lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo® with other insulins or solutions as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. ask your doctor about toujeo®. a big shakeup in the race for the republican nomination. very good morning to you. thanks for getting up with us this sunday morning. we have some new polls that show, well, one individual, ted cruz, pulling ahead in iowa. is he the new gop front-runner? the new data out this hour that's giving credence to those reported warnings of a contested republican convention. on the democratic side, why did the bernie sanders campaign tell journalists not to ask him about isis. also, three years after sandy hook the fight continues

for significant gun reform in the country. we'll be joined by one of the newtown fathers pushing for change. plus taking care of the people who worked at ground zero. our special panel of lawmakers, doctors and 9/11 first responders fighting for recognition so many years later. we'll be joined by the first turban sikh to play college basketball, to find out how a racist internet miem of him became a rallying cry for tolerance. nbc news and the "wall street journal" releasing the latest poll on the fight for the republican nomination and a huge shift. donald trump has retaken his plate in the lead from ben carson, now at 27%, but just as striking, ted cruz has surged to second place with a gain of 12 points. he's now just five points back from trump. cruz has taken support from ben carson, who has plummeted 18 points from the october survey with marco rubio in third at

15%, up 4. could this be evidence of an emerging three-way race? at the same time we're seeing a major shakeup in iowa. new polling from the des moines register and bloomberg showing a record 20-point gain in iowa. he's taken the lead in the hawkeye state with support of nearly a third of the iowa gop. trump trails cruz by ten points. carson is in third, followed by rubio and bush. trump has sparred with "the des moines register" the entire campaign, excuse me, and had this to say the day before the poll's release. >> "the des moines register" is the worst. they are the worst. the worst. you know, they're dedishonest. every time "the des moines rentalster" does a poll, i always do badly, but i believe, and i may be wrong, in fact i'll say i'm sure i'm wrong, but it's

my opinion that they don't do it properly. >> joining me "washington post" political reporter robert costa, also an nbc news/msnbc political analyst. robert, you've been watching what's happening so closely here at the top, and we got some new numbers for you to now add into your machine here. you've been talking about this contested potential convention, and now we have some new numbers out of iowa, we have the new nbc "wall street journal" poll as well. i want to start in iowa. what do you make of cruz making a really big move here, 21 percentage points? >> richard, what we usually watch in republican politics in terms of fault lines is the establishment of an outsider, a grassroots favorite. this election it's totally different. we're now seeing a battle among the outsiders and the establishment candidates are struggling for political oxygen. you have cruz, carson, trump, all battling in iowa, and nationally, but i think iowa captures what's happening in the

fwop. cruz is on the rise. favorite of conservative. trump a favorite of populist republicans, and carson is hanging around. >> what does it tell you who might be the establishment candidate then? >> it's still very unclear. new hampshire is perhaps the best launching pad for an establishment candidate, kasich, bush, rubio, the establishment has to decide who is its candidate. >> you put the first and second choice numbers and cruz came out over 51%. >> cruz is seen as the right wants to perhaps rally around because he's already an elected official. he has deep roots within the movement so if you're uncomfortable with trump but want a conservative outsider it seems like cruz is your pick. >> you look at jeb and rubio together, their numbers, if those are to be the establishment candidates in iowa looking very, very low. >> iowa is not a place likely for an establishment mainstream

republican to break out. multiple candidates, three, four, five coming out of the early states with delegates t could be a long race. >> i got some of your friends here, robert, i want to bring in our panel at 9:00 a.m. so what's also interesting about this conversation is we have the new numbers coming out of nbc news and the "wall street journal" and we see trump moving ahead in a decisive way, yet it's very different than what we're seeing in iowa for the reasons robert was describing. the thought who might be that individual, who might be the nonevangelical candidate, who might be the establishment candidate as robert is saying. we'll find that out in new hampshire. what is your thought, tara? >> first of all, if donald trump was a televangelist, he would be ted cruz, so ted cruz and donald trump like robert alluded to are very similar creatures. the notion that ted cruz hasn't said the same extreme things that donald trump said is just a false notion.

he said even more extreme things, just that donald trump is getting most of the publicity but i think there's a greater comfort level from many on the right with ted cruz because he is a senator, because he has strong evangelical ties that are consistent. >> because trump now appears more extreme? >> well, i think when you look at the cruz numbers really what you're seeing now possibly is the organization everyone's been talking about. he has a lot of credit over the past few months being better organized than any candidate and even though we talk about trump now surpassing carson in the surveys what you really have is movement by cruz and solidifying behind him. what you'll see now on the other side of the ledger is as you find other candidates dropping out they'll start unifying behind somebody, christie or rubio, kasich or bush, time will tell. that's what you have here. carson's numbers are dropping down, that side of the ledger is moving toward cruz at this point. >> alahei, cruz decided not to engage trump even though trump came out with a very

controversial comment what he said, not many evangelicals coming out of cuba. >> yes, and this is part of the strategy, right, by going after trump the way some of the other candidates have, he's possibly alienating some trump supporters who he's still trying to pick off, and the other interesting thing about this is that trump's supporters include a block of people who are not typically super political engaged. he's attracted and politicized people who aren't as involved at this point in the process, so if something happens to trump, if he drops out, where are those voters going to go? maybe they won't go to anyone. >> politico is reporting that clinton, the campaign chair podesta said in a private fund-raiser on thursday cruz is the likely nominee. if that is true where does the money go, right? as we look at the current energy, it is cruz. on the other side we have some funders sitting on the sidelines, if it's not cruz -- >> i don't think republican donors are taking advice from

podesta at this point. they'll let the chips fall where they may, be behind a cruz or rubio. what podesta says is smoke and mirrors. >> i think podesta raises a good point. ted cruz has been raising a lot of money. he's raised a lot of money and consistently raised a lot of money even when he wasn't polling as high. that's number one. many of the people who were on the sidelines are more moderate republicans, that is exactly why they're on the sidelines because they are uncomfortable with what they're hearing from all of the candidates. there's' why you hear the talk of romney and some coming bark, a resurrection. >> back to robert here, abinteresting part of the des moines poll, where is carson? >> carson struggled on foreign policy. he still has a grassroots network in iowa and pulling a strong percentage of the republican electorate. that's why the debate next tuesday is important for him.

>> what do you think will happen tuesday? will we see a couple leaving the campaign trail after tuesday? >> well if you don't get on that stage if you're senator paul you don't find a way to get a lectern in las vegas it's a long slog between mid-december and the end of january and you have to have the money to survive. you may see some drop off between now and then. >> it's not the win, it's the spin and momentum. carson is on the downward spin but you also have rubio moving up and cruz moving up at the same time. >> thank you all. i appreciate that. "the washington post" robert costa doing some great reporting as usual, thank you, robert. >> thank you. still ahead does bernie sanders want to talk about isis? we'll look at his campaign's message about that topic, but first, three years after sandy hook, the fight for meaningful gun reform continues. we'll be joined by a newtown father pushing for change.

  ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox.

redid you say 97?97! yes. you know, that reminds me of geico's 97% customer satisfaction rating. 97%? helped by geico's fast and friendly claims service. huh... oh yeah, baby. geico's as fast and friendly as it gets. woo! geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more.

today marks one month since the terror attacks in paris and british prime minister david cameron is calling for the european union to enact stricter gun controls there. cameron will lay out his proposals to eu members this week in brussels. he will call for a ban on the trade of high-powered semiautomatic weapons from the western balkans and greater sharing of intelligence among member states. officials say hundreds of military weapons used during the balkans war end up on the black market and many linked recently to attacks including paris. tomorrow marks three years a gunman opened fire on sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut, killing 20 young students and six of their teachers. the anniversary marked this weekend with marches against gun

violence in places like san francisco, denver, boston, amongst many others, in the snow, in the rain, in all that weather. in 2012 only days after the sandy hook shooting president obama traveled to newtown and promised to seek gun reform legislation. >> we can't tolerate this anymo anymore. these trang gedies must end, ano end them, we must change. we will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. no single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. but that can't be an excuse for inaction. surely we can do better than this. >> a handful of states including connecticut have been able to

strengthen their gun safety laws in the years since but in congress, the conversation was and remains a nonstarter. this is a map for you here of all the mass shootings that have taken place in the u.s. in the three years since sandy hook, more than 1,000 of them with more than 1,300 people killed. joining us here is eric, whose two children survived the attack on sandy hook. thanks for being here today. tuesday marks the day. it is the first time that the anniversary falls on a school day and as we listen and we talk about some of the details from three years ago, i cannot help but think how emotional this must be for you. >> actually monday, tomorrow is the third year anniversary, and every year it gets a little easier, and what we've learned those of us who experience this in sandy hook and newtown, the prointerte prospectives of people who survive shootings like column

wi columbine and virginia tech, one of the things they made clear the first year is the hardest, the first anniversary is very difficult, you make it through that and then things come in waves and they're right but every anniversary it gets a little bit easier, although with the san bernardino shooting occurring so close to this one, it really enflamed what was already a sore spot. >> you no doubt have talked to your two children about this topic. how do you talk about it with them and what do they say to you? >> you know, my son asks me the day of the shooting or it was either the day of or the next day, why would someone no matter how angry, no matter how disturbed they were, come in and shoot first graders. i still don't have an answer for him. i did tell him we're the only industrialized country where people no matter how disturbed they are can do this. it doesn't matter how disturbed an individual is. the guns are a factor.

>> and talking about the guns, the unfortunate similarity with san bernardino and sandy hook was ar-15s with used, an assault rifle. as the details come out and you look for solutions, yourself and your state looks for solutions, what has, from your view, been something that gives you hope? >> what gives me hope is that we're still talking about sandy hook three years later. the shock is gone. we've had so many shootings in between, i can't even keep up with them all and something i pay close attention to. you know that you have a problem when you say hey, did you hear about the school shooting and people say "which one?" but at the same time, what's happening is it's no longer the radical pro-gun rights extremists, the people who in the wake of a shooting will call their senator or their congressional representative ten times. now people before who never owned guns, never cared about guns are saying what can i do to help? social media has been a powerful force. i'm connected with folks like

andy parker whose daughter alison was killed on air, connected with folks like richard martinez. we are people bound by tragedy but coming together to say hey i thought this couldn't or wouldn't happen to me. every other community in the united states, you better have a disaster plan in place for something like this happens, what you're going to do. >> o'brien, as you watch congress what do you think might be a better way to move forward, because as i was mentioning the polarity that exists right now. >> the first thing it addresses these are tragedies and never should happen in our country or any other country. especially mentioning first graders and so forth, and every incident is extremely different, but there is a common bond and i think it's mental illness at this point, which has been sorely addressed pi any government state or federal. it needs to be fixed and marco rubio said -- >> conhas done a pretty good job in terms of comparison to other states moving forward and addressing the health care system, at least those watching

this space. >> andrew cuomo's answer, get seven round instead of ten round clips. it's a bumper sticker. the laws they talk about passing right now would not have done anything in the tragedies. marco rubio said that and "the washington post" verified what he said when they looked at each of the incidents and what the laws are being proposed, so we need to take a broader look at this and again, if we addressed the mental illness in this country and what's not being done that's the major first step at this point. >> tara? >> i have to disagree with that, because when you look at mental illness, yes, is there a problem with mental illness in this country and people receiving the treatment that they need, that is true. but too say someone committed one of the acts they're mentally ill, yes a xwree certainly we need to do more to help people but we don't want to sigma advertise people who are mentally ill to say they will be violent. the issue is when you look at what's happening there is a blatant attempt in this country

by the nra, by its supporters to stop, to basically freeze any policy, any initiative that looks to address this issue, and when you look at there are things that can be done to the point where people say that they can't. >> connecticut. >> exactly. domestic violence is a precursor for violent crime. many men who get guns initially are able to keep the guns, that is something that could have saved many lives. >> final word to eric here and tara was bringing up the nra and saying they almost seem like they cannot be addressed in terms of their concerns, what is your view in terms of how that possibility may have evolved over recent years. >> if you look at gabby gifford's political action committee and the nra is over 100 years old. gabby gifford's political action committee is probably four years old, five years old at that. if you look at the amount of

money to raise to counterspend against the nra on congressional lobbying the nra is very scared and that's why they oppose universal background checks, they oppose any common sense legislation because any of the things it makes it more difficult for that black market to exist, and they thrive on those black market profits. >> eric, thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with us your feelings on the topic, eric milgram from newtown action committee, if i've got that correct. >> newtown action alliance. >> thank you so much. still ahead, new details of the fire bombing on a moss income southern california. what we know about the attack being called a hate crime. is this a single issue election? and is bernie sanders avoiding that issue? plaque psoriasis... ...isn't it time to let the... ...real you shine... ...through? introducing otezla, apremilast.

otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase... ...the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression... ...or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your doctor about otezla today. otezla. show more of you.

you can't breathed. through your nose. suddenly, you're a mouthbreather. a mouthbreather! how can anyone sleep like that? well, just put on a breathe right strip and pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. so you can breathe and sleep. shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right

some of these experimentse're notmay not work.il. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel... ...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today. ideas exxonmobil scientists are working on to make energy go further... ...no matter how many tries it takes. energy lives here. what about isis guy guys? how often are these guys talking

about the issue i'll talk about today? of course i'll talk about isis but today we're talking about is a community in which half of the people don't have jobs, we're talking about a community in which there are hundreds of buildings that are uninhabitable. >> that was bernie sanders in baltimore last week, sort of taking a question from a reporter about isis that question in response to a directive to reporters from his campaign spokesman not to ask the vermont senator about the islamic state. sanders has avoided taking, talking about terrorism, an issue that dominated the campaign trail in the wake of attacks in paris and san bernardino. new poll shows terrorism is now the number one priority to americans even over the economy and that's a dramatic change from just one month ago as you can see there. while hillary clinton's campaign is reportedly confident this will benefit her a new survey found concerns over a major attack in the u.s. has not

increased nearly as much for democrats as for republicans. now we get to the sanders message in a race that has become a singlish eye election then. let's listen to what he has to say. all right, let's get back to our panel, and as we look at sanders, and his campaign staffers reportedly saying don't ask him about isis, this is perhaps similar to ben carson, and his dynamic, will this hurt as we look at bernie sanders his initial forayes and especially because new hampshire is so important to him? >> i think there is a distinction here between bernie sanders and ben carson on this issue in particular. i believe a month or two ago sanders articulated some sort of plan that he would enact to address isis and kind of tracks more with president obama but the distinction here is that bernie sanders has been consistent over decades in his political career that he wants

to focus on domestic issues when it comes to foreign policy, his stance has always been for the most part anti-interventionist versus being a hawk, right, and he believes that this money spent on defense spending and on fighting foreign wars could be better spent at home and he's kind of articulating that sentiment. the question will be is whether these concerns over terrorism remain consistent throughout the election cycle, if people continue to be as worried about another terrorist attack, the poll numbers you showed that's the highest since the wake of 9/11. >> while the answer might be yes because the economy at the moment is second but we're looking at low employment numbers, the dow is not diving, so if it remains to be this issue, will he get ben carsoned as we saw in des moines on the numbers here because ben carson had the appearance of not being able to handle such an issue. >> chuck todd does this on "meet the press" sundays he takes the numbers and issues that comes up. one of the weekends he did the

debate and what words mentioned. national defense and national security has always been a major issue for republicans, less so for democrats. i think that's one reason bernie is avoiding it. he's going against the secretary of state who has international experience and international tral. we'll blame her for it. the he won't blame hillary clinton for her e-mails. he will not engage and attack her. when the issue comes up i don't see any way can he win that argument against hillary clinton. >> there was reportedly an ad put out by the sanders campaign critical of hillary clinton here, tara, but what happened is it was pulled at the last moment, aiming or looking at where is the money coming from for hillary clinton? >> i think senator sand erers a to your point has been consistent. >> not throwing punches? >> yes he said specifically he does not want to engage in sort of a dirty attack campaign, that he wants to focus on what he cares about, that is the

economy, that's his message. remember, sanders is running in the democratic primary, and you saw the distinction in that poll between how democrats feel about national security versus republicans. republicans are far, it's a far bigger issue for republicans. for democrats, the economic issues still are very important, so i think that bernie sanders' strategy isn't necessarily a bad one. he's gotten this far by being himself. this is bernie sanders being himself. >> all right, i thank our panel today. thank you, tara, o'brien and alahei, i appreciate your time and being with us this morning. still ahead, how long will 9/11 first responders be able to count on receiving health benefits from the federal government, and next the internet wanted to use his basketball picture to send a message of hate. what happened after is inspiring. thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. so we asked them... are you completely prepared for retirement? okay, mostly prepared?

could you save 1% more of your income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now, could make a big difference over time. i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it, it helps in the long run. prudential bring your challenges karl, don't you have fryeah, so? ng over? it stinks in here. you've got to wash this whole room are you kidding? wash it? let's wash it with febreze. for all the things you can't wash, use... ...febreze fabric refresher whoa hey mrs. webber inhales hey, it smells nice in here and try pluggable febreze... ...to continuously eliminate odors for... ...up to 45 days of freshness pluggable febreze and fabric refresher... ...[inhale + exhale mnemonic]... ... , two more ways to breathe happy

ok, wehere's dad. mom. the twins. aunt alice... you didn't tell me aunt alice was coming. of course. don't forget grandpa. can the test drive be over now? maybe just head back to the dealership? don't you want to meet my family? yep, totally. it's practically yours, but we still need your signature. the volkswagen sign then drive event. zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on a new jetta and other select models. following developments out in california police made an arrest in the fire bombing of a mosque 75 miles outside of san

bernardino. 23-year-old is charged with a hate crime in connection with the bombing of an islamic center in coachella, california, friday afternoon. investigators have not announced a motive. his father tells nbc news his son was a loner who might be suffering from a mental ailment and might be consumed by what he was reading. to a history-making ncaa basketball player who became the subject of a racist anti-muslim internet meim. the viral meim on facebook and twitter feetds, the caption rea "nobody at school wants to guard muhammad. he's too explosive." the probable intimation, muslim means terrorist attacks. as it turns out, this player, this ncaa player is not even muslim. he's sikh. his name is not muhammad.

it's darsing. many were outraged including a friend of singh's. greg worthington wrote "people need to understand this stuff hurts people. you might think it's funny but that's mainly because you don't know the guy. perhaps if you did, then you would see this differently." worthington explained not only was darsh cocaptain of the trinity university basketball team, the post has almost 40,000 likes as a result. in addition, worthington says his jersey currently hangs in the smithsonian. he, darsing was the first turban sikh ever to play in the ncaa. the miem to support darsing in worthington's view, the hashtag be like darsh. joining us from dallas, texas, darsh singh. when you first heard about this post, you dismissed it i heard and if you did, why did you dismiss it at the start? >> well, as a sikh and american

i believe love is the most powerful force in the world, and this story reinforced that for me. you know, this person who posted the miem didn't know me and posted out of ignorance. it doesn't say anything to me and my character but i was moved by greg's action. he was compelled by his christian values of radical love and wanted to speak out against hate and he spoke out on facebook and what was amazing to me is, it went viral, his love went viral by one person acting, so many other people wanted to express love whether it's because of their faith, their values or just human decency, whatever it was, they were compelled to do so. that is inspirational to me. >> inspirational, you wrote in an op-ed in "the dallas morning news" many things, one of which is this, hope. the response, close to 40,000 likes to his comments, and as well as can't count how many comments coming out in support

of you. what does that tell you about the way people understand what is now unfortunately trending islamaphobia but as well as what it means to be sikh and to have a sikh way of life, because those are different. >> right, billion in the sikh tradition, we believe that every individual has the potential to embody divine love, and what this showed me was, i think people are recognizing that there are no bystanders when you see hate violence. hate, and when you reach out to people and connect with them, it means something. silence in the face of prejudice is an act of hate, and so a lot of people are recognizing that and they're speaking up and that's what's really so meaningful to me, they've gotten so many messages, this is the good news, people reaching out and saying in the past i've seen things, i've been silent, i pledge to you i'm going to speak up from now on. that's really powerful to me. >> darsh that's powerful and also inspirational as you're saying, that is the good news.

the bad news might be some of the comments that you've heard recently from donald trump and other public figures that are potentially here fueling a wave of as was mentioned earlier, islamaphobia and this is what will affect you personally and saldef, the sikh american legal defense education fund their report shows half of the public associate the turban, which you are wearing with islam and they believe, reading straight from the report here that sikhism is a sect of islam. you were saying silence should not be used. how might you work towards alleviating that misperception? >> well, you're absolutely right. when we hear this increase of rhetoric of hate on the air waves, it results in hate on the ground, right? we're seeing houses of worship being vandalized, bombed, we're seeing people being bullied, seeing folks being beaten up.

this is not the america that i grew up in. i was born and bred here in texas. this is not the america i love. it really breaks my heart, there's a story of a young sixth grader in new york who had her hijab ripped off, beaten up in the play ground, people calling her isis. it breaks my heart to see that. what values are we imparting when we have the rhetoric floating around? my humble request to my fellow americans is to recognize that hate comes from fear and ignorance and it's the ideology of terrorism, and we have to combat that. those who are truly faithful and those who really care about each other as americans have to step up and say if i believe in love, if i believe in compassion, i have to live into it, right? i have to take my thoughts and move it into words and move it action and that's what we can do to build a more resilient community. >> i look forward to what you might be doing as a history making ncaa basketball player, no doubt i'm looking forward to

seeing what other history you might be making on this very issue you're pushing forward today. thank you for stopping by and talking about this topic. >> thanks to you, love you, too. still ahead an update on yesterday's historical locations in saudi arabia. next 9/11 first responders make a final push for health benefits as a congressional deadline looms. if you have high blood pressure like i do, many cold medicines may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp. it relieves cold symptoms without raising blood pressure.

so look for powerful cold medicine with a heart. coricidin® hbp. put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture every day. this holiday, i can count on my going off list.again, and knowing right when my packages arrive. so that's two things. introducing real time delivery notifications. sign up at myusps.com just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. no matter who shows up. do you like nuts? for called "squamous adnon-small cell",er previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy,

it's not every day something this big comes along. a chance to live longer with... opdivo, nivolumab. opdivo is the first and only immunotherapy fda approved based on a clinical trial demonstrating longer life... ...for these patients. in fact, opdivo significantly increased the chance of living longer versus chemotherapy. opdivo is different. it works with your immune system. opdivo can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. this may happen any time during or after treatment has ended, and may become serious and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you experience new or worsening cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; diarrhea; severe stomach pain or tenderness; severe nausea or vomiting; loss of appetite;... ...swollen ankles; extreme fatigue; constipation; rash; or muscle or joint pain, as this may keep these problems from becoming more serious.

these are not all the possible side effects of opdivo. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions including immune system problems or if you've had an organ transplant, or lung, breathing or liver problems. a chance to live longer. ask your doctor if opdivo is right for you. bristol-myers squibb thanks the patients and physicians who participated in the opdivo clinical trial. we have gone eight christmases without federal assistance. we have gone eight years not knowing what the following year would bring to us on new year's. you can have rest and peace of mind knowing that help is on its way in 2011, and to me that's better than opening any christmas present this year. >> john feel, former ground zero demolition supervisor speaking after the act passed in december

2010. five years later as congress prepares to wrap up legislative session medication compensation hinge on one piece of unfinished business, the zedroga act established the world trade center health program offering for survivors, first responders and those who responded to the pentagon crash site and shanksville, pennsylvania. there are more than 72,000 patients enrolled in the world trade center health program. this fall the zadroga act expired. house speaker paul ryan saying this week the zadroga act will be renewed as part of a comprehensive spending bill and after weeks of criticism from jon stewart, mitch mcconnell assured the legislation would be approved in the omni bus bill.

carolyn maloney, john feel, a demolition supervisor at ground zero, dr. michael crane, director of the world trade center program at mt. sinai hospital in new york. congresswoman how does it look? do you believe that this will go through? one of your colleagues, pete king, saying yes this will work. this is going to happen. >> well, we have momentum and it's not over 'til it's over and the president signs it into law but it looks very good that the $8.1 billion health and compensation program will be part of the omnibus must pass bill, $3.5 billion for a permanent health care program which is so very important, the cancers are not going to go away. the men are sick. we need to be there for them, and then we have the rest of the money will be for the compensation program that will expire in 2021. >> is it enough? >> it is enough. it is what we agreed to. it's what we believe we need,

and we would like permanent compensation but be back in five years for that but the heroes should not have to go home for the holidays without their health care and knowing that they have it. they were there for us, this grateful nation has to be there for them. >> john feel, we were playing what you had said five years ago, and clearly this is an emotional issue for you and to your heart. you were there. with this now and it looks like based on what the representative was telling us, it looks like it may happen, but there's still the possibility before the president signs this that it may not. >> yes, sure, listen. the fat lady didn't sing yet but she's warming up. five years ago we knew we would be here today. we're not shocked, not surprised and we're not taken back by what congress has done over the last year to stall this bill. our bill is the sexiest bill in congress and everybody wants to attach themselves to it, democrats knew this was a must pass bill, republicans knew it was a must pass bill and used it as a political football and

every time we got to the 1 yard line they continued to move the goal post back but we're inches away, but anything can happen, so we're not taking anything for granted. >> what would you say to congress? >> shame on you for playing politics with human life. >> it's a national scandal that it hasn't passed and it was allowed to expire. >> doctor, to you on this. you understand the program, you understand why the money is needed. and we can certainly see that there's a little bit of concern about how this was used. has this affected at all your level of service, the way you're planning for service to those who need the help? >> thankfully not yet. i tend to be an optimist about these things. i think that the right thing will happen, which is to take care of these folks, take care of their illnesses and bring this bill forward and get it done. >> john feal, what are you hearing from all of those who you know? you talk to them every day, who were there, part of the group that i was discussing, that would benefit from this bill,

what are they telling you? >> well, listen, there is e he cloud of uncertainty in the 9/11 community and cloud of uncertainty those who work under dr. crane. how urinic the doctors that fight to keep us alive and treat us, we're fighting to keep their jobs. we're paying them back by continuing to go to d.c., and great champions like carol maloney and kirsten gillibrand. we're close but not popping the cork yet. we still have to monitor over the next 72, 96 hours but we're in a better place than we were last week and that's reassuring. >> representative, i want to go to the doctor quickly, what sort of patients are you seeing, what are some of the afflictions? >> at the beginning early on we saw the patients who had the sort of inflammatory irritative conditions, sinusitis, asthma, irritation of the stomach, but now we're in a real chronic disease phase. we're seeing many more people with cancer.

i'm at mt. sinai and we have 22,000 patients and i'm over 1,000 of them are now experiencing cancer. so this is now a far more ill population than those healthy folks. >> getting sicker and sicker. >> absolutely. and age also taking its toll. there were 39 at the time of world trade. er this in their mid-50s now so the normal things are happening but all that exposure is probably making every single normal thing that happens to a person worse. and the greatest worry of course is the cancer, but also significant mental health conditions, similar to what the afghan war veterans have. >> john feal, how many friends have you lost? >> i've been to 149 funerals, each one gets harder. >> we lost almost 3,000 people on 9/11, but we've lost hundreds and hundreds since, more police officers have died since 9/11 from exposure to the toxic air than died on 9/11, so this is a

serious and important bill and we are saying no more excuses, no more delays, no more political games. it's time to pass this bill, and turn it into a law that provides support to people for their life, for their health care. it's the least that we can do for those who ran into fire while others were running out, and i'm wearing a hero's jacket tonight, a present from the firefighters and officers and we are hopeful, you have to be hopeful. the leaders have said they're going to get it done. i trust they'll get it done. it's the right thing to do. >> right. >> it's the patriotic thing to do, it's the american thing to do. >> that's right, and no doubt the police detective from the new york police department, zadroga would be glad to hear what all three of you said today. good luck >> thank you for having us. >> thank you, doctor, for your time today. we want to update you on a story we brought you yesterday.

at least three saudi women have won seats on municipal councils. yesterday's elections were the first in the country's history in which women could run for office and the first time that women could vote. time that women could vote. at this point we can tell you that nearly 1,000 women were competing for 2,100 seats. there were 7,000 candidates all together. election officials are still counting ballots in many races. stay with msnbc and msnbc.com throughout the day for more on that. we'll be right back.

there's something out there. that can be serious, even fatal to infants. it's whooping cough, and people can spread it without knowing it. understand the danger your new grandchild faces. talk to your doctor or pharmacist about a whooping cough vaccination today. the way i see it, you have two choices; the easy way or the hard way. you could choose a card that limits where you earn bonus cash back. or, you could make things easier on yourself. that's right, the quicksilver card from capital one.

with quicksilver you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. so, let's try this again. what's in your wallet?

a sex trafficking ring has been busted in peru. authorities believe an american citizen is at the center of it. 65-year-old new hampshire res. dent joshua brown was arrested along with five others as part of a joint u.s.-reprievian operation to get to the heart of a child sex trafficking ring that authorities say has been operating in the country for the past decade. police were able to rescue 11 victims. the youngest being 4 years old.

joining me to talk about this case from washington is bradley miles, chief executive officer of a nonprofit organization combating modern day slavery and human trafficking as well. when we talk about sex tourism, which is what this case is about, it is a term that many of us are not familiar with. how big of a problem is this and what is it? >> well, it's a disgusting term. it's the concept of somebody traveling to another country, especially when you refer to child sex tourism, it should be referred to as child abuse and rape. they travel to another country because they believe they can splat childr exploit children with sex tourists. >> in this detail coming from i.c.e., they say 1 of those 11 minors was 4 years old and being sold for $7,000 to have sex with

an adult. are we talking about americans as part of the potential customers of this sex tourism industry? >> well, we need to learn more about it as this case unfolds who all the customers were. when we hear about sex tourism and child sex tourism around the world, we do hear about americans traveling abroad to places like cambodia, the philippines, here in this case in this example in peru. people traveling to other countries to have sex with children in those other countries. it is the reason why the u.s. passed this act called the protect act, which is specifically to address you travel to another country to exploit a child, you can be prosecuted in the u.s. for that crime. it sounds like that's what was happening here. >> when i was doing a story out of southeast asia, that was exactly what they were doing, they were traveling to other countries to try to skirt laws. >> absolutely. they think that in the other country there might not be as strong of a law enforcement response, they think there might not be a strong victim service

response. it is the reason you got to think about why do trafficking do this? they're always thinking about profit and risk and what is the blend between profit and risk? is it high profit enough and is it low risk enough. when you have a case like this alleged case, you've got someone who believed i can make high profits in this country selling this service for low risk. >> so 30 seconds here, brad. this is an american operation that's trying to stop this. how successful are we? >> well, i'm glad to see this take-down happened. this case is allegedly happening for ten years so this is progress. this is a step forward. but there is so much more to do. this is a great international cooperation here between i.c.e. and the peruvian national police and peruvian attorney general's office and child victim services. we need to change that equation of addressing profit and risk and we haven't gotten quite there yet. >> thank you so much for joining us on this sunday morning. thank you for getting up with us today on this sunday. up next, melissa

harris-perry. see you next weekend, have a great week. . ...isn't it time to let the... ...real you shine... ...through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase... ...the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression... ...or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your doctor about otezla today.

otezla. show more of you. oh no... (under his breath) hey man! hey peter. (unenthusiastic) oh... ha ha ha! joanne? is that you? it's me... you don't look a day over 70. am i right? jingle jingle. if you're peter pan, you stay young forever. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. ♪ you make me feel so young... it's what you do. ♪ you make me feel ♪ so spring has sprung.

our cosmetics line was a hit. the orders were rushing in. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding fast. building 18 homes in 4 ½ months? that was a leap. but i knew i could rely on american express to help me buy those building materials. amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. our amex helped us fill the orders. just like that. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com ♪ (vo) some call it giving back. we call it share the love. during our share the love event, get a new subaru, and we'll donate $250 to those in need. bringing our total donations to over sixty-five million dollars. and bringing love where it's needed most.

love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. this morning, my question -- what happens next in a galaxy far, far away? plus, stay mad, abby. and and a brand-new nbc news poll shows big moves in the gop field. but first, the verdict -- guilty. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry and we begin this morning with the conviction of former officer daniel holtzclaw. he is the 29-year-old former oklahoma city police officer who on thursday was found guilty of sexual assault against eight women. holtzclaw stood accused by 13 women. all of them african-american and one of them just 17 years