she said we'll be right black -- back. >> it's okay. >> i need a vacation. >> i'm exhausted after today. >> what did you learn? >> i'm an idiot. >> what did i learn? sharknado 2, big hit, brian sullivan. >> massive. what did you learn? >> i'm going to watch out for him when he starts taking medicines off prescription. >> i've learned that everybody that loves america needs to love coca-cola and follow donny deutsch on instagram. >> hey, here's chuck. see you tomorrow. >> have a good day. the clock is ticking down. time is running out for congress to officially do nothing as the smell of jet fuel across the potomac sparks some last-minute legislative -- no, it isn't. it's just sniping and griping. it's not the usual last-minute recess business. this hour white house spokesman josh earnest on the border bill battle. democratic smatter chris murphy

on the russian sanctions and pressuring putin and republican congressman luke messer on the house lawsuit against the president. it's a full hour. plus more rich testimony in richmond about who was getting richer and why. the prosecution's star witness talks about star scientific's craving for credibility in the eyes of then virginia governor bob mcdonnell. good morning from washington. it's the last day of july. it's a thursday, july 31st, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." we're also going to talk to ambassador ron dermer about the latest. congress heads home today for a five-week vacation from the capital. the last hours before a congressional recess are usually dominated by back room conversations about legislation, flurry of floor votes but instead your representatives have spent the last 24 hours in a toxic fight over whether to sue the president of the united states. it's not clear whether republicans are more

enthusiastic about this fight or democrats. last night the house voted 225-201, right along party signs, to sue the president for his use of executive action. >> are you willing to let any president choose what laws to execute and what laws to change? are you willing to let anyone tear apart what our founders have built? >> meanwhile in kansas city, president obama had an extra bounce in his step, almost gloating at the prospect of the republicans suing him. >> they have announced that they're going to sue me for taking executive actions to help people. so, you know, they're mad because i'm doing my job. and by the way, you know who's

paying for this suit they're going to file? you. >> democrats are also relishing the fact that five republicans voted no because the bill didn't go far enough. some of those same members who have introduced the "i" word, impeachment, into the debate. >> we are having lawyers actually look at and see if the president has violated the constitution where we can take that kind of action. >> would you support impeachment if presented for a vote? >> democrats have had a field day with fund-raising e-mails like these, raking in more than $3 million in online donations since last week. dccc claims it's closer to 8 and they're already raising money on the house vote last night. you know the truth here, both sides are playing a very cynical game, trying to turn the midterms into a base election.

in a tough election year democrats are looking at 1998 when republican efforts to impeach bill clinton back fired and democrats were actually able to pick up house seats and make a status quo election in the senate. >> democrats are cheerleading impeachment, republicans want to sue the president. this is why i'm pissed off at politics in 2014. >> people should be fed up with the republican congress that is suing the president, that is talking about impeachment instead of talking about issues that matter to people's pocketbooks. >> good for fund-raising? >> their strategy is misfiring. they're persuading independent and moderate voters to support democratic candidates who are focused on solutions. >> now, republicans are looking at polls like this one. while a majority of americans say no to impeachment, a whopping 57% of republicans say

yes. we'll see. interestingly, on another topic, by the way, today is eric cantor's last day in the house. it's also the day house republicans are planning to bring john boehner's border funding bill to the floor for a vote, but republicans are so weary of any appearance of cooperating with the president, that even this stripped down bill is not placating members, even if the house does pass something, it's not like it's a means to a law that will actually go into effect. yesterday the senate advanced its own version of a border crisis bill which costs about $2 billion more than the house's. it's as if the two bodies are on different planets when it comes to this issue. two democrats watching their backs, mary landrieu and kay hag hagan voted against bringing the bill to a floor. on friday the federal government will have to begin delaying transportation financing to states. governors are going to get a little upset about that.

it's all a reminder of how little these lawmakers you've sent to capitol hill are getting done. this congress is on track to become the least productive in modern history if by productivity you measure it by laws passed. so far this congress has passed just 142 new laws. the fewest ever at this point. congress has managed to enact just 15% of the laws that harry truman's famous do-nothing congress got passed. by comparison that 1947-48 congress looks downright productive. it's just not the legislative process, though, in washington that is stuck. so is the political conversation. the campaign trail is riddled with reruns. we've been looking for a single new idea anywhere on the campaign trail and we're struggling to find it. instead candidates running for congress are recycling talking points from the last campaign cycle and the one before and the one before that. it's kind of like the battle of new orleans during the war of 1812. soldiers were fighting and dying, even though the war had

already ended. the news just hadn't traveled to them. the war is over when it comes, but the final battles haven't ended apparently when it comes to the obama wars. this campaign is the last gasp of all things obama. and it's not so much that this campaign is about nothing, which has become a cliche of sorts. it's actually that this campaign is the same ole thing we've been hearing for five and a half years since the president took office. it's just another version of groundhog day. no wonder voters are tuning out and staying home. look at these tv ads and the messaging from campaigns across the country. frankly, it's hard to tell whether you're watching an ad from 2010, 2012 or 2014. here's the republicans blasting health care. >> ellsworth voted with nancy pelosi to force seniors into barack obama's government-run health care program. >> obamacare will kill jobs. so why did claire mccaskill cast a deciding vote for obamacare? >> pryor voting with barack obama 95% of the time was the

deciding vote for obamacare. >> meanwhile, democrats are arguing republicans want to end medicare as we know it, just like they did in 2010 and 2012. >> republicans want to end medicare. you heard right. republicans actually voted to abolish medicare. >> the ryan plan, aarp says it would undermine medicare and could lead to higher costs for seniors. >> in the senate, he'll support a plan that ends medicare as we know it, helping insurance companies win big profits while costing seniors more. >> and republicans are firing back with the same old response we've heard from them over the last five years. >> pelosi health care plan, $500 billion in medicare cuts hurting our seniors. >> obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. why? to pay for obamacare. >> hagan's vote for obamacare cut over $700 billion from our medicare. >> you bored yet, huh? democrats are playing up

abortion and contraception in the blue and purple states where they think women voters can make a difference, just like they did in 2010 and 2012. >> which do you believe? what mitt romney's tv ads say about women or what mitt romney himself says. >> do i believe the supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? yes. >> congressman cory gardner's history preventing harsh anti-abortion laws is disturbing. he sponsored a bill to make abortion a felony, including in cases of rape and incest. >> voters should be offended at the lack of originality, the fact these guys have nothing to say and nothing to run on. they'll only have something to run against. ah, the midterms of 2014. joining me now, white house press secretary josh earnest. josh, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, chuck. how are you? >> i'm okay. >> good. >> i want to start with the lawsuit and speaker boehner's decision to do that. do you guys take this lawsuit seriously? >> well, chuck, i think what we take seriously is the fact that

congress is nearing the end of a very pivotal week. they're about to leave on their traditional month-long august recess with their to-do list still full and unacted upon. we're concerned about the fact that congress is voting on a taxpayer-funded lawsuit. but they're not taking action to raise the minimum wage, they're not taking action to guarantee equal pay for equal work, they're not taking action to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that's passed in bipartisan fashion in the senate. let's a lot to see the house republicans focused on that frankly they're ignoring in favor of a lawsuit against the president, who actually is trying to do his job. >> now, republicans are thinking about voting today to try to roll back the president's 2012 executive order that essentially gave amnesty to dreamers, to children of undocumented folks that brought kids over here unbeknownst to them. now the president is thinking about expanding the amount of

folks that are impacted by this amnesty policy. is that still on the table? >> well, chuck, that's still on the table is the fact that the president is willing and looking for ways to step up and do exactly what congressional republicans, i should be specific about this, what congressional republicans have not done. you'll recall that more than a year ago, senate democrats and republicans got together, put forward a comprehensive immigration reform package that's supported by people all across the country but house republicans have blocked it from coming up for a vote. so the question for the president is are we just going to allow the country to be stuck just because congressional republicans are blocking everything or is the president going to use the authority that's vested in the constitution in the executive branch to try and solve some of the problems that congressional republicans won't allow the country to try to address. >> can you explain where he has the authority to do this?

>> chuck, what we're doing right now, the attorney general of the united states and the second of homeland security are actually conducting a review to find out what the law says and what it will allow -- what steps it will allow the president to take. so i don't want to get ahead of their review. they're working on this right now. i'm also not an attorney. >> so basically, if the justice department says, you know what, you can't do what you want to do, which is maybe throw the parents of dreamers into this amnesty policy and sort of expanding it that way, if the justice department says, you know what, that's an overreach, then the president won't do it? >> that's right, chuck. what the justice department is going to say and we know this, what the president really wants to do are all the things included in the legislation that passed in bipartisan fashion through the united states senate that would pass the house of representatives if congressional republicans weren't blocking it. so we already can't do as much as we would like to do. the reason we can't do that is because congressional republicans are blocking it. what the president is going to do is he's asked his attorney general and the secretary of

homeland security to take a careful look at the law and see what is possible. what is it that the president can do using his executive authority within the confines of the law to try to address some of these problems. not just that congress is ignoring but congressional republicans are actively blocking. >> i want to turn now to israel. how would you characterize the relationship between the obama administration and netanyahu government? is it as tight as it's ever been or is there a little bit of friction here? >> well, chuck, what's clear is that the united states and israel are very strong allies. that's been true for generations. it's true to this day. the best evidence of that is the very close cooperation that exists between the united states and israel when it comes to the iron dome program that on a daily basis is protecting innocent israeli civilians from the rocket fire that hamas is firing from palestinian-held territories into communities in israel. that is evidence of the tight relationship and the close coordination that exists between the united states and israel.

now, what's also true is the israeli government talks frequently about the high standards that they maintain for protecting civilians on the palestinian side of the conflict, even as israel is conducting ground offensive operations in palestinian-held territories. what the united states has said and what has been communicated at the highest levels is that we believe the israeli government and the israeli military need to do more to live up to the own standards that they have set for protecting innocent civilians. >> so do more -- let me stop you there. that's the implication -- you're basically implying that they're not setting a high enough standard to protect civilians. is that what you're saying? >> what i'm saying is that they're not doing enough to meet those high standards. these reports that hundreds of innocent palestinian civilians have been killed are tragic. and some of the actions that we've seen, the fact that there was a u.n. facility that we've seen more than one u.n. facility, schools, shelled is tragic.

an it is clear that we need both sides to institute a cease-fire. and that's going to start with hamas ceasing their activities, which is firing rockets at innocent israeli civilians and then on the other side we need to get the israelis to agree that these ground offensive operations should stop. we need to get this cease-fire in place so that we can try to protect some of these innocent lives that right now are caught in that crossfire in a very dangerous way. >> josh earnest, white house press secretary, thanks 230 coming on this morning. >> thank you, chuck. take care. never in modern history have we seen so few law passed by a congress. both sides will weigh in on this dubious distinction. the lawsuit against the president and the last-ditch effort to secure the border. first, israel is calling up 16,000 troops trying to destroy the hamas tunnel network in the gaza strip. we'll have more details from the u.s. ambassador to the united states and he will respond to

what josh earnest just said. before we go to break, today's planner. day four of the mcdonnell corruption trial in itrichmond. plus the president meets with a bipartisan group of members of congress from the national security congressional committees. we'll be right back. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews.

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more than three weeks into the brutal back and forth between israel and hamas began. israel just announced it's having to call up an additional 16,000 reservists to continue its offensive in gaza bringing the total to 86,000 israeli soldiers that are involved in this fight. the death toll in gaza is now over 1300. many of them civilians. 59 israelis have also been killed. israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu said today that israel is committed to completing the mission of hamas' tunnels in the gaza strip. the tunnel mission could for the most part actually be completed by early next week. let's go now to gaza and get the very latest from nbc's ayman mohyeldin. all right, ayman, what do you see on the ground today in the fighting? >> reporter: well, chuck, i'm not sure if you can make the noise out behind me but that is the sound of the israeli navy shelling just off to the right of where we are here. it's been a consistent barrage of some of the shells falling into the northern part of the gaza strip for the better part of the morning. just before we joined you there was also a strike just north of where we are here in a neighborhood not too far away from gaza city in a refugee camp where ten palestinians, including children, were killed. the fighting today still continues. for its part the palestinian militant factions including

hamas and islamic jihad said they were able to fire mortars on israeli positions on the ground inside the gaza strip. there was no reports yet from any casualties on the israeli side, but no doubt about it, the fighting is still very much in full swing from both sides. palestinians, on the other hand, ordinary civilians, still caught up in the middle of all of this, are really struggling to get by on a daily basis. we went out today and saw the same scenes we've been seeing throughout the course of the last several weeks. long lines at gas stations, water tanks, bakeries, people just trying to get by through another day, chuck. >> ayman mohyeldin in gaza for us. thanks very much. now to go to israel and i'm joined by nbc's martin fletcher in tel aviv. martin, you just reported, is this the new mission, is this sort of the end game here, when the tunnels are destroyed, israel is ready for a cease-fire? is that what you're sensing? >> reporter: i think that's the way it seems to be edging. prime minister netanyahu today issued a statement saying that israel will not stop, regardless

of cease-fires, until they have managed to find and destroy all of the hamas network of secret tunnels. that seems to be the way it's going now. the larger claims of the demilitarization of gaza seems to be stopping the tunnels. they have called up 16,000 reserves and that brings a total of 86,000 reserves now called up. the 16,000 were to replace rotating troops so some reservists being brought home. those 16,000 being added to the effort there. i should point out one thing. none of the reservists apart from combat energineers have entered the gaza strip. they're waiting if the ground invasion takes off to a greater extent. certainly you've got all these

families in israel concerned about their sons and daughters. it doesn't compare to what's going on in gaza, but it's a very tense country looking forward to a cease-fire. but 90% of the people behind the government saying ending the tunnel problem before we pull out, chuck. >> all right, martin fletcher in tel aviv for us. martin, thanks very much. i'm joined by israel's ambassador to the united states, ron dermer. nice to see you, ambassador. let me start with, there has been -- so what is the mission? is the mission to demilitaryize hamas once and for all or it's a short-term mission, destroy the tunnels? >> the mission is sustain peace and quiet for the people of israel. remember, israel agreed to a cease-fire before you had the ground operation to take out the tunnels. since then, because hamas rejected that cease-fire, israel then went in after terrorists came out from one of these tunnels and tried to kill a lot of civilians and kidnap other

civilians. we went into gaza with our ground forces and recovered these items. what the prime minister is saying is regardless of whether there's a cease-fire or not, he's going to destroy the tunnels. the need to destroy the tunnels is no different than if we found 10,000 rockets in gaza, we're not going to hand them back to hamas. so the tunnels will be destroyed. you can have a cease-fire sooner but no matter whether there's a cease-fire or not he has to destroy this terror infrastructure that hamas has built up in gaza. >> if the demilitarization of hamas -- it's a hard, not quantitative thing to say you've accomplished doing. by signaling that, that sounded like you guys could be in there for weeks or months. so really the tunnels is the mission. >> no, no, the mission is sustain peace and quiet. i would separate into three different things. one is you have to end the rocket attacks. every time we go for a cease-fire, hamas continues to

fire the rockets and they're continuing to fire the rockets, about 100 a day. so first to ending the rocket attacks. the second is destroy the tunnel that say we found. then there's a third issue, the issue of demilitarization. how do we get an effective one in place. that can happen after a cease-fire. how do we have an effective mechanism in place to make sure that hamas simply doesn't rearm itself and to fuel its military machine so we're not in another conflict with hamas a year or year and a half from now. why are 90% of the israeli republic against the cease-fire? they want to make sure that when it ends, it's going to be quiet and they're not going to be right back here six months to a year from now. >> white house press secretary josh earnest said that he believes that israel is not living up to the high standards that they say you guys set when it comes to avoiding civilian casualti casualties. >> i don't understand what he's talking about.

no country in the world has set a higher standard than israel. i would reminding the white house spokesperson but we have two-thirds of our country in bomb shelters. i would ask him, if 200 million americans were in bomb shelters, would the u.s. use less force than we're using? i think he knows the answer to that and i think hundreds of millions of americans know the answer to that. we have the highest standards of any military in the world at keeping the civilians of the other side out of harm's way. we drop leaflets, make phone calls, sending text messages, tell people to evacuate areas. right now our soldiers are fighting in areas that other countries faced with similar threats would never put their ground forces into. and we are taking great risk to our own soldiers. so we deeply regret any civilian casualties. we don't target them. but hamas embeds itself in these civilian areas, in mosques, in hospitals, in schools. they use all their people as human shields. that's the enemy that we're

fighting. >> have you guys considered setting up a refugee system on the israel side of the border so when you drop these leaflets you say come to the border, come get shelter on israel's side of the border. >> i think there's a lot of complications with doing it on israel's side of the border. there's all sorts of ideas that people have. i can tell you not only do we drop leaflets, we tell them go to point b. i'm not saying it's not difficult. >> it's one thing with a leaflet. we need you to evacuate and we'll help you evacuate. should you take it to that next step. >> so our soldiers are going to accompany them while they're being attacked by hamas fighters. would you want american troops under fire with a civilian population? >> can you do both? some would argue you guys are a great military, that you could do both. >> we have to understand, chuck, who we're dealing with. this is al qaeda. this is israel's al qaeda, that's what hamas is. they are committed to our destruction. they're a genocidal people.

hamas was dancing on 9/11. with thousands of americans dead. the prime minister of hamas condemned the united states. so you're dealing with al qaeda. so ask me, how would you accompany these civilians when al qaeda fighters are actually attacking your troops. so this is very difficult. it's very complicated. we're doing things that no country has done to get civilians out of harm's way. we're not perfect, we make mistakes. we investigate it. it's important to always report the facts. a couple of days ago there was an attack on a hospital in gaza and an attack on a refugee camp. one of your reporters rushed to judgment, said it was an israeli drone. it turns out it wasn't, it was a rocket fired by islamic jihad. four rockets were fired within gaza. one of them went to the sea, one of them hit that hospital, one of them hit a refugee camp, one of them was intercepted by the iron dome. so it's important after you make an allegation, i would just ask you, chuck, and your reporter in gaza, correct the mistake he made. admit this was not israel taking

this action. >> let me ask you one final question when it comes to abbas. what would you like abbas to be doing right now? >> president abbas should be working to advance peace with israel. >> do you feel like he is? >> i think he made a very big mistake three months ago because he reached out and forged an alliance with hamas, with this al qaeda organization. i don't think abbas should ever be in alliance with hamas. i hope when this is all said and done that one of the first things he will do is end the alliance he made with hamas and return to peace negotiations. >> so if he ends an alliance with hamas -- there's always been an issue with a peace deal. on one hand can you deal with abbas if he doesn't speak for all palestinians, particularly in gaza. at the same time, he made the calculation, well, i'll try to speak for everybody but that meant doing a deal for hamas. the democratically elected governing body of gaza. >> the nazis were democratically elected in germany so it doesn't

mean anything. the issue is we had negotiations with abbas before he forged this alliance with hamas. what stopped the negotiations was his decision to reach out to hamas because israel will not negotiate with a party committed to our destruction. we want to make peace with a part of palestinian society committed to peace. we're not going to be able to totally solve the problems in gaza. how do you implement that peace when you have an organization like hamas? there are a lot of problems with it. but the only path is for president abbas to turn his back on hamas and to return to peace negotiations with israel. >> ambassador, i appreciate you coming on. thank you very much. up next, our tdr 50 look at wisconsin. ready for this? why big cheese in the midwest is tangled in a trade spat with europe. wait until you hear this one. first, today's tdr 50 trivia question. how many u.s. senators were censured before joseph mccarthy became the most infamous censured senator? the first person to tweet the correct answer will get the on-air shoutout. the answer and more is coming up in three minutes.

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and you might want to get that pipe fixed. coming up, another major force joins the u.s. and europe to ramp up pressure on vladimir putin. it's a big country in asia. senator chris murphy is also live from the hill to talk about the stepped-up sanctions and a little bit of the gridlock on capitol hill as some last-minute votes with a do-nothing congress dismisses for the summer. ames becomes? i think the numbers speak for themselves. i'm sold! a "selling machine!" ready for you alert, only at lq.com. let's show 'em what a breakfast with whole grain fiber can do. one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate hold the whip, two espressos. make one a double. she's full and focused. [ barista ] i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte,

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well, the big chill between russia and the west is now blowing into asia. the historically tense relationship between japan and russia had been improving over the last two years but that's likely to change today. tokyo is going to follow the lead of the united states and europe and is expected to endorse sanctions on moscow. japan's cabinet may act as soon

as today. in a statement on wednesday, japan, which of course is part of the g-7, and the g-7 leaders said this. they warned president putin that, though, russia still has the opportunity to choose the path of deescalation we remain ready to intensify the costs of its adverse actions. luke oil said it will sell off of its gas stations in ukraine. today international investigators did manage to reach the malaysia airlines crash site for the first time in a week, but get this, according to a new poll from a nongovernmental polling organization based in moscow, only 4% of the russian public believes russia or pro-russian rebels are responsible for the crash. there's your propaganda problem, folks. i'm joined now by connecticut senator chris murphy, a member of the senate foreign relations committee. been to ukraine twice in the past eight months. senator, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning.

>> let me start with this question that the president seemed to take off the table for now and that is providing lethal weapons to ukraine. where are you on this issue? >> so the reason why we've been reluctant to hand over to the ukrainian military complicated weaponry is because we don't think they're capable of using it safely and responsibly and of course the russians don't have the same considerations and there are now 300 deaths because of it. the reality is that the support that the ukrainians are asking us for, and i met with the foreign minister just yesterday, is really on the nonlethal side. their military is extended beyond what they can deal with, so they need logistical support, communications, they need vehicles. those are the kind of things that i think the obama administration should be providing more of. what that conflict doesn't need is more guns and more complicated lethal weaponry that could be used in an irresponsible way by untrained soldiers. >> what do you think, though,

will make putin change his calculus here in the short term? the minute the ukraine military forces started to make progress in eastern ukraine over the russian separatists, what did putin do? he increased support to russian separatists, even apparently, according to u.s. officials, even had russian troops themselves help firing rockets across the border, so it sounds as if you either have to help ukraine win this militarily or hope somehow they survive a year or so until putin decides all these sanctions are so bad that he'll finally change his behavior. >> right, but there is a realtime debate playing out within the kremlin right now. >> do you believe that? >> yeah, i do believe that. and i believe that that debate is going to get even louder with these new european sanctions. i really don't think that over the last five months putin believed that europe would actually move forward with the kind of sanctions that they

announced this week. and so the oligarchs who do command a decent amount of power within that government structure now have the empirical evidence to potentially win an argument with putin. there's another issue here, which is that putin may have gotten to the limit of what he can do militarily in eastern ukraine without marching troops across that border and that's in part why you're seeing these advancements by the ukrainian army. so he's got a decision to make right now. he may have to actually move troops over the border in order to effectuate the situation on the ground and he's got the oligarchs giving him a harder time than ever to be more sensible and limit the damage on the russian economy. i'm not saying putin will change his mind but this is a pivotal moment where he's got enough factors weighing against a change in strategy that there's a shot that something legitimate happens to try to quell the violence in the next few weeks. >> now, you and senator mccain, who have traveled together to

ukraine, are also calling on fifa, the governing body to soccer to pull the world cup from russia right now. it's scheduled to be in russia in 2018. you'd like to see them pull it right now. fifa responded in a statement already saying history has shown somehow that boycotting sporting events are a policy of isolation or confrontation are not the most effective ways to solve problems. so fifa does not seem to be interested in going about this. do you think you can exert more pressure on fifa to do it? >> well, listen, i'm not in the business of necessarily figuring out what's best for international soccer, but the reality is, is that this guy isn't getting any less unstable. and so today it's ukraine, but four years from now, we could be dealing with a crisis in the baltics, for instance, that could be just as bad, if not worse. imagine if the world cup was happening in russia right now. there would be a lot of teams, the united states included that,

would consider withholding their teams from the competition. and so ukraine may not be as big a mess four years from now, but i don't know that putin is going turn around and stop this kind of aggressive behavior in his quest to re-establish control of what he calls the old former soviet empire. i think fifa has to realize that four years from now they could be in a similar mess that would create a huge public relations disaster for international soccer. >> very quickly, can you explain how you guys couldn't find enough senators to show up to confirm the next ambassador to russia? i mean it was sort of embarrassing that we played video of senator menendez at the committee hearing, foreign affairs committee hearing looking around, tilting his head, desperately looking for -- already you guys are considered not doing your job and you guys couldn't find enough senators to show up? what happened? >> it's embarrassing. and the fact is, is that if you want to be serious about a coordinated u.s./european

response, the least you can do is let the russians know that we're going to send a tough ambassador. >> were you there? >> yeah, i was there. yeah, i was there waiting. we eventually got a quorum later that day. listen, there are a lot of meetings happening around the capitol which caused senators to be split between different committee meetings, but this was pretty important and not a great message for the united states congress to be sending russia at a critical moment. >> all right, senator chris murphy, democrat from connecticut who has been spending a lot of time on this issue in ukraine. thanks for coming on this morning. all right. we've got a lot more to talk about on the republican side of the aisle when it comes to what house republicans are doing today. we'll have luke messer here to talk about it. we'll be right back. 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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as you know, congress heads home tonight for a 5 1/2 week recess, but there's still a little bit happening before the mass exodus, the question is will the congress will able to go home after doing -- republican congressman luke messer is the freshman republican class president. i have had you on before, i had you on with democrats, you came here, you wanted a more bipartisan tone. it really looks like a cynical political ploy. >> i think it's anything but that. you can talk to liberal legal comment tate fors who can talk about a rise of the fourth branch of government in america. a branch that makes laws and interprets laws. if the president is not going to -- >> that's been happening for 100 years. you guys are drawing a line now? that's why it seems a little

cynical. >> it's nothing invented by these president. the problem of presidential overreach has been a problem for decades. >> but this isn't about president obama? >> it's not about just this president, it's about the future. frankly i think people who agree with the president and the decisions he's making today allows other future presidents to run rough shod over congress. the president has said so sue me. >> executive action wise, when you look at executive orders, he's actually behind george w. bush, behind bill clinton, on average, he's done fewer than george h.w. bush if you look at it per year. he's not used the executive order nearly as much as other presidents. >> it's not about the executive orders, it's about the kind. many of the decisions they have made around the affordable care act they have done by press

release or by bullet point on a website without any legal precedent. >> precedent is, agencies get wide, they get wide discretion, the courts have ruled that for years, they get wide discretion on how to implement a law. >> we'll have our day in court. >> let's talk about the border bill. does it have the votes? it should have the votes. >> you're voting for it? >> the house will put a vote up today, i believe it will get the 218 votes it needs to pass, it's about $259 million. it won't be everything the president asks, but it will be what he needs to deal with it now. >> a wide gulf is what the senate is going to be looking at. they're going to have a more bipartisan bill that passes. they will have more republicans to support their version, they're not going to have many democrats on this bill. the earlier version had more democratic support. >> we wish we had a bipartisan

bill here, unfortunately t hangup has been that the democrats in the house have locked up on any willingness to consider a change in a 2008 law that helped create this crisis. we'll see what the senate does, it's not, it's apparent to me that the senate is going to pass a bill today. >> you think for sure you guys will? >> i can't guarantee anything in this business. i think we need to pass a bill today. you can't help but be heart broken. we need to take action to try to address it. >> is this a do-nothing congress? >> i wish we could do more. frankly the house has passed bipab bipartisan bills. we need bipartisan support. >> jose diaz-balart. when sales rep steve hatfield books at laquinta.com,

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last-minute deal making. and to put the politics of this immigration crisis in -- risked her life as a child to make that decembsperate journey. this is tuesday, the 31st of july. >> we have periodic gatherings where we sit down in informal discussions, chamber to chamber, enjoy a little pizza. >> so you expect leadership to put dock on this bill? >> there is not a lot of support for the leadership bill. there is