you know, just playing the game and then ultimately, there's cheating or complete reneging. we are determined, i am determined to try to find if there is a different formula. >> this hour, andrea's one-on-one interview with john kerry. plus -- >> we have a legal immigration system that does not work. it does not reflect the economic needs of this country in the 21st century. it needs to be modernized and our agreement will do that. >> nbc news has learned that the gang of eight is still tying up loose ends on the immigration bill. but after marco rubio's sunday show, blitz, it looks like a bipartisan deal just might happen. getting to 60 isn't going to be as easy on guns. with senator scrambles to count votes on the manchin/toomey background check compromise. and the republican-controlled house of representatives. >> is this bill what we wanted? no, no, is it what the nra

wanted? no. but does it at least help in some small way? >> no. probably not. it doesn't. >> good day, i'm chris cillizza, live in washington, where the next step for gun legislation is a senate numbers game. nbc news political unit has confirmed that the majority support for the background check amendment that will be offered by toomey and manchin. but the bill is still short of the 60 votes it would need to be added to the larger package. joining me for our daily fix, is nbc capitol hill correspondent, kelly o'donnell. kelly o, give us the timing. this is the first amendment that will be offered. give us some sense of the timing of it and where this sort of head-counting stands on the vote. >> yes you need a spread sheet or a calculator today to keep things going. what we expect is when the senate is back at 2:00, they may spend part of the afternoon talking about some of the substantive issues within the bill.

you'll be seeing senators manchin and toomey whose names are now totally associated with the expanded background checks measure. available on the senate floor to talk to their colleagues, to try to proverbially twist arms. we expect a vote will come wednesday. so what it really falls down to, chris, are a very small number of senators who are considered on the fence. and we know that the majority of democrats are in favor of this, the majority of republicans are not. and there are a few senators who are not yet disclosing which way they will go they're studying it, they're reviewing it, they have different political circumstances as well. that could shape this. but it is a critical 48 hours for this measure. >> i want to talk about you because i think most people have made their minds up. we've got kay hagen for north carolina. saying she would vote for toomey/man shinn. but there are a hand full of folks, let's show some of their names. i want you to talk about the

politics that go on here. on the democratic side, mary lan droou undecided. max baucus undecided. heidi heitkamp undecided. dean helder of nevada, jeff flake and retiring georgia senator saxby chambliss. i want to focus on the democrats here, kelly, because this is something that president obama has made a big priority. mary landrieu, heidi heitkamp, up for re-election in 2014. >> not heidi heitkamp. >> yes, baucus and landrieu. >> for baucus, his fellow state senator was just re-elected, a democrat as well. but montana is gun country there are many people strong advocates for the strongest gun protections for gun owners there. so he is one to watch. max baucus. will he be a no, will he be a yes? he surprised us a bit by voting yes to begin the debate. that's a very different calculus

than voting on the measure itself. heidi heitkamp is from north dakota, similar circumstances there. and when you've got mary landrieu, louisiana, her fellow representative of louisiana, david vitter, a republican, so sometimes it's what happens with how voters in a state will judge the two senators who represent them. when they're both from the same party, it can be easier if they cover each other. if they are of different parties in landrieu is in that case, it makes a stark difference for voters. and senators don't go up against each other. but they often will use votes when they face their next opponent of their colleague to be a way to explain how they voted. that's a common practice here. so a key one to watch under that is if john tester is a yes, what will max baucus do? will he break with his fellow montanans? >> political cover, thanks for taking the time. >> you bet. in the streets of pyongyang today, north koreans marked the start of a three-day national holiday celebrating the birthday

of north korea's first leader, kim il sung. the latest display of patriotic fervor comes as analysts wonder whether the north's leader will seize the moment to make good on threats of a nuclear launch. nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel is in seoul. so far, a quiet day. given me the latest on what happened. >> well i think what's important is what didn't happen so much. there was no major military parade. there has been so far no test firing of a missile. a missile that nobody thought would be armed with nuclear weapons. a missile that people thought would just splash into the sea. even that hasn't happened. and north korean leaders didn't use this occasion to make more bombastic threats about turning the sea into fire or attacking the united states. instead, it was a celebration in pyongyang, people brought flowers, they went to the giant statues of past north korean

leaders. and it went off pretty much without a hitch. now the question here is, is this a sign that north korea wants to deescalate the situation? that they are interested in taking stock of the last few weeks and seeing if they can go forward? and north korea is very much interested in having direct negotiations with the united states. that is something they have long wanted to do. they don't want to have their negotiations filtered through south korea, which they believe is just a client state of washington. they want to talk directly to the source and see if they can get recognition as a nuclear power. and also get food aid, get economic aid and improve their isolation and economic situation. >> richard, i just quickly, i want to follow up. we've been talking about the story, it feels like we're at the point of high readiness and have been for a while. should we read anything into the fact that we've been at this

point and nothing at least to date so far has happened? or not? >> it's hard to read intentions. particularly when you're talking about north korea. and they could defendant fire the missiles as soon as the light comes up here in just a few hours. that is again, a possibility. but even if they do that, and a rocket or two splash into the sea. that could end the current tension and maybe north korea believes it's better to prolong the tensions, to keep that in their back pocket so to speak and see if they can extract some concessions from washington. to get washington to the negotiating table. that seems to be what they have accomplished. on the plus side, if you're looking what north korea thinks it accomplished over the last couple of weeks. it has certainly put itself at the front of the news agenda. it is getting washington to talk about it, talking about

negotiations. on the minus side it may have gone too far and agitated and annoyed china. which is its big patron and you could also see north korea right now, backing down a little bit because there have been some not very strong statements, but almost any statement about north korea coming from china is perceived to be one that is serious and china has made it clear, it does not want to see further military escalation on the korean peninsula. >> nbc's richard engel live in seoul. secretary of state john kerry is heading back to the united states. andrea mitchell interviewed him earlier today about a shift in north korea. >> there's clearly a policy shift in the administration's thinking as the administration talks for the first time about direct talks with north korea. i sat down with john kerry in tokyo before he left for the u.s., about the administration's policy. mr. secretary, thanks for joining us today. you have now opened the door to

north korea for direct talks, if pyongyang as we've said before, stops testing nuclear weapons, stops threatening its neighbors. what makes you think that they would take that step? >> well first ever all, i haven't opened the door. the door has been opened. those conditions are known, they're the conditions of our government, with respect to the requirements that they indicate they're living up to the obligations that they have assumed. but i think it's important that they know we're prepared to do that. i think there's been so much rhetoric and so much intensity to the missiles and to the confrontation that sometimes the message gets lost. i think it never hurts to reinforce that a nation is prepared under the right circumstances when conditions are met, to have an appropriate negotiation. >> your friend, john mccain, has said that every time different administrations negotiate with north korea, that they take our money, they take our fuel and then they go ahead and cheat.

so why wouldn't that happen again? why would we trust them? >> john is absolutely correct. that has been the pattern. i have raised that issue with the chinese, i raised it this morning with the prime minister abe. how do we make this different? what is it that is going do make this different because we don't want do go through the same cycle. we don't want to simply repeat history and there has been a history of you know, just playing this game and then ultimately, there's cheating or a complete reneging. we are determined, i am determined to try to find if there is a different formula. and that is, that is a conversation that i specifically had with the chinese. >> it's clear that the chinese want the u.s. to be less aggressive. less confrontational. they're concerned about the missile defenses, they're concerned about the b-2s and the f-22s, shoet of force thats with deliberately aim dodd reinforce the show of strength to our

allies in south korea and japan. >> i think it was very important that the united states make clear to not just the north koreans, that there were conventions fconsequences for their action, but to reaffirm to the allies that the security agreements will uphold and i think it's important to focus the chinese to the fact that if they're not prepared to put the pressure on the north and they have the greatest impact on the north, then this can become more destabilizing. and that instability is not in china's interest certainly. it's not in anybody's interest in the region. if wub goes to obld operate accord lgd to what's in everybody's interest, china needs to be more engaged in the effort. >> china did not celebrate the national day in north korea. that's a signal.

but what more do you want to see? what do you want to see that's real that means money. that means pressure? what do you want do see china do? >> i think, andrea, china has a lot of options and i'm not going to -- go through each of the things that i think china ought to do or can do. i think those are on the table, we're having those discussions. but it is obviously that china is the lifeline for north korea. everybody knows that china provides the vast majority of the fuel to north korea. china is their biggest training partner. their biggest food donor and so forth. so china has the ability here. china also has an interest in not -- you know, creating chaos and instability through whatever steps they take. we understand that. our hope is that a reasonable engagement by china can change the calculation of the north and then you actually have a difference in the way this is approached. but prime minister abe was clear

today, that he believes that unless china is ready to exert pressure, and the rest of the world exert pressure, that is going to be hard to change the north's behavior. so far as we sit here in tokyo, there has been no missile launch. you don't know what's going to happen. what does it mean if he does launch a missile or do some other provocative act. >> let me reverse that. so far today, and we are only halfway through the day, there hasn't been an issue. and my hope is that there won't be because that would mean perhaps we're turning a corner and there's a possibility of moving in a better direction. everybody understands the negative side of what happens if there is a shoot. and my hope is, that we can move in a different direction here.

china, i think, is serious about this. they understand the instability this is creating. certainly not in their interest or anybody else's interest. >> while there's no sign that north korea would accept the u.s. offer and there's going to be a lot of criticism on those who think that the administration would be too soft on pyongyang, this clearly a departure and a sign of new policy shifts to come. chris? >> we'll have more of andrea's one-on-one interview with secretary kerry coming up. including whether the u.s. might send a special envoy to north korea. plus, democratic party chairwoman debby wasserman-schultz will be here next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ woman ] i take one prevacid 24 hr for frequent heartburn

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the gun debate is raging right now in the senate. but any legislation that clears

the 60-vote threshold there may have a tough time grabbing majority support in the house. florida congresswoman debby wasserman-schultz chairs the national democratic committee. i want to ask you first, we have spent a lot of time talking about the senate and can they get 60 votes on the toomey/manchin proposal. it seems like we looking at slim margins if it passes at all in the senate on the gun bill. what does that mean for its chances of passing a republican-controlled house? >> i think any member of congress, in either the house or the senate needs to do a gut-check here on this issue. i mean after tucson, aurora, newtown, you have really, thousands and thousands of deaths due to shootings every year. it's become a 90/10 issue. 90% of americans, more than that really, simply want us to be

able to make sure that if you want to purchase a gun in this country, you have to go through a background check. and there are also many people, a majority, and even a majority of nra members, that think we should not allow sales of magazine clips that have more than ten rounds in them. and some, a majority supported an assault weapons ban. on background checks, it's 90-10, and every member needs to decide whether they care more about standing up for the nra and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers. or standing up to the families whose hearts are broken and preventing more broken hearts through the years. >> i want to ask you, the mentioned the words "gut check" for this vote. i know your friend and former arizona congresswoman, gabrielle giffords, will be on capitol hill this week, personally lobbying senators. can you tell me i feel like everything is political in washington. and in politics generally. but is this a personal vote?

and given that, can gabrielle giffords make a difference with a personal appeal. someone who has obviously been drastically affected by gun violence? >> i remember when gabby came on the floor for the first time during the debt ceiling deal and you know, we were in a very polarized state of mind then. it was a very tough situation and gabby's presence melted a lot of frozen hearts on the house floor. and given that we've had someone so close to us affected directly by gun violence, hopefully you know, if there's anybody that can impact a frozen republican heart, gabby can. i think also, it's important to note, chris, that tomorrow we will dedicate the zimmerman room in honor of gabby's staffer who was the first staffer killed in the line of duty who was killed during the tucson shooting and we'll dedicate that room in the capital visitors' center tomorrow. >> we have seen, some of the newtown victims' families,

obviously having an effect, 16 republicans crossing over cloture to start the debate. the emotional appeal on this issue at least right now is paying political dividends. >> it's just common sense. >> yes, ma'am. >> this is beyond emotion, it's common-sense. >> okay, i want to switch to immigration. a topic important to you as a congresswoman from florida. i want to ask you about someone you serve in congress with and you served in the state legislature. marco rubio was on seven sunday shows talking about this issue, he's clearly become the face of this issue. it looks as though we expect later in the week some sort of bipartisan immigration reform proposal. you are someone who is a partisan, you're head of the democratic national committee. does marco rubio deserve credit for the role he has played here? you know the credit that is deserved is that we're making progress. there are a gang of eight bipartisan senators. who have gotten together. there's also a similar group in the house of representatives.

this is finally an issue that republicans have decided. i think probably about political reasons more than anything else, i'm glad they're at the table. we have 11 million or 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country that deserve a path to legal status. they're an important backbone of our economy, we need to make sure that we continue to tighten border security. we have a lot of steps that we need to take anywhere from h 1 b visa does make sure we're not shipping foreign students back to share countries to compete against us. >> what's a harder lift legislatively? you know the house, what's a harder lift, a guns bill or an immigration bill? >> i think clearly they're both hard, but i think guns is going to be harder than immigration reform. the republicans are staring in the face of 71% have hispanic americans that voted for

democrats. and president obama, this is a very, very important political issue to them. hopefully this will spur them on. but guns is tougher. because i think they're frightened of the gun manufacturers and the nra? >> democratic national committee chairwoman and florida congresswoman, debby wasserman-schultz, thank you. this afternoon, secretary of state john kerry will be in chicago to meet with the family of a 25-year-old foreign officer who was killed in afghanistan. plus, inmates and guards clash at guantanamo bay, as dozens of detainees continue a weeks-long hunger strike to protest their treatment. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards.

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north korea, there are caveats, he discussed those with andrea in part two of her interview in tokyo. >> you have talked about the possibility of someone going and sitting down with them, they like big figures and i don't just mean dennis rodman. they like ex-presidents. you know, his grandfather sat down with jimmy carter, did a deal. his father sat down with bill clinton. released two prisoners. what do you think we should do? should we send jimmy carter? bill clinton? an ex-president? >> i don't want any misinterpretation of the comments that i made. somebody asked me if we're willing to talk and the answer is yes, we're willing to talk. but obviously under the right circumstances. >> under the right circumstances, could an envoy make a difference? >> not unless they indicate that they're prepared to move in the directions that everybody has made clear they need to move in. we're not going to go through the same cycle here. if someone visits on their own and there's some discussion and contributes a dialogue, so be it. the government to government,

the government of united states has made clear what our position is. and the north korea understands full well what they need to do. not that hard. if they tend to be compliant and intend to engage in a serious negotiation, that door is open. they know what they need to do in order to do so. >> traveling with you, i know just how powerfully you feel the loss of ann smedinghof. i want to know what you say to her family, about the tragic loss, the sacrifice and the meaning of it? >> well i think, andrea, that every person in the department that i've come in contact with, in the last days feels this enormously. it's all the promise of a young person with all of the idealism and energy and enthusiasm. suddenly snuffed out in the quest of high ideals.

and great values. that is not a death in vain. it's a loss, it's a horrible loss, unfathomable as a parent. but it's a great contribution and sacrifice for our country. and it is in the highest spirit of tradition and service in the state department and the foreign service. and indeed of america. and our efforts to try to help other people be able to share in the blessings of life that we experience every day. so i think that people should celebrate her life. and really show their respect for what she was trying to do. she inspired a lot of people and even in her loss. she's an inspiration. >> thank you, mr. secretary. secretary kerry arrives in chicago later today, where he'll visit family of anne smedinghof

before heading back to washington. and this friday at 1:00 p.m., andrea mitchell is moderating secretary kerry's first google-plus hangout. the secretary will participate in a live online conversation on what's in it for americans. to engage in the world. you can watch it live on the state department's google plus page and we'll be right back. r ? a meal like this costs about $1.64 per serving. a family of four like yours could save over $500 bucks a year. wow. that's amazing! [ male announcer ] save on a kraft breakfast backed by the low price guarantee. walmart. for him, who dares to get in the picture. for her, who dares to show her love to the world. for the daring ones, there's crest plus scope. the only toothpaste that combines the freshness of scope with the whitening power of crest.

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and without a line. now that's a fast car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ in the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports," in venezuela today, the leading opposition presidential candidate is contesting election results that made nicolas maduro, he's the hand-picked successor to the late hugo chavez, that country's new president. enrique capriles said the close results prove that maduro does no the have the love of the people. days before national elections in iraq, a string of bombings left 32 dead and more

than 200 wounded. attacks in baghdad and throughout cities like fallujah and tikrit. a changing communal living conditions sparked clashes between detainees and the military and guantanamo bay. the conflict arose after the detainees were ordered to move back into single-man cells. a military spokesman said men inside the camp were covering cameras and windows to prevent observation. press secretary jay carney gave the white house perspective moexts ago. >> it is our view that the president's view, that that facility ought to be closed and we have taken steps in processing detainees, and in transferring them to third countries. but the obstacle to closing guantanamo bay, obstacles have been raised by reality. >> a former first family hayes their first grandchild.

margaret laura mila sunday night. president bush and his wife laura were on hand at the hoblt. they released a statement saying they were thrilled and elated to meet their first granddaughter, named after her two grandmothers. on the sports front. adam scott became the first australian to win the masters sunday. finishing a rain-filled final round in thrilling fashion, defeating former champion, angel cabrera in a sudden death playoff. tiger woods had to work for his fourth-place spot after getting hit with a two-stroke penalty for dropping his ball two feet beyond where it should have during his second round. florida senator marco rubio had a busy weekend, he made the rounds all over tv. he had seven sunday talk show appearances, all of them devoted to trying to sell a bipartisan immigration reform plan. with his national profile rapidly growing, the talk about 2016, that's when the next presidential race is, in case

you've forgotten, is growing, too. the "national journal" and my colleague at the "washington post." chris i want to start with you, marco rubio was asked, isn't this good for him if he can help bring immigration reform to the fore for his first presidential prospects, he said i don't think about that. should we take him at his word? >> the best follow-up question i heard was candy saying seriously, you don't think about that? clearly he is laying down a marker that says i am a reasonable republican. his tea party furor of just say no, is over and in 2016 it will be the reasonable republican who is want to make policy and can sell big ideas to the electorate that's going to make him a winner and make him stand out what's shaping up to be a crowded field. i think certainly he cannot consider any of the moves he's about to make in these next few weeks on immigration reform, without that calculus in the back of his head.

>> there's politics in everything. ruth, you're stunned. >> right. >> i want to play you something that jeff sessions, the senator from alabama had to say about the immigration bill over the weekend. let's play it and we'll come back and talk about it. >> i really respect the work of the gang of eight, but they have produced legislation, it appears, although it looks like now it may be another week before we see it, that will give amnesty now, legalize everyone that's here effectively today and then there's a promise of enforcement in the future. even if you pass laws today that appear to be effective, it doesn't mean that they're going to be enforced. >> so, ruth, i circled the world three times. that means it's important. that will give amnesty now. you see you saw marco rubio, he spent a lot of time on every one of these shows saying this is amnesty, amnesty is when you get something free. this is a path to citizenship. jeff sessions, particularly a point that is not sort of way

outside the matrix in the senate, can marco rubio convince his republican colleagues that a path to citizenship does not equal amnesty? >> i think he can for a bunch of reasons. the border is way more secure than it used to be. technology has made it easier to make the border secure. the pressures of the illegal immigration are way down. we have net zero migrations from mexico. people are going in and out. i think immigration is a hot-button issue, unlike guns the temperature on immigration has gone way down. it's not going to be a clear glide path. but i think it's doable and the main reason it's doable, guess what, chris, it's politics. >> no, ruth! >> it's the white house in 2016. >> you know what's so interesting. i think you make a great point, the passion surrounding guns versus the passion surrounding immigration are two different things. chris, i want to come back to you on immigration. i think so many people say they're going to introduce this bill, gang of eight introduces this bill tomorrow or wednesday, done deal, everyone is fine.

but jeff sessions, a lot of republicans have voiced concerns about this. including maybe it should be done in a more piecemeal approach. that is, take a piece of it here, a piece of it there. don't try to do a big package. first of all, is there any likelihood that's going to be the approach either now or going forward? and should that be the approach in terms of getting something through the senate? >> strategically taking a big universal approach, a comprehensive approach to immigration reform is ha is needed. because these issues are all entangled. if you increase worker visas for high tech, ha do you do for lower-skilled workers? all of those things you can't do one without touching the other. we saw this in 2007, when you had john mccain and ted kennedy working on a comprehensive deal. you started to see the same kind of doubting thomass that jeff sessions has been, that was the ultimate undoing of a comprehensive bill. is it amnesty. what is the pathway, are folks jumping ahead in line.

certainly marco rubio is making a case that they are not jumping ahead. it would be easier and cheaper for them to leave the country, go back to their home country and apply for a visa and re-enter. he's trying to make a case that this is going to be tougher for folks to hang around and wait at the back of the line. but certainly doing it piece hmiel would be very, very tough. i was talking to an old senate hand the other day who thinks that no issue is harder than immigration to get around. because it's emotional. and while the temperature is down right now it will come back up again when the debate starts in full. >> and i would say, chris, good point there. i would say watch conservative talk radio. conservative talk radio defeated comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. how did they come out on this, particularly with rubio on the path to citizenship side. ruth, i want to turn to guantanamo bay. the president, jay carney saying today, i was struck i want to read this to you. this is a "new york times" appeared on the op-ed page from

a prisoner at guantanamo bay. i just want to read a piece of it. the piece is titled "gitmo is killing me." i've been on a hunger strike since february 10th, have lost well over 30 pounds, i will not eat until they restore my dignity. i've been detained at guantanamo for 11 years three months, i've never been charged with any crime, and i've never received a trial. there are tremendous legal ramifications and legal intricacies here. luckily you're a lawyer, because i'm not. explain to us whether this is an issue that reemerges. it's kind of disappeared. is it coming back now? >> no. guantanamo is, is the issue that we all in some ways want to say we all, the politicians on both sides want to forget. because from the president's point of view, he would like to have closed guantanamo, have tried people. it's intractable.

this gentleman, i don't know the particulars of this case is from yemen. the government does not want to return prisoners to yemen he says in the op-ed. republicans are unwilling to have people go through the civil-legal process here. >> to be tried. >> the courts won't hear their claims about treatment because congress has told the courts that they don't have jurisdiction to hear the claims about treatment. so guantanamo is just like -- going to be a brush fire that never goes out. because people are there who shouldn't be there. some people are there who should be tried and held for a long time. but other people are there because we can't figure out places to send them. and it's 11 years. >> the legal and political entanglements here. we saw when they tried people -- it is, i agree, it's something that will be a low-level brush fire. but politicians on both sides want to stay away from this. >> in the 2008 campaign we had

two candidates who both proclaimed they wanted to close guantanamo and here we are. >> ruth marks, chris fraitz, thank you. next, the newtown families raising voices, sharing their painful stories and trying to urge congress to act. david and i have two sons, our younger son, ben, age six, was murdered in his first grade classroom on december 14th.

standing in for president obama on his saturday weekly address, was francine wheeler who lost her 6-year-old son ben, at sandy hook elementary school last december. the latest strategic effort from the newtown families. please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy. sometimes i close my eyes and i all i can remember is that awful day of waiting at the sandy hook volunteer firehouse for the boy

who would never come home. the same fire house that was home to ben's tiger scout den 6. but other times i feel ben's presence filling me with courage for what i have to do. for him, and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon. >> matt bennett is co-founder of third way, a centrist democratic group that has worked a longside the newtown families advocating for tighter gun safety laws, as a father of two young boys, and i would say as a human being, that's very difficult to watch. how much of this, how much of the emotion can carry into legislative action? newtown families got a lot of credit for helping get 68 votes to proceed with debate. obviously sort of a senate arcana, this is not the bill,

this is the procedure to talk about the bill. how much can the rawness, the lieu manat humanity of that, how much can it translate? >> i don't think emotion alone can do it. what you need in situation like this. is emotion married to savvy. i think what you're seeing with the sandy hook promise and these newtown families like francine wheeler are an incredible level bringing, being brought to bear on a very tough issue. >> when i first got to know you you were working for americans for gun safety. you're now with third way. tell me how you found yourself in a strategic piece, to your point, emotion without political savvy is just emotion. tell me how you got set up with some of these newtown families? >> well sandy hook promise was an organization founded by the families immediately after the tragedy. the first time in history that the victims of gun violence have organized themselves collectively to do something. and the first thing they did was they hired a very well connected

washington insider. a friend of mine. she brought them over to talk about gun policy. and then i met with them four or five times since to walk them through what is and isn't possible and what's happening and why that would matter. >> how was that received? i would say it's -- from a human perspective. it's tough to have someone like you or any washington person say, look, you're three months removed, from the loss of a tiny child. here's what's possible. how do they receive that? >> you know the first time i met with them, they were one month removed. it was, they were barely able to function, obviously. and they were in town to meet with the vice president and some others, and what they said to me was -- don't tell us what isn't possible. talk to us about what is possible. and keep a longer-term perspective. learned from the first meeting that these people are in it for the long haul and what they're trying to do is honor the memory

of their children in ways that will make the country safer. we don't know what will happen in those votes on those amendments. i think if you asked us a week ago whether this first vote that we took that got 68 votes, whether that would pass, that was unknown at the time. so things can shift in this debate. what we do know is it will be close, it will be difficult. pretty furious lobbying on both sides. and we don't know where the outcome will be. >> if the manchin toomey proposal, we'll get a vote tuesday or wednesday does not make it, is that a failure for this government in this politics and our congress and our white house? >> without question. it is an utter catastrophe.

particularly for congress. i don't think you can lay this at the feet of the president or the vice president. they've done every single thing they could. they've pulled out every stop. it is a failure for congress. >> matt bennett, thank you. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next. uncer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ from finding the best way... ♪ to finding the best catch... ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ until i had the shingles. i have never encountered such a burning sensation... it was like a red rash. like somebody had set a bag of hot charcoal on my neck. i had no idea it came from chickenpox.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor and "washington post" opinion writer, jonathan capehart joins us. we've got a lot going on. this has been a five plus-year process. is tomorrow the day we get the comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced? >> right. we get the bill but not the hearing. the hearing was supposed to be, let's see. thursday. but they decided to postpone it. put it off until friday. and my understanding is it is because they want to give the

members enough time to read the bill which is always a good thing. >> and do we have any sense of how this is, we know the gang of eight. we know marc rubio. but there are seven other people here. other faces to emerge? maybe a bob menendez? who should we keep our eye on other than marc rubio as this process plays out. >> certainly bob menendez on the democrats' side. but i think we have to pay attention to chairman leahy to see how he maneuvers the process to get the committee to not only debate and have the hearings but how he will maneuver the committee to voting on the bill and then voting the bill out of committee. >> a 50 good point. i'm glad you got the checked shirt memo. thanks for coordinating. thank you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember to follow the show online and on twitter.

just go to @mitchellreports. tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> great to see you. coming up, developing news out of washington, d.c. as gun control advocates fight to get the votes they need to pass the manchin toomey compromise on background checks. several senators who said they were undecided just hours ago, now taking sides. we'll give you the rundown. we'll get the latest from capitol hill. plus, the rich list. have you heard about it? the staggering amount of money some hedge fund managers made. we've got the list, the name and how much they brought home despite profits being down last year. and what is going on with the price of gold? it is about to close at its lowest level in decades. we'll have a live report from wall street. and more wild spring weather expected across the country from snow to tornadoes. forecasters predicting a repeat of the severe storms we saw last week. angie's list is essential. i automatically go there.

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