imperative, whether they be the 6 and 7-year-old kids or the teachers at newtown or the 25-year-olds and 17-year-olds that are dying every day across our country. it's just got to end. the answer can't be that we're going to do nothing. >> here is what's in the bill that the senate is considering today. one expanded for background checks on commercial gun purchases. two, it will beef up a national criminal database. and, three, it will crack down on straw purchases of firearms. the wildcard hanging over today's vote is whether the 14 republican senators who have vowed to filibuster will stand in the way. newtown families are in washington to lobby lawmakers and have been key to breaking down some of the opposition. today they are spending a third day meeting face to face with lawmakers. >> i see a lot of times when people come to the hill and want to persuade. i don't know that i have ever seen a time where it has been so deeply felt and with, frankly, just a small number of people

having such a huge impact. >> the co-sponsors of the boi compromise on background checks are working hard to make sure this was a brokered deal by pat toomey and joe manchin and they want to see it go through. >> i know this does nothing to infringe the rights of law abiding citizens. if it did i wouldn't be for it. >> we're showing them as nra members, a lifetime member, a sportsman all my life, this bill doesn't allow government infringement, takes none of your rights away. >> that pair putting a lot of political capital on the line and vice president joe biden saying this of america's support of gun control measures in an exclusive round table discussion on "morning joe." >> the public is so far ahead of the elected officials. i mean so far ahead. you saw it in immigration. you saw it in marriage issues. you're seeing it now. the public has moved to a different place. >> also this hour as nbc begins a special day of coverage called immigration nation, i will be

speaking with senator jeff flake, one of the bipartisan immigration eight working on an overhaul that could be done in a matter of days. all of this as a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll is showing a majority of americans favor a pathway to citizenship. when you break this down with lahtinos the number jumps to ovr 80%. we start with democratic congressman mike thompson of california. congressman thompson heads the house gun violence prevention task force and held a news conference on capitol hill a short time ago. sir, it's good to have you here. as i was telling everybody there's a lot going on right now as we speak in the chamber itself with the fact that the newtown families have gone in to the chamber with the senators from connecticut, blumenthal and murphy, trying to make sure their presence is known to see if something will move forward with progress on this, and as we look at the new numbers and discuss about where these bills stand right now, because there is a lot of fast-moving parts to this, but the house background checks bill almost identical to

the senate bill that we got presented yesterday from toomey and manchin, when we look at the background checks, gun trafficking, national criminal database that comes out of what senators toomey and manchin were able to broker and bring forward, what is the goal of what we're going to see today? >> well, thomas, thanks for your interest in this, and we need to do something in congress to make sure our communities are safe, and we can do that with, as the previous people you interviewed said, without stepping on anyone's second amendment rights. i'm a gun owner. i'm a hunter. i'm also a father and a grandfather, and i want to make sure our communities are safe, and i think the best way to do that is so pass the expanded background check bill. right now about 40% of the guns sold in america don't go through a background check. and overwhelmingly the people want that to change. and even the people who will tell you in one breath that they're not for expanding background checks in the next

breath will tell you they don't want criminals or the dangerously mentally ill to get guns, and you can't have it both ways. a background check is the first line of defense. >> when we look at what's taking place right now, as i understand it, the voting has begun, just so we can explain to everybody how this process is going to worn, this vote in this hour determines whether debate on the bill can begin in earnest. we're seeing a lot of procedural motions happening. for anybody expecting this to go quickly it's a lot of red tape to cut through first. >> i think that's how congress operates. they're going to vote on the procedure. i suspect that they will have the votes necessary to allow this debate to continue, and over the course of the next two or three weeks, i think all of the different amendments or many of the different amendments regarding gun violence prevention will be taken up. some will pass, some won't, and then the bills will come over to the house. peter king and i tomorrow, republican colleague of mine

from new york, will introduce the house background check bill, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that comes up for a vote here in the house. >> sir, as you're very familiar with guns as someone who served in vietnam and you use guns for sport, obviously you're familiar with the pressure of the nra and they have already come out -- yesterday they were quiet for a little while but they have come out to put themselves on record as being an enemy of anything moving forward with this bill in the senate chamber and they have said that they will grade those that vote on this saying that they will take them to task about expanding background checks at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime to keep our kids safe. votes on all anti-gun amendments or proposals will be considered in our nra future candidate evaluations. so obviously this is not a hollow threat. people were waiting to see what they would come out and how they would react, whether or not this would be put into the formulation, the calculation of how the nra grades.

we see minute chin a-- manchin toomey both have "a"s by the nra. how will this perpetuate how the elected members move forward? >> well, the american people, and even nra members, don't align with the leadership of the nra in regard to this issue. the american people by over 90% want background checks. nra members by 85% i believe it is want background checks, and i don't think that you're going to create a scorecard or a grade that's going to convince the american people criminals and the dangerously mentally ill should have guns. and if you don't want them to have guns, you've got to have background checks. that's the first line of defense. and we know for a fact that has stopped both dangerously mentally ill people as well as criminals from buying guns, and we need to continue those efforts in order to make sure our communities are safer places

and that law-abiding citizens can continue to have their guns for their hunting, shooting, and self-protection purposes. >> congressman mike thompson, head of the house task force on gun control. sir, thanks for making time for me. >> thanks so much. >> absolutely. i want to bring in our power panel. msnbc center victoria defrancesco soto, karen finney and republican strategist chip saltsman. gang, a lot of moving parts this morning. we're going to pick up where we left off right there with the congressman, and i do want to read part of a newtown family's statement that came out. if you will bear with me. they have said no one should have to experience the pain we have endured. common sense gun laws will help spare others from the grief we live with every day. we thank senators manchin and toomey for coming together to honor the memory of the victims of sandy hook. we urge their colleagues in congress to join them. as i was pointing out, this is

just kind of the first benchmark to see if this can move forward. this hour's debate determining whether the debate on the bill can then begin in earnest. one thick though, karen, i want to start by playing what we had yesterday from the moms demanding action in this new ad that they have out to get everyone's attention. take a look. >> bloody children ran out of the school as shoots were being fired. >> shocked and saddened by the news of the shoodings at virginia tech today. >> what does it take for us to change what we are seeing unfold before our eyes. >> they had their entire lives ahead of them. >> my child is gone. >> it's a really powerful ad. one thing i wanted to point out though that we got from our new "wall street journal" poll about guns and firearm sales, it's from february it was at 61%. people thinking it needs to be more strict. now it's only at 55%. the further that we get away

from something like newtown, is that going to take the pressure off of our elected leaders in washington, d.c., to act and do something concrete? >> well, i think that's what the nra and, frankly, some of those who are going to try to slow walk this process are absolutely hoping for, and i think that's one of the many reasons that the newtown families, my god, deserve so much credit and so muched ed admiration for their courage. they are sharing their pain so publicly to keep the pressure on. one of the things that's so different this time than in previous times that i hope will mean we don't lose the momentum is that you do have more of a counterweight to the nra. you do have groups like the moms. you do have gabby giffords organization and the newtown moms and you have veterans coming out and saying, hey, the weapons i carry in afghanistan should not be on our streets. so i think that is helping to continue to put the pressure on and it just means people have got to recognize, like you just

said, this is step one of even just trying to have the conversation. they got to hunker in for another several weeks. >> it's the baby steps that we're watching here. so we're in the mud right now, but i want to show everybody because buzz feed posted this clip from a 2011 video featuring an american born al qaeda spokesman pointing out just how easy it is to get guns here in the u.s. take a look. >> 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. so what are you waiting for? >> one thing i want to clarify about that is that you cannot get a fully automatic weapon but you can get a semiautomatic weapon here. so a minor clarification, but, chip, when al qaeda is praising how easy it is to get a gun in the u.s., that's going to get a lot of people's attention. it gets people's packcles up

consid -- hackles up how we operate as a country. yemen is only second in gun ownership to the u.s., and they are the poorest nation and they follow us. i mean, it's eye-raising when you think about it. >> well, you know, when al qaeda says anything like that, it certainly does get everybody a's attention. i have been to those gun shows. i have bought guns at those gun shows and sometimes they do a background check. you show your i.d., you get a gun. the thing about background checks is pretty simple. they're not going to change what happened in newtown and it was a tragedy. when i watch the families and the children and the friends go on tv my heart bleeds for them and if there was anything we could do to change that, obviously we want to do that. background checks would not have changed that. when we talk about going through background checks for the mentally ill, i think a lot of people support that. they don't want crazy people to have guns. crazy people do get guns but they don't do it by buying it at

a gun show or gun shop. they just don't do that. criminals don't do background checks. that's why they're criminals. >> thomas -- >> go ahead. >> i have heard that argument from the opponents of these new gun safety measures time and again. the point is not whether or not background -- the point is we need a multipronged approach to this problem, and whether or not background checks would have stopped newtown, it may have already stopped and may continue to prevent other crimes from happening and the point is that's why we're talking about the assault weapons ban which is being pushed to the back burner. why we're talking about limiting the capacity of the magazines. the point is we need a multipronged approach but where we are now is we are whittled down to the barest minimum of what we think we can get done. that's why this is important. >> and the intellectual debate needs to be had at least for the families of newtown so they can see their loved ones did not die in vain, and there is room for reform in this country. there's certainly room for reform. as we talk about reform, the other big thing we are expecting

some movement on potentially anytime now is what the immigration eight unity group has tried to come together with to talk about immigration reform in the country. our new poll shows that the views on immigration for americans, they think that immigration strengthens the u.s. by some 54%. that's in a high category. the other part of this that's really telling is the pathway to citizenship where all adults that were polled favor this at 64%, and then when we look at that and we just limit it to latino voters, 82% of latino voters want to see a pathway to citizenship. we're going to have an opportunity to speak with senator jeff flake here later in the hour. he is a part of the immigration ait. but what are your hopes that we get to see, you know, some movement, some progress forward, especially from this bipartisan group of eight? >> i do see a lot of momentum here, and i see it in terms of the broad based coalition. so like with gun control, we see over half of americans

supporting immigration, but when we break that down, for example, with gun control, over 80% of democrats want more gun control whereas only 27% of republicans do. but when we shift to immigration, we see that 70% of republicans are in support of immigration reform with legalization when folks pay back taxes and pay fines and do civics classes. what we're seeing is public opinion broad-based coalition but also in terms of the stronger interest groups, evangelicals, chamber of commerce republicans coming together with labor unions to push this forward. again, in contrast to guns, you have the nra having that stalwart counterweight so you don't have that broad-based coalition which immigration is going to move forward hopefully up to the legislative level. >> all right. optimism, i like to lever the panel with that. our power panel for today, victoria, karen, chip, my thanks to call three of you. i want to pass this along.

breaking news outside of dallas, texas. take a look at this. there's been a major accident on highway 161, also known as the president george bush turn bike. we're hearing a bus was involved. as many as 40 people could be trapped inside the bus. you can see people that are being taken off in stretchers right now but we'll update you on that. that turnpike accident there outside of dallas. jackie ] it's just so frustrating... ♪ the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. ♪ i'm fed up with always having to put my bladder's needs ahead of my daughter. ♪ so today, i'm finally talking to my doctor about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling? ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. one toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. if you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or can not empty your bladder, you should not take toviaz.

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welcome back. the korean peninsula is on a state of high alert at this hour as south korea and the united states brace for a possible nuclear test launch from the north. now, today state tv announced the north was prepping to fire missiles on the south, and that warning comes barely a day before secretary of state john kerry is due to land in seoul. just as the north is holding

spirited celebrations of the kim dynasty. we have an eye on that and our andrea mitchell is in seoul, south korea. she's doing her show from there later today. reaction is coming in on both sides of the aisle over president obama's new budget and he's taking heat from some very key progressives. the $3.7 trillion proposal combines spending cuts and tax increases. now, it includes higher taxes on the wealthy, and what's unpopular with many liberals, it cuts social security using new formulas that would slow the increase in benefits and cuts to medicare. >> i don't believe that all these ideas are optimal, about you i'm willing to accept them as part of a compromise. if and only if they contain were t protections for the most vulnerable americans. joining me now is conservative senator from vermont, bernie sanders. we hear the president saying this is not optimal but recognizes it's part of a compromise where both sides come in and nobody leaves too happy because everybody leaves something on the table.

you said tuesday that obama will own the cuts to social security. now, senator elizabeth warren is also not happy with the proposed cuts. but does the president need to take these drastic mesh sures to keep entitlements, the earned benefits, colonel vent? >> no. the truth is social security has a $2.7 trillion surplus, can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible american for the next 20 years. and thomas, if we do one simple thing, by the way, which is what the president proposed when he first ran for president, lift the cap on taxable income starting actually at $250,000 a year. so millionaires are paying more into the social security trust fund than people who make $113,000. you do that one simple thing, social security is sol vent for the next 50 years. what i worry about right now is in the midst of this terrible recession when millions and millions of people are

struggling to keep their heads above water economically, what the president's proposal will do is say to a 65-year-old woman in vermont, in ten years you will be receiving $650 a year less in social security benefits than you otherwise would have and when you're 85, about $1,000 less. also, i speak as chairman of the veterans committee. we're talking about major cuts in benefits for disabled veterans. you do not balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, disabled veterans or sick people. >> so is what you're mainly frustrated with is the fact of changing to do the chained cpi as opposed to the pay it's currently calculated which is cpiw? >> that's correct. the truth of the matter is that i and many economists would argue that the way you formulate cpis for seniored today is

inadequate, it's too low. . doesn't take into account that seniors spend so much on prescription drugs and health care costs. the president is going the other direction and saying it's too generous. i think that's dead wrong and a lot of seniors and disabled vets will be hurt as a result. >> on the right this is certainly an olive branch, and you'd have to agree with that, for the president coming to the table with his budget to show he's willing to negotiate, and house speaker john boehner didn't entirely dismiss this proposal. take a listen, sir. >> he does deserve some credit for some incremental entitlement reforms that he has outlined in his budget, but i would hope that he would not hold hostage these modest reforms for his demand for bigger tax hikes. >> so, sir, if we do the math on this, we have the senate democrats with their own budget. we've got the house republicans with their own budget. and now we have the president out with his budget. if we get in there and take all three of these, why can't the

american people expect maybe with a slight hope that a grand bargain could emerge? >> well, i hope that we can get a grand bargain, thomas, and i hope that we can do what the american people want us to do. and what the american people understand and have said in poll after poll is that when so many people are hurting and depending on social security, you don't cut social security. that's what the american people are saying. what the american people are also saying that when the wealthiest people are doing phenomenally well, when large corporations are enjoying record-breaking profits and one out of four of these corporations doesn't pay a nickel in taxes, what the american people are saying, you know what? these guys have got to start paying their fair share. we have to do away with the tax havens in the cayman islands and bermuda. that's what the american people want us to do and i hope we will do that. they do not want us to cut social security and benefits for disabled vets. >> bernie sanders, sir, thank you for your time today. i appreciate it. >> thank you. time for the producer's pick

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welcome back. i have some breaking news we need to pass along coming to us out of mime. according to miami-dade fire, nine students from the coral park high school have overdosed,

three have been sent to the hospital, four have been treated on the scene. two are still being evaluated. now, the school board is apparently handling the inquiries about the overdose. nine students from the coral park high school. not sure exactly what they have used to the overdose. we've asked questions to inquire if they inhaled something, whether it was inside the school that made them ill. we haven't gotten clarification yet. but the camp his pio said that something they brought onto the campus. again, it's kind of unknown right now exactly what caused these three kids to be sent to the hospital. but we'll keep our eye on that one and bring you more details. i can say with the utmost certainty that this did not come from anybody inside of our campaign. so that can only lead us to believe that this was illegally and illicitly recorded by an outside source, which is felonious and unethical and

immoral. this is gestapo kind of scare tactics and we're not going to stand for it. >> so some harsh words from senator mitch mcconnell's campaign manager after the fbi visited the kentucky republican's headquarters on wednesday. now, the feds are running down leads to find out who secretly recorded and leaked a tape where mcconnell staffers discussed the politics and mental health of actress ashley judd. james carol joins me to talk more about this. it's great to have you here. we're hearing from the mcconnell camp that this was not an inside job. where does this take the fbi's investigation in terms of figuring out the possible suspects? >> well, obviously if they are calling in the fbi, they are reasonably confident that it did not come from inside their campaign, that they don't have a mole inside their campaign. so, i mean, it does raise questions. this is obviously potentially could become a criminal case if they are able to determine that somebody was wiretapping --

somehow eavesdropping on a private meeting in their campaign office. so, you know, i guess we'll see how that unfolds. as you know, the fbi doesn't like to share every step of its investigation until it has some material together. so we'll have to wait and see. >> it certainly does put a lot of people on notice about what it means to have private meetings and whether or not the senator's privacy was violated. however, since the story broke, mcconnell has been drawing these comparisons to nixon and watergate, really playing himself as the victims. democrats are accusing him of trying to deflect why members of his karch thought going after ashley judd's mental health would be okay, if she were to throw her hat in the ring. they haven't denied the authenticity 69 of the tape. >> mcconnell doesn't even have an opponent yet. obviously the whole point of the

meeting that was taped was to look at potential opponents but we're such a long way from that race next year. obviously, this is going to be the most watched race in the country next year. so, you know, they were obviously doing their due diligence looking forward at potential candidates and at the time that this meeting was held in february obviously ashley judd was the number one possible candidate. but it's really amazing, isn't it, that all this attention is focusing on this race so early. >> it is pretty amazing. mother jones though first published the recording has gone on record saying there's no evidence that the audio was the result of any type of bugging operation. so we'll wait to see what the fbi comes up with, but the whodunit continues. james carroll, great to have you on, sir. >> thanks for having me. here is a look at some of the other stories topping the news right now. in georgia officials say a man who held five firefighters hostage for hours and was later shot dead by a s.w.a.t. team was upset because his home faced

foreclosure and his cable and power had been turned off. he allowed one firefighter to leave before police used explosives to storm that house. for the first time this morning we're seeing incredible video of storm damage in parts of alabama and missouri. now, in this st. louis neighborhood, strong winds and possible tornadoes tore off the roofs of houses and brought down or uprooted just about every tree in sight. just look at that. and the parents of two small boys abducted to cuba earlier this week made their first court appearance this morning to answer to kidnapping charges. the boys' grandparents say they are relieved that the boys are back home and safe. check out the moves of this canadian lottery winner. she is amazing. she thought she had only won $40,000. then she found out some zeros were missing. she really won $40 million. just listen to what she and her daughter said after they found out about the real jackpot. >> she checked the computer. she goes, mommy, you're $40

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reporting two people were kilgd in this accident. they're quoting a state trooper who was on scene there. at least six other patients have been taken on to the hospital. we understand they are being treated at the medical center. up to 40 people were said to be trapped inside that bus. again, the ap is reporting, according to a trooper on site, that two people have died in that crash. we're going to continue to brick you the developments coming to us again out of irving, texas, where they believe up to 40 people may still be trapped. in other news today, back in washington, d.c., senator rand paul is saying that the gop is facing a daunting task when it comes to courting black voters. so the kentucky republican and 2016 presidential candidate decided to hick tas message to howard, one of the oldest and most revered black universities. it didn't go over too well. >> if i would have said who do you 24i the founders of the naacp were, do you think they're republicans or democrats? would everybody in here know

they were all republicans? all right. you know more than i do. and i don't mean that to be insulting. i don't know what you know and, i mean, i'm trying to find out what the connection is. >> joanne reid is the managing editor at thegrio.com. she joins us owe sound off today. rand paul spent a lot of time telling the students about the history of the republican party highlighting it's abolitionist past while slamming mandatory minimum drug sentences saying that basically they are the new jim crow. this was not maybe the best performance but it's interesting to see that the outreach that the republican party wants to demonstrate, they're walking the walk. >> well, in a way. i think he got a lot of credit for showing up. look, it isn't sort of traditional for republicans to go to a venue like howard university, but ken mehlman did it in the past. it's been tried before. and rand paul certainly doesn't want to take advice in me, but you probably don't want to do a

historically black college and do a 20 minute lecture on black history. you probably don't want to try to argue that the 19th century republican party of the liberal lincoln abolitionist is the same as the post-1968 party that most african-americans currently know for things like voter i.d. he didn't make that connection and he troo i had to say the parties were the same when pretty much everybody knows they're not. >> so the republicans, they haven't always gotten it right when courting the black vote and minorities. we know mitt romney was booed when he went before the naacp last year telling that audience that obama supporters won free stuff. we contrast that to mccain in '08 telling the sake awme audie that obama was an impressive guy. why is it so hard for republicans to craft the right message if they want to go out and have that intellectual conversation? >> rand paul kind of said the same thing about free stuff. he said post-fdr, african-americans saw the democratic party as offering

tangible goods and the republicans offering the ideas. that's part of the problem. republicans try to woo black voters with a history lesson. if you look at the way they're trying to court hispanic voters, they're talking about policy. giving people a lecture on their own history is not wooing them. it's trying to say you just don't know enough to be a republican. if you only knew, then if you were educated by me, then you'd be in my party and that's really not very effective. >> and you have a great piece on this on the grio. >> i have a piece up that's giving a little history lesson to rand paul on the way the party has shifted places. >> schooling rand paul. >> trying to help him out. >> great to see you. >> thank you. if the rumors are true we could see a deal any day from the group that's been dubbed the immigration eight. these senators from both sides of the aisle have been working together for weeks to hammer out a bipartisan immigration overhaul. one of them is joining me right now. arizona republican senator jeff flake. i want to start with the

breaking news we've had concerning the fact that the procedural vote to move forward to debate the gun bill, you voted in favor of that? >> i did. senator reid has an open process. there will be opportunity for amendments and so i voted to proceed. >> were you surprised by according to our kelly o'donnell it seemed it got to 60 swimmingly and easily. >> no, i'm not surprised. i think republicans want to move onto most of these bills. the difficulty we've had in the past is we haven't had an open process or opportunities for amendments. when that is offered, then typically republicans will go along and vote to proceed. >> sir, i'm sure that's good news for the newtown families that wanted their voices to be heard and for all of our electeds to be able to debate this publicly and openly to move along the process itself, and that's what i want to talk to you specifically though about your work with the group immigration eight and where that stands because it has been a really busy week. you guys are really getting back

to work with a lot of traction on the ground after having a break. as we look at the new "wall street journal"/telemundo/nbc poll, a pathway to citizenship, we have right now, you can see the numbers right here, 47% support it, 51% oppose it. pathway once penalties clear, 73% are in support of that. this is republicans when viewed, a majority of republicans, 51% though, oppose a pathway to citizenship. does that make your job that much harder to try to come up with some type of comprehensive reform? >> well, in this legislation we have a situation where we do offer a pathway to citizenship, but it's only are a penalties and back taxes and requirements to learn english and background chek checks, and so there are significant hurdles for somebody who is here illegally to get on that path but it is possible. and i think that's important.

i think we are where most americans are on that subject. >> is it almost becoming an impossible hurdile to deincentivize the pathway to citizenship? >> you obviously have to have penalties. you can't have somebody who is here illegally be able to access the path more quickly than those who are going through the legal orderly process in their home countries. so nobody who is here illegally will be able to gain citizenship faster than somebody who is going through the process right. so i think we've struck the right balance in terms of the level of fines. we're looking to put those in a way that's certainly a penalty but not something that can't be achieved. >> sir, last, what's the time line? when can we see something move forward? when can we expect something? >> we hope to have the legislation finished by the end of this week. if we go into next week, i think it will just be monday or tuesday.

we're quite confident that we're just a couple days out. all the major issues between the eight of us are pretty much settled. it's just a matter of drafting the legislation. >> senator jeff flake, we're going to let you get back to work. thank you. >> thank you. i want to give you an update on that bus crash we've been following out of irving, texas. the images on the scene as we've been watching, medical teams are evacuating people on stretchers. the ap has reported that two people were killed in this accident. however, there might be up to 40 people still trapped on board a bus there. we're back with much more after this. no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. that didn't take very long, did it? this spring, dig in and save. that's nice. post it. already did. more saving. more doing. people still trapped on board a h miracle-gro potting mix, a special buy at two bags for just $10.

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we'll get you back to the bus accident on a turnpike outside of irving, texas. a local reporter from our nbc affiliate is on the scene with the fire chief. >> via care flight or ground ambulance, whatever the case would be. and then the others that are less critically injured, we will transport. in this case, with the walking wounded we were able to transport them on the d.a.r.t.

bus. >> people taken by hospital, did they go to parkland hospital? what was the nature of their injuries? were they talking, were they conscious? >> i have no knowledge of that. >> the people that helped you, grapevine and dfw airport, are those the folks, we can see the airport right behind us, it's very close by. >> i did see grapevine here, i think there was a grand prairie ambulance. dy not see dfw, i would fully expect they were here, also. now there were multiple agencies that responded to help us out. >> you've been listening to a local reporter, the charter bus crash that happened on a turnpike in irving, texas where two people have been reportedly killed and 30 others have been transported to various area hospitals after being trapped inside that bus. we'll continue to watch the scene and bring you more when we get it. 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. >> senor president barack obama, the time is now, the time is now, the time is now! >> the time is now, is has become the rallying cry to put 11 million undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship. 11 million faces and voice who is want to be recognized as part of the american fabric. some took to capitol hill on wednesday, urging congress to make that happen. who exactly are they? here is our msnbc contributor maria kumar in her own words. >> what we're talking about 11 million individuals living within our borders, that are doing the work of an yound ground economy that we know exists. most folks don't realize that these individuals pay billions of dollars already into our economy, whether it's social security, state or federal

taxes. but let's make sure that they do it in a commonsense way so we are benefitting from their labor. these 11 million undocumented individuals are not just latino, but they are afro-caribbean, asian, russian, they are irish, they are individuals that reflect our very fiber. we talk to the majority of americans, they actually believe in a pathway to citizenship. how can we get washington to pay attention to us? we need to make sure we're making phone calls to our legislators, talking to our community leaders and if any undocumented workers are considered illegal, if they're breaking laws, they're considered criminals? that means that each one of us as americans are accomplices in that underground economy. we're accomplices because if we get our nails done today, we go to the dry cleaner and pick up our dry cleaning. if someone is taking care of our children or even go to the grocery store and buy tonight's dinner. someone picked those groceries for us and those individuals more than likely are undocumented. we're talking about individuals

that have lived in our community for more than ten years. individuals that work for us, that work with us. that are part of our parishes, part of our community. and many are even members of our family. and the only way that we can establish that we're talking about a cohesive america is to insure that they can come out of the shadows. >> joining us as part of our immigration coverage is maria theresa kumar that was an incredible piece, it certainly gives us a real idea as we think about as we go our daily lives, about who is really a part of our daily lives, our nbc news first street picked up on this survey by pew research that dispels the stereotype that all undocumented immigrants are latino or mexican, to be more exact. as we move forward in this debate over immigration reform, what do you see as the not so obvious dangers of perpetuating the stereotypes out there? >> well, i think one of the dangers is that if we don't have a path to legalization, thomas, we're basically going to have a group of second-class citizens within our borders. and we don't want that.

the nbc poll that came out today basically said that overwhelmingly latinos, latino voters favored a pathway to citizenship. the underlying reason is not do we have friends and family that may be undocumented. but if we don't provide that, we'll always be asked if we're americans. currently right now one out of every three americans believe that latinos are undocumented. that's not the case, we need to make sure we provide this pathway to move forward as a country and more importantly, not create two classes of citizens within our borders. >> when we had senator jeff blake on of the immigration group, he feels confident by tuesday. what are you hearing? >> i'm hearing exactly the same thing. i'm hearing monday or tuesday and we're incredibly optimistic. ha is going to come out of the senate is going to be very bipartisan support. it's going to be incredibly strong. i know that rubio wants to provide a little longer opportunity for folks to review it we need as many republican senators to back it. if we have 75 senators, we know it's going to be a lot harder

for the folks in the house to split it up. and that's the danger. what i'm hearing from the house side is what they'd like to be able to do is split the bill into seven different bills and that would be disastrous for everyone involved. >> a busy spring in washington, d.c., maria theresa kumar, thanks for joining me. much. that's going to wrap things up for me. i'll see you back tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. "now" with alex wagner comes your way next. [ phil ] when you have joint pain and stiffness... accomplishing even little things can become major victories.

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republicans and democrats are working together. we do not know the outcome yet, but take a moment, america, to savor this. democrats and republicans are working together. it's thursday, april 11th, and this is "now." filibuster-busted. th