today we broke records for cold, as cold literally has some towns in siberia and the south pole. literally. in fact, part of canada had the same temps as mars, just record breaking all across the board. it's painful, biting, brutal, and deadly impacting millions of people. >> stay home. don't come out. it's very, very, very cold. >> the freezing temperatures have been a total nightmare for anyone trying to fly. already today there have been hundreds of delays and cancellations. >> waiting in line, which is about a mile long, to try to rebook. can't get any information from anybody. the airlines basically won't even answer the phone anymore. >> one piece of good news, jetblue started flying again in the last hour. yesterday they wanted crews a chance to rest and catch up for customer. the misery not isolated to the air, but also the rails. hundreds of amtrak passengers

stranded for hours because the tracks literally were too frozen. joining me now from mexico, new york, that's right, mexico, new york, nbc's katy tur. we'd rather be in mexico, the real one, the other one. >> reporter: i know. i think it's a lot more funny and enjoyable for you guys over there in the studio than it is for me and my crew standing here, but as you can see behind me, there's an american flag. we are in america. this is mexico, new york, not down south mexico, the country. we do have a fun map that the producers wanted me to show you to really nail in how miserable it is. cancun, mexico, 68 degrees at 9:00 a.m. mexico, new york, 4 degrees at 9:00 a.m. i'm sure it's only warmer there in cancun now. in fact, it is colder here than it was at 9:00 a.m. it's zero degrees here in mexico, new york, which is better than it has been, frankly, because the snow has stopped and the wind is not quite as strong as it was a few

hours ago, but we are dealing with dramatic wind chills. negative 20s for the wind chills. the gusts are going up between 35 and 40 miles an hour. those are wind gusts coming off lake ontario, so they are very, very bitter. it has been snowing and there is some accumulation as you can see by my feet, but fortunately most of it has been blowing around. you can see that two ways, one, it's not sticking to your roof, you don't have to dig yourself out, and two, it's making a mess on the roadways. i-90 by buffalo is closed. actually, there's a blizzard in buffalo for the first time since 1993 and i-81 by me is also closed, so everyone's trying to take it safe. remember, if you go outside, bundle up. i'm in so many layers, i think i've doubled my weight, brian. >> well, listen, you're a brave soul. we've all been there. we appreciate katy in the other mexico, mexico, new york. i bet when it was 68 down in cancun, they thought it was cold. >> reporter: i bet they did,

those wusses. >> well, we're wusses for being inside. i want to turn it to raphael miranda. all 50 states with some sort of freezing temperatures. just here, we talked about how this 60, 70-degree swing from yesterday, in terms of the whole country, how many records were broken here? >> brian, right now we're seeing records broken all across the eastern third of the country, new york city, we're talking about records that go back over 100 years in new york city smashed with that cold. these are the states with wind chill advisories and warnings from florida towards minnesota. this is the worst of the cold right now across the northeast. take a look at these records broken today, chicago, 16 below zero, cleveland, ohio, 6 degrees. new york city, again, setting a low of 4 degrees. that's a record for the state that goes back 118 years in central park. right now, the wind chills are 12 below zero. you can see that still holding on to those 20s below zero up to 40s below zero, but even

atlanta, you're feeling that chill with the wind chill of 3 degrees. the winds have been relentless across the northeast, winds gusting around 30 miles per hour in central park, 43 in albany. look how much temperatures have dropped over the past 24 hours. 41 degrees colder and that's actual air temperature when you're talking about the wind chills like you mention, it feels like 60 to 70 degrees colder than it did yesterday this morning. there is light at the end of the tunnel, by the end of the week, the jet stream pulls to the north and we make a nice recovery. in fact, the five-day forecast for new york city has temperatures in the 50s over the weekend. that's nice. rain, but i doubt there will be complaints about rain with temperatures in the 50s. brian? >> thank you very much. nbc news new york meteorologist raphael miranda. we appreciate it. coming up the next half hour, we check in with gabe gutierrez. rafael mentioned orlando, that's where he is. how people in the south are

reacting to this rare blast of winter. we have some breaking news we're still following out in capitol hill this morning, a weather delay procedural vote to extend unemployment aid, one of the factors leaving more than 1 million americans out in the cold. moments ago the upper chamber voted. senate democrats need five republicans to come onboard. right now the votes are being counted. we're told by casey hunt of nbc news that four republicans are onboard, new hampshire senator kelly ayotte, lisa murkowski of alaska and susan cohen of maine. that's a positive sign. moments ago, senators reid, a cosponsor of today's bill and senator schumer made their case. >> we extended these benefits unpaid for 89-8. and yet now we have to pay for

these benefits. well, what we've done, senator heller and i, listen, we need to help these people now. >> what i'd say to my colleagues is, if you believe in unemployment benefits and extending them, pass them clean and simple. don't play games. get it done. >> president obama, who spent yesterday reaching out to republicans on the phone, will speak from the white house. we're expecting him at approximately 11:40 a.m. eastern time to talk about what democrats have called an unprecedented loss of a lifeline for millions of americans. a reminder of what's at stake, aid to about 1.3 million americans. their three-month extension expired on december the 28th. the bill would have added $6.5 billion to the national deficit. how to offset that cost is what lawmakers are fired up about up and down party lines. >> you don't cut medical

research or meals on wheels or some kind of social security cuts in order to pay for it. you don't sort of rob peter to pay paul. >> don't get me wrong, i think this thing ought to be paid for, but i'm going to support this legislation anyway, because truly i think it's the right thing to do. >> i am against extending the unemployment benefits. any time the federal government is sending funds out, it means they are taking more out of hard working americans' pockets in order to pay for this. >> nbc news senior political editor mark murray joins me now from washington. okay, so senator coates was a piece of news for us, so that would make five. the assumption is this bill is going to move forward? >> right, the vote isn't over yet, but seems you have the 60 votes to clear this procedural hurdle, which is a surprise. and the big surprise, as you mention, coming from senator dan coates of indiana. i don't think a lot of people saw that coming. as casey hunt had outline, we knew there were four republicans

backed it, getting the fifth was problematic, but now seems they have it. brian, this was the easy part, and going through the democratic controlled senate, is much easier than getting the house of representatives to act on this, and that's where the battleground would go after this, particularly if this does go on to pass in the united states senate, and as we've seen, there's often been this big dynamic where you end up having the senate doing one thing and the house of representatives doing the other. >> i want to repeat for people just joining us, according to nbc news reporting there are five republican senators that have voted for it, dean heller, lisa murkowski, susan collins, kelly ayotte, and dan coates from indiana. according to that, the assumption is if the procedural vote does pass, mark, it will get through the senate, correct? >> correct, yes. of course, the final vote is a simple majority. democrats certainly have that. it's these procedural votes getting to 60 that's been the problematic thing for democrats

in the senate. >> do we assume the president when he speaks in about a half hour will make that push towards the house and house republicans to have them get this done? >> absolutely, and even if republicans had successfully filibustered this particular measure, you would have seen the president comment on that, but yes, he'll cast his eye to house republicans and say it's time, even for just three months, to help out people who need unemployment benefits, who need jobless benefits. and democrats want to talk about this, brian. this is what they've been saying, they want to make 2014, at least the early part of this year, about income inequality, trying to help out people who need a leg up. republicans want to focus all of their fire on the president's health care law and that's been the dynamic play, dynamic of play last year and so far into 2014, that's the dynamic. >> all right, mark, we appreciate it. nbc's mark murray, thank you very much. joining me now, delaware democratic senator chris kunz, a cosponsor of today's bill, thank

you for being on the program. >> thank you, brian. >> we know the toll on individuals, $300 a week, that's a pretty big deal. the dollars are also piling up, $400 million of last week, $800,000 has not been injected in your state of delaware. when it comes to this debate, is this about paying for an extension or are the republicans trying to yet again send a message to the president? >> well, brian, i think what this is about is americans who are continuing to look for work. we've still got three times as many job seekers as jobs available. there's about 11 million unemployed americans and 1.3 million americans and that translates to several thousand in my home state of delaware lost their unemployment benefits last week and another 1.9 million will lose them in the months ahead as they time out of their state-provided unemployment insurance benefits. and let's remember who these folks are, they are job seekers, people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and who have paid into

unemployment insurance. america is a country that's supposed to be about looking out for each other, looking out for our neighbors and not allowing them to slip into poverty, lose homes, go on to food stamps just because they lost their job through no fault of their own, so it's my hope, brian, that having just cleared this hurdle, my sense is the final vote count was 60-37, so i'm grateful that a handful of republicans joined the democrats in allowing us to go to the bill. we're still going to have to debate and pass the bill here in the senate, but the focus now turns to the house and whether or not the house is willing to step up to the plate and continue to provide support for american job seekers. >> it's a pretty consistent theme in terms of when one chamber tries to pass something, seems the other tries to block it. i want you to listen to something marsha blackburn said. she spoke to my colleague chris jansing a few minutes ago. here's what she had to say. >> i want to solve this problem.

it is just untenable that so many people have been unemployed for this amount of time, because this economy has created an environment where employers cannot create jobs. the uncertainty, the overregulation, the overtaxation, the way washington picks winners and losers. >> your thoughts on what she had to say? >> well, what i think we ought to be focusing on is a pro growth economy where we continue the strength of our recovery through investing. investing in education, in skills training, in infrastructure. there have been a number of bipartisan bills introduced and discussed and debated here in the senate. just earlier today, i met with a bipartisan group of senators committ committed to moving legislation on manufacturing. infrastructure, education, research and development, where we can and should be investing to grow our economy. the congresswoman points solely to uncertainty and regulatory burden. well, uncertainty in the

marketplace, certainly is a drag on our recovery. there is a role for the federal government, and we need to get past our narrow partisan ideology here that divides the house and senate. we need to get past those who refuse to step up to the plate and to rejoin the long held, broad commitment in this country to supporting job seekers, supporting those who need temporary assistance to get back on their feet and work together to strengthen their economy. >> education, to be quite honest, probably needs to be more of a focus. i did a lot of this work at cnbc and many of these people need a whole new skill set to be able to find work, and if they don't, there's a chance they are going to stay unemployed for a lot longer. senator, we unfortunately have to leave it there. congratulations on your vote. he's a fellow amherst college graduate. >> '85. >> senator coons, we appreciate you being on msnbc. >> thank you.

>> when the president's remarks happen, we'll bring them to you live. we're expecting him at 11:40 eastern a.m. time. we have a lot more to talk about here on msnbc. still ahead, hundreds of newlywed couples left in limbo in the state of utah. >> it's unfortunate that many utah citizens have been put into this legal limbo. >> we're going to talk about what's next now that the supreme court has halted same-sex marriages in that state for now. also ahead, this is a tough one, lindsey vonn will not be flying down the hill at sochi. why the olympian won't be participating in this year's olympic games. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts as bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin.

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we continue to follow breaking news here on msnbc. the senate, by a vote of 60-37

with their cloture vote passed the measure for the three-month extension of unemployment benefits on to the next step. a floor debate with the assumption that it will pass the senate. the house is a whole different story. i do want to point out they needed five republican senators to vote in favor to get this through, that would be senator heller from nevada, kelly ayotte from new hampshire, coates from indiana, which was the surprise addition, susan collins from maine, and murkowski from alaska. i do want to also say each of those senators, the second senator in their state is a democrat who supported this particular bill. the president on the right part of your screen at the white house will speak in about 20 minutes and we'll bring that to you live. i'm sure he will be pressuring the house of representatives to follow suit. let's move on to other stories we're following here on msnbc. in utah, same-sex couples who want to get married are in limbo now that the nation's highest court put same-sex marriages in

the conservative state on hold barring an appeal. two weeks ago a judge ruled banning such marriages are unconstitutional. the supreme court has not disclosed its reason behind this recent decision and not clear what the decision means for the more than 1,000 same-sex couples that have wed. joining me now, writer if thenewyorker.com, lgbt activist and former adviser to president clinton. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> now, this reverses course. this was rejected three times and now they are putting a hold on it until the appeal falls through. tell us what this means and how big a blow this is. >> i don't think it's really a reversal. i think all it means and when what it tells us about the supreme court and it was not really a surprise, is that when matters are complicate the and important, that the supreme court likes to act slowly and deliberately. >> but didn't they just make a

decision that sort of made this all possible. >> well, last summer they had two important rulings in the windsor case and proposition 8 case, but didn't squarely address the issue of whether there was a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. that's the big issue that they have not yet addressed, and they've indicated in their rulings that they want to go slow, they are not quite ready, they want the law to develop in the states, and i think that that is what -- that is the meaning of the interim ruling they made in utah, that they want to slow things down a little bit. >> so let me ask you, then, before i get on to what those thousand people are going to do in utah. does that mean if they decide it is unconstitutional, to ban it in utah, that will then open the flood gates for all 50 states? >> well, we can't know that, because we won't know exactly what they say. these are, you know, these are complicated and all kinds of different ways they could rule. arguably, you would think this utah case, which is definitely

headed for the supreme court, would present the issue squarely and if the issue is presented squarely, you would think they have to address it squarely, but we won't know for another 18 months. >> very tight on time because of the senate vote. i want to ask you, what happens to these thousand couples in utah? does that mean their marriages are nullified? >> certainly, we hope that their marriages will be recognized no matter what happens eventually in the supreme court. the precedent for that is in california, because we had a similar situation in california in prop 8, where there were some people who were allowed to be married legally and prop 8 was passed and that right was taken away, so we certainly think the courts in utah would interpret these marriages as completely valid and recognizable and there's precedent for that, but we don't know what the utah courts are going to rule. >> thank you for coming in, we appreciate it. still ahead this hour, we will go back to our coverage of today's brutal weather, down south where the temps have been a shock to the system.

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two salads...two entrees... plus an appetizer or dessert to share, all for just $29.99. table for two is too good to miss! so come sea quality, sea variety, sea food differently at red lobster. we continue to monitor breaking news at this hour on msnbc. the president expected to speak from the white house in a matter of minutes. his topic, unemployment benefits. this happening just after the senate passed a procedural vote on a bill to extend those benefits by three months. we will bring you those remarks, of course, the second they happen. in addition to the 1.3 million americans who have already lost unemployment benefits, another 1.9 million will lose them in the next six months if congress does not act. joining me now, john, a founder of support group two years ago called neighbors helping neighbors in an effort to help

those experiencing long-term unemployment get back into the workforce. john himself is unemployed and will join two other advocacy groups with a meeting in washington tomorrow. thanks for being with us. obviously, perfect timing. we talked off camera about the perception problem here of the people you represent. what message would you have, especially for the house of representatives, who haven't acted on this yet? >> well, the message is, these are hard working people, people out of work because we don't have enough jobs. the consolidation and the economic situations that have occurred since the banking scandal have really eliminated jobs. these are not the stereotypical people that many of these leaders are trying to refer to as being lazy and looking for collecting benefits on other people's dime. the reality is, these are incredibly capable people. we had a reporter from "the new york times" that visited our meeting and sat through 90 minutes with one of the groups and at the end of it, he turned to me, john, i just don't understand how these people don't have jobs. >> talk to me about what some of

the things that were said in that situation and what made it so compelling, because those are the kind of anecdotes or stories that will influence people. >> absolutely. the fact of the matter is, these are not people that don't have their skills. many of these are middle-level executives, managers, office people, who are very capable in their jobs. many cases, an investment banker bought a company, decided to let go 1,000 people. those people were still very capable. this is not something they created or caused. they are kind of victims to the system. >> what about the cost of it, $25 billion, republicans are adamant about having it offset and paid for. >> it's shocking to me that republicans don't support this, because in reality, these benefits are an economic stimulus. all this money immediately goes back into the economy and the projections are if they don't fund these benefits, we're going to lose an additional 240,000 jobs. most people taking this money, $300, $400 a week is immediately going to food to feed their

family. they are not buying vacation homes or paying for cars and i think it's an important fact these people want jobs. they do not want these benefits, but in the meantime, this is their lifeline, and aside from them, their families are involved. if you take an average family of 2.2, they are somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 million people affected by this. i work with these people every day. these are hard working americans, people who have accomplished a lot in their careers, and they have really put a lot of money into the system, and i'll be honest with you, there's going to be a reckoning day come november if our government doesn't support the people, which is what their job is. >> of course, your work for neighbors helping neighbors, you don't get paid. >> i don't get paid. i'm out of work myself, if any of your viewers want to hire me, nobody i know that's done a better job in the last three years of bringing this item to fashion, but what i also know is, there's an embarrassment factor for people out of work and many people don't want to speak out about their situation for fear of being tagged as this

unemployed group. unfortunately or fortunately, i've become a poster child for my own organization and almost finding myself becoming something of a jobs advocate, because we really need both sides working together. >> john, appreciate the time, employment advocacy group neighbors helping neighbors, thanks for coming on today. appreciate it. 15 minutes, president obama will give remarks on the long-term unemployment crisis. msnbc, we will have live coverage. still to come, though, we'll hear from the reverend al sharpton. we're also following, excuse me, i was saying good-bye to john there. we learned world champion lindsey vonn will not compete in the sochi olympic games. vonn will have surgery on her right knee, which she injured december the 21st. she will not recover in time to compete, so the games loses one of its biggest stars. ♪ ♪

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we are well into day two of dangerously cold temperatures sweeping the country and we have an update on how deadly the deep freeze has been. at least 11 deaths confirmed as a result of the severe winter weather in michigan, wisconsin, and illinois. after cold on monday, still feels like 20s in indianapolis. 3 below in d.c. this morning. school cancelled again in several states today, including georgia, where this cold is a bit of a shock to the system. >> we're not used to it at all, we're not prepared. >> six or seven shirts, two jackets, two or three pairs of pants. >> this is the first time it felt like winter since i moved down here. >> gabe, how's it feel right now? >> reporter: well, you won't hear me complaining, compared to the midwest, we're doing well, but people in the south aren't used to these cold temperatures,

and i do have breaking news to report in atlanta, finally cracked double digits, we are now at 13 or 14 degrees, but with the wind chill felt much colder. i made the mistake of leaving my water bottle out here and it is now frozen solid. because of those dangerous temperatures, atlanta public schools are shut down today, the city of atlanta also opened an emergency warming center overnight to try and help some people out. schools are closed throughout many parts of the south. this hasn't yet affected citrus farmers yet in florida. they were watching this very closely, as well as in louisiana, but from what we understand, there has not been a major problem with that. however, there are some power outages this morning that we're hearing about in south carolina, as well as some rolling blackouts there. people throughout the south, again, just aren't used to this type of cold, and here in atlanta, we're expected to get into the 20s later today, but aren't expected to crack the freezing mark until wednesday afternoon. brian, back to you. >> at least you got some sun, i

know when it does to your jaw, just tightens it right up. gabe gutierrez, we appreciate it. going from marijuana in colorado, cold in atlanta. with this week's polar plunge and drastic storms, more than a few people are wondering what is going on with the weather and what it means about a change in global climate. joining me now, climate central meteorologist bernadette woods-plaquey. thanks for coming on, bernadette. i guess all the people who think climate change is hoeky are saying, see, there's no global warming, what are you guys talking about? what do you say to them? >> that has been a big question this week, but we have to step back and look at the big picture, both for time and space. in the sense of time meaning it's not just about this cold snap, not just about this year, but going back 20, 30 years, and looking at the overall trend. and that trend shows that temperatures are rising. now also space. i mean, not just here on the east coast of the united states,

yes, it is brutally cold up and down the east coast, down to the deep south in texas, but california actually set some record highs. in alaska, it was warmer yesterday than it was in texas. and in russia, believe this or not, they are really lacking for snowfall right now, so it's that global picture that we have to look at. >> what do we take when the five most rapidly warming states with average temperatures increasing by more than 4 degrees farenheit were minnesota, north dakota, south dakota, vermont and wisconsin. a few of those states are the ones setting records today, so how do we put it all in perspective? >> well, we're always going to have cold. we're always going to have winter. we're going to have this year-to-year variability, but we have to look at the big picture once again. yes, in the last 30, 40 years, those temperatures are on the rise in those states. we are setting records, of course, you can't escape it, it's cold, but the big picture shows the temperatures have risen on the order of a few degrees in the 30 to 40-year stretch when you step back and

look at the overall picture. >> take a look at the averages. >> that's what we have to focus on with climate change. we are still going to get rounds of cold and this winter is not over yet. maybe not of this magnitude, but that is still possible. >> thank you very much. bernadette woods-placky, we appreciate your perspective here, settle people down. >> thank you for having me today. let's take a live look inside the white house. we're expecting remarks any minute from the president on unemployment benefits. this happening just minutes after the senate pass add procedural vote to extend jobless benefits. we'll bring you those remarks as soon as they happen. right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no discomfort. come on, would i lie about this? life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone,

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long-term unemployment for more than three months. now, the measure needed 60 votes and got them. six republicans voted for it, including gop cosponsor senator dean heller of nevada. those are the six right there. i'll just tick through their names quickly, and i want to get you something from the house of representatives. dean heller, lisa murkowski of alaska, susan collins, dean coats, dan portman of ohio. this is john boehner, speaker of the house, he said many things off camera. "one month ago i personally told the white house another extension of unemployment benefits should not only be paid for, but include something to help put people back to work. to date the president has offered no such plan. if he does, i'll be happy to discuss it, but right now the house is going to remain focused on growing the economy and giving america's unemployed the independence of only finding a

good job." clearly, there will be a fight in the house of representatives. let's talk about this a little bit. we await for the president. let's bring in our agenda panel for today, kelly goff, columnist for "the daily beast," lee fong, contributing writer for "the nation," and cheryl, i'll start with you. you were going to sort of pay attention to the republicans voting here and we saw six voted for it. what did you think of what you saw in terms of the unemployment rates of the senators who voted for and against this? >> it was a pretty unpredictable group of senators, six republican senators who voted to cut off debate and move forward for this bill. i was looking from senators with poor states and high unemployment rates in the lead-up to this vote. mississippi, one of the poorest states in the nation or tennessee, bob corker, which has a high unemployment rate.

instead, you had quite a mix here. there are two senators from states, excuse me, three senators from states in that group from high unemployment rates, dean heller, obviously, the cosponsor. nevada has 9% unemployment rate. very high above the national average. you also have senator portman from ohio and senator dan coats, typically a hard line republican that votes with his party, also has an above average unemployment rate. >> coats was the biggest surprise for a lot of insiders. kelly, i want to turn it to you. you heard what i said from the speaker boehner, so what chances, if any, does this have in the house? >> look, i think this puts republicans actually in a short-term versus long-term electoral quandary. in the short-term, this is a good issue to gin up the tea party base who hates this extension, but in the long term, we have something really interesting happening in this country that my colleague at "the daily beast" wrote an interesting piece about. historically, you have blue collar and working class voter

and white collar and educated voters. millennials are the first generation of extremely educated white collar people who are struggling like working class people, so for them, this is the type of issue in terms of the long-term electoral, this is an issue that's hurt republicans because you have very educated people who aren't voting thinking that tax breaks are a great thing. they are worried about health care and having benefits. >> that's a great point. i haven't heard it played that way. i want to play something dean heller had to say this morning on msnbc to republican colleagues in the house. >> what i would encourage is some of my colleagues to get outside the beltway, go home and talk to some of these people that need this unemployment insurance. keep in mind, these are people actively looking for a job. these are hard working americans that need this help and they are looking for a job. let's make sure they can stay in their homes. let's make sure they can put food on the table for their children. >> between that and what keli

just said, lee, how do republicans resist that argument? >> well, dean heller makes a great point there, republicans need to talk to the unemployed to make this vote happen. part of the reason that we're having such a difficulty in passing this extension is that the unemployed have a very small voice in washington. they don't have fancy lobbyists or a super pac. the last time there's difficulty in passing an unemployment benefits extension was 2011 after republicans took the house, and in that year, the u.s. conference of bishops, the largest catholic advocacy groups, they were out very visibly pressuring republicans to vote for this law. this time around, the bishops seem more concerned with social issues. they've been actively campaigning on birth control and obamacare, on the recent gay marriage decisions in utah and new mexico. they've been a little bit more silent here, and if you're unemployed in america, there are very few advocates on your

behalf, so that's a big part of the dynamic on capitol hill. >> there's emphasis on the gap, sheera, i'll put it to you, we have paul ryan trying to shape his message, marco rubio trying to shape his message coming up in terms of trying to lure these voters. how are they going to do it and do it in a way that's going to be successful? >> right, i think that's a huge question the republican party is facing right now. president obama's campaign team in many ways were ahead of their time with the leading of the income inequality gap as one of the tenants of their campaign in 2012 and we're seeing that continue to play out right now, and the republican party is dealing with that. it's interesting to see marco rubio go on on antipoverty tour, focusing on words like enterprise and economic opportunity and taking that angle to convince mostly younger and, let's say, middle class

voters most likely to come onboard with the gop. >> well, you know, keli, i'll put it to you, the one thing boehner says that makes logical sense, i'm going to say it, education's important. giving this group, i know we have the gentleman on who said, listen, these are educated people, but might not be educated in the specific area they can get a job. i mean, is that an area where the republicans could get any traction, or is it just one piece of a big puzzle that's broken? >> well, here's the thing, though, again, an empathy gap probably doesn't matter all that much for a midterm election, there's lower turnout and the people who turn out tend to be the most devoted voters. but when you're talking about expanding your tent for the long term, an empathy gap matters a lot and what we have happening is a lot of people told to get more education. the class of 2012 is graduating with the highest student loan

debt, particularly among african-americans and how dismal the unemployment situation there is, so it's not possible 20 years from now to be a kacandide that doesn't care about the poor or minorities, i care about the people who pull themselves up by their boot steps and are diverse. that's what the party is grappling with. >> that doesn't win elections. very quickly, we're tight on time, but i want to ask you how this is going to play out, this three-month extension, in congress and the impact on the 2014 elections, i'll say 20 seconds, keli, you want to go first? >> how it plays on the 2012 elections? >> how it's going to end up, this particular vote in the house with the three-month extension, what's the end result and what do you think is the impact on the 2014 midterms? >> gives the tea party momentum, helps the republicans in some ways, hurts them in the long term and the presidential down the road. >> lee? >> helps democrats, because this conversation about income inequality, and if that's the conversation, it helps

democrats. >> it's probably more politically advantageous to democrats, but i don't think it's going to matter. i don't think voters are going to be litigating this on the air waves or talking about this particular vote come november. if anything, feeds into a larger message democrats could put forward, if they are lucky. >> keli goff, lee fang, and sheera center. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> find more from our panel and join our agenda setters on thomas's website, thomasroberts.msnbc.com. we'll be back and looking for the president's live remarks on the jobless benefits debate. you're watching msnbc. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn?

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you're looking live inside the white house where president obama is about to speak on the issue of unemployment benefits. he will be surrounded by americans who lost their benefits on december the 28th. we will tell you the three-month extension passed a procedural vote in the senate.

house speaker john boehner came out and said pretty clearly he will be against the measure when it gets into his chamber. we'll take the president as soon as he makes his appearance. which could be any second. and here he comes as we speak. i want to apologize if we don't get a chance to get to ayman. let's listen in. [ applause ] >> good morning. my name is katherine hackett and i am from connecticut. i'm very grateful that president obama invited me here today in response to a letter that i wrote to him about the discontinue yags of federal unemployment insurance. i am unemployed. i will be significantly affected by this decision. job loss is devastating and i am working very hard every day to

look for a position. in the interim, unemployment benefits have been absolutely essential to cover my bear necessities. i have cut expenses everywhere possible and i'm not just sitting home enjoying the good life. my cuts include heating my house to 58 degrees, wearing a hat and coat to stay warm, because oil is expensive. i have lost weight because food is expensive. as a single mother, i worked many different jobs and never asked for a handout. while i raised two wonderful boys, both of my sons are serving in the u.s. military. it was very hard for me to let one of my boys serve a year in afghanistan but i did. and he was proud to serve his country. i hope our leaders in washington can find a solution to help

families like mine. at this time it is my great honor to introduce the president of the united states, president barack obama. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> please, everybody, have a seat. well, happy new year, everybody. >> happy new year. >> hope you're keeping warm. you know, a few weeks ago i said that 2014 could be a breakthrough year for america. think about it. five years ago this month, our economy was shedding 800,000 jobs just in one month. but as americans buckled down and worked hard and sacrificed we began to come back.

and our businesses have created more than 8 million new jobs since we hit the bottom. our auto industry has gone from bust to boom, manufacturing is rebounding and housing market is rebounding and stock markets are restoring retirement accounts. the promise of energy independence is actually in sight. health care costs eat up less of our economy. over the past four years they've grown at the slowest costs on record. since i've took office, we cut our deficits by more than half. so america is getting stronger and we've made progress. the economy is growing and we've got to do more to make sure that all americans share in that growth. weefl g we've got to help our businesses create more jobs and make sure the jobs offer the wages and benefits that let families rebuild security. in other words, we've got to make sure this recovery leaves nobody behind. and we've got a lot of work to do on that front.

the good news is i'm optimistic we can do it if we do it together. before the holidays, both parties compromised on a budget that lifts some of the drag that's been on the economy from these indiscriminate cuts we call sequester. and as a consequence this year, we may see more stability when it comes to economic growth. and i think i'm not alone in saying that we are all grateful in the new year that we won't have another partisan shutdown hopefully going forward. [ applause ] so that was a good sign and we should build on that progress. with what i said should be the first order of business in 2014, that is extend s insurance for the unemployed. [ applause ]

>> the good news is this morning the senate took a step in that direction. for the americans who joined me at the white house today and millions like them who are laid off in the recession through no fault of their own, unemployment insurance has been a vital economic lifeline. for a lot of people it's the only source of income they've got to support their families while they look for a new job. these aren't folks who are just sitting back waiting for things to happen. they are out there actively looking for work. they desperately want work. but although the economy has been growing and we've been adding new jobs, the truth of the matter is that the financial crisis was so devastating that there are still a lot of people who are struggling. and in fact, if we don't provide

unemployment insurance, it makes it harder for them to find a job. you heard katherine's story. she's far more eloquent than i could ever be. she wrote me last month to say, please let those who think i'm sitting at home enjoying being unemployed, know i would much rather be working. i had a chance to talk to katherine and i think it's pretty clear that that's the case. katherine went on to say i've applied to everything for which i'm possibly qualified to no avail. i worked hard all my life, paid taxes and voted and engaged in political discussion and made the ultimate sacrifice, my two sons serve in the u.s. military, job loss is devastating and if i could fix it myself, i would. i challenge any lawmaker to live without an income. that's what katherine said.

[ applause ] it's hard. so when we've got the mom of two of our troops who is working hard out there but is having to wear a coat inside the house we've got a problem. and it's one that could be fixed. and katherine is not alone. devlin smith, watching today from her home in california, wrote me about her hunt for a new job. since she was laid off 13 months ago, she sent out hundreds of resumes, she's volunteered and done seasonal work and doesn't want to just be sitting around the house. she's been taken online courses to learn new skills. without unemployment insurance though she won't be able to pay for her car or her cell phone ic