blasting him personally for the failed strategy. >> is it hurting your ability to be -- to be a mediator here? to have israel with the blind quotes of israeli officials attacking you so vociferously? >> i'm not worried about that. this is not about me. this is about israel and israel's right to defend itself. and in eastern ukraine today, taking on putin. as fighting continues the prevent investigators from reaching the crash site, european leaders are moving today for harsh sanctions. this as the united states accus accus accus accuses russia of violating an arms treaty. >> they want to deescalate the conflict? their actions have not shown that they really have a legitimate desire to end the

violence and bloodshed. plus, outbreak, with two americans infected in africa, what you need to know about the threat of the deadly ebola virus spreading. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. just back moments ago from the state department where secretary of state john kerry defended the efforts of a ceasefire in the middle east. >> i won't worry about personal attacks. i think that president obama has it right. and the international community has it right. when we say that it is more appropriate to try to resolve the underlying issues at a negotiating table than to continue a tit for tat of violence for more violence and perhaps a greater downward spiral much more difficult to

recover from. >> do you think it's still possible to get a ceasefire after the more serious -- >> on the parties at this point. andrea, i mean, you know, we're trying to very carefully without as i said diminishing israel's legitimate right to defend itself. >> for the latest from the ground, i'm joined by martin fletcher of tel aviv and nbc's ayman mohyeldin. >> martin, there's a ferocious attack in the media of israel against john kerry. really nothing this fierce personally. both the left and the right. and they're quoting blind quotes of israeli officials. could this kind of attack take place if it weren't reflecting what the israeli government thinks?

>> reporter: i don't think so, andrea. i also can't remember any time in the past there seems to be such personal and open an tip think and it's reflected in the israeli media who, after all, get the information from the government, especially on these kinds of subjects. i think it's -- i think there's a lot of backtracking, though. because such an open, hostile relationship doesn't serve anybody. certainly doesn't serve israel which is dependent on america as its only real key ally speaking up for israel, helping finance israel, financing the iron dome, for instance, much of it. it needs america. it doesn't need this relationship. there was a cartoon in the media this morning here in israel that i saw that i thought was very true. it showed prime minister netanyahu behind his desk and aide runs in and says, red alert! red alert, prime minister! netanyahu says, what is it rocket siren or phone call from obama?

that pretty much summed up the -- that relationship which is -- has seeped into the media, seeped into the public discourse. very dangerous for israel and not good for anybody. >> ayman, there was a hit on the power plant, utility plant overnight as well as the u.n. workers, and now supposedly a proposal from the palestinian side of ceasefire. >> reporter: that's right. it is in addition to an already worsening humanitarian situation officials now at this gaza power plant which is the largest provider in terms of domestic resources inside gaza, electricity say it has a ripple effect on the sub infrastructure of gaza. not just providie ining electri to the homes of people, two to three hours per day but water treatment facilities and sanitation and a lot of infrastructure relies on the power plant and now affected in addition to the supplies that come from israel and egypt and

disrupted but there's no doubt that the situation here is getting worse by the day. and now this proposal for a ceasefire is what palestinian factions are calling a humanitarian ceasefire for the first 24 hours. that can then be rolled into another 72 hours. and from there, build upon. they're not saying this is a unilateral ceasefire but emphasizing it has to be accepted by israel and so far there's not been a clear response from the egyptian intermediaries whether or not israel has and hamas is weighing in on the diplomatic fray and one of the leaders of hamas quietly saying this is what the united states gets for supporting israel. it's a country that's now turning the back on the united states so they're trying to exploit that for their own efforts here on the ground with some of the international media, andrea. >> ayman and martin, thank you very much both. joining me now is israel's man in the united states, the ambassador, ron dermer.

>> good to be with you. >> a lot to unpack here. first of all, the latest palestinian/hamas offer being brokered through egypt, is this a nonstarter or a legitimate effort? >> first, listen. i just heard the report of hamas questioning the u.s.-israeli relationship which i can tell you is strong, stronger than ever. this is the same hamas celebrating on 9/11 when thousands of americans were killed. and they condemn the united states for killing osama bin laden. the reporter in gaza should not forget who hamas is and what they're about. >> i don't think he has. he's reporting from the ground what is happening to the people there. but the point here is that there's a new palestinian proposal. we know that israel was the first to accept a ceasefire which hamas did not accept and that there were violations after the extended humanitarian ceasefire over the weekend. no argument there. but at this stage, with the palestinian offer that apparently on the table, is it something that israel could

accept? >> we have to have the rockets stopping launched at israel because while they're making the offers, they continue to fire rockets. we have had four or five ceasefires. the most -- biggest of them, the proposal from a couple of weeks ago before israel's ground operation commenced. that was supported by the arab league, the international community, by the p.a. not by hamas. i don't know if hamas is serious. not serious. getting the factions to agree to a ceasefire. as we speak rockets are still fired at israel and they have to stop it before we can take any of their demands seriously. >> let me read you a quote in the column. you must be familiar with it. where he wrote that over the weekend u.s. secretary of state john kerry ruined everything, very senior officials in jerusalem described the proposal that kerry put on the table as a strategic terrorist attack. this is not from the right side. i mean, you know. we both know him very well. this is reflecting a mainstream israeli point of view and

reflecting as he said senior israeli officials. i'm israel's ambassador in washington and spoke to the prime minister who told me to make clear that the attacks on secretary kerry are unwarranted. the reporters there in israel might understand this. 87% of the israeli people are against the ceasefire. >> we cited that yesterday. that's the channel polling. >> 87%. moses didn't get a number of 87%. 87%. why against the ceasefire? and i think part of the problem and the criticism of secretary kerry is not what he did, this or that, the fact he is suggesting a ceasefire. when the prime minister wanted a ceasefire and voted for it, he faced withering criticism in israel from the same writerings saying don't stop, continue the operation. why? not because they want the violence to continue but to know when we end this round we are not just setting ourselves up for another round in six months or a year and hamas will not be

able to rearm. they want to see the problem end. >> reuters is just reporting i'm told that israeli television is now saying that all parties have agreed to a ceasefire and the timing to be determined. >> well, in israel we have real government and a real government. we have a process of decision making. the cabinet meets. the prime minister -- >> you have to have the security cabinet meeting. >> any proposal and the security cabinet will meet on any proposal and have to have a vote. i wanted to show one thing. very important. this is reported yesterday. there was an attack. today a power station. we will have to figure out who attacked that power station. >> we don't know yet? >> we don't know yet who did it. >> you can see right now showing on the screen -- >> yesterday there was an attack on a hospital and on a refugee camp. i can show you right here. this is a radar photo. the radar photo shows that four rockets were fired from within gaza. four rockets. one went to the sea. >> we see the red lines. >> one hit the al shifa hospital

hit yesterday. i lammic jihad. not a hamas rocket. hit the hospital. a third rocket to the camp killing a group of children playing and a fourth rocket went to ashkelon and intercepted by iron dome and you can't present it as he said/she said. hamas the using the people as human shields. we have hundreds of rockets that fire at us hitting their own people and happened yesterday. we have to find out what happened today as we continue the investigation. >> ambassador, john kerry said within the last hour that he had spoken last night to prime minister netanyahu. >> that's right. >> i asked him about this relationship and about his effectiveness or lack of effectiveness given the criticism. let's play this. >> prime minister netanyahu himself said to me, can you try to get a humanitarian ceasefire this period of time? and if it weren't for his commitment to it, obviously, the

president of the united states and i would not be trying to make this effort. now, either i take his commitment at face value or someone is playing a different game here. i hope that's not the fact. >> the bottom line is that on friday, in egypt, kerry described some of the activity by the israeli security cabinet as mischief making denying a draft proposal. ideas, whatever it was. diplomatic terminology and then went to paris and met with the turks. no egyptian officials were there. a lot of people in israel said by meeting with qatar, the hamas supporter and sponsor, and shielding the exiled hamas leader he had taken sides with hamas. >> secretary kerry doesn't take sides with hamas. first of all, we appreciate his support and -- >> was it a mistake? >> we appreciate his efforts on a ceasefire.

the question is, what is he speaking to the qataris about? tell hamas the egyptian proposal is the only deal in town. tell them to agree to a ceasefire. it can be constructed. qatar is not a constructive actor in the region and neither is turkey, the way, saying that israel is worse than the nazis. that's what the leader of turkey said to his people. israel dealing with gaza is worse than the nazis. a clear public stand should be taken against it. we appreciate what secretary kerry is doing. he wants to achieve a sustainable ceasefire. we have to end the rocket attacks. get rid of the terror tunnels in israel and how to demilitarize gaza over the long haul. >> ambassador, what do you say to americans and other people around the world who admire and cherish israel as the only democracy in the region and see the images, uncontested images,

of palestinian children, you say some have been hit by hamas rockets misfiring but overwhelming majority of those within gaza, civilian deaths have been caused by israeli aerial bombing, and what do you say to them that israel may be losing its soul, may be losing the war because of the political impact of what is happening on the ground? >> i hear what you're saying. we have upholding the values. we have two thirds of our people in bomb shelters. our soldiers are going into a hornet's nest of terrorism. they're being fired upon and we're maintaining those values. i would tell the american people, we share your concern. for the civilian casualties. israel is concerned about palestinian civilians killed. i'm a father, as well. seeing a child killed, i -- it's heartwrenching those photos. they hit me the same way as anyone else. the difference is hamas is using their civilians as human

shields. they're placing missile batteries in hospitals, putting weapons depots in mosques. storing rockets in u.n. schools. what the american people should be doing is giving the sense of outrage they have, turning it on hamas, not israel. we are you and you are us. we cherish life. we sanctify life. that's the difference. >> ambassador, thank you for being here. >> thank you. much more ahead. including the latest on the ebola outbreak in africa and one american has now died and two americans are infected. could it spread here? stay with us. they say his magic erasers tackle so many messes, that mr. clean once wrote a book about them. not only do they clean everyday dirt, they clean a lot of unexpected stuff too. like scuffed up shoes,

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are you giving him yet another chance to prove himself after everything that's happened, or are these sanctions going to be finally implemented? >> the point i'm making is that in the long road ahead here, to resolve the kinds of issues of the gas deal, the gas has been cut off to ukraine, to resolve the movement and flow of weapons and people across the border, the issue of firing from russia into ukraine, all of these issues, whatever happens with sanctions today or tomorrow, those issues remain and they are remaining to be the choices that president putin has to make. >> today, europe is poised cracking down we hear on putin with a broad range of economic sanctions, fazed in we believe over the next couple of days. joining me is former u.s. ambassador and state department official dean hill. author of "outpost."

coming out in book stoerl this is fall. congratulations on the book. well, chris, we just came from the state department where john kerry meeting with ukraine's new foreign minister saying it is up to putin. has putin already proved that he is not going to back down and double down? >> well, so far he's doubling down. i must say, though, when the european union makes this decision, that's something he's probably paying attention to. this is really tough on the european union. you have the germans worried about energy, the french worried about heavy manufacturing to the russians. brits worried about finance. it is a major step and may be the beginning of more to come. i think that whole airplane shootdown was a bit of a game changer in all of this. >> want to they can you back to 1987, some of us remember the cold war. the cold war and ray again and kosh chef signing the treating

and now accusing putin in a letter yesterday of violating that same treaty by launching ground-based cruise missiles. it was presented to russia as long ago as last june and now making this accusation to just pile on putin and put him more on the defense? >> no. i think it is in respect to the concerns of the development program of that intermediate missile. i don't think we want to get out of the treaty. i think we'd like to calm this down. but it's kind of ominous. obviously, russia has a lot of interest in developing an intermediate ground launch cruise missile but i think we need to be careful not to just throw the whole thing out because that treaty, that treaty negotiated by president ragan, has a lot in it for us. >> and i want to play you just a little bit of the ambassador ron dermer of israel a few moments

ago denying the criticism infected all of the media in israel, left and right and center. against john kerry. very personal criticism denying it comes from official sources. let's watch. >> i'm israel's ambassador in washington and said publicly yesterday in the name of the prime minister and directly spoke to the prime minister who told me to make clear that the attacks on secretary kerry are unwarranted. >> but this has really pretty personal and pretty unprecedented. >> it is pretty tough. i mean, secretary kerry has done what many people fear to do which is to go right into the middle of these things. he's clearly not the closer here. he's someone who's going to conceptualize with the parties, seeing what can be done, and so, when you have a secretary of state willing to mix it up at that earlier stage, rather than just be the closer, well, he's shown a lot of guts and, you know, not everyone appreciates it. >> chris hill, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. and now to an update on the

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today placing the blame for legislative inaction on president obama and the democrats but can house republicans put a priority on a vote to soothe the president and still throw stones? joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza and "usa today's" washington bureau chief susan page. chris, john boehner going after the democrats. we get that. let's face it. the clock is running out and supposed to go home on thursday unless they extend a day and going off for five weeks. >> that's right. >> what have they done and have a rules committee session on suing the president. >> well look. i have cited this many times. this is the least productive congress if you consider number of bills passed in american history. now, many conservatives when i have written this push back and say, look, passing bills doesn't mean good government. fair point. but i would say we have reached -- and i think twith th

comebination of lawsuit and impeach sector reached peak politics, peak gridlock at some level. even as typically we're in a week, andrea, this is a week where historically gets done. they have as you point out, they have the deadline. they want to get home for the five weeks. election is looming. they want time in the districts and know things are coming up that are sort of big, must-pass things. yes, we have the questions about undocumented children. yes, we have a transportation bill. yes, we have the va sort of reform bill. maybe some of those things do get passed but the urgency certainly doesn't feel where it's been in historically in years passed. >> and susan page, they may do the va bill. we saw that bernie sanders came together with jeff miller on the house side and they compromised on a number and it would be really e agrgregious to go with

fixing what the military deserve and respect and respect for returned veterans, but what about the border issue? what about all of the other issues still out there? >> so, totally nonpartisan issue, really. the question of veterans health, not one on which there's a party divide. extraordinary if they can't reach a deal and yesterday's deal was treated like an extraordinary event because it happens so rarely. >> so rarely. >> it's amazing the odds are they will not have a deal on doing something to deal with the flood of kids from central america across the border and certainly anything not a complete crisis has virtually no chance of getting enacted in this congress. >> let me bring up something that may not seem like a crisis because people don't focus on it and we in the media don't but what about the ambassadors? not talking about the bunglers and political appointees here

but career foreign officer like deborah jones that led the team of 158 people in the wee hours of the night out of tripoli to safety in tunisia. the people, there's 31 who have not been confirmed. >> it is amazing. >> a lot of people don't have a lot of money. they have their lives are at stake. they have packed their bags. they have rented their homes and they're stuck in limbo. >> 25% of the u.s. embassies do not have an ambassador in place with the backlog of noncontroversial ambassadors who are waiting confirmation in the senate. >> one is moscow, by the way. >> we know when the democrats moved to the nuclear option on nominations last year, there's fallout and bad feeling but as a result republicans unwilling to make a kind of deal on these foreign service officers who are lined up to represent the united states in embassies around the world. and it's putting the lines in limbo. think about the impact on u.s. diplomacy. look at the ambassador from israel that you just had on the

show here representing the country. we do not have ambassadors in place in dozens of places around the world for this reason. >> and many of those places are in africa where we have the ebola crisis and talking about that in a moment, chris. talking about countries that need representation from the united states. >> well, and here's the problem. i think we focus on the big things, undocumented children, that crisis. susan's right. we bounce from crisis to crisis and don't do anything legislateively. immigration, is a deal going to get done? the va. you realize the lack of relationship at a low point. people say it's always been like this. it's worse than it's been. the lack of relationship between the president and congress, and mcconnell and reid, boehner and pelo pelosi, the house and the senate, leads to many things. there are a lot of ripples. you throw that rock into the water, there's a lot of ripples that -- there's the big one and a lot more you might not see and

this is a perfect example, sort of day-to-day business, things largely not controversial and in the past never talked about or thought about because they would be done, they would be in sort of the -- on the calendar and done without a thought. now, it becomes a huge fight and those are the ripples that matter sometimes in the day-to-day governance of the country and sort of role in the world here to the ambassador's point. >> exactly. good point, all. let me just say i covered the senate when bob dole and george mitchell both partisans were the leaders. and, boy, did they work together every day they met us on the floor of the senate, the press corps comes out and they would tell us what was agreed on and what was voted on that day and it was heavy agenda. thank you all very much. >> thanks. >> chris cillizza and susan page. now to northern california where a raging wildfire threatens to explode out of control today. four square miles of parkland up in flames. hundreds of firefighters racing against the clock to fact back

the spreading blaze. 100 homes also at risk. and in the tinderbox conditions throughout the west, it is the season of mega fires with record-setting blazes across california, washington and oregon so far this state. today alone, 120 wildfires are burning in the region. ebola spreading in africa and likely continue to spread. what you need the know right here next on andrea mitchell reports. avo: waves don't care what age you are.

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west african countries are in a lockdown as the deadly ebola virus continues to spread throughout the region. nearly 700 people have died and what the centers for disease control calling the largest

outbreak in history, including patrick stewart working for the liberia government and two others quarantined and fighting for their lives. brent brantley and nanly writebol. friends say they can't have visitors and her husband only talks to her from outside the window and telephone. >> he can look in and talk to her. >> see her, i bet. >> can't touch her. >> and joining me now is director of the center for infectious research and policy research in minnesota. thank you for being with us. first of all, how dangerous is this infection? how infectious is it? what is the real threat level? >> well, you have to measure danger really in two different ways. among those who contract the infection, it's very dangerous. as you pointed out, number of deaths rising, about 90% of people in previous outbreaks died. in terms of danger about

transmission, this is what's been confusing to the public. you have to have physically contact the body fluids of an individual. their sweat, blood, feces, vomit, whatever. it's not breathing the air that you can get it. it is a good news part of the ebola outbreak to have physical contact with the body fluids to contract it. >> what about the source of the infection? i have read that bats are one source. tell me about the other ways that vectors can bring the infection across populations. >> well, in context, the first ebola outbreak documented about 40 years ago and may have been ones before that but those are the first ones all in central africa. and at that time, it was really unknown what the source was and then learned that, in fact, it's fruit bats that harbors the virus and when humans contact that bat, either by catching it to eat it or coming in physical

contact they pick it up. the outbreaks ended quickly because when the person went to a medical facility, and remember, the term medical facility is different in that part of africa, maybe a one-room building without screens or anything, the transmission occurred when workers without gloves help the patient, take care of them and they would get it. when you brought public health officials in with appropriate medical equipment so that you could prevent touching the body fluids, it stopped very quickly. what makes this different is it's not happening and in part because the virus hasn't changed but africa's changed. particularly western africa. the distance people travel today after being exposed, their fear of the virus and unwillingness to cooperate with government or public health officials and lack of adequate medical resources, today the brunt of the outbreak response is really carried by the nine governmental organizations such as doctors

without borders so all of those contributed to making it a very, very different kind of outbreak we have ever seen in the past. >> to that point, the mobility of the populations, they can also get on a plane and get to jfk. it's one or two hops. so, doesn't that spread the risk of infection to the united states, as well? >> well, actually, spreads it to the world and like that original answer, how dangerous is this? there's a context here. in africa, transmission occurs because of just the inadequate control and in the moon suits and makes it very difficult to provide medical care. if someone were to fly to kennedy airport and they could, noting that the incubation period, period from the time exposed to actually get sick, can be from three days to three weeks, you could come to new york city and not know you're even carrying the virus. the difference here, however,

is, though, once someone is recognized as having ebola, they go into a system to quickly contain it. so yes, we could have a quote/unquote mini crisis in the world but not like western african. western africa is by itself unique in terms of the problem. >> thank you so much, doctor. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. we have breaking news from miami beach where a small plane just landed on the beach. there are no initial reports of injuries but as you can imagine this was an emergency situation. and we believe we have live pictures now where emergency responders have come on to the beach. because of a small plane which landed on miami beach. we'll have more on that as we -- and as you can see, there is the plane. plane on the beach. and not one that was supposed to land there.

we'll have an update. and meanwhile, in paris, it is where the gardens have an unglamorous problem. rats. packs of them have invaded -- oh god. it's lunchtime, too. the grounds where tourists relax after viewing masterpieces by davinci and feasting on the food left on the lawns by picnickers. many seem unfazed by the furry creatures. museums are asking viz to recalls to be careful in the future. can i just say, i did not screen this. i was at the state department. i am not responsible for this video. throwing them under the bus. let's move on. they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs.

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just goes to show -- >> the level we can all relate to. patrick, you worked in the white house, i know. you worked here in washington for so many years. so now you're the ambassador. and this initiative is such an important piece of it. what are you trying to do in terms of elevating the role of south africa and the other african nations here in the united states? >> well, it is great to be back on your show, andrea. i have to say that all of my efforts to try to give americans an appreciation of just where africa is at this moment, pale in comparison to what faith was able to accomplish yesterday. with that energetic introduction of the president. made it clear that africa, yes, is indeed open for business and there are young leaders who can outinnovate anybody else in the world and just given an opportunity. this program that president obama launched is working with young innovators like faith in business, entrepreneurship and government and civil society to

ka pass tate them and enable them to create african solutions to african problems. >> faith, you have been trying to address unemployment in your country. how are you doing that one job at a time as you say? >> one entrepreneur at a time and formulating the new-g in monthly forums held to equip young professionals in acquiring the necessary skills to upscale the different businesses in sector of industry and mine is i.t. sector and financial sector and basically aid the businesses to kickstart by introducing them to digital mentors, able to assist them in the business models and link them up with financial investors to have the necessary funding so they can take the business next to the level. it's simple. put food on the table. i was sharing with the ambassador here how important it is to bring it down to the grassroots level. we need to have a purpose and in the case of my business is to put food on people's tables and

how do we do that? making sure that people have the necessary jobs and employed to feed their families. >> how much of the friendship program is the networking? >> i think that that's a critical piece of it. you have 500 young people who come from 49 different countries in africa and in addition to the great scholarship they're getting at the finest institutions of higher learning and cross pollinating with one another. i had a conversation with a man of johannesburg and said the problems in his province, he found solutions to from an individual of cameroon, had a conversation with for the first time on campus. faith was at the university of texas in austin and she learned so much from her cohort about digital media and how to use it and that's going to accrue to the benefit of young south africans this need the skill sets. >> the friendship program has been renamed in honor of nelson mandela. you got to south africa shortly

before he died and saw that painful transition. >> yes, yes. >> one generation to the next. >> remarkable time. obviously, we all know that president obama and three of the former presidents came down because this was a once in a lifetime, remarkable leader but i think that the 500 young people in that room yesterday and the 50,000 young africans who applied to get into this program really are grabbing the torch from mandela and his generation and saying that this will, indeed, be an african century in partnership with americans. >> faith, how painful is it to you to see the terror in nigeria and elsewhere, a government that's been unable to find the girls? missing almost 300 girls. and the way that women are abused and kidnapped and assaulted in some parts of the continent. >> well, speaking from a woman's perspective, one can never

appropriately articulate the pain but we are faced with pain. how do we put in place the necessary measures for a solution. and that's the problem. as soon as we dwell too much on the problem and, yes, the problem is ensuring that women receive equal rights, that females emancipated to develop themselves and empower themselves, now addressing the pain, we need to be able to take accountability for the actions and put in place tangible methods and mechanisms to first of all rescue the girls and bring the girls back home. because the entire african continent is really behind any effort to ensure that they're brought back home. secondly, also, to ensure that women given opportunities, as well, so they can develop themselves. you know? i think that one can never underestimate the importance and the value which any form of human being and especially woman brings to the table and as soon as we're able, especially as african woman to say this is not right. this is incorrect. i think that's where we start, you know, escalating the voices, as well. >> faith, what a pleasure for me

to meet you. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> for what you're doing. and ambassador, as always, great to see you. >> thank you. thank you for what you do. >> thank you. and which political story will make headlines in 24 hours? that's next right here. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth? the twist and nub design cleans all the way down to the gum line, even reaching the back teeth. they taste like a treat, but they clean like a toothbrush. nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. [ barks ] nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. but parallel parking isn't one you do a lof them.ings great. you're either too far from the curb. or too close to other cars... it's just a matter of time until you rip some guy's bumper off. so, here are your choices: take the bus. or get liberty mutual insurance.

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we have seen a lot of house republicans booking themselves on cable television to talk about what serious problem this is at the border. but yet, they're refusing to take the kind of action that would ensure the administration has the necessary resources to deal with what they themselves describe as a serious problem. >> which political story will make headlines in 24 hours? getaway week and luke russert not getting away at all joins me from the house office building. luke, will they leave town without doing something on immigration? >> no. house speaker john boehner said he hopes to put forward a bill

regarding the border crisis by thursday. there are some things to be worked out in the bill but the price tag is vastly different than president obama wanted. he requested $4 billion. the senate, andrea, moving on a bill. this bill will come around at $660 million. which is a lot less than what they wanted originally from the white house. this bill will include changes to 2008 human trafficking law that essentially speeds up the deportation of kids from central america and more power to the states of national guard and more judges and a targeted approach and the idea for house republicans, andrea, to pass it on thursday. they believe they can get the 218 votes, not a lot of democratic support and then say, we did the job. going to the august recess. the president wants to address the border crisis. get the bill through the senate and sign it. harry reid won't go for that. expect the month of august dominated by the border crisis discussion and no real congressional action coming out of it signed by the president into law, an dree why.

>> luke russell, well, clearly they'll be out of town and we'll be talking about it here and an echo chamber. the fact is if they leave town without doing anything, passing a bill but not enough time for the senate to pass it, it's more of the blame game and that's the point you're making. >> correct. if they don't pass anything, president obama can go around and say, congress is dysfunctional. house republicans aren't failing to act. if they pass something and wash their hands of it saying we did what we did. take it or leave it. >> luke russert, thank you so much. and that does it for -- >> always a pleasure. >> a busy edition of "andrea mitchell reports." unveiling the first joint interview on their bill to curb campus sexual assaults and the latest on the ebola outbreak with the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases.

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united states says russia violated a ronald reagan brokered ban on cruise missiles. forget this wall, how about tearing down ragan's legacy. am i right? >> the spth ramping up the president on vladimir putin. accusing russia of violating a key treaty dating back to the cold war. >> this is in the 24 hours trying to get europe to catch up to the u.s. when it comes to sanctions against russia. >> for the first time, though, it does not seem that the palestinian factions are requiring israel to withdraw from the gaza strip. it would give israel at least time to continue to destroy the tunnels it says are a major security threat. 1:00 p.m. on the east coast. 10:00 a.m. in the west. in minutes, developing nulls aziz rea