luke russert, a lot else going on.ay on the hill you've got the climate rollout from kerry, lieberman, and lindsay graham. >> absolutely. >> you also have action from lieberman and collins on their fort hood subpoenas of eric holder. >> reporter: going to be some interesting hearings regarding that, andrea and it will be interesting to see really the nuts and bolts of this legislation. it's going to be a bill that's going to be heavily scrutinized for the next few months. it's going to be interesting to see the financial aspect, the tax rates and how much it costs. you are sure to hear a lot about it from both sides after it's rolled out. another thing which could be seen in the house from chris van holland and senator schumer from new york is this legislation that would deal with the recent supreme court ruling of citizens united that upset a lot of folks where corporations were allowed to give almost unlimited amounts to certain candidates. you could see legislation regarding that coming out next week, at least the n

luke russert, nbc news correspondent for congress and a new member of the national press club and genie friar, veteran associated press newsmen and a member of the national press club. [applause] kathleen sebelius, the and of the health of the apartment of human services lead the principal agency charged with keeping americans healthy and 80,000 employee institutions have been the focus of some of the obama administration's top priorities. as the country's highest-ranking health officials she has been a powerful voice in reforming the health insurance system along with coordinating response to the 2009 swine flu virus and it range of services from health care to child care to energy assistance during the economic downturn. kathleen sebelius whose father was governor of ohio and whose father in law with the kansas congressman has decades of political experience in her own right. she served in the kansas house of representatives until 1995 followed by eight years of the insurance commissioner where she was selected as public official of the year for 2,000 by governing magazine. in 2002 sh

nbc's luke russert sat down with the president for a wide ranging interview. washington, d.c. luke, it seems like you talked about everything. certainly the former president willing to talk and answer. >> reporter: absolutely, tamron. i interviewed president clinton at clinton global initiative u, a meeting of the best and brightest around the world to discuss positive social change within the world. one question i asked him, when i'm his age, will america be the only superpower. >> when i'm your age, will i be living in america that is the sole world superpower? >> no, but you can be and should be living in america that still has enormous influence in the world, not just because of economic and military power but because we should still be the engines of freedom and creativity. >> president clinton bill clinton -- [ applause ] >> i'm trying in the years i have left to create annettic in this country so that young people believe being a good citizen is more than working elections and voting in elections and making good political choices but also rendering publi

. >>> luke russert joins me. luke, how big a deal is this for democrats? >> well, contessa, it's a big deal in terms of looking at the makeup for the district. it's one that voted for george w. bush twice, president obama carried it in 2008 but it's a pickup opportunity for republicans. that's why bart stupak got a call from president obama, nancy pelosi, john dingle, also steny hoyer really asking him to stay on for another term. they knew he had the best chance for democrats to hold that seat. that being said, we will expect gop to go at this seat 110%. they will make it number one pickup opportunity. he said no to nancy pelosi, didn't want to walk the plank again. sources say he really was more burned out than anything. he's a tough and resilient man, a state trooper in michigan, actually injured on the job in 2000. his 17-year-old son committed suicide on mother's day and he still found the courage to go back to congress and work with the fda about a prescription drug his son was on and get it more regulated. he's someone that absolutely dealt with adv

nbc's luke russert joins us now from capitol hill. that the investigation cannot focus on a former member but the panel can look into what others knew and what they did about it. >> reporter: correct, tamron. what this investigation is really going to investigate is what did the democratic leadership know and officials pertaining to this matter know and when did they know it? this is something that john boehner the republican majority leader has been hitting on for a long time. he has said going back to last week, going back for the past few months, there should be a full, open investigation into what steny hoyer and nancy pelosi specifically knew regarding the issues pertaining to eric massa. the committee has unanimously voted to conduct a full and complete inquiry into whether the conduct of any member, officer, employee of the house violated any rule, law, regulation, or any other standard of conduct applicable to the performance of their duties in respect to the allegations of misconduct involving former representative eric massa

. >> nbc's luke russert that the deal in "hill say."ou see it, not so fast. >> reporter: that's right. although senator shelby and dodd worked hard over the weekend, it doesn't look like there's a deal in place to move financial regulatory reform forward in a bipartisan manner. yesterday on "meet the press," senator shelby, prophetic alabama slang, inches are sometimes miles. although they say they are close, the small changes are miles for republicans and democrats. what are the issues at hand? a few. number one, $50 billion resolution plan they see as a bailout for wall street. that he want it taken away. also discussions of the volcker rule. the idea the government would regulate what investments wall street could get involved in, banning hedge funds. also, whether the federal government could preempt a state law. republicans don't want that. big picture, the same we see everywhere. republicans and democrats agree there needs to be more regulation. republicans afraid of too much intervention, democrats want more. if the 5:00 vote doe

joining me for hill say, luke russert. what? house thugs?> reporter: quite an amazing story from "politico" talking about the increased rhetoric in the last flew months against capitol hill staffers. a lot of this is fueled with republicans trying to tap into the populist sentiment, trying to paint staffers as being out of touch, as being educated elite and whatnot. that being said when you're up here on capitol hill, the majority of staffers are kids in their 20s who are some of the brightest minds making about $30,000 a year living paycheck to paycheck. >> when i said overworked and underappreciated, i left out underpaid. >> some see themselves as young carl reeves, rahm emanuals but the vast majority are hardworking. this is not a 9:00 to 5:00 job. you leave when your boss leaves. during health care we were up here all hours of the day. the staffers are here longer than we are. quite interesting, even republicans have told me privately they do not like to be characterized as little punk staffers. john boehner is known to be very kind to h

here to explain what all that means is luke russert with today's hill say. what's up for the house?ter: the house had an ambitious agenda for the summer of 2009 going up to st. patrick's day with health care reform's passage. this past march they took a lot of tough votes on energy and health care reform, which put a lot of moderate members at risk, had to walk the plank. that being said from here on out up until 2010 midterms the house democratic agenda will be a lot more focused on bills that do believe are popular. things like job creation. you're going to have a few bills about jobs tax cuts. things that aren't very controversial. why? a lot of that legislation that could be controversial is now in the senate. the senate now has the climate change bill. the senate is now in charge of doing an immigration bill. the senate has financial regulatory reform. so any of those things are extremely controversial are over in the senate and the house is waiting for them. the one thing you can see in the house that might put a few of the swing members in a difficult situation is a possibili

luke russert said he'd send one. >>> in lou of a chicken can i pay for services with a block of spicyu? tweet of the day, from my friend, the leader of rogue famed state arizona jan brewer is now massing more forces on her southern border. how i wish he was joking. boycott baseball's cactus league. let's play "oddball." >>> we begin on the sun. is it occupied? with all of the focus on mars and asteroids lately, the sun had to do something to get noticed. these captured by four telescopes. this fiery ring here, that's 30 times the size of the earth. it's called a solar eruption, possibly a reminder to earth on earth day of just who revolves around whom. to beijing where residents are fed up with a stench emanating from area garbage dumps, deploying over 100 cannons of deodor ant. strong enough for a landfill but ph balanced enough for a sensitive nasal cavity. a sweet smelling mist covers up the stink. after the garbage is febreezed, odor-eating sheets are brought in. love the smell of old spice in the morning. and this is all the brain child of workers at the landfill. they're already

more from nbc's luke russert in washington joined by the lovely jessica alba. good day to you. >> good day, alex. how you doing. >> i don't want to overlook my congresswoman, as well. >> we have two very special guests here. >> as long as you vote, that's okay. >> reporter: jessica, why are you here in washington? talk about the importance of the one goal for education. what brought you to d.c.? why is it so important to you? >> well, this is really a chance for us to make sure that every child gets an education. 72 million children in the world don't have access to an education. 60% of them are in africa. and most of them are girls. and so this campaign is around the world cup, and this is the one moment where everyone puts aside their differences and unite around this game, soccer. and it's oneworld.org. our one goal is to make sure every child has access to an education. >> congresswoman, you've been working on this issue for years. why are you so confident now that the education for all act will get through congress? president obama as a candidate pledged t

nbc's luke russert is on capitol hill. what else did congressman gutierrez have to say?bsolutely extraordinary press conference that happened an hour and a half ago. congressman gutierrez was very out front and blunt in his criticism of barack obama for not pushing comprehensive immigration reform yikly. he said the window to really get reform done will be between memorial and and the fourth of july. after that the senate will be preoccupied with the supreme court confirmation. he pushed the president to say this must get done. that is very striking. as we know, tamron, democrats rely on the latino vote. a lot of these newly swing states, states like colorado, states like new mexico, and of course florida. another few things that were interesting in this press conference that really came out was that the latino caucus would be pressing for an economic sanction of the state of arizona if this bill is passed. urging groups not to have their conventions in places like phoenix, like scottsdale. very interesting to see the show of power right now from the latino caucus really

luke russert was there. he is handsome and very fall. this is a program to get kids moving.e have been toxic about childhood obesity and the rise with that. it was a great night. they had everybody moving. allyson, i want to show you this next picture. his name is jason and he came out and sung the star-spangled banner. that's your next "american idol." >> he already is. >> so, a great time and thank you for the boys for girls club for inviting me out. >> thank you for sharing, julie. >> see you in a few. >>> well, if you have teenagers you know that they probably rather text then talk. what may surprise you is just how much. a new study shows you the average teen sends 1500 texts every month. >> reporter: this mom didn't want to embarrass her kids sharing her face on tv. she was willing to share her cell phone rules. >> if they bring the phone to the dinner table it is my phone. we enjoy dinner and find out about everyone's day. >> reporter: that is unusual in some households. a new study is saying that texting is more common then face-to-face communication. a typical teen