>> i learned there was something about marquis. >> i learned that nfl would be fantastic. i screwed up the difference between median and mean. >> go to your room. >> my mouth is too weak for captain crunch. >> if it's way too early, it's "morning joe." stick around. we have chuck's daily run down straight ahead. >> it's coming downright now. >> developing now, states of emergency across the northeast as the first major winter storm of the year brings snow, high winds and dangerously cold temperatures to more than 100 million americans.

here's a live image for all the planes in the air right now. 1800 flights have been canceled today. good news for travelers. flights are expected to resume any moment after snow forced a ground stop earlier this morning. i'm chris for chuck todd. we will get to the political news and house republicans's plan to start the votes on health care. we will talk to the labor secretary for american who is lot of unemployment benefits. we start with the brutal weather that dumped more than a foot of snow and plunged the northern half of the country into a deep freeze. authorities are telling people to stay inside, we have reporters braving the weather

across the eastern seaboard. we will get the latest from boston and long island, new york. first, craig melvin starts us off from new york's central park. craig? >> good morning. greetings from central park. the adjective you used was brutal. that would be apt. the wind continues to howl here in central park. somewhere between 15 and 20. that is before the wind starts to blow. the temperatures are expected to stay low and get lower. this evening and into tonight. you mentioned the plows as well in new york city. the first area that gets plowed

as not seen that many on the right end of the cab. you have more snow that continues to fall. we can say about 1700 trucks have been outfitted with plows and are working to get the roads around new york city plowed. we can say that the long i land expressway and the through way, those are both completely open now. jfk had been shut down and we are told that the airport itself is going to be reopening in a short time as well. my friend and colleague richard louie is standing by in boston. it's not just the cold, but the snow as well. >> very good day to you and good morning to all. plenty of snow here. reports of 8 to up to 23 inches

of snow. right here the record has been set. 10.6 is average. an all time record going back to 1908. keeping the streets nice and clear. the main thing about the snow, it has been easy to keep the sidewalks clean. they are going to work right now. a couple over there and not even taking the board. they will work and do a little and they have been continuing to function without a state of emergency. the roads did not do that a year ago.

thousands of kids had their christmas vacation extended here. you are getting five inches here in new york city. they were told they were between nine and 11 inches. >> that is a fair estimate. more than six inches. easily out here. good news for them thanks to the hard work of the expressway. right around midnight when the strong winds around 35 miles per hour created 1-800-out conditions. it was impossible to see on the expressway. they shut it down so they wouldn't be stranded. the expressway reopened about 8:00. there is not a lot of traffic on it. we are seeing some cars venture

out and there icy mornings right now. officials say if you can't a voit going out, please do so. they are not very safe. if you must, be sure to stock up with the essential. you are waiting for help. if you can't take a snow day, do just that or work for home. >> one of the interesting stories will be the mayor's response to all of this. back in 2010, it was highly critical to the response to a storm saying that the plows did not reach the outer borrows. lots of new yorkers and very anxious to see how the new mayor will respond to this storm. sam is a fellow who got up this morning and put on the skis and came to the park.

i will put on the skis and my office is closed. i will ski around all day. why not. again the snow is not great for making snowballs. that's the latest. the snow is expected to stop in a few hours. the bone-chilling temperatures. we have much more on the impact of this winter storm coming up, including a look at the travel mess facing millions of americans at airports across the eastern part of the country. up next here on "the daily rundown," out of work and out of time. the white house's push to extend for more than a million americans whose benefits ran out at the end of 2013. can congress agree on a

short-term solution to the problem? the labor secretary joins me next. first a look ahead at the politics planner. we will have more on the stream court. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ police radio, indistinct ] the comeback trail. there is no map. no mile marker. no welcome sign. one day you may find yourself here. and you'll need someone to bring you back. to carry you home. at liberty mutual, we believe with every setback there's a chance to come back and rise. liberty mutual insurance. auto, home, life. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya!

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. >> when the senate returns, one of the first things is a procedural vote to long-term unemployment. on saturday, 1.3 million americans who have been out of work for 26 weeks lot of that

lifeline. jack reid and nevada republican are responseoring the legislation to extend benefits. they are calling to pass it. in order for that to happen, it has to clear a 60-vote hurdle. they have to get four more republicans on board. he was not exactly bullish in an interview calling it a black hole of legislation. republicans object to the cost which is not off sed by cuts elsewhere in the budget. a year long extension come with that price tag and they object in principal. kentucky senator rand paul call it a disservice to the

unemployed. >> when i said it's a disservice, i am worried about the workers, not that they are bad people, but the less likely they are to get a job again. >> tom perez joins me now. let's start with the raw math here. harry reid needs to round up four more republican votes to clear that 60-vote hurdle on this bill. how is the administration yourself in conjunction with going about winning over the democrats? the republicans. i apologize. >> there is a long history of expanding emergency unemployment benefits in times like this. whether it was the recession of 1981 or four years ago when had been was president. unemployment was 5.6%.

the average was 16 weeks. we have an unemployment rate of 7. we are moving in the right direction. we have more work to do is the average duration of 36 weeks. you have a lot of work to do. there has been recognition of that in the context and through no fault of their own. presumably the republican senators who have not gotten aboard are aware of the history. more needs to be offered to convince them to seduce them into backing the bill. is it open to offsetting the $5 billion cost or estimated $25 billion cost for a year long

extension. is that what they are open to doing? we want to find a solution that works. the emergency unemployment benefits, the republicans in congress were not demanding an offset when george bush did this. that wasn't the demand and the experience thing to understand is not only is it the right thing, but the smart thing to do. they are not investing, but spending it on the basic necessities of life. if you refuse, you are digging the hole further. there have been estimate that is the failure to extend would result in the loss of 240,000 jobs. women have less money and they spent less and the economy doesn't grow as fast. this is always the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.

i'm very appreciative on this. they promised to bring this up and i am hopeful we will be able to again bring forth this coalition that has come together on this issue. >> i will ask our folks to bring it up again. at the end of the year, president obama's handling of the economy. 39% approval and 58% disapprove. we want to go to the second question. will the economy get better in the next 12 months. in three people say it will get better and in 4 say it will get worse. my question for you, does the president have the capital as it relates to the economy in terms of the support to play hardball

if necessary. can the president and should the president refuse things like signing the farm bill or passing the farm bill if this doesn't get done? >> the president wants to get the farm bill done and emergency unemployment done. they all enjoyed a rich bipartisan tradition of results. one thing i don't think you did mention, there is strong support among the public for extending unemployment benefits for the long-term uninsured. as you know and have discussed, this is a self-reducing program. there less people today receiving long-term unemployment than a year ago because the economy has improved. there will be less people a year from now receiving unemployment benefits than today because the

economy will continue to improve urn the president's leadership. 45 consecutive months of growth to the tune of 8 million jobs. we are moving in the right direction and need to move faster. the president has a plan and i hope we can muster the consensus that we were able to get on the budget and translate that to other things such as investments in jobs and infrastructure and the minimum wage. other critical issues. parsec te>parse>> secretary per. a series of fights in congress, nbc news's political editor is here to outline it in this morning's first read. you come back into the fire. on the 6th which is next week, they vote on jobless benefits

and a lot of people forget, the florida 13 primary january 14th, the next day, funding for federal agency expires and two weeks later, the president delivers his address. a busy january. >> february has that fight. we will be right in the midst of benefits. minimum wage will get caught up. as a mid-term issue and pivots away from the health care bill. we will be right there against it. starting up immediately next week. >> i talked to a house republican about immigration reform. will it happen and will it not? it's momentum-driven and you have to lock at the farm bill and debt ceiling.

each fight impacts the other fight. unemployment comes 50 and what do you think comes next? when do we get to immigration. >> that's something that is being worked on behind the scenes. it's hard to see where that finally kicks off. at some point, it seems like there is something that happens. they did hire a staffer who is known in the immigration reform community to want to try to get something bipartisan done. the president signalled he might be open to and the path to citizenship. and that's what they come up on minimum wage. this is a place where the sign was.

we rate the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. 62% approve of that. the minimum wage has been increased in 13 states. this is a dangerous issue amid a good year. >> we don't want to raise this. we talk about whether or not people continue to look for work. we adjusted under time. they peaked at about 10.74 an hour. not even close to that now. first head. thank you, sir. we are keeping a close eye on the weather as millions of americans are digging out from the winter storm. there is actually more snow on the way. it's a double deadline day. it's a tongue twister as two issues come to a head this morning.

first, today's trivia question. what percentage of seats do women currently hold in the 113th congress? the first person to tweet the correct answer to @daily run down will get the on air shout out. [ female announcer ] who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. hi boys! i've made you campbell's chunky new england clam chowder. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams!

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i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. >> a pair of judicial headlines and the latest decision regarding same-sex marriage in utah. interestingly, both involve supreme court justice sonia sotomayor. the first comes up in less than an hour. she gave the justice department until 10:00 a.m. eastern time to respond on to her decision to lay the contraception coverage mandate for a group of nuns

called the little sisters of the poor. they signal the mandate in applying in violating the religious freedom. they are challenging the requirement that they provide birth control coverage. the other case has to do with a district court judge in utah that struck down a ban on same-sex marriage leading to hundreds of same-sex marriage. because they handle that request, the state is appealing to stay the judge's rulings. same-sex couples have until noon to file the briefs with the supreme court. a fell skpoe american washington college of law and writes for the blog, scotus law. explain this ruling and what it means for the court. >> this is very internal

mechanical maneuvering in the court. with enormous practical effects. and in the abortion case, the justice has temporarily delayed the effect of the contraception mandate for this colorado group and a few other organizations. she may throw it to the full court and they may extend the delay or let it go into effect. lots of possibilities here. >> this contraception mandate, this winds up in a broader fight in the supreme court ultimately, correct? >> it's a broader fight in that they will be heard by the supreme court in march. there several facets. one is weather corporations can

object on religious grounds. >> this is the groups. >> that's the part they said they would decide. this is now thaun profit r affiliated groups who say religious freedom will be impavered by having to implement this mandate. the court probably will have to hear that issue somewhere down the road as well. that plays into the delay question. you grant the delay if the court is going to decide. >> let's talk about another social issue. they are involved in utah and a district judge is straight down the ban. the state has appealed it. sotomayor is not involved. explain where we go from here. what we expect then and where we go from there. >> they asked the supreme court to delay the effect of the district court's ruling to stop

same-sex marriages in utah. the other side, the couples that are marrying and their lawyers have to respond. again, sotomayor may act to delay it on her own. she may kick it to the full court. any number of possibilities. the way these work, you are supposed to think about whose interests are affected and preserving the status quo is the right way to go. that's a key thing. do you let the marriages continue with the possibility that somewhere down the road they are going to be stopped? or do you stop them now and let the courts resolve the issue first? >> in both instances, these are intermediary steps. >> right. procedural steps. with enormous practical consequences. >> it's complicated and thank you for explaining it. thank you for your time. more than 1900 flights have already been canceled today and nearly 3,000 more are delayed.

up next the latest on the treacherous travel situation and the next storm brewing. you heard that right. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

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. >> here's a live look at la guardia airport. flights have been canceled or delayed. jfk reports incoming and outgoing flights at 6:00 this morning. we expect flights to resume shortly. how long will the storm tie up travel. let's get the latest from nbc meteorologist kill. are we headed towards better? >> a lot better. the snow is over with in the new york city area and done in boston too. say goodbye from the snow. it was so cold and north of boston. two feet of snow and about 14

inches. albany to providence and a lot of locations with about to eight inches. the radar you can see moving out and the snow heads offshore. flurries left out there. maybe a half inch at most. the cold is left behind. the wind chills drop. it's 11 in new york right now and coldner new york city than it is in fair bank, alaska where it's 12 degrees. in philadelphia, minus 18. you have people shoveling sfwhoe minus 20. not enjoyable at all. that's a lot of hot chocolate. once we get rid of this, not for the east coast. this is st. louis to

indianapolis to detroit. you could see as much as six inches of snow. the bigger story is what's behind that. we will see the coldest in nearly 20iary years. this hasn't happened since 1996. we will be watching the cold air mass and we are talking about possible monday morning and minus 60. that's almost unheard of. i can't imagine what that would feel like. >> i can attest to the cold. it took me minutes to open the car door. >> that was zero. imagine minus 60! >> it's almost ten months to the day until the november elections. can't wait. a lot can happen between now and then. it gets going much earlier. the first big senate primary is two months away on march 4th. chuck todd has more on that. >> republicans are working to

remake their brand, part of that includes a battle with conservatives taking on several members of the old guard. you have mitch mcconnell and lindsay graham. joining me now is a pitch for the path forward in the new book, america, hope for change. >> always great news on your show. >> let's talk about this issue. you are a conservative republican who won in a very blue state. >> libertarian influenced. >> the question is how does the republican party get to a point not where they can win senate seats, but the point where you can run statewide in maryland again and not have the r next to your name be your biggest problem? >> you do not allow tactical differences to divide your party. the context is obamacare and it's a good example.

do you not allow the tactical differences between the wins of the party. you and i both know with philosophy and positions, most republicans are right of center. pactics divide them. i would add that we are talking about this off air. it comes down to a personality and a person and a leader who can tran cent. barack obama did that. they voted for him. i think that has to do with the individual personality and leadership profile as much as the differences. >> you are saying the party could paper over the problems if they had somebody who people in middle america thought understood how i lived my life. >> it's the pool hall task. >> it's not like the east coast city guide. >> guilty.

you know what i mean. the country knows what i mean. it's the guy -- saturday night going out with the guys, you are going have a beer. we need someone to have a beer with. >> it's not anti-intellectual. these cameras, the way we communicate politically, and the way you come through makes a difference. >> let's talk about the role of government. what republicans are potentially in trouble is if the conservative message of all government is bad and i'm being extreme in that description, but that is what comes through to little america. there is not this trust. they may not like what democrats are doing. they think they don't want the government to work. there is a question, how do you bridge that divide?

>> i meat the point, we are not against government. we are for appropriate government. i am a jack kept disciple. >> how would he be? >> he would not be happy. >> it wasn't a phony thing. a conservative and a friend. that's how it worked. it wasn't phony. i hate the phrase reaching out. it sounds phony. it's articulating the message that doesn't scare the women. i go back to the reagan thing. young people liked reagan. he was pro life. >> abortion rights fell. >> the fact is he was more pragmatic. because of his personality and leadership and how he came through the tube, people believed in him.

he was able to cut through all the stuff. all the stuff that can sideline. >> it has been interesting. we have been focused on the president with a rough year. he is ending on a low. the republican party put the emphasis on the rnc. we have issues as a party. having to do with the demographic change. you look at the race in virginia for instance. we lot of. >> the democrats were able to win social issues. >> it was scaring young women and the last campaign, the democrats and i think -- >> what campaigns are not about scaring some voters? that is sort of what they do. >> forget me, attacking.

>> obamacare. >> my point is that at the end of that campaign, they thought mitt romney was stationed at the local cvs with birth control pills. you know that. literally. >> he was going to be very involved in your decisions. >> it was not his position, but the narrative. by the way, the crazy statements and the centers played in. whenever you are on the wrong side of the narrative and i make this point and something happens with the folks that tune in. when they read your book, will conservatives say you are a runner? >> they say we better figure out

because this is not your father's liberalism and not your father's party. these are real progressives and they are serious about transforming america. >> the former governor of maryland. thank you, sir. always a pleasure. >> coming up, targeting the affordable care act is at the top of the republicans's to do list. we will explain. first, the white house soup of the day is poblano white chili. history may be made. today it is cold. we'll be right back. i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. when my son was born, i remember, you know, picking him up and holding him against me. it wasn't just about me anymore. i had to quit.

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>> house republicans will kickoff the new year with their latest attempt to under cut the affordable care act, pushing a measure to beef up security to protect customer information. the house gop insists they are vulnerable even though there have been no security breeches to date. it's a piece of a larger strategy in a memo to colleagues. eric kantor wrote the steps will be part of the overall effort to protect the american people from the harmful effects of obamacare by repealing and replacing the law with patient focus reforms that expand access and ensure health care and help control cost. it's a mouthful. with me now, president of the

senate for american progress, david hawkings, senior editor at cq roll call. you spent a lot of time. the house republican conference has made clear, and they did it 40 plus times in 2013, that repealing the law was a priority to them. the health care law remains not all that popular, but people don't want it repealed. where is the messaging hole that democrats can go through in a 2014 election that republicans insist will be a referendum on obamacare? >> so i actually think there's some progress here, right, because we're not taking -- the house republicans aren't taking their 41st or 50th or 75th vote on repeal. they're actually now looking at pieces of the law. i mean it still seems like it's an attempt to undermine the law but we'll see what their actual legislation is. i think the big issue here is that we have great news this week.

two million people are signed up through the health exchanges in the country. and i think the reason why the republicans are moving is because they know now when they say repeal the law, they're taking health care away from people. and so i think the real challenge for democrats and real opportunity for democrats is as more and more people sign up, we're going to get more and more good stories and it's going to be harder and harder for republicans to say let's take away this law because there will be people there, there are faces now of people whose coverage will be lost because of what the republicans are trying. >> kristen, i want to go to you because i was struck. mike gerson and pete wayner wrote a fascinating piece, i would urge people to read it if they haven't. one of the things they argue is the idea of repealing things, including health care, is a loser for the party. that ultimately it has to be about we are going to put this in place if we get rid of obamacare. we are going to change it in this way. does the party have enough ideas

on health care replacement? what they would do to win that argument? >> there are lots of pieces of ideas out there. you've got some folks in the house who have tried to put forward here's what all those pieces might look like together. but it's not necessarily gained a lot of tracks because the thought is sort of when your opponent is imploding, just let them. as these bad stories about the health care reform law have been coming out in terms of all these people -- if you like your plan, you can keep it, that not being true. questions about is there any data security, with certain state exchanges it hasn't been very good. i think you've seen republicans sitting back and saying let's just see how this plays out. that may be the safer strategy. >> so when we're going to have anecdotal evidence of positive stories, and there are some negative stories, it's a complex law, the president has essentially ak cknowledged that. david, to you.

the people of the world who have urged we can't just be the anti-obama party. i'm not putting words in your mouth. >> no, that's correct. >> we have to be for something. the base of the party is animated by wanting to repeal, not replace, repeal this law. how do you in a primary, for example, if you're a republican member of congress who's worried about a primary, how do you get around that? >> i'm not sure that they're going to be talking about repeal too much longer in primaries because i think january 1st has come and gone and there are these people who are insured, that we're stuck with it from the republican point of view or we're now going to be happy with it, but there's no turning back at this point to repeal. so i guess i've got to believe that republican candidates are going to have to start talking about ways to improve it. this is one way to improve it. maybe that will include taking on the trial lawyers and taking on tort reform. i just don't see them talking about outright repeal anymore unless they're going to come up

with a total alternative system. >> they're not. >> but the question -- i agree with you. eric cantor is not. but the question is, are the steve stockman, the primary challenger to thad cochran in mississippi, matt bevin who's challenging mitch mcconnell, they probably will keep talking about it. if any one of them comes close to winning, that's going to be a warning sign for the rest of the members. >> you're talking about people challenging the incoumbents fro the right. they'll talk blindly about let's get rid of it. >> this is a great map and i want to show it. i found it earlier this week. >> you don't want to spend more time talking about the affordable care act? >> let's put up this map. this is andrew shears, a geology professor, fascinating, at mansfield university, which i believe is in pennsylvania. this is a map what if every secession movement succeeded, it

would be 124 states. very complicated. david, your take. >> you know, what i was fascinated by is it actually looked like the 124 states almost divide the 1 trcountry i 124 equal pieces. you have south jersey and north jersey about split and it becomes about the same size as whatever it is, western dakota. >> i found fascinating that south carolina was one of the states that there's never been a secession movement. kristen, let's talk about your native state of florida. you basically have southern florida would be apart from the rest of florida. appropriate? >> florida already feels like three states mushed into one. north florida is very different from central florida which is very different from southern florida. >> i'm with you, i do agree, it is fascinating that if you traveled three hours south of where we are now, it's a different virginia than northern virginia. >> that's true, that's true. the country -- there's a lot of difference in the country, but i

think the current map looks pretty good. >> we are going to go through every 124 states in a different show. david, shameless plug. >> i'm going to give a plug to everybody working at a homeless shelter today in washington, new york, all up and down the eastern seaboard. they work hard. >> kristen. >> i can't follow that. i'm rooting for shameless plug shoutout to clemson. please beat the evil empire of ohio state. >> in a few weeks the center for american progress and maria shriver will be releasing a report but actually a new book "back from the brink" which show cases things we should be doing for women on the brink, poor women, women who are struggling to make it. >> thank you all. have a happy friday. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." you guys have a great weekend. coming up next on msnbc, it is chris jansing & co. avo: the volkswagen "sign then drive sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat,

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a winter wallop. the snow is winding down, but with bitter cold temperatures, this thing is not over yet. >> with all this wind, the roads are just -- the snow is just blowing and drifting, and it's hard to tell exactly how much snow has fallen. several inches obviously. >> here's the issue, this is such light, powdery snow, the plows really having trouble getting things off the road. >> as you can see here, it's pretty stiff once you start packing it in, but there's so much air to this snow, guys, if you've ever been skiing out in colorado or utah, up in the higher elevations there, there's a tremendous amount of air in that snow. >> this is sam. sam is a fella who got up this morning and put on his skis and came to the park. >> i've been wanting to do this for years. i looked out my window, it was dark, but i thought, you know what, i'll just put on my skis, my office is closed, so i'll just ski around all day. >> and what a day it is,