though. >> see you later. >> wyatt is that like a #sorrynotsorry situation? >> absolutely. >> well, it's a you don't have a job anymore. you can put all the hash tags you want if it helps you sleep at night. you're out of work, my friend. hope you enjoy being over there, as long as that lasts. >> i do now. all right. >> no more mugs for you. >> goodbye. it is a good friday afternoon to everyone else and for the millions of americans, it is a snowy friday afternoon. and for the lawmakers of washington, well, something of a final snow day before it's back to work in 2014. >> if you do not need to travel today, please stay home. >> how bad does it get? >> house republicans will kick off the new year with their latest attempt to undercut the affordable care act. >> when they say repeal the law, they're taking health care away from people. >> we've got a couple million people who are going to have health insurance, just in the first three months.

>> with these wind chills we have -- >> i'm worried about the workers, along with the unemployed, less likely to ever get a job. >> >> some of the coldest in years. >> we don't abandon each other. >> it's freezing. four pairs of pants on. >> give everyone an a. >> the de blasio blizzard of 2014. >> it's the rich that are snowed in. >> use your knees. >> there are people who are skeptical of comprehensive bills. >> probably too early to their an outbreak of bipartisanship. >> seeing you shovel outside the mansion, as well. >> are you kidding me? >> 2014 needs to be a year of action. >> ask me my grade again in a few hours. it is the first friday of the new year and for some 100 million americans, that means digging out from a pretty massive winter blizzard being chased by a deep freeze across much of the country. this frozen fire truck in massachusetts just won iconic image from the storm that left more than a foot of snow in some

places and still stalling thousands of airline flights across the country. it's unclear how long before those flights are back on schedule. but some members of congress are surely watching closely as they savor their last friday before heading back into washington and the political storms. millions of enrollees are enjoying their third day of coverage under the affordable care act. meanwhile. majority leader eric cantor is already planning a vote next week, placing more of what he calls security requirements on those insurance exchanges. and that's not the only challenge as conservatives seize on a new study that shows that people who get on medicaid and have an increased under the aca may be increasing their use of emergency services. meanwhile, the justice department is calling on justice sonia sotomayor to dissolve the state she issued on contraception coverage requirements for some religious groups. there's a lot for us to talk about. we're going to get into it with steve kornacki and liz plank in moments. first, of course, we want to check in on the actual storm and its aftermath with nbc's craig

melvin, live in central park. craig, good to see you again. what are you finding out there in the conditions? >> reporter: you know, we checked in about an hour ago, ari. and a fair amount has happened. you can tell behind me, the park not necessarily as full as it was. the people are starting to disappear, because the sun is starting to disappear, my friend. and that means that those temperatures that were already pretty low are starting to get a lot lower. take a look at my trustee thermometer here. you can tell right now we're at about 14 degrees. it's not expected to get warmer than that here in new york city throughout the night. the snow, the wind, that was the story earlier today. the story from here on out is going to be these bone-chilling temperatures. it's cold here, but you look at places like minnesota, you look at places like chicago, you look at parts of massachusetts right now. 14 degrees is considered balmy

mayor de blasio, you played a sound bite from a news conference, he asked folks to grade him any n a few hours. we talked to a number of people. so far it seems as if the new mayor is getting decent marks in terms of his response to the storm. you remember back when he was city advocate, he was highly critical of michael bloomberg back in 2010 and snowmageddon hit, saying bloomberg had not gotten plows to some of the outer boroughs quickly enough. >> sure. and actually, while you're talking, craig, on the screen, we've got some footage there actually of the new mayor doing the shoveling, pulling what is known in political circles as a cory booker. but there's no -- but there's no doubt that these kind of things do test a mayor. i don't know if he has the technology that you have. when we spoke earlier, you had that oversized thermometer. i've heard some in the newsroom call it a flavor-flaf thermometer, craig. there it is. go ahead. >> reporter: you've heard --

you've heard no one in the newsroom call it that. you're the only one who called it that. but this is -- it's very trustee. >> it looks great. >> reporter: that's actually -- >> i want to get your thoughts. >> reporter: as cold as its been. >> on your show this weekend, you're covering obamacare. we're going to go to steve kornacki and liz plank on that. what are you keeping your eye on this weekend as the president returns and we have the aca on track? >> reporter: president back from vacation on sunday. when we talk about health care tomorrow, we have invited a guest who is fresh out of the administration, his name is anton gun, they call him mr. health care, with hhs for a number of years. he has since left the administration. he was quite the advocate for obamacare. has been out over the past year-and-a-half. really pounding the pavement. advancing it in some of the places that don't get a lot of coverage. we're going to dispel -- spend some time dispelling a lot of the middle and a lot of the notions about the president's

signature legislative accomplishments so far. he's going to join us to do that. we're also going to spend some time, and i heard you having this conversation during your previous hour. we're going to spend some time talking about what happened in colorado this week and that -- how basically that is the first domino to fall. we'll look at the great pot experiment. >> yeah. well, i see days, big thermometers and the evolution of pot in america. that's craig melvin in a nutshell. we will look out for you tomorrow. and thank you, stay warm. >> reporter: have a good weekend, my friend. >> thank you, sir. now to our panel. liz plank, social editor of policy mic and steve kornacki host of "up with steve kornacki." steve, this obamacare evolution, obviously, is a story that doesn't go away and it's an important story which affects 6 to 9 million people who have coverage that otherwise wouldn't. and yet the republicans here politically are going to keep bearing it down, if not on repeal alone. what do you see going into next week? >> next week, next year, next two years. that's the question i have. the republicans in sort of --

are probably in a long-term trap on this issue knew terms of they bet everything politically on repeal. first of all, they bet everything on stopping it in the first place from happening. and then it got through. then they bet everything on repealing it through the 2012 election and then past the 2012 election and thought they caught some kind of break with the glitches and the website back in november. and now you're through that period. it's sort of like at what point can republicans treat this as part of the -- as an accepted part of the social safety net, like a social security, like medicare, like something else, where it's no longer politically toxic within their own party to say this is the law of the land, we can work on it to improve it, we can tweak it, anything like that. and the problem is, i don't see how they can get to that point, obviously in the year 2014. i don't see how they can get to that point in 2016. i don't think it's something republicans can get to until after obama has left office, 2017 or so. and the problem with proponents of the law, there is still a lot of -- road blocks. republicans could throw up between now and 2017. if it is politically toxic to embrace this, look at 25 states

that have not implemented medicaid expansion, that's one concrete example. if it remains politically toxic, how many expand between now and 2017. and medicaid also goes to what people understand that to mean. "washington post" showed how many people get coverage but wisconsin they don't call the new access medicaid. they call it badger care, because people feel like well, maybe they don't want to go on medicaid, because of their opinion of it or what they have been taught to believe it represents about themselves. oh, am i so unfortunate that i need something. or is it a handout, that kind of thing. also the study out that shows problems, supposedly, at least in some states, where people think medicaid access is leading to more time in the emergency room. unpack some of that and the republican use of that information. >> i think it's interesting to see conservatives kind of cherry-pick anything they can to, again, kind of support this argument about the repeal, repeal, repeal of obamacare and not offering any actual

constructive criticism. not offering any ideas. so what we're seeing with this study that's very preliminary report. >> sure. >> is the fact that old habits die hard. 10 million people now have access to health care and they were used to going to the er, not having a doctor, not having preventive care and using those services. so they're going to the er more. and with time, with preventive care and taking advantage of these services, these er visits will go down. >> you're hitting on an important point that goes to the behavioral science. if you're someone that has no access to care or your association with care is only going to the er and you may not be a fully informed news reeder and you find out you have care you might actually in the short run, steve, lean on that old habit where what liz is arguing, access to preventive care, children's care, et cetera, does reduce costs. >> the example of what's happened in massachusetts. because we can always say -- we tend to talk about the implementation of obamacare like it's nothing that's ever happened like it in the history of government.

it actually has happened in a pretty large state. and in their experience with emergency room use is different than what this oregon study says. so, yeah, we can sort out what's going to happen in the years ahead. it's also understandable at a certain level, if you're giving people access like full-fledged access to the health care system they haven't had before, they're going to use all facets, all aspects of health care system. the emergency room being one. >> sure. >> relatively speaking, a low-cost thing. look, i've been lucky to have health insurance for a number of years right now. i'm one of those people, i get nervous, probably have overused the emergency room even though i have access to primary care physicians and that sort of thing. it's just -- in one way, a symptom of you have people actually in a system -- you know, sort of with access to a system they never had before. this is one thing they're going to use. >> yeah, and liz, that also goes to the piece about young people, right? which is how do you -- this is a more than a policy and political challenge. it is a lifestyle challenge. how do you get people who haven't been forced to do a lot of thinking about their health care decisions to sign up and

then also act responsibly? >> well, i think with the affordable care act, young people have taken advantage of the new services that they have been afforded with. so 3 million young people on their parents' insurance. and that is life-changing, being able to go to the doctor when you need to and not going ten days after when you're dying or on the verge of a crisis. but going before, to make sure everything is okay. for young women, it's preventive services. from everything from cancer screenings to getting a pap smear, and birth control. all of those things are going to eventually reduce the costs of health care for all americans. >> right. and you mentioned birth control, which, of course, at least, be again, i think the birth control litigation is significant, because it will set a line. and yet it's gotten a lot of attention as if it's going to unwind the whole plan. in fact, it's a slice of a slice, which doesn't mean it doesn't matter to anyone. but on a lot of these issues, we're seeing sort of what you said a minute ago, the cherry picking of one bad fact and then, you know, try to crumble it. i think that will -- i think that will really diminish over time as republicans look like,

well, the grinch well after december. liz plank from policy, thanks for joining us. steve, stay with us. we have some of your specialties in the next segment coming up. a conservative's guide to 2014 from the laws the republicans want to repeal to the mid terms they would love to claim. robert costa, a man in the know and friends with many tea party figures will join us straight ahead on this snowbound friday. hey linda! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. ♪ ♪

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members of the house returned to work on tuesday. now, mind you, the term work is a bit generous for this particular 113th congress. it passed just 17 bills into law in its first session. many of those were symbolic. that's compared to almost 300 over both sessions in the 112th congress, which was, of course,

previously considered the worst congress ever. those numbers are a sharp decline from previous congresses. we went back today and looked at john boehner's freshman year. that congress passed a whopping 610 bills into law. but boehner did remind us all in july that that is no way to judge his congress now. >> we should not be judged on how many new laws we create. we ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal. >> okay, then, mr. speaker. let's do that for a minute. even on that measure, it turns out this congress is a failure. even on its supposedly core pieces of conservative agenda items, many never got a vote. look, for example, at an attempt to repeal fuel economy standards. a failure. 101 house members cosigned a bill that would effectively terminate a huge chunk of the tax code. that was a failure. so even by the speaker's metric, the first year this congress was a failure. we are going to find out soon, as soon as tuesday, whether that will all change. joining us now to unpack it is

robert costa, a cnbc political analyst and back with us here at the table, steve kornacki. robert, we are hearing talk about boehner's interests in a small immigration deal. that would be, according to our tax on me, passing something affirmative. so speaking to us about whether that might happen, and also if you have any thoughts on our premise here, our set-up, which is that even if you want deregulation, they haven't passed a lot of bills to do that. >> on immigration, speaker boehner has recently hired a legislative staffer named rebecca talent. she came from senator mccain's office, worked with mccain on immigration reform. her hiring is seen as a signal that boehner wants to get something done. also helpful that seems to be moving in the direction of immigration reform is boehner's work with paul ryan. paul ryan grew up alongside jack kemp, former new york congressman, always a proponent of immigration reform. as ryan was able to cut a deal on the budget, there is some sense right now in republican circles ryan could be the one to help oh orchestrate some kind of

small deal on immigration. >> so much of what you said in the intro, just the conversation about boehner now, and the conversation about boehner for the last three-plus years he's been speaker. it all stems from the same place. he is such a fundamentally awkward fit as a leader for where the republican party and particularly the republican party in the house is. this guy is a washington lifer, essentially. basically a quarter century now. part of the original leadership after that republican takeover after '94. got ousted, made his way back. he happened to be in position to become speaker when this whole tea party wave hit in 2010. in his greatest single achievement, maybe his only oh real lasting achievement has been survival. no small achievement. because he's had forces waiting, these conservative tea party forces have been waiting from day one for the moment that john boehner sells them out. and the constant talk followed every boehner action has been is there going to be a coup that follows this. is there a secret john boehner you know, who behind the scenes who sang something differently and wants something differently. and i guess it's a question i

kind of ask robert, because he is still well-sourced when it comes to republicans in the house. i have been asking from the beginning, robert, how long does john boehner want to put up with life like this? his term in the house, we expect him to seek re-election this year. do you really think that come january of 2015 we'll still be talking about john boehner? is he going to say enough, we're going to let somebody else have this job for now? >> speaker boehner was elected first in 1990, represented since 199, the cincinnati suburbs and was a member of gingrich's leadership team when republicans took over in '95. and i think what boehner has now is a veteran presence for a very young republican house conference. and i think as much as there's talk of boehner retiring, when you listen to boehner's public statements, i think he's actually looking ahead to 2016 as a last shot for republican to get elected president while he is speaker. so i think as much as he may be leaning toward retirement because of his frustrations with the tea party, some of him really remains a conservative figure -- so when it came up

during the gingrich era, wants to get something done. so we're really going to have to watch in 2014. how does boehner balance his frustrations with the status quo versus his real desire to be a speaker for history. and i think just remains to be seen. >> yeah. and robert, i think that's interesting and definitely goes to the question of legacy, which we know that politicians, motivations change, often, when they perceive the end of their tenures or careers. immigration and what you mention about his hiring reflects some of that. 2016 is a time, of course, that could be a great sorting out for republicans. chris christie is someone that we hear a lot about, and steve, you are our new jersey expert. i caught this cartoon in the "new yorker" in the new issue out yesterday that really shows the potential problems. there you have godzilla wreaking havoc on a bridge and countries christie has been accused of causing traffic jams for political reasons. and the caption simply says, yeah, i heard he works for christie. and steve, that goes to the political problem. wherever we go with bridge gate. and we should be clear, there are accusations of political

meddling, very fishy business there, but not all the facts have been adjudicated. wherever we go with it, there seems to be a larger problem for chris christie, which is the idea that he's a tough leader who just says what needs to be said, was kicking around for a couple years. what i'm hearing more now from a lot of people, including some republicans is, he's not tough. he's a bully. >> well, i guess i've got to start here with the disclosure i'm going to give on -- give 100 more times in the next few weeks. that is one of the people who are at the heart of this bridge scheme in new jersey, before he was working for chris christie, ran a website in new jersey and new jersey politics. it is where i started to get my first job, david while stein, grateful for that, and just want to make sure i acknowledge that and disclose that. in terms of what this says about chris christie and his sort of image as a bully, i think chris christie -- it's sort of a roar shock test. you're going to see what you want to see. some people see this as his attitude, the bravado he shows in public. some see and read that as this is this courageous leader, this

guy giving us the straight deal and some read this, he's mean, a bully, hogs the spotlight. i've seen the same sort of classic chris christie clips played, and depending who i've watched with, people pumping their fists, democrats saying wow, this is inspiring, even for a republican and people who say this is awful. boarish behavior. so it's a question to me, if he's running for the republican presidential nomination in 2016, what's going to be interesting is to see the forces within the party that are aligned against him, maybe for other reasons. how they try to use this and how they try to incorporate this into their message to stop him. >> robert, on pure politics, do you think this is a problem that sticks to him? >> no. and i think the answer and the clue to see why it doesn't stick to him, go to governor christie's twitter profile today. and though he has been a pugnacious presence, new jersey politics, since he started in township politics in the '90s, christie has an ability with his tweets talking about the storm, to almost brush the snow off his

shoulders oh. he's talking -- robert, was that a jay-z reference? >> excuse me? >> was it a jay-z reference? because he talks about brushing off his shoulders. >> oh, jay-z, sure. anyone can brush anything off their shoulders. my point, christie has this bridge gate looming over him politically. yet today on tv shows or twitter talking about the storm, he has an ability politicly to shuffle away from these looming problems that continue to cast his persona as someone who is bright, upbeat and i think christie's ability to do that is going to be helpful to him as he runs for president or potentially runs for president. >> i think you are hitting on something. and that vernacular, president obama as a candidate famously talked about brushing his shoulder after when he was being attacked for one of the hillary debates. it's something that all kinds of candidates do, which is not so much engage a critique, especially a big narrative one like this, but say hey, i'm not even thinking about this. we saw his first response was to say, hey, you're only coming at me because i'm a national figure now. this isn't really about traffic.

traffic stories don't get covered on the national news this way. and he's right about that up to a point. lowell always take an interest in people who put their name out as a potential president and look to their record. this is part of his record, which is i think interesting. but appreciate some of your skepticism and steve kornacki, for the new jersey down-low. thank you both. remember, you can catch up with steve kornacki every weekend morning at 8:00 a.m. on msnbc. coming up, the day's top lines as new york city mayor, bill de blasio, picks up the shovel and gets to work. what does it mean for his policy agenda? we've got some ideas on that. stay with us. [ sneezes, coughs ] 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. [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking.

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shovel. and new york city mayor, bill de blasio, featuring the proper shovel technique, lift with your knees. and then this impossible snow selfie, featuring lady liberty herself. was posted by our own national parks department. now from the elegant snow dappeled central park, i guess everyone does love a snow day. but on a more serious note and i'm no meteorologist, take a look at this temperature map. we do know this. some bone-chilling weather is still going to follow this snowstorm. so bundle up or hunker down and stay safe. coming up, we talk about mayor de blasio, and answer a key question. does the occupy movement have its first big city mayor? the echos of occupy. that is in today's top lines. you're giving away pie? would you like apple or cherry? cherry. oil...or cream? definitely cream. [ male announcer ] never made with hydrogenated oil.

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and don't blame the job creators. >> i, bill de blasio. >> to solemnly swear. >> we are living in the world occupy made. for sure. >> a critical moment for progressives. >> a new progressive direction in new york. >> whether or not they're still in zuccotti park, they're not. we are the beneficiaries of what they did in terms of making this inequality. >> this inequality problem bedevils the entire country. >> the core issue of our time. >> a child may never be able to escape that poverty. she lacks a decent education or health care. that should offend all of us. >> it was al smith who waged war on unsafe working conditions. >> de blasio is known for being a progressive champion. >> franklin roosevelt led the charge. >> the tale of two cities. >> the new deal on the city level. >> shop blaming the free market. >> shared opportunities. >> stop blaming capitalism.

>> shared prosperity. >> stop blaming job oh creators. >> shared responsibility. >> we are living in the world occupy made. >> it's all of our jobs protect the first amendment. and to honor a movement of meaningful, heart felt movement that is speaking to what people are feeling all over this country. >> yes, many liberals saw this week's inauguration of bill de blasio as an echo of occupy wall street, the battle of new york's billionaire mayor as a symbol of the unholy fusion of the agenda and government power. he was one who took sides with the protesters and that group included jesse lagreca who protested for several weeks, sometimes sleeping overnight and con celled. james peterson joins us, msnbc contributor, and director of africana studies at lehigh university. and national political reporter. welcome to you all. let me start with you.

do you think that this mayor has occupy to thank for being here and winning this race? >> i think he does in some ways. i think it's also a very smart political calculation to address issues that matter to the average voter. the reason we call it the 99% is because only 1% of us are that wealthy. if you're going to pander your political message just to the 1%, that you are guaranteed that 1% of the vote but not much more than that. and in a society where poverty is becoming rampant, where a large section of the middle class fell out of the middle class at the beginning of the bush administration, and just fell into poverty. nothing is being done to address that. on the political level, people voted for obama. and congress decided we're not going to do that. and there had to be some push to say that these issues need to be addressed. that it can't be deficit frustration 24/7. has to be something done for the regular person. >> right. speaking to a repressed political energy. and professor, i want to bring you in. what do you think about occupy wall street's impact here on the

national discussion, at the height of those protests in the fall of 2011, we saw a huge spike in news articles that mentioned inequality as a big problem and another spike in the number of articles that mentioned the richest 1% as well. it seemed like the beginning of an important shift in the political dialogue. and one that goes to really what social movements are about, which is not always having a short-term electoral strategy but having a long-term vision. >> you're right here ari. in fact, what i would say is, we certainly owe the occupy wall street movement and all of the related occupy movements. remember, there are a lot of offshoots to occupy that are still thriving and going on right now. we certainly owe them the due respect of putting the 1%, 99% political rhetoric into the public sphere. it takes politicos longer to catch up and so that's why we're starting to see someone like de blasio emerge. starting to see the president talk about income inequality. we have seen senator warren talk about it quite a bit.

and that is really, really possibility. this is the challenge of our day absolutely right. when you look at someone like mayor de blasio's policies, he has other policies related to income inequality, what he wants to do in the school system with pre-k stuff. that's related to closing the income inequality gap. i think it's an important moment for progressives in general, and certainly some credit is owed to occupy for bringing the specific language to the forefront for us to wrestle with these important issues. >> you're right. and he has been explicit, not only saying let's have a new pre-k program throughout new york but going to do that to what amounts to a 1% tax. karen, i want to bring you in thinking about the two americas message. listen to de blasio speaking about two cities. >> let me be clear. when i said i would take dead aim at the tale of two cities, i meant it. and we will do it.

>> what strikes me about that is not that he said it. we hear candidates talk like that a lot and john edwards did. but that he said it at inauguration, which is not the time we usually hear what is considered a message about breaking us apart. his point being that's part of bloomberg's legacy. >> well, there was a real paradox here, though. had you turned the sound down off that inauguration, what you would have seen was the mayor being sworn in by a president who had really pushed hard for financial deregulation. don't forget the most influential economic voice in president clinton's administration was robert reuben. and the -- there's a paradox here, because the recovery has been so uneven. but wall street is absolutely booming. so if mayor de blasio does have some running room and some flexibility and some resources to actually achieve some of the things that he is talking about, it will be in part because of the way this recovery has played out.

the rich have definitely gotten richer and a lot of them live in new york and a lot of them pay big taxes and they work in the financial industry. >> yeah. it's a great point. what do you make of that? >> i would say the reason his message worked is because it's true. listen, if trickle-down worked, we would be swimming in it right now, wouldn't we? we wouldn't have these problems. >> i didn't argue that -- in fact, i argued the opposite. >> i'm not cuaccusing you of su. but if the conservative trickle-down idea worked we would be swimming in it, wouldn't have these problems. and then when we asked them how would they address income inequality, they would say you can't. there is nothing that can be done. the invisible hand of free market jesus will sort that out for us. it doesn't work that way. if it did, we wouldn't have these problems. so to me, it's a common sense issue. everybody is going broke. whichever politician could figure out how to sell a solution to the public, that guy is going to win his primary elections. >> right. and so karen, what you're mentioning, though, is a straddling of those wings of the party and the larger community that the clintons are clearly trying to do. >> and the first two big fights

of the year, i think that we're going to see here in washington are over long-term unemployment compensation and over the minimum wage. and i think those are going to be a real test. not so much the way it plays out in congress, but the kind of reaction we're going to see out in the country as this debate plays out here. >> and professor peterson, do you think de blasio then is positioned to become a national figure? we talk about that, but we live in new york so we are, you know, geographically biased. >> right. but it's very difficult for the mayor of new york city to not become a national figure. and i think what we're seeing with progressive movements within the democratic party is, these issues are populist issues that have a lot of resonance. the reason why the clintons have to now sort of sign on with de blasio, someone who they both employed, is because de blasio represents the wing of the party that has the potential to outflank a potential hillary clinton can't days on the democratic party in 2016. so important things developing in new york that will have national sick cans.

>>es an aide to hillary clinton and the former president there giving a blessing while also trying to clearly praise mayor bloomberg, which was not something that many of the other folks talking about the 99% did at that inauguration. we're going to keep an eye on it all. professor james peterson, jesse lagreca, thank you all. coming up, a brief respite from the cold. we will head to a paradise about to be lost for the president as the vacation glowing, you know, sets in and the work of washington beckons. [ male announcer ] this is kevin.

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>> reporter: ari, this weekend president obama will trade the sunshine and warm temperatures of hawaii for the cold and snow of washington. and when he arrives, he'll get right back into it, talking about his agenda for 2014 on tuesday at the white house. he'll give a speech calling on congress to renew long-term unemployment insurance benefits. that expired at the end of last year. he'll also be preparing for his state of the union address, one big theme we expect to hear about is income equality. he'll ask congress to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. another issue he's working on and will have something to say in washington is the overhauling the national security agency's data gathering program. he came to hawaii with a big fat briefing book about proposed changes presented to him by an independent panel. he's likely to say something early in january, even before the state of the union address

about that. another thing he's been briefed on every day while he's in hawaii is the rollout of the affordable care act. that's something he'll be closely watching, something that could well define his legacy of his presidency. ari? >> all right, thank you, john. appreciate that. sounds like a lot on the books. coming up, you thought 2013 was a landmark year. well, 2014 has no shortage of major cases. a pair of supreme court experts will join oh us and tell us what it means for the president's agenda. that's straight ahead. hey linda! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'.

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president obama's lawyers were back in court today, arguing against a recent move by supreme court justice, sonia sotomayor, to temporarily block part of the affordable care act. that's at least until a final ruling on how religious groups provide contraception coverage to employees. the president's lawyers say the law already provides an exemption for the groups of nuns

who sued in the case. while the health care litigation draws lots of litigation, the current supreme court docket includes several case that is could prove far more influential, testing limits on the government's power. before the senate reformed the filibuster to curb gop obstruction, president obama rolled republicans by using his recess appointment power to install some blocked labor nominees. so the court will decide if the president overstepped his authority. a case that could shift the balance of power between the white house and an increasingly do-nothing congress. and there's another key case about political rules that's already drawn warnings from the president. >> the latest case would oh go even further than citizens united. essentially, it would say anything goes. there are no rules in terms of how to finance campaigns. what it means is, ordinary americans are shut out of the process. >> many liberals argue, the court could hand down a sequel to citizens united in that case, inviting even more money and politics. but first amendment absolutists argue that donation limits

constrain free speech. well, stephen colbert recently lampooned that idea that politics can be totally did he regulatesed. >> i do not believe that the government should tell us how much money there can be in politics. anymore than they should tell us how much rat feces can be in a hot dog. it's fine, as long as the rat is kept kosher. >> well, that may sum it up for a lot of people, but we have some legal experts to go even deeper. tom goldstein, who has appeared 31 times before the supreme court, and burt newborn, who has argued a dozen times, and litigated historic cases from the vietnam war to flag burning to campaign finance law. b burt, let's start with the money in politics. this could be the sequel to citizens united. what do you make of it? >> this could be the end of any regulation of money in politics. up until now, the court has had a line between spending money and contributing money. they have said you can regulate

the contributions. and the regulations are pretty generous. you can now contribute about $125,000, each election cycle, to candidates and to the party. some businessman from alabama says $125,000 isn't enough. he wants to be able to give unlimited amounts to candidates and to political parties. >> yeah. and tom, you know, when people hear about this and they hear that, while money is speech, according to the supreme court precedent, that confuses people in the say way that the idea that corporations are people is confusing. but it's not simple. sometimes those very same doctrines are used to do things that people think are good. like holding corporations responsible as persons in litigation. can this limit, as burt is referring to, can this limit stand when you look at the march of this supreme court's view that all money in politics is essentially good for democracy? >> i would say probably not. the limitation that burt has just described is on the chopping block and probably doomed. this is the sixth campaign finance case in the roberts court, and all of the oh others

have succeeded in this one probably too. so i would expect this part of the law to be struck down. but not on as broad a rationale as burt fears. i think that what they'll say is, it doesn't really make sense to ban aggregate contributions in this amount. that it makes sense people should be able to give the $2600, which is the limit for, say, a primary to each candidate they want. so i expect another step in the direction of campaign finance deregulation. but not a huge leap. >> yeah, i mean, that's my view of it on the voting rights arena. i've always said and written that justice roberts does incremental radicalism. some of the outcomes move us very far away from precedent, but it goes in these small steps. burt, i want to get your views on another important case we mentioned. which tests the limits of whether the president can push off the senate and get his people into government through recess appointments. >> that's the reket questions appointment case, sure. the increase in hyper politicization of the senate has rendered it impossible for the president to get his nominees

through. they simply filibustered the nominees and the republicans wouldn't allow the obama administration to play with a full team. and so finally in frustration, the president invoked what's known as the recess appointment clause. and he waited until a short recess of senate and then put through three nominees that allowed the national labor relations board to function again. and the republicans went nuts and said that's a terrible, terrible thing. you can't use the recess appointment clause that way. >> yeah, they didn't like that. and tom, this goes back to a famous president clinton lawyer line which is that it depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is. this case, i think, is about what the meaning of the word recess is. the president's lawyers said this in their filing. the president has the power to make his appointments, even if, quote, the recess occurs between two enumerated sessions of congress or during a session. are they correct? >> probably they are correct as

a historical matter. presidents have been using this power in that way for a long, long time. well over 100 years. but they may not be right as a matter of the original understanding of what the constitution meant. when you say "the recess" in the sense there is one, they're probably talking about the recess between congresses. what this supreme court is going to have to tackle is, has everybody misunderstood the constitution for 200 years? >> yeah. yeah, exactly. and can the president -- we were talking about this earlier, burt. can the president take actions when he's facing such radical obstruction, though the filibuster reform changes that. the last thing i wanted to get your thoughts on, and you worked in this arena is a case that hasn't gotten a lot of attention but used to be big in the cultural wars. which is whether you can have prayer at basically government meetings that is freedom nanltly christian. >> since 1983, the supreme court has said you can begin virtually every legislative meeting with a prayer. and they rooted that in history. they said, look, the first congress had a chaplain. >> yeah. >> and the chaplain was approved

by james madison. he voted for it when he was a member of congress. now, when madison retired, he said it was the worst vote he ever cast. because the purpose of the constitution is to protect us from the legislature. and he said it was the worst thing he ever did. but the court zeroed in on that. and since then, they have said you can begin these meetings -- >> who is hurt by it? you have argued these cases. when you have to say, who is really hurt in a real way by having that prayer? >> well, the hurt is by people in the community who feel that a prayer, for example, in this town is a prayer that is usually christian and usually strongly denominational. they sense they're not really full citizens in the town. and so the supreme court is going to have to decide whether the mere endorsement of christianity is sufficient to violate the establishment clause or whether you need some greater coercion. are hurt feelings enough to justify striking this down. >> yeah, tom, briefly, do these cases still animate the court?

>> oh, this is -- these are the big cases of the term. we're just spoiled. last term on gay rights and voting rights and the term before that on obamacare has set such a high bar. but these are really important historic cases for sure. >> yeah. no, i think that's interesting. and you know, what's also striking is how far we have moved. some of these were seen as the big republican cases to try to say -- burt argued the flag-burning case and saying look what the democrats are for. they have bigger fish to fry, they feel, on the affordable care act and voting rights. tom goldstein and burt newborn, thank you for explaining the cases to us. and we will be right back. my name is jenny, and i quit smoking with chantix.

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we had a lot of snow today, a lot of fun. we hope you had fun. we want to thank you so much for watching. stay warm, stay safe this weekend. coming up next is "the ed show" with ed schultz. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show," live from the north country, detroit lakes, minnesota. we've got a heatwave going on up he here. got to 19 today. let's get to work! >> not that i think they become bad people by being unemployed longer. >> never thought i would be unemployed for over six months. >> new leader, new job. >> but the longer they're unemployed, less likely they are ever to get a job again. >> how do i feed my four children? how do i feed the dogs? >> don't simply feed fish. >> the clock is ticking. people have got bills to pay. >> it's so overwhelming, you don't