lautenberg died last year. had diagnosed a problem at the port. p patronage was making the port turn away from its core mission. new projects were adding to the agency's debt and paid for out of the pockets of ordinary travelers. management hasn't been all gimmicks, gimmicks employed by previous new jersey governors. he has taken some proactive steps working with the democratic state legislature to pay toward state pension obligations limiting the size of arbitration awards. come to think of it these are the things that dawn zimmer, the mayor of hoboken worked with him on. >> i was, i think, the first democrat to stand behind him on the 2% tax cut. i think it's done a lot for hoboken and for the state. health care refom, arbitration reform. definitely helped hoboken in our negotiations with the unions. it's made a difference. >> but the overall picture of the christie budgeting process has not been a pretty one. in late 2012 the bipartisan state budget task force labelled the way new jersey handles its books as

attorney just put it out there, a frank lautenberg protege, very close to frank lautenberg and one ofat the center of this, the port authority guy testified before the senate committee about a year or two ago and humiliated lautenberg at that hearing. there's an interesting back story there. >> you always know the back story. that's why we love you. thank you very much. that does it for us. it was a pretty remarkable day. stay tuned throughout the day to msnbc. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> thank you, andrea. reaction pouring in after governor chris christie's two-hour news conference, taking responsibility by the traffic jam orchestrated by his political team. plus, here's a live picture of the hearing where the christie appointee just pleaded the fifth, refusing to answer questions about lawmakers about his role in the lane closures. we'll have reaction from the democratic mayor who was targeted. >>> also in the next hour, president obama will unveil his new plan to tackle poverty, an issue he calls "the defin

i know senator lautenberg would feel that his gavel passed to very capable hand. we want to thank you and we want to really thank senator johanns because he really helped carry the momentum of the committee. this was the way the senate ought to be, even at a time of great sadness, we were able to continue to do our job. mr. president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mrs. murray: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: as the chairwoman of the appropriations committee leaves, i want to than thank her her tremendous leadership. mr. president, i did come today to talk about another topic and that is that unfor

when frank lautenberg died and chris christie needed to pick someone to take that u.s. senate seat, chris christie tapped jeffrey ciasa. when governor christie started his term as the chairman of the republican governor's association, david samson was among the group of close advisers who went to arizona with chris christie as a sign that samson is seen as important to christie's potential run for national office. david samson and chris christie are very close, when it came out in those subpoenaed documents, david samson is helping us to retaliate. that was a big deal in terms of how high the scandal goes and how close the scandal gets to chris christie. and on the day christie apologized and said he was humiliated and called his deputy chief of staff stupid and the other people involved were stupid and deceitful and showed poor judgment. on that day, when everyone has seen the david samson is helping us to retaliate e-mail, he took a different tone when talking about him. >> i think general samson put out a statement yesterday that he had no knowledge of this i intervi

frank lautenberg, the late senator from new jersey took it up, did a great job and the two of us together made it the law of the land. we didn't know what we had done other than to make airplane flight a little more convenient, safe and comfortable. it turns out it was a tipping point. it turns out that when we banned smoking on airplanes, people started asking questions 25 years ago. well, if it's not a good idea to smoke on airplanes, why is it a good idea to smoke on trains and buses and offices and hospitals and schools and restaurants and taverns and every place we go? so today if you walked into a room and did what people did normally 25 years ago, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up, people would say stop. what are you doing? you didn't say a word to me. you're going to smoke in front of me? that used to be normal. thank goodness it isn't any longer. what's happened is that americans have a different attitude toward tobacco. the actual debate on this issue began 50 years ago. serious debate. because it was 50 years ago the surgeon general of the united states of america

let's talk about it with julie roginsky, former political advisor to senator frank lautenberg in newsnyder, former republican candidate for lieutenant governor in virginia, both are fox news contributors. julie, are democratic candidates in trouble this election cycle over obamacare. >> i don't think so and i'll tell you why. first and foremost we always say they're in trouble and democrats pick up the seat and hold the senate, that has been the case now the third cycle under obamacare we're talking about. secondly, they're not running in a vacuum. you're running another opponent. we'll see who the republicans put up. but problems for republicans consistently two-fold. they nominated through tea party primaries really unelectable candidates and secondly, they really haven't talked about what they want to do after they repeal obama care. so because of repeal itself is not popular, there is really nothing for them to run on except to say they repeal unpopular law but they never talk about what they want to replace it with. that is problematic if you want to serve and be a legislator. j