florida representative alan grayson serves on the foreign affairs committee.poke with him from capitol hill a short time ago. well, thanks for joining us. let's get right to it. why would a limited strike against syria be a missnake. >> several reasons. first, it's not our responsibility. it's not our responsibility to act unilaterally. secondly, it's not going to do any good. it's not going to change the regime. it's not going to tend civil war it's not even going prevent a new strike and use of chemical warfare. third, it's expensive and fourth it's dangerous. it could easily spin out of control. >> brown: a key argument from the president has been that chemical weapons are simply different. the use of them must be punished it must be stopped. what kind of message do you send to the syrian government and to other governments, including iran? >> as one of my colleagues said, if you want tow send a message, use hallmark not missiles. i think that logic applies here. listen we have to stop thinking in terms of messages and start thinking about what is our respo

representatives at the moment now one of the strongest opponents of military action is congressman alan grayson he's a democrat from florida he has promised to whip his fellow lawmakers into voting against action in the country and he joined me earlier to explain why he feels so strongly about this issue. well first of all it's not our responsibility it doesn't involve any vital united states national security interest secondly i won't do any good third it's expensive at a time when we're suffering enormous deficits and forth it's dangerous that could easily spin out of control regarding our whipping efforts they're extremely successful the washington post just updated its whip list found that in the four hundred thirty five members of the house only twenty of them have now declared that they are in favor of resolution against this one hundred eighty three so we're closing in on the magic number of two hundred seventeen when we'll have majority of the house that in the case that will vote against the president's resolution in addition to that the public response has been overwhelming many membe

i'm joined now by one of those opposed to the obama administration's plan democratic congressman alan grayson from florida welcome congressman grayson q thank you very much thanks for joining us why do you oppose intervention in syria i oppose it because it's not our responsibility it won't do any good it's expensive and it's dangerous in the press conference in sweden today president obama said that the united states needs to attack syria to deter other countries from acting with impunity years twenty second but. i do think that we have to act. because if we don't we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity. i would buy that if the if the when he was talking about was the united nations but the united states what are your thoughts on that. well listen the we heard the same arguments during the vietnam war and what the president's referring to is some kind of bizarre variant on the domino theory we can call it the bomb and no theory these days if we just bo

. >>> florida congressman alan grayson will join us live. he will tell us why he thinks president obama's argument for military action in syria doesn't make sense. bster's endless shri. it's as much as you like, any way you like. try new soy wasabi grilled shrimp and more. only $15.99, offer ends soon. so come in and sea food differently. now, try seven lunch choices for $7.99. sandwiches, salads and more. ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin dedicated to your eyes, from bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is uniquely for

joining me now for more on that as well as the rest of the news of the day's news is congressman alan grayson representing florida's ninth congressional district congressman grayson welcome back it's always nice to see thank you same here tom what did you make of the president's speech last night do you think he persuaded americans or or what is it do you by a large body of what you i'm sure you're hearing from your constituents did it fail to move the needle it failed to move the needle in most respects i will say that i joined roughly three hundred million americans and breathing a sigh of relief because we moved back from the brink of war the president now has said several things we need to happen before we go back to the threshold of war and those things will seem to take a long time and we may never be back at the brink again with regard to the situation secondly i think that this is an enormous victory for the forces of peace and democracy here in america this is the biggest victory for peace in america since the end of the vietnam war we were unable to stop the war in iraq the war went

another one of obama's critics, florida congressman alan grayson joining me from orlando.he anivention at all. >> after yesterday, did the president say anything to change your mind? >> no. it's not our responsibility. it's not going to do any good. it's dangerous and it's expensive. nothing the president says changes any of those facts. >> what do you mean when you say it won't do any good when you hear secretary kerry spell out letting a dictator like assad go with impunity means it sends a message to other dictators who might have other chemical weapons that they could harm their people as well? >> actually, there's only four countries in the world that have chemical weapons. the largest of the four is the united states. so are we trying to send a message to ourselves? that's not logical. >> i've heard that theory before somehow one country's actions will affect another country's and another country's. it's just the domino argument again. we'll call it the bomino argument. it's not logical, doesn't make any sense. >> when the president and secretary of state kerry says

we continue our talks with members of congress about syria- - tonight, democratic congressman alan grayson. >> woodruff: then, from western massachusetts, a story about a county taking "going local" to ol

congressman alan grayson.aren finney, host of "disrupt with karen finney" on msnbc. >>> if you missed my exclusive interview with john kerry, go to allinwithchris.com. >>> a new book has ray kelly on the defense over his controversial surveillance operations. i'll talk to the authors. coming up. >>> new york city police commissioner ray kelly probably wishes a new book that pulls back the curtain on new york city's controversial surveillance program had never been written, but it has and it is absolutely fascinating. i'm going to talk to the authors coming up. >>> first i want to share the three awesomest things on the internet today beginning with norway's latest and greatest export to the world. these two guys are norwegian talk show hosts known as ylvis. lucky for us they sing, too. their latest single just dropped. if all of your knowledge of norwegian culture comes from that, friends, you're about to get an education. ♪ dog goes woof ♪ cat goes meow ♪ bird goes tweet and mouse goes squeak ♪ ♪ fish go blub

congress nan alan grayson.t with karen finney" on msnbc. >>> if you missed my exclusive interview with john kerry, allinwith yn chris.com. >>> ray kelly is on the defense over his controversial surveillance operations. i'll talk to the authors. did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age? [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. ocuvite. help protect your eye health. ocuvite. [announcer] there's no hiding the beneful baked delights.from new heartfuls are made with real bacon... ...and oven-baked to crisp perfection. add a soft apple-flavored center ...and say no more. new heartfuls from beneful baked delights. spark more play in your day. cashback concierge, here. what is a cashback concierge? well there's lots of ways you can get cash back. i'm here to help you get the most out of your cash rewards. it's personalized, and it's free. i want that. we have a concie

congressman alan grayson. karen finney" on msnbc. >>> if you missed my exclusive interview with john kerry, go to allinwithchris.com. >>> a new book has ray kelly on the defense over his controversial surveillance operations. i'll talk to the authors. coming up. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪ ♪ we go, go, w

we continue our talks with members of congress about syria- - tonight, democratic congressman alan grayson woodruff: then, from western massachusetts, a story about a county taking "going local" to a whole new level by printing its own money. >> it's about community support. it's about shopping local. it's about sustainability right here where we live and we work.

earlier members of congress are supposed to get the proving classified hearings but as congressman alan grayson said they're being given intelligence briefings without any hard evidence to support administration's claims that the syrian leader has ordered the use of chemical weapons here's another cab the members of congress are not allowed to discuss the classified hearings so we have no way of knowing what the administration has actually provided as evidence lawmakers are unable to discuss the evidence the classified evidence even among themselves unless they are inside an approved reading room and as congressman grayson says questioning the official account of events is quote actively discouraged is that the obama administration is doing what it calls flooding the field in other words trying to monopolize the conversation dominate the discourse and provide only information in favor of an attack to members of congress and to the public i think that's unfortunate. there's always two sides to the story when you talk about war and peace the public and congress definitely here deserve to hear abo

but for this evening, i'm delighted that in the "crossfire," democratic congressman alan grayson who is for putin's peace plan, and danielle pletga, who thinks the president has mismanaged the syrian crisis. let me start, danielle, with you. you saw this morning "the new york times" op-ed piece by president putin, instructing the american people. let me just read one brief section of it. he says, "no one doubts that poison gas was used in syria. but there is every reason to believe it was used not by the syrian army, but by opposition forces to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patri patrons." now, do you agree with putin that this could have easily been a clever black flag operation, or do you in fact agree with the american intelligence community that this was clearly done by the syrian army? >> the weight of the evidence at this point is that it was done by the syrian army. however, all members of congress, all of whom, as you well know, have classified clearance, have received so far is a four-page unclassified document making all the arguments for war and a 12-page

earlier members of congress are supposed to get the proving classified hearings but as congressman alan grayson said they're being given intelligence briefings without any hard evidence to support of ministrations claims that the syrian leader has ordered the use of chemical weapons here's another members of congress are not allowed to discuss the classified hearings so we have no way of knowing what the administration has actually provided as evidence lawmakers are unable to discuss the evidence the classified evidence even among themselves unless they are inside an approved reading room and as congressman grayson says questioning the official account of events is quote actively discouraged is that the obama administration is doing what it calls flooding the field in other words trying to monopolize the conversation dominate the discourse and provide only information in favor of an attack to members of congress and to the public i think that's unfortunate. there's always two sides to the story when you talk about war and peace the public and congress definitely here deserve to hear about both

. >> i would have to agree that alan grayson is a spokesperson for saving money and it's a little bitird. no, i will give you that. the one that is almost as bad. >> so i think that was part of his reasons in listing why he didn't one of the best. i would say that there other reasons that might even be more important. and they re rarely about how much we spend on how we spend a. neil: michelle, how serious is this good to be with where we ultimately go with this? as both of you pointed out, undertakings are never cheap. and they are never what they originally billed to the cost. >> experts are projecting that a limited military strike would cost about $100 million. well, that is clearly -- i mean, you can never decide a project that much money it would cost for the bush demonstration told us that iraq was only going to cost 50 to $60 billion. that ended up not being true. it's about $1.7 trillion. so you can't really take these people at their word. you cannot guess how much this will cost. i think the congress needs to explain to the american people where are we going to get this mon

where there are more civil libertarians like representative just a mash and progressives like alan grayson who oppose intervention and you can already see similarities between supporters of the a monster amendment that nearly passed a few months ago to define the n.s.a. and those who today oppose intervention in syria who are manes to b. c. of house leadership like speaker the house john boehner eric cantor nancy pelosi who all support intervention can keep their members in one ultimately though the white house never said military strikes him john congressional approval they've been careful not to say that in fact senator chris coons is confident however that the president is listening to congress members i welcome and respect the president coming to congress to seek authorization i don't think he had to i think constitutionally he has the power to act in exigent circumstances i think both what we decide and how we decide it here in the congress is important of both as a role model of how democracy can work and in order to end up hopefully with sort of unified support behind a narrow and c

we now know that didn't happen congressman justin amash congressman alan grayson and congressman morgan griffith have all come forward to talk about how requests they made for more information from the house intelligence committee were routinely rejected by committee chairman mike rogers so all the fai's a court itself has received a lot of criticism for its secret defenses of the n.s.a. spying program this newly declassified ruling shows that blame. can be spread around to the telecom companies and members of the congressional intelligence come committees to this declassified pfizer court opinion marks the first time the pfizer court has decided to release one of its opinions on its own. this week forbes magazine released its annual list of the four hundred richest people in america. bill gates tops the list for the twentieth year in a row but there's another familiar name on there that of walton yes the walton heirs the heirs to the wal-mart fortune occupy spot six seven eight and on on the list with their combined wealth topping one hundred thirty five billion with a b. dollars it's

with the syrian crisis some would say a disproportionate amount of time one of those lawmakers is alan grayson who points out that there are several upcoming domestic deadlines that have the ability to cripple the u.s. government and are in need of immediate action for more on that we turn to political commentator sam sachs. so this week congress is focused on syria the president will be on the hill tuesday arm twisting members and we should expect votes on the syria resolution in the senate later this week and then in the house next week but what else is on the congressional docket that's now been pushed back to deal with syria well to begin with the government is about to run out of money and will shut down on october first about three weeks from today unless congress can come up with a spending deal before this last recess the house and senate where major odds over the budget in particular what to do with the sequester with republicans in the house wanting to keep it in place and democrats in the senate wanting to get rid of it so there's still a wide gap between the two chambers that won't

on the right, newt gingrich in the crossfire, representative alan grayson, who supports putin's peaceed the crisis. following russia's lead, the path to peace, or is it trouble? tonight on "crossfire." >> welcome to "crossfire." i'm newt gingrich on the right. >> and i'm van jones on the left. if you had told me on inauguration day, that before thanksgiving, president obama would have russia and syria at the negotiating table and syria officially offering to join the international agreement to ban chemical weapons, i would have said, hallelujah. this is what diplomacy is all about. this is a good thing. but rather than being happy, all we're hearing is the same usual crap from the same usual complainers. >> now, wait a second. >> i'm very, very concerned and very skeptical. >> i've got real doubts about the motives of the russians and president assad. >> i've never liked mr. putin. in fact, obama never liked him until last tuesday, when he came and bailed him out. >> now, come on. you're going to join the complainers? >> let me just say, we've had 19 days since the attack of the obama

many members of congressional progressive caucus including the liberal congressman from florida, alan graysonhed a position against attacking syria and opposes any military strike there. lining up alongside grayson, junior republican senator from the state of kentucky. >> i think it's a mistake to get involved in the syrian civil war, and what i would ask john kerry is, you know, he's famous for saying, you know, how can you ask a man to be a last one to die for a mistake? i would ask john kerry, how can you ask a man to be the first one to die for a mistake? >> paul's own views on this don't come as much of a surprise. what we will also see in this vote is the ongoing brawl inside the republican coalition over that party's foreign policy direction. and when watching the news today, each new position for or against the resolution from both democrats and republicans often came as a genuine surprise. citizens looking to their political leaders for direction are likely to find themselves profoundly contorted. joining me now is tommy vietor, former national security spokesman in the obama adminis

florida congressman alan grayson said hands the sovereignty of our country over to corporate interestsding to a leaked document, full incorporations operating within the united states would be permitted to appeal key american legal rulings in an international tribunal. what? this is according to the huffington post. this tribunal would be granted power over american law. circumventing american law. giving up our sovereignty for free trade, there is no doubt free trade agreements have gone awry for this country and bad for american jobs. since nafta was passed in 1994, it's estimated that 680,000 jobs have been lost or displaced because of this agreement. here's what i want to focus on tonight with american workers out there. this is not about unions, it will affect unions no doubt. but this is about american labor. this is about the bar being lowered, the standards. and let me ask you redneck farmers and ranchers in the middle of the country who think the republicans hung the moon and they're the only option out there politically. why in the hell should i buy your beef when i can get i

florida democrat alan grayson says the house doesn't want to strike on syria and the american people don't want it, either. indiana republican luke messer says action is needed and dictators around the world are watching. congressman messer, let me start with you. you support, you're republican, i should reiterate here, you support the president's proposal to strike on syria. what convinced you? >> listen, i'm no fan of this president. i'm certainly no fan of this president's foreign policy. i think his mismanagement in the region has compounded our problems there. but i believe that we can't stop being america just because we have an ineffective commander in chief and when you look at the facts and the evidence here, there are several things that are clear. it is clear that assad gassed his own people. it's clear that that gas was used to murder hundreds of innocent women and children. it's clear that our allies in the region like israel are asking us to intervene and it's clear that evil dictators in places like iran and north korea are watching and will be emboldened if we don't a

florida democrat alan grayson says the house doesn't want to strike on syria and the american people don't want it, either. indiana republican luke messer says action is needed and dictators around the world are watching. congressman messer, let me start with you. you support, you're republican, i should reiterate here, you support the president's proposal to strike on syria. what convinced you? >> listen, i'm no fan of this president. i'm certainly no fan of this president's foreign policy. i think his mismanagement in the region has compounded our problems there. but i believe that we can't stop being america just because we have an ineffective commander in chief and when you look at the facts and the evidence here, there are several things that are clear. it is clear that assad gassed his own people. it's clear that that gas was used to murder hundreds of innocent women and children. it's clear that our allies in the region like israel are asking us to intervene and it's clear that evil dictators in places like iran and north korea are watching and will be emboldened if we don't a