joining me now, senator jeff merkley, democrat from oregon. senator, you'll go back to oregon, shortly, i imagine, for the recess. what are you going to tell the people in oregon who are long-term unemployed? what is your explanation about why they were cut off from benefits three days after christmas? >> well, i still have this very slim hope that the senate and house will come to their sense, because delivering 1.3 million lumps of coal across the country, kicking people when they're down, is certainly absolutely wrong. but barring that, i'm going to have to explain to people that there is a caucus in the united states senate and in the u.s. house, that kick them when they're down has become their official motto. and we're going to keep fighting against it in every way we can, but it's a difficult battle. >> should democrats have gone to war over this? should patty murray and the rest of your caucus said, no. no, no, no. no deal, no deal unless these people are included? >> well, do understand that the budget control act creates a default po

here's what jeff merkley told chris hayes. >> i have a slim hope that the senate and house will comeo their sense because delivering 1.3 million lumps of coal across the country, kicking people when they are down is certainly absolutely wrong. >> and the reverend al sharpton interviewed michelle obama where she shared a personal story about her daughter's brush with meningitis at just four months old. >> but if we hadn't had insurance and access to a pediatrician and access to a hospital where we deny have to worry about the cost of care, if we had waited overnight, if we had postponed acting, there's no telling what the outcome would have been. >>> organizing for action wants to know how you plan to spend the cold days in december. tweeting that pajama boy planning to drink hot chocolate and talk about getting health insurance. he will "wear pajamas and drink hot chocolate because that's all you can afford under obama care. >>> words people want to see disappear is obamacare followed by shutdown, gridlock, fiscal cliff. >>> it's time for your friday first look at politics. joining m

but it does not include jeff merkley's amendment about afghanistan. so there's no reason to expect any congressional debate on afghanistan, even as we head into what is another year of the longest war in american history. the defense bill also will not include the aggressive changes to the way the military prosecutes sexual assault among service members, which had been proposed this year. something a lot of people had both hoped and expected would get done through this legislation. that will not be in the bill either. on the bright side, though, the defense bill passed in the senate tonight also did not start a new war. senators tried. senators tried and threatened and then ultimately failed to attach an amendment to that defense bill that would have imposed new sanctions on iran. if they had succeeded, that would have blown up the diplomatic channel that we have just opened with iran over its nuclear program. and you know what? if you close the only promise ing diplomatic channel that there is with iran, that makes the use of military force by us or

senators ron wyden, bill nelson, debbie stabenow, bernie steanders, sheldon whitehouse, jeff merkley, chris coons, tammy baldwin, tim kaine and angus king. they were great members of our committee and i thank them for their diligent work as well as all the republicans on our committee who worked so hard with us. finally, mr. president, i really want to thank all of our staffs who have spent so many hours on putting this together. from my office, my budget committee staff director, evan schatz, our deputy director, john wright riter, my chief of staff, mike spawn, and all of our staff members, too numerous to mention right now but i want each and every one of them to know how much i appreciate the intense amount of work they put into this. i will insert all of their names in the record. i also want to thank chairman ryan's office, budget committee staff director austin smythe, and many more who really helped us be successful. i also want to thank david coon from leader reid's office and chris sari with the office of management and budget and doug elmendorf and all of the staff at the c