doing anything. i'm not going to standstill either. wherever i can take steps to expand opportunities for more families, i'm going to do it, with or without congress. >> last night, the president tried to thaw the bipartisan freeze on a wide range of issues. immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, even taking on don draper. >> it is time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a "mad men" episode. this year, let's all come together. congress, the white house, businesses from wall street to main street, to give every woman the opportunity she deserves because i believe when women succeed, america succeeds. and republicans tried something different. a personal appeal from a mother

of three, the highest ranking republican woman in congress. >> if you would have told me as a little girl that i would one day put my hand on the bible and be sworn in as the 200th woman to serve in the house of representatives, i wouldn't have thought it possible. and you talking to me? why one congressman is having a grimm morning after about that postgame interview that turned ugly. >> let me be clear to you. [ bleep ]. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we'll have a lot more on that deep freeze that's shutting down parts of the south, and potentially the president's schedule in the midwest tomorrow. traveling to four states over two days.

and here in washington, an apology from the staten island congressman who has some explaining to do. joining me now, msnbc contributor and nbc's chief white house respondent chuck todd. welcome both. chuck, first to you. the president, his goals and whether he hit his mark. >> you know, i go back -- the speech itself was a really well-delivered speech. i think sometimes, you know, that gets lost in the moment. and i think that that's why from the public instapoll i've seen, i think they've done a good job at weaving together a message that the president was not stacatto in his speech. but it's a modest agenda. this is not a grandiose state of the union. it would seem to be designed -- and you and i talked about this last night -- to be a political speech to unite democrats. you know, he ducked poking

fights. either poking his own party in the eye. almost trumpeted some issue that he knew his own party didn't like that republicans would just for the bipartisan show of it. but there are things he'd like to do that he knows his party wouldn't want to do, including social security reform. didn't touch that. so i think as far as his politics are concerned, i thought he put together a good speech. the question now is is it going to have any resonance and is he going to be able to push this beyond a 48-hour news cycle. >> and it did seem as though he was trying to give democrats something to run on. if he loses the senate, then i don't know where his agenda would go after that. so they really have to hold the senate. and so he needs to give democrats some talking points, so again, as chuck was saying, it's a very modest agenda. >> look, you know, andrea, he had to do a couple of things in the speech. i think you're right. he had to signal to congressional democrats where he's headed.

minimum wage, immigration, things that they can potentially run on. but he also did give what i took to be -- and i think chuck is exactly right. this was not a sort of fire and brimstone partisan speech. the clip you played of him this morning at costco, much more sort of hitting that if they don't do anything, i will. he kind of underplayed that tonally last night. but i will say on health care, i went back and read it. very clear that the president did feel passionately about that. did want to give a passionate defense. and did, in fact, i would say poke republicans in the eye intentionally with the "we've already voted 40-plus times on this, let's move on." and then if you watch it, he then says some version of 40 times. i mean, come on. just to drive the point home. >> he did pull his punches a little bit. >> he actually had a more snarky way he was going to do it and he pulled back on it. >> speaking of snark, i guess it

goes well beyond snark. we've got to show you what happened last night between reporter and michael grimm, the staten island congressman, who has had this background of an investigation he claims that has nothing to do with him, that's campaign finance contributions. but the bottom line is that this reporter and others have been trying to ask him questions about it and he's ducked, and as one would, the question was asked by the reporter at the end of a state of the union interview and this is what happened. >> we haven't had a chance to kind of talk -- >> i'm not talking about anything that's off topic. this is only about the president. >> well, what about -- all right, so congressman michael grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances. we wanted to get him on camera on that. but he refused to talk about that. back to you. >> let me be clear to you. i'll throw you off this [ bleep ] balcony.

>> i just wanted to ask you. it's a valid question. >> for all of those of you listening on x.m. radio, that was a very threatening exchange. expletive deleted, threatened to throw him over the balcony. here's michael grimm today speaking to our own kelly o'donnell. >> i was wrong, it shouldn't have happened. i called michael scotto and he accepted my apology and we're going to go to lunch. >> do you regret what took place? >> of course. you know, i'm a human being. basement. thank you. i'm a human being. and sometimes your emotions get the better of you. and the bottom line, though, is it shouldn't happen. you shouldn't lose your cool and

that's why i apologized. >> we should point out on facebook this morning, prior to the explosion on morning television, he did not apologize at all. >> doubled down. >> there are rules in the house. if this had happened in the house floor, he would be up for a reprimand. this happened in a house office building. >> the reporter could have filed chargers. >> it was that threatening. >> you know, there's a larger issue here, and i'm not saying that everything is -- there's a lot of -- the way we communicate in politics today, there's partisan media. there's non-partisan media. there's partisan elected officials. there is a dehumanization going on. there's people that try to dehumanize reporters. there's some opinion folks trying to dehumanize politicians and other reporters. i think -- i've been fearing confrontations like this more often. i feel like that there is this culture that's been developed, some of it you can thank to social media, blind comments, anonymous this, the fact that everything is so divided in red

versus blue, that i'm glad this doesn't happen more often, thank goodness. but i've been fearing that this is -- we're in such a toxic political environment, that we would start seeing stuff like this escalate like this. this guy clearly has a temper. republicans were stunned that he survived last cycle. this is not going to help him in his next campaign. >> quickly, chris, yes. >> i was just going to say, look, before this morning or last night, how many people knew that there was a justice department investigation into whether michael grimm took, you know, contributions from foreign donors. >> good point. >> 5%. now it's a whole heck of a lot higher than that because of the way he acted. people say well, it's one tantrum, it doesn't matter. it surfaces a lot of these things that most people didn't know were happening. >> one tantrum in staten island.

that is not a small place to have. and if you're "the new york post," the grimm reaper. every pun writes itself, right? >> thank you very much. thank you for your comments. completely agree. president obama had a strong economic message for women last night, drawing cheers from at least one part of the audience. >> today, women make up about half our work force. but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. that is wrong. and in 2014, it's an embarrassment. women deserve equal pay for equal work. [ applause ] >> florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz joins me now. i don't know how it felt inside the hall, but i understand that from audience research,

obviously white house research and others, that that was the single biggest home, even more so than the emotional tribute which i'll talk about later in the program to the first sl sergeant. i think it was not only the comments, but the reaction shots of the congress members and senators, the women in the hall. i don't know how you responded and what you're hearing. >> well, i'll tell you, as they handed out the speech to the members before the president took the podium, when we turned to the page that showed that the president planned to say that when women succeed, america succeeds. that was such a validation for the women members, for women all across this country, and to have the president of the united states publicly acknowledge the important role that women provide to the backbone of our economy. i mean, we recently learned that

a very large percentage -- i think it was 40% of heads of households are now women. often single moms. it's absolutely critical that the bred aad and butter issues e making sure we have an increase in minimum wage. making sure women don't have to choose between their family and their job. i mean, those are the kinds of things that are going to ensure that more families have an opportunity to climb the ladders to the middle class and that's what the president's speech was all about last night. >> and it did reflect, reporting all the research done by maria shriver for her shriver report. she then met with the president. it was really interesting to see that refleblcted in the speech. i want to ask you about michael grimm. does he have a temper? are you surprised by his behavior? >> well, i think any time a member of congress would threaten to throw anyone over the balcony, or say any other

things that were really disturbing that michael grimm said last night -- i mean, that balcony is right behind me. it's a long way down. that is -- first of all, let's remember, the apology was his second try. his first try, as chuck said, was doubling down. issuing a statement that of course we all get mad. i'm sure lots of members of congress want to push back on reporters. sure. there are times when i don't like the questions i'm asked, but threatening physical violence has never been my instinctive reaction to anyone asking me a question i'd rather not answer. and it's just a reflection on his judgment, and his constituents, michael grimm is not going to be in an easy race. this is a competitive congressional district, one in which i think democrats already had a good chance to pick up from the republicans, and it's given his opponent even more

reason to help voters make the right choice. >> i wanted to ask you about joe biden. he was interviewed on the morning shows this morning and was asked about 2016. >> in my heart, i'm confident that i could make a good president. >> and that was in response to what will make him decide. i think savannah guthrie was asking him about how he would decide whether to run for president. he's obviously not making that decision yet and neither is hillary clinton. you're caught in the middle as the party chair between two heavy weights here. political heavyweights. >> you know, my job as chair of the democratic national committee will be to make sure that i can competently manage the -- and effectively manage our primary nominating contest and ensure that no matter who decides to run for president that they can rely on the dnc to be ready for whoever the nominee is and ensure that in 2016 another democratic candidate for

president is elected president of the united states. we're already working hard towards doing that and look forward to talking with the candidates as they make their decisions. >> thank you very much, debbie wasserman schultz. now to the dangerous weather situation crippling the south. drivers have been stranded for almost 24 hours by snow and ice, causing more than a thousand accidents. thousands of children were also trapped in their school buses. thousands more stranded at school, no way to get home. had to sleep in classrooms overnight. joining me now by phone is one of those drivers who is still stuck in traffic. jennifer wilkins has been in her car for more than 20 hours. first of all, jennifer, how are you feeling? how are you holding up? >> i'm tired. i'm not sure -- i think i'm running on adrenaline at this point. >> tell me, is it opening up at all? what is the traffic situation as you see it in front of you? where are you right now? >> well, right now, i've actually made it off of the

interstate. about 11:00 today, i made it off the interstate, but unfortunately still can't get to my house. i'm currently sitting on like a four-lane highway. and there's cars parked on both sides of the road facing every which different direction. i traveled about a mile on this road in the wrong direction. on the wrong side of the road just to get where i'm at right now. and i don't really even know if i'm going to get home tonight. >> the national guard is now saying that the georgia national guard has begun to distribute some 200 cases of mres, meals ready to eat, army food to stranded motorists on i-20. i don't know if you're still on i-20. have you seen any sign of the national guard to help you with food? >> when i was on 20, which was for basically 8:00 last night until 11:00 this morning, i did

not see anybody like that, no. i did finally see some signs of d.o.t., and trucks that were trying to ice -- or salt the roads. but that was right when i was getting off and they weren't making very much progress. >> now, you have two kids. your daughter was stuck on a school bus for six hours, i'm told. tell me about your children and how you were able to make arrangements for them. >> well, the whole day yesterday, i received a call from her school. my 10-year-old daughter, that they were cancelling after school programs. so i had to get transportation because she normally stays after school. so we decided she was going to ride the bus home. then they called me and said that they were doing an hour early release. okay, send her home on the bus. my son is 16 years old and managed to get a ride with a friend. he got to my house by 2:00 and my daughter never arrived.

>> that must have been frantic. >> i get emotional because -- >> of course. >> it was very hard last night. because i didn't know where she was. >> oh, jennifer. >> from 1:45 in the afternoon until 6:45 last night, i didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was. >> i can't even imagine what you were going through. and the atlanta mayor came on today and he said that he wouldn't do anything differently. shouldn't they have figured out that they should have dismissed school or kept the kids there? tell me what you're thinking about that. >> yesterday, i was kinds of in the same boat as everybody else, where i really seriously underestimated the storm. basically, georgia has been picked on so much for jumping the gun and cancelling schools, that i think they sort of reacted in the complete opposite direction. but this storm from the beginning was unpredictable.

they were saying it was unpredictable. if there was any probability that the roads were going to get like this, they should have been out salting them. they should have either cancelled schools or, you know, dismissed them way earlier than they even did. it's just -- and it's hard to say what to do after the fact. but it just seems like they should have known to do something. >> and jennifer, your kids are now home. they're both safe? >> yes. my daughter was actually delivered to a local middle school, which is only about a mile from my house, and since my son was home, he's 16, he walked up to the school and picked her up at the school. they stayed there for a while. once they determined i wasn't going to get there to pick them up, they walked home. so they actually were both at my house by 9:30 last night. >> and how close are you to getting home? you've gotten off the i-20, the interstate. are you making some progress? >> i was. i was getting very optimistic.

but now, i'm stuck on another -- it's like a four-lane highway. by thornton road. pulled off on both sides of the road just people abandoned their cars. and i'm trying to inch my way through. i've got two miles before i get back to 20. can't decide if i'm going to get back on 20 for the remaining five or six miles i have to get home. >> well, stay in that car. do not get out and try to walk in this weather. good luck to you. stay in touch with us. if there's anything we can do to help you. i'm terribly, terribly sorry for with a you're going through. >> okay. thank you. i'm just glad i could get some the information out let people know what's going on around here. >> thanks for sharing. it is a real warning to all of us and to people in a lot of communities that are not prepared for this kind of weather. now joining me from atlanta is mark nielsen, who walked six

miles from his home to reach his daughter after she was stranded at her elementary school overnight. mark, talk to me about -- first of all, your daughter is only 5 years old. how did she handle all of this? >> she handled it great. she was in her gymnasium at the elementary school with about 100 to 150 other students, and they had put everybody into the gymnasium, brought out gymnastics mats. so by the time i arrived there, everybody was watching a movie on the big screen and seemed to be having a pretty good sleepover party. >> what is your take on how the atlanta officials, the school officials, the payor hamayor ha this emergency? >> well, i think it was a difficult situation because i think the snow did not start until about noon, and when they made the decision, they had the buses go pick up students. and unfortunately, some of the

buses go to the middle school and then they go to the elementary school or vice versa. however, i think people that were working also left. and people that had students that were in schools all left at the same time, so there was a lot of congestion. so it delayed the school buses from getting from point a to point b, especially if you had two points the go to. so it was just a big delay and a lot of gridlock on top of the storm. so i can understand how they made the decision. unfortunately, it was a mass exodus from work that made the gridlock. >> well, mark, good luck to you. i'm glad everybody's home safe. thanks very much for joining us. weaver going from atlanta, we'v julie martin. julie, is there any hope that

things are going to warm up and that this mess on the roads which we've been seeing from these incredible aerials is beginning to clear up? >> well, we're still in the 20s here in atlanta. unfortunately, we're not going to see much of a thaw today or even tomorrow. so for that reason, the governor has asked that all state employees don't go to work tomorrow. he's suggesting that businesses also close. i'm here in midtown, atlanta. this is i-75, the connecter. normal lay packed corridor. as you can see, not much traffic, although it is picking up a little bit. but a lot of the complaints today are that this is what atlanta should have looked like yesterday. that there should have been more precautions taken. the governor and mayor kasim reed taking a lot of heat right now for not issuing those warnings earlier, not declaring a state of emergency. schools still being in session. we heard from those women stuck in their cars. those stories are playing out all over the city of atlanta right now.

as we know, some people still can't get home and are stuck in their cars and have actually run out of gas and abandoned their cars as a result. we do know the national guard is now assisting here. they are actually delivering mres to people stuck along i-20. there were still as of 9:00 this morning about 2,000 school children who had not gotten home, who were still sheltered inside schools and were being escorted back by police or national guard members. so quite the situation unfolding here. weather-wise, it all came together, just bad timing. yesterday afternoon, just as everyone was trying to leave work, get on the roads and get home. which really prevenned the department of transportation people from getting those plows and salt trucks to where they needed to be. so they did pretreat some of the roads here, but they just helicopter get through the gridlock to keep treating those roads. so it was a combination of a lot of factors coming together. unfortunately, all at the wrong time, andrea. and now, as you can see, a lot of folks in atlanta paying the

price for it today. >> indeed, they are. thank you for being out there for us. and your colleague, our friend at the weather channel jim cantore, during a broadcast last night, jim faced another kind of atmospheric disturbance. and as always, he handled it with his unique cantore charm. >> i've come to charleston a few times before to cover tropical storms and hurricane, but not an ice and snowstorm, which is what we're expecting. we have not gotten into the w worst part of this storm yet. so obviously at the college of charleston, they're already having a good time. >> jim didn't even miss a beat. jim, we are very impressed. o. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state.

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the president is going to be speaking shortly just outside of pittsburgh. he began his day in suburban washington at a costco that has paid its workers more than the minimum wage. >> last year alone, workers earning the minimum wage basically got the equivalent of a $200 pay cut, because the minimum wage stayed the same but costs of everything else are going up. i don't need to tell you this. you go shopping. you're like uh-huh. >> maryland congressman elijah cummings is a ranking member of the house oversight committee and joins me now. congressman, thank you very much for being with us a day after the state of the union. is the minimum wage your biggest takeaway as to what will help your constituents the most, if he can do this? >> yeah, certainly the minimum wage would be very significant, because if we're able to accomplish that, automatically we will bring about five million people out of poverty, and

that's a good thing. but at the same time, one of the other things that we have to do too right at the moment is try to address this issue of unemployment insurance, because i've got a lot of people in my district that i talk to every day who have worked for many, many years and haven't missed a day, and now they're unemployed and they really have no place to go financially. and so it's kind of tough. >> i mean, the president tried to make that point with one of the first lady's guests last night, a hard-working couple. >> yes. >> and made the point that this is not just one part of the country, or one ethnic group. this affects everybody, the long-term unemployed. but there's no traction on that in the hill, is there, in terms of legislation? >> no. it seems as if certainly the democrats want it to happen. it's been a major priority for us. but the republicans seem like they just cannot move there. and i think it's so unfortunate because as you've said, andrea,

it's constituents all over the country, and a lot of them are republicans, and believe it or not, some of them are even tea partiers who have no unemployment insurance now. and so i think -- one of the things that i did like about what the president did last night is he tried to -- first of all, remind people that they do have power, and many of them are in similar circumstances. if it's not them, it's their neighbors and their friends. and so, some kind of way -- i think he's trying to say public, you're with me on unemployment. you're with me on various issues. we've got to come together and force the congress to do some things. and if they don't do it, then i'm going to use every bit of power that i have to make things happen so that we can address this issue of economic inequality. >> what about immigration reform? >> i would hope that we can. i was listening to congressman

ryan a little earlier today, talk about this. i think that that's something that can be done. on the other hand, when the president addressed that issue last night, comprehensive immigration reform, i noticed that all of the republicans were sitting down. and that doesn't send a very strong message or a very encouraging message. we have to address that issue, and i hope we address it this year. >> congressman elijah cummings, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you, andrea. and it was certainly the emotional climax of the president's speech. the president singling out an heroic and resilient army ranger, grievously injured by an ied. the president and the sergeant have met quite a few times before, first at normandy beach for the 61st veterans administration of the d-day landing in 2009. less than a year later, the president was surprised to find the army ranger during a visit to the national naval medical center where he was recovering from terrible injuries sustained

during his tenth deployment in afghanistan. they also came together again just two weeks ago, when he was able to show the president just how far he has now come in his recovery, walking with the aid of a walker, standing up, giving the president a salute. last night, the president returned the honor, leading to a two-minute ovation after this tribute. >> my recovery has not been easy, he says. nothing in life that's worth anything is easy. cory is here tonight. and like the army he loves, like the america he serves, sergeant first class cory remsburg never gives up and he does not quit. cory. [ cheers and applause ] huh, fifteen minutes could save you

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last night the president spoke to the state of the union. but what about the state of politics? i'm joined now by olympia snowe, now a senior fellow at the bipartisan policy center. your impression of the president trying to do something about his uncompleted agenda. what was your takeaway? >> well, i think the president's speech was a solid one. it was obviously understated in both tone, expectations, and even his legislative agenda. and very subdued in his approach. certainly wasn't overly partisan. in some ways, i think trying to reach out and understanding some of the dimensions and limitations of his able to move forward with an agenda.

i was struck by the fact that it's a sad commentary that how the congress and the president can't synchronize on an agenda for economic growth and job creation. that is the essential issue for the country. i traveled and talked to so many americans who are fearful of the current culture. that is not something that both the congress and the president are working on and concentrating on in any concerted way that would suggest that they would move forward on a solution. >> there's also been a lot of talk about gender. the president's most noteworthy moment in the speech, according to a lot of focus groups and a lot of reactions, other than the tribute to sergeant cory remsburg was when he talked about the pay gap of women and the economic plight of women.

what do you think the republican response, your traditional party, even though you were never a traditional republican, what do you think the response should be to this issue of pay equity for women? >> well, it's something that i worked on many years ago when i first served in the house of representatives. and it's still an issue. i mean, when you think about the fact that women earn 77 cents to every dollar that a man earns, there are inequities. i think that is something that the republican party has to grapple with and provide solutions to those issues and how they would help women to climb the economic ladder. and to be able to do it in a fair and equitable playing field. that certainly has not been the case in the past. i couldn't help but recall the first bill that president obama signed into law was the lily ledbetter act, removing that statute when it comes to challenging equal pay. and here we are today still fighting that same battle. and as you mentioned about the shriver report, absolutely.

we have a ways to go. and so i think republicans have to talk about how their policies would help to provide the economic opportunities that women deserve in this country. >> i also wanted to ask you about the intelligence committee. you used to serve with intelligence committee members. there was a complete divide today in the annual threat assessment report, between those members, senator wyden, senator collinsi in collins, your former colleague from maine. who believe that edward snowden -- rather senator wyden and those who believe that edward sthonowden performed a service and that the intelligence agencies need to be reined in. and others who believe that the intelligence agencies are actually producing a service and that snowden needs to be reined in. where do you come down on that. >> well, i don't think that edward snowden performed a

service to this country. does that mean to say that these policies should not continue to be examined and to have engaged in aggressive oversight? absolutely. also, to have the public's confidence and the integrity in the implementation of these programs. and there is a process in which to report, you know, whistleblower information, that edward snowden could have pursued as opposed to the way in which he went about it. i think that that was deeply disturbing and disconcerting. on the other hand, i also think that the intelligence committees in the intelligence community have to work together to determine how best to shore up the integrity of these programs and to provide the proper oversight so that we continue to have the public's confidence going forward. because we're going to continue to be a target. as americans, and our country. so we have to be vigilant and our enemy is always constantly

adapting to new technology, and state of the art. so we have to be adaptable. but at the same time, we have to be mindful of privacy laws and civil liberties. so that's a very delicate balance. and one that they'll have to continue to work on in concert between the congress and the executive branch. >> thank you very much. always good to see you, senator olympia snowe. thanks for being with us. we'll have more on the state of the union in a moment. stay with us. i have the flu,

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tone and substance, because they're very different, you know, judging points. how do you think the president did last night in achieving what he needs to? >> i think he had some very effective moments. any standing ovation given to the wounded warriors is deserved and it was a really great, great moment. i think on the domestic policy, from my perspective, it was a pretty generic democratic speech. there wasn't much new. the framing was familiar. a lot of this could have been given at any time in the last five years. it has been. that is not necessary lay bad thing headed into a midterm election where democrats want some themes and the president gave them those themes. >> and we saw this tribute. i was talking about it earlier. we can see how injured he is. his father had to help him stand up. he was there with the first lady. that was just a heartbreaking and an inspiring moment. >> very powerful moment. and the kind of unifying moment that seemed heartfelt to all the people there. that these kinds of speeches can provide.

and they're few and far between. you know, the new things i felt last night -- first of all, for any president, but for this president coming in the wake of the long recovery from the financial crash is how optimistic can he be and have people think he's not going too far? and there was a striking amount of pointing out positive economic facts. and i'm guessing that's an effort over the long run to get people to feel better about the idea that the economy is really ready to take off. the other thing i thought was interesting was he did really talk in a way that reflected reality, which is a good thing, that this congress is not going to pass much of anything that he wants them to pass. it's not so much a hostile congress, as a divided and dysfunctional congress. when he talks about acting on his own, that's a new tone and it sets up not just the individual things he talked about yesterday with the minimum wage, but really a whole year of unrolled activity. >> and we should point out that economists would say that

claiming credit for eight million new jobs -- well, that's the normal amount of jobs that would be created just with the churn of the economy, with people entering the work force. so it's not a great thing. they were looking for any silver lining they could in describing the economy. but that is a tone of optimism and tone is important. i want to point out -- let's listen to his tribute to john boehner because it was graceful and it was uniting. and it seemed to be well-received. let's watch. >> i believe that here in america, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic. and the scope of our dreams. that's what drew our forebearers here. that's how the daughter of a factory work eer is ceo's large auto maker. how the son of the bar keep is speakinger of the house.

[ applause ] >> that was a side of this president we don't see that often. this sort of gracefulness. especially given how adversarial they have been up there. >> i thought it was a real grace note. he often used examples, not of boehner, but of other people throughout the speech to show that we're not dysfunctional outside washington. that, in fact, there's a lot of good things going on, and that that should be the model for the chamber itself. i thought that was a fairly effective strategy. >> have these speeches outlived any political purpose? i mean, the intent would certainly be to revive, reboot the second term agenda and do something to give members of congress, democrats, something to run on. does it fulfill that purpose or is it just something that is

forgotten the day after? >> well, first off, as we all know, this is still one of the only remaining civic rituals. it's one of the only times that any president can talk directly to the public unfiltered, and people i think still crave the chance to hear the person they elected to lead the country tell them what he thinks, at least. they don't usually move public opinion in massive tidal waves. that's a bit of a myth. sometimes they can put out a new idea or rock the other party back on its heels, or reframe something in some way. but they never have been this kind of earth-shaking, this is the last time -- i hear people say his presidency is over. that's silly. these speeches aren't the be all and end all. >> well, thank you both very much. the michaels. appreciate it. and file this under things that don't happen every day here in washington. a debate over legalizing marijuana collided with lady gaga today at a senate judiciary

hearing. it all started when senator jeff sessions quizzed attorney general eric holder over the president's comments on marijuana in an interview with "the new yorker"'s >> did the president make -- conduct any medical or scientific survey before he waltsed into the new yorker and prior to that? that marijuana is not as i've quoted him. did he study any of this data before he made that statement? >> i don't know. but i think -- >> did he consult with you before he made that statement? >> no, we didn't talk about that. >> sessions went on to cite studies conducted by the american medical association and northwestern and used lady gaga as an example. >> well, lady gaga said she's addicted to it and it is not harmless. she's been addicted to it. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn? yeah...

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and a live look now at west mifflin, pennsylvania, just outside of pittsburgh where they are expecting remarks from president obama in a few moments. he's doing a tour right now, promoting key pieces of his state of the union address. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker is at the white house for us today. hey, kristen. the big themes today are the economic ones. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. and when president obama takes the podium at that steel plant in pittsburgh, he's going to announce something called my r.a., andrea. the idea is that it's a federally backed retirement savings program. so american workers who are employed by companies that don't provide retirement savings will be able to start saving through this program. they can put as little as $25 per month in this program. and the goal is to make it safe. that's why it's backed by the federal government. according to a 2009 brookings

institution report, more than half of all american workers are employed by companies that don't offer these types of programs. this is another executive action, andrea. this comes on the heels of the president stopping at costco in the suburbs of maryland earlier today where he talked about his second executive action, which would increase the minimum wage for federal contractors. of course, under scores he mapped out a fairly modest agenda last night. >> thank you so much. that does it for this post state of the union edition of "andrea mitchell." remember, follow the show online and on twitter @mitchellreports and tamron hall with a look at "news nation." >> we continue to follow breaking news in our next hour. the outrage and frustration in georgia. the national guard right now out trying to rescue thousands of people who are still stranded 24 hours after that winter storm hit that state.

and that includes hundreds of kids who had to spend the night on buses or at schools. atlanta's mayor says he would not have done anything differently. we'll talk with a mother who was just reunited with her daughter. plus, a live picture of where president obama's about to speak in pennsylvania. as mentioned, his second stop of the day following the state of the union address where he called on leaders and businesses to raise the minimum wage. we'll talk with senator bernie sanders who is also, of course, pushing for higher wages for many americans. it is all coming up next on "news nation." that's not much, you think except it's 2 percent every year. go to e*trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert. it's low. it's guidance on your terms not ours. e*trade. less for us, more for you. if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available.

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[ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. [ male announcer ] try campbell's homestyle soup. hi, everyone, i'm tamron hall. "news nation" is following news from georgia. outrage in atlanta, which is now shut down, paralyzed by a winter storm that's left thousands stranded in traffic overnight. and students, countless

numbers stuck in their schools. hundreds of students, in fact, and a large number of motorists right now are waiting to be rescued at this very hour. almost a full day after snow and ice turned atlanta roads and highways into parking lots you see there. just minutes ago, the atlanta public schools confirmed that buses have arrived at shelter in place locations and are loading up kids and staff. the georgia national guard has sent military humvees to rescue children who have been trapped on their school buses. and they've started to distribute blankets. and 200 cases of ready to eat meals to stranded motorists. some rescued have been taken to makeshift shelters. major general said everything is being done to help those who are in need. >> we will not rest until 100% of individuals that may be in harm's way have been offered si