dangerous rift with a critical ally? and the nominees are -- which of your favorite shows and actors are up for a primetime emmy. hbo's big hit "game of thrones" leads the pack. but don't count out washington's most infamous power player. >> for those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. there is but one rule. hunt or be hunted. good day. i'm andrea mitchel in new york today as the president continues fund raising. how are the republicans responding today. joining me from capitol hill is republican congressman jeff denham who has been working on immigration reform in the house.

thank you for joining us. what is your take? you've been supportive of immigration reform. you are a california republican. but what about the president going to texas, meeting in dallas, meet with rick perry but not going to the border? >> you know, it's disappointing. i think that not only should every member go to the border and see what's happen bug certa certainly the president. pass immigration reform because the border is absolutely secure. he campaigned making fun of republicans because, you know, talking about moats and what else do we want to do to our border? it's obvious there are millions of acres along the texas border that have no fences like california does. doesn't have the cameras. doesn't have the roads. does not even have border patrol able to secure those areas. so i think it's important for the president to see firsthand so that when we send him bills he understands not only what's in them, but has a firsthand experience. >> but this is where the president had to say because with all due respect he sent you a bill. the senate his passed a bill.

the house hasn't even take ten up. here was the president speaking about congress. >> but i would emphasize to the governor the problem here is not a major disagreement around the actions that could be helpful in dealing with the problem. the challenge is, is congress prepared to act to put the resources in place to get this done? >> so what is going to happen to his supplemental request for $3.7 billion? a lot of it for border control? >> you know, actually there's a very small percentage in his request that is for border control. we expect that we will see an appropriations bill. we want to address this problem. but it's border security first. we have to secure our border. we also have to fund the courts. right now, some of these kids that are coming across the border, it's expected they will have to wait a year. you've seen these retention facilities, some of them are gymnasiums, emergency

situations, military bases. we can't wait. we've got to expedite these courts and make sure that we're fulfilling our role on border security so it's going to take not only the courts but border security in the same bill. i expect to see that bill very soon. >> what about this august 1st recess date? are you all willing to postpone your vacations or your recess, your work periods, whatever you want to call it back home, while these kids are in these horrible facilities? >> you know, we, obviously, always have a great deal of work to be done at home with our constituents, but i think the greater issue right now is this humanitarian crisis. we should drop everything until we absolutely address this. this is a national issue. >> congressman, the other issue is the 2008 law. now this was a george w. bush law, and a lot of people now in congress voted for it. it was barely debated. this is the law that made the exception for costa rica, honduras and guatemala. do you think that should be changed now? the white house would like it to

be changed but it's obviously very controversial. >> you know, i have looked at that law. certainly, it was done for all the right reasons, had unanimous bipartisan support. human trafficking is a very serious issue. but certainly parts of that law are now being exploited. so there has to be changes that are made and they need to be made immediately. >> thank you so much. california congressman, thank you for being with us. in the world of espionage, there are very few posts more critical to american intelligence than counteracting vladimir putin from berlin. especially with angela merkel now the most powerful american ally in europe. bad enough the nsa spied on merkel's cell phone last year. merkel has ordered the expulsion of the cia station chief from germany after not one but two germans were caught spying on germany for the cia. this breach could not be more serious and it could not come at a worse time in u.s./german

relations. senator robert menendez joins me now from the capitol. i know you are not on the intelligence committee but i'm talking about the broader relationship between the united states and germany at a time when we're trying to get more sanctions put on vladimir putin over ukraine. germany is the key to all of that. merkel talked to the president last thursday. just a week ago. didn't mention this. trying to be diplomatic about it. she was very upsbet about it an now another spy was found and now the expulsion of our station chief in germany. this is a big power play between two countries and two countries that are supposed to be close allies. >> well, this is a huge irritant in our relationship. as a matter of fact, yesterday members of the german bundestag, the german congress, met with me including the leader of their foreign relations committee. while we agree we have an incredibly important relation and there are strong ties and

values that we share and concerns like what's happening in ukraine and russia's upending the international order, they all, there are about six or seven of them, overwhelmingly took their time to focus on this singular issue as something that they say germ -- average germans are so upset about because they are looking at america as an ally as friends and they don't understand why amongst friends there has to be spying. and so they say everything that they do is pretty much an open, maybe more open than we do. and so they don't understand the spying. so while i don't know the specifics of this, i certainly am concerned about the overarching cloud this is putting in our relationship at a time in which we need german leadership in europe, particularly as it relates to sanctions on russia to stop their aggression. >> there was a report in "the new york times" yesterday that the president was blindsided by the first german spy that he had not been briefed.

and now there was a question as to how high up in the chain of command at the agency this went. is it possible that the cia director john brennan did not know and he's so close to the president. how could the white house not have been informed? >> well, if the white house didn't know, and i guess it is possible, then certainly, you know, something needs to be done so that the president of the united states has a full briefing about what is happening as it relates to, you know, any type of spying inside a major ally. germany in this case, but others. so that he can make an assessment as to whether that is worthy of pursuing in terms of national interest and security of the united states versus the damage that can be caused with relationships that are critical. so the president needs to know this so he can make his own judgment and decision. and if he doesn't know, then this is problematic because i can tell you that these german

parliamentarians were so, you know, viscerally and emotionally moved by these issues that they took all of their time with myself and the ranking member, senator corker to focus on this and said this is a challenge to our relationship in germany. this is the singular question that germans are asking. why do the americans spy on us when we are allies. and we need to find a way to fix this. i asked him, what could be done to -- if this is true because i don't know it to be true, but if this is true, what could be done. and they basically said, look, to make an acknowledgment that this may have been the policy of a different era but that needs to end now because we are allies and we do want to share confidence and intelligence and both our mutual interests and security. >> it's the equivalent we should point out to our viewers. this should be the equivalent of the congressional leaders going to berlin and saying, stop

spying on us. this is a very big deal, your meeting yesterday. i want to ask you about israel and how sustainable israel's policy, they say it's self-defense. john kerry today in beijing supported their right to self-defense. but they are firing rockets into gaza. and as i was saying to israel's ambassador, a key ally of the united states yesterday, it is asymmetric. they have iron domes. they are going into shelters. it's a terrible strain on the israeli populous. but the people in gaza are getting hit because hamas is reportedly hiding weapons manufacture in civilian dense civilian areas. and they are taking terrible casualties. >> well, look. the loss of civilian lives on either side is a horrible reality. but by the same token, andrea, if hundreds of missiles were being fired by a neighboring part of the world, into the

united states, and our citizens were constantly were under attack and living in air raid shelters, what would we expect of our government to do? we would expect them to respond. now the problem here is that we are not dealing with a government. we are dealing with a terrorist organization. a terrorist organization which has historically used rockets indiscriminately be fired into civilian areas of israel and who hide behind civilians in gaza and in religious locations and in civilian institutions. and so we have to recognize that what we're dealing with is a terrorist organization, which is why it's so concerning to me that there is this unity government effort between fatah and hamas in the palestinian authority. we have said all along and now hamas is once again proving themselves to be the type of

terrorist organization which you cannot deal with. >> finally, immigration, we've all been focusing on this terrible crisis building on our borders. should the president have gone to see it for himself firsthand, even if it's a photo opportunity? it conveys concern, even as he's sending legislation to the hill for $3.7 billion? >> well, i'll tell you, $3.7 billion, which i listened to your previous guest, i have to tell you. i've read that proposal. it's overwhelmingly for border enforcement, border patrol, custom inspections, more drones, more detention facilities, more judges, more prosecutors. it's overwhelmingly for border enforcement. by the way, we are enforcing the border because the reason we know of the refugee crisis we're facing is because we are catching these people, detaining them and bringing them through the process. the real challenge here, and i'll support the president generally speaking on the resources to deal with the

immediate challenge, but there's two things that i believe we need to do. number one, i've been to central america. honduras is the -- per capita, the murder capital of the world. the 24th neighboring countries are the fifth largest in terms of murders in their country, in the world. we need to be dealing with citizen security. we're going to spend nearly $4 billion to deal with the consequences, but we're going to spend $110 million in five countries to deal with the reasons, the root causes. that just doesn't make sense because those root causes, unless they change, where a parent looks at a child and says, you know, it's either flee or die. and even though you may die along the route, you are certainly going to die if you stay here. that's the reality that we're facing. the second point is, i will not support legislation that rolls back a proposal that was passed in the congress in a bipartisan effort signed by a republican president to take children who have a legitimate risk and could

make their case for refugee status or asylum status because of their fear of dying in their country. they need their day in court. many of them may not succeed in their day in court. and they will be deported. but to viserate that fundamental due process would send a message throughout the world that what we require of other countries we're not going to abide ourselves. >> have you told the white house you're not going to support changing or rolling back that 2008 law? >> yeah, that's -- i hear -- that's what they want to do, then that is something that i will fight here in the senate. >> given the fact that you are the chair of the foreign relations committee, that means it's a nonstarter. thank you very much. thanks for clarifying that, senator menendez. stephanie gosk, nbc's stephanie gosk visited guatemala, a dangerous town on the southern mexico border. the choke point for central american immigrants. stephanie joins me now via phone from flores, guatemala.

you've been following this route. you just heard the senator say he's not going to change the law. that has a real impact, though in what it is signaling to the children and their parents because the message to them has been from all of your reporting that once they get to the united states, they have the real chance of a lengthy deportation process and really staying. >> yeah, that message has gotten down here. and it is one of the reasons why you have minors leaving this area. but we also, the thing that we heard and continue to hear in our travels, andrea, is that even if the law changes and becomes stricter and young unaccompanied minors are deported, they are still going to make the trip because they think it's worth the risk. and, you know, we've been talking a lot about securing the northern border of mexico, but u.s. government should really be concerned about this southern border with mexico as well. the scene that we saw in in el naranjo was shocking.

it's this lawless outpost. home to drug traffickers and human traffickers. we saw coyotes actually negotiating deals with central american immigrants on the streets. some of them under age to bring them up north into mexico. all of this under the eye of a guatemalan military outpost. literally 20, 30 feet away. everyone in the town knows this is going on. hundreds of immigrants pass through this town. they get on the rio san pedro and take that river all the way to mexico. and literally nothing is being done to stop it. >> briefly, stephanie, what is the price they are charge, these coyotes of these children and their parents? >> we were told roughly $7,000, which is an incredible amount of money. i can't imagine they are getting $7,000 from everyone, but to say that this is a thriving business

is an understatement. it definitely is happening on a daily basis in the late afternoon, buses coming to the town. they are these really small grimy hotels all over town that charge about $5 a night for people to stay in them. and then nearly the morning, these boats leave on the river. it's become this way station. it's kind of -- the best way to describe it, it's kind of like a bottleneck. when you have all these people flowing out of central america and they have to cross a certain point to get into mexico. and they aren't allowed to. they need a visa or permission. this is where the illegal journey really begins. and so you have these points like el naranjo where they gather. and they are well known to both guatemalan government and the mexican government. >> stephanie gosk, eyewitness accounts. thanks to you and to mary murray and your entire team on this very perilous journey. thank you, stephanie. and coming up, the rising toll in the middle east. we'll get the very latest from

both sides of the escalating conflict with live reports from gaza and tel aviv coming up next. the cadillac summer collection is here. ♪ ♪ during the cadillac summer's best event, lease this all new 2014 cts for around $459 a month or purchase with 0% apr and make this the summer of style.

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violence has been escalating between israel and gaza. sirens sounding across jerusalem today signaling another rocket attack from hamas. last night israel launched its heaviest air strike so far on hamas targets in gaza hitting at least 320 targets. they also hit the home of a palestinian family killing eight people while they slept, including five children. for the very latest i'm joined by martin fletcher from tel aviv and from gaza. ayman mohyeldin joining me by phone. martin, first to you. we know what the strategy is of the israeli army. we've talked to israeli

officials as you know better than anyone. but what is the end game here is the question that i keep asking. how can they win, especially given the fact that they are hitting so many civilian targets in gaza? >> you know, andrea, this is the -- this similar kind of operation took place two years ago. and then five years ago. and the question always arises, how long can israel continue shelling gaza as the civilian death toll mounts. and then international pressure because of the civilian death toll mounts on israel to stop the fighting. so that's the question. israel says today that the palestinians have been firing at least 440 rockets inside israel over the last couple of weeks with a dramatic escalation in the last few days. they say we have to stop the palestinian rockets hitting our people. so israel has been shelling from the sea and from the air palestinian targets, especially en masse in gaza but they've not been able to stop the rockets

being fired. and tarks peers they don't even know where the long range missiles are stored and they haven't been able to destroy them. so until that happens, israel says it will need to continue this operation. and if they can't do it from the air and from the sea as they've been attempting to do over the last couple of days, they say a ground option is very much on the cards. they've called up between 20,000 and 23,000 army reserves just in the last couple of days to join the regular army. and then massing right now on the border with gaza. >> a ground operation would be such a serious escalation. any time they do that, then it becomes so much more difficult to unwind it. >> well, that's right. the ground operation will need to be proceeded by an even stronger air and sea bombardment of gaza before the soldiers go in. more civilian casualties. when the israeli army goes in that will mean a lot more civilian casualties and the israeli army at risk. it's not something the israelis

want to do but they see it as a last resort and it is an option. it is on the table. but it definitely means more civilian casualties and more pressure on israel if they go in on the ground. the question then becomes how long can they stay inside gaza. when we're talking about an israeli ground operation inside gaza, it isn't necessarily a full scale assault on gaza going into as deeply as the center of gaza. could be a much smaller pinpointed operation aimed at taking out those rocket centers. but let's say as i mentioned earlier it appears the israeli army does not have the intelligence, does not know where those rocket stockpiles are. that would make it much more difficult for the israeli firearm they come in and a lo longer operation. >> ayman mohyeldin in gaza, what is the situation on the ground there because you have got a population that doesn't have the kind of air raid shelters and certainly doesn't have the protection of iron dome which has been stopping these missiles from hitting population centers in israel.

>> that's absolutely right, andrea. one of the points, as martin was just saying, this is not really a war between two equal sides. and one of the issues that we've seen here in the day that we've been here in gaza, spending the time with the families is that israel may have the information about a specific militant or specific warehouse or rocket launching site and they may attempt to take that out with some type of precise ammunition. but because gaza is so densely populated, you can't invaerl always protect the area round it. we spent the day talking to the family whose home right next to them was the intended target, but at least four of the buildings adjacent to that house were completely destroyed with the type of ammunition that israel used from the air above. and as a result, they, too, have had their lives impacted. many of them fled. some of them were injured. this is why we're seeing this complete spike if you will, of a civilian population or civilian

casualty toll. >> ayman mohyeldin in gaza and martin fletcher in tel aviv. thanks to both. and now to a tragedy in texas where police say a domestic dispute ignited a deadly shooting spree at a home in a houston suburb. 33-year-old ron lee haskell has been charged with capital murder after shooting and killing six family members, including four children. the lone survivor, a 15-year-old girl was critically wounded with a bullet wound to the head but still managed to call 911 and lead police to the suspect. the girl told authorities her grandparents were the next targets. working with this lead, police intercepted haskell leading to a 20-minute car chase and a tense three-hour standoff before haskell finally surrendered. the motive for his rampage, the suspected rampage, is still unclear. ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ ♪ da-da-da-da-da, bum-da, bum-da ♪

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the president spoke in the rose garden about this situation more than a week ago, on national television, n he's mobilized all of the federal government. he's less concerned about optics and more concerned about substance. >> the optics were bad enough to convince the president and his advisers later in the day to make a statement on the border crisis in dallas late wednesday afternoon. a sign that the white house does understand the national glow bloeback to its handling of this latest crisis. joining me for the daily fix, bloomberg news reporter jeanne cummings and peter alexander live in austin. peter you cover the white house. you are in austin. you interviewed rick perry. they didn't see this coming? we had henry krucuellar in yesterday mean was so hot about it that the white house sent someone to see him later on the hill. he said he should be going to the border. why have they got their feet in cement? >> andrea, i think you raise a

really good point. it's clear this white house, as you know watching them as closely as i do, can be stubborn about things like this and didn't want to pressed into the situation by politics. they say the focus, obviously, should be on problem solving. i was reaching out to white house aides this morning. they said there would be no surprise last-minute visit today even as governor perry as we speak right now is on the rio grande getting a boat tour to really try to draw yet more attention to this in the final hours of the president's visit here. but as the president himself said, it's not about theater. it is about problem solving. and they reiterate that people who need to be there, people like jeh johnson, secretary of homeland security, will be there later this very week for the sixth time since december. but that certainly doesn't satisfy critics like rick perry who only last night said to me it sends a clear message when presidents and governor goes to places like this more than just making a statement. that's why you go to hurricane disaster zones like sandy, he

noted, like bush was criticized for katrina. that's the same reason perry said the president should be going to the border. >> toy plant part of rick perry conversation with peter last night to that very point. >> you can pick up the phone to the dod and have 1,000 national guard troops temporarily assigned to the border and the message gets sent to central america very quickly. that's what i think -- if the president is serious about addressing this issue if the president is serious about border security, he can pick up the phone and have it started tomorrow with the dod. >> jean, did the white house underestimate this issue? it seems as though they are always reacting to the v.a., to this crisis, to that crisis, rather than anticipating that this was developing along the border. >> yes, they are reactive and that's one of the reasons i think that the president didn't go down to the border is because it would draw a whole lot more

attention to in problem that they have got down there. of course you have senator menendez on who was saying the system is working because wire catching them. they aren't coming in and then dispersing into the population. i suppose that's an argument you can make. but it sure is a big mess. and governor perry did ask the president personally, according to the white house, to take some direct steps. and we'll see if he does do that. if what the white house is saying it this is about results, not optics, they have power that they can use to try to alleviate situation there. without waiting for congress to pass the supplemental. >> is there any indication from your conversations down there that rick perry, peter, might call out the national guard? he can do that. >> he needs the president to first go ahead and say he wants this to happen and then rick

perry can do it. ultimately it comes from washington before rick perry can do that. and specifically about the border, about the rio grande. one of the real differences in the ways this is seen by some conservatives and republicans and between this administration, is rick perry's frustration is, it's easy to apprehend these guys. it's easy to catch them. we want to stop them from even entering. we physically want those national guard troops or those border patrol agents to be in the river to turn them around like a wall before they even get here. that's one of the points of contention as well. rick perry says president obama wasn't even exactly aware in his language of how far off the border so many of these agents, in fact, are. >> and rick perry tweeted out a picture of himself down at the rio grande, jeanne. he clearly has potential aspirations for 2016. he didn't do very well in 2012. there was that awful michigan debate when john harwood asked him the question and tried to help him as much as he could as the moderator of that debate for

cnbc, but he seems to be gearing up. still seeking opportunities to put himself front and center. >> well, that -- and that was one reason that yesterday's -- there was so much calculation about how to receive the president. initially, rick perry was not going to go and have the classic tarmac picture taken of himself with the president. we've seen that not work for some governors, chris christie for one. we've seen it work for others, jan brewer in arizona when she met the president and did the finger wag in his face. that was a picture seen all over the world. so the perry folks went back and forth and ultimately decided to go ahead, take the risk and greet him at the airport. to me, andrea, the more challenging thing for perry here is the financing. he wants federal money. the president has asked congress to authorize this money so it can be spent there in texas.

and it's not paid for. that is a big no-no for the tea party wing of the party and how perry's role, if ultimately he gets any of the money, his role in that could be a lot more politically risky to him than just the photo op with the president. >> good point, jeanne cummings and peter alexander. thank you so much. to the big announcement of the morning -- the primetime emmy nominations. hbo's megahit "game of thrones" walked away with 19 nominations. the most any of series. newcomers "orange is the new black" and "true detective" also made strong showings racking up several nominations a piece. and two of washington's favorites, "house of cards" and "veep" also scored big. giving our favorite fictional vice president selena meyer played by julia louise dreyfus a chance for a three-pete when seth meyers hosts the award shows next month.

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his decision. >> there's nothing that is taking place down there that i am not intimately aware of and briefed on. this isn't theater. this is a problem. i'm not interested in photo ops. i'm interested in solving a problem. >> i'm joined by congressman joaquin castro of texas. i know it's not theater. i know it's not photo ops, but there is something you can learn from talking to children, talking to the mothers, getting a sense of their environment. don't facts on the ground matter? >> sure. and i think if the president feels that going down to the border and visiting with folks would be helpful to his understanding of the problem and the situation, thn he will have a chance to go down there. this week was not his last chance to go to the border. this is a situation that's going to be going on for a while. and so i think we may see him at some point make it down there.

>> senator menendez chairs the foreign relations committee and says he is not going to support changing that 2008 law that he believes that our values really dictate that we treat these children with the deportation hearings as refugees because of the crisis in their countries back home. do you agree with that? >> i do. i think there's real concern among democrats about changing the law. mostly because these kids have to have a chance to make their case for asylum. and i also think, andrea, that this is a real test, a moral test, a test of our nation's contest and of our policies. a test to see how we define a refugee in the 21st century. and what that means in america. >> how did this bill to the extent where it has become a full-blown border crisis, without the white house seemingly being aware? they say they were very busy and actively engaged from may to

june, but it really has been building all year. >> sure. well, i think that, you know, if congress had passed comprehensive immigration reform a year ago or two years ago, a lot of the situation that you see that's developed would not have developed. there would have been resources for international cooperation, for development and also for border security in the kind that we're talking about in this supplemental appropriation. so i think we can't give congress a pass by putting all the blame on the president. congress right now is like a spectator on the bench watching a basketball game just not doing anything but criticizing. they have to get on to the field and start doing something. you know that this term in congress has been the least productive term in american congressional history since we've been keeping record. so we need to make sure that congress is part of governing this country. >> fair point. and is there any chance that the $3.7 billion supplemental will be acted on speedily? in fact, before they leave --

before you all go for the august recess? >> that's a great question. i hope so. i hope we do take action and that we can find agreement between the house and senate. after july 31st, we're only in session 26 days the last five months of the year. that means that this issue, immigration reform, tax reform, a highway trust bill, all of those bills are in grave jeopardy if they are not done by the end of july. >> thank you so much, congressman castro. thanks for being with us. cybersecurity has been a key point of contention between the united states and china. today "the new york times" reported that chinese hackers broke into u.s. government computer networks with personal information of federal workers. in beijing, secretary of state john kerry said he had a frank discussion about it with chinese officials today but the breach into does not appear to have compromised any sensitive material. >> i emphasize that incidents of

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this is a problem of the president's own making. he's been president for 5 1/2 years! when is he going to take responsibility for something? >> whether it's domestic scandals involving the irs and the v.a. or foreign policy, problems with russia, throughout the middle east or a little bit like the situation along the border which is what john boehner was reacting to just now today, the obama white house has been criticized for having to play catch up on key issues. how does the president and his close team of advisers deal with crisis management? nancy served as deputy chief of staff during the president's first term and joins me now. thank you for being with us. >> thanks. >> it's a little tough to be the one, you know, catching the flack for your former

colleagues, but if you could take us behind the scenes, who is the person is it the cabinet secretary, the deputy chief of staff, your former job, who says to cabinet secretaries, tell us about these problems or what's happening along the border or is the v.a. cleaning up its mess? who says that to shinseki? who is in charge of crisis management and reporting back to the president and the chief of staff? >> well, the president expects his entire team to be on point and looking for these issues around the bend. and they are meeting all day long trying to make sure they are on top of these issues. the border is a great example. this president has been focused on the border and security there and securing the enforcement of the border since day one and has received regular reports on that from homeland security secretary, as well as from his own team inside the white house. but this problem, this humanitarian crisis coming and

starting in the spring, started working. he appointed the fema director who has been so terrific at handling other crises around the country, to be on point here and coordinate the federal response. and they've been all over it. and as congressman castro said, now it's time for congress to act. the president has laid out what needs to happen next to deal with this surge of children who are being misled and their parents being misled into coming into this country. he needs resources. he needs about $4 billion to take care of it and he's asked the congress to get that done. they have a few weeks before they go on another four or five-week recess to get it done. >> you know, andrea, it's that time of year in washington as you know well when temperatures start to soar and people's passions start to soar a little bit. but i am confident that the president's team is cool under this pressure. this is when he is the most

focused and determined. in this kind of situation. i know it will get done. >> maybe he shouldn't be so cool. maybe he should blow his stack at somebody because this problem doesn't start in the spring. this problem started a year or more ago. you can see exponentially the number of kids, many of them unaccompanied, coming across the border. this is not a new problem, and there is a sense that the white house was caught off guard. we were told by officials, not on the record, but we were told by officials, we didn't see this coming. >> well, i don't think anyone saw that there would be the kind of activity going on in these central american countries to try and, frankly, lure, you know, families into sending their children here when it's not safe, when there is no amnesty here. i don't think anyone could have known that was going to happen. but, yes, the white house was preparing for the kinds of numbers we've seen in the past.

there have always been, you know, unaccompanied minors coming across. and the white house does monitor that as does the department of homeland security, as does hhs. the department of justice. all those agencies work together on it. what we saw here and what we've seen in the last few months is an unprecedented surge and the president, as i said, designated the fema director to really work on the effort to coordinate the government's response to that. >> it does seem that there's a political price to pay. absolutely clear that the house has done nothing with the senate immigration bill and that has been a major congressional failure. no question about that. >> and this time last year -- you know, what a difference a year makes. this time last year we had a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would have added resources to securing the border. and by the way, when it comes to that, we are spending unprecedented resources. we have more boots on the ground at this border than have ever

been there in history. technology. this president spent more resources and more time focused on this than any other administration. and we had an historic bipartisan immigration reform bill last year. we were waiting for the house to act. unfortunately, we're still waiting. but now they have on their desk this $3.7 billion program to solve this problem that we need to deal with. and as congressman castro said, there's a number of other problems congress needs to deal with in the limited amount of time it's allocated for the rest of the year. it's time for them to act. >> let's see whether anything gets done before they leave in august. very good to see you, nancy. >> thank you. which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next on "andrea mitchell reports." it's always the same dilemma,

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jeanne cummings is back to talk about what's going to happen in the next 24 hours. it's actually less than 24 hours where you have secretary jeh

johnson and silvia burwell testifying about the $3.7 billion border request. what are the prospects of that? >> well, the prospects right now look okay in the senate and they look a little more troubled in the house. in the senate, senator mccain, as we speak is trying to develop some amendments and some tweaks to what the white house requested. and he's circulating that. that indicates a bipartisan project in the senate. on the house side, the fact that this money is not offset could well be a problem. >> jeanne cummings all over it. thank you very much. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online on facebook and twitter. i'll be off tomorrow celebrating a big birthday. my dad's 100th. skwt ronan farrow daily" is next. the summer of this. the summer that summers from here on will be compared to.

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leading the least productive congress in american history. >> the president here, i felt, was very shrewd to -- >> take the action. >> to use governor perry to say tell your party to give me the money. >> you first have to act, mr. president. that's what leadership is all about. >> he's been president for 5 1/2 years. when is he going to take responsibility for something? >> a clear divide is emerging in the republican party. speaker john boehner doesn't want anything to do with sarah palin's push to sack the president. >> of course it's not going to work. >> it is now the third day of the air strikes. >> hamas is feeling the impact and so are civilians. >> palestinians have been killed, including at least three dozen women and children. >> hackers apparently targeted files of employees who had applied for top secret security clearances. >> they say the intrusion appeared to come from china. >> it does not appear to have compromised any sensitive material. >> a new study shows that only 28% of americans think the.s