i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! right now on "andrea mitchell reports," making a list, checking it twice. the senate has the votes to pass the budget after test votes on the compromise deal. chairman ryan and i got together and we started talking. we decided instead of trying to solve everything at once, the most important thing we could do for the families we represented was to end the uncertainty and start rebuilding some trust.

>> the bill will not extend unemployment benefits about to spire for 1 million americans by the end of the year and will cut military retirement benefits. we'll talk to both sides, democrat dianne feinstein, congress's two-year budget fix and the rest of the to do list. listening in, what happens now that a judge ruse phone records are unconstitutional. is this vindication for edward snowden trying to get asylum in brazil. stephen colbert said snowden should trust the good old usa. >> come back with all the intel and all is forgiven. i'll tell you what, to make you feel safe we'll meet you in a special amnesty zone. >> the syrian regime's latest weapon against the civilian population, our own keir simmons inside syria reporting on the latest devastation including an attack that killed 28 children

leaving john kerry with few options as his negotiating strategy is near collapse. >> what is the alternative? there's no alternative other than continued fighting, continued destruction, continued growth in the refugee population, continued potential disintegration of the whole country, and the continued increase of the numbers of radical extremists who are appearing on the scene to fill the void. that is dangerous. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the senate has just taken an important step toward passing the budget deal even as critics are hailing a major federal court challenge to the nsa's mass collection of telephone

records. california senator dianne feinstein chairs intelligence committee and joins me on both these stories. we got the color right. we match today, senator. thank you very much for joining us today. first, on the budget. a million americans are going to lose long-term unemployment benefits by the end of the year by december 28th. this is not part of the budget deal. i know there's a promise from harry reid to take it up in january. what do you say to those including many people in your own state? >> it's very hard, the particular aspect of unemployment insurance, which is an extension should continue. there are others that say it should not. clearly this should not prevail in this negotiation. i think there are about 170 plus thousand californians who will have their unemployment insurance discontinue i think right after christmas. now, when it's restored, they will receive it retroactively. but i think the point that's

being made by a majority is that people really have to seriously look for work. this, of course, leaves chronically unemployed population in some degree of jeopardy. it's a difficult issue. many of us believe it should be continued as is for the present time, which means with the extension. >> now, on the subject of the intelligence and nsa collection, a respected federal judge, judge leon, calling it near orwellian nsa collection of massive phone records. i know it's not content but phone records. a lot of reforms, including your own, have been suggested but not yet in place. there's disagreement about the reforms. what do you say to the judge. this was a first time there was a hearing that unlike the fisa court was an adversarial proceeding. >> this was not the first time. last month there was a hearing of a case, the case of someone

providing financial and other support to al shabaab. it took place in the southern district of california. the judge was jeffrey miller. he found the 215 program was constitutional. and the point of issue was specifically that. so you have one case a month ago, which has not been reported on that i've seen, and you have the case of a few days ago which has been reported on extensively. what does this all mean? this means that clearly it's going to go up on appeal and go to the supreme court. i very much would urge the court to take the case, because the case of smith v. maryland, which said there is no right under the fourth amendment to an individual to protect this kind of data was issued in 1979. that's over 30 years ago.

the situation has changed then. so has the need for this. there was no need for this back then. on the other hand there were not cell phones. there were not a lot of other communication paraphernalia. so i am very eager to see the court take this case. and if they wish to throw out the old case, they will do it. if they wish to change it, they will do it. if they sustain the government's position, they will do that. we will know once and for all. it is my belief that we live in a world with serious jeopardy to this nation. and those of us on the intelligence committee see this frequently. therefore this program in conjunction with other programs help keep this nation safe. i'm not saying it's in dispense

i belie -- indispensable. the case was a case right on pointaged the june sustained the constitutionality. >> up until now nsa has told the american people, trust us, we're a taking care of you. there's a break, a credibility gap, a big one, mike hayden who used to head the nsa and cia said they need to revisit this. they have to better explain to the american people how this is protecting them. this judge said he could not find any instances of it. >> of course that's wrong. there have been instances of it. i think those instances have been belittled by and large. there's some 54 instances worldwide. a lot of the information went to europe, potential terror

attacks, the constitutionality of this particular program was sustained. if people really want us shove aside a potential method of protection, and the court says it is not constitutional, that does it. that's the end. none of us will defy the constitutionality issue. but what many of us want to do is do what's necessary within the law to keep our nation as safe as we possibly can. >> are you going to proceed with your reform bill? i know you and senator leahy have dramatically different approaches. >> well, that's right. we hope to work with the house committee and see if we can move this fisa bill. it probably will not move until

we return in january, though, because the house is out. we are limited to just a few minx this week, the budget, defense bill and some appointments. i think come january, we'll have some time to really look at this, and we have been looking at it. we can always stand more scrutiny. and try to work with the house and see if we can work a bill. >> senator feinstein, thank you very much. >> you're very welcome. >> thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. >> joining me for our daily fix chris cillizza msnbc contributor and host of "in play" and columnist ruth marcus. thanks both for joining us. first to you, chris. lets talk about the nsa. >> sure. >> and all of this. ruth is an attorney, so she can chime in on the law and where we're moving with this. how big of a problem to have a federal judge says it's unconstitutional at a time when

particularly president obama's base is increasingly concerned about this. >> i'm going to leave the legal stuff to ruth. i'll talk about the political stuff a little bit, andrea. i think it is very potentially problematic in the political space. we already know, you put this question to senator feinstein. the basic sense has been just trust us. well, we know that isn't enough for many liberal democrats who are worried about privacy and worried about sort of why does the government do all this and what are they getting from it. i would add to the fact we have seen president obama's numbers, they have tumbled across the board. one important place where they have tumbled is on the honest and trustworthy question. poll organizations all ask it differently. a majority or close to a majority of people in a variety of polls have said they don't believe he is in that credibility, whether about the nsa, healthcare.gov. immigration reform, the economy, that is a real political danger

for this president as he tries to move forward, put what has been, they would acknowledge, a difficult 2013 behind them. >> wanted to share with both of you, the president met with internet executives today, tech companies complaining about the intrusive nature of the subpoenas they have had to deal with and end runs around them that have been reported. what came up with with the head of netflix, "house of cards" a popular netflix show online, award winning with kevin spacey, take a look. >> i'm just wondering if we brought the next copy of "house of cards." >> a little cameo. >> i wish things were that ruthlessly efficient. it's true. kevin spacey, this guy is getting a lot of stuff done.

>> so the president saying that he wishes that things in washington were as ruthlessly efficient as kevin spacey's washington in "house of cards." >> i hope he gets those advanced copies he'll invite me over. i candlelight wait. i was reveling in the ruthless efficiency of house of cards washington. >> what about legal basis you heard dianne feinstein who said this is going to the high court. revisiting a 1979 case when technology was very, very different. >> the world has changed particularly in the area of the fourth amendment and what constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure. the court is really grappling with a whole bunch of new technologies. you see it in a variety of areas. it's clear this is going to go to the supreme court. as a legal matter, one quick point. this is not some wild eyed liberal judge. this is an judge who is an

appointee of george w. bush. there's a serious question here. it's going to have to be resolved here by the supreme court as a matter of law. we're also going to have to resolve it as a societal matter. even if it were constitutional, and i'm not sure, do we want a world in which just because the nsa can collect all this data, do we want it to be able to collect all this data. that's a conversation that would have behooved this administration and previously administrations if we had had before, before edward snowden. now they are reaping the result of that. we're going to have to figure out how much privacy we want to give up as a society. >> one other quick political point, chris cillizza, what do we make of scott brown selling his home in massachusetts? does this mean he's going to take on jean shaheen and run in new hampshire? >> i can't imagine it means anything other than that, andrea. we know he is -- he floated this months ago, and i think a lot of people reacted with, what?

i think he did it on purpose to acclimate people to the idea he might do it. i just did an interview a wmur affiliate, big affiliate up there. he said, look, carpet bagging isn't great. scott brown would have to answer that if he did run. but you can drive from downtown new hampshire to the border in 30 minutes without traffic. it may be less of an issue there than other states. i think scott brown from a purely political standpoint, a lot better chance of lebbed to something as a republican in new hampshire than getting re-elected or elected again to something as a republican in massachusetts. >> and this quick footnote just to -- "politico" breaking frank wolf, long time veteran from california said he's not going to seek re-election in 2013. that could be a seat up. >> competitive seat. >> ruth marcus, if he don't see you, happy new year. >> happy new year, merry kplas

to everybody. >> chris cillizza, see you later. sad news, six soldiers killed when their black hawk helicopter crashed in afghanistan. the aircraft had a hard landing due to mechanical problems and was then attacked by militants after it went down. the soldiers were serving with international security assistance force. we'll bring you more details as we have them. stay with us here on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ncer] arms were made for hugging. hands for holding. feet, kicking. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start taking xeljanz

if you have any kind of infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests, including certain liver tests, before you start and while you are taking xeljanz. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant, or plan to be. taken twice daily, xeljanz can reduce the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. ask if xeljanz is right for you.

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welcome back. the budget deal under consideration in the senate has lost some key republican support. it's likely to pass anyway, but the opposition citing cuts in military pensions. senator from new hampshire among leaders of opposition joins me from capitol hill. senator, thank you for being with us. >> thanks, andrea, thanks for

having me. >> two-year deal, budget piece, paul ryan supports it as you know, negotiated it with patty murray. why are you against it and senator mccain and senator wicker? >> here is the problem. $6 billion taken from military retirees, current ones, they are singled out. most troubling those though have received disability retirement. in other words, you're in afghanistan, veterans who have given the most, taken the bullets for us, they receive disability retirement because they lost a leg or arm, their cost of living will be cut. our military veterans, working age veterans are the only ones targeted in this agreement for actual cuts to current benefits they are entitled to receive for what they have earned on our behalf. for example changes for federal employees asked only for new hires. our military was not treated the same way. i think this is absolutely wrong. i have introduced two amendments

to pay for this so we can pass this agreement without taking it out of the backs of our military retirees. >> you're not going to have a chance, are you, on the floor? >> we're not going to be allowed amendments to address this. think about it, though, our men and women in uniform that are in afghanistan right now, many of them have done multiple tours. some even in iraq as well. we're now saying to them that of all the groups in this budget agreement that we're going to cut your cost of living increase. what that means, andrea, for an e7 enlisted on retirement, that can be $72,000 over the course when you retire at 40 until you can collect at 62 the full. it's big money for these people. >> what was the justification for exempting, for grand fathering federal employees other than the military? >> i have not heard a justification. that's the problem with this. i don't understand why the

federal employees got grandfathered fair enough new hires, apply to new hires, for current retirees no grand fathering. why tart this particular group that has given the most fof our country. all i'm asking is can't we get together and fix this? i think we can fix this. when you think about we're going to spend $6 trillion over the next decade, we can't find $6 million other than taking it from the backs of the men and women in uniform that sacrificed the most. >> others complaining this bill does not address long-term unemployment compensation, people that lose it a few days after christmas. isn't that a concern also with this bill? >> andrea, my concern is those who have sacrificed so much for our country. i think to target them, unfairly focus on them for current cuts,

think about disabled veterans, it seems to me we should take care of them first. the notion that we would pass this bill while our disabled veterans -- we've all been to walter reed and seen the sacrifice men and women have made. i know you have and i know you've focused on this issue. the notion that we're going to say for this group, they are the only ones on this agreement i can see feeling the current pain for cuts now. >> i know this has just happened today, but any word on -- any explanation for this terrible black hawk crash which eventually led to the death of six of our service members over in afghanistan, southern afghanistan. >> it's so, so sad. our thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends. this will have to be authorize by investigated and found out what happened. but obviously a very sad day. >> senator ayotte, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. >> thanks, andrea.

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oral-b, trust the brand more dentists and hygienists use. oral-b. that ruling by a federal district judge nsa's recordkeeping of all americans phone calls violates the constitution is the biggest challenge yet to the nsa. general hayden former director of nsa and cia had this to say on "morning joe." >> the judge has expertise when it comes to rule of law and constitutional theory. the judge is not actually in a really good position to judge the efficacy of an intelligence collection program. i think that's where we might have an issue. look, i understand that in that balance, what the program does for you has to play a role. but again, courts aren't well positioned to judge that. the two political branches, the president and the congress, who have to stand for re-election and live with the consequences

of these kinds of decisions are actually better positioned to make that judgment. >> joining me now is michael lighter, nbc terror analyst and national director of the counter-terrorism center and an attorney. >> and an attorney. >> you're credentialed on all front. how does the administration maintain this posture that the nsa should just vacuum up everything, all these records. not content but records. one's fix is to let the phone company keep the records and dip in when you have the equivalent of probable cause, but the phone companies don't want that responsibility? >> they don't. and there might require a legislative change to actually allow that to happen. i think the administration is moving in the direction that optimally it would be good to have the phone companies hold this data. then when the nsa found a lead they wanted to check up on, then the nsa would go do that. technically that poses challenges and legally.

>> have you to subsidize -- you're requiring a private company to create a large space. >> it's not just one company. it's three different companies. they hold that data in different shapes, different forms. so being able to quickly search that in a way that would really help nsa detect things with speed is a challenge. do i think that's the direction we're headed? i think so. judge leon's opinion certainly will urge that along just a bit. >> and the task force which included some law professors, some other civil liberty experts as well as counter-terror experts has recommended to the white house there be a separation of the leadership of cyber command, military leadership and nsa so nsa would be a civilian organization. the president may not be leaning that way, we're told. >> it's my understanding that is not what the president will decide. frankly, i know it is attractive to think we have to make it a less military organization to

make it more observant of civil liberties. i think that's too simplistic. i think you have plenty of people in the military who can understand these legal issues and apply the right rules. so my priority, were i the president or were i making this decision would be how do we have a system that works? how do we have a system obviously that's constitutional? how do we have a system american people will trust that isn't violating civil liberties and privacy. whether or not that means splitting nsa from cyber command it's probably the least important aspect of that decision. >> the nsa has lost a lot of support, though. the american people now are either viewing it with trepidation or with amusement. you hear about them getting into video games and not proving anything valuable was achieved by surreptitiously logging on as gamers. they have done a lot of things that have either caused ridicule or concern. >> it is a huge problem right now, the lack of trust between

the american people and the technology community and the national security agency. i think we have to be careful about fast forwarding too much and forgetting some of the history. remember the 9/11 commission one of the criticisms was the lack of imagination. and manualation, which is what drives an organization like the nsa to be involved in gaming, because terrorists could communicate that way. what i hope comes out of the discussion with the review group and the president is reestablishing the level of trust, again, between the people in the technology community and nsa that important counter-terrorism work can be done, important counter-intelligence work can be done but done in a way people believe privacy and civil liberties of others are protected. >> we haven't even discussed the foreign policy implications because you've got people like the brazilian president canceling a state dinner, angela merkel upset. everybody spies on everybody but we obviously have better tools. >> it is. there's no doubt there's a

greater degree of white house control over surveillance of foreign leaders. once you start to extend those sorts of protections beyond the leaders into the populations, you run into some really tricky challenges. are we going to spy on north korean since but not french? maybe that's an easy one. where do we put countries that fall in the middle. drawing these lines the review group's recommendations is the first step. many iterations from the white house, intelligence community, the courts as we saw in judge leon's decision, and from the congress about how these things play out over the next month or two. >> michael leiter, thank you very much. 'tis the season for poinsettias. what about a shakedown? members of the mafia were trying to do. they were forcing to allegedly force shop owners to buy the christmas plant at 100 times their wholesale value to raise money for their jailed friends. you could say it was an offer they couldn't refuse.

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having served a couple years in the white house i did see instances in which the ability to collect data really did thwart potentially catastrophic events. so you know, i really wonder what this debate would be like if, god forbid, one of those events had happened. >> where should we draw the line between civil liberties and security? joining me now, director of the american civil liberties union national security project. thank you very much. what do you say to david axelrod and others who worked in the white house and administration and say you don't know what we know, there have been threats that have been averted? >> thank you for having me, andrea. i think one answer is to be found from people who have actually looked at classified information and those include three senators, senators widen, udall and heinrich who are on the intelligence committee and filed a friend of the court brief in the challenge to

massive phone records surveillance recently and they said they have got no evidence this program is necessary let alone that it has been effective in thwarting a single plot. that was one of the issues in the case that judge leon decided yesterday finding that the program of dragnet surveillance is unconstitutional. he said that the government simply hadn't been able to make its case, hasn't provided evidence that the dragnet surveillance of all americans has been effective incur tailing any imminent attack or time sensitive goal the government says it might have. >> what would you suggest -- how would you reconfigure the current situation? would you have the phone companies hold the records and nsa dip in once they get a court order or have probable cause of a target? would that slow down the process too much potentially? >> well, actually, andrea, one answer is to be found in legislation that's making its way through congress right now.

this is the usa freedom act that has the support of bipartisan support with 130 co-sponsors. one of the very important things that it does is that it prohibits dragnet surveillance of innocent americans and instead would require that subpoenas be for specific identified terrorism suspects or terrorists and their associates and their activities. we simply don't need dragnet surveillance in order to be both safe and secure. i do want to emphasize a couple of other aspects of what judge leon decided in his case yesterday, which i think is so important and so carefully reasoned. he said that the government's rational for surveillance was based on a 30-year-old case. we have completely different facts involving a single criminal suspect whose phone association has been monitored

over a period of two days. what the government is claiming the authority to do now is to grab all americans' phone records, it's been doing that seven years, and it's claiming the authority to do that indefinitely. that's not simply unnecessary, but as i said before, people who have access to the classified information have said that its ineffective. >> we hear we don't have access, you nor i, to the classified information, we hear both sides. dianne feinstein believes it is effective. nobody justifies explaining what these instances are. want to share with our viewers edward snowden's comment who believes he's been vindicated by this decision. it's one judge, it will be challenged. i aktd on my belief nsa's mass surveillance would not withstand a constitutional challenge and the american public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts. today a secret program authorized by secret court when exposed to light of day found to

violate american rights. it was the first of many. what do you think should happen to edward snowden now? there's a debate over amnesty. we're told by relevant officials it won't be offered. do you think he should be granted amnesty and allowed to return home. >> i think what edward snowden has done is incredibly important. president obama said he wanted a debate over these critically important issues on privacy and americans' rights to privacy. edward snowden has enabled that debate. we couldn't have been able to have the kind of decision we saw yesterday or the kind of cases aclu is bringing in federal court challenging the dragnet surveillance without the kinds of disclosures that edward snowden has made and made possible. >> thank you very much. thank you for joining us from the aclu today. we have some really disturbing news from california, from the most beautiful area of california. a wildfire burning in big sur that ha destroyed at least 15

homes and forced 100 people to evacuate. the fire burned 500 acres, including the home of big sur's volunteer fire chief who continued to work to fight the blaze even as her own home is burning. high winds fueling the wildfire which is only about 5% contained. [ female announcer ] arms were made for hugging. hands for holding. feet, kicking. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start taking xeljanz if you have any kind of infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests, including certain liver tests, before you start and while you are taking xeljanz. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant, or plan to be. taken twice daily, xeljanz can reduce the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. ask if xeljanz is right for you.

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>> reporter: it absolutely does, andrea. those barrel bombs that you were talking about there that are said to have been dropped on the northern city of aleppo certainly over the weekend leaving many children killed, they are described as crude bombs that are packed with nails, with hunks of tnt, wrapped in metal casing and dropped off the back of a helicopter. we spoke to one person today who said that they had been dropped in aleppo at a point at which bread was being handed out to people who were hungry. so they are terrifying, clearly. you've seen the pictures of children being carried away from smoke and burning rebel. they do inflict terror on that community with young people,

civilians brutalized by them. they are one side of this. andrea, since i have been here in damascus, you get a picture of civilians on both sides of the civil yar terrorized. here in damascus while those barrel bombs are dropped on opposition groups here in damascus we went to a market today where a mortar bomb had dropped on the market while people were shopping and rumors swirl around this city of atrocities being carried out by extremist islamic groups amongst the opposition forces particularly in an area where there were reports 80 people have been executed and people being held hostage. so the picture across this country, though it is divided is one story. that is utter fear amongst the civilian population. >> acknowledging there is brutality on both sides and the

fact the united states cut off aid to the lead rebel group because it was dominated by what the united states considered islamic militants. still, the only group that has air power is the regime. what do they say about the use of barrel bombs? >> reporter: that's right. we haven't managed to get a comment from them yet about the use of these bombs. when you do talk to them, they bring up exactly what you are talking about there, because they have for a long time talked about the opposition forces as terrorists. what we have seen, the picture we have seen developing in the last year or so certainly is the more moderate rebels in syria being squeezed, at least to some extent. other groups, a group operating out of iraq, extremist groups,

some of them supported by al qaeda if you like gaining the upper hand. at the same time america, as you say, has been with drawing some aid to those moderate groups because the fear in wshd is that aid ends up in the hands of extremists. you know, andrea, there is no good outcome in this civil war. the people who are suffering are families and children, many of them have fled the country entirely. millions, they are now living in flimsy tents in freezing weather. even within syria people are fleeing areas across the lines. there are many displaced people here. they are suffering, too. they are hungry. the aid agencies are attempting to feed these people while all this is going on. >> kir simmoeir simmons, stay s.

thank you for being with us. coming up, fresh details on the attack, mortal attack in afghanistan killing six u.s. soldiers who died in a helicopter crash. stay with us. >> this is obviously, as is is case any time we lose men and women in uniform, a tragedy and something that we mourn greatly. i've got to credit my mom. to help me become an olympian, she was pretty much okay with me turning her home into an ice rink. ♪ she'd just reach for the bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller, powerful sheet that acts like a big sheet. look, one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less, with the small but powerful picker-upper, bounty select-a-size.

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and more on the breaking news out of afghanistan where six us soldiers were killed today. jim miklaszewski joins me near jalal bad, afghanistan. tell us about the crash and what happened afterwards. >> reporter: according to u.s. military officials there were two blackhawk helicopters -- by the way, any gunfire you hear in the background is night training exercises. there's no enemy activity under way here. but the two blackhawk

helicopters were flying in formation in southern afghanistan. and suddenly one of of the black hawk helicopters suffered some kind of mechanical problem they believe and it went down and made a hard landing. the problem here though is once that helicopter hit, those american forces aboard immediately came under heavy enemy fire, presumably from taliban. the u.s. military in kandahar dispatched a quick reaction and upon arrival those u.s. military forces engaged the enemy still on the ground and drove them away. by the time american rescuers got to the helicopter six of those americans were dead. one was very seriously wounded and medevaced out. now, this is the single deadliest crash or incident

military incident involving u.s. military forces since august of 2012 when a helicopter crashed in the same mountainous region killing seven in august 2012. an investigation is still under way and there's still some suspicion, taliban claims they shot down the helicopter. the u.s. military thinks it was mechanical difficulties but this whole incident remains under investigation. >> briefly, do we know whether any of the troops survived the crash? >> reporter: there was one soldier aboard that did survive. he was critically injured. and i have to mention again, that there was no enemy activity in the area at the time the helicopter went down but it was only after it impacted quite hard onto the ground that the enemy open fire on the american forces, who essentially were

trapped. >> we want to thank jim miklaszewski, thank you and your producer. that does it for us. tomorrow on the show, senators joe manchin and robert wicker. my colleague, tamron hall is up next. >> we'll follow the breaking news out of afghanistan where six u.s. soldier lost their lives and cover the unfinished business. the senate set to vote on the budget in a matter of hours, wrapping up what has been the least productive and most unpopular congress in modern history. senator bill nelson will join us live. one issue they are looking into is the humanitarian crisis in central african republic. a hearing set to begin within the hour about the violence that claimed thousands. we'll talk to the head of mission of doctors without borders in the devastated region

right now. chicago set to shed the dubious distinction of being the u.s. murder capital. is the problem deeper than a number? it's all coming up next on "news nation." ses ] oops. ow. sorry. [ baby crying ] ♪ [ female announcer ] new pampers. unlike ordinary diapers with 2 layers, pampers have 3 absorbent layers, to stay up to 3 times drier, so babies can sleep soundly all night. ♪ wishing you love, sleep and play. pampers.

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[ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! hi, everyone, i'm tamron hall. following the major final vote in what is shaping up to be congress's least productive year in history. set to vote on final passage of the two year murray-ryan budget deal after voting to advance the measure this morning. the democrats got the 60 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdle with the help of 12 republicans and democrats expressing reservations about not continuing unemployment benefits all voted in favor. 67 in favor and 33 against. democratic senatorty