forty republicans have the grand ole party and the american economy by the throat. yesterday john boehner broke the will of the congress and announced the house may stay in session until saturday that votes on the bill that defunds the national health care law in exchange for keeping the government open. the bill has zero chances of surviving in the senate and the white house has already threatened to veto it but the shutdown of the government remains real enough the white house office of management and budget has asked federal agencies to prepare for a shutdown as early as october. boehner's capitulation to a handful of fractious conservatives follows a summer long campaign led by mike lee and tom cruz, one that happens to be divorced from reality. >> if we see millions and millions of americans saying save us from this train wreck, washington will be forced to listen. >> we're not. given the current makeup of the u.s. congress what ted cruz has

been relentlessly advocating is impossible and has been so for sometime. he acknowledged this saying harry reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the resolution and right now he has the votes to do so. yet ted cruz still refuses to back down from what he himself acknowledged was a doomed strategy. in his statement he concluded, house republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the american people. stand firm, listen to the american people and pray the democrats are there to help you when the whole thing falls apart. some republicans, some, are wising up to the absurdity and bucking at following the wacko bird off the cliffs of insanity. as one republican aide said, senators cruz, lee, rubio are like the kids in school that yell fight, fight, fight but

have never thrown a pumpl in their entire life. speaking to reporters a few minutes ago speaker boehner did not take kindly to this. >> guess what, we have a fight over here. we're going to win the fight here. it's time to take up the mantle and get the job done. >> joining me senior political reporter maggie hagerman and chris hayes host of msnbc "all in." joining us from washington political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, it was ugly in the house now it's ugly in the senate. what can we make of this gulf, if we can call it euphemistically between the house and caucus. >> there's a couple of ways to look at it. it's possible this is john boehner's way out. listen to the language he used

this morning. listen to the language yesterday, ted griffin, conservative republican in the house, what he said to ted cruz. they are all saying, okay, we're going to give it the college try of what you want, pass this resolution with the attachment that says we're not going to fund the health care law and you in the senate pick up the mantle and fight. >> if you fail, don't get mad at us when we say we did everything we could, the politics of this, the sign said it was a dead-end. i equate this, there's a street sign that says the road says there's a dead-end. you can visually see there's a brick wall at the end of the street. yet john boehner has no choice but to say, okay, i'll get in the car, i'll turn it, i'll drive, i'll run into it. and now you will send -- i will physically show you this is a

dead-end strategy. but like he said ted cruz gave him an out, okay, buddy, now it's on you to find your 41 votes to keep up this fight. >> we are fully embracing the metaphor as speaker boehner as the crash dummy. >> my part is the sistine chapel of passive aggressiveness we're seeing paint bid both sides in this as they are trying to pass the bill. it would be like me coming to you, alex, an important financial deregulation story, totally terrible television, going to drive every viewer away, really important. i have no doubt you'll spend the hour on it. that's what they are doing for epa other. you're just the person to do it. >> like ghost buster, go get her, ray. go get her, ray. i think there's a deeper strategy here. i think having worked in the house, you remember -- i remember that the only power the minority had is the power over

bills that must pass. the president needs spending bills to pass. every other bill to run the government effectively doesn't need. this the one set of bills he doesn't need to pass. republicans are using their power to make an ideological power sending it where the argument in total will fail. what part of the strategy may be, it will come back to the house where a revised bill will have a chance of passing with boehner taking out most of the cuts to obama care but giving the right something else. >> the sequester, which is now the moderate position. >> but, okay. who wins here? i find it rather brazen of ted cruz to take this an tag nick posture. senior gop aide says some people came to govern and make things better for their constituents. ted cruz came to throw bombs and fraf off attacks on fellow republicans. who wins? does ted cruz end up strengthened with all this? >> i don't think he ends up

strengthened in terms of d.c. i think he ends up looking relatively okay at home. i don't think this hurts him in texas. i do think this helps a credible governor loosely, the strategy of somebody who came to d.c. this isn't something to be taken seriously. >> ted cruz is loathed on capitol hill by the republicans. you walk into a bar with republican aides. they are like coming up to you to tell you how much -- >> this was the impression to him prior to this. this was the time you see it. you don't normally see it dribble into the headlines. there was a lot of backlash in terms of criticism, conservative commentators saying this was transparent. there you go. i'm sure you're going to do very well with your hour. safe strategy, why boehner can be the crash dummy, there is no price to pay. what is the price?

i do think this is hurting the brand. the brand is hurt. how much more is it going to hurt? >> the point you made about if ted cruz ran into the bar, republican aides would try to -- he loves when people say that. >> that's part of his -- >> the strategy is that people think the government and d.c. can't do much of anything. so the most popular position to take among the people at large, not the people in d.c. is i'm not that. i'm just not that. i'm doing everything i can to rale on that. >> practically speaking, getting things done in the government, where do you stand on the prospect of a government shutdown. >> it's amazing to me you have leaders, all of them know it a bad idea, bad for republicans, they don't want to risk it. nobody seems to want it. i don't know how they avoid it at least for a couple of days. that's what i keep envisioning,

some sort of 48 hour shutdown or 24 where there's some small version of this. because again -- you know, i've had house republican aides say this to me before in previous fights, sometimes they have to educate some of these members, how it will play out, how they would believe it, they don't have to see it for themselves. i'm of the camp, i assume it's going to be at least a small one in a day or two. then all of a sudden something will happen. what i can't figure out here is what can boehner take to republicans, to house republicans in a final deal and say we didn't get this but we got x, y, z. will it challenge the base? cpi, chris is right, suddenly the moderate position, remember, everybody hated sequestration a

year ago. that is a win? boehner's folks are trying to say this could be a win. i don't know if his rank and file will take this as a victory. >> chris, to your point, democrats have to support this, too. democrats don't like sequestration. >> i don't think this is some masterful strategy. they are bungling towards this. the bungling they are doing is ending up with this moving the center of debate which is now everyone is talking about defunding obama care. that's crazy, it's going to go, maybe a small shutdown, thing sing kumbaya and keep sequestration levels. the fight was sequestration levels. now it's the consensus position we all agree on because we're fighting on obama care, which is crazy and radical. >> we're not even fighting about implementing an actual budget. we're fighting about a continuing resolution that might last three months, which is crazy. >> counter-intuitively i'm

hoping for a shutdown. a shutdown for two or three days could teach a lesson politically to the republicans and also is not that cataclysmic. the thing i fear is they pull the nose up and say, okay, we're going to double down on the debt ceilings and then you're really playing with fire. >> maggie, i don't think anybody thinks they are not going do use the debt ceiling and implications for the economy are far more catastrophic. that said shutting down now is different than 1995 in large put because i believe in terms of seven of the government's 13 appropriation bills in 1995 have been signed into law. there are no appropriations bills in 2013 which basically means we come to a stop in a profound way quickly compared to 1995. >> correct. i understand what chris is saying, i think he's right, that is exactly what would happen. it would not go well for gop. i think that is why you're going to see the rise, that crisis

averted. what we're talking about, the center of debate is shifteded. i think the center of debate has been shifting several months in congress. you're seeing this back and forth, this ping-ponging. we're now at a point we seem to be moving. this is to chuck's point, almost insane, we're almost month to month. that's where it's heading. >> i don't want to lose sight of this. this is the thing we should be discussing instead of political calculus because it's compelling. david, it is hard to decide which is worse, utter indifference among the right wing to the damage that win at all costs politics could cause the economy or it's cold hearted effort to block any attempt to ease the burdens on the americans who are struggling. look, this is vicious. >> i'm not confident the politics of '96 play out today. look what happened with sequestration. there is in a lot of the polling

a sense underneath that it wasn't that big a deal and hasn't been that big a deal among -- the perception among voters. if sequestration isn't perceived to be a big deal with the kind of cuts that came, government shutdown is a bigger version. >> more dramatic. >> more dramatic version of sequestration. but you kind of worry that you get a government shutdown and a lot of us look at the policy and a lot of people who are hurting see it, but in the -- certainly the middle of the republican party there's a shrug of the shoulders, this is not that big a deal. >> that's the question, right, to your earlier point. what does boehner offer his folks that is enticing enough to get them back at the table -- to get them to agree? >> i don't know. that's what i think he could get from the president. again, change cpi, radical change, house social security is recalculated. he could get possibly means testing on medicare. he could get some things you

wouldn't normally get from the democratic senate. but again, i don't know -- i think david's point is very fair and very true that there isn't this sense of there certainly isn't going to be punishment among some in these republican base about shutting down the government. i think the only way you see, maybe totally crass and sound like class politics a little bit, but sequestration really affected the poor more so than anybody. it had an uneven hit on the poor. it didn't hit quote, unquote, the rest of the middle class or upper middle class in the same way. only what would actually motivate these guys in congress, i think, is if there's a massive -- you know, the dow jones drops, 401(k)s plummet, housing costs that affect middle in come folks or their own constituents more. >> i have a suggests. maybe republicans can go to fiscal conservatives and say we're going to end all the wars, cut the defense budget and

balance the budget that way. maybe john boehner can go to fiscal conservatives. >> pie in the sky scenario. catastrophe, utter catastrophe needs to happen to shake the party into its senses. >> what i'm hoping for as a cable news host they get down to 24 hour -- every day. >> boom. >> 8:00 p.m. it's the countdown in our hour. >> i'll tell you this much, i'm not doing that story on the financial deregulation piece. >> okay. if you want to disappoint the base, that's fine. nbc's chuck todd, thank you as always, sir. you can catch check on the "the daily rundown" each and every weekday at 9:00 eastern. thanks to my colleague chris hayes. you can catch chris week dmits on "all in" with chris hayes. when we come back after the break following the mass shooting at the navy yard, congress returns to the issue of gun safety reform. at the state legislatures on the march for reform. [ male announcer ] what?! investors could lose

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since 2012 endured pittsburgh, tulsa, seattle, wilmington, aurora, milwaukee, texas a&m, minneapolis, brookfield, portland and, of course, newtown, connecticut. the fact those in washington stand by as innocent victims, children, parents, neighbors and friends are gunned down and continue to place the interest of krins over the lives of law abiding citizens is a national disgrace and it just has to come to an end.

>> that was mayor michael bloomberg calling once again for congress to pass sensible safety legislation after monday's mass shooting. as information trickles in, the details paint a complex picture of the nation's gun laws and mental health policies. the weekend before he went on the rampage and weeks after sought psychiatric help, said he was followed by people sending microwave through his body to keep him awake. he passed two background checks and bought a shotgun. it's not clear what would have stopped him. shootings, one a month for the past four years, often carried out by mental health victims. two reviews of military security and employee screening programs. lawmakers on capitol hill appear to be renewing the debate over

gun safety. given interaction in congress actual progress remains highly uncertain. that said, if a stalemate in washington, the rest of the country is taking action. "new york times" reports this morning that over the past few years it is legislation at the state level that's been the most aggressive about keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. measures that have often been approved by the nra. states like california, connecticut, and florida restrict people from buying guns if they have been deemed a danger to themselves or to others. one of the states that has been most aggressive on mental health and guns is new york, which requires mental health professionals to report dangerous individuals to local officials who can then revoke individual gun lances. joining me now is new york attorney general eric sneiderman. thank you for your time. >> thanks, alex. >> we started talking about this before the segment begins. most people think nra addition

their heels in but in some states they are on board. how do you do that? >> it's not that hard. the idea of background checks started with nra years ago. my experience is, and look, i'm a progressive and supported every gun safety and gun control in the senate, national co-ch r co-chair, against illegal guns. i find if you talk to the rank and file of the nra, which i have done repeatedly, there is common ground on the issue of background checks and there is common ground on the issue of -- none of the people out there, rank and file in the nra, people that run gun shows, they don't want people with serious mental health problems with guns. the problem is polarization, us against them in washington that prevents them from taking steps. in new york we've overcome that. we have the strongest in the country. as noted we have very tough laws on issues relating to mental

health. we have a system that i've negotiated, and it's important to understand i did this by getting the cooperation of the gun show operators in the state of new york. my undercover investigators busted six gun shows because they weren't conducting background checks they could have conducted. instead of finding them and moving on we sat down with them, developed a model set of procedures collaboratively with the gun show operators. i'm proud to say since then every other major gun show operator has voluntarily signed onto these attorney general procedures. my staff is in the gun shows. you cannot get out of the gun show in new york state without a background check if you bought a gun because they bought in. you can get the buy in. background check is not a gun control issue. it is a public safety issue. they want us to work with them. washington is the key here because whatever we do in new york, we are dependent on the national background check system. that obviously is not what it should be given the fact that

someone like mr. alexis, before him james loughner could pass background checks. this is something, get out of the beltre, go to a gun show in your district, talk to the rank and file of the nra, there is common ground and they are ready to work with us. >> that is heartening given the tenor of the debate around this. how do you explain colorado recall elections. there's a place outside of washington, basic common sense safety measures and nra used all its power to make sure two democrats were ousted almost as punishment for those laws. >> they are very well organized and they are very passionate. they are sensitive to the idea that things are being forced upon them frankly by a progressive community that dengraden dengrates them. rank and file should be with us on overwhelming majority of issues. there's a sense that frankly a

lot of democrats, a lot of progressives have not been talking to this audience for the last few decades. nra has been speaking to the sense of being left behind, left out of the boom in america, which everyone has been. the key is getting by. it's not worth it to pass laws and jam them down people's throats. it's there to be had. it's been remarkable to me to go up and walk through gun shows and everyone there knows my position. i haven't changed any of my positions on these issues. i still think we should have limits on the kinds of weapons you should buy and these kinds of things. on this issue of backgrounds checks and getting the system to be stronger to screen out people, this is a tragedy for the families of people shot. mr. alexis clearly was asking for help. he wasn't just showing up saying i have insomnia. he was saying i have insomnia because there are voices in my head. >> i want to ask you about that. i think that's a tricky issue.

the idea of background checks and mental illness and the sense of privacy around health issues and mental health issues, someone who is a man of the law, i think for privacy advocates there's the concern are we going to have a registry of people with mental health conditions, violation of civil liberties. how does that dove tail with civil liberties. are you concerned at all about the confluence of those things? >> sure. you can to be very careful about privacy. the idea is get people into treatment who need treatment. when it comes to the possession of guns, i think we should air on the side of fewer people getting guns. if you're a sportsman and you like to hunt, if you have special circumstances that require you to have a gun for public safety and your own safety, fine. i would rather air on the side of people who we suspect have mental health problems not getting guns. there is a system in new york where you could petition if

you've been denied a gun license, that you can petition to get yourself back on. these are things you can work out but we have to work them out together. we have to work them out with our counter-parts on the other side. i will tell you my experience is if i go to the folks in the nra, if i go to their gun clubs, target shooting with them, talk to them, go to gun shows, they are happy to see me. they realize i'm not some crazy liberal who is out to take all their guns away and i'm a reasonable person they can talk to. we've got to get more people out of the beltway, out talking to the rank and file. that's the way we bridge this gap. >> let me ask you a final question on that note. short of magic dust you have, you sprinkle over nra members to get them to listen to what you're saying, they were not radical progressives, they were fairly moderate democrats. joe manchin is an emissary for gun reform. is a hunter, someone who

culturally comes from has background would dove tail nicely with the nra's base. why have they failed in their efforts? >> the politics of washington are politics of division. if these people can't agree on the basic idea we have to pay our bills, it's hard to see them agreeing on anything else. i'm not telling you this can be done overnight. it took some time. it took years -- i started first going to gun shows and going shooting with these guys back in 2009 and i've been developing a relationship since then that enabled me to do this as attorney general. we have the safest in the nation. this can happen all over the country. you can't have a knee-jerk reaction to something like newtown shooting, we've got to have these bills. have you to talk to people. strengthern gun laws, mental health records.

they passed the law, haven't followed through that everyone is loading up the data. this is common ground, can make everyone safer. we have to be more sensitive to the fact when people come in asking for help, you have to get them into treatment. in the meantime lets air on the side of keeping guns out of their house. >> a message of peace and progress, attorney general eric snider schneider man. >> your move, an op-ed chess mass with russian president vad putin over syria. foreign policy versions of bobby fischer and gary casperoff. that's next.

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>> that was glenn beck responding to a decision by the white house monday to waive part of the arms export control act. the white house announcement was not to arm rebels in syria but provide gas masks and other nonlethal equipment to protect against chemical attacks. according to beck's logic, sending gas masks to save lives amounts to an impeachable offense. senator john mccain, the other target, has been more hawkish, pushed to provide weapons to opposition forces in syria. today senator mccain are speaking out against another oppressed people, citizens of russia. in response to vladimir putin's op-ed, titled russians deserve better than putin. putin and his administration, mccain writes, they don't respect your dignity or respect your authority over them. they punish accident and imprison opponents. they rig your elections, control

your media. he concludes by emphasizing his beef is between putin and his comrades and not with the russian people. when i criticize your government it's not because i'm anti-russian, it's because i believe you deserve a government that believes in you and answers to you. and i long for the day when you have it. while republicans prepare for a vote to strip funding for food stamps michigan pushes for ties to community service. we will discuss gop's war on the poor when ceo of share our strength and sister simone campbell johnny us next on "now." mom, dad told me that cheerios is good for your heart, is that true? says here that cheerios has whole grain oats

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the republican campaign to unwind the social safety net, an effort that met success at the state level. on wednesday they get their part to target the poor by passing a bill that would require people receiving food stamps to either start performing community service or lose their benefits. said republican state senator joe hune, "there is absolutely nothing wrong with requiring folks to have a little skin in the game. the stunning lack of awareness about how much skin these people already have in the game. the average s.n.a.p. recipient receives $1.50 per person, per meal. four out of five people who receive food assistance through s.n.a.p. are working or unable to work. 76% of households receiving food assistance have either a child,

an elderly person or disabled person under their roof. and last year s.n.a.p. lifted 4 million people out of poverty. so if relying on $1.50 to keep your children and parents and loved ones from going hungry isn't enough, and if the fact $1.50 is all that stands between u and the federal poverty line, if that isn't enough, if all that doesn't qualify as a enough skin in the game, perhaps it is time to change the rules of the game. joining me now is bill shore, founder and ceo of share our strength, a national nonprofit focused on hending childhood hunger in america. also joining us the organizer of nuns on the bus, executive director of network, national catholic justice lobby sister simone campbell. sister, i would like to go to you first. the question of hunger in this country did not used to be a partisan one. what do you think has happened in the last few decades that made it such a rancorous subject

of debate? >> it's a really gd question. my theory is those who are leading this charge against the food subsidy that keeps our people fed don't have enough contact with actual real americans. what your viewers, as you pointed out, need to know is that more than half of the jobs in the united states pay less than $34,000 a year. one-fourth of them pay less than $25,000. the fact is low wages are not allowing our families to eat. it's the s.n.a.p. program allowing low wage workers to feed their families. it seems that the politicians are totally disconnected from this reality. >> bill, i want to follow on that "the new york times" did a great piece, i think it was last week, that gave americans a portrait of who precisely is on food stamps. these are people in many cases incredibly reluctant to be dependent on the government in any way. people who want to work, disabled, stricken with cancer.

yet this is a very insidious poisonous far tiff taking hold, they people dependent on federal benefits are somehow lazy and should be doing community service, there's stops put in place to make them ashamed to be in the program or make it more difficult to receive those benefits. >> that's right, alex. if you look historically over four decades of bipartisan support for the food stamp program. food stamp and s.n.a.p. have never been considered a favor we do for those that are struggling. this is something as a matter of public policy we have decided is in the national interest. when you think about it, conservatives in particular ought to be supportive of a program that provides minimal support. as you just described $1.50 a meal, minimal support to put people in a position where they are going to be able to pull themselves up, to complete their education, to go out and look for a job. in many cases what i found is, i don't even think of this so much

as the gop or republican party's war on the poor but really an extreme wing of house republicans. because i've never been in the position of defending the republican party but i can't tell you how many republicans i have heard from in the last few weeks who have said i'm a lifelong republican but this is critical that we support families with children with food stamps. this is a very narrowly driven attack. i think most americans understand we cannot have a strong america with weak kids and weak families. >> sister simone, we look at what the house is going to vote on tonight. it is a bill that cuts $40 billion to the food stamp program over the next 10 years. it imposes work requirements, an estimated 4 to 6 million people would lose food stamps. where is the blowback, where is the retribution for making decisions about -- planting your flag in such a cruel set of

policies. i guess the question is this may not come to pass, the house bill may not come to law, is there a price to pay for being so draconian in your cutting. >> i hope there's a price to pay. at least the moral outrage of we, the people, should certainly be expressed to all of the legislators that will vote tonight or tomorrow for this bill. it is shocking. it's not who we are as a nation. one of the issues, it promotes an idea of individualism that we don't have to care for each other who are struggling in an economy that's still struggling, 80% of our society has not benefited from this economic recovery was reported last week. at least 20 to 25% are so struggling that they need assistance with food, the basic thing that gives us dignity of life, food, being able to feed your family. it is shocking -- i agree, it's a wing of the republican party that is in serious disarray is

really pushing to undermine those who are most vulnerable. they are easy targets i think is the deal. the rest of us, we, the people, have to stand up and say this is not america. this is not who we are. >> bill, the federal efforts are one piece of this. of course there's stuff at the state level not only in michigan but kansas where there are plans to throw 20,000 unemployed residents off of the food stamp rolls by reinstating federal work requirements. the people suffering the most are those whose voices are the quietest, at least able to organize and push for change. what do ordinary americans do to shed light on this and make sure this heartless, almost anti-american policymaking doesn't come to pass on the federal level and can be stopped to the degree it can at the state level. >> i agree. these state proposals are a terrible idea. as i said, the whole idea of food stamps is not to do a favor but help our nation. we have a lot of experience

through food and nutrition, particularly school breakfast and summer meals. what we've seen there and what applies to food stamps as well is these programs impact educational achievement, they impact test scores, attendance at schools, impact health. ultimately they impact our economic competitiveness. at a time when so many americans are struggling desperately to pull themselves up with an economic slump that was not of their own making, food stamps ought to be one of the first things all of us, regardless of our politics support as a position to make our nation stronger. >> indeed. i think the answer to the question is central to who we are as a country. such an important issue. bill shore, thank you as a little and thank you for your work and thank you to sister simone campbell from nuns on the bus. thank you for your time. >> thank you, alex. >> coming up, a new campaign encourages younger americans to opt out of obama care. not so much with facts, more with fear.

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that is a terrifying irresponsible night marg inducing anti-obama care ad that has no basis in reality but now hitting american college campuses. this month the virginia-based group generation opportunity is launching a six-figure campaign to encourage young people not to get health care. they are releasing online voides like the one you saw and setting up booths at camp yous to rival enroll america, which educates

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after months of silence in the white house, the keystone xl pipeline is back in the news. majority leader eric cantor reportedly told colleagues republicans are considering tying approval of the controversial pipeline to any legislation to raise the country's debt ceiling. five years to the day since trans canada applied for a permit to build the pipeline, the president is expected to

make a decision on the fate of the pipeline by the end of the year in what could be the biggest test yet to his commitment. maggie, it's been an interesting time for the president and his base. this season, which we'll say late summer, early fall, we've seen the cratering of larry summers potential nomination to the fed. we've seen a lot of difficulty to the president and his base over national security issues and potential military intervention in syria. given all that, a few months ago, i said the president is probably going to approve this. seems like a no-brainer. i feel like the landscape has shifted. what are your thoughts. >> i think the landscape has shifted. he's painted into a corner on this. i think he is going to approve it. it's going to be a caveat-type approval. i think he's going to approve it. i think his base is going to be extremely hard to get back in any meaningful way.

the issues with the nsa were there prior to how he handled it and made it worse. the press conference essentially is you're all acting like my wife. that was before syria, which very few people think has gone particularly well. i think he's going to do what he has to do to keep from being hamstrung on any other political issue. >> do you believe he does this to prevent being hamstrung and for fits the base. >> with the caveat. >> many caveats, your answers and what the president is going to do. >> i think what he's going to do is he's going to approve it in a way some people will insist he didn't really approve it and other people will approve he did approve it. how can he do that? i'm approving keystone on the conditions that a, b, c. a, b, and c may sound very environmental, driven to the progressive base but you'll have to look in the details to fund

out a, b, c were conditions met or conditions that the next administration will inevitably pass a regulation saying it was met. so what i'm worried about at a political level beyond the prospects of president obama and the polls is that too many people who care about the environment will say, well, this is a great win. the president approved it with these conditions. these conditions can't be met when, in fact, those conditions are met or there's devil in the details. >> what does that mean, maggie. i think there's a sense climate change is something the president did want to tackle, energy reform meant something to them, not because of his priorities as a democrat but also as a father and the world he leaves behind as his children. that's sort of been a thread. does he let the issue die on the operating table, energy reform. >> faced with it, i do. i agree with you. this is something that's been among his chief areas of concern.

he has made that clear. he was very clear after hurricane sandy what he thought about this, people expected more of a push. as we've seen and talked about earlier in the show, just sort of these legislative battles that are now arising on a month-to-month basis. he is getting constantly dragged away from things. this is another issue he's not going to be able to devote the energy he'd like to. >> david, it's coming against backdrop of floods in colorado, wildfires, drought, literally biblical end times bad weather. it's hard to see issue language in congress and national dialogue. a as a resident of colorado, what do you make of it. >> hopefully these floods will help us refocus not on what kinds of energy to develop in terms of carbon emissions. are we taking into consideration the weather. they have $4 billion on a floodplain. that's not a good idea. >> we have to leave it there.

>> sorry. >> we have to leave it there. thank you to david and maggie. thank you for your time an thoughts. that's all for now. see you tomorrow with my guests. "andrea mitchell reports" is next with special guest host chris matthews. chris, it is always good to see you at any hour of the day. what's on the docket today? >> we'll talk about the latest developments, the investigations regarding the shooter aaron alexis down at the navy yard in washington and what that was all about. he a website he called mohammed salam. that certainly is food for thought. we'll find out what that was about, his leanings were, whatever, politics, religion, what's going on there. of course we've got the shutdown. looks to me, alex, you know this as well as i do. this is for real. not just the united states government is going to shut down but shutting down american and world economies in the next couple of weeks. this is big time. you really love, what would you do?"

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