we'll have to could this again some time. we have great responses for why are you awake? we don't have a lot of time. give us one give us one good on >> aden said up cramming for my final calculus exam. can you tell me why i took this class. >> seriously, lesson number one in college, don't take calculus. lori williams working off the christmas cookies keep working. "morning joe" starts right now. well good morning. it is monday, december 16th. yes, we're getting closer to christmas. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set we have msnbc contributor mike barncle. you look very nice today, mike. >> thank you, mika. >> and he always looks nice. former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst

steve ratner joins us. >> thank you, mika. >> steve. >> and in washington, white house correspondent for the associated press julie pace joins us as well. good to have you all on board this morning. >> how was your weekend? >> it was very good, thank you. >> what you laughing about? >> nothingp. just a good weekend. >> south of france? >> no south of france. stop that. >> where were you? >> i was home. >> you have a smile on your face. >> you do have a smile on your face. tell us what happened. >> i'm a happy mom. >> what happened? >> can i do that? >> sure. >> i think you already have. >> you do it. >> you do it. >> oh. i have a kid in college. >> all right. >> good for you. >> congrat layings. >> where is she going? >> johns hopkins. >> wow. great school. >> very relieved. >> she goes to johns hopkins, going to look like mike bloomberg. >> i emaeld him. he was so nice. i e-mailed him so excited and he wrote back, conxwratss.

he's so loquacious. >> that's more than he writes back. >> he doesn't usually write back. >> you said from the time she was born. >> yes. >> to i guess what was it friday? >> yes. >> friday, all the early desigs came out. of course i was kind affiliate decision. i woke up in a ditch in alabamand they let me in. things have changed. i couldn't get in there if i wanted to now. said something about this weekend, that was the sort of the culmination of what yous had been working for, as a mom, as far as just as far as her education and everything. >> yeah. >> you have to be feeling like -- >> i am so happy. she did it all herself. she didn't want me to help her. i was very nervous. i shouldn't have. . enough. i'm overdoing it but thank you. >> that's fantastic. >> all right. >> the pressurep. >> oh, my gosh. it's hard. >> in the household is just -- it's overwhelming. >> can i say, it's amazing to me, talk about the difference

that in the northeast, you know, my kids, i don't know. you know, and me, like i showed up at my s.a.t. like -- and i didn't even have like a pencil and i just showed up at the last second, i signed up at the last second, you know, i did it. you know, when i got to college, my parents never once sort of sat me down and said study, study. my brother and sister did well in school and they presumed wrongly that i would do well in high school, but it's amazing. you come up here and people are like, you know, from the time kids are like 5 years old, people are like, you know, just pushing. >> my daughter pushed herself. >> you know, joe, it all worked out pretty well for you. maybe the way he with do it up here -- maybe we should do it your way instead of the way we do it up here. >> i wasn't saying you were superior to me. >> well, academically. >> there is such a focus and by

the way, it's not around this table, it's everywhere i go. it's not -- it's just people start focusing on s.a.t.'s so much earlier. it opens up to a bigger exmap nags. every time we hear about the decline of america and americans getting lazy and fat. this isn't just like the upper middle class that does this. it's the middle-class parents, working-class parents, they use whatever resources they can. deborah kinney i heard her say one time, doesn't matter, harlem village academy, all parents want their children to do better. of course i'll get a thousand e-mails saying we do this, you know, in cordover park where i'm from. >> we're all really focused here on our kids from the early age. you should go to china and see what goes on there. kids from kindergarten are

generally put into supplemental and weekend and evening programs. starting in elementary school when you take a test in china your grade and every other child's grade is put on the board in order so you know how well you did or didn't do. >> not one of these we're giving trophies out to everybody, you're all winners. >> oh, my goodness. >> you know, there's a plus to ha. but there's also, i don't know, i think there's also a downside to that. you know, i -- i worry that our kids and willie you're about to see this firsthand, i worry about our kids and homework and -- >> i'm already seeing it. >> are you already if. >> first grade, yeah. >> you know, my 10-year-old goes to school until, you know, 4:00 and hen she's got a couple of hours of homework. the reason i've succeeded is because, you know, i've worked hard, but i spent high school

kind of dreaming, writing songs, going into my room, writing. i was sort of, you know, i had the -- >> most kids are on the computer now not doing that. >> i had the freedom to at school, i played football, every sport you could play, but when i got home i wasn't overbooked for three or four hours, not that there's anything wrong with that. i'm just saying i think we lose something when we just get our kids and they're so, you know -- my mom would come in and say what are you doing? you're just daydreaming. you're never going to make anything of your life if you just daydream. >> staring out the window. picking petals off of flowers. >> i wasn't doing that but i was writing and creating and i was -- i had this space to live in my own world. and it really helped me out in life as i went forward, to think more critically and creatively and i just worry about all his sort of --

>> and you were able to continue to live in your own world. >> look at you. just stay right there in that bubble. >> if i had been like steve jobs and dropped out of college -- i think there's something to like people dropping out of college in the '60s and dropping acid like steve job said, never done acid, mom, just joking, but there's something that you sort of just regimented approach doesn't always work. >> i think that's why we don't go the china route which is rote memorization. we hope we have better thinkers, critical thinkers and that's why so many worry about teaching to tests and that doesn't teach people how to problem solve and be creative and think in a group and operate in the world, real world. >> i wish someone would have taught me to take a test. >> come on. bill de blasio wants mandatory pre-k across the board. i'm for that. to the news this morning -- >> mike has seven kids.

>> you're touching upon one of the larger issues in our society today, it has to do with the growing inequality in our country that, you know, those of us who are fortunate enough to have the means to send kids to good schools, that they apply for early admission get into fantastic universities, those kids are going to be fine. but there's a whole group of other children in this country born into circumstances that used to be fine, middle class, but the middle class growth is so stunted in this country. >> lack prospect. >> that when you have a huge percentage of people in this land thinking that their children will not do better in this country than they have done, that's a real, real danger. >> by the way, that's the first time that's happened since polling began, that parents don't think their children are going to do better. >> it's not just the question of thinking. if you look at the economic mobility statistics, the ability of somebody in the bottom 20% to

move up to the next or next the statistics are clear, we have fallen way back, behind many countries in europe in terms of the ability of every kid in america to get ahead. it's a real problem. >> why is that? >> well, there's a lot of arguments. one is what mike is talking about, when you increased porchty and people who can't afford the same level of attention to their kids, you have greater income inequality so you're starting from so much further behind to get to some other place, but it's -- >> is the income inequality across europe as well, across -- >> there is growing income inequality in europe -- >> i ask that because of the i.t. revolution and because productivity has exflowploded s much. that's one of the main drivers. >> and globalization which pushes down wages for the average industrial worker when his or her job could be outsourced to some place in asia. same sort of issues but much less extent and they've corrected it through certain government policies.

like [ inaudible ] taxation. >> i'm sure you would love that, steve ratner. >> i had to slip that in. two front page stories in national news papers putting focus on the tea party. according to the "new york times" a handful of republicans are making another run at office by taking a more moderate campaign approach. the "times" says the candidates consisting of former incumbents and previous challengers have shelved their incendiary remarks about president obama and the national debt in terms of a favor of a focused affordable care act which they hope will attract moderate voters from both parties even in heavily democratic districts. the "wall street journal" points out senator mitch mcconnell met with one of the nation's top defense contractors. he urged them to get more involved defending incumbents or risk seeing their support shrink as new congress members get elected. the head of the senate

conservatives fund, political action group trying to get mcconnell defeated in the primary, had this to say, quote, all he's really doing is saying nudge nudge wij wink you know i'm a big spender i'll take care of you. what he's really saying he's a big spending republican who will take care of these special interests if they help him in the primary. there's that story. >> i don't know that he's saying that. >> well, you don't think he's saying that? what's he saying? >> i'm a big spending republican? he's not saying that. >> he's saying wink wink. that's how it works. >> i didn't see a wink wink in there. >> isn't that the meaning of it? >> no, i don't think so. i do think, though, it's interesting that -- and these things always, you know, it -- you never do it from the top down. >> right. >> people get out on the campaign trail and see what works and what doesn't work and people have been hearing for six years they've been hearing incendiary remarks about barack obama and i suspect that doesn't work. i've got to say, just the

incendiary remarks of late have been coming from at least on my twitter feed and e-mails from the left, a very angry, enraged left that calls you a racist if you talk about the affordable care act. i mean, i'm -- again, i'm just talking about for some reason, just the rage from the left is -- has been crazy over the past month on my twitter feed. again, it's just -- it's just a small -- >> that's a sliver. >> small snippet. >> that can often be a bad one. >> that's surprising, hate on twitter. >> a year ago during the end of the campaign, during the mitt romney campaign, i was getting it all from the far right because they were angry and they were desperate and they wanted to lash out and blame everybody and say polls were -- i'm hearing now from some of these people, you know, the polls are wrong and they're racist and they're this and that, i

think -- i think there is right now a desperation from many people that believe the passing of the affordable care act was the launching of this progre progressive revolution and finally was going to be the next wave of the great society. it is right now, right now it appears to be in shambles and right now that appears to be a real setback for big government and progressives. that could change. that could change. i'm just saying, republicans i guess, peeling off of this article what i'm saying is, republicans should do no harm politically. they should do no harm. they don't need to go out screaming and yelling and saying horrible things about barack obama. >> just sit and wait for whatever is going to happen to happen to whatever is going to evolve out of the health care act to evolve. but the left in this country, es specially the far left -- >> by the way, that's who i'm talking about. i'm talking about the far left. >> right. >> i understand. they have yet to recover. might never recover from the

fall lassie of if you like your health plan, you can keep it. that really rattled -- >> that is -- i mean that's -- you don't want to draw parallels so i won't draw parallels with other presidents because people, bloggers on the left get angry, but truly politically, i've been doing this job long enough and been around washington for 20 years and seen it long enough and when george hw. bush said read my lips, no new taxes, it was devastating. george w. bush talked about weapons of mass destruction and there were no weapons of mass destruction it was devastating. when bill clinton said, you know, when bill clinton said i did not have sex with that young lady, monica lewinsky, that was like something that for some reason increases poll percentage by like 25%. i still haven't figured that out. but this whole thing about --

you know, this promise i think is -- this broken promise is probably what scares democrats the most going into 2014. >> it's a credibility problem for the president, for democrats who have repeated it for several years and what's become quite clear over the past couple weeks is it's not something that's going to go away. the white house has tried to apologize for it, has tried to explain it away, but it is going to linger. the one thing i would say about republicans going back to the two articles you cited is that it's very possible that what we're seeing now is that republicans actually took the time after the shutdown when we all turned our focus to health care, and learned some lessons from the shutdown and decided that they weren't going to try to, you know, have another shutdown in january, that they were going to try to keep the focus on health care going forward. the two things that i would watch, though, in the coming weeks is, what happens with the debt ceiling, do republicans try to win some concessions and go to the brink on the debt ceiling

and immigration. i think the white house is going to try to bring up immigration again and will they see a different reaction from republicans in 2014 than they did his year. >> yeah. no doubt about it. even eric cantor is coming out there talking about the immediate to be less ideological and on the campaign trail and connect conservatism to what matters to people. >> julie referenced something we should highlight a little bit, the debt ceiling and how they're going to handle it. paul ryan on sunday said it wasn't going to be a free pass. they would want something in return for raising the debt ceiling. >> we know how that ends up unfortunately. and again, you're -- i voted against the debt ceiling all the time. i think we've been around, though, this -- we've been to this rodeo enough to know how it ends. >> the numbers of people signing up for the affordable care act are up. >> it's exciting. willie and i were talking about that, right? >> yep. >> because it could undermine a

few things that you've said here at the table. >> "the new york times." >> just for balance. >> "the new york times" had an article yesterday i think it was saying -- >> look at the "l.a. times". >> they're overpromising and -- >> talk about that -- we had that "new york times" article that said the if numbers appear to be up, but it doesn't -- >> under their projections there need to be 7 million americans signed up by the end of march and i think they're at 300,000 or some number like that at this minute. >> we'll get the numbers. >> i'm not good at math, but why did, willie, by the way, for people that ask this, when politicians get in sex scandals, why did bill clinton's numbers go up 25% -- >> i don't have the answer to that. >> that list of things and you get to bill clinton, wait a second. remember that "saturday night live" skit -- >> darrell hammond. >> he goes, i think i'm going to go out and -- >> something like that. >> smoke some pot in the middle of washington or something. >> okay. i'm going to go to break.

>> daryl hrell hammond needs toe back. >> one of the greats. >> we were talking about education in america, mika. >> yes. >> more importantly than that "anchorman 2." what's the early review? >> i was lucky enough to see "anchorman 2" last night. it's very, very good. i will say, the first movie we were just talking about it is an impossible standard to live up to. it came out of nowhere, it surprised us. now you're waiting, you know what each character is supposed to do. they stepped up and it's good. >> did they overhype it? >> my josh, i've never seen a movie with more hype. maybe they did but it's -- if you like the first one, you're going to really like this one. >> i can't wait to see it. can we go see it? >> yeah. >> coming up on "morning joe," senator chuck schumer of new york joins us in the studio and also congressman elijah cummings and buzz feed's ben smith will be on set. up next the top stories in the politico playbook. bill karins with a check on the

forecast. bill? >> he's been kicked out of the studio in the back. what happened? >> it was -- >> like a homeless weather guy searching for a home. >> oh. >> couple hobos back there now. >> those are my friends, guys. they're my friends. >> i used to say those were your -- >> we have more snow on the way. hope everyone enjoyed your fun weekend in the snow. this one a little more troublesome during the weekend. come in during the work week when we have school. travel on tuesday, that's the key day. the cold air comes in today through the great lakes into new england. the storm it itself tonight little bit of snow over lake michigan and chicago. that's the beginning of it. overnight through ohio and pennsylvania. by 8:00 a.m. as we start tomorrow morning's commute it will move into philadelphia to new york city. keep that in mind. if you can travel today or wednesday, do so in new england. if that's an option for you. during the day on tuesday that snow spreads along i-95 from new york city to boston. fast-moving storm, gone by the time we get through tuesday

night. but it will put downhree to six inches in some areas could get a little higher than that. my official big city forecast, boston 4 to 6, providence, hartford and new york 2 to 4 and d.c. left out of this, much of the snow will be to your north. again this is during the day on tuesday for all these cities. you're watching "morning joe." so i got the windows nokia tablet. it's, well, impressive. it's got the brightest hd screen, super-fast 4g lte, so my son can play games and movies almost anywhere, and it's got office for school stuff. but the best part? i got the lumia 928 for my daughter for free, with the best low-light smartphone camera this side of the north pole.

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president for eight years. >> let's take a look at the morning papers now. "new york times" the european union suspended talks with ukraine on a trade agreement that prompted the matsive protests. ukraine's president initially agreed to sign the deal last month which would have weakened ties with russia, but then, he changed his mind. over the weekend, u.s. senators chris murphy and john mccain addressed tens of thousands of anti-government protesters before meeting with the country's president. >>s also in the times, actor peter o'toole passed away yesterday in london. o'toole was best known for his iconic role in the movie "lawrence of arabia." he appeared in nearly 40 films and was on comfortable on stage as he was in front of the camera. nominated for 8 academy awards. o'toole's daughter said he had been sick for some time and he was 81 years old. >> bost"boston globe," china leg

its mark on the moon. the first moon rover touched down on sunday after detaching from the lander. it wul survey the structure and natural resources for three months. china is the third country after the u.s. and russia to care eye out a soft landing. they plan on sending an astronaut to the moon and opening a space station by 2020. >> from "usa today" a recent survey shows louisiana is home to the worst drivers in america. >> oh. >> car insurance comparison.com said louisiana finished number one in the categories of failure to obey, speeding tickets, and careless driving. the rating includes duis and fatality rates. other states in the top five include south carolina, mississippi, texas and alabama. >> according to a study from nbc news looking for the next best gadget or tv you might end up paying more for pixels than your eyes can actually see. these days manufacturers are producing screens that have four

times as many pixels as ord nary high definition tvs but doctors say the human eye is limited in what it can make out so the new technology doesn't really serve a purpose as far as the viewing experience goes. >> probably burns your retina. >> "wall street journal" in a new analysis of data netflix found half of its viewers are binge watching seasons of the tv shows in only one week. keep in mind, one season contains about 22 episodes, study monitored the viewing habits of those watching. the current top ten popular shows netflix says the data is proof that binge viewing has become a social phenomenon and certainly has with my friends. >> oh, and people who don't have time to watch tv at the regular scheduled shows. "houston chronicle" the mega millions jackpot continues to grow, could climb as high as

$656 million. that marks the fourth largest jackpot in history. ticket sales are expected to jump ahead of the drawing on tuesday. >> with us now the chief white house correspondent for politico mike allen a look at the playbook. good morning. >> good morning, willie. >> so the new issue of politico magazine actually has a really good piece by john rolston the long-time las vegas political reporter about the career of senate majority leader harry reid, his secrets to staying in pow power, you guys calling him macha valley. what's the takeaway from the piece? >> what we see in here, harry reid is not a preener. unlike most senators he pays more attention to what's happening behind the scenes than his image out front. and john rolston, who as you pointed out has covered harry reid for more than 25 years there in nevada, point to a great moment a couple days ago when senator reid was back home in the state and he was talking

about an assemblywoman who he's hoping will run for lieutenant governor as the democratic candidate and described her out loud as demographically perfect dynamic, young, hispanic, and you want to say senator, you're saying that out loud and, of course, that's how politicians think, that's how operatives think, that's how you have to work and be successful but you're not usually going to say it out loud. we're going to see this week as the budget gets its final passage, we're going to see the tough harry reid, the harry reid who's made things happen in the senate at the end of a year when we thought not much would happen, including that big change in the rules, that has allowed president obama to go out this year having a bunch of his nominees installed. one of the biggest wins for the white house this year. >> what's the relationship like, mike, between president obama and leader reid? because harry reid has gone out and fought a lot of fights for president obama over the last four years.

>> he has and they were early allies. there's a little bit of a father/son relationship between them. they both understand, they're both willing to do the tough things in politics, and leader reid over the years has had a lot of private conversations with obama. it's not a lot in public, but we're told by both the reid side and obama side that over the years, they've been very copa settic. >> it's a good piece by john rolston? politico magazine, read it at politico.com. thanks very much. coming up next in sports, the bengals punter played a major role in last night's game against the steelers. this was not even the ugliest play of the night. "morning joe" sports is next.

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all right. time for some sports. let's go right to the nfl with two -- >> look at that. >> nice shot, it tj. where did that come from? >> out of nowhere. >> that's amazing. that's our cooking segment camerap. you have to shoot down into the pans, know what i mean. >> i can't wait.

>> two weeks left in the regular season, lot of playoff spots up for grabs. start with the late game on nbc, steelers and bengals. pittsburgh up 14-0. bengals punt to antonio brown. he's going to find a hole. nice move there. he's gone. right up the gut. 67 yards for the touchdown. thanks in part to what you're about to see here. the block put on the punter. oh. kevin huber, gets his jaw broken on the play. wow. steelers win the game, 30-20. patriots and dolphins rough going for miamip. they botch a field goal in the worst way. brandon fields takes it off his face. you hate to see that. miami pulls it together, be down 3, ryan tannehill, markets thingpen for the touchdown. could tom brady engineer another last-second comeback. he came close. final play of the game, fourth and five, brady frozen in the

arms of the dolphins defender. miami beats the patriots down in south florida, 24-20. so with that win the dolphins move into the remaining wild card spot in the afc. the chiefs beat the raiders and clinch a spot and the colts won clinching their vie vision. a devastating game for the cowboys. tony romo finds dez bryant in the back of the end zone. could he have possibly got twon feet down? check it out again. amazing. >> look at the body control. dallas up 12, huge lead at halftime. green bay storms back. including this grab by james jones gives them a one-point lead heading into the final minute of the game. tony romo has a chance for a comeback. boy, he throws one of his two interceptions in the final seconds as i said, cowboys were up huge at halftime. looks like it was going to be a run away.

packers come back. romo throws a couple interceptions, packers win 37-36. >> at that stage of the game, why are they throwing? >> run the ball. >> jay cutler back for the bears taking on the browns in cleveland. threw a couple interceptions, leads his team back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth including the 45-yard touchdown to alshon jeffery, that's a great catch, bears win 38-31. with that the bears take first place in the nfc north. the lions could overtake them with a win on monday night football. the eagles are still on top in the east despite losing. they got the help from the cowboys. cardinals and packers still in the mix as well. maybe this will help peyton manning shake off thursday's loss. "sports illustrated" has named the broncos quarterback its sportsman of the year for 2013. manning is on pace to break the nfl records for passing yards and touchdown ms a season. he is a favorite to win his fifth mvp award. "sports illustrated" said

it picked peyton because of his impressive stats and the way he connects with football fans. some other people, perhaps you could have considered lebron james, david ortiz because of what -- >> mariana rivera, but did it go to peyton manning. in case you missed it this weekend, freshman quarterback from florida state sporting impressive new hardware. >> handcuffs? >> and the winner is jameis winston, florida, state university. >> jameis winston led the seminoles to an undefeated season. the number one ranking and a spot in the national championship game. he won by the seventh largest margin of any heisman winner. although 13% of voters did leave him off their ballots completely presumably because of the investigation in tallahassee. after weeks of speculation, texas long horns head man mack brown made it official he will resign. he will stay on to coach the long horns in the alamo bowl on december 30th. they won a national championship and two big 12 titles during his

16 seasons in austin, texas. coming up next, mika's must-read opinion pages plus pope francis says he is not a marxist, not that there's anything wrong with that. how is his ongoing critique of capitalism is raising big questions within the church. don't go away. we'll be back with more "morning joe."

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[ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks who will talk to them about preparing early for retirement and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's jusavo: thesales event "sis back. drive" which means it's never been easier to get a new 2014 jetta. it gets an impressive 34 highway mpg and comes with no charge scheduled maintenance. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. sign. then drive. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends january 2nd. visit vwdealer.com today congestion, for the smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus.

and now that the buses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution into the air. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment. tonight, i would like to focus on health care. now, i have been listening to what -- to what americans are saying. and some very valid concerns are

being raised. some folks are bound to be frustrated, but many are more -- many more are excited, you know, and while i can't say that i've been entirely thrilled with the results, i'm just relieved that the website has been turned on again. >> goodness. okay. yeah. i still don't get it, actually, how that happened. >> i know. amazing. >> the real one. pope francis is pushing back against his conservative critics. the pontiff is rejecting suggestions his critiques of capitalism made him a marxist. the pope has spoken out against what he sees as the, quote, new tyranny of growing inequality. he said last month in part this, as long as the problems on the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute

autonomy of markets and financial speculation, no solution will be found for the world's problems or for that matter, to any problems. just as the commandment thou shall not kill sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life. today we also have to say thou shals not to an economy of exclusion and inequality. such an economy kills. in an interview pope francis says in parts the marxist ideology is wrong but i have met many marxist in my life who are good people so i don't feel offended. pope francis denied he is considering naming a female cardinal. he said women in the church must be valued not clericalized. this adorable video over the weekend of a young boy removing his akedsdo as he was being hugged. the pope playfully laughs it off. let's take our first much read from bloomberg.

land pitcher writes pope francis recently weighed in on the economics of inequality. as a professional in that field i could respond by detailing his errors of fact and reasoning. maybe some other time. for now i think if the pope can pronounce on economics then it's only fair that i, a full-time preacher of economics, should be allowed to owe pine ons his grasp of christian more reality. by dwelling on inequality the pope is promoting envy. the catholic church, i had always understood, deems it one of its seven deadly sins. encouraging people to measure themselves against others only leads to grief, recenting the success of others is a sin in itself. >> is that from the onion? >> that's crazy. >> come on. >> harvard lampoon? >> maybe. >> please. that is ridiculous. >> that's -- it makes me sad that anyone would sit and

write something like this and think this way. what this pope is talking about what's happening in this world and trying to -- >> is reality. >> yeah. >> reality. >> okay. so there's it no argument here. willie, you're all for bloomb g bloomberg's piece, right? >> no, i'm not. >> good. let's move on. steve ratner, you've got charts on the spending debate which seems to be a debate in washington. >> yeah. i've got one chart as you know, the house last week passed the budget agreement. it's still in front of the senate where althere's a lot of pushback from conservative republican senators who thinks it does too much on the spending side. let's look at this package which i view anyway as being somewhat minim minimalist. show you projected spending going back to 2008 in some of the key categories. the red line is the -- what we call discretionary spending, domestic programs like infrastructure, transportation, education. includes defense. the red line went up a bit in

2009 and 2010. that was the obama stimulus program. started going down as we put in place budget cutting measures and then the difference between that blue line and the red line, is the sequester. the famous forced budget cuts. now what are we fighting about? we're fighting about this little piece right here. that what the budget deal does is cuts off the bottom of the trajectory of this discretionary spending for two years. and then it goes back to where it wsupposed to be and only get in 2018 to 114% of where it was in 2008 and to adjust for inflation it's a decline. this whole fight is about this little bit of spending between the dotted line and the solid red line. meanwhile, you've got the entitlements program, social security, medicare and the rest of them, on their own trajectory, essentially unaffected by anything going on in washington at the moment because it's considered a no go zone and so the fight is over this little piece of what many of us think is actually

important spending, rather than over the bigger picture which is why some of us view this deal as, you know, as only exciting by the standards of what little else washington has been able to accomplish in the last two years. >> julie pace, that chart confirms, what is it 12% of the budget discretionary give or take of the total budget, that we're fighting over 12% of the budget and we talk about things like defunding npr and these knicks at the major problem b nobody wants to take a look at the 88%. >> what's happened by having democrats and republicans be able to agree on the smaller deal that pushes off a shutdown for about two years, is that it actually probably makes it less likely that they will over the course of that two years address the main drivers of our debt because they'll have no deadline really pushing them to do so. as steve said, you know, we're talking about the standards of washington which are pretty grim right now when we're all getting excited about the fact that

these guys were able to agree to anything but the orange line on the chart will keep going up over the course of the agreement. >> what's it going to take to go into the no go zone? it seems so obvious when you look at the math of it. am i wrong? >> you're not wrong. the pessimists say it's going to take a full fledged crisis where the markets get upset about the amount of debt or who knows what, but at the moment, you know, this deal happened because both democrats and moderate republicans said, you know, the sequester is just a little too tough, roll it back a little, but we're going to put everything else on the side. taxes on the side, entitlements on the side, the debt ceiling on the side, and so all the sort of cumbayah era of good feeling is around this one tiny fix for the next two years to something that was way too harsh to start with. >> that orange line has been rising in full view of everyone in washington. >> everyone. >> for years now. they are not serious people when it comes to dealing with this horrific issue. >> they're not serious and i think -- i do think as a

democrat, i do criticize my own party to some degree because they quite rightly say we don't want to cut social security, we don't want to cut medicare but if you don't want to do that you have to do something else because the situation as it is now is untenable and the way that orange line is pushing out a lot of stuff that is very important, if we want to be on a growth agenda in this country. >> still ahead, nbc news political director chuck todd joins us. keep it here on "morning joe." discover card. hey! so i'm looking at my bill, and my fico® credit score's on here. yeah, you've got our discover it card, so you get your fico® score on your monthly statements now, for free!

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did you see "snl" we showed the one clip of keyen doing his thing as the interpreter. he showed up also as santa. >> the megan kelly at fox news said something about santa being white and jesus as well. here's "snl" saturday. >> megan kelly sparked controversy when she said, quote, kids, santa is white and just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change. here with his comments is santa claus. >> hey hey hey. hey. hello, everyone. merry christmas. hello. >> wow. you're santa?

>> that's right. i guess the truth is out. you heard of secret santa, here's a secret for you, i'm black as hell. >> i never knew. >> good. it's better for everybody that way. you know how many presents i got to deliver? i can't afford to get pulled over every ten minutes. >> this is all so weird to me. i just -- i can't believe that you and mrs. clause are black. >> oh, she's not black. >> she's not some. >> no. no, no, no. you think a black woman would tolerate living out in the middle of the snowy wilderness. if mrs. clause was black santa would be living in atlanta near her mama. >> keenan thompson. like he said he's not just black, he's black as hell quote/unquote. up next the editor in chief of buzzfeed ben smith joins the conversation. also congressman elijah cummings. "morning joe" is back in a minute. [ female announcer ] we give you relief from your cold symptoms.

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they helped us get our ship righted again. we have two-thirds of the house conservatives voting for this. i think this is a step in the right direction. >> all right. a live look at central park in new york city. just days before christmas. welcome back to "morning joe," everyone. steve ratner and julie pace are still with us and joining us now on set, editor in chief of buzzfeed ben smith. how are you? >> good. thanks for having me. >> my daughter loves your website. >> that's great to hear. she keeps saying i read it on buzzfeed. she's 17. >> don't say it with such disda disdain. >> do you feel differently? >> no. i didn't know you -- yeah. it's good, right? >> it's good. >> okay. as just you skew young. that's impressive. it's hard to capture the young in any news capacity. let's get straight to the news. tomorrow the senate will vote on the bipartisan budget plan which easily passed through the house last week. with that deal behind them,

congressman ryan and senator murray are already looking what they hope will be the next area of compromise, tax reform. but when it comes to another pressing fiscal issue, the debt ceiling, finding common ground may not be that easy. >> are you going to demand more for -- in return for raising the debt ceiling? >> we as a caucus, along with our senate counterparts are going to meet and discuss what it is we want to get out of the debt limit. we don't want nothing. we're going to decide what it is we can accomplish out of this debt limit fight. one of the problems or concerns i have is we don't know when it's going to hit. jack lew, the treasury secretary, has ultimate discretion on when this could occur, so the timing of this is very much in doubt. >> the debt limit had been suspended -- has been suspended until february 7th of next yearp. at that point the treasury will have to begin using so-called extraordinary measures to avoid default. have we heard this all before?

>> oh, yes, we have. >> i feel like i'm reading a script that i've read four times in the past. meanwhile wisconsin governor scott walker says he support congressman ryan's attempts at fiscal reform but real change will only begin when republicans start winning more elections. >> i think it shows the incredible leadership and respect that paul ryan brings to the table. he's one of those guys that steps out of the role as a member of congress and stepped up to provide some leadership but those of us who believe the federal government is too big, too intrusive and involve in our lives, it tells us we want a budget deal we want to wrap our arms around we have to win in 2014. paul is one of the rare people in washington acting more like a governor than just a member of congress. >> we have poll numbers we're going to show you in a moment, but first ben and julie, what are the possible scenarios here. >> for the senate vote? it looks like the appropriators are eager to get their power to

appropriate back and that's probably a really key factor in making likely the senate is going to approve it. >> go ahead, julie. >> no. i agree. i think you're going to have some republicans, people like senator corker who we expected would vote for his budget deal may not, i think it will pass in the end with a slim margin. i am struck by what paul ryan said on the debt ceiling because you see these two camps lining up where they were earlier this year, back in 2011, with the republicans saying they need something out of this and the white house saying no, essentially. >> it's remarkable too. steve mentioned this, for always celebration about this budget deal and for two years we won't have a shutdown, didn't do anything about the debt limit. we could have that fight as paul ryan said coming up in about a month, month and a half. let's not celebrate too much on the little budget deal. here from washington, democratic representative from the state of maryland, congressman elijah cummings. good to see you this morning. >> good to be with you. >> were you happy with the budget deal some what more would you have liked to have seen? >> i wasn't particularly happy.

why love to have seen us address the issue of unemployment insurance. we've got 1.3 million people that will lose their benefits at the end of the month from the 28th. then another 2 million that will lose them or not get them at the beginning of the year. and i think all of this -- i mean i've been listening to you all morning and i think there's something you're not addressing and it really goes back to what the pope said and one of the greatest speeches that i've heard the president make and that is, this whole idea of income inequal i. there are a lot of people who are falling off the cliff and drowning. the middle class is getting smaller and smaller. the rich are getting richer. as the president said people can't pay for college for their kids, can't make ends meet, can't do a lot of things an they're totally frustrated. hopefully in all of this discussion, we will not do what the military has made clear that

we should never do, we should never leave anybody behind. and i think that's exactly what's happening right now. >> steve ratner? >> congressman, certainly none of us could disagree with that analysis and you point out even unemployment insurance could not get done. in the real world, the world which we are unfortunately forced to live, with a republican congress with all this enormous pressure from the right to cut deficits and spending, not to do more, how realistic is it? what do you think could be accomplished over the next say six months to advance the pope's agenda and your agenda? >> steve, first of all, i think what the president has to do is he has to take those words that he made in the inequality speech an bring them into reality. and what i mean by that, we had president who is a friend of mine, who i support a million percent, who a few years ago back in 2007, 2008, a lot of people said he could not win and yet and still, he ran a campaign

and did something that most people i think when we look back at history will say should have been almost impossible. i think he has to run a campaign. he has it to run a campaign for people who are being left out. and there are a lot of people being left out. steve, we cannot sustain our society when we've got people who are so totally frustrated, that can't get a job, can't take care of their kids and they don't -- and people who are losing hope every day. and so -- and not only that, you know, everybody's applauding this deal and i applaud patty and mary and certainly ryan. that's all well and good. but you know what? let me show you how bad it's gotten. people want us to applaud when we do what we're supposed to do. compromise. i mean, it's -- that's become the standard. oh, we -- this is so wonderful, we now compromise. that's what you're supposed to

do. and so now hopefully this will avoid this legislative -- legislating by crisis. hopefully the president will join in with others who are anxious to get this done. there are a lot of people anxious to take care of those people falling by the wayside. by the way a lot of people who are -- paul ryan talks about, the tea party supporters, are the very people who would benefit from the types of things the president was talking about the other day. i think we've got to -- and ryan said we've got to move to common ground. no, no, no. we got to move to higher ground. >> representative cummings -- >> julie pace, go ahead. >> one of the specific proposals that the president has called for is an increase in the minimum wage. $9, $10 has been talked about. do you see any appetite in congress to get that done over the next year? >> i think it's going to be -- i think it's going to be difficult, but i think the president again, he has to wage a campaign. i mean, let me tell you, the people who -- the american

people has cousins, friends, mothers, and people that they work with every day, the people who change their beds when they go into the hotel, people who wait on them in restaurants, some people are making -- working three jobs just to make ends -- and not to make ends meet, because the ends don't meet. i think basically what has to happen is that if we got to do it on the federal level, but if we don't, what's going to happen is that the federal -- on the federal level we have to at least try and that does have an impact, by the way. in maryland we have two counties out of 24 who have raised the minimum wage above $9. other ones that are doing it too. you're seeing this all around the country. why? because people realize that when people are not making money and they've got -- they can't feed their families, take care of them, somebody is going to pay. and people, again, are left feeling hopeless and desperate.

i want to be the voice for those people and i'm hoping i'll join the president on any day at any time to try to help them. i was glad by the way in this speech, by the way i say it again, it's one of the greatest speeches he has made on inequality. in that speech i was glad that he cleared up that poverty and all of these issues are not just some black problems. there's a large segment of people of all colors in our country who are suffering. i thought that was a very good thing because so often what happens is people paint these issues black and then as if something, you know, something wrong, but -- and they don't get the kind of attention they deserve. i'm glad he did ha. >> congressman elijah cummings, thank you very much. always good to see you. >> good to see you. >> we'll be there later this week. congressman paul ryan's strength on fiscal matters may be reaching outside of capitol hill according to the des moines register.

73% of republicans have a favorable view of ryan, the highest among all of the potential 2016 hopefuls, followed by mike huckabee, rick santorum and texas governor rick perry. >> early polling. >> that's -- new jersey governor chris christie is tied for fifth with senator rand paul and jeb bush. 30% of republicans in iowa say they do not like christie. the worst among all potential candidates polled on the democrat side it's all hillary clinton. 89% have a positive view of the former secretary of state. but the youth vote that helped elect president obama in 2008 and 2012, may not be a sure thing for democrats in 2016. a "usa today"/pew poll finds 45% of millennials approve of the president. less than a year ago that number was at 67%. 46% now disapprove of his job in office. that is on par with several other recent polls of younger

americans which find the president's approval rating among the key demo below 50%. and joining us now from washington, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown" chuck todd. obviously these polls are kind of early. anything -- anything, though, you can glean from them? >> i think it is important to see the kind of reserve, if you will, positive reserve, that paul ryan has with conservatives. >> yeah. >> and this poll was done mostly before he became the face of the deal. but, you know, it's both, you know, he's one of these few people that have successfully so far playing an inside game and ap outside game. right? ryan for the longest period of time was seen by a lot of conservatives as sort of a very much trusted guy among conservatives, that helped mitt romney with conservatives a little bit. ryan, remember, had he was helping himself on the right in trying to get -- trying to get

credibility on fiscal issues and paul ryan helped with that and he certainly didn't hurt himself with how he ran at least with republicans with how he ran on the national ticket. and then the reason, you know, everybody is talking about boehner as far as look at what john boehner was able to do, stare down the groups and all this with the budget deal, the real reason why so many republicans were in favor of this deal is because paul ryan i mean what is it, there was one member of congress that said paul ryan is their jesus, you know, meaning if he's for something they sort of almost blindly will trust him on these issues. now, is it a trust, you know, can -- is he using up political capital then down the road won't have the same level of trust? that will depend obviously how this deal looks in the rearview mirror in six months. you can't underestimate ryan has sort of this one of the few an inside game with conservatives and an outside game. >> ben? >> the question is whether he can stay popular with

conservatives while spending that capital. i think he did it once. will he do it again in the fall? maybe the rules have changed. maybe this notion that you can lead people to compromise is, you know, is even for conservatives a popular idea on the outside at a moment when government dis function is like such a -- is what people talk about. >> it's interesting. go ahead, steve. >> saying two things. first i'm sure he did use some capital. remember the sequester was unpopular even among many republicans because it just squeezed a lot of spending even they cared about. hall rogers the senate of the house appropriations committee squeezed their spending a lot. the second thing that will test ryan will be the debt ceiling issue and how well they handle it. it has been a disaster for republicans in the past. we'll see if he has a clever or useful way of approaching when he get to february. >> you will see alls these republicans be using paul ryan as cover and excuse for whatever they do in these situations. that goes one way or the other. >> they really didn't include a

lot of democrats. they said on the democratic side it's all hillary clinton, 89 %, but who else is waiting in the wings? what if she doesn't run? what it if she faulters? >> if it doesn't run it's going to be wide open. >> who stands out to you. >> you might see elizabeth warren. >> i wanted to hear that come out of steve ratner's mouth. i think you're right, steve. m thi i think it's going to be liz wet warren. >> i'm -- elizabeth warren. >> you would do anything for me. >> i would do anything for you. >> you've got ratner. >> two front page stories in national newspapers putting focus on the tea party. want to get your take on this. according to the new yo"new yor times" a handful of republicans making another run at office taking a more moderate campaign approach. "the times" says these candidates consisting of former incumbents have shelved their incendiary remarks about president obama and the

national debt in favor of a narrowerer focus on the affordable care act which they hope will attract moderate voters from both parties. even in heavily democratic districts who are disenchanted with its rollout. "the wall street journal" points out mitch mcconnell met with one of the top defense contractors. he urged them to get more involved in defending incumbents or risk seeing their support shrink as new congress members get elected. but the head of the senate conservatives fund, the political action group trying to get mcconnell defeated in the primary, had this to say, quote -- chuck? >> i think that's the danger of looking like you're in favor -- every time republicans, incumbents in the establishment have tried to make that case, the chamber of commerce,

business community or what this story talks about which is mcconnell and defense contractors, you know, it has the potential to backfire a little bit because, you know, there is this -- there is this populism streak that's there saying whoa whoa whoa, the whole inside as pect, this isn't about ideology this is about being run by special interest, being run by insiders. i think it's a -- it's an understandble pitch that's being made. i think if you're mitch mcconnell, any incumbent, you don't want to be caught doing it. you want other people making this case. you want these folks to come to this conclusion the themselves, the fact that you have to bring them to this i think is what it becomes dangerous politics. everybody underestimates joe biden at their own peril. he's not going to run if hillary is going to run. i want to -- but the idea that if she doesn't run it's wide open, i think is -- >> i didn't say that. >> i'm sorry. >> i agree with you.

>> i heard others that said -- i think we want to say it's wide open. we in the media. but look at those numbers of joe biden. okay. take hillary clinton out. you want to see a gap in favorable rating. joe biden versus anybody else thinking about running for president. >> i don't know -- >> how much of that is the fact that he's a sitting vice president. nobody has heard of mark o'malley at this point. >> she will help him, being a sitting vice president will help him. fund-raisers, donors who will line up behind him. actual spotlight. >> but he's also going to be running on the record of the obama administration. >> joe biden and elizabeth warren. >> a democratic primary. do you want to be the anti-obama democrat? is that really going to be helpful in a democratic primary? really think about that. that -- look there was a whole bunch of republicans who thought, yeah, they were going to be the anti-george h.w. bush, run against george hrjt w. bush, it ended up being you were

running against reagan when you attacked bush in the primaries in '87 and '88. look it is easy to dismiss sitting vice presidents in general because their track record is frankly sketchy at best and there's a lot of reasons why biden could blow if this if he did run, and if we assume hillary runs he doesn't run we don't test the premise. the idea if hillary doesn't run he's not just the nominal front runner, he's a lot harder to beat, i think doesn't play the scenario out and suddenly biden is the guy defending obama, where does the african-american vote? you think it's going to martin o'malley or brian schweitzer or elizabeth warren. i don't believe it. >> really? we'll see. but i agree with you on biden. chuck, thank you very much. we'll see you on "the daily rundown." julie thank you as well. ben smith, stay with us if you can. coming up the year that wasn't. the ap's adam geller says 2013 will be best known for missed opportunities. he joins us next to explain

that, but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> more of that four-letter word, mika. >> oh, god. no. >> unfortunately this one is coming in during a tuesday during the day as everyone is driving to work in new england. this morning, a coating of snow in indianapolis to columbus, little quick mover near cincinnati too. be careful out there. only dropped to about an inch or less, but still slippery. for the next storm. first the cold blast comes in. temperatures really dropping now across the great lakes and the northern plains. that's going to come through the northeast. here comes the snow. the timing of it, monday night near chicago, detroit, pittsburgh, overnight, and then tomorrow morning at this time, this little batch of snow will be moving through areas from baltimore to philly to new york back into areas around scranton and albany, new york. it's going to be quit hitting. by the -- quick hitting. by the time we get to 5:00 p.m., new york, city is about done. boston will be snowing hard, in new england mostly will get to work just fine, going home will the problem and getting the kids home from school too. then it's gone. how much snow? about 3 to 6 in areas of

southern new england. the higher totals will be boston and portland, maine, up to six inches, but hartford and providence around 2 to 4. just got down with about 4 to 6 inches and now add a fresh coating on top of it. albany, new york, one of the areas that got hit the hardest, saw up to a foot of snow over the weekend. give you another 2 to 4 tomorrow. in d.c., we can't get d.c. snow. it's getting to be ridiculous. may see snow showers but little accumulation tomorrow. you're watching "morning joe." there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say. around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country

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the nsa has never discussed the specifics of the extent of damage they believe snowden has done and can still do. >> there have been all kinds of figures of how much he took, how many documents. we've been told 1.7 million.

>> i wouldn't dispute that. >> i'm going to assume that there's one in there about china and one in there about iran and another in about russia. >> many more than one. >> if -- many more than one. >> yes. >> how many of those are there? >> about 31,000. >> if those documents fell into their hands, what good would it do them some. >> it would give them a road map of what we know, what we don't know, and give them implicitly a way to protect their information from the u.s. intelligence community's view. >> for an adversary in the intelligence game, that's a gold mine. >> the keys to the kingdom. >> wow. edward snowden is just one of the characters from 2013 that has helped define what our next guest is calling a year of distrust and disorder. joining us now, national writer for the associated press, adam geller, in his latest piece, adam reflects on 2013, writing in part this, the year start theed with inauguration that

held out the chance nor at least a slight thank yw in the nation deep freeze. the prospects were bolstered by economic tail winds that pushed unemployment to its lowest level in five years, lifted stocks and juiced home prices. it seemed possible that a country worn by infighting, the toll of tough times and tragedy, might begin to find its stride. instead, the year's headlines were often filled with tales of dysfunction and discord and misplaced trust that added distressing new chapters to an already too long narrative. and i have to say, adam, i don't think i've ever seen such a long, drawn out time like this that you so nicely describe. beautifully described. >> well thank you. it's been quite a year, and a year that's -- >> did you draw any conclusions as we go through some of these it things one by one, as to how we get out of this or what it's

going to take? my instinct it's going to take a real leader, one person or some kind of event, singular. >> i'm not sure what it's going to take. but the ends of years and the beginnings of new ones give us if nothing else, sort of an arbitrary moment maybe, but a chance to cross over into something new and to maybe come back and refresh ourselves a little bit and certainly i think a lot of people are feeling that way as this year ends that we need to come back and get a fresh start. >> so you look at the events that fueled the distrust. shutdown in washington, obama care, lance armstrong and ryan braun, the edward snowden leaks, listening in on ap phones in d.c., the irs scandal, and the arab spring falling into tumult, to name a few. you have a poll here. very interesting. do you trust people you meet away from home? and the answers are a great deal

19%, somewhat 49% and not much 29%. i'll do one more. the direction of the country headed in the right direction versus off on the wrong track? big, big jump there, ben? >> certainly a year where you saw the power of american government and any sense that american government could get stuff done could have any control of events overseas or here challenged. if that's the perspective, not great year. >> what's driving the dysfunction? >>, you know, i think people are -- i think people's distrust goes beyond government. i think people are distrustful of one another. i think people -- many americans feel that things just aren't working, that institutions don't deliver for them, that they -- there was one of the polls that i cited in the story says that people feel that the -- leaders in washington just don't care about what happens to them and i

think that was 85% of people said that. >> i would say, steve, one of the sort of nails in this was obama care and i know it's very hard to launch a website, to website launch is perfect. having said that, in terms of really trying to sort of get people behind something, you lose trust when you can't get on-line. >>. >> unfortunately as we know, it was more than the website, also the trust in what the president and the other leaders said. >> people want things to work. >> how this was going to work and what was going to happen to people. and not to harp on poor congress, but when you look at -- i was looking at a poll on approval rating for a series institutions, schools, police, big bink, congress is dead last below all of them. i think while there -- whether it's lance armstrong, the obama care thing, lots of things to point to, if things on capitol hill started to function in a way where people could say stuff is getting done and they're addressing the nation's problems, i think it might make

a big difference in the kinds of things you're talking about. >> i think even now as the year ends in some way people are feeling a little bit of that. conversations over the past week and people say look, you know, there's a sign that some thing is happening in washington. just that little bit of functionality makes people feel better. perhaps there is a way to get around the sharp end. maybe there is. >> we're two weeks from 2014. that's the bright side, i guess, right? >> it is. >> adam geller, thank you so much. coming up one of the senate's top-ranking democrats, chuck schumer joins the conversation. that's ahead on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] this is jim,

a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring.

so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions

such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves. jim changed his routine. ask your doctor about xarelto®. once a day xarelto® means no regular blood monitoring -- no known dietary restrictions. for more information and savings options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com.

32 past the hour. in colorado it took just 80 seconds for a high school student to inflict a new wave of damage on a community far too familiar with gun violence. police say karl pierson stormed the arap pa who library on friday afternoon where he shot a student at point blank range where before turning the gun he had bought just a week before on

himself. by all indications the gunman was targeting his debate team coach with whom he had a dispute that left him without a spot ons the team. to those who knew him pierson did not the conventional pro file of someone who would attack his classmates. >> never see it in the moment but looking back there's so many signs i could have seen. he told me that, you know, whenever he would get angry, he would be like i just want to shoot everyone up. and that kind of thing. that can pass under the radar because guys say that kind of thing all the time. obviously he wasn't kidding. >> on sunday night, hundreds of arap who students descended on the school for a vigil for claire davis. officials believe he was not targeting her. the shooting happened miles from the columbine massacre and last year's aurora theater shooting

that left 12 dead. the high school will remain closed until after winter break. in other news, 76 people have been killed, 28 of them children, in the latest wave of violence in syria. on sunday, syrian army helicopters dropped so-called barrel bombs on aleppo, syria's second largest city and a rebel stronghold. with the country devolving into sectarian violence the situation remains dire. two and a half years into the civil war, at least 100,000 people are dead and an estimated 11,000 are children. and friday the u.n. confirmed that chemical weapons had been used four times in the past year, including the famous incident near damascus. meanwhile a top saudi prince is blasting u.s. foreign policy in syria and iran. the saudis are a key american allies in the region. prince turkey said u.s. inaction in syria bordered on, quote,

criminal negligence. he was also outraged saudi arabia was left out of the loop in negotiating a secret nuclear deal with iran, a deal he says does not go far enough from preventing tehran from getting a nuclear bomb. iran is at it again. the country claims its space program sent another monkey into space this weekend. iran's news agency says the monkey named fargam spent about 15 minutes in space before it parachuted back to earth. you may remember the last time the country says it sent a monkey into space, a photo showed a different monkey before takeoff and then after its return to earth leading some question the launch may have had some problems. iran says it simply released the wrong photo. okay. our next guest says israel was at a moment of existential crisis. why author and journalist ari shavit says the jewish state is

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i think that the -- it's very likely we could have sanction bill which would take effect in the next six months if there's no results in the negotiations. as far as the information it's just a disagreement, it's not that the secretary of state is not telling the truth, it's just his view of the facts are very different from mine. for example, he thinks the --

the agreement states basically the iranians maintain the right to enrich. i don't think that should be the case after their lying and cheating and concealing for all of these years. >> here with us now, prominent israeli journalist ari shavit who's the author of "my promised land, the triumph and tragedy of israel." thank you very much for being on the show. >> pleasure to be here. >> to talk about your book. what do you -- how would you characterize what the biggest threat to israel's future is some. >> i think there are several. i think we have to deal with the issue of occupation with the issue, but definitely right now the greatest threat is iran. i do not think that iran should be perceived as an israeli issue or benjamin netanyahu issue. i think that's a major mistake done by many players. iran in my mind is a civilization challenge. if iran goes nuclear the middle east will go nuclear and our world will change. so it's true that tel aviv will

be affected first, but some years down the line, new york, and chicago will be affected as well. so let us not see iran as an israel issue. this is a challenge to western civilization. >> and where do you stand on how we are handling sanctions or lack thereof and the process so far? >> look, i'm -- i try to look at the bigger picture is what i do in my book. this is what i try to do regarding this. i think we should look at iran as i said, at such a critical challenge and i think the last decade, never mind whose fault it is, americans, israelis, europeans, democrats, republicans, whatever, we generally as the west, we failed on iran. iran is ahead in the game. it achieved technological victory and if we are not careful it will achieve a political victory. in my mind when we are talking about the last year, next year in my mind is a critical year and a critical year about iran because if we make another -- the west, make another mistake

on iran, following all the mistakes we made over a decade, it will be a critical, crucial mistake and as i said will change our way of life in this country and europe, definitely in israel. >> let's stipulate iran weaponizing itself, having a nuclear weapon is a global issue. let's get to israel in terms of its present and immediate future and the settlements. if you cannot resolve that internal issue of settlements what does the future bode? >> i'm troubled about this but i'm hopeful that there is an israeli center, there is an israeli silent majority that is reasonable about the territories in the settlements. my claim is that if the international community led by the united states will bring about a new realistic peace concept that addresses the fact that the middle east is a brutal region, we just saw the killing in syria, you have to realize what a rough neighborhood we live in, if the new peace

concept will address that reality, i believe that the israelis will go, there will be an israeli majority that will go with the moderate, reasonable peace process that solves the problems of occupation and settlement. if the peace concept will be perceived as naive and detached from reality, we are heading for problem. >> so i think you laid out a vision for how the israeli/palestinian issue could get solved. i think we know how you're referring to how it might work. i'm still confused. you talk about the big picture but the big picture becomes the little picks of what do we actually do. so in your view, what do we actually do to avoid this threat that you point out is a massive threat to the whole world? >> some have said this deal, the geneva deal, was a historical mistake, some have said it's a historical success. i claim this is a historical challenge. the six-month period of time

created by the deal, never mind if the deal is a good one, bad one, these are critical months. if the united states will end its western -- and its western partners will adopt a diplomatic approach in iran i'm somewhat optimistic. if not so we'll be in trouble. in this sense i think that the president's policy in 2011/2012, which was very tough, with tough sanctions, putting all options on the table, all that, that worked, if that approach will be abandoned now, then the iranians might, god forbid, win the political battle. if this approach will be promoted while the negotiations are going on in the kind of deal that will be struck or negotiated, then let's hope for real political diplomatic solution which is obviously the best. >> it does sound like you disagree with your prime minister a little bit in that you're willing to give the six-month process a chance as opposed to declaring it a failure. >> i'm an independent journalist

and thinker. i don't represent my government. i think benjamin netanyahu is worth listening to. the diagnosis of iran is accurate. so many things ahead of the curve when others did not see it. i respect him and i think he should be listened to and yet i do not think this should be an israel matter, this should not be a netanyahu matter and we have to give negotiations a chance. >> do you think there's a credible threat that the u.s. will use force there? >> i think the right solution on iran was a very assertive diplomatic one. i think the great mistake that iran was not under real economic political siege. that would have been the best solution. i hope because we see they are in trouble, we see this competition, there is a race on the one hand, sanctions are working and are threatening the regime. on the other hand, there are too many centrifuge. there should not have been 19,000. i think there's still room for very assertive sanctions combined with initiative

diplomacy. look at what worked in syria. i think that syria is a success. i mean i'll tell you what happened in syria. in syria, i'm saddened by the fact that the rush apps took the cred -- russians took the credit. the good news is when you had a credible threat by the west, with political engine new whichty, you solve the chemical weapon issue in syria in a remarkable way. if that kind of approach we'll see on iran i'm hopeful. if we mislead ourselves as we mislead ourselves for years, israelis as much to blame as any others, if we -- we might change our world and then it will not feel the ramifications right now. ten years down the line when we'll be in a different world, really with nuclear threats all over, the 21st century might become a nuclear era and we do

not want that and the time to prevent that is now had in 2014, is critical to maintain the post-nagasaki miracle of a nuclear stable world. >> you write in the book, on the one hand, israel is the only nation in the west that is occupying another wepeople. on the otherhand we're the only nation in the threat that's extensionally threatened both occupation and intimidation make the israeli condition unique. they have become the two pillars of our condition. is that sort of the root of anxiety and doubt israelis feel some. >> absolutely. usually people on the left concentrate on occupation. and ignore intimidation. people on the right everywhere, tend to emphasize intimidation and ignore obligation. i say look at israel, look at the conflict and look at the middle east with all its complexity. if you don't wrestle with the

complexity you don't get it. if you see these are the two pillars of the conflict in israel's existence i think we can deal with occupation and diminish intimidation. >> do you think the world, the united states specifically, people of the united states, understand fully comprehend the psychic baggage, the weight of living in israel? >> look, first of all, i am a great admirer of america. i think sometimes americans don't respect or don't remember how great america is. the american century gave the world relative stability, relative peace. it stabilized the middle east and enabled israel to live. first of all, i'm grateful for what america is and i really pray that america will be strong and wise because there is no other leadership for the world. any other leadership for the world is dangerous. i think that actually there are -- we have really shared values. i think that the american

sympathize with my country basically in a remarkable way. i think that our extreme forces in israel, the extreme right and the extreme religious are in endangering that relationship. it's my duty to fight the darker sides of israel and bring about israel. if we have a benign israel, most americans will feeling -- will continue feeling this strong sense of affinity which is not just a strategic relationship, there's a deep bond between the great democracy you are and this tiny frontier democracy that we are. >> all right, the book is "my promised land, the triumph and tragedy of israel." thank you so much. >> thank you. >> for being on the show this morning. >> thank you. >> on tomorrow's show the uk's chancellor, george osbourne will be here on the set. congressman shawn duffy joins us. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. life's an adventure when you're with her.

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this morning, there is new information about what the cia

knew and what they told lawmakers after contractor robert leavenson went missing in iran. nbc's chuck todd has more on the story. >> reporter: in the wake of revelations about robert levinson's role as a cia contractor the intelligence community is facing new scrutiny this morning. >> the cia did not tell the truth to the american congress about mr. levinson. if that's true, you put this on top of things that our intelligence committees didn't know about other activities which have been revealed by snowden, maybe means that we should be examining the oversight role of congress over our different intelligence agencies. >> reporter: former u.s. officials tell nbc levinson was sent on a road mission to iran by his cia handler ann jablonski who supposedly did not tell her superiors. the lawyer representing his family said the cia betrayed

levinson. >> he got caught in that mission. after he got caught the cia abandoned him. they left him there. >> reporter: it sparked an investigation leading to the firing of jablonski and two other analysts. several others were disciplined. the cia paid the levinson family nearly $3 million. iran's foreign minister says he doesn't know where levinson is. >> we have no trace of him in iran. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry says the u.s. is actively working with iran to find john levinson. >> i have personally raised the issue not only at the highest level that i have been involved with but also through other intermediaries. >> reporter: levinson's case is renewing the focus on other americans detained abroad. like allen gross, a usaid contractor jailed in cuba since 2009. >> should we be questioning the version of the story the government has been giving on what allen gross was doing? do you understand why -- >> i understand your question.

again, i would point you to what we said about the absolute necessity for allen gross, in our view, to be released. >> chuck todd reporting. up next, moving to the middle. the republicans who are embracing a new strategy to attract moderate voters. and how one conservative pac is responding. also, the senior senator from new york weighs in on the budget compromise bill. we'll ask chuck schumer if it has the votes to pass when he joins us in the studio. "morning joe" will be right back. [ male announcer ] this is jim,

a man who doesn't stand still. but jim has afib, atrial fibrillation -- an irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. that puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. for years, jim's medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but now, with once-a-day xarelto®, jim's on the move. jim's doctor recommended xarelto®. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afib-related stroke risk. but xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. so jim's not tied to that monitoring routine.

[ gps ] proceed to the designated route. not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. xarelto® is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto®, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto® and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® is not for patients with artificial heart valves.

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well, good morning. it is monday, december 16th. yes, we're getting closer to christmas. welcome to "morning joe." with us onset we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. you look very nice today, mike. >> thank you, mika. >> and he always looks nice. former treasury official and economic analyst steve rattner joins us. >> thank you, mika. >> washington white house correspondent from the associated press, julie pace joins us as well. good to have you all onboard this morning. >> how was your weekend? >> it was very good, thank you. >> what are you laughing about? >> nothing. >> what happened?

>> just a very good weekend. >> were you south of france? >> no south of france. stop that. >> where were you? >> i was home. being a mom. >> you're doing the smiling face. >> i'm a happy mom. >> what happened? >> can i do that? >> i think you already have. >> okay. you do it. >> you do it. >> i have a kid in college. early decision. >> that's huge. >> congratulations. >> where's she going? >> johns hopkins. >> great school. >> very relieved. very relieved. >> like mike bloomberg. he went to johns hopkins. >> i know. i e-mailed him. i was so excited. i e-mailed him. he wrote bark, congrats. he's so loquacious. he doesn't usually write back. >> you had said something interesting. you said from the time she was born? >> yes. >> to, i guess, what was it? friday? >> yes. >> friday all the early decisions came out. of course, i was kind of a late

decision. i woke up in a ditch in alabama. they let me in. but things have changed. i couldn't get in there if i wanted to now. but you said something about this weekend you said that that was sort of the culmination of what you had been working for as a mom as far as -- just as far as her education everything. >> yeah. >> so you got to be feeling like -- >> i am so happy. and she did it all herself. she didn't want me to help her. so i was very nervous. but i shouldn't have been. enough. i'm overdoing it. >> no. that's fantastic. the pressure. >> oh, my gosh. it's hard. >> it's overwhelming. >> can i say, it's amazing to me. talking about the difference that in the northeast. you know, my kids, you know, i don't know. we just -- you know, and me. like, i showed up at my s.a.t., like, i didn't even have, like, a pencil. and i just showed up at the last second. i signed up at the last second.

you know, i did it. you know, i got to college. my parents never once sort of sat me down and said, study, study, study. my brother and sister did well in school. they presumed wrongly that i would do well in high school. but it's so amazing. you come up here and people are like, you know, from the time kids are, like, 5 years old, people are like, you know, just pushing. >> my daughter pushed herself. >> joe, it all worked out pretty well for you. >> yes. >> maybe the way we do it up here -- maybe we should do it your way instead of the way we do it up here. >> i wasn't saying you were superior. i guess what i'm saying, though, is there is such a focus. by the way, it's not around this table. it's everywhere i go. it's not -- it's just people start focusing on s.a.t.s so much earlier. you know, steve, it sort of opening it up to a bigger -- every time we hear about

america. america is getting lazy. america is getting fat. this isn't just, like, you know, the upper middle class that does this. it's the middle class parents. working class parents. you know, they use whatever resources they can. deborah kinney. i heard her say one time, doesn't matter. harlem village academies. she said all parents want their children to do better. they're just -- of course, mia faust e ma-mails. >> you think we're all really focused here on our kids from an early age, you should go to china and see what goes on there. >> yeah. >> their kids from kindergarten are generally put into supplemental weekend and evening programs. we' where starting in elementary school when you take a test in china your grade and every other child's grade is put on the board in order so you know exactly how well you did or didn't do. >> it's not one of these giving trophies out to everybody,

they're all winners? >> not like that. not happening. >> you know, there's a plus to that. but there's also -- i don't know. i think -- i think there's also a downside to that. you know, i -- i worry that our kids, willie, you're about to see this firsthand. we worry about our kids and homework. >> i'm already seeing it. >> are you already seeing it? >> first grade. yeah. >> my 10-year-old goes to school till, you know, 4:00. then she's got a couple of hours of homework. i tell you, the reason why i've succeeded is because, you know, i've worked hard. but i spent high school kind of dreaming. writing songs. going into my room. writing. you know, i was sort of -- you know, i was -- >> most kids are on the computer no now. their not doing that. >> i had the freedom to -- at school, i played football. i played every sport you could

play. when i got home i wasn't over books for three or four hours. not that there's anything wrong with that. i'm just saying i think we lose something when we just get our kids and they're so, you know -- my mom would come in and say, what are you doing? you're just daydreaming. you're never going to make anything of your life because you just daydream. >> staring out the window. picking petals off a flower. >> i wasn't doing that. but i was writing and creating and i was -- i had this space to live in my own world. and it really helped me out in life. as i went forward. to think my critically and creatively. i just worry about all this sort of -- >> and you're able to continue to live in your own world. >> yes. look at you. just stay right there in that bubble. >> and if i had been like steve jobs and, you know, dropped out of college, i think there's something to people dropping out of college in the '60s and dropping acid like steve jobs. i've never done this, i'm just

joking. you know what i'm saying? there's something that sort of this regimented approach doesn't always work. >> i think that's why we don't go the china route, which is sort of rote memorization. we hope we have better thinkers. critical thinkers. that's why so many people worry now about teaching to tests. that that doesn't teach people to problem solve and be creative and think in a group and operate in the real world. >> i wish someone would have taught me to take a test. >> bill de blasio. pre-k across the board. i'm good for that. let's get to the news this morning. >> mike's got seven kids. shouldn't we let him talk about this a little bit. >> i think touching upon one of the larger issues in our culture, society today. it has to do with the growing inequality in our country. that, you know, those of us who are fortunate enough to have the means to send kids to good schools, that they apply for early admission, get into

fantastic universities, those kids are -- they're going to be fine. but there's a whole group of other children in this country born into circumstances that used to be fine. middle class. but the middle class growth is so stunted in this country. >> they lack prospect. >> that when you have a huge percentage of people in this land thinking that their children will not do better in this country than they have done, that's a real, real danger. >> by the way, that's the first time that's happened since polling began. that parents don't think their children are going to do better. >> look, it's not just a question of thinking. if you look at the economic mobility statistics, the ability of someone who's in, say, the bottom 20% to move up to the next or the next, the statistics are very clear. we have fallen way back. we're behind many countries in europe in terms of the ability of every kid in america to get ahead. it's a real problem. >> why is that? >> well, there's a lot of arguments. one is what mike is talking about. when you have increased poverty and people who can't afford the

same level of attention to their kids, you have greater income inequality. you're starting from so much further behind to try to get to some other place. >> does the income inequality across europe as well? >> there is growing income inequality in europe. not nearly -- >> i ask that because of the i.t. revolution and because productivity has exploded so much. that's sort of the main drivers, right? >> well, and globalization. which pushes down wages for the average industrial worker. when his or her job could be outsourced to some place in asia. they have the same set of issues. but much less of an extent. they've corrected it through certain kinds of government policies. >> i'm sure you would love that, steve rattner. >> i had to slip that in at the end. >> let's get to the news. this morning there are two front page stories in national newspapers putting focus on the tea party. according to "the new york times" a handful of republicans are making another run at office by taking a more moderate

campaign approach. the "times" says these candidates consisting of former incumbents and previous challengers have, quote, shelved their incendiary remarks about president obama and the national debt in favor of a narrower focus on the affordable care act. which they hope will attract moderate voters from both parties, even in heavily democratic districts who are disenchanted with its rollout. meanwhile "the wall street journal" points out senator mitch mcconnell recently met with one of the nation's top defense contractors. he urged them to get more involved defending incumbents or risk seeing their support shrink as new congress members get elected. but the head of the senate conservatives fund, the political action group that's been trying to get mcconnell defeated in the primary, had this to say. quote, all he's really doing is saying nudge, nudge, wink, wink, you know i'm a big spender p p you know i'll take care of you. what he's really saying is that he's a big spending republican who will take care of these special interests if they help

him in the primary. there's that story. >> i don't know that he's saying that. >> well, you don't think he's saying that? what's he saying? >> that i'm a big spending republican? no. he's not saying that. >> he's saying, you know, wink, wink. that's how it works. isn't that the meaning of it? >> no. i don't think so. i do think, though, it's interesting that -- and these things always, you know, they -- you never do it from the top down. >> right. >> people get out on the campaign trail and they see what works and they see what doesn't work. people have been hearing for six years. they've been hearing incendiary remarks about barack obama. and i suspect that doesn't work. i've got to say, just the -- the incendiary remarks of late have been coming from at least on my twitter feed and e-mails from the left a very angry, enraged left that calls you a racist if you talk about the affordable care act. i mean, again, i'm just talking

about for some reason, just the rage from the left is -- has been crazy over the past month on my twitter feed. again, it's just -- it's just a small -- >> that's a sliver. that can often be a bad one. >> that's surprising. hate on twitter? >> here's what's fascinating. is a year ago during the end of the campaign, during the mitt romney campaign, i was getting it all from the far right. because they were angry. and they were desperate. and they wanted to lash out and blame everybody and say polls were -- i'm hearing now from, you know, some of these people, you know, the polls are wrong and they're racist and they're this and that. i think there is right now a desperation from many people that believe passing of the affordable care act was the launches of this progressive revolution and that finally it was going to be the next wave of the great society. it is right now, right now it

appears to be in shambles. and right now that appears to be a real setback for big government. and progressives. that could change. that could change. but i'm just saying, republicans, i guess, peeling off of this article, what i'm saying is, republicans should do no harm politically. they should do no harm. they don't need to go out screaming and yelling and saying horrible things about barack obama. >> just sit. just sit and wait for whatever is going to happen to happen. whatever is going to evolve out of the health care act to evolve. but the left in this country, especially the far left -- >> by the way, that's who i'm talking about. i'm talking about the far left. >> right. i understand. they have yet to recover. might never recover from the fallacy of if you like your health plan, you can keep it. i mean, that really ravelled them. >> that is -- i mean, that's -- you don't want to draw a parallel. so i won't draw parallels with other presidents. because people -- bloggers on the left get angry.

but julie pace, politically, you know what? i've been doing this job long enough and i've been around washington for 20 years and i've seen it long enough. you know, when george h.w. bush said read my lips, no new taxes, it was devastating. it was devastating to him. when, you know, george w. bush talked about weapons of mass destruction and there were no weapons of mass destruction it was devastating. when bill clinton said i did not have sex with that young lady, monica lewinsky. i mean, that was like something that for some reason increased his poll percentage by, like, 25%. i still haven't figured that out. but this whole thing, this promise, i think, is -- this broken promise is probably what scares democrats right now the most going into 2014. >> well, it's a credibility problem for the president. it's a credibility problem for democrats who have repeated it for several years. and what's become quite clear over the past couple of weeks is

that it's not something that's going to go away. the white house has tried to apologize for it. has tried to explain it away. but it is going to linger. the one thing i would say about republicans going back to the two articles that you cited is that it's very possible that what we're seeing now is that republicans actually took the time after the shutdown when we all turned our focus to health care and learned some lessons from the shutdown and decided that they weren't going to try to have another shutdown in january. that they were going to try to keep the focus on health care going forward. the two things that i would watch, though, in the comes weeks is what happens with the debt ceiling. do republicans, you know, try to win some concessions and go to the brink on the debt ceiling? and immigration. i think the white house is going to try to bring up immigration again. will they see a different reaction from republicans in 2014 than they did this year? >> now, no doubt about it. i mean, even eric cantor is -- is going out there talking about the need to be less ideological

and on the campaign trail and connect conservatism to what matters to people. >> you know, julie referenced something we should just highlight a little bit. which is this debt ceiling coming and how they're going to handle it. because paul ryan on sunday said it wasn't going to be a free pass. that they were going to want something in return for raising the debt ceiling. we'll have to see what that want is. >> we know how that ends up, unfortunately. again, you're -- yeah. i voted against the debt ceiling all the time. i think we've been around, though, this -- we've been to this rodeo enough to know how it ends. >> the numbers of people signing up for the affordable care act are up. >> that's exciting. this weekend we were talking about that, right? >> it's actually significant. because it could undermine -- undermine a few things that you've said here at the table. just for balance. >> "the new york times" had an article yesterday, i think it was, saying that it's -- >> look at the "l.a. times." >> -- that they're overpromising. talk about that -- we had that "new york times" article yesterday that said, yeah, the

numbers appear to be up. but -- >> under their projections there need to be 7 million americans signed up by the end of march. i think they're at 300,000 or some number like that right this minute. >> we were talking about education in america, mika. >> yes, yes. >> i think more importantly than that, "anchor man 2." you went to see "anchor man 2" last night. what's the review. >> i was lucky enough to see "anchor man 2" last night. it's very, very good. i will say the first movie was an impossible standard to live up to. it came out of nowhere. surprised us. we didn't know these guys. now you're waiting. we know what each character is supposed to do. but it's good. harry reid never shies away from a political prize fight. a new article in politico magazine looks a t how the former boxer infuriates the opposition. mike allen joins us here with that. first, here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good monday morning, mika. hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. people in new england dug out

from that storm. over across the atlantic, the big pond, in norway they dealt with a wind storm. pretty funny pictures coming out of this. again, if it doesn't do so much damage it's entertaining to watch the people trying to walk head first into that. a couple big storms in a row. a couple big wind storms moved through europe over the last two to three months. as far as what we're going to deal with in the u.s. a next storm coming down. a mini storm. a clipper storm. they move by really fast and usually dump about two to four inches of snow. that's exactly what's going to happen up through the great lakes and new england. first things first. cold blast of air. frigid this morning. then the snow. tonight starting in chicago, overnight a little coating through ohio. maybe an inch or two. same with pittsburgh and buffalo. then intensifies a little bit when it reaches the atlantic. tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. snow moving into i-95 from baltimore to philly through new york. heavier amounts the farther north. connecticut, massachusetts, southern new england. by 5:00 p.m. very slick. probably two inches.

plows will try to treat it. very cold, too. how much we talking about? again, just that coating. but three to six possible in southern new england. higher totals should be near providence, boston. watch out for all my friends in maine. specially coastal maine. you could end up with 6 to 12 inches. definitely plowable from new york city northwards. tomorrow, that is. not today. st. louis, it's a cold morning. a great warmup heading your way. a lot of the country from denver to texas to the midwest, you're enjoying a break from winter this week. enjoy it. ♪

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let's take a look at the morning papers now. "new york times." the european union suspended talks with ukraine on a trade agreement that prompted the massive protests. ukraine's president initially agreed to sign the deal last month, which would have weakened ties with russia. but then he changed his mind. over the weekend, u.s. senators chris murphy and john mccain addressed tens of thousands of anti-government protesters before meeting with the country's president. also in the "times" actor peter o'toole passed away yesterday in london. he was best known for his iconic role in the movie "lawrence of arabia." he appeared in nearly 40 films and was as comfortable on the stage as he was in front of camera. nominated for eight academy awards. most for any actor. o'toole's daughter says he's been sick for some time. he was 81 years old. "boston globe." china is leaving its mark on the moon. the country's first moon rover

touched down on sunday after detaching from the lander. the rover will survey the moon's structure and natural resources for three months. china is the third country after the u.s. and russia to carry out a soft landing. they plan on sending an astronaut to the moon and opening a space station by 2020. from the "usa today," a recent survey shows louisiana is home to the worst drivers in america. >> oh. >> car insurance comparison says louisiana finished number one in the categories of failure to obey, speeding tickets, and careless driving. the rating also includes duis and fatality rates. other states in the top five include south carolina, mississippi, texas and alabama. >> according to a study from nbc news, if you're looking for the next best gadget or tv, you might end up paying more for pixels than your eyes can actually see. these days manufacturers are

producing screens that have four times as many pixels as ordinary high definition tvs. but doctors say the human eye is actually limited in what it can make out. so the new technology doesn't really serve a purpose as far as the viewing experience goes. >> probably burns your retina right out. "wall street journal" in a new analysis of data, netflix found that half of its viewers are binge watching seasons of the tv shows in only one week. keep in mind, one season contains about 22 episodes. the study monitored the viewing habits of those watching the current top ten popular shows. netflix says the data is proof that binge viewing has become a social phenomenon. it certainly has with my friends. >> and people who don't have time to watch tv at the regular scheduled shows. "houston chronicle." the megamillions jackpot continues to grow with experts predicting it could climb as high as $656 million.

that marks the fourth largest lottery jackpot in u.s. history. ticket sales expected to jump ahead of the drawing on tuesday. let's go to politico now. willie's got that. >> with us chief white house correspondent for politico mike allen. he's got a look at the play book. good morning. >> good morning, willie. >> the new issue of politico magazine actually has a really good piece by john ralston, long time las vegas political reporter, about the career of senate majority leader harry reid. his secrets to staying in power. you guys calling him machiaveli. a ma lange of contradictions. what's the big take away from the piece? >> what we see in here is that harry reid is not a preener. that unlike most senators, he pays more attention to what's happening behind the scenes than his image out front. john ralston who, as you pointed out, as covered harry reid for more than 25 years there in nevada, point to a great moment a couple of days ago when senator reid was back home in

the state. and he was talking about an assemblywoman who he's hoping will run for lieutenant governor as the democratic candidate. and he described her outloud as demographically perfect. dynamic. young. hispanic. and you want to say, senator, you're saying that outloud. of course, that's how politicians think. that's how operatives think. that's how you have to work and think to be successful. but you're not usually going to say it out loud. so we're going to see this week as the budget gets its final passage, we're going to see the tough harry reid. the harry reid who's made things happen in this senate at the end of a year when we thought not much would happen. including that big change in the rules that has allowed president obama to go out this year having a bunch of his nominees installed. one of the biggest wins for the white house this year. >> what's the relationship like, mike, between president obama and leader reid? because harry reid has gone out and fought a lot of fights for president obama over the last

four years. >> he is -- he has. and they were early allies. there's a little bit of a father/son relationship between them. they both understand -- they're both very willing to do the tough things in politics. leader reid over the years has had a lot of private conversations with obama. it's not a lot in public. but we're told by both the reid side and the obama side that over the years, they've been very -- >> politico's mike allen. up next, senator chuck schumer of new york is standing by. he'll join the table when "morning joe" comes right back. my customers can shop around-- see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors,

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i feel we'll have a good, strong showing from the democratic side. but we need bipartisan support to pass it and the problems we have are two-fold. a handful of members of the senate are vying for the presidency in years to come and thinking about this vote in that context. and others are frankly afraid of this new force, the tea party force, the heritage foundation force, that is threatening 7 out of the 12 republican senators running for re-election. >> that was senate majority whip

dirk durbin on tomorrow's budget vote in the senate. joining us now, democratic senator from new york, chuck schumer. how you doing, senator? >> merry christmas. happy new year. >> how is this vote looking? >> i think it's a pretty safe bet it's going to pass. >> really? >> after what happened in the house where so many republicans voted for it, i think mitch mcconnell, the republican leadership knows they can't let it go down. >> can democrats vote for a bill that doesn't extend unemployment benefits? >> we'll have almost all the democratic votes. we'll make a shot at trying to do unemployment insurance separately and work on it next year. >> you won't get it separately, will you? >> well, it'll be hard. i think most democrats realizing that government shutdown is a brutal alternative will reluctantly vote for it. >> why does this deal focus on military retirees? why, of all the trillions of dollars that we spend, why is the only way to cut, why is it from our military retirees that

have given their all to this country. >> they have. but look, i think paul ryan and patty murray looked everywhere they could to try and find compromise. everybody had to take a little. civilian federal employees have been cut, cut, cut. i think there was a feeling if you're going to cut them further, which was done, that the military retirees should have about an e-mail amount. it's small. >> shouldn't congress also take a cut if we're saying military retirees take a cut? >> we have taken pretty big cuts. >> members of congress have? >> yeah. we haven't had a pay raise in a long time. with the health care, most of us are paying more. stuff like that. >> this is the retirement benefits, though, of the military rhee tietirees. right? >> that is correct. they're going to have to pay a tiny bit into it. which they never have. only those who are working. who have other jobs. but the bottom line is that i don't -- it's a safe bet, pretty safe bet, mcconnell will not let this go down. four republicans have already said they'd be for it. and i'm sure the republican leadership, i would bet, is not going to risk another government

shutdown. the vote in the house made that certain. before the vote in the house overwhelming for it on the republican side, and on the democratic side, it might have been iffier. the house for the first time was -- stepped up to the bipartisan plate. the senate has been doing it. the house did this time. >> so if this happens, then we have at least function happening again? >> yes, exactly. >> which is a step in the right direction. what's it going to take to get to a place where significant, productive cuts to entitlements are going to happen? >> great question. i'll tell you this in general. i think this was a breakthrough. why? what's held things up for the last while is the tea party faction in the house. which blocked basically everything. >> whoa. hold on. >> let me just -- >> no. i can't let you say that. >> go ahead. >> when you have harry reid as the majority leader acting as a glorified pocket veto. >> yeah, but -- >> for barack obama. the house passes so much that

never even sees the light of day on the senate floor. >> joe. >> i'm respectful and i like you a lot. but if you're going to just -- if we're going to use the tea party as a straw man and knock him down then we've got to tell the truth about the sorry, sorry state of things in harry reid's senate where you guys haven't even passed a single appropriations bill. >> i sit there on the bike in the gym and you say can't barack obama bring them together. >> i'm talking about harry reid. >> you said that last week. >> don't change the subject. >> i'm not. >> why can't you guys pass an appropriation bill? >> there is one faction in the entire congress who does not want to caompromise at all. barack obama and harry reid have compromised. they've said they're willing to look at certain entitlement cuts. >> wait. >> now you're not letting me finish. >> that's just not true. >> it is true. >> harry reid just said a week or two ago that if anybody wants to talk about medicare or social security, it's off the table. >> without any --

>> am i supposed to sit here and let you say something harry reid said the opposite thing of last week? >> joe, he said it if there are no revenue increases. not a single republican has come out for any revenue increases. there are two sides to this. revenue increases for entitlement cuts. there have been many democrats, many, you've had them on the show, the president has called for it, harry reid has entertained it at times. >> would you support both of those things? revenue increases and entitlement cuts? >> yes. there are ways to cut the entitlements and raise the revenues that both sides can live with. but -- >> how many people in the senate do you think share that position? that they're willing to cut entitlements to the -- we're talking, of course, over 25, 30 years. >> yes, i understand. democrats -- >> how many would you say? >> democrats have said, okay, that we are willing to look at entitlements, delivery system reform. so many different types of things that cut those if there are revenues.

if there are revenues. you name me a single republican who has said they'd be for any revenue increases. none. so this idea -- this is what plagues me. i'm glad we've had this opportunity. >> doesn't it feel better? i know you're upset because of the -- >> yeah. i am upset. more than anything. >> i understand you're angry. i want you to vent. that's why i'm here. >> the reason we have had a stall here, and it's finished, is the tea party says no compromise. but when they shut down the government, our mainstream republicans, they're conservative. they're like you. but like you, they're willing to sit down and compromise. have finally said, enough. next year, i think we are going to get certainly -- not certainly. but much more likely a farm bill. immigration reform. because in the senate, democrats and republicans have started to work together. not on the big budget deal yet. but on other things. in the house, they couldn't do a thing. all the bills you said the house passed, had no democratic votes.

every bill the senate has sent them has had republican and democrat votes. >> not a single democratic vote? >> hardly any. >> why is the democratic party the party of no? that makes me sad. mika? >> all right, senator. i do agree with you on revenues. but tell me what you all could agree on or what enough of you could agree on on specific entitlement cuts. >> let me just say this. the delivery system is so inefficient. any one of us who goes through medical system knows how inefficient it is. how they do extra stays that you don't need. how they do extra tests that you don't need. how everyone bills separately. it's a cost plus system. if we were to change it, we could say hundreds of billions of dollars. and still not really hurt the beneficiaries one bit. we should do that. now, the providers, some of them will howl. and they tend to be our constituents. but so be it. >> deficits. an appropriation bill.

budget cuts. entitlements. you talked about all of those. they're all important. why is it that the congress of the united states and the president of the united states, the senate included, have sat there, tea party members, republicans, all of you, have sat there for several years while jobs in this country have either disappeared, become nonexistent, or their pay -- or employees' pays have been frozen for years. where is the jobs program? >> mr. barnicle, you have hit at the number one issue facing america. to me, it is not the deficit. we've made progress on the deficit. simpson/bowles said do 4 billion. we've done three. not enough. but we've done. the number one issue facing america's political economy is that middle-class incomes have declined over the last ten years. and if it does it for another ten years, this will be -- i tell this to corporate executives. this will be a different america. so what do we need to do? well, that's where the disagreement is.

republicans say it's government's fault. shrink government. we don't agree. we think a strong education system. we think building infrastructure. we think doing research, basic research. the two industries where new york has the best -- well, new york. america -- i gave myself away -- has the best paying jobs are high-tech and pharmaceutical. all because we funded nsf research and nih research. we feel those things would help. i think the public is moving in our direction that way. government is the fountain of all evil. our deficit was too high. i don't disagree with that. government is the fount of all evil. slash education. slash highway spending. cut nih. i hope with this small agreement which patty murray and paul ryan did a great job on is going to change things and we'll be able to meet somewhere in the middle. >> real quick, brian. >> i quickly wanted to get your take on iran and why you're pro more sanctions before this diplomacy takes its course.

>> we're not more pro sanctions before diplomacy takes its course. i've had my disagreement with the administration here. sanctions brought the iranians to the table. it's the same government. rouhani is one guy. the so-called supreme leader is running the show. they're a terrorist country. they're a country that doesn't believe in anything that we believe in. but sanctions brought them to the table. good thing. we should talk. but the idea which is administration did in the initial agreement of reducing sanctions before they reduced their nuclear capability was a mistake. and i think there are many of us democrats and republicans -- >> we agree on this. >> -- working together. >> we agree on this. >> we do. democrats and republicans working together are going to try to figure out a way to continue to keep the sanctions regime, but at the same time allow the talks to go forward. the talks are important. but let's remember what brought iran to the table. not the goodness nesness of the. sanctions. >> we've got to go. couple quick questions. first of all -- first of all, by the way, buffalo viewers, he was

bragging on the bills yesterday. >> only team in new york that won. >> so what do the giants have to do? because it's the only time of the week for people that don't know that you set aside to watch the giants. >> i love them. >> what do they have to do to get better next year. >> front line. if i could have one thing, front offensive line. if i could have one thing on any football team. it's not the quarterback who gets all the glories or the ends or the running backs or safeties. it's a good front line. theirs has fallen apart. it leaves eli naked. >> senator chuck schumer, thank you so much. >> happy holidays. >> great to be here. coming up, how this man, the highest paid employee at the epa was collecting a paycheck for ten years for doing absolutely nothing. >> what's wrong with that? >> i was going to say. >> we have the incredible story coming up. next, the headlines that are grabbing today's markets. business before the bell is next. cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera. we'll be right back. a subaru...

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we're going over the st. louis cardinals history. 1967? >> '66-'67. >> the whole infield were all stars? >> yeah. '66. >> he dislikes every team that i like. we found that out after he walked o ut the door. time for business before the bell. michelle caruso-cabrera. chairman bernanke. his last meeting. is he going to go out with a blaze of glory? >> it is. you're right. it's a huge week for the federal reserve this week. i know everybody's excited about that. it's bernanke's last meeting. then we get janet yellen. are they going to taper? unlikely. however, it's possible because, remember, brian, when you were

working here, remember, we were talking about the fact that the budget showdown was one of the thipgs that really concerned the federal reserve. that when we had the shutdown or a debt ceiling crisis, that leads to weakness in the economy. so they didn't want to necessarily taper until the congress had its act together. it looks like we're getting to that poeint. that removes one of the big hurdles for taper. economic data has been getting better. let me end with this. despite the concerns or despite the obvious situation that tapering is going to come sooner rather than later, markets are doing phenomenally well. sharply higher this morning. europe doing great. >> thank you very much. unemployment rate is down. 7.5. budget for two years if the senate passes it. >> this budget deal, i've been very clear, i don't like it especially going after military retirees. but for business owners? knowing that the next two years we're not going to be lurching from one crisis to another to another? >> maybe they'll start hiring people and we'll get a bigger pop. >> they can start planning ahead

a little bit. coming up next, the highest paid employee at the epa pleads guilty to a massive case of fraud. how he got away with pretending to be an undercover cia agent. an exclusive for nbc with michael isikoff next on "morning joe." we're aig. and we're here. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global.

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nbc's learned the federal government's top expert on climate change and the highest paid employee at the epa hasn't actually done his job for years. his cover story? the one that mike and i use at msnbc till bill griffeith calle us out. that he was an undercover agent working for the cia. nbc news national correspondent michael isikoff has more on this story. actually, michael, very serious story. what's behind it? >> well, this is one of the more bizarre federal frauds anybody can remember. john beale was the highest paid person at the epa, making more than $206,000. known as one of the government's top experts on air pollution and climate change. and for long stretches of time, his own lawyer now admits he did absolutely no work. he told his bosses, including gina mccarthy, now the epa administrator, that he was working undercover for the cia. spending a lot of time in pakistan dealing with the taliban. in fact, investigators have now

discovered he was actually at home in northern virginia riding bicycles, reading books. this was a fraud that went on for years at the epa. nobody ever checked to make sure if anything beale was saying is true. he frauded the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars collecting annual retention bonuses, billing the government for thousands of dollars in trips to california for personal business. taking first class air tickets to london. $14,000 a ticket. >> wow. >> way above -- >> he got handicap parking by saying that he -- what excuse? >> he was suffering from malaria because he had served in vietnam. he didn't have malaria and he'd never been to vietnam. >> absolutely unbelievable. also, i would guess a lot of people on the left see that as quite a betrayal. that the top person in government, on climate change,

isn't doing any work for a couple of years. >> yeah. look, i mean, it is clearly, as federal prosecutors said in the sentencing memorandum friday, a betrayal of the public trust. beale will be in federal court on wednesday. he's going to be sentenced for this crime. his lawyer put up an interesting explanation in his own sentencing memorandum saying beale has been seeing a therapist and realizes that he was driven to do -- to try to manipulate his fellow colleagues with grandiose stories to puff himself up. >> unbelievable. michael isikoff, thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. coming up next, what if anything did we learn today?

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welcome back to "morning joe." time to talk about what we learned today. brian? >> senator schumer optimistic about the 2014 legislation session. i guess a good thing. there's only one direction you can go. >> exactly. >> and he's more optimistic about the 2014 giants if they draft, you know, big strong guys in the line. >> i learned my new hero for the holiday season and for a long time thereafter, john beale from the environmental protection agency. >> the ferris bueller of our

time. instead of "ferris bueller's day off". >> decade off. >> j.b. you're the j.b. of msnbc. >> what does that mean? >> john beale. >> i could take a decade off as well. i learned mike barnicle's excuse to get handicap parking at fenway park has been called out. you need to call and say you actually did not get malaria in vietnam. >> i am limping. >> may have been john beale's worst excuse. if it's way too early, mika, what time is it? >> it is time for "morning joe." but now it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. have a great day, everybody. with a budget breakthrough under their belts, could congress actually find agreement on some other pending issues? say, like, immigration? we'll talk to an independent -- really