begin debating senator harry reid's gun safety reform bill. >> i'm grateful to all republicans who joined with us to allow this debate to go forward. now, the hard work starts now. >> this procedural vote is just the first of many hurdles, unlike efforts to reform gun safety in recent years, advocates seem to have a renewed passion and this message -- we will not go sil lently into the night. all night and morning, survivors of gun violence and the fams of victims read the names of more than 3,000 people killed by guns since the shooting at sandy hook. >> my name is jillian soto, my sister is victoria soto. december 14th, 2012, newtown, connecticut.

victoria soto, age 27, december 14th, 2012. >> first lady, michelle obama in a rare foray into domestic policy spoke yesterday in chicago about a young girl shot and killed earlier this year. she spoke attending the funeral and speaking to her classmates. >> i urged them to use their lives to give meaning to hadiyah's life. i urged them to dream as big as she did. so today i want to say the exact same thing to all of you -- i want to urge you to come together and do something worthy of hadiyah pendleton's memory and worthy of our children's future. >> the strategy is to keep the dialogue going and it means taking a bold stand against nra lobbyists. the gun reform filibusters say the nra will oppose a cloture

motion to move final passage of the bill. the nra is saying lawmakers who didn't vote to squash a debate on this issue will be penalized by the nra. regardless, two senators with a ratings from the nra are not backing down. >> i know this does nothing to infringe the rights of law-abiding citizens. if it did, i wouldn't be for it. >> we're assuring them as nra members, a-rated members, a lifetime member, a sportsman all my life, this bill doesn't allow government infringement, it takes none of your rights away. >> vice president biden sat down with "morning joe" and said a shift has taken place. >> i think what was the game-changer in the minds of the american people saying enough is enough, is what happened to those beautiful babies up in sandy hook. look, joe, this is one of the cases where, where 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 see it now. the public has moved to a different place. >> the next few weeks will show if the public perception will match up with congressional reality. joining me today, deputy mayor of new york city, howard wolfson, maggy haberman. richard wolffe, a msnbc political analyst. michael steele, a former rnc chairman and msnbc political analyst and with us, white house director of communications, jennifer palmieri. great to see you. >> thanks, alex. >> i want to talk about the work that the president and the first lady have done on this issue. i think in large part what has not been lost in this debate, which is highly unusual, is the emotional core that is at the center of gun safety reform. and i want to focus, particularly on the first lady,

in so far as this is a rare foray for her into a policy issue. and an incredibly emotional speech that she gave yesterday. can you give us a sense of how that came about? i mean is this -- she is a mother, barack obama is obviously a father. he has spoken about newtown in the context of not only being the president, but being a father. i wonder how affecting this has been for the first lady throughout and what led to her coming out yesterday and giving such an emotionally resonant speech to america. >> sure. i think i mean you're right, as you know that when the president went to newtown for the memorial service, which was just -- two days after the shooting, he spoke you know, i thought, anyway, very movingly about the obligations that we have to our children and i think that both he and the first lady see the gun issue mostly through that pris prism. and right around the same time we had the murder of hadiyah

pendleton. the first lady spoke yesterday about a girl from not just chicago, but the same part of town that the first lady grew up in. and she had wanted to go to the funeral, to not, not speak or anything. but just to show support for this family. that had gone this tragedy in her own home town. but she was also very clear with us, the first lady was, that she wanted to make sure that there was, that you know, there was more that she wanted to do to help particularly in chicago. which is what led to the mayor asking her to come yesterday. and and speak about what they can do, what things they're doing in chicago to fight violen violence, but also to note that you know, at a minimum, we should be having a vote on all of these, of all of these gun issues. you're right, i think they feel really powerfully as most parents do, about this issue.

and also because chicago has had such problems. >> you have to think in terms of the obviously there's urgency generally speaking as a parent. as an american seeing this happen to american families and children and citizens. but also there's the practical reality of what's going on in the senate. in the sense that this is the time to make the final push. and how much of what's happening inside washington informed i think the passion with which the first lady took up this issue yesterday? >> right, and that's why we wanted to, we do see this as a critical week. of course there will be many weeks following when the senate is considering this and then moving on to the house. that we'll have to be very active on. but the president really wanted to start this week in connecticut. with the newtown families to remind the nation of what this is. of what this is about. and we wanted to, we knew it was a really important week. we wanted to have the president out starting in connecticut, we knew that the first lady was going to be in chicago speaking

about you know how her and hadiyah pendleton's life mirror each other so much and the vice president, i can say this because it's out on your network this morning, on "morning joe." we wanted to have three principles engaged this week. as a matter of fact in terms of i think the newtown families it's hard to measure the impact they had in week. in helping to get the vote that we got today. but the president either just did or as we speak is calling the families that were part of this effort to congratulate them. this is just the very, very beginning. but they need to understand that they already having an impact. >> jen, i want to open this up to our panel in new york. howard, the fact that we've not lost sight of the human toll, whether through gun violence in cities or the newtown massacre. the fact that the families were on the hill. it's remarkable that the senate just passed the motion to begin the debate. 68-31. the question remains whether anything actually gets passed.

i'm of the mind, perhaps i'm naive or actually right, that it will be hard to take a stand on this as an issue that matters and matters enough to be discussed on the floor of the u.s. senate and then to vote down the actual legislation. think it's a good bellweather that it passed with strong bipartisan support. >> absolutely. senators mansion and toomey are heroes here. they are people who are a-rated nra members, they've consistently stood with the nra and they saw what happened in newtown and they came to the conclusion that we had to have a different set of policies and they bucked their traditional positions. and they crossed party lines and they came together and they forged a real bipartisan coalition around action. there is a lot that needs to be done, we don't know what the end result will be. but we know that today was not a day that many people predicted. there was a lot of pessimism around the possibility of even moving forward with a conversation on the senate floor. and the fact that we got 68 votes is a real testament to the

presidential leadership, as jennifer was saying. to the first lady. to the vice president, who has been tireless on this issue. and most of all, really to these families from newtown, who mayor bloomberg has met now on several occasions. these are enormously courageous people. they have suffered the worst kind of loss you can possibly imagine. they are doing everything they can to make sure that other families don't suffer the same kind of loss. and you saw the top of the show, they were in washington, working the halls, talking to senators, putting the real human face on the tragedy here. >> the question, michael steele, you know the next step for this, if the senate passes something, is that it goes to the house. and the jury is way, way out as far as what's going to happen there. john boehner was asked about gun legislation yesterday and said, as i've made clear, any bill that passes the senate we're going to review it, which is about as noncommittal as one can get on this. if it passes the senate with strong support with both sides

of the aisle. can boehner with stand that, break the hastert -- can he withstand that one way or the other. can he go with the hastert rule and say we have to have a majority. or do you think the national pressure and probably the pressure from the upper chamber will be too great? >> i think on this issue he will put aside the hastert rule just on principle. like you said, the issue is too important to sit there and look for a majority. the majority, which probably won't exist. number one. number two, i think that if you just take today's vote, 68-31, and that's the final vote on the bill, because a lot of people talking well 70-plus would really seal it in the house, i think that vote seal it is in the house. just by the number itself. three, i took note of what paul ryan said yesterday. on "morning joe." which was, that basically, you know, whatever toomey sends us, this could be pretty good for us. we won't have a problem with. that opened up a whole 'nother

room on the right for wiggle room. to begin to move in the direction that pat toomey is leading them. and i think you hit it right on the head. he's gone outside of the standard norm that would be expected of a conservative on something like this. >> an a-rated nra senator. >> an nra member. i think that that is a again, you're beginning to see the kind of shifts, and it goes back to something i said on your show a few weeks ago. >> i love it when you quote yourself. >> i don't get to do it too often. but, no, we were going back and forth. and i said you know, let's let this thing unfold because there are going to be a lot of twists and turns, whether you're talking about immigration, you're talking about guns. and even on gay marriage. within the gop, you're going to see an evolution begin to accelerate. not at a rapid speed. and i think this is one of those issues where you take the statements of someone like a paul ryan, and the leadership of a pat tomorrowy, itomey, it's m

elephant in a direction the elephant isn't used to going in. >> really the bravery of someone like pat toomey to stand up and say, we're going to do the right thing. it's not the politically expedient thing or the tidy thing, but the morally right thing. but at the same time you cannot undersell how important it has been for the president to be out there going at this in the bully pulpit. for the first lady to be there and for the victims of newtown to be on the hill. you can't look into the eyes of a parent, maggie who has lost their child, who is asking not for a yes vote or a no vote but for a vote and say i'm not going to do it. >> it is the most unimaginable thing to lose a child the way they did and i think there's no way that lawmakers can turn away from that. at least without some kind of a hearing. i think there is, we've talked on the show recently about the legislation going on in washington and how it is hard to cull one thing out. you know i did not think guns

was going to go anywhere. i'm surprised. i think 68 does make it much easier. there's a lot that still has to happen. but this was not what anybody thought was going to happen. when the talks, looking for republican partner had collapsed, it seemed like that was the end. this does push it forward. so we'll see. >> well let me say one other thing. you're talking about the house. so the mayor, mayor bloomberg, has spent roughly $12 million running ads in targeted states. over the last month or so. some of those votes were with us, some were not. that would be a floor for what we can spend in the house. i mean there are, we believe, two or three dozen house members, republicans, from marginal districts, suburban districts, districts where this poll is 90-10, who we're going to make the case that they should be voting the right way here. and we believe that those members will go to their leadership and make it clear that they are sufficiently concerned that they will not be back.

that there may not be a speaker boehner unless there is a vote on this issue. >> if coy just on that point -- those members will also weigh the value of mayor bloomberg versus their right flank as well. and i bet you in many cases the right flank will trump mayor bloomberg. because at the end of the day -- >> that sounds like fighting words, michael steele. >> it is fighting words, i appreciate what the mayor is doing and that's great to play. but at the same time, you know, these guys are going to be beholden to their ultimate constituencies. and -- >> these all right far right districts. >> they don't need to be far right districts. they're still people and they still listen to them and if their constituents are with them and reflecting that in some way. that's got to be respected in the process as well. >> the issue is 90-10 in those districts. >> that's great, we'll see. >> jen, i want to go back to you because i don't want to undermine the importance of universal background checks or expanded background checks. but there are folks that have pointed out in "the new york

daily news" is among them that there is no national assault weapons ban there is no national high-capacity magazine ban. there is no national gun sales registry. no national movement to seize guns from people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. i know the president said this is not my bill, regarding the toomey-mansion agreement there are aspects of the bill i might prefer to be stronger. but the bill does represent significant and bipartisan progress. >> will the president consider the fight over if expanded background checks is the only thing to come out of congress? >> i think you know, a lot of us have been working on this issue for decades. and you know, with the first, the first brady background check passing in 19923. i don't think that we ever feel and i'm sure the president won't feel that the battle is over. no matter what ends up in law this time around. i think what you all have been saying that your panel back in

new york, what maggie said, is we feel like this issue, it's a 90-10 issue. we know that background checks are something that people really support. you just don't quite know you know when it may or when it may catch fire the way we had a really strong bipartisan vote today. this is among the reasons why the president feels like it's really important that we continue to push for all four of the legislative measures. so not just background checks, but also assault weapons bans. limitation on magazines. and also on, on school and measures on school safety. so and these are all common-sense measures, measures that the american people support. they may not pass in the senate this time. but this is -- you just got to keep pushing and pushing and pushing. and see where you can make progress. and this why we're not dropping any element of this bill. we're continuing to move forward with it. >> so we can continue to expect the president to be using the bully pulpit to push the issue

of an assault weapons ban and a limit on high-capacity magazines in coming months? >> right he stalked about those in hartford on monday. and we've been clear that we really think that the senate needs to vote on each of these things. and i think it's -- we know that that's hard. but we think that you got to, if you're going to eventually make progress, you can't leave these things on the sidelines. you got to keep them in the debate. >> jennifer pal mari, thanks for your time. president obama serves up a new budget plan. we'll talk about what happens when one's guests want to skip the budget broccoli and go straight to dessert.

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after releasing his fifth budget yesterday, president obama for the second time hosted a bipartisan dinner. inviting 12 republican senators over to the white house in the spirit of compromise and shared sacrifice. this morning, johnny isaacson, part of the gop dozen recapped what was served. >> most of the discussion was about fiscal policy. about the tax policy, about revenues, about entitlements, that was the gist of the meeting. we have our differences and some of them are inseparable, we have a lot of places where we can find common ground. >> as with any balanced meal or any bipartisan deal, there is traditionally a mix of stuff people like and stuff people don't like. broccoli for example, and chocolate cake and in any meal, and in any deal, people

traditionally have to eat the stuff they don't like to get to the stuff they do like. unless you're a republican, in which case you throw the broccoli on the floor and ask for more cake. >> 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 cuts. >> this is not a serious plan. for the most part, just another left-wing wishlist. >> there are some things in the budget beyond the tax increases that frankly we can find some agreement on. we ought to do so, without holding them hostage for more tax hikes. >> white house economic adviser, gene spurling was forced to remind republicans of basic meal-time decorum. >> the offer that is there for speaker boehner, is not an ala carte menu and you can't decide to only pick up the concessions

the president has made and not include the concessions that are from the republican side that need to be part of a bipartisan deal. >> if mcconnell, boehner and cantor were intent to bang on the table for more of what they and only they wanted, paul ryan went one step further, throwing even his dessert on the floor. speaking of president obama's offer of chained cpi as a way to trim social security costs, ryan said quote, i don't see it as entitlement reform as much as clarifying a statistic. and then there was the head of the national republican congressional committee, greg walden. the man tasked with electing republicans to the house in 2014, who ordered the dessert, who begged for the dessert and then accused his host of trying to make him fat by giving him precisely what he had been asking for. >> i thought it very intriguing in that his budget lays out a shocking attack on seniors, if will. when you're going after seniors on the way he's done on obama

care, taking out $700 million out of obama care and put in medicare and now come back at seniors again, i think you're crossing that line very quickly in terms of denying aek ses to seniors in term of health care. >> even club for growth director found the behavior outrageous and was forced to remind that mr. walden found cuts to programs very delicious indeed. saying the last thing the republicans should attack the democrats for is for making the most minor reforms to our entitlement programs, he ought to think about clarifying his remarks on chained cpi and clarify soon. which begs the question, if republicans can't agree on stuff they're supposed to like, does broccoli even stand a chance? does broccoli stand a chance, richard? >> broccoli always stands a chance. but it clearly liking broccoli makes you left wing so -- look, to extend the menu thing a little bit further -- >> dessert and the cake.

>> when gene spurling says this is not an ala carte menu, the problem is that you don't get to decide how the customers will pick the menu. >> he's saying it's a prefix, not an ala carte. >> the problem is it's out there. however, whoever cooked it, whatever saurs it's in, it's out there. they have made a concession and it was entirely predictable that republicans would actually say thank you very much and now let's go onto the next course. the problem they have on the republican side, are they going to go at it from the left or the right. too many concessions or not enough concessions? that kind of disarray is helpful if the white house to get where it wants to go the reality is not what the club for growth thinks the messaging should be. it will come down to thank you very much for offering us chained cpi and now we want something else, that's what i don't understand about this. >> just posit the idea that this was actually a strategy.

so the white house put out something that is as boehner said, is the minimal of what they could have done. to some extent this then forces republicans to actually verbalize, which is what was so strange about what walden did. we want to cut this, and the other in terms of other entitlement reforms. i think that for a lot of people think that that is a potential objective here by the white house. the fact that there's this messaging jiu-jitsu on internally on the gop side is no accident. the president took some heat from the left, it could have been a lot worse. >> we'll talk about that in a second. but michael steel -- how does this play out for the republican party? because walden exposed the truth, which is that nobody particularly wants to own cuts to medicare and social security. and here now, republicans have to praise the cuts, however minor you may think republicans may think they are, chain cpi is a way of trimming social security costs. they have to praise that now.

and not really mincing words. greg walden is being told to walk it back. >> yeah, he is and i think it goes to what richard said. and maggie. there is right now this little conversation that is sort of erupting publicly. within the party as to exactly how do we now reframe this? i think the president did very adroitly put out a budget. he put out, okay i've heard you talk about this chain cpi stuff. here you go, now what? >> now they can't take it. now you can't take it. you sit there and you're going to go well, if we support it then we're cutting programs for seniors. but wait a minute, democrats, are the ones who always accuse us of that. thy ink they need to take a step back. come around, a consensus among themsselves as to how they begin to position the ryan budget if that's the tool they're going to use against the president's budget. 0 go straight at the president's budget. they've got to be clear. right now it's a little bit of confusion, i say for this

particular set, it goes to the president. >> how do they look if they don't have a counteroffer? they have to do something. >> well greg walden's job is to elect republicans to the house of representatives. he's thinking 20, 30, 40 congressional districts that are marginal, that are centrists where a democrat or a republican can be elected. in those districts, it's not good politics for either a democrat or a republican to call for cuts to social security and medicare. or he would not have been saying that. the vast bulk of the republican congress, come from districts where it is good politics to be in favor of cutting social security and medicare. but the people who will actually determine whether the republicans are in a majority or not, come from districts where the politics are actually the opposite. >> richard, before we end the segment, there's been, there has been blow-back from the left on this. >> sure there has. >> i want to read from richard trumka, head of the afl-cio.

he said the president's budget is more than just numbers, a profoundly moral document. we believe cutting social security and shifting costs to medicare beneficiaries, while preventing corporate america from shared sacrifice is wrong and indefensible. >> this kind of push-back on the left is what gives the president some cover and makes the republican argument that it's incremental, look less credible. if it's so incremental and so minimal, then why are people so worked up. you could just say everyone on the left is crazy or something. but actually these are real cuts. these have a real impact. that's precisely why it's a useful election issue in the swing districts that howard was talking about. so the reaction is useful, it's real, but these are real cuts, they will impact people surviving on very small amounts of money. >> if they're smart, they would bake, if the republicans are smart, they bake that reaction into their calculations. in other words, yeah, the president is going to show that he's a tough guy and he can be a bully to his own side on an issue with respect to medicare.

you bake that in, but you've got to have your own act together, in the process of doing that. >> i just wonder before we go, maggie, the president is relying on democrats to pass this and there are going to be democrats in the house who have dom the layman's work, the heavy lifting on a lot of legislation, and have been the ones that carried over the finish line, because john boehner can't get his caucus together. how much of a problem could it be for the president given fact that democrats also don't want to be the ones cutting social security and medicare and also have an ideological issue with doing so. >> marginal districts are called that for a reason and there are some on the democratic side. it will be an issue for the same reason it is on the republican side. i think if need be, i think more will go for it than not. but i think it is going to be a big lift. >> because the president has better control of the wheelbarrow into which he's putting his frogs than john boehner does. i'm trying to get away from the broccoli/cake metaphor. coming up, is john boehner

breaking a sweat as the senate's gang of eight inches closer on compromise on immigration? the immigration debate next on "now." we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble

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yesterday afternoon as the senate's gang of eight was busy negotiating on a comprehensive immigration reform bill, tens of thousands of immigrants and

advocates for reform rallied nationwide and outside the u.s. capitol to persuade lawmakers to fix the immigration system is. at this point the senate's deal is still taking shape, but the bill requires strict border security provisions to be in place before providing a path to citizenship. for the first time in two and a half decades, immigration reform just might be possible. and the american people are embracing it. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll released today shows that 54% of americans agree with the statement that immigration adds to the nation's character and strengthens it. two-thirds said they favored a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally and now hold jobs. proving just how broad support for reform actually is, even texas governor rick perry is calling for a more humane system speaking with a local tv station, perry said quote, we need to be having this conversation about how to deal with the 12 million that are here and how to create a more

thoughtful system. my hope is both extremes of the debate get left outside. but if all sorts of people seem ready for reform and are urging sane discussion, in some corners things remain somewhat different. this year at a town hall, senator john mccain faced a raucous crowd as he announced his support for immigration reform. >> why didn't the army go down there and stop them? because the only thing that stops them i'm afraid to say and it's too damn bad, but is a gun. that's all that will stop them. >> the border is 2,000 miles long, sir, i don't know how many troops and army people you think would have been required. >> cut off their welfare, and they'll go back. you said build a fence, where's the fence? >> given the wild speculation floated thus far, republicans now seem loathe to let the crazy in as they begin serious debate. case in point, iowa tea partiyer steve king who complained about

being sidelined on the issue and asked to no one in particular, how come all of these meetings on immigration are going on and i'm not being invited. may we humbly offer an answer, steve congress was the congress person last year who compared immigrants to bird dogs and insisted that americans should have the pick of the litter. how successful republicans will be at keeping the crazy out of the legislation, keeping the crazy out as the legislation makes its way to the house, a place known as the locus of the crazies will determine the fate of immigration reform. for now, the focus remains on the senate where yesterday republican senator jeff flake of arizona said even though the gang of eight had their differences, they would ultimately unite because quote that's what gangs do. joining us is davis guggenheim, director of "the dream is now." great to have you on set here in new york city. we were talking about gun control and one of the things that has really shifted this debate in favor of reform has been the human faces. and actually seeing what happens

it's not just policy, these are lives. one of the things you're doing as part of the dream is now, is immigration reform advocates and activists are doing, is showing america that there's humanity at the root of this. and just how important it is that we consider that people's lives are on the line. and i think that's a huge amount in terms of changing the tenor and the terms of the debate. >> that's my hope. i hope when people see this 30-minute film broadcast on this network on msnbc on sunday. >> where you get to meet the dreamers and see the human face of this issue. i was walking through congress yesterday showing the movie to members of the senate and the congress. and it was chilling, alex. you see these -- young, bright people whose lives are at stake. and ola, who said to speaker pelosi, leader pelosi, says you know your vote is my future and she burst into tears. these kids are incredible, they've got so much potential.

and the birg question is are we going to give that potential away. >> were you meeting in a bipartisan fashion? >> yes. and the film is supposed to be ecumenical, what's so exciting is that there's momentum on both sides. that's why there's so much hope. is that i think both sides are seeing positive gain in this area. and i think there's a chance to do something really big. it feels like there's momentum in the air. >> michael steele, we were talking about, there's a raft of legislation on the congressional deck. i don't know if you can have a raft on deck. >> like, there's going to be hemming and hawing in the house over what they want to get done and what's a priority. and knowing, as the house does, you have gun safety reform out there and immigration. is it too much of an electoral reality for the house to punt on

this? >> can they punt? >> yeah. >> absolutely they can punt. unlike on the gun issue where you have this momentum swinging out of the senate that can have some flooding effect in the house, you don't see that just yet on this issue. in immigration. you have marco rubio wanting to go slow. you have others in the senate both republicans and democrats saying no, let's get this thing moving. we can feel the momentum. i think davis's film is one of those ellements, it puts into stark relief the human elements. >> i'm glad you got republicans as well as democrats to create that momentum. there's a lot of things still that can slow this train, if not derail it on immigration. maggie could talk to this as well. in some corners people talk about how ironic, that the momentum we saw on immigration dissipate in the face of a tide now for gun control. you could wind up getting a gun

bill and immigration legislation getting stalled because of that very point of border security. the mandate, if you will. >> the path to citizenship. >> it could be the lynch pin to the pathway to citizenship, in the context of border security. >> the senate is kind of having this kumbayah moment, the bipartisan sort of functionality, which is rare in washington. and the sense that like okay, the senate is going to use it as a battering ram and get it pushed through the house. whether or not steve king is actually involved in deliberations, may i kindly suggest you not involve him in the deliberations. but who am i to say this? the house doesn't like theyed that the legislation is going to get rammed down its throats by the senate. >> don't forget the fact that they passed it, the house passed it, nancy pelosi passed it in 2010. and the senate couldn't get past the filibuster. >> right. i mean i think that, i think that ha boehner would like and

what his caucus would like are often two different things or sometimes two different things. the politics of immigration reform are very real. i believe it will get done. i think it is pretty vaungou s advantageous. but the reality is, that if the gang of eight can hold if the deal holds, if rubio gets behind it, i think it is more likely than not that the house will pass it. >> this goes to in so far as gun -- davis in so far as gun safety reform touches on a piece of the american cultural identity, immigration does, too. it's much more bipartisan, i think it's not so much a red state/blue state. they like the idea that people come here to live the american dream. >> what you see in the meeting that you played with mccain, there's also a lot of fear-mongering, people who live

on the border who feel scared. and that's why i made the movie. when you meet these people you see that we need their potential. the american center for progress said it's going to be at $329 billion to our economy. and in added spending and taxes. it's in all of our interests to fix this thing. >> and the center for american progress has stats on how much it would cost us to deport -- >> 23,000 per immigrant. there are 11 million people. it's impossible, they're here. >> it makes all kinds of sense and then there's of course, howard wanting to win in 2014, 2016 and beyond. you can't just keep doing what you're doing. >> i agree with maggie. the politics of this are going to argue for passage in both the house and the senate there are core group of numerous core group of democrats and republicans who for different reasons are going to come together and push this. republicans know they need to do

better with the growing latino community and there's also a growing number of business type republicans, you saw mark zuckerberg and the sort of the silicon valley group. my boss, mike bloomberg and rupert murdoch and a group of ceos from around the country are pushing this from the business perspective. that this is good for the economy. it's good for america for the long-term. and so you're going to have that wing of the republican party pushing the republicans and you obviously have a lot of democrats who want to see this happen. >> one thing that was funny when you played the quote from rick perry. that was the one area where rick perry was true to himself in the gop primary. he has been pretty pro immigration. and it is from that business perspective. the difference is now he doesn't need to apologize for saying this is a national issue. >> he did apologize, but it also is why mitt romney went so hard right. he was trying to get to this side of rick perry in those primaries. >> davis, the film as we mentioned premieres on this

sunday on msnbc. we're happy to have it on air. everyone should watch it because i think we, even those of us in the media and in the reporting class forget about human stories being at the root of this. it's a shot in the arm in terms of who we are as americans, it makes you feel good about people who want so badly to be here and who are incredibly accomplished through drive and belief in this country and what it offers, so congratulations on the film. it's called "the dream is now." we have a website, thedreamisnow.org. >>. coming up, is north korea launching a missile? and is it launching it any time soon? a live report from nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell, live on the korean peninsula, next on "now." no. okay. this, won't take long will it? no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget?

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with south korea and the u.s. on high alert for a north korean missile launch, tensions continue to rise. joining us now from seoul, is nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. andrea, thanks for joining us. >> you bet, my pleasure. >> andrea, you're in seoul. there's a lot of con fugs in the u.s. about how seriously we should take these threats, are these the war games of a young leader trying to prove himself or a legitimate threat that we need to make more seriously? >> that's the big question, there was testimony on the hill in fact from jim clapper and john brennan, the two top intelligence officials, they're

saying that their best understanding is he's trying to prove himself to the military that he's a tough guy and his domestic audience. but we don't know. we don't flow if it's a repeat of what we saw with his father and grandfather. or as they celebrate the national day and the founding of the nation and the one-year anniversary of his taking power, whether or not this is something different. whether the threats are real. that's why tension is high among foreign leaders and certainly among the south korean leaders and john kerry is on his way here right now, flying from london and we expect to see him here tomorrow your time, and he will be meeting with the south korean leaders and trying to reassure them that america does have their back. alex? >> there's no better person to be reporting on this issue, thank you for the update. andrea, i'm sure there will be more on that in the following hour on your show. >> thank you so much. >> thanks for your time and thank you to my panel, howard, maggie, richard and michael steele. "andrea mitchell reports" is coming up next. mom always got good nutrition to taste great.

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