out to see if he can get additional concessions from us. >> as the days pass, outrage is growing around america. is anyone in washington listening? >> do you in washington, do all of you have any idea how totally disgusted the american people are with these antics. >> what we need to be seeing is why are we not passing spending business the way we should do it. >> do you take any responsibility for the tone, for your part in this? >> well, i think in order to have compromise the other side has to negotiate. we've been willing to negotiate. >> john kerry getting a star turn at two summits in asia this week. not exactly how the defeated presidential candidate p imagined playing commander in chief. >> in 2004 i worked very, very hard to replace a president. this is not what i had in mindp

>> in 2004 i worked very, very hard to replace a president. this is not what i had in mind. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in new york city, in manhattan overlooking the beautiful public library where nyc hosting its education nation summit. we're open for business even if the federal government is not. week two looks like week one. speaker boehner and president obama are not talking to one another leaving millions in limbo. >> i do think it is nonsense. they need to get their act together. >> i do not think that congress is even thinking about the little people like us. >> joining me now for our daily fix chris cillizza, msnbc

contributor and chuck todd, msnbc white house correspondent, political director and host of "the daily rundown." we're waiting for video of the president at fema, national emergency response center. before wets to that, we'll bring it to you as soon as we have it from the traveling tv pool. what is the posture of the white house? what about that nonmust official quoted say we don't care how long it goes we're winning politically. can they defend the fact there are no negotiations going on? >> they believe they can defend this because they believe they already negotiated. >> todd, let me interrupt you. i would only interrupt you for the commander in chief. there he is. >> the incredible workers here at fema, they are having to under less than optimal situations still respond to

mother nature which doesn't stop just because the government has shut down. i want to get initially a briefing on what happened with hurricane karen became tropical storm karen and then fortunately dissipated, so we dodged a bullet there. in the meantime we're on tornado watch in the mid-atlantic states because of severe weather patterns. we've got blizzards up next. we've got some weather patterns in the middle of the country we're still monitoring. so i just want to say thank you to all of you for the incredible work that you're doing. i think it's important to understand people here at fema have been doing everything they can to respond to potential events. here at fema they are in touch with their state and local partners in case resources are needed. fema remains prepared for natural disasters year-round with supplies prepositioned in distribution centers across the

country. but their job has been made more difficult. thanks to the folks at fema, we were prepared for what might have happened down in florida. nevertheless the government is still shut down. services are still interrupted. hundreds of thousands of hardworking public servants, including fema professionals, are still furloughed without pay or they are not allowed to work at all. so craig was just explaining to me here at fema about 86% of the fema workforce was furloughed. in response to the potential event that might have happened in florida and along the coast, craig called back 200 of those workers. keep in mind calling them back doesn't mean they are getting paid. it just means they have the privilege of working without pay to make sure they were doing everything they can to respond to the potential needs of their

fellow citizens. now that this particular storm has dissipated craig is going to have to refurlough at least 100 of those folks called back. think about that. here you are somebody a fema professional, dedicated to doing your job. at a moment's notice you're willing to show up here in case people got in trouble and respond to them even though you're not getting paid, even though you don't have certainty. now you're being put back on furlough because the government is shutdown. that's no way of doing business. that pes to the day to day emergencies that may come up and is fema's job to respond to. craig was also explaining the fact that when it dos training first responders, for example, we have on a weekly basis already scheduled training for first responders that now have to be rescheduled. it will probably end up ultimately costing the government more money for us to put those things back together

again. and so not only is the shutdown hurting fema workers, not only is it making it more difficult for us to respond to potential natural disasters, but it may actually end up costing taxpayers more than it should. rye now congress should do what's in the best interest of the economy and the american people and that's move beyond this manufactured crisis and work together to focus on growth, jobs, and providing vital services that americans all across the country depend on, including the services fema provides. i heard a lot of talk over the weekend that the real problem is that the president will not negotiate. well, let me tell you something, i have said from the start of the year that i'm happy to talk to republicans about anything related to the budget. there's not a subject that i am not willing to engage in, work

on, negotiate and come up with common sense compromises on. what i've said is that i cannot do that under the threat that if republicans don't get 100% of their way they are doing to either shut down the government or they are going to default on america's debt, so that america for the first time in history does not pay its bills. that is not something i will do. we're not going to establish that pattern. we're not going to negotiate under the threat of further harm to our economy and middle class families. we're not going to negotiate under the threat of a prolonged shutdown until republicans get 100% of what they want of we're not doing to negotiate under the threat of economic catastrophe that economists and ceos warn would result if congress chose to default on america's obligations. now, the other thing i heard

over the weekend was the notion that congress doesn't have the capacity to end this shutdown. the truth of the matter is there are enough republican and democratic votes in the house of representatives right now to end the shutdown immediately with no partisan strings attached. the house should hold that vote today. if republicans and speaker boehner is saying there are not enough votes, then they should prove it. let the bill go to the floor and lets see what happens. just vote. let every member of congress vote their conscious. they can determine whether or not they want to shut the government down. my suspicion is, my strong suspicion is there are enough votes there. and the reason speaker boehner hasn't called a vote on it is because he doesn't apparently want to see the government shutdown end of the moment unless he's able to extract concessions that don't have anything to do with budget. well, i think the american people simply want government to

work. there's no reason that there has to be a shutdown in order for the kinds of negotiations speaker boehner says he wants to proceed. hold a vote. call a vote right now and lets see what happens. the second thing congress needs to do is raise the debt ceiling next week so the treasury can pay the bills congress has already spent. that's what most americans do if they buy something. they buy a car or buy a house. they put something on a credit card. they understand they have to pay the bills. this is something routine. it's been done more than 40 times since ronald reagan was president. it's never before been used in the kind of ways republicans are talking about using it right now. we can't threat an economic catastrophe in the midst of budget negotiations. authorize the treasury to pay america's bills. pass a budget and the government shutdown and pay our bills and

prevent an economic shutdown. as soon as that happens, i am eager and ready to sit down and negotiate with republicans on a whole range of issues. how do we create more jobs, how do we grow the economy, how do we boost manufacturing, how do we make sure our kids are getting a first class education. all those things are on the table. i'm happy to talk about health care, happy to talk about energy policy. how do we deal with our long-term fiscal situation. all those things i've been eager and anxious to talk to republicans about for the last seven months and i put out a budget that specifically lays out my vision for how we're going to grow this economy and i suspect republicans can do the same and we'll negotiate it. we shouldn't hurt a whole bunch of people in order for one side to think they are going to have to have a little more leverage in those negotiations. last point i'm going to make. the bill that is being presented to end the government shutdown

reflects republican priorities. it's the republican budget. the funding levels of this short-term funding bill, called the cr, is far lower than what democrats think it should be. nevertheless democrats are prepared to put the majority of votes on it to fund the government. when you hear government not compromising, we're compromising so much we're willing to open the government at funding levels that reflect republican wishes, don't at all reflect our wishes. at fema they are subject to the sequester. even before the shutdown they were having trouble making sure everybody was staying on the job and fulfilling all of their various functions. we need to get that sequester lifted that's been hanging over the head of the economy and federal agencies during the course of this entire year. this short-term legislation to

reopen the government doesn't even address that. that has to be done in a broader budget framework. so democrats have said we are willing to pass a bill that reflects the republicans' priorities in terms of funding levels. that's a pretty significant compromise. what we're not willing to do is to create a permanent pattern in which unless you get your way, the government shutdown or america defaults. that's not how we do business in this country. we're not going to start now. so again, i wan to thank everybody at fema for the extraordinary work that you're doing. you show each and every day you take your responsibility seriously. you do your jobs with consummate professionalism. hopefully you're setting a good

example for members of congress. they need to be doing the same thing. if they do, then there's no reason why we all can't move forward and make sure that we're taking care of america's business. all right? thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> the president at fema. chuck todd and chris cillizza standing by watching with me. there is not only no bargaining going on, he was calling out the speaker, chuck. they seem to be toughening their position. >> toughening the position but toning down rhetoric. a couple of things the president went out of his way to emphasize. number one, the democrats have already compromised. they have made it a lot but not a forward case, already a republican budget reflecting republican priorities when it comes to spending levels, sequestration, et cetera.

then the idea he's not willing to negotiate, he says i'm perfectly willing to negotiate after the threat -- the shutdown threat and debt ceiling issue is there. trying to sort of shift the rhetoric so it isn't all about, which republicans are trying to frame it, hey, the president won't negotiate, the president trying to push back on that talking point. i'm more than willing to negotiate just not under these preconditions that republicans want. i think it's notable you see a different tone and a little bit different emphasis on this second week. it tells me that perhaps some of the republican talking points beating him up collectively on the idea he's not willing to negotiate is something they felt the need they had to push back on. >> chris cillizza, the logical negotiation would be accept sequester levels, something close to sequester levels for

more than six weeks, accept the sequester levels going forward, which is what the the republicans want and put something on the table in terms of entitlement reform, which the president without on the table in his own budget. to adjust sequester level and entitlement reforms to come up with budget savings meaningful, long-term budget savings that could get the republicans off their demand regarding obama care. >> i think you're right there, andrea. i think chuck is onto something in that the president -- john boehner just kept saying over the weekend, i want to have a conversation. whoever heard of not negotiating. i think the president and his team is aware without context and the right push back there, that is something that can gain some ground. john boehner saying, look, i'm being reasonable. i want to talk. barack obama saying, look, the sequester is a compromise. what's in place right now if we had just extended the sequester, that would already be a

compromise by democrats, trying to reset the calculus there. i continue to believe this is about when and how the white house, if they want to, they don't have to, if they want to give john boehner a way out here. change cpi, entitlement reform, whether it's extending sequester cuts beyond that six-week window as you point out, andrea. john boehner is in a position where he needs to get something to go back to the republican house conference and say, see, here is what i got. we fought, we fought, we fought. now is the time to give in. he can't do that without something on the white house end. he could but he's not willing to do it yet. >> briefly, those that want to do something about obama care is ted cruz. ted cruz was campaigning in richmond, virginia at a very conservative audience for ken cuccinelli.

that's the only race we have locally. this is a race where you've got so many federal workers cuccinelli didn't want to be seen in the same camera shot as ted cruz. >> i was surprised that the event went on, to be honest. obviously cuccinelli is going to walk this line. you don't want to alienate conservative base, libertarian candidate siphoning away votes. he seems to be siphoning moderate republican votes. so this is a tricky line cuccinelli was walking here. you brought up ted cruz. his response to the idea of the six-week cooling off period boehner passes clean cr and clean debt limit for six-week period and they all sit down and negotiate which seems to be the easiest out for anybody, the fact ted cruz ruled this out tells you how difficult this is for john boehner to basically come up with anything that's going to be acceptable to democrats. >> chuck todd, chris cillizza,

thank you both very much. joining me now is olympia snowe who left her senate seat after 18 years representing maine partly out of frustration with government gridlock. she's a senior fellow with bipartisan policy center. senator snowe, it's great to see you. are you homesick for the senate? >> not exactly, andrea. it's regrettable where things stand today politically and legislatively in congress. it was a reason why i departed the senate. not because i didn't love it but precisely because i do. i think there is a great potential there but unfortunately not being demonstrated because of the all or nothing ideological positions being established by members in both the house and senate that make it impossible to legislate the way we did in the past. >> senator snow you and senator collins and other moderate republicans tried to forge compromises on a number of

issues. got a lot of trouble. you were so beloved in maine you didn't have a political problem with that. what do you see now? it's gotten so much worse since you left a year ago. >> andrea, i think what needs to happen, the public needs to weigh in. it's critical for the public to express their vehenenance. all about the next election at the expense of the country. the public has to engage in this process to make divided government work and to tell them there is a political price to be paid for this kind of political standoff that is to the detriment of the country. that's what will change, i think, ultimately the dynamic. that's what i'm encouraging

audiences all across the country and as pat of my work with the bipartisan policy center, we need to have activism on the part of the ample citizen, the overwhelming majority of americans who want their government to work, totally disgusted by what is taking place currently, to think of the impact it is having as one of your listeners said this afternoon about the average american. that is true. i've encountered so many americans who were just so dismayed. they are in despair about what's transpiring. they think america can do better. >> senator, a lot of people are saying this is no different than what happened in '95 and '96 and 17 other times. you went through that, lived through that, in the majority, senator dole was the majority leader. it was different. i remember it being different. what was your perception? >> absolutely it was, andrea, you're absolutely right. what was different, first of all, i think everybody felt we would get there from here as we say in maine, you would overcome

those differences. there had been a track record resolution on different issues and bipartisanship up to that point. there wasn't a question they wouldn't resolve it. also i was part of the centrist coalition that was revised township the late john chaffee. a group of us, 30 senators equally divided came together to demonstrate we could draft a bipartisan budget which we did, chafs balanced budget, to show and prove bipartisanship was alive and well and this would not sidetrack us or derail the legislative process even though we were in the midst of a shutdown. >> senator olympia snowe, thanks for being with us. great to see you. >> thank you. >> more from education nation our summit where teachers, students and leading experts are all exploring what it takes to successfully prepare students from college and beyond. a special teacher town hall moderated by brian williams. educators spoke about about new

common core curriculum from the administration and role of parents, teachers and community member. >> i urge policymakers to make sure teachers are at the table so we can explain i'm not thinking only about the data, i'm thinking about michael that sits in the third row. >> we could wait for policy. as teachers we need to get into each other's classrooms and support each other. we are each other's greatest resource. ... what should we inv? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

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>> we hope this makes clear the united states the america will never stop in its effort to hold accountable those who conduct acts of terror and those members of al qaeda and other terrorist organizations literally can run but they can't hide. >> secretary of state john kerry rejecting libya's protest against the special forces team rendition of top al qaeda operative in libya suspected of

being the mastermind behind 1998 u.s. embassy bombings in tanzania. al libi is being interrogated on a u.s. ship in the mediterranean. a top aide to osama bin laden libbi was indicted in new york for the bombings that killed 200 people including 12 americans and has been wanted since. joining me richard engel. this was a big capture. lets talk about libya also and libya's protest and what it means to have caught him. he's going to be brought back to the states for civil criminal prosecution. >> there's so many strange things about the case. one, a symbolic victory for the united states. the u.s. has been looking for this man, who was one of the masterminds, at least deeply involved, in the 1998 attacks against u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania and had continued to look for all the people involved in that and to finally

get him, someone who is one of the founding members of al qaeda, that sends a message not only to the u.s. intelligence community, a message of good job. we don't forego these kinds of things. but also a message to other al qaeda members that there is no statute of limitations. it's also very different comparing to other renditions. if you remember right after 9/11, there were many of these kinds of renditions. the people were simply disappeared. they were sent to shadow prisons, tortured and waterboarded and maybe they ended up in guantanamo bay. now it's still strange to have u.s. special forces operating in a foreign country grabbing somebody and sending them to a ship. at least we know where he was taken, how he was taken, that he's on a ship. he's going to be sent to a trial in the united states. so things have changed. but the practice of renditions continues. >> libya protesting it. it really does tell you also this guy was living in plain

sight. this reminds you of osama bin laden living right in plain sight, sort of, in pakistan. the fact is that libya for all we put into that battle is bordering on being a failed state. speaking of failed states here on the anniversary of black hawk down we tried an operation in somalia, richard, and that one was a failure. we had to back off apparently. >> we did have to back off. he was living pretty much in plain sight in libya, tripoli, for the past two years. u.s. forces had known he was there and finally decided to act. the timing is somewhat unclear why the decision was taken right now. in somalia a different kind of operation. in tripoli, u.s. forces were able to sneak up in cars, smash a window, get him out of a car, drive him away and get him on a

helicopter carrier in the mediterranean. in somalia, it's more what you would think of as a commando raid, beach raid with a heavily armed force going in to kill or capture a somali militant. there was a heavy firefight and the navy s.e.a.l.s decided to pull back so they wouldn't take casualties and wouldn't inflict too many civilian casualties as well. >> richard engel, thank you very much. thanks for the update from 30 rock. family members of miriam carey still looking for answers as to why their sister led a wild car chase through washington before being shot and killed by capitol police in front of the capital. this morning her sisters disputed the report miriam thought sthefs being monitored by president obama in some delusional fantasy. >> she didn't have a dispute with a political agenda. she never talked badly about president obama. she's not walking around delusional, which is what we want the public to understand.

he was not delusional. >> the question that remains today, was the shooting justified. nbc justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. have they come closer to answers? they are investigating the shooting. a lot of people defending them in d.c. but a lot of questions raised. >> it will take a long time to do the investigation. these after the fact shooting investigations take a while. what they say is they want to basically reconstruct what happened, do through each step, where she went to the white house first, the chase up to the base of the capital and then the final scene where she was shot and killed near the senate office building. so i suspect that's going to take several weeks, andrea, before they have good answers. >> let me ask you about the other main subject that you work on today. this the first monday in october. this is a very big supreme court session term that is starting. a big argument coming up tomorrow that should be of interest to anyone who cares about politics. >> the government is shut down

but the supreme court is open hearing oral arguments starting today. tomorrow a case on money and politics. most people understand there's a limit on how much you can give to an individual federal candidate for congress or the president and that's $2600 per election. most people don't know there's another limit on the total amount that you can give to all candidates or all political parties put together or a two-year period. $4800 for all candidates put together. it's another $75,000 or so to political parties and other political committees like funds for clean air. so if you add it all up it's $123,200. an alabama businessman is challenging that. he want to give more money. the republican party is with him, they want to take the money. the aggregate limits, base limits, how much you can give to an individual candidate, those are not challenged.

what the challengers say, this is a violation of free speech. we want to give this money, express views and money is how you do it. >> since citizens united we all know money flows to political campaigns. thank you very much, pete williams. coming up next, more from nbc's education nation. summit in new york city. amanda ripley, author of "the smartest kids in the world and how they got that way" will be joining me next. in golden bre. with whipped mashed potatoes, topped with a thick homemade gravy. so she makes her country fried chicken to be eaten together. so they savor every last bite. marie callender's.

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focus on the part of parent as well on that, on doing hard work worth doing. when you fail, picking yourself back up and getting help and working harder. >> amanda ripley, author of "the smartest kids in the world and how they got that way." that was you earlier at our summit education nation at the new york public library. how do you define rigor and what are the ingredients that go into rigor. why are other countries doing it better than we do. you track american kids going to other countries and being simulated in their education system so it's a unique approach. >> i surveyed hundreds of exchange students nine out of ten said classes were easier in the u.s. than back home. seven out of ten american students agreed. that raises the question, what does easier mean, rigor mean. we throw these words around. for our economy it seems to me rigor means the ability to think, learn, make an argument,

those kind of critical thinking skills that require doing challenging work in math, reading and science and other things but also teach kids to think for themselves. >> so are we making a mistake when we focus on the common core curriculum? are we being too rigid in what we're building for teachers and taking away from their ability to be more rigorous? >> all the countries i looked at that are really the education super powers of the world right now weren't always that way all did something like the common core. they huddled together, swallowed their pride we're going to agree on higher, fewer, deeper standards on what all kids should know at every level. that doesn't mean micro managing how you get there but having a clear finish line that allows teachers to collaborate and plan for. that's an incredible prerequisite every countries needs to be on the road to greatness. >> are we on the right track. under the circumstances pushback, i hear teachers

complain about race to the top. race top top is an artificial race and doesn't take into consideration school districts or schools that have a lot of special needs kids or english as a foreign language kids. they don't take account of those disparities. >> i think we're trying to reverse engineer highly effective teaching force of 3 million people. that is a very inefficient and painful way toting to where finland is right now. it makes more sense to me after having spent time in these countries to start at the teaching than top down, make it rigorous to get into teaching college, make that training more hands on and useful. then it frees you up, makes it easier to make the case we should pay them more, more autonomy in the classroom and prepares them better for teaching, high order skills when they themselves have had a strong expectation. raising expectations and having clear standards that's all great. it's important to start from the

beginning of the teaching profession if we're serious about education. >> what do you think about the trend to not want to pay teachers for getting masters degrees but instead only pay them if their schools perform well on these test scores? >> it seems like we're trying a lot of things here. i give america credit for that. i feel like there's a lot of things we are great at. one of the things kids mention from other countries is how interactive classrooms are compared to countries around the world. one thing that makes more sense than continually trying to tweak around the edges is making those masters programs harder to get into and much more serious so they mean something. clearly we've wasted a ton of money on giving teachers automatic raises, getting masters that don't lead to more learning. getting in on the beginning of the process so it's serious. we educate twice as many teachers as we need in this country and widely varying education colleges which is something finland used to do in

the 1960s. they used to do the same idea, most countries do. until they got serious about education and shut down those and moved them to elite universities. >> congratulations on the book. thanks for being part of our summit today. government shuttown affecting foreign policy and national security. joining me is ambassador nicholas burns senior diplomat, professor at the john f. kennedy school at harvard. nick, we're seeing right now jesus christ at two asian summits, the president has cancel and you've got the leaders of china and russia there. there's a lot of interaction. the rest of the world is looking at us what are they thinking when they see no negotiations and that this is not a debate over finding a middle ground between this dollar figure and this dollar figure. there's all sorts of extraneous issues involved. >> that's right, andrea. i think the lesson here is that the united states cannot be a part-time power. we cannot appear to be

ambivalent and ir resolute about the rest of the world. that's unfortunately the image we have. it's been interesting to watch the reaction both in the far east but also the middle east about the fact that president obama cannot travel to this very important summit meeting in asia. you have contrasting image of president xi jinping visited some of the same countries president obama will visit. there's a healthy competition between united states and the east. the obama administration station said correctly this is the vital center of the world for the u.s. because of the shutdown, our president can't be there, it's really very sad to see. it's not a good day for the united states when our president is effectively forced to stay in washington to deal with a crisis that has been brought upon by the republican party. >> and with all the fuss over benghazi and after action reports and acquisitions, one of the things that has been shut

down by the shutdown is the ramping up and training of better embassy security in the aftermath of benghazi. >> it's tragically ironic. again, you're right to point this out andrea. security is 24/7, 365 day operation. you can't be in a part time way committed to security of 275 embassies and consulates around the world. they have to be guarded every minute of every day. we have to train people to be able to live and work within them. i think the state department has taken to heart a lot of the criticism. some of it was justified after benghazi in trying to strengthen both our physical security but also strengthen training. if you can't have a workforce at work in washington that can't train, it's going to weaken the united states. this shutdown really has to end for many reasons. one of them is because the united states is the world leader. we can't afford to take a day off. >> the other piece is intelligence.

the head of national intelligence general clapper testified last week that 70% of the cias analysts are laid off, furloughed, rather. how do you have an intelligence community where 70% of the analysts are furloughed. >> you've got these fundamental basis of american power, military, homeland security and our diplomats. all of them need to be out working and deployed. you can't afford to have 800,000 federal employees out of work and expect this country to help americans overseas, to run those embassies, to be effective militarily. so if this shutdown taught us anything and i went through the last shutdown when i was in the state department in the clinton administration in the '90s it's that we have to be present every single day. i hope it will end. i think president obama is trying to do the right thing here to keep the american government front and center but it's a difficult thing to do when congress doesn't give you the money to fund the

government. >> nick burns from harvard. thank you very much ambassador nick burns. >> thank you. up next grammy award winner sharing his latest collaboration. three is. there he is. ♪ ♪ huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ohhh...oh boy! i'm falling. everybody look out! ahhhhh...ugh. little help here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know. anybody? when you do what i do, iyou think about risk..

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nine-time grammy award winning artist wynton marsalis. you were at the kennedy center and we were up here. hope to see you soon. how did you conceive of this and what is your mission? >> i talked with the reverend in that vicinity, the 200th anniversary, asked if i would write a mass. we got together and planned everything out. my mission is to uplift people with a unified session of spiritual music in the united states and create a variety of different emotions and feelings around that experience. >> how are you bringing high schools and young people into this? is this an idiom that not all of them are familiar with as generations change. do they need to be brought back into the world of jazz and gospel? >> they need to be brought back into the world of america, a sense of what unifies us as a nation. jazz does that better than any other art form. the spiritual roots of this

country they are expressed in gospel. we have to remember american innovations are to america in anglo american roots. the root of the him anglican him at the bottom of the tradition, bottom of jazz are part of the wellspring of what makes the country what it is as a whole. >> while i have you here, i want to ask you about music education. while we talk about budget cuts and i see it in d.c. and my own community but in other cities around the country, and i've spoken to yo-yo ma about this when i've done education reports one of the first thing that goes is music education. >> that's a deep profound ignorance that has pervaded the country since the first depression, the great depression. for some reason we don't have the ability to understand centrality of arts to identity of people. we smoke screen it with urban.

i've been around this country 30 years and over 1,000 kids. our kids are malnourished when it comes to culture in all schools, black schools, white schools, integrated schools or integrated schools we have. it's a failure to understand what the arts are about and prevents us from stepping into the 21st century. instead of leading the world in education, we're following because we can't adjust our education system to be framed around what a democracy should have. >> and how do you express that, you did it brilliantly just now. how do we persuade political leaders that this is a an essential part of becoming an educated person? >> it's a matter of looking at historical precedent and has to be a greater degree offage ta a, we have to get out and vote more. i love sports but sports is not going to pass as culture.

i joke with my kids, it's time for american culture. i love sports but we need to get an understanding of who we are as a nation. it's like i always liken it to bu bonic plague in europe. they couldn't figure out it was rats. we look all around and talk about education, the question is not education, but what is the quality of that education. when we use the term communication, education, what are you communicating? what we're being taught is not going to teach us how to come to grips with the vargated -- they don't have a complex of myriad of problems as we have. we need another type of education that doesn't exist on this planet. we have to create that. >> well, you are doing such a great service, the role you have played for years and years and

now with this tour, and the celebration of reverend calvin butz and the baptist church. it's great to see you again. we're mourning the loss of the oldest med ol of honor recipient, died at the age of 96. colonel jack jacobs himself a medal of honor recipient from the vietnam war paid tribute to his friend. >> he set out alone and the enemy opened up with machine guns and explosions, he was shot very badly in the right hip and still managed to crawl forward, throw hand grenades into the bunkers and single handedly overwhelm the position. the united states of america has lost a great hero. it's because of nick oresko and people like him, that we enjoy

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and that does it for this very special edition of "andrea mitchell reports" as we continue with education nation. thomas roberts has a look at what's next. >> truth or dare, pressure intensifying on house speaker john boehner to bring a clean funding bill to the floor. boehner claiming the votes are not there. we'll talk to one of the lawmakers tellinging the house speaker to prove it and new comments from president obama. much of the east coast under a tornado watch from virginia to new york, we're tracking that storm for you and how several new york officers are connected to this shocking case of road rage. all coming up next on "news nation." my mantra?

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right now, one of al qaeda's senior leaders is being interrogated aboard an american warship. plus tornado threat, millions of americans along the east coast under a tornado watch. we're going to bring you the latest on that forecast. should the washington redskins change its name? president obama weighing in now, the football team responding. it's today's "news nation" gut check. we'll get you all caught up on that. i'm thomas roberts in for tamron hall. first, the "news nation" following president o bam am ma's challenge to john boehner. boehner claiming they don't have enough votes to pass a clean spending bill to end the government shutdown. >> the truth of the matter is there are enough republican and democratic votes in the house of representatives right now to end the shutdown immediately, with no partisan strings attached. the house should hold