tv Andrea Mitchell Reports MSNBC November 14, 2013 1:00pm-2:00pm EST
1:00 pm
>> ultimately i'm the head of this team. we did fumble the ball on it. what i'm going to do is make sure we get it fixed. >> joining me now is nbc news political director and white house correspondent chuck todd direct from that news conference and the announcement in the briefing room. chuck, already insurance companies are pushing back. the industry is saying this is too complicated and they don't want to be the scapegoats for what has gone wrong. i think the white house felt now they would be blamed, the insurance companies, if they don't go along wit. we're getting e-mails and tweets from the insurance industry this is not going to work. >> lets be clear on what they announced, what the white house announced is that they are essentially waving a regulation in the affordable care act that says that insurance plans have to meet a minimum set of requirements to be offered in calendar year 2014. essentially what they are saying is, no, if there was already one
1:01 pm
grandfather, they have added a second grandfather. if you liked your plan in 2013, regardless whether you bought it before march 2010, if you liked it then and we will let you keep it if the insurance company still wants to offer it to you and your state insurance commissioner -- commission still approves of that policy being sold in your state. you heard the president say and admit what this is essentially saying if these cancellations happening are still going to happen, we're saying, hey, it's not on us. this is on the insurance company. this is on the state insurance commissioners which the president noted did happen even before this law went into effect. there is no way, nothing that was announced today mandates that anybody that got a cancellation notice that wanted to keep their policy, nothing today mandates the insurance company that issued that cancellation notice has to reissue.
1:02 pm
that's why the insurance industry is mad because essentially they are mad they are about to get a bumnch of ba pr. a lot of them, they are not sure what the incentive is to do this. the most regardingable thing about today, how much the president tried to take all the blame for the bad politics of this and tried to deflect it away from congress and capitol hill. clearly the senate democrats who unloaded, been unloading on the white house behind the scenes, house democrats with white house staffers up there, if anything, seems to me the president who rarely does this in public. message received. get mad at me. don't blame democrats who stood by my so long. >> he doesn't have to run again. in fact, this is part of his apology today. let me play it for you. >> there's no doubt that the way i put that forward unequivocably ended up not being accurate.
1:03 pm
>> in other words, all those times during the campaign when he said if you like your plan, you keep your plan, he's now acknowledging it wasn't true. the fact is, as you were pointing out earlier today on "morning joe" and "the daily rundown," there were going to be winners and losers here. >> right. >> during the campaign the message from the white house was it was all winners. that is just not economically sustainable. that could never have happened. >> that's right. you heard the president today, he still stands by saying he wasn't intentionally trying to mislead. they thought for 98% of the people this was going to be the case. they really never expected it to be as much of an impact on this 5%. remember, 5% is millions of people. this happens all the time in politics. when somebody doesn't want to say -- wants to make something seem small they will use a percentage. when it comes to impact on
1:04 pm
american people, when they want it large they use the raw number, 5% is millions of people and that is what has obviously been a rough transition. it's easy to find these people. they are speaking up. it's obviously -- they are the ones using the individual market, right? that's what i think has been so difficult for the white house to understand. the other thing here that was -- i thought was interesting and shouldn't go unnoticed, he essentially promised some sort of postmortem where there was going to be an evaluation of what went wrong and why certain information didn't get to him. i don't know does that mean a staff shake-up, cabinet shake-up. he didn't obviously put a lot of details behind that. that along with so many things with this remarkable news conference, that shouldn't go unnoticed. >> before i let you go, the tone was different. this was not the self-confident president, the president who doesn't acknowledge mistakes being made, it was really very
1:05 pm
actively acknowledged there. dennis mcdonough, chief of staff on the hill meeting with senate democrats, many facing re-election and loss of the senate. this is not only not regaining the house, this is losing the senate. mary landrieu put out a news release she as sponsor of legislation moving on the senate, she now looks forward to working with the white house on this and is glad that the president took this step today. what we heard from house members, democrats yesterday and from senators, they want to take a vote. >> they had -- yes. andrea, this will do know to assuage those concerns. in fact, part of me wonders if they did this with such a light touch on this regulation almost to go ahead and give congressional democrats an opportunity to add teeth. there is no teeth to what was announced today by the white house. zero, none, zilch.
1:06 pm
you could argue that there should be, if you believe this law -- because this law will have a hard time working under restrictions of the landrieu bill or upton bill would put into it. i wouldn't be surprised if part of the white house thinking here is, you know what, allow congress, congressional democrats to be the heroes here at the end of the day. you saw them taking every -- put all the political errors on me. i've let them down, democrats down, let the supporters down, so it wouldn't be surprising to me if the next step here is them accepting some sort of congressional fix allowing democrats to quote, unquote, save the day here for these people. >> chuck todd in the middle of the action there. thank you very much. this has been extraordinary. florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schulz chairs democratic national kmth committee and joins me now. as democratic party leader, this is a real problem. you have members all over the country who have been very explicit, congresswoman, about their complaints to the white
1:07 pm
house. that was a very, quote, frank session last night from the house side. >> members have wanted to make sure when it came to the commitment that we made, that if you like your plan you can keep it, that was a commitment we were able to make sure we followed through on. president obama by announcing this administrative fix today has enabled us to make sure truly if you like your plan, any person who has a problem and is faced with a cancellation will be able to do that. at the end of the day we've got -- >> excuse me, though. that's only if the insurance company goes along with it. we're already hearing the insurance industry doesn't want to go along with it. there's no teeth by the administrative action. there's no requirement that the insurance companies have to provide these additional benefits, they simply have to notify people they are not getting the benefits. there's no requirement they renew these policies. >> i hear what you're saying.
1:08 pm
if you look at what was the case before the affordable care act became law, there was about a 50 to 67% of individual insurance policies that insurance companies changed or canceled every year on their own anyway. so now this is an opportunity to make sure that the vast majority of people are going to be able to keep their plan if they like it. also there is legislation out there that mary landrieu sponsored and we could potentially take up and make sure we codify that commitment. what we should not do and what is unacceptable is what the republicans want to do in the upton bill and that is allow new policies, more policies to be sold past 2013 that say that additional people can have pre-existing conditions and be dropped or denied coverage. that women can be charged double just for being women. that annual caps would be returned so medical bankruptcy was possible.
1:09 pm
essentially if you listen to what marco rubio said, he said under no circumstances should we work to do anything to fix the affordable care act. john boehner has literally said in a closed door session his plan is to targets the affordable care act and try to kill it through targeted attempts. so their effort is transparent. they don't want to make sure this law works. they have no interest covering the majority of americans with quality, affordable coverage and we're going to continue to push to make sure we can implement it. >> regardless of what the republican approach has been, the democrats and white house armed your opposition by messing this up. the bottom line of the mp marketplace and the way these exchanges work, it is a marketplace. once you start taking this out and taking that out, aren't you going to destroy economic rationalization for this to
1:10 pm
work? >> andrea, that's why the upton bill is unacceptable. what they want to do is set up two completely separate attacks. affordable care act and new people have insurance coverage that really isn't comprehensive coverage at all. the affordable care act's implementation accounted for actuarially you would have people who keep their plan if they like it, that's what president obama's propose did today, his administrative fix waiving that rule. as we go forward make sure we implement affordable care act. keep in mind, we've had people enjoying benefits of this law since 2010, where young adults can stay on their parents insurance until 26, women and seniors can get insurance without co-pay or deductible. those are the kinds of things republican are trying to take away and roll backwards on the quality affordable coverage they
1:11 pm
can get. >> surely you're hearing from your colleagues, the members, they are worried about the midterm elections. this is a real political problem. the president was clearly acknowledging that, talking about how people shouldn't be blaming democrats. how do you reassure members? how do you go forward with the election defending obama care at the same time as you realize it is a real setback for the democratic party. >> frankly, andrea, when i'm hearing from my colleagues as late as this morning, as recently as yesterday in the caucus meeting, they simply wanted it commitment to make sure it could be followed through. the commitment we made, if people like their plan, they can keep it. look, we also have to make sure people know if they choose to keep that plan, it's still a policy that is not -- not subject to the new protections. it's not going to have those benefits that new affordable care act policies will have. they can still, if they choose
1:12 pm
to, be dropped or denied coverage for that pre-existing condition. democrats embrace the idea that we should fully implement affordable care act, give people the opportunity to keep a plan they liked. now that the president has made that available, and we have an opportunity for people to do that, i believe the overwhelming majority of congressional democrats are going to make sure not only that we vote against the upton bill tomorrow but that we continue to press forward. look, republicans shut the government down over denying people access to quality affordable health care. democrats are behind affordable care act, fully implementing it, recognizing this is not an overnight change. it's not like flipping a light switch. this is a major change in our health care system. there are going to be bumps along the way. we could listen to marco rubio and do absolutely nothing to deal with the problems that might arise or we could do what president obama and democrats believe we should do and we've done over 200 years when we deal with problems that arise in the
1:13 pm
law, we work together to solve those problems. when you're a republican tea party extreme is and all you want to do is block the president from accomplishing anything and willing to derail the economy just to do that, there are efforts to continue to kill the affordable care act are pretty apparent. >> debbie wasserman schulz, thank you. >> in the philippines, critical help from the u.s. military finally arrived. "uss geoge washington" anchored off tacloban overnight. a total of 5,000 u.s. sailors and marines in the region as aid continues -- aid workers continue to face challenges getting supplies to survivors of the the typhoon killed 2300 people and left others homeless. ian williams joins me from manila. ian, this is finally the cavalry arriving, the george washington.
1:14 pm
they have to mobilize and get to remote areas. >> reporter: that's right. there is a hope, andrea, this is a turning point, "uss geoge washington" and seven support vessels arriving off the coast of leyte today. they are called this the operation for helping epa other or sharing. they come equipped, 21 helicopters and the ability of the "uss geoge washington" to purify 400,000 liters of water every day. that will be much needed by people who haven't had clean drinking water in a lot of these areas for almost a week. they will be going on search and rescue missions. they will be delivering aid into the areas. already there are more than 300 u.s. marines on the ground, something which will soon be boosted to more than 1,000. tacloban airport has been much improved in that the airfield, airstrip that been extended to take larger planes of it's
1:15 pm
operating 24 hours a day. the philippine relief effort getting up to speed after suffering terrible gridlock over recent days. they are now getting aid in there. the security situation remains dicey. there's a lot of fear in there. there have been some nasty incidents. the government claims they are getting the police, they are getting soldiers in there to stabilize the situation. that's certainly something which u.s. officials are going to have to think about as they fly these choppers in. all in all we are seeing perhaps a turning point now. aid will be stepped up over the coming days. that will be very, very welcome in those devastated communities, andrea. >> ian williams, thank you very much for that update. coming up here, will the president's fix now on health care be enough to calm the panic in his own party. chief of staff did notes mcdonough asked to the hill to smooth things other. claire mccaskill coming out of
1:16 pm
that meeting to be with us. stay with us, andrea mitchell, on msnbc. ase or ulcerative colitis is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. who gets the allstate safe driving bonus check. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renters insurance. [ female announcer ] protect your valuables
1:17 pm
for as low as $4 a month when you add renters insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 866-906-8500 now. what are you doing? we're switching car insurance. why? because these guys are the cheapest. why? good question. because a cut-rate price could mean cut-rate protection. you should listen to this guy. [ female announcer ] with allstate you get great protection and a great price, plus an agent! drivers who switched saved an average of $498 a year. call now and see how much you can save. just a few more ways allstate is changing car insurance for good. [ female announcer ] call an allstate agent and get a quote now. many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat.
1:19 pm
this fix won't solve every problem for every person but it's going to help a lot of people. doing more will require work with congress. i also do feel an obligation to everybody out there that supported this effort. when we don't do a good job on the rollout, we're letting them down. i don't like doing that. >> at this hour white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough trying to sell senate democrats. we heard from president obama he
1:20 pm
was apologetic. they want more than an apology. mary landrieu called for bigger changes. they want to vote putting they will on the record. senator mccaskill joins us now. you might have been in on the meeting. i've never seen this president so abjectly apologetic on anything as he was today. >> i think he knows this has been a colossal problem. self-inflicted. he's as upset, frustrated, angry, embarrassed as we are. we have to figure out the way to get this fixed. as i said this morning, the store is open but the front door is locked. we depend on this succeeding by people coming in and being customers. it's problematic. we have to move forward. i think this is a good step.
1:21 pm
>> the insurance city is pushing back saying they don't want to take the blame. they don't want it to be on them to renew and continue these policies. what if they don't comply. >> nobody is asking them to take the blame. they are holding policies, what the facts are, what is the coverage you have. are there places you can go and explore other options from private insurance companies. many times with the same insurance companies but the same kind of benefit just like people get when they get insurance from their jobs. they get a tax benefit on that. people from the individual market, we want them thogts that same fair treatment people get with employer-based insurance. no one asking anybody to take the blame. we want people to get the rid information instead of misinformation republicans love to spread about this reform,
1:22 pm
scaring people. this is a free market solution and we hope people take advantage of it. >> of course the opposition party will do everything they can and has, the bottom line is the white house really messed this up as you acknowledged and gave the opposition all of the damaging weapons they needed. how does that confront people like mary landrieu and others facing re-election. >> obviously it makes it much more difficult. the most important thing candidates can do is just be honest with constituents about the problem. they want it fixed. they are going to try as hard as they can to make sure the goal of this legislation -- lets remember the reason this legislation occurred is because all of us were confronted with many, many people saying, please help us get insurance. we don't have insurance at work. we're small businesses that can't afford this insurance. find someplace we can shop for insurance.
1:23 pm
get the same leveraged buying power large groups get. that's the only reason this occurred. it's a valid reason and will work if people give it a chance. >> the insurance trade group said the insurance industry is going to need more fixes to prevent consumer harm. this is not going to work. got an e-mail saying premiums set next year based on the assumption consumers would be transitioning to the new marketplace. so if fewer, younger, healthier people aren't there, premiums will be increased, it will be harmed. >> this is a difficult year as we transition to the open market with a pooled risk. having said that, it would be helpful if republican colleagues would work with us to try to fix this for american people instead of trying to score political
1:24 pm
points. i know how sick people are with washington trying to make people look bad rather than getting to the table and compromising, negotiating. if republicans have a better way of doing this, i'm ready. i think all of us are. i think the president is. come to the table with meaningful positive ways to address this instead of being against everything. against the government, against the government, against health care reforms. lets try to find out what we're for. >> let me switch, you've been an advocate protecting women, there is a disagreement between you and gillibrand on how to handle sexual assault cases pt she's considering narrowing her bill to only be sexual assault and rape that would have outside prosecutors. you have insisted on the chain of command. she doesn't have the 60 votes that she needs. she's got a majority but not 60. what about this compromise, does
1:25 pm
it work for you? >> it really isn't a compromise. it makes it worse. it frankly has never been done this way. i'm not sure it passes constitutional muster. that's why one of the legal experts in the area criticized this move yesterday. frankly we don't want to isolate sexual assault victims. we want to protect them, value them, make sure they get resources they need. i base this on years of experience in the courtroom with sexual assault victims. they need the special victims counsel we're going to give them. the notion we're going to have a pink court that's isolated and different and let the commanders off the hook, i'm not doing it. i don't want the commanders off the hook. they have to be accountable. that's why we're putting so many checks on them, with civilian checks on them in our reforms that are included in the bill and we will be offering on the
1:26 pm
floor. >> that's next week is it on the defense appropriations bill? >> we hope so. there appears to be senator vitter continues to want to stamp his feet and have his way on amendments he wants voted on, even though members of his own caucus are encouraging him to be reasonable so we can authorize the nation's military. i'm hoping he's reasonable. he's offered a vote. he wants to be promised unlimited votes. that's not the way the senate has operated for decades and certainly not the way to do the country's business. i'm hoping we can get to the bill next week. we certainly are planning on it. it all depends whether or not we have more obstructionism. >> thank you very much senator claire mccaskill, thank you for being with us today. >> thank you. >> will the president's emergency fix bring the health care law off life support. susan page and eugene robinson joining us next. [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire.
1:27 pm
but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. it's just common sense. don'neutralize them odorand freshen.ash. with glad odorshield with febreze.
1:28 pm
1:29 pm
for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start taking xeljanz if you have any kind of infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests, including certain liver tests, before you start and while you are taking xeljanz. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant, or plan to be. taken twice daily, xeljanz can reduce the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. ask if xeljanz is right for you.
1:30 pm
my expectation was that for 98% of the american people, either it again wenly wouldn't change at all or they would be press antly surprised with the options in the marketplace and that the grandfather clause would cover the rest. that proved not to be the case. that's on me. it's on him. president obama's second term, in fact, may rest on the success or failure of this health care law. so is this emergency fix today enough to staunch the bleeding. joining me bureau chief susan page and eugene robinson, political analyst and associate editor at the "washington post." susan, i've never seen the president this restrained and really down on something involving his own decisions. >> this contrite, a much different tone than he took last week when he made a sort of
1:31 pm
apology to chuck todd. i think issued after the extraordinary news conference goes beyond the health care law itself. we're seeing core values of a president under attack here. competency, leadership, these are the questions president obama now is going to have to address and try to rebuild for a second term agenda not just on health care but on immigration and on policy toward iran and everything else that a president tries to do. >> eugene, this is more than just poll ratings, this is the confidence that people in his own party have in him when they are facing re-election. not only self-interest but confidence in the white house. >> andrea, i think it was striking the way he essentially apologized to democrats on capitol hill and said i sent them out there to tell everybody how great this is going to be. we fumbled obama care and i'm sorry for that. i hadn't seen quite this tone from president obama before. at the same time he was very clear he's not backing up.
1:32 pm
he said i will not turn my back on 40 million people who have a chance to get health insurance for the first time. i think explicitly or implicitly was the idea it's going take time not to get this right but to build that trust. he has time. he has three more years in office, and change, and he's going to kroo that time both to get the policy right and to win back the confidence of the american team. >> what they have spent is political capital, susan. that's hard to regain. >> you know how you can pull a thread on a sweater and pretty soon there's no arm there because you've unraveled it. the risk to me, by opening the door to a one-year delay insisting on the quality provisions of the health insurance, it opens the door to all kinds of other changes. you heard from the health
1:33 pm
insurance agency, within mants came out with a saying that said this could drive premiums higher. we need to have additional fixes. this in itself will not work. i wonder if he opened the door to bigger changes that put the affordable care act at risk. i wonder if the self-inflicted errors over the past couple of weeks, the website, the ploigs you can keep your health care plan if you want it, if they have succeeded doing what they failed to do is really put the affordable care act in peril. >> eugene, next step not only immigration but budget deadlines. this weakens the negotiating stance. >> it does weaken the negotiating stance. on the other hand, it's hard to understand a whole lot of enthusiasm for republicans for another round of brinksmanship
1:34 pm
for another shutdown or walk up to the brink of the debt ceiling. the president is kind of starting behind in that negotiation. to susan's point, i think what this ensures is that the affordable care act is going to have a pretty messy first year. they might not get as many young people into the pool as they would like to have gotten in, which means they might not have the depressing effect on insurance rates as they would like to have. it might be kind of problematic year as they try to get into that. whether it puts it at risk i'm not sure but it's messy. >> i want to ask about the controversy over richard cohen's commence in a column where he said, and it was probably not well written, that's their defense but people with
1:35 pm
conventional views must depress a gag reflex when considering a mayor elect of new york, a white man, married to a black woman with two biracial children. it's been widely reviewed and commented on, but certainly an uncomfortable moment for "the washington post" writers group. >> look, those are not conventional views, first of all. objectively thought are not conventional views. i think 87% of americans prove of interracial marriage. i've known richard for a long time. i take him at his worth it was inartfully written. the page editors at his word it was inartfully edited. he didn't pay enough attention to it. but clearly that passage as it and in the paper should not have and that way, and i think it was a mistake. >> thanks for your comments on
1:36 pm
that. thanks very much, susan. we'll see you later as well. coming up next, another embarrassing scandal for the secret service. we'll have the details next. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day.
1:37 pm
1:38 pm
1:39 pm
the affordably priced towel that's an actual bargain. watch how one select-a-size sheet of bounty basic is 50% stronger than a full sheet of the bargain brand. it takes a strong towel to stretch a budget. bounty basic. the strong but affordable picker upper. and try charmin basic. welcome back. the white house dealing with another secret service embarrassment, two from the president's detail, a few blocks from the white house, not in columbia, north america. kristen welker joins me. this is amazing. two supervisors in the detail investigated for an incident in the hey adams hotel across the park from where you're standing right now. >> one involved in the incident at hey adams. i can tell you a source familiar
1:40 pm
with the incident, started last may, that's when they say the supervisor was at the hotel, as you pointed ow, a hotel across the street from the white house. he apparently met a woman there, went up to her hotel room. during the course of being there, he decided to remove the bullets from his gun and then he left leaving one bullet in that hotel room. he realized his mistake, went back to retrieve the bullet and that essentially caused the hotel to contact the white house, secret service, that sparked an investigation. ultimately he was removed from his position on the president's detail to another position within the secret service. then in a swent investigation it was determined, and they are still looking into this, that zamora may have been responsible for sending what "the washington post" described as sexually suggestive text messages to a female subordinate.
1:41 pm
a second secret service agent identified also sending inappropriate text messages to that same female subordinate. he was moved to a different position within the president's detail. meanwhile this comes a year after the scandal where a dozen agents penalized after being with prostitutes. the inspector general out in the wake of that incident we expect in the coming weeks, andrea, that will look into the broader culture within the secret service. this latest incident not on the same scale as cartagena but unwanted nonetheless. >> there is a woman in charge of the secret service agency tasked with cleaning things up. >> julia pearson. >> not an easy charge. thanks very much, kristen. >> thank you. coming up next, what does it take to break the glass ceiling at the cia. you'll be surprised. we'll be right back. green bean? ♪
1:42 pm
♪ if i was a flower growing wild and free ♪ ♪ all i'd want is you to be my sweet honeybee ♪ ♪ and if was a tree growing tall and green ♪ ♪ all i'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves ♪ grown in america. picked & packed at the peak of ripeness. the same essential nutrients as fresh. del monte. bursting with life™. i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans,
1:43 pm
they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. excuse me? glacier point?
1:44 pm
follow me! ♪ follow me! keep up, keep up, keep up. ♪ look he's right there! follow me! [ male announcer ] the nissan pathfinder. wow! follow me! [ male announcer ] nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $279 per month lease on a 2014 nissan pathfinder. ♪ it's not the "limit the cash i earn every month" card. it's not the "i only earn decent rewards at the gas station" card. it's the no-games, no-signing up, everyday-rewarding, kung-fu-fighting, silver-lightning-in-a-bottle, bringing-home-the-bacon cash back card. this is the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so ask yourself, what's in your wallet?
1:45 pm
for decades intelligence work was an all boys club. most of the jobs women could get were as secretaries. world war ii allowed patriotic women to work as spies in the office of strategic services including doris who analyzed aerial photos for troop drops and found nazi concentration camps and betty macintosh who spun propaganda for the japanese war effort and once passed along explosives that blew up a train. now, 90 and 98, remember well the way it was. >> we were always referred to as the girls. they were two of us. >> what did you think about that? >> we didn't like it very much. i was doing exactly the same things as majors and lieutenant kernels. here i was, the girls. >> some things still haven't changed. >> i understand you don't talk a lot about this particular -- no,
1:46 pm
i can't ask any questions about undercover. >> sorry, can't answer. >> still today can't talk about it? >> no, sorry. i wish i could help, but no. >> after the war, battle hardened spies returned home to square one. so when doris's chief needed a deputy. >> said you're the best qualified for this job. said i'm going to give it to ed because he has a wife and a child to support and you are married now and you could get pregnant and leave. >> even in the '90s barely any women in management. >> i spent 12 years as an analyst. i never had the tap on the shoulder, we think you're capable of actually running a team. >> in 1995 after hundreds of cia employees had sued for gender discrimination, the agency realized it had to change. today cia director john brennan tells us in the first interview on the job agency leaders picked for abilities, gender
1:47 pm
notwithstanding. it was his decision to name a woman as his number two. >> are there any qualities women bring that men might not be able to bring. >> i'm very surprised how perceptive and inciteful women can be about how a man is acting. they have an opportunity to see the world through the very important eyes of a woman. >> the eyes of a woman zeroed in on osama bin laden. the team behind the capture was led largely by female officers. one still unnamed became the subject of "zero dark thirty." >> those individuals had been working the issue, i'm not confident we would have been successful. >> we gathered in one room the agencies past and present. >> do you have any advice for them? >> they have done all right on their own, don't you? >> certainly wasn't on our own. >> as for the future, 24-year-old ashley hurts is one of the newest recruits.
1:48 pm
>> we've had it easy compared to them. there's no question about gender or whether or not i can't do anything in the cia. >> it would appear that seeing a woman director of the cia is no longer a question of if but when. ann curry, nbc news, washington. >> as ann curry reported women at the cia have risen to prominent roles in the last decades. a half century struggle. the real cia is not exactly homeland. >> you said you were an important man. you said you had information about an attack by abu nasir. >> i have information. >> prove it. because unless you do, i won't protect your family. >> the agency has still never been headed by a woman. last year after finding only one-fifth of all the officers promoted in the senior intelligence service were women, cia director david petraeus asked madeleiine albright to
1:49 pm
examine. found they failed to sponsor women officers which directly impacted the mission. joining me director for inclusion at the ciera. carmen, thank you for being with us. you've been there and seen a lot of change. do you think the cia has broken the glass ceiling in an important enough way or still steps that need to be taken? >> i think the answer is yes to both. cia certainly has a strong and rich history of looking at workforce issues such as women in the workplace. one of our first studies at cia was called peti coat panel study. really this came about when one gutsy female officer asked then director dulles what are you going to do about discrimination in the workplace against women? fast forward to 1991 and '92,
1:50 pm
cia sponsored glass ceiling study. finally the report you mentioned with secretary albright coming in to look at the progress in the cia. >> when we talk about john bren and took over, he did not promote to the head of the covert operations, the d.o., the woman who had been the acting director. there is some talk that because she had been arguably involved in renditions in some of the controversial policies that that might have played a role. that lends the impression, at least, that women still don't have access to the top jobs. >> well, i would say that women do have access to the top leadership. women are all over the cia in terms of various job disciplines, various levels all the way up to the senior leadership level. we've seen so much change over
1:51 pm
the years. for example, back in 1980 if you looked at where women were in the organization, only 9% were in that mid and top-level grades. then you fast forward now and we're about 44% throughout the organization in those mid and top-level grades. >> the agency has expanded exponentially since 9/11 for obvious reasons, but some are saying that the amount of time involved, the workday, the 60-hour workweek or whatever it is, non-stop work in counterterrorism, has actually led to the exclusion of people with families because men with families generally have more flexibility still in the workplace than women. do you think that's still the case? >> that comment is a real reflection on where we are in
1:52 pm
the united states, and it's true that there's this emergence of extreme jobs where people have long hours, unpredictable hours, but that impacts not just women but men as well. we're seeing the evolution of younger people saying, we do want work life balance, we do need flexibility in order to manage all of our responsibilities, both in the workplace and outside of the workplace. >> well, carmen middleton, great job you have and a great mission. we thank you for your service and thanks for coming here and thanks for the access you gave our friend ann curry. that was all terrific. >> thank you, andrea. >> and you can see more of ann curry's special report "a sister hood of spies" on "nbc nightly news" tonight. ] just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience the joy of sugar without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda™
1:53 pm
but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive,y first. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron. the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping;
1:54 pm
1:55 pm
1:56 pm
and join republicans? >> i think it's possible. how do you keep house democrats under fire, up for re-election next year and keep them from voting for something that is different from what the president proposed but along the same lines, trying to address the problem that the president identified today. i mean, it's possible that you just say -- you just don't even engage on that vote and you determine to focus on the senate to avoid getting some bill that you just find unacceptable. >> susan paige, what a day. very, very interesting stuff. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." tamron, a lot of news here in washington. >> it's a big day, right? good things going on. at least conversationwise. thank you very much, andrea. developing news, as mentioned. president obama tries to make good on a promise, announcing just a short time ago that if people want to keep their insurance policies, they would have some options now on the table. will this be enough to calm the
1:57 pm
stressed out member ss of his o party? plus, the mayor of toronto back in front of the cameras today. he's saying he's getting professional help and even apologizing for a pretty outrageous remark he made to a reporter. he claims it's been a tough couple of weeks, but tough enough to make him step down? we'll see. and new guide loolines urgi doctors to get tougher on overweight patients saying obesity should be treated as aggressively as other health issues. it's our "news nation" gut check. [ mainframe ] located. ge deep-sea fuel technology. a 50,000-pound, ingeniously wired machine that optimizes raw data to help safely discover and maximize resources in extreme conditions. our current situation seems rather extreme. why can't we maximize our... ready. ♪ brilliant. let's get out of here. warp speed. ♪ still running in the morning? yeah.
1:58 pm
getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. two full servings of vegetables have hail damage to both their cars. ted ted is trying to get a hold of his insurance agent. maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes! maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend. wheeeee! whoo! later ted! online claims appointments. just a click away on geico.com.
268 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on