delaware democratic senator chris coons shares the senate foreign relations subcommittee on africa andow. senator coons, thank you so much for being on the program. >> thank you, luke. >> i want to ask you, we were very much supportive here in the united states two years ago, on the two-year anniversary of the egyptian revolution in tahrir square, as well as what we saw in tunisia, as well as what we saw in libya. were we naive to be thankful that these despottic leaders were pushed out of power? >> well, luke, what you're pointing to is the inherent tension between our desire for stability, for security, for economic progress and our fundamental commitment to democracy. i recently visited egypt for several days last week on a congressional delegation trip with republicans and democrats. we had a chance to meet with the leadership of egypt, both the defense minister, prime minister, the current president, and a lot of the opposition. and i left deeply concerned about the path forward for egypt, reminded of its importance, it is the most populous arab country. it is, in many ways, the l

. >> let's bring in senator chris coons. he joins us from cairo egypt. senator, thank you very much for joining us in this tough time. do we know if this is al qaeda? >> brian, i am just getting news about this myself in the last few hours. hour delegation was traveling to mali and this trip was diverted to egypt because of the degenerating security situation in mali. we believe from reports that i've gotten that this is by al qaeda in retaliation for the french military actions in partnership with the mali military over recent days to try and stabilize the security situation and to fight back against the islamic extremists who have taken control of all of northern mali. >> what do you think the official u.s. stance will be towards this? where do we go from here in terms of trying to resolve it? >> well, first, my prayers and thoughts are with the families of those hostages who we just learned have been taken. typically the united states take a very strong stand on hostage taking. we don negotiate with terrorists. and i strongly support the administratio

tomorrow, chris coons joining us live and joaquin castro.n hall is next. >>> next hour, more on the plan president obama will unveil tomorrow. yes, we confirmed it. he'll outline that comprehensive plan tomorrow to combat gun violence, it comes as several states get ready to pass some of the toughest gun laws in the country. plus, lance's big admission or really? why oprah said she was surprised by lance armstrong's answers to some of her questions. is he coming clean as some have reported? also, the justice department is considering suing lance armstrong. i'll talk with "sports illustrated" david epstein and dave zarain. daily protein needs? that's why there's boost® high protein nutritional drink. each delicious serving provides fifteen grams of protein to help maintain muscle and help meet expert recommended daily protein needs. plus it provides twenty-six essential vitamins and minerals and is gluten-free. help get the nutrition you need with a complete and balanced nutritional drink. try boost® high protein. also available in powder. th

and chris coons in delaware. and bennett in colorado. this is a formula.his is a familiar scenario for a reason. and it is still going on right now in 2013 in the republican party. the last republican presidential nominee did not come to the presidential inauguration this week. mitt romney is the first losing presidential candidate since michael dukakis in 1989 to not go to the inaugural. he did go to the trouble of leaking to the press that he probably wouldn't even watch the inauguration on tv, which is classy. but mr. romney did actually go to washington today to attend a luncheon in his own honor at the washington marriott hotel. there is a certain awkwardness to this trip, right? to come to d.c. not for the inauguration, but for something honoring yourself. that perceived ungraciousness, though, is not just a one-way street there is a certain amount of ungraciousness that honestly is being shown to mr. romney right now by his own party. the republican party this week has been making a big show of publicly deromneyifying themselves, cleansing themselve

pleased to be joined here by my colleagues, senator amy klobuchar, senator marco rubio and senator chris coons, without whom this bill wouldn't have materialized. all four of us have worked very closely together and each one deserves total credit for this bill. together we have drafted one of the first bipartisan immigration bills this congress, one that is designed to address the shortage of high-skilled labor that we face in this country. this shortage has reached a crisis level. for too long, our country has been unable to meet the ever-increasing demand for workers trained in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics or stem fields. as a result, some of our nation's top technology markets like silicon valley, seattle, boston, new york and salt lake city are in desperate need for qualified stem workers. it is critical that we not only recognize this shortage of high-skilled workers but also understand why it exists. increasingly, enrollment in u.s. universities in the stem fields comes from foreign students and despite our urgent need for workers in these fields, we continue to s