them right now who would vote for this procedural measure, john mccain, susan collins of maine, jeff flake of arizona, he's the junior senator from arizona. richard richard burr of north carolina, and ron johnson of wisconsin. now, those are all senators who say, you see them up there, all senators on the republican side who say that they at least want to give this measure, this deal a chance to get to a final vote. and why does this matter? this matters because once it gets to a final vote, you just need a simple majority, 51. democrats are expected to have that. so that's why this key 60-vote threshold tomorrow is the one to batch for. going back to the democrats really fast, there very well could be a few democrats, maybe some of thome up for re-election in tough races, red states like mark pryor of arkansas, or kay hagan of north carolina. we haven't heard from her yet. but it looks as though democrats and republicans frankly behind the scenes are pretty confidence that this is going to go through. >> this is a compromise that sailed through the house of representatives. but with every

people like susan collins, jeff flake, john corker. >> democrats have the majority in the senate. part of the reason you have republicans rallying around it is this was patty murray's deal with paul ryan. paul ryan carries a lot of weight within the republican caucus and it was their job to get the thing passed. i think in the senate republicans say this is in the senate a democratic deal. democrats will provide votes to pass this. even if i personally want the budget to pass, i don't need to go out and vote for it myself. i certainly think that's what mitch mcconnell is up to. he has a strong primary challenge from the right. he can't afford to associate himself with this budget. i think that's why unlike john boehner he's not voting for it and whipping for it. i'd be shocked if this doesn't pass the senate. >> there is a bigger picture to all of this which is sort of what all the fuss is about, which is this budget deal. here's elijah cummings take on it today. >> people want us to applaud when we do what we're supposed to do, compromise. i mean that's become the standard. ryan

. >> i would like to welcome my partner on the subcommittee, senator jeff flake.i look forward to working with him to promote lasting solutions to this complex crisis. i would like to welcome other members of the committee, as well as our witnesses, linda thomas-greenfield, earl gast,

to the sobering discussions i'd like to welcome the partner jeff flake of arizona and he brings a commitment to africa and i look forward to working with him to promote lasting solutions to this complex crisis. i would also like to welcome other members who may be joining us as well as our distinguished witnesses, assistant secretary of state for africa, earl, assistant administrator for the african usaid, alexis analyst at crs medical coordinator and mark schneider, senior vice president of the international crisis group. i look forward to hearing your insight and thank you for being here. the voices must also inform our policy decisions and i am grateful to have recently spoken with central and african officials for a firsthand account that helped inform my perspective while i regret that no leaders or officials could join us today i would like to enter into the record a joint statement from the archbishop imam and reverend nicholas which who are pictured here. i would also like to enter into the record statements from the relief services and mercy that reflect recommendations on their rec

would like to welcome my partner on the subcommittee, senator jeff flake. i look forward to working with him to promote lasting solutions to this complex crisis. i would like to welcome other members of the committee, as well as our witnesses, linda gast,-greenfield, earl rf -- alexislexis arieff and elizabeth list. i am grateful to have recently spoken with central african officials for a firsthand account. r leadersthat no ca could join us, but i would enter into a record a joint statement reverendbishop and the , who are pictured here. i would also enter the statements from catholic release statements based on recent statements. car has a long history of instability and conflict and has been the focus of efforts to support peace and stability, sadly with lasting -- little lasting effect in the current crisis is different in terms of its scope. followed by a coup by a loose coalition of rebels, a little more than a faÇade of a transitional government now exists in c.a.r., and week security forces have disseminated. opportunists, many from chad and sudan,

they reached across continental lines as arizona senator jeff flake gave hawaii senator a fake rattlesnakeke it. that's something from arizona they probably don't have in hawaii. flake got it more than hatch did. sometimes within very well defined lines as al franken showed off his talent of being able to draw a map of the united states from memory, as his gift to senator joe donnelly from indiana. you can see it there. to stay in the holiday spirit, we thought we would do our own political secret santa with no spending limits. no rules and most importantly no wrapping paper. most importantly these hats. they're all wearing them, i have to put this thing on now too. now i'm one of them. we'll spin the wheel. we have it behind me. we'll see who our -- who we'll get assigned to a secret santa, go around the panel and give our gifts to whoever we land on. we have kate nocera, the height of her reporting year. >> i work this all the time. >> mike peska is back. so is reporter, columnist, writer, nick acachella. so thank you for doing this. we'll spin the whelm and see who our first gift recipi

they join senators john mccain, jeff flake, susan collins and ron johnson who committed support.is gop group with the 53 senate democrats and two independents and that's more than the 60-volts needed to overcome a filibuster and bring it to a final vote. not everyone is on the same page in the grand old party these days. >> are you kidding me? >> months after the gop was pushed into a failed strategy that led to a government shut down, speaker john boehner had had enough. the groups bring the power of money and action v.i.x., but boehner said he won't be pushed around. >> i don't care what they do. >> patrick hedger of freedom works said speaker boehner should care. >> i think it would be virgin wise for the speaker to once again try and reject the fact -- and push back against the grass roots movement of this country. that only lends credibility to our argument that this is washington versus america. >> hedger said the groups aren't intimidated after last week's public reprimand and this brought to light a long simmering fight. >> this just proves our message that without grassr

. >> i would like to welcome my partner on the subcommittee, senator jeff flake. i look forward to working with him to promote lasting solutions to this complex crisis. i would like to welcome other members of the committee, as well as our witnesses, linda thomas-greenfield, earl gast, alexis arieff and elizabeth list. and mark schneider. i am grateful to have recently spoken with central african officials for a firsthand account. i regret that no car leaders could join us, but i would enter into a record a joint statement from the bishop and the reverend, who are pictured here. i would also enter the statements from catholic release services based on recent statements. car has a long history of instability and conflict and has been the focus of efforts to support peace and stability, sadly with lasting -- little lasting effect in the current crisis is different in terms of its scope. followed by a coup by a loose coalition of rebels, a little more than a faÇade of a transitional government now exists in c.a.r., and week security forces have disentigrated. opportu