long struggle ahead, but the american public is with us overwhelmingly. >> we have our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll and i want to show you the results of that. support for gun laws is dropping. 6% since february. although 55% still want more strict gun laws. 61 pfe 61% was the number in february. how do you keep this feeling

alive across the country. >> first of all, those polls are asking questions about, you know, gun control and words that don't necessarily sit well with the public, but when you talk to them about a specific proposal like background checks that's receiving over 90% of support across the country and, for instance, in snoenator toomey's state of pennsylvania 95% of those asked say they would support an expanded background check system. we don't feel we have to work to keep this issue on the table. the unfortunate thing is this is going to happen again. no one would have ever thought tucson, arizona, would be on the list of place that is have become sort of famous for a tragedy. i'm sure people in aurora thought that same thing and for sure sandy hook. we're not having to do much except continue to talk to the public about what could make us safer while at the same time protecting our second amendment rights. >> pia, thank you so much for being with us today. that same nbc poll shows a strong majority backing a path to citizenship on the immigration front. 64% of all adults favor it.

for latinos, the number jumps to 82%. senators in the gang of eight are busy writing their immigration bill right now, and a hearing is set for next wednesday to talk about that bill. michael and jose are back with me. jose, let's talk about the bill. now we're hearing it includes a crackdown on border security. homeland security would vito increase surveil tones cover 100% of the border and apprehend 90% of people who try to enter the country illegally. is this something that had to be done to get republicans on board? >> absolutely has to be done in order to get bipartisan support. the fact that e verify will be mandatory across the board and throughout the nation, the fact that maybe local police are going to be asked to also be part of the system that determines whether one is here legally or illegally. how long it would take, how much it would cost. these are all very specific issues that both parties need to agree to if anything is going to

get through the house and the senate and finally get to the president's desk. >> republicans are already complaining. they think this is moving foo fast. jeff sessions says he needs more time. strategically, what's that about? >> well, if you're saying you need more time at this point, you're just saying you're trying to kill the evident. but t but the big fight has been won by people who want the immigration reform. the republicans have said we need to get it to save our party. the leadership, both sides, have said we want some kind of immigration reform this year. the president wants it. he doesn't just want the issue. he actually wants to get something done. the problem is the details, and for those who want to kill this right now, the path to doing that is getting bogged down in these details. there's a ton of constituency groups, a lot of fine print here that could kill it. back in 2007, the last time we really had an effort to do comprehensive immigration reform, if you remember it died on a conflict between the claim ber chamber of commerce and the

labor unions over temporary workers. what's unlikely to bring it down is the basic question of whether this should happen or not. i think there's -- it's not quite consensus but there's bbr there's broad agreement that it's worth doing. >> for those who want to bring it forward a big part of the argument has been an economic one. mark zuckerberg put an-o op-ed the washington post. he wrote my great grandparents came through ellis island. my grandfathers were a mailman and a police officer. my parents were doctors. i started a company. none of this could have happened without a welcoming immigration policy. a great education system and the worlds leading scientific community that created the internet. today's students, he writes, should have the same opportunities but our current system blocks them. he also writes about, jose, something like 40% of math and science graduates leaving the

united states and making the argument about what has made america not only financially strong but great. how important could he and that economic argument be to this fight? >> i think he would be very important for those that are maybe on the fence on capitol hill and are saying that someone as, well, culturally important as mark coming forward and saying that s.t.e.m. is a fundamental part of america's future. i just think, kris, that we cannot forget that every single day 1,000 deportations occur in this country, families divided, many of those people that have been deported have u.s.-born children that may be studying s.t.e.m. that have american dreams and see their parents are deported. there have been more than 1.4 million deportations in this country over the last four years. what else needs to be done in order for this country to recognize that there are 11 million people here who are not going anywhere and must, i

think, deal with the issue of what to do. you know, it's a real tragedy that we talk about political issues and don't mention the fact that there are 11 million people in this country. there are more people in this country without documents than in hungary as hungarians. >> jose speaking about my homeland and really bringing it home. thank you so much. it's great to see you, jose. michael, we'll talk more about both guns and immigration in the days and weeks ahead. as lawmakers juggle these critical issues, president obama is once again reaching out to republicans. last night he hosted his second closed door dinner with senate republicans in the past two months. a white house official called the meeting constructive. reportedly deficit reduction was discussed. so was immigration reform and gun control. in case you were wondering, the menu included a green salad, steak, and sauteed vegetables. as a trainer, i see a lot of people

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president obama's new $3.78 trillion budget will likely be on the agenda when he meets with ceos of some of the nation's biggest banks at the white house next hour. right now on capitol hill there are four separate house hearings under way to talk about the budget. secretaries lew, hagel, napolitano, and acting omb director are all testifying but they have some convincing to do. the president's spending plan is drawing fire from both sides of the aisle. the president argues the proposed cuts to social security and medicare and raising taxes will cut the deficit. >> when it comes to deficit reduction, i have already met republicans more than halfway, so in the coming days and weeks i hope that republicans will come forward and demonstrate that they're really as serious about the deficits and debt as

they claim to be. >> how do you see this as meeting us halfway? we cut $5 trillion in spending. he raises $1 trillion in spending and raises $1.1 trillion in taxes. >> if you want to defend the middle class, you don't cut social security and you don't cut medicare and you don't cut benefits for disabled vets. >> let's bring in cnbc contributor ron insana and university of maryland business professor peter marisi. can we start with the bone of con tense, changes of social security. the house and senate have no specific plan to address it, but the president's plan will reduce cost of living adjustments which will save $230 billion over ten years. for the average recipient we're talking about $30 a month. why is this so controversial? >> i have no idea. there are so many changes that need to be made to our entit entitlement program this is something entirely at the margin. what's really i think more important and most economists would agree is raising the retirement age for future

beneficiaries. for those -- i just turned 52. my retirement age now is 67. if my kids were going to retire at 68 or 70 it would really be no big deal given that life expectancies are expanding so dramatically. 78.2 years now. it's going to be 80, 90 years when our kids hit that part of our lives. i don't really understand either adjusting the cost of living benefit which is, as you say, very modest, or even changing the retirement age. it seems they're messing around with things that, you know, really are no-brainers. >> yet there are a lot of complaints, as you know, and you just heard bernie sanders, peter, talking about this. one of the concerns is that there are a lot of these seniors who are living on this who are living on the margins and 30 bucks might not be anything for you or i but for them it could make the difference between whether they eat or not. what do you make of this proposal? >> i think it's a terrible proposal although i acknowledge it's been proposed by republicans as well as the president. older people have a rate of inflation that's greater than either the chain link cpi or the

cpi we use because their basket of goods is biased toward health care and other services which experience greater inflation. we have a basic problem that as people live into their 80s, the social security check becomes -- and any pension assets they have become very inadequate. i agree with ron though that any solution to the social security problem means raising the age to 70, but what you've got is people out there who refuse to acknowledge the basic demographics of the situation, that these changes have to be made or the system will become insolvent. >> also obviously this idea of people living longer has a big impact on medicare, big controversy over that. now, it keeps the current structure intact under the president's plan and calls for $400 billion in savings by eliminating waste and abuse including reductions in payments to hospitals, health providers, and there's means testing for wealthier seniors. it is interesting the afl/cio chief, richard trumka, says

shifting costs to medicare beneficiaries while exempting corporate america from shared sacrifice is wrong and indefensible. ron, your take on this. is it going to hurt seniors? is this going to work? >> hard to tell. kris, they haven't really addressed some of the more fundamental issues in medicare. the waste, fraud, and abuse clause has been in every president's budget for years. >> why does it work? do we think there's not waste, fraud, and abuse. >> oh, no, there is. the problem with medicare with respect to the demographics of our country as the baby boomers age. i6 a much more radical solution which is to raise the retirement age but lower the he will jint age for medicare which would shift the burden of costs, but the cost curve in health care is beginning to bend structurally. we're starting to see health care inflation rates come down. that's saving the government hundreds of billions of dollars already. i don't think medicare is going to be the problem that people

think it is. i think if we work longer but get greater access to medical coverage, it might be a much better solution than what's currently being proposed. >> peter, i'm trying to read the look on your face. i can't tell if you're agreeing or smirking. >> i don't agree -- >> peter and i rarely do, by the way. >> that's to be expected. we really pay too much for health care in the united states. the germans have a private system with public reimbursements at 80%. our is about 55%. they spend 12% of gdp on health care. we spend 18% because we have higher administrate tiff costs, we have pricing problems in the area of drugs. to fix those things slays the sacred cows of democrats and republicans alike. what i think mr. obama and mr. ryan share in common in their proposals is their desire to shift the problem onto someone else. basically shift the burden onto the elderly. that's what means testing does for a group of the elderly -- >> wealthy elderly. >> and vouchers would do the same thing. rather than addressing the core

problem in health care, and that is it's simply too expensive in the united states. >> i'd love to get you back. we're going to get more details and we'll hear more of the debate coming up. peter, ron, great talking to both of you. and we'll be right back. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom.

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connect with african-americans and wants to set an example. but there were some awkward moments like this one. >> i mean, how many of you would have -- if i would have said who do you think the founders of the naacp were, do you think they were republicans and democrats? would everybody in here know they were all republicans. all right, you know more than i know. okay. and that's -- and i don't mean that to be insulting. i don't know what you know and you -- i mean, i'm trying to find out what the connection is. >> joining me now, former national press secretary for the obama campaign, ben la bolt and msnbc contributor robert trainem. robert, you're smiling. do you think as he left the podium his staff said to him great job? >> i don't know. but, look, let me look at the positive. he should get an 567"a" for eff for at least trying. he didn't know who one of the first african-american republican senators were after

reconstructi reconstruction, ed brooks. i would have thought he would have been his homework a little more. >> ben, the students were not hostile. they were challenging but respectful. does he gets points for showing up and maybe is this the beginning part of a learning process that might eventually pay dividends? >> well, i got to tell you, there were some republicans who think that a little bit of outreach and messaging is enough to increase their share of the african-american vote and increase their share of the latino vote. look, if these sorts of lectures that are heavy on ideology and hevy on revisionist history were effective, newt gingrich would be president right now. the republican party is desperately looking for a new leader and a new public face, and i think despite what some republican leaders would like, senator paul has stepped into that role over the past several weeks and it traps them in a number of distractions that distract from the core message and the future of where the

party needs to head to regain those voters. >> can i respond to that quickly? just two quick things. first of all, i don't think it was a lecture. it was a conversation. and good for howard university for hosting senator rand paul. and secondly, this not a question about a fair share of anyone's vote. it's a question about having an honest dialogue about what we agree and what we disagree with. i take umbrage with the tone there. again, this is all -- people are so sick and tired of this partisan language that comes out of washington, d.c., and can we just acknowledge that howard university acknowledged a republican senator and a republican senator said, yes -- >> i think republican leaders would have liked to discuss yesterday the budget and their fiscal priorities. it certainly wasn't this sort of speech for rand paul after he hijacks the floor several weeks ago for a filibuster, threatened to filibuster gun safety legislation that 90% of american people support universal background checks. i don't think we saw the future of the republican party on that stage yesterday. certainly not a winning one.

>> i think another difficult point for him, robert, was when an audience member asked him about his opposition to the voting rights act, and he tried to say, well, i was really only opposed to part of it, so let me play that. >> i have been concerned about the ramifications of certain portions of civil rights act beyond race as they are now being applied to smoking, menus, you know, listing calories and things on menus and guns, and so i do question some of the ramifications in the extensions but i have never questioned the civil rights act and never come out in opposition to the civil rights act. >> and the audience was a little bit incredulous at that, rocket. would you have advised him to give a different answer? >> i think he should have been transparent and honest. i think he should have said when i was running for the senate, i did say some artful things. he can justify what he side but he did say some things a couple

years ago that sent a mixed signal. and for people that look like me, they scratch their heads and say what you're saying you believe is you're against the voting rights act of 1964 which is something that i fundamentally disagree with. i think he should have been more forceful about how he defended himself. >> the national journal's headline on this story was, quote, why rand paul was right to reach out to black voters. it's political malpractice for the gop to ignore the constituency that could be critical to its long-term success. and, ben, you know, you pointed this out, barack obama won the black vote in '93 to 6% in the last election, but would democrats, you know, take that for granted at their peril? aren't there republicans, don't you think, who could gain a bigger percentage of that vote and particularly who wouldn't make a 47% comment that, you know, was so harmful to mitt romney? >> i do think so. it's something we should never take for granted, but i don't think the sorts of

backward-looking speeches we saw yesterday are going to do that. we didn't hear anything about what senator paul would do to replace the affordable care act if he wants to repeal it. we didn't hear anything about what he'd do as an alternative to providing additional funding for college scholarships or investing in programs that help to strengthen the middle class. they need a policy agenda to reach these sorts of voters. showing up somewhere is not enough. >> ben, robert, good to see both of you. thank you. >> thank you. checking the news feed this morning. what started as a routine medical call turned into one of the more bizarre standoffs yesterday, and after four hours a rescue. in georgia, a man upset because his cable and power had been turned off, held five firefighters at gunpoint for hours. though he did allow one to leave before police used explosives to storm the house. the gunman was shot by the s.w.a.t. team. the firefighters suffered superficial wounds from the blast. the house reportedly was in

foreclosure. several schools in the st. louis area are closed today after severe storms ripped through the region. the national weather service will determine if it was a tornado. the governor has declared a state of emergency. the threat of severe weather moves into the southeast, including augusta, where the masters tournament tees off today. olympic organizers in sochi russia are storing massive amounts of snow ahead of the 2014 games. they have been putting thermal covers over it keep the snow from melting this summer. two olympic test events had to be cancelled in february because of no snow. it rained instead. the 22nd olympic games begin next february 7th. and this woman is doing a dance of joy. you would, too. she won the canadian lottery. maria thought she won $40,000, but -- >> she checked computer. she goes, mommy, you're $40 million richer. i go no way.

no way. i was like this shaking and i said, oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god. >> what a character. it gets even crazier because maria has been playing the same numbers for 20 years, but this time she did a quick pick. and reports are her favorite numbers came up anyway. and she won. airline mergers are leading to sky-high airfares in some cities. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. not a good sign for travelers. american airlines, us airways getting ready to merge and we're seeing how much airfares are going up. >> right. and already we're seeing some air routes which have been hit with fare hikes of 40% to 50%, some even more, partly because airlines like united and continental, delta and northwest, and various others have merged. so there's less competition. good for them, not good for us, the customer. from the third quarter of 2009

to the third quarter of 2012, the average domestic price per mile paid by delta customers alone increased almost 33%. as you say, now we've got the planned marriage of american and us airways. as you can imagine, travel will change, and i would imagine in some situations quite significantly for consumers on a few routes which are served by both of those airlines right now like, for example, between miami and philadelphia. you saw there a moment ago the chart of some of the fare hikes we have seen already. >> cnbc's mandy drury. thank you, mandy. >> thank you. the northeastern u.s. apparently is a good place to raise your kids if you go by the results of a new survey. it's called the child well-being index. it looked at more than two dozen indicators across seven categories including things like family economics, health, and education. the fifth best state to raise a family, connecticut. utah is number four. the only western state in the top five. new hampshire is third. massachusetts takes second. and the best place to raise

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public support for immigration reform is growing. we're seeing it in the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. 76% of americans support allowing a path for legal citizenship for undocumented workers if they pay a fine and back taxes and pass a security background check. and we saw it yesterday when tens of thousands rallied in washington to put pressure on congress. >> we've been here before, but this time it's different. we are different. washington is different. >> we're here from california, from los angeles, to lift our voices in favor of our families, in favor of our children, in favor of immigration reform that we need and we deserve. >> and as the senate appears ready to release comprehensive reform legislation soon, the hill reports a bipartisan group

of house negotiators continues to make progress on its own bill. joining me now is the president of the 32bjs eiu, hector tig w figueroa. it was an impressive showing. what are your pournts to seeing an immigration bill? >> our priorities are a path to citizenship that is attainable within a practical, reasonable period of time. that we also -- >> what would you consider to be a reasonable period of time? because there's been some controversy about the length of the path? >> i think ten years is as long as is practical. once you start to move away from ten years, it's really difficult to think that a person who has been here for 20, 25 years is going to be a productive citizen at the end of the process and be able to, you know, wait that long without some potential difficulties among the path. >> the nbc news numbers are impressive as well. 76% supporting, but, again, if

they pay a fine, back taxes, pass a security background check. all things you're fine with? >> those things are fine. we understand that folks who came here will need to prove that they are deserving of being here under the law. that being said, there have been contributing to our economy, they're part of our families. so as long as as the fines are commensurate with their ability to remain here and to continue to provide for their country and their families, then we can accept that. >> as best we know the senate is pretty close but it remains unclear what the final agreement might look like on the house side. let me play for you congressman louis gz gutierrez. >> it's a comprehensive immigration bill. there are going to be parts that are going to be more acceptable, likable to certain sectors of 435 member. >> i'm optimistic we will get it done precisely because of all the work that is being down. however i'm a realist.

i do not think because it's a bipartisan effort, something that's rare up here, that the world is going to say great job, guys. >> we are seeing a bipartisan effort on this. on the other hand, what are the potential hurdles that worry you? >> the potential hurdle i would say is that politicians will prevail over legislators and they're actually one in the same western. if our elected officials in the senate and house look for what is good for the country and put ideology and playing to their own base aside, we can get the job done. if people want to use the issue just to get more popularity in their own district and they put the interests of the country second, we'll be seeing some trouble. >> you know, besides the details of the billing, a number of republicans have raised concerns about cost. three senators sent a letter yesterday to the gang of eight, republican members, asking about long-term cost for taxpayers. do you think it's a legitimate concern? is it something that could hold up a bill? >> it's a legitimate concern, but people are forgetting that

11 million folks coming out of the shadows and the underground are going to be able to contribute more in taxes. be able to normalize their lives, be consumers. it is actually helpful to the economy and many studies show that legalization actually improves circumstances of the community and at the national level. >> what would you say your level of optimism is at this point? >> i think this is a year it can happen. >> can happen. will happen? >> it will happen if we are able to organize on the streets and in the halls of congress and if our members of the house and the senate, again, put the interests of the nation first and their personal interests for the next election cycle second. >> hector figueroa, great of you to come in. >> thank you. we want to take to you irving, texas. we're getting these pictures of a nasty bus crash. it's described as a major accident, and obviously emergency vehicles have been on the scene. this is around the northbound state highway 161 and belt lain

road for those who know a that part of the country. they believe there may be 40 people on board the bus. we think it's a private charter although we don't have confirmation. people are trapped inside. we'll keep you posted on what's happening in irving, texas. i don't like to golf. i love to golf. ♪ [ grunts ] yowza! that's why i eat belvita at breakfast. it's made with delicious ingredients and carefully baked to release steady energy that lasts...

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the united states and south korea are on high alert after a new threat from north korea. today state tv announced that the north was ready to fire nuclear missiles on the south. the latest warning comes a day before secretary of state john kerry is expected to arrive in seoul. nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is live in seoul for us. andrea, what are you hearing from officials about these latest threats? >> reporter: the window seems to be open at any time. we would expect a daytime launch. that is what they generally do in north korea for maximum effect so that more people can see what they're trying to show off, which is their military power. this is a lot of public

relations and a lot of bluster, at least that has been the game in the past. what is unknown, kris, is this new young leader, barely 30 years old, not very much known about him. what we don't know is are his intentions. is he just trying to consolidate his power with the military generals who really are believed to be running the country? or a year into his leadership, just about a year ago when he took over control of the communist party, one of his many titles, is he trying to do something different, something that his father and grandfather, whose national days are going to be celebrated within the next couple days, did not do. they blustered for effect. they blustered to get grain, to get fuel, to win concessions from the west. what we don't know is if this is the same posture or if this is really a serious threat. >> so what, andrea, will be the mission of secretary of state john kerry when he gets there to seoul tomorrow? >> reporter: the secretary of state is just concluded meeting with all the foreign leaders, the g-8 foreign ministers in

london. they declared that they reject the threats. they will not deal with north korea in this fashion. they are open to dialogue, to negotiation. interestingly, the south korean leader of unification said today they should have dialogue, negotiation, with the north about reopening that joint cooperative factory economic zone which had been shut down by the north. so there is the possibility at least from south korea and certainly from the g-8 and secretary kerry as he approaches here for north korea to get serious and sit down at the table but there will be no concessions in response to the threat of another missile test. >> is that a key sign they're looking for there? we had talked i think last week about this factory closing down and the economic impact on the north. >> reporter: exactly. >> it would be significant, right? >> reporter: that is significant. they closed it down a couple days ago, and there were 53,000 north korean workers in the factory. they need the hard currency from this much more than the thriving economy here in south korea. so this was a real rejection of

any kind of dealing on an economic level. the real hope that kerry and the rest of the west has is that china will join in and do something more than rhetoric. the chinese have gone a little bit farther, have told the north to step back, but they want to see some evidence that china is withdrawing economic support from north korea and is no longer propping up the north korean regime, and that is yet to be scene. kerry will be here and then he goes to beijing. we'll be traveling with him to china and then on to tokyo. the russians also were, of course, in that g-8 meeting, and they support this approach. >> nbc's andrea mitchell, thank you so much, reporting from seoul. you will see more from andrea live in south korea at 1:00 eastern time on andree na mitchell supports. that wraps up this hour. thomas roberts is up next. good morning, my friend. >> good morning, everybody. our agenda next hour, another fast-moving day of developments in washington. first, ready to roll. the senate preparing to voted on whether to debate a new compromise bill on background

checks as the nra issues a new threat vowing to punish any lawmakers who supports the deal. we'll talk to california congressman mike thompson, head of the house gun control task force. immigration nation. as our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows, most americans back a path to citizenship for america he is 11 million undocumented immigrants. we'll talk to one of the members of the immigration eight plus bernie sanders on his promise to block the president's budget by any means necessary. surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. ithto fight chronic.se. osteoarthritis pain.

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by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. develops news from capitol hill, that tops our agenda this hour. in just a matter of minutes. and nearly four months after that tragedy in newtown, the senate will hold its first vote on a broad gun bill. it will determine whether debate on that bill can begin in earnest and is expected to kick off weeks of action on the senate floor. connecticut's chris murphy made this impassioned plea from that floor ahead of this morning's vote. take a listen. >> these victims needbe