developing right now on "news nation," new details into the raid of the home of the man who was chief of staff for senator lamar alexander. within the hour, he'll have his first court appearance after being charged with peszing and distributing child pornography. plus, the sign language interpreter who outraged millions during nelson mandela's memorial now blames his performance on schizophrenia and admits his condition has made

him violent in the past. and outrage over a texas judge's decision allowing a 16-year-old to avoid a lengthy prison term after killing four people while driving drunk. part of the defense, the teenager's rich and permissive parents made him think he could get away with anything. i'm tamron hall. the news nation is following the vote on the bipartisan budget deal set to happen in just a few hours from now. right now the house is in the midst of several preliminary votes on the murray-ryan agreement as the list of republicans and democrats opposing the measure grows. it's still expected to pass, but once the vote happens, the aftershocks could spell trouble for many on the right. politico puts it, the simmering feud between house republicans and movement conservatives is finally at an all-out war. house speaker john boehner today again lashed out at conservative groups who oppose the deal and are pushing back against

republicans who support it. >> when groups come out and criticize an agreement that they've never seen, you begin to wonder just how credible those actions are. i came here to cut the size of government. that's exactly what this bill does. and why conservatives wouldn't vote for this or criticize the bill is beyond any recognition i can come up with. >> a group of nearly three dozen house conservatives have sent a letter to boehner asking he scrap the murray-ryan deal and instead bring a clean continuing resolution to the floor, arguing that democrats are desperate for another government shutdown. and the list of senators who opposed measure now includes ted cruz, marco rubio, and tom coburn. this morning on "morning joe," congressman paul ryan had a message for those members of his own party. >> read the deal and get back to me. look, that's just -- i think

that's -- people are going to do what they need to do. in the minority, you don't have the burden of governing. >> meanwhile, republicans aren't the only one split over the deal as the hill reports democrats are threatening the deal over the exclusion of federal unemployment benefits. house minority leader nancy pelosi again addressed those concerns and stressed the need to get this bill passed. >> let's get through it. let's get it off the table. let's move on to addressing specific issues. >> nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us. that's a fair laying out of the score as it sthanands right now. what are you hearing -- i guess the opposition, is it getting louder? will we see it eventually push back so this bill can pass? >> i think there's almost two tracks running at the same time. an expectation this will pass and that would be good for taking off the table the threat

of government shutdown and providing sort of a road map for the next couple of years of the government being able to fund itself. at the same time, you have voices on both sides talking about the issues that matter to them that are not dealt with properly in their view in this deal. so nancy pelosi is making the most of today to talk about unemployment benefits that do expire for those out of work the longest at the end of this month. also today, harry reid saying he recognizes that's a shortcoming of this deal but believes that a separate conversation with happen, something on its own, not related to this deal, could be dealt with probably in january and that could resolve that issue. so they don't want to let up on that because there is great concern that it could fall through the cracks. at the same time, on the conservative side, there are real complaints about the fact that this bill does spend more of the government's money, even though there is some deficit reduction included in it. it does not meet some of the goals that conservatives, particularly from the tea party

wing of the republican party, wanted to see happen. so there's an expectation it will pass, but in the time we have until the vote, there's an opportunity on both sides for people to really shine a light on the issues that make them uncomfortable, not wanting to give any ground on the points they feel where this deal falls short. >> continuing with the attitude of shining the light, the light is glaring now on speaker boehner, at least this opposition from conservative groups. i want to read a part of what freedom works said in its statement in response to boehner's remarks today. it said, speaker boehner may not care about the fiscally conservative groups, but grassroots americans still care about what he's doing in washington. when it comes to credibility, actions speak louder than words, and right now it looks like the speaker is leading the charge for spending increases and recruiting democrat votes in the house to help get it done. and this is a story line -- again, we'rie looking back at 2013. this is the story line, i think, for the party, at least the house republicans, for the year.

this opposition with speaker boehner. he went along, as he pointed out, with the shutdown, only to hear those within his own party say, as he pointed out, they never thought it would work in the first place. >> there has been a long track record now of a relatively small number of republicans having an outsized influence, if you will, and that has been both members who are elected to serve here and the outside groups that help to get them elected with their ability to raise money and push policies and the political conversation. so this was a notable shift in speaker boehner who has been in many ways with hampered by these groups and hounded by them over the last couple of years to be able to say after the fallout over the government shutdown, wait, not this time, this is not what the public wants. really kind of calling them out in his -- from his point of view that they don't have the same responsibilities that he does or that chairman ryan or chairman murray on the senate side here have to try to get legislation through. so he's trying to thread that needle, saying that he is a conservative, and he believes

this is good for conservatives. it's not everything. boy, how many times have we heard people say this bill isn't the one i wanted, but it is something that is expected to go through today, in part because of the pain of the government shutdown. those groups have their own mission and will continue in that mission. speaker boehner says he's got his job to do, and we saw a real break from his more muted dealing with these outside groups today, saying they've lost credibility and telling them that they've gone over the line. >> all right. kelly, thank you. joining me now, maryland congressman chris van hollen who's a member of the house budget committee. thank you so much for your time. >> it's good to be with you. >> is this a deal you can live with? we talked about the divide or the all-out war within the republican party. you have congressman keith ellison, for example, congresswoman sandra levin, as well, who are concerned about cuts to federal employees in addition to an exclusion of the federal unemployment benefits being extended as part of the reason they are uncertain regarding this deal.

where do you stand? >> well, tamron, this deal is far from perfect. it's certainly not what i would have written or what my democratic colleagues would have written, but it is a small and positive step forward. because it will relieve part of that sequester, which has been a drag on the economy, led to huge numbers of federal government furloughs, and is eating away at very important investments in education, in medical research, in places like the national institutes of health, other investments that are important for the economy to grow. we are very disappointed that the republicans have refused to even allow us to have a vote on extending for at least three months the unemployment compensation. in fact, i just came from the floor of the house a little while ago, where congressman levin and i were asking republicans simply to allow the house, the people's house, to have a vote to make sure that 1.3 million americans are not left out in the cold three days

after christmas. it is shameful that the house republican majority has not allowed a vote on it. if they want to vote no -- >> with that said, why not have this as a part of the budget deal, and why is it excluded if it's clear from what you're saying, republicans do not want to have a separate vote on that issue? >> well, because republicans want to bring that down. they also want to bring down some of the tea party folks in the republican party would like us to go to a full see question -- sequester which would lead to more government furloughs. it's good to see speaker boehner standing up to those people. if you're in favor of the sequester, which are these very deep cuts that are dragging the economy, if you're in favor of that, this is a bad agreement because we will increase our investment in domestic

discretionary spending by $25 billion this year compared to last year. so that's good news. the fact the speaker won't allow a vote is bad news for the american people. >> so "the hill" right now has the headline. is the deal threatened? is that an accurate truthful headline there in your opinion? >> well, if certainly is more at risk than it was. this is the reason. i was involved in these negotiations. we had wanted in those negotiations to both extend unemployment compensation and work on what we call the doc fix. making sure the doctors who provide medicare services are fully reimbursed. it was decided not to include those within the framework of the agreement, but to deal with those two items separately. last night, as the ink was drying on the agreement, the house republicans decided to abuse the process and they decided to deal with what we call the doc fix, which we're in favor of, but they then left out

the unemployment compensation. that's when congressman levin and i went to say, here's our proposal to fix unemployment compensation. let the house have a vote. look, the speaker is in the majority here, and they have refused those 1.3 million americans -- >> but quickly, you talk about the outrage over this move on the medicare doc fix as opposed to extending unemployment benefits. you were quoted as saying that could upset the apple cart and could put at risk the budget agreement here. so is this deal at risk as we are expecting this vote in a couple of hours? >> i think, tamron, that the votes will be there because, again, voting against this unfortunately will not solve the unemployment compensation problem. what will happen is the speaker will shut down the house and go home, not only without fixing the unemployment insurance, but if the deal goes down, then the sequester takes place, then those tea party guys win. the sequester will be in place

throughout the rest of the year and do great damage. >> we'll keep track for our audience, of course, and continue to follow developments today on capitol hill. congressman, thank you, sir. >> thank you. a man being widely criticized for providing fake sign language at nelson mandela's memorial says he was hallucinating. he stood just feet from world leaders signing gibberish. now he's speaking out. nbc's ron allen is in pretoria, south africa, with an interview. >> reporter: we've been trying to learn as much as we can about this man, who emerged this morning saying he had been a mental health patient for a great deal of his life and suffered from schizophrenia. he said he lost it and had a break down because of the emotion of the moment. this morning, the interpreter at the center of the mandela memorial controversy spoke out,

defending his performance. >> i've been doing sign language all these years. >> how many years? >> it was not even questioned. >> reporter: in a series of interviews, he says he is currently a patient receiving treatment for schizophrenia and that he had a breakdown during the event. >> i was excited. i started hearing things in my ears. >> reporter: the interpreter tells nbc news he has been hospitalized because of his schizophrenia, which also has led him to be violent in the past. >> sometimes i will react violent on that place. >> reporter: it happened as the world listened to president obama and other world leaders eulogize nelson mandela. deaf and hearing impaired south afri africans were watching, understanding nothing. outrage exploded on twitter. please get rid of this clown

interpreter. these pictures show him interpreting for president jacob zuma a year ago. professionals here who reviewed his work say he's a complete fraud. >> i couldn't bear to watch what he would create out of it. so zero percent accuracy, really. >> reporter: she said one word she did recognize, ironically, was help. >> i would like to -- to tell everybody that if i've offended anyone, please, forgive me. but what i was doing, i was doing what i believe is my calling. i was doing what i believe makes a difference in the country. >> reporter: so the investigation goes on. this is on the south african go government, who hired this man for this event. they said they think he does, in fact, speak sign language but was overwhelmed by the moment,

that he's not a great interpreter, that english was a problem for him. but still, so many questions about how a man who admits and has said he has violence in his past could be so close to these world leaders on this huge stage. a huge, bizarre mystery that's still unfolding here. tamron? >> ron, thank you. now let me bring in retired atf special agent james cav gnaw. thanks for your time. officials say the government is investigating whether the interpreter had been vetted before the memorial. as we know, this was an incredible event. it had to be put together in some ways quickly but in others the world knew that nelson mandela's health was failing. he was 95 years old. as much as we did not want to say good-bye, we knew that day would happen. and to me, it would seem that all signs from security of these 90 world leaders, those that could, would participate somehow in this vetting. is that the case, or was it exclusively on the hands of south african government?

>> well, i think the responsibility goes with all the security services at world and certainly our own secret service. and they've got to take a bit of criticism on it. but it's also how they can change and make this much better and never happen again. you know, i've worked a lot with the secret service. i have a lot of friends in the service. i think they're the best in the world at what they do. but it's going to see now, what do they do now? do they maneuver to make sure that we have the right interpreters for the deaf? maybe they need to hire some from the university population or to work with the national sign language organizations. it would be great to have three or four people that work there to be able to do this so the security is ironclad. >> you know, i hope we can show this video again of when the president takes the stage. this man is so close to the president that he literally -- president obama has to squeeze behind him to get to the lectern. i'm curious as to, you know,

when you're watching this as a security expert, this person is within arm's reach. he even bumped someone at one point during their remarks. how he could be that close and every inch of his life not be known to the highest security level. >> absolutely. i mean, he's standing right next to the president. he's standing right next to a lot of world leaders. there's no agent in between him and the president that could possibly even get there if he were to make an attack, pull out a sharp object or something, try to stab the principal in the throat. they could jump on him, but by then it might be too late. what should happen is a totally vetted person, the best thing would be an employee of the white house or the secret service, secondly would be someone who's completely vetted, maybe a part-time interpreter. and third, if you can't do any of those things, you put a video camera up there and have the interpreter off to the side of the stage a couple hundred feet behind. at least one ring of the secret service, you know. assassinations involve

happenstance. oswald only got the job at the book depository 30 days before the assassination of jfk. just by happenstance, a neighbor said they're looking for employees. he knew he was looking for work there. so he took it by happenstance. he didn't know the motn motorcas going to go by there. assassinations happen that way. to put an unvetted person, a person who has mental health issues -- and i believe this person thinks they can interpret. i think they think they can. we know he can't. the test for the service now is to fix it. they should be meeting with the people, fixing this issue. it should never, ever, ever happen again. >> james, thank you very much. again, to your point, if this man does suffer from mental health issues, particularly as he said schizophrenia, people have mocked and done other things. this is a serious mental health issue. what he's convinced himself he can do and what we know at this point he can't, it's quite obvious. a number of tracks going here.

the most important obviously is the safety of the world leader, including the president who was on the stage that day. all right, james. thank you so much. >> right, tamron. thank you. still ahead, we got to talk about this one today. it's being called the rich kid's defense. have you heard about it? well, there's outrage after a teenager who killed four people while driving drunk gets no prison time. an expert said he suffered from, quote, affluenza, thinking he could get away with anything because his parents were rich. and developing news, senator lamar alexander's former chief of staff set to make his first court appearance at any moment on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. we have new information on what investigators say they found in his home when they raided it. and you can join the conversation on twitter. you can find me @tamronhall and my team is @newsnation. [ female announcer ] let betty do the measuring and get a head start on delicious homemade cookies. visit bettycrockercookies.com for fun holiday ideas.

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welcome back. there is outrage today over the sentence given to a texas teenager who killed four people while driving drunk. a judge sentenced ethan couch to ten years of probation, but no jail time for the fatal crash over the summer. prosecutors had asked for the maximum 20 years. couch's defense attorneys blamed his rich parents for the boy's behavior. one defense witness, a psychologist, testified that couch suffered from something they referred to as affluenza, meaning that his parents' permissive attitude made him think he could get away with anything. after the sentencing, eric boyles, who lost his wife and daughter in that crash, had this reaction. >> well, ethan has had a privileged life, and money has

always been there. money always seems to keep ethan out of trouble. this was one time i did ask the court that -- for justice and that for money not to prevail. ultimately, today i felt like money did prevail. >> joining me now, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst kendall coffee. kendall, thanks for your time here. we heard from eric boyles there that money, in his opinion, prevailed here. the psychologist who testified, a defense witness, in addition to saying that ethan couch had affluenza, that the boy was brought up to never believe you apologize but instead you would give money as a substitute for even apologizing. as a defense attorney with a very successful career, prosecutor, as a very successful prosecutor, have you ever heard anything like this? >> never, and as astonishing as

this sentence is, no jail time, four dead, one paralyzed, driving under the influence of alcohol, not under the influence of affluenza, this theory of a spoiled rich kid defense is truth truthfully appalling. it turns everything in our justice system upside down. if there is such a condition, the treatment is full accountability. no more, no less accountability than anybody else, including prison time if it's deserved. >> you've worked with a lot of judges. you know them. former federal prosecutor for years. kendall, what could this judge have been thinking here? >> well, the judge certainly had courage because she had to know this was an unpopular decision. but the best i can determine is her sole focus was rehabilitation, what would be best for the defendant as opposed to fairness for the victims, whose losses were not truly respected and whose

anguish was deepened. rehabilitation is a legitimate consideration in juvenile sentencing but not the only one. there has to be accountability. there has to be respect for victims. >> the obvious retort to that is, well, where is that sentiment when the child is poor, when the person says, listen, i grew up in a small town, never met my father, and never had guidance so i turned to a life of crime. it's being offered up to this individual. his parents even at one point offered to pay $450,000 a year to send him to a private facility for therapy to avoid a jail sentence. i want to also play what his defense attorney, scott brown, said after the sentencing when he was asked about the consequences ethan has faced or the lack thereof in his life. let's listen. >> the consequences are he's taken away from his family. he's taken away from all the things that he's been given. he's not going to have the truck

to drive. he's not going to have all the other things that he's used to. he's not going to have his x-box. he's not going to have alcohol or drugs. taking him away from his family and teaching him to be a responsible citizen, that's a consequence. >> he's not going to have his x-box. your reaction to that. >> i'm grief stricken. no x-box? i'll tell you how to keep someone if he needs to be somewhat removed from his parents. prison will do that too. i want to come back to something you just mentioned. what about a poor child who, through no fault of his or her own, is a victim of abuse? physical abuse. lives in a community that's fraught with peril, drugs, and makes some mistakes in life. does the system forgive you for that? there's not hardly any forgiveness at all. but if you're rich, i'm sorry, tamron, but the contrast is just so dramatic between rich and poor, as illustrated by this

case. >> shawna jennings, the wife of one of the victims, said to ethan, you live a life of privilege, and my prayer is that it does not get you out of this. my fare is that it will get you out of this. it seems it did. from the legal perspective, people often don't have faith in the justice system. they believe money can you get out of these things. as someone who believes in our justice system, how do you reconcile this? >> you just have to say this hardly ever happens. but that's not quite so. the truth is the rich can get the best lawyers, and that can make a difference. and there are situations where they get a benefit. this is an extreme example, tamron. i don't want you and your viewers to think this kind of thing happens every day. but day in, day out, is it better to be rich or is it better to be poor when you face our justice system? i think we all know the truth about that. >> well, the families of the victims are suing the couch

family, and we'll see what happens with that part of this case. nevertheless, this is just absolutely unsettling. thank you very much, kendall. right now, nasa is scrambling to figure out what caused the cooling system at the international space station to shut down. six astronauts are on board, including two americans. we'll get the latest. plus -- >> senator landrieu says president obama needs to stick to his word. >> this is a promise that you made. this is a promise you should keep. >> is this the way some democrats will run for re-election in red states who need to defend themself? mary landrieu is out with her first ad for the midterms. we'll dig into it in the first read. if i can impart one lesson to a

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it involves one of the space station's two cooling systems. nasa says a pump stopped working yesterday, forcing the six astronauts on board to turn off some noncritical systems. nasa officials tell nbc news right now the pump is running again, but they're not sure how long that will continue. they're hoping a software patch can fix this issue. if not, a space walk could be required. joining me live now via skype is veteran nbc news space correspondent. great pleasure to have you on as always. what are your sources and people telling you here regarding this situation? >> well, they're not that concerned about it, tamron, because they have two systems. of course, if they lose these systems, people have to remember they have two spacecraft docked at that station. all they have to do is go outside, go into their spacecraft, lock the doors and come home. if everything failed on board the space station. so really, they're not in that much danger. now, they're looking at this valve. what it is is a valve.

one of the coolant loop, as you've talked about, it is up and running today, but it's not acting quite right. they don't know if they need a computer patch to fix it or if they need a new valve. if they need a new valve, they have one up there. they have all the parts they need. but they need to get two astronauts outside and have them do a space walk to repair it. the last time they did a space walk, the astronaut almost drowned. they've been studying why they got so much moisture in the space suits. so they can do this under an emergency if they have to, but they're still looking at this, and they're hoping, as you said, that they can get it fixed with the patch. now, if they don't, and worse comes to worse, they can always evacuate the space station. >> now, the decision -- if it becomes a continuing issue, the decision to make the space walk, jay, as i understand, that's something obviously that doesn't happen overnight.

that would be perhaps a week or more away if that decision is needed. >> that's true, tamron. however, they have one item that's pushing them. they have a rocket on the pad in virginia. it's loaded with supplies for the space station. it is ready to launch on december the 18th in six days. they may have to push that back a little and may have to wait. that's the only pushing item right now of course, they do like to have both of the systems running perfectly because that way you have the redundancy they like to have up there. >> all right. jay, as always, a pleasure to have you on. we prefer it under happier circumstances, but it's always good to see you. thanks, jay. >> good to see you, tamron. still ahead, new details on the child pornography charges against senator lamar alexander's former chief of staff as he makes his first court appearance within this hour. we'll get an update on what investigators say they found in his home. people don't have to think about where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does.

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louisiana democrat mary landrieu is up with the first ad of her re-election campaign. in the ad, she tackles the botched health care rollout head on and takes credit for pressuring the president to let americans keep their canceled insurance plans. take a look. >> what i've said to the president is, you told them that they could keep it. >> landrieu has introduced the keeping the affordable care act promise. >> i'm fixing it, and that's what my bill does. i've urged the president to fix it. >> senator landrieu says president obama needs to stick to his word. >> our first read teams says landrieu's ad, quote, highlightings the hurdle the law presents for democratic incumbents running in red states. domenico montanaro joins me. she makes it clear she supports the health care law, but she pushed for this fix. in a sense, she's trying to balance what will be a tough race for her. >> yeah, she's definitely trying to thread the needle here a bit because, you know, she did support the law, but she's saying, look, even at times in

there it's very tough words for the president to keep his promise. it really does highlight this hurdle that a lot of red state democrats somewhere have in tryp the senate. in a lot of states, you have democrats playing on republican territory and the health law is really providing something that's a lot of ammo for republicans and something that's going to be tough for democrats to try to push back on. you have democrats saying you need to go on offense about this. >> well, and it's interesting. the national republican senatorial committee, they have an ad, an anti-landrieu ad up as well. there's an alligator playing the part, if you will, of obama care, citing that she was a critical vote in the passage there as well. so the heat is on, and this will be a reflection of, as you point out, what we'll see not just with senator landrieu. >> oh, yeah. there's no question. this is turning into the key issue for 2014. now, you know, that said, a month and a half ago, we were saying the key issue for 2014 was the government shutdown.

so who knows what's going to actually be the key thing in, you know, 10, 11 months or so. but this, it seems, as obama care goes, so goes obama's presidency. we've seen that in his low poll numbers. if this thing turns around a bit where people start signing up, the website seems better, you may see a little turning of this. it's definitely an uphill climb right now for democrats as they try to push back on this. they're playing in a lot of republican territory. >> all right. domenico, thank you very much. and developing now, the top aide to tennessee senator lamar alexander just made his first court appearance after being arrested yesterday on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. we're also learning new details about the raid at his home yesterday and what officials say they found inside. nbc's casey hunt joining me live from capitol hill. what are we learning in the

details of the investigation and what led to this raid? >> well, he did appear formally in court for the first time to officially face charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. the complaint says that when investigators went to his house early yesterday morning, he declined to let them in the door and then was seen out the back of his house attempting to put a hard drive on the window sill. then eventually they beat his door down. they rammed through it, and the complaint says they found hundreds of explicit videos on the hard drives and computers that they found there. so he's going to be held at this point until his next hearing, which is set for monday. >> all right, kasie. thank you very much. still ahead, a big surprise for a navy sailor who's not seen her husband since being deployed in summer. plus, the snubs, the surprises, all of course from the golden globe nominations. did the hollywood foreign press forget about "the butler"? we'll talk with one writer who certainly thinks so.

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for movie fans and anyone else who follows award season, this was a pretty exciting morning as the golden globes nominations were announced. naturally, there were a few surprises, and, yes, some snubs. >> best motion picture drama. "12 years a slave," "captain phillips," "gravity," "rush." >> best motion picture come by or musical. "american hustle," "nebraska," and "the wolf of wall street." >> the movies "12 years a slave" and "american hustle" are looking like the movies to beat. on the small screen, the series "house of cards" beating the competition with four nominations. joining me now to break it all

down "variety" senior editor. thank you so much for coming on again with us. we appreciate it, as always. i always like to get to the snubs first. we can talk about the people that everyone expected in a second. the big snubs, what's on your list? >> this is kind of like the iowa caucus of award season. it really sets the stage. the biggest snub, i think, today was that oprah winfrey, the most famous person in contention for an award and the golden globes loves famous people, didn't get nominated for "the butler." i think that was a big upset. "saving mr. banks," which was expected to get a best picture nomination was also snubbed today. >> so the snub for oprah and "the butler," we were talking, was it like ben affleck where he was snubbed in one awards show and went on to win? >> he was up for best director at the oscars. everyone was so upset and he

won. >> all right. let's get to some of those things that everyone praised. "12 years a slave." i want to play what the star of the movie said today about the nomination. let's play it. >> it's just been terrific. ever since we opened up the film, it's just been an incredible kind of time. i just couldn't be more happy with the way that the film has been received and the way people are sort of coming to it. it's been -- it's really been an extraordinary, extraordinary time. >> do you see a current or a fiber that binds some of these movies that have been nominated this time around? is there a theme, if you will, for this season? >> i think it's interesting. last year we had "argo," which is a political film. this year we have more political films. "12 years a slave," and also "american hustle" is a political film. and "the wolf of wall street" is very satirical about wall street. you do have very contemporary

films making statements about society. >> on the small screen, some people are disappointed. margaret, the producer who did this segment, and myself, "game of thrones" and "sons of anarchy." >> i know, they were snubbed last year. there's so many different tv series and so many modes of programming with netflix that i think all the good tv, you're going to have to have more slots for tv because there's so much good tv out there. >> it's amazing. quickly here with the best actress category, i want to hone in on that. ka kate blanchett with "blue jasmine," one of the few i've seen. >> all those women have already won oscars. >> wow. that's amazing. interesting conversation. what's your pick for best picture? >> i think "12 years a slave" will win drama.

>> thank you so much. still ahead, major league baseball proposes new rules to make the game safer. a ban on home plate collisions. it's our "news nation" gut check. and "news nation" milestone. thank you so much for reaching 1,000 facebook likes. 100,000 facebook likes. i said that we should give out t-shirts to people who like us. they said we couldn't determine that. so if you go on and like us, i'm going to randomly pick someone and send you a t-shirt. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can.

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time now for the "news nation" gut check. a big rule change is coming to major league baseball. the league says it will ban home plate collisions by 2015. base runners will no longer be allowed to slam into the catcher in an attempt to knock the ball loose during close plays at the

plate. major league baseball cited the high risks of injuries, particularly concussions in announcing the ban. so what does your gut tell you? should the mlb ban home plate collisions? do you agree with this decision? go to our news nation page. it's newsnation.msnbc.com. and before we go today, we want to tell you about a volunteer organization that just celebrated a very special milestone with u.s. service members. nbc has the story. >> reporter: christmas got off to an early start today on a guided missile cruiser gettysburg. 360 care packages stacked on the flight deck courtesy of the volunteer group operation gratitude and its founder. >> we do this for the american people so that they have an opportunity to say thank you to their military. >> reporter: one by one, sailors receive their personally marked

packages, like kids on christmas morning. it was the countdown to a remarkable milestone. operation gratitude's 1 millionth care package, presented to petty officer brooke okerman. >> it's truly my honor to give you the 1 millionth care package. >> reporter: it all began ten years ago when care packages were sent to military forces one at a time. now an army of volunteers turns out 3,000 in a day in california. books, scarves, even beani ebay -- beanie babies fill the boxes. back on the gettysburg, the petty officer was in for another surprise. >> the symbolic keys to your own 2014 ford f-150. >> reporter: a brand new pick-up truck and more. okerman is a navy corpsman

tending to the sick and injured. she married her husband nick last july, deployed two weeks later and hasn't seen him since. but today, everyone aboard the gettysburg has come out a winner. >> i hope they feel the love and the respect of the american people. i'm getting the sense from those hugs that they do. >> and that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. we'll talk to the family who fought to keep what's been called an unusual therapy pet for their son who deals with autism. we'll have that tomorrow for you. "the cycle" is up next. across america people are taking charge

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and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza®. it's covered by most health plans. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ america's talking, and so are we right now at 3:00. what's the deal? the house is set to vote on the bipartisan budget compromise. i'm abby huntsman. here's the thing, though. a bunch of republicans apparently still haven't received word that it was actually a compromise. dealing with it. three feet of snow coming for

millions of us. i'm ari. did i mention the below zero temperatures? get your holiday sweaters out. you know what i'm talking about. raw deal. democrats today are giving birth to a new way forward in the workplace. i'm luke russert. did you know we're just one of seven developed nations that doesn't guarantee paid maternity leave? >> yes, i did. plus, the tea party on ice. i'm krystal ball. has the fringe finally been frozen out? no icy reception here. it's always warm on "the cycle." thanks for joining us today. it's a pretty big day for washington. the house is poised to pass its first budget since president obama took office. that vote is scheduled for tonight at 6:00 eastern. debate on it is happening now, and it's right on par with the deadline for an agreement.