chris cillizza, the nra going out really strong against the momentum, the momentum around the country laws. >> yeah, it's fascinating, andrea, i think you've put your finger on it. even as we sort of see this, at least concerns being raised by gun rights, gun control advocates, about this senate bill out there, it's likelihood of passage. you see connecticut, you see colorado, you see other states moving toward at the state level, moving toward more strict gun control policy. it's fast naturing, when we analyze the effect that newtown has had, have a tendency to look at the national level. which is important. but we should look also at the state level, at least in several cases, connecticut and colorado being the two most obvious, you are seeing some tightening of gun laws. >> of course mike allen, connecticut and colorado both having been so damaged by horrendous gun tragedies. so it may be is more understandable. but you also have governors in both states will to lead and legislatures willing to respond. >> that's right and you've put your finger on a huge issue here in washington.

this is going to be a fascinating period politically. >> thank you so much, chris cillizza.ll be holding down the fort. the whole team here. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." i'll be heading to korea, china and japan with secretary kerry in the next couple days. follow the show online and on twitter. >>> coming up, several breaking stories. first, senator mitch mcconnell has asked the fbi to investigate what his team is calling watergate style tactics after audio surfaces from a campaign meeting where he was gathering opposition research on actress ashley judd. we have a new statement from mother jones, the website that played the audio. as well as that infamous remark by mitt romney, the 47% comment. plus, the gun battle over the score card. the nra, no longer the only organization issuing grades on gun votes. michael bloomberg's organization says those groups will keep score. will it make a difference? it is all coming up next on "news nation." it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm jane

joining us is chris cillizza. check todd, political director and host of the daily rundown, and kim hallas, from the bbc and author of the new award-winning "secretary" a journey with hillary clinton. great to see you. congratulations on the book. >> thank you for having me. >> it's great to be on set, and not on a tight seat in the back of the plane with secretary kerry or clinton. >> kerry is now heading off to the middle east. kim and chuck and -- chuck -- kim and chris, we're seeing this shuttle diplomacy. this is a reenergized middle east shuttle, so that is point one, kerry, kim, does seem to want to nail down whatever advantage he can, and is planning a lot of travel. >> he's been wanting to do this. he's been wanting the job for a long time, and wanting to go all in. he doesn't have probably any more political ambitions beyond his job as secretary of state. he wants to leave a mark. hillary clinton perhaps still harbored political ambitions. she did go all in when she was secretary of state. she doesn't wa

chris cillizza is back. boy, this has been a busy five years.h a big part of it, my friend. >> thank you for letting me be a part of it. this has nothing to do with me. this is about you. everyone who has ever worked with you knows you are literally the hardest person, not just reporter. person i have ever met. i do not know how you do it. i admire you as a reporter, it's i admire you as a pioneer, and i am literally honored to be on with you every day. thank you. >> well, chris cillizza, you are such a big part of this program. we love you and we love having you. i love the whole team. my producer has got the better of me today. thank you all so very much. and thank you, our viewers. that does it for us for this special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." "news nation" is next. welcome to the new new york state. what's the "new" in the new new york? a new property tax cap... and the lowest middle class income tax rate in 60 years... and a billion dollars in tax breaks and incentives. new opportunities for business. over 250,000 new private se

chris cillizza? >> look. andrea, i think immigration, i don't always want to sound the pessimistic note. i'll sound an optimistic note. immigration is a place where i think you've seen a lot of sort of political will on both sides. particularly on the republican side. they know, i think they know that they have to find a way to put this behind them. i think they will, if you're looking for a place that congress is going to do something immigration i think is the one to circle. >> we're going to have to leave it there. chris, thank you so much. ruth marcus, j. mart thank you for joining us today. >>> and next, the escalating standoff with north korea, how does the world call kim jong un's bluff? >>> plus the loss of an american diplomat in afghanistan, a young woman gives her life for her woman. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. [ female announcer ] are you really getting salon quality... or settling for wannabes? stop compromising! new vidal sassoon pro series. care and styling from th

chris cillizza from "the washington post." here are the numbers to call. epublican -- find chris on msnbc. in the a recent piece washington post looking at the president's budget. this is obama's budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases. it is getting blowback from members of his own hardy. chris van hollen says i have tactical interns and substantive concerns. break it down for us. is the president positioning himself in a way that is strategic? is there a story behind the story here? in politics, you should never read almost anything at face value. i would say this, you have to remember that the president's sort of broad agenda and goals are different than house and senate democrat's broad agenda and goals. he never has to worry about getting reelected again. the house and the senate, with the exception of folks who are retiring, do not have that luxury. they will have to get reelected again. it is fascinating that he was on the record, quoted with skepticism there, because chris van hollen is a guy who is the ranking member on the budg

joining me for the daily fix, chris cillizza and chuck todd.heard from others of the newtown families. they went through the motions on the hill. they often did not speak with senators, they spoke to staff and the staff would tell them, we don't know how the senator is going to vote. come on. but they went and they did it. >> well, they were trying to avoid the politics of just not, not looking them in the eye. >> they didn't want to face these people. >> it just shows you -- how, how much of politics -- in the emotion -- >> how fake it is, perhaps? >> it is fake sometimes. you know, so many people go in there, they feel as if they should look them in the eye. but then you have some that say look, look at saxby chambliss who came out and said i'm not going to agree with them. but how could i not say no to a vote with these people? i think some senators did have that reaction. some maybe hit it back. you hear that and -- it was part of me that was just like, i know exactly, i believe her. i believe that there are people that felt that they had t

chris cillizza is with us.go on to baylor and speak about, of course, the texas explosion and memorial service for the victims there. what we saw today really showed the full range of presidential power and the intimacy if you will of the president's club. >> look, andrea, five living presidents, five living first ladies. six, obviously, but five there. you do not see that very often. i thought the speeches were gracious. i thought they in many ways embodied who the presidents were. you saw bill clinton being bill clinton. you saw george bush, w. bush, excuse me, to the point, unapologetic about what he had done in office. sort of a, look, i'm a political junky, self-admitted. i do think this is a fascinating day for our democracy. >> indeed it was. the president goes on to baylor and then back tonight. this was a moment in history. thanks for sharing. chris cillizza, the fix. that does it for us on this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> we're following

joining me for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor, postpolitics.comay between chuck grassley and chuck schumer. also ted cruz weighing in. suggesting that the only thing that ought to be done in immigration reform now is border security, not path to citizenship. lindsay graham and others trying to push back. is this going to completely b l bollocks up the immigration time table? >> i don't know. i think we're still dealing with the reverb rations of what happened in boston here in washington. this situation only resolved itself friday night. we're still looking for answers so i think we have to wait a little bit. now that said, i think what you're going to see is the debate split and you've laid it out. debate split between people who say let's take a few of the measures that are more popular, that we know can get past. let's do it on a piecemeal basis versus people like lindsay graham and marco rubio and others who say we need to do it all at once, it needs to be comprehensive, not piece by piece. that was the dynamic in truth i think that was going

. >> the only thing missing from that picture was the mckenzie brothers, good day, i'm chris cillizza live in washington, andrea continues to report overseas. first the two big stories we're watching out of washington today. the senate has just voted to open debate on president obama's gun control legislation. and the march to immigration reform continues. thousands rallied in the capital on wednesday, in support of a path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants. but what that path will look like is anyone's guess. as questions remain over border security, and work visas. democratic caucus chairman javier bacerra joins us tho tal about the action up on the little. let's start on guns, first, since it just happened. much of the action is in the senate. what is your thought, the senate is moving to debate, which i guess counts as progress. they're moving to debate the gun control law. where do you think things stand? and what do you say to folks who are looking for what's next in this fight? >> well people stood up. and people came out in force throughout the

host: chris cillizza from "the washington post." here are the numbers to call. republican -- you can also find chris on msnbc. here is a recent piece in the theington post looking at president's budget. this is obama's budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases. it is getting blowback from members of his own hardy. chris van hollen says i have tactical interns and substantive concerns. the president's budget. this is obama's budget wouldbre. is the president positioning himself in a way that is strategic? is there a story behind the story here? guest: in politics, you should never read almost anything at face value. i would say this, you have to remember that the president's sort of broad agenda and goals are different than house and senate democrat's broad agenda and goals. he never has to worry about getting reelected again. the house and the senate, with the exception of folks who are retiring, do not have that luxury. they will have to get reelected again. it is fascinating that he was on the record, quoted with skepticism there, because chri

joining me for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com. well, chris, marco rubio puts out his statement moments before the sunday talk shows. was he trying to watch his right flank or was he really saying it's not a done deal yet? >> probably a little bit of both, and youia i think there's politic in policy and policy in politics. marco rubio put out a statement at 8:13 a.m. sunday morning. right before chuck schumer was going to be on with chuck todd on nbc's "meet the press." that was not by accident. i think marco rubio knew that schumer, another member of the gang of eight trying to make the immigration deal was likely to say look, it's all over but the shouting, we have to dot the i's and crossed t's, but we've reached an accord. for marco rubio it's about short-term and longer-term thinking and impact. he wants to be in the room to make a deal. that would help as he goes forward in a general election context. but in a primary, in a presidential primary. he can't look like he got rolled by chuck schumer and the white house, he has to

that's by chris cillizza. what is your estimation why the senator would put out this kind of his own agenda ahead of his compatriots appearing on the sunday morning talk shows with the topic of immigration, him trying to throw cold water on everything. >> not sure he is trying to throw cold water. he appears one of two things, one, he could be thoughtful, he could be drip rattive. marco rubio is pivotal to this. reid can get 50 or 60 votes. chuck todd's point on "meet the press," to get 75 votes, 80 votes, a lot of votes on the house of representatives side, talk become the tea party, talking about a lot of ideological hard-right conservatives they want marco rubio's cover and mrk marco rubio knows that. he has power from a rhetorical standpoint and political perspective. >> many people that re-elected president obama to office have expectations from him. victoria, after we got the report from the rnc talking about minority outreach and how important it is for them, they realize how pivotal the latino communit

chris cillizza has a piece today which he talks about marco rubio and the predicament he finds himself in. the statement that marco rubio made this weekend as a an attempt to slow down the momentum on a deal on immigration. insuring if schumer's declaration that it's all over but the shouting. at the end of the day, right, rubio is trying to insure that the constant narrative that republicans capitulate to whatever the democrats want. he's got to be the guy standing there and holding back the narrative, right? >> one republican is doing it one democrat is doing it you know what chuck schumer is doing? he's pushing the issue so that if the republicans back away he can say, i blame them. and what is marco rubio doing? he's pulling back. because then if it breaks down, he can go -- i'm blaming them. they're doing exactly the same thing, there's no difference. rubio has to do this. if he doesn't he's going to get lit up by the far right on this issue. >> he has to back away a little bit. >> he must back away to a large degree. if he doesn't, schumer is going to railroad all over him like w

. >> chris cillizza who writes for the "washington post" and comments on msnbc from time to time sayss tape is, i'm quoting him, "much adieu about not much." what's your response to that, david? >> well, you know, in one way chris is right in that this is standard operating procedure. opo research for a campaign happens all the time. i think what's fascinating is, like with the 47% tape, in a way, this is not the type of politics that we americans generally get to see. and if you were to ask mitch mcconnell, do you have a secret strategy meetings where you talk about criticizing the mental health history of your opponents? i'm sure he would not give you a straight answer on that. so while it's not a shock in that this happens, i think it still remains revealing to see it, or hear it live, so to speak, and to see how mitch mcconnell reacted or actually didn't react to the key parts of this conversation. >> remarkably, david, he objects to his wife being impugned on the basis of her race, and yet he allows his friends in that meeting to impugn someone else's psychiatric illness. well do

. >> good day, i'm chris cillizza, live in washington, where the next step for gun legislation is a senate numbers game. nbc news political unit has confirmed that the majority support for the background check amendment that will be offered by toomey and manchin. but the bill is still short of the 60 votes it would need to be added to the larger package. joining me for our daily fix, is nbc capitol hill correspondent, kelly o'donnell. kelly o, give us the timing. this is the first amendment that will be offered. give us some sense of the timing of it and where this sort of head-counting stands on the vote. >> yes you need a spread sheet or a calculator today to keep things going. what we expect is when the senate is back at 2:00, they may spend part of the afternoon talking about some of the substantive issues within the bill. you'll be seeing senators manchin and toomey whose names are now totally associated with the expanded background checks measure. available on the senate floor to talk to their colleagues, to try to proverbially twist arms. we expect a vote will come wednesday. so wha

. >> good day, i'm chris cillizza in washington, secretary of state john kerry has arrived in seoul, south korea today, warning north korean leaders not to test-fire a medium-range missile. the musudan has the range of up to 2500 miles, with the potential to hit japan and guam tmt comes as pentagon intelligence estimates say for the first time, that pyongyang is capable of delivering nuclear-armed missiles, an assertion that secretary kerry has pushed back against. andrea mitchell is traveling with the secretary. andrea? >> hey, chris, that pentagon intelligence report is the first official assessment that north korea might actually have a nuclear-armed missile. but they hasten to add, it's not been fully tested and has a low probability of success. it raiseded temperature. just as john kerry was arriving at a diplomatic mission, trying to find a peaceful way out of this. u.s. officials say there's no sign of mobilization? no sign of massing of armed forces of the conventional forces. north of the dmz and there's no sense of alert here in south korea. at the american mens today, ther

yesterday, in the "washington post," chris cillizza and paul cain wrote about the nightmare amendment scenario, argue that given the math, it's easier to imagine amendments favored by gun rights advocates than amendments on things like renewing the assault weapons ban or limiting or outright banning high-capacity magazines. >>> even if the senate imagines to emerge from the debacle with a solid bill, the bill must still pass in the house. surprising exactly no one, speaker john boehner didn't seem exactly eager to take up the legislation. >> i fully expect that the house will act. in some way, shape or form. but to make a blanket commitment without knowing what, what the underlying bill is, i think would be irresponsible on my part. joining me today, washington bureau chief at the the "huffington post," ryan grimm, vanessa is a contributor at "new york magazine," and bob herbert at dimos and ben smith from buzz feed is here. i don't want to be a naysayer, yesterday we were having a fairly good day, democrats and republicans were working together and it seemed like for the first time t

i'm chris cillizza in for an degree contraduring a busy day here in washington.'s budget is public. an immigration reform announcement could be around the corner, but the big story is the two senators who reached a last-minute bipartisan deal. joining me now, she's a busy lady these days, kelly o'donnell. let's talk right off the bat. this was something that everybody was skeptical that might come together. but it looks like we do have a deal. tell us what it entails and where we go from here. >> when you say it looked like it might not happen, boy, was it close. no one wanted to ache a breath for the risk it might not come to pass. the big substance is background checks would be expanded for any commercial sale, which means at a gun show or over the enter net. right now it would expand it to other kind of sales. what it does not do is something that was really the subject of a lot of controversy. it does not expand background checks for individual sales between people who know each other, strangers, personal sales, where there isn't any official commerce. that i

colleagues at the "washington post," chris cillizza and shawn sullivan had this in their article.he statement regarding marco rubio was a deliberate attempt by rubio to slow down the momentum toward a deal on immigration. what rubio was doing in releasing his statement then was ensuring that schumer, that it is all over. but the shouting declaration. they are watching every move the florida republican makes. basically in a nut shell, this article says that the tea party and some of the other conservative who's helped make marco rubio are certainly standing by, willing to break him if they don't like this deal. >> reporter: i think that's fairly accurate. they're doing two different things here. what schumer is doing is he is trying to create positive momentum and that's not all bad. he's trying toy is a we've worked this out and we can move it forward. but the key thing he said is the eight of us. that is only eight people in a room agreeing to all this. what rubio is saying, chill out, everybody. maybe we're going to have an agreement but then i have to sell it to all these conse

joining me now for our daily fix is chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.comnt to talk to you about baucus, this update in from casey hunt on the hill for us, that senator shaheen's office now says that she will be attending. 19 of the 20 women senators are attending, waiting to hear from heidi heitkamp, perhaps has a slight problem in facing the president after voting against the background checks. in any case, senator baucus, this is is a resignation, which is being greeted by in some quarters, by more liberal or progressive democrats, with glee. because they didn't like his more conservative votes and his dragging feet, they felt, in fact on the writing of obama care. >> let's start with the gun vote, andrea, that you mentioned. max baucus was asked why he voted against background checks. and gave a one-word answer, montana. which made everyone, including myself, believe that he was running for re-election. that this was about his politics in a state. trace it back to health care. i asked him, is there a less popular democratic senator in the white house th

. >> i think you're right on the, chris cillizza and in the post wrote -- how politicians react to themon guns, the passion is strongly on the side of those who want to keep any new gun laws off the books. as proof of that, one in five gun owners say they have called or written, just one of ten in those without a gun say they did the same. you tack about activism it sees disproportionate. >> you need leadership to build that outside activism. >> you remember the event with rosie o'donnell with the million mom march, that's the type of thing that needs to happen. the most effective lobbying that was done was done by the newtown families. i saw the way they brought that dignified purpose to capitol hill had a real effect. it made joe manchin cry. that's the only way to do it, and a ton of money from michael bloom better. if you don't no one will risk primary voters on the republican side. >> do you thinks this issed end? do you think this makes the advocates in favor of gun safety reform sort of circle the wagons and say what did we do wrong? and how do we do it right? >> to be honest, th

on the next "washington journal" we will look at the congressional agenda with chris cillizza. report on the total cost of the wars of barack and afghanistan and their impact on the budget with linda of the harvard school of budget. that is here on c-span. next, a discussion on both the obama and bush administration's handling of the war on afghanistan. -- lists include from the cato institute this is one hour and a half. on may 21, 2000 thousand to the american democrats and republicans -- which pledged to dance the creation of a broadbased gender sensitive and fully represented government in afghanistan. those goals were in keeping with the december 2001 bond agreement. the united states and international community have helped -- pledged to promote lasting peace, respectability for human rights in the country. nearly 11 years later amid a labor -- amid a daily parade of reports citing human-rights violations and rampant parity in large-scale corruption, afghanistan continues to face serious obstacles. what went wrong? typically here is one of two responses. the first is that

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