. >> joining me now is nbc news capitol hill respond luke russert. also joining us the senior editor of the atlantic david frum, and blake seth. luke, you created today one of the great performance art moments in the history of the speakership of the house of representatives. let's take a look at that. >> homeland security funding runs out on friday. are we less safe as a nation in >> if ands and buts but candy and nuts -- >> are you going to kill it, have you even had this discussion? >> when they make decisions, i'll let you know. >> luke i'm speechless. but can you translate for us? you know the speaker. you've listened to him. can you translate, if ands and butts were candy and nuts every day would be christmas, what does that mean? >> it's something that the speaker often says when -- >> really he's done that line before? >> he's said that a few times when he has his back against the wall and we say, why don't you pass essentially the way forward. but i will say that the comparison i've used for john boehner this week, lawrence is marshawn lynch.

thank you very much, luke russert russert. coming up at the bombttom of hour we'll talk with senator chris murphy and get his take on the isis war authorization. >>> meanwhile, the parents of an american last seen in syria are preparing to launch an online petition to pressure president obama to help find their missing son. 31-year-old freelance journalist austin tice disappeared in august of 2012. unlike kayla mueller, however, little is known about who may be holding tice. the last visual evidence of his whereabouts came with the release of a video in september of 2012 which appeared to show tice blindfolded. while the men are dressed in islamic garb, there's some suspicion the syrian government is the one holding austin tice. joining me now are austin tice's parents, debra and marc. we want to thank you for taking the time to be here. i guess the first question i would ask is who, if anyone in the obama administration is in touch with you, and what have they been able to tell you so far about who they think might be holding

luke russert joins me live from the white house. so i understand this conference is moving forward even though washington is snow-bound. what are we expecting out of this conference today, luke. >> reporter: hey there, joy. this is a three-day conference the white house has set up to try and figure out what the root causes are of home-grown extremism and what can be done through government policy to try and prohibit that. it also has a larger focus on terrorism and the ongoing war against crisis. day one is focused on domestic issues. what i mentioned, how do you reach the people marginalized in the united states, feeling they need to go to a extremist cause to feel an identity and law enforcement has had a great difficulty and identifying that today. and they will hear leaders across the spectrum that deal with national security and specifically that prohibiting terrorism and third it is more of a day of international significance from hearing the people who work in that field. president obama is expected to speak tomorrow, joy, as

let's bring in luke russert on capitol hill. luke, so leading with politics tom ridge there, and they are still marrying together these dhs issues regarding homeland security and immigration, which surprised me a little bit. i'm wondering how that struck you? >> reporter: well, it was the surprise, in fact that we got here from the government funding bill they passed last year because even some republicans were very -- i should say they were wore kbri -- worried how this would look because they were the party of national security and as tom rinl said there, they would be fighting this battle of immigration on the backs of those that go to work every day. and on the hill, the last hour harry reid announced he is okay moving forward with mitch mcconnell's plan to move forward to divide the two issues. a clean homeland security bill would go on the senate floor and another vote where republicans could have the opportunity to express their anger regarding the president's immigration executive actions. we do not know when exactly that

our capitol hill correspondent luke russert joins me live now.the summit in january? >> reporter: hey, craig, this is a three-day summit and the real focus is to try to find ways to stop the marginalization that occurs for people who end up in extremist ideology this idea of where does that extremist ideology start. how can we target it early on to eliminate the threat from possibly occurring? you mention there's going to be focus on domestic priorities. that is what day one is about. tomorrow will be more hearing from leaders in various fields and on the third day more of an international focus, if you will. flz a lot of shall we saw early criticism of this summit from conservatives saying this has come much too late. this has shown the administration is i will equipped to handle isis and threat that's presented. there's also criticism from conservatives that this summit is not adequately addressing the term radical islam. the white house is saying look extremism happens over all different types of faiths. we're not going to singleny faith out.

ronan. >> luke russert, thanks for the update. >>> prominent democrats who plan to boycott the speech whether calling it a boycott or not, include leaders of the congressional black caucus like the chairman north carolina butterfield, john lewis of georgia and highest ranking leader yet to say he's going to skip the speech james clyburn of south carolina. president obama is scheduled to meet with the cbc today with netanyahu's speech likely to be a big topic of discussion. joining us is one of the former members, charlie rangel. always a pleasure to have you on. it's been reported you're going to skip the speech, is that true? do you plan on skipping the netanyahu speech? >> in all probability i'll be there but i'm not broadcasting that because i don't want to encourage -- >> in all probably you will be there? >> i will not be there. >> i will not be there. i'm offended as an american nobody has been more supportive of israel from its birth than i have and so many democrats in the house have felt that way. i think israel is the one issue that brings republicans and democrats together

nbc's luke russert joins us from capitol hill. there's been reaction already from the white house, and from a number of members of congress this morning. >> yes, reaction is starting to pour in tamron. most seniors, house leader nancy pelosi saying look as we strengthen our resolve to bring justice to a brutal regime, we should proudly celebrate kayla jean's generosity of spirit. what i'm interested in tamron we saw the impact that the death of the journalist james foley, had in 2014. it really put the barbaric nature of isis in people's living rooms. you have here a beautiful 26-year-old humanitarian worker doing so much. you're going to get all these members of congress praising her work talking about how important the work she was doing was over there in syria, the humanitarian health work. what type of impact will that have. you saw the death of james foley had impact how isis was viewed in the public. what type of impact will the death of kayla mueller have on this on-going debate which will start in congress about organizati

luke russert? >> reporter: it would take speaker boehner to take a vote which he is unlikely wanting to do that. within an hour they should put the three-week dhs extension bill on the floor and they should get into 218 votes. but they ran into some head winds here and we thought this bill would be passed this morning and they did what we call here the blue screen of death and they did a delay to make sure they have the majority number they need to get this pulled forward. and nancy pelosi told me she would not give house republicans cover on this and they want to see the funding for the rest of the fiscal year. but steny hoyer said they might examine that gep if it got close on the floor with 212 votes and needed a few more votes because president obama said he doesn't want dhs to shut down and if this is the only way forward, it might be the only way forward. it will likely be funded or not. in three weeks, march 19th we could very well have the same conversation again and new american congress w

luke russert joins us from capitol hill with the latest developments. here we stand now, uncertain of what will happen. for our audience keeping score, what can we expect to play out today, if anything is predictable at this point, luke. >> reporter: well a bit of good news for those worries about department of homeland security possibly running out of money. the house gop was just able to overcome the first parliamentary procedural hurdle. they moved a rule vote which essentially means they're allowing the vote to move forward later today. this vote passed with over 230 votes. that's important, it gives us an indication that republicans seem to have enough votes in their own conference to move this three week funding bill department of homeland security, forward. they won't need democratic support. and democrats, including nancy pelosi told me they will not give them that support. they don't want a three week bill they want a longer bill. the senate is moving forward on extension of department of homeland security funding through the rest of the fiscal

. >> joining me now, we have luke russert. luke we wanted you on here at the top of the hour because there's so much going on. what's happening right now? >> this is the latest. the gop conference just presented their plan. they'll be a three-week funding of the department of homeland security. they hope that pass that out tomorrow morning mid-morning or perhaps the afternoon. it could take that long. that will then be followed by a motion to go to conference with the united states senate over that bill they passed back in january, which was pretty far to the right, if you talk to some members. they repealed dhaka, so that is their plan. as far as whether or not the senate can abide by that, our own producer for nbc news asked mitch mcconnell if that is what they were going to do, and he nodded his head, yes, that is the plan that the senate would take up this house three week bill. what we're going to see is the house move on this bill. they're going to try to pass it with republican support. this buys boehner some time to be

with me now is luke russert and eugene robinson. luke, you have the scoop. are boehner and mcconnell finally on the same page? >> i don't think it's fair to say they're on the same page. i think they're going through the options they have before them but essentially what mitch mcconnell has done here is if this does go through the united states senate through a final vote -- which the indications are it will -- then john boehner has a serious decision he has to make. there's three decisions he could make. he could take this plan run with it put the clean bill on the vote. it would get 60 to 65 republicans, pass it with democratic help. that would anger the right flank. he could listen to the right flank and do nothing. to have this fight over immigration right here right now. or he could come up with his own solution, which is idea of perhaps you do a temporary funding of the department of homeland security two weeks, two months and maybe use the court process, the legal process, to try to go against the president's executive actions. speaker boehner said i

for more on that joined by luke russert from msnbc's "the briefing." finally back. busy lately? to be back in person. how are you? >> good to see you, luke. with so much talk about fighting terrorism at the white house summit this week isn't is a big risk for the party not to talk about doing something at this meeting? >> they're def about it. what they'll say is the sbaul in the republicans' court. we have a political hot potato. both sides are pointing fingers at each other. the department of homeland security runs out of funding friday. however because of the way the law's written, 85% of personnel deemed essential and still required to work. just won't get paid. the question becomes, h? democrat saying look if you're putting your life out on the line here you should be able to get paid. republicans saying we want them paid but before that we want to stand up to president obama over his recent immigration executive actions. how is the department of homeland security connected with immigration? this all has to do with this republican idea that we need to defund the department

let's turn to luke russert at capitol hill. he's our correspondent there, host of "the briefing." you've been watching the fight between the white house and congress over a new authorization for war. we're hearing that authorization could come in a couple of days? >> that's what house speaker john boehner told me yesterday. he's expecting that aumf from the white house in a matter of days. this is something that members have been calling for last summer but it ramped up with the coalition. we're hearing from democrats and republicans two sort of different things what they want from the aumf. john boehner said he wants to give the president authority to do what he needs to finish the job. but he says that won't be easy to get through congress. he'll have to stick up for his battle plan. take a listen. >> it's also going to be encome bent on the president to make the case for the american people for why we have to fight this fight. and his actions are going to be an important part of trying to get -- for us to get the vote to actually pass what an authorization. this is not going to

luke russert on capitol hill. chris jansing at the white house. good morning. luke, three weeks? wouldn't we find ourselves in the same spot come the 19th of march? >> yes we will jose. everything old is new again, and that's exactly what's going to happen here on capitol hill. and that is if, in fact, house republicans and the leadership can muster of votes in their conference to pat this three-week extension. the lay of land what's happens on the hill. around 10:00 a.m. the senate moves forward on way in would fund the department of homeland security until september 30th followed by a bill allows republicans to stand up against the president regarding those executive actions regarding immigration. this is mainly for show because the house does not support that clean bill that goes through the rest of the fiscal year. after the senate does that this morning, then the house at some point today will take two votes. number one vote on a three-week extension of the department of homeland security funding and on a motion to go to conference with the senate to see maybe we can come to

nbc's luke russert is watching it for us on capitol hill. luke, good morning. from here? >> that's a good question jose. it seemed that mitch mcconnell and the senate republican leadership want to reintroduce the bill that failed yesterday to essentially say to the country, look, democrats are obstructing this bill they're using the filibuster against us which mcconnell used so well in his time in minority. the idea is perhaps, once this bill goes down again today, because republicans are trying to make a confrontational stand against the president regarding that immigration order you mentioned, perhaps they would take out language in the bill controversial for republicans which was the repeal of the language from 2012 which allowed the children of immigrants to came here through no fault of their own not to be deported. that won't go anywhere because they vowed to block that. they want a kleenex tension of the department of homeland security. this seems to be the d.c. political food fight, house republicans waiting for the senate to move before they do anythin

. >> joining me now, we have luke russert. we want to put you on because there is so much going on. >> this is the latest. the gop conference just presented their plan. it there will be a three week funding of the department of homeland security. they hope to pass that out tomorrow morning, mid-morning or perhaps the afternoon. it could take that long. that will then be followed by a motion to go to conference with the united states senate over that bill they passed back in jan which was pretty far to the right if you talk to some members. and they repealed doca. so that is their plan. as far as whether or not the senate can abide by that our own producer for nbc news asked mitch mcconnell if that is what they were going to do and he nodded his head yes, that is the plan that the senate would take up this house three week bill. we will see the house move on this bill try to pass it with support and the democrats are whipping against it. and it buys them time to come up with a better way to ask the conservatives to express more

nbc's luke russert is on capitol hill. chris jansing is at the white house. luke let's start with you. there's talk that democrats could use boehner to help pass this bill? >> reporter: yes, that's ultimately what boehner may have to do. the ball is in his court. there are procedural hurdles in the senate but eventually whether it be today, tomorrow or sunday night, you're going to see the senate pass out a clean department of homeland security bill. john boehner has to make the decision whether or not he's going to fight that fight the immigration, fight here the week of cpac the conservative conference is happening in washington, d.c., or if he's going to take the senate bill and go with it or does he come up with his own idea perhaps a one-week bill a two-week bill a two-month bill something that bails out mitch mcconnell who is getting hit really hard from conservative media and house conservatives. boehner is keeping his cards very close to the vest. we do not know what he is going to do. he has a press conference later on today and he may sit on this per

luke russert, andrew rafferty.on capitol hill. president obama is getting push back from both parties on his request from congress to use military force against isis. he wants a three year authorization, but it restricts the u.s. from enduring offensive ground combat operations. this morning, white house press secretary josh earnest spoke about the dispute over congressional involvement. >> the president of the united states is also commander in chief, needs to have the flexibility to order the armed forces to take steps he believes is necessary to protect the country, but there's a role for congress there. and trying to strike that balance is something that constitutional scholars debated for generations. >> ari melber is debuting a new series called rules of engagement, he joins me here in studio. good to see you and have your perspective here. >> good to see you. >> you would think it is cut and dry. the president is commander in chief of the armed forces. why does he need congressional backing. >> that's a grea

thing i want to point out that i'm not sure if you could hear the question from my colleague, luke russert hour is boehner hasn't spoken to his republican counterpart in the senate mitch mcconnell in two weeks. as this deadline is approaching, just two days away, they haven't spoken. staff has spoken but these are two leaders of the same party running the united states capitol, running congress astonishing and tells you about the tension going on between the two bodies and the real differences in how they have to govern. mcconnell the reason he caved, is because he decided that it is better to prove he can govern than go ahead and go along with conservatives who say fight, fight, fight. boehner has a very different issue in his caucus in the house and that's why i asked him about the fact that if he's worried about his speakership because it's something that he probably should be worried about if he goes along with this. >> all right. dana bash thanks as always. i appreciate it. >>> what happens if the funding cannot be extended by friday's deadline? let's turn to someone that knows the de

. >> nbc's luke russert joins me life from capitol hill. this does seem like we're having this conversation like every day. it is like groundhog day. are we any closer to a resolution. we have the clean vote bill and are we closer to wrapping this whole thing up? >> reporter: well, joy, there is momentum last night. some of speaker boehners critics saying they were okay with the three-week stop gap measure and that enthusiasm carried over into this morning. the rule vote the parliamentary vote that had to go forward to get on the floor, that had north of 342 republicans and that seems to go okay and swell. then about an hour ago we have what we call the blue screen of death here on capitol hill the subject -- the house is in recess subject tole call -- subject to the call of the chair which is subject to oh, darn it we don't have the votes. so i spoke to some gop leadership aids and they believe they should be okay. the quote was, we're not sweating yet. but who knows. yeah. >> hold on for one second. let's listen to nancy pelosi speaking l

joining me now nbc's luke russert on capitol hill and chris jansing at the white house. thank you both for being with me. luke, start with you. mcconnell seems to have left speaker boehner in a tight spot? >> he is in a tight spot jose. from the folks i've spoken to last night and this morning, john boehner has three options here. he has to figure out a way to stand up in republican words to president obama over those immigration executive actions. figure out a way to do that. in terms of funding the department of homeland security, three things. put the clean bill on the floor, funds until september and replicate the senate strategy. he'd have the votes for that but mainly democratic and a real upset ultraconservative right flank, and two, do what you mentioned in the letter members want him to do. stay and fight. they believe the texas court gave them the constitutional argument. they want to continue to make this fight and want to do it now. think there's no better time to stand up to the president than the few weeks into their large majority here on capitol hill and n

remarkable. >> luke russert on capitol hill. thank you for being with me. >>> and developing now no way to wear the jackie robinson name. remember those kids from chicago who caught the nation's attention in the little league world series and celebrated success with the white house visit? you see them. little league international confirmed the jackie robinson west little league team knowingly violated the organization's rules and regulations by using ineligible players. the problem, residency requirements, and where some of those young superstars actually live. the team's championship title is being revoked. their team's manager suspend and the local little league administrator also removed from his position. >>> just getting started on this wednesday edition of "the rundown." after the break, the kids are going back to school in boston as residents try to return to normal despite some 78 inches of snow on the ground. that's more than places like minneapolis and anchorage. we'll get a live update next. >>> and also -- two days a

. >>> and now to luke russert in d.c. for some politics.hat is going on. >> in buffalo we call it boston gets labor day, they can stop whining there and the resilience that new yorkers deploy on a regular day. i hope those patriots fans phrase. >> whoa! >> the focus of the supreme court in same saex marriage. the justices refused a request from a conservative alabama chief justice to deny request and that includes alabama the 37th state to allow same-sex marriage. and let's bring in perry bacon for more. and neal young was singing about alabama years ago, what are you doing alabama, you got the rest of the union to help you along. what is going wrong? alabama seems to be joining the rest of the union and a majority of them allowing gay marriage to move forward. same-sex marriage going forward. so i pose a question to you. 7-2 ruling regarding alabama, scalia and clarence thomas oppose this. what was the legal basis for the decent and does this mean for the june decision that we assume will come from the supreme court. >> justice thomas dece

nbc's luke russert and kelly o'donnell join me live from capitol hill.ance before kelly, but every

. >> joining me now from capitol hill are kelly o'donnell and luke russert, i think they've been sleepinghere the last few days. i know the senate just passed a bill to keep dhs open. does it mean anything given that it's not going to pass the house? >> it's a big signal where the senate thinks this should go, to try to keep the department open for longer than you're talking about in the house. what was not as successful for the senate plan was the second part of what they had been talking about, which was to put forth a separate bill that would deal with just the november piece of the president's executive action on immigration. and that failed even though three red state democrats sided with republicans. so the mcconnell plan of doing it in two steps only went 1 for 2. they are sending a message but what really matters now is what the house can do. there is a sense around here that the department won't shut down it has a different feeling than in some of the brinksmanship moments we've seen before. maybe it's a bit of shutdown fatigue or because of some members think there's a way out h

joining me now, live from capitol hill luke russert and kelly o'donnell. >> the democrats have been filibustering and the democrat is why is that any different when republicans got blamed for filibustering and shutting down the government? >> that is the political argument they are making and part of what this mcconnell strategy is intending to do is to compel some democrats who have been vocal since the president's executive action in november on immigration, who have said they disagree and believe the president went too far, to try to compel them to back up their opinions with actual votes by making this stand alone bill which would deal only narrowly with not providing funding for the president's executive action. not the whole department. so this is a twist on the plan and mcconnell is offering it hoping that it be a vote. it may take time to allow the senate clock to run and it is possible democrats could try to block it. but it would be a way for republicans to get their vote to try to push those democrats to stick with what they've said publicly. it's a small number but to hold them accoun

. >> nbc's luke russert is on capitol hill. i'm hearing about hands and candy. it's very confusing.us toward the end game. how does this end? because it has to end with john boehner taking action, no? >> correct. the 5#?pwion is when will that happen. we still do not know how the senate's going to move procedurally. we had the vote yesterday. 98-2 to move forward to fund the department of homeland security. a senator like jeff sessions of alabama, ted cruz of texas, they haven't given any indication they're going to do this, but it's a possibility they could, should we say, gum up the works and make that chamber have to go all the way until sunday if they wanted to. if that does not happen f the senate moves along as scheduled and can get this done as early as tomorrow, then john boehner has a decision to make. does he take that senate bill or does he say, you know what i'm going to fight about immigration right here while cpac is in town while all the outspoken conservatives are within roughly the same zip code, and we're going to make that fight and make the stand right now. or he

and he also spoke exclusively with our own luke russert. >> we are days away with our department runninggas and to have a conversation about a potential shutdown of homeland security is incredible and absurd. >> let's bring in now friend of the show, john stanton from buzzfeed, and john this is the first test for the gop congress and here we are once again at the 11th hour getting way too close for a shutdown it. makes you wonder if we are getting -- and funding homeland security at a time like this is that too much to ask for? >> unfortunately, it is. if you look at what is going on in the house right now, they are not going -- in a mood to pass this bill. at least if they do it as a republican-only kind of operation, they can't pull this off. speaker boehner will end up having to pass a short-term extension while he tries to fin angle his caucus into supporting this plan that mitch mcconnell has put forward. and politico this morning was reporting that neither mcconnell or boehner have talked to each other in two weeks. while the staff is talking it says a lot of tensions within the re

kelly o'donnell and luke russert join me from capitol hill.elly, i want to start with you, where a piece of legislation passed a procedural vote. is it going to pass the senate and how quickly? one of the big questions is what is senator jeff sessions going to do? the alabama republican has been a vocal critic, frequent critic on the action on immigration. there are questions whether he might raise his hand to object to slow down the process. we heard from ted cruz saying he won't try to run -- hurry up the clock at all or get in the way of the process. he'll wait for the actual voting. part of what's unfolding now is a taking of the temperature. we don't know when the next step in the voting will happen on the senate side but we do know there are some members who remain concerns about doing this two-part process, a bill that would effectively fund the department without dealing with immigration issues and then a second one, that vote scheduled tomorrow which would give senators an opportunity to weigh in on just that most recent piece of the

nbc's luke russert and kelly o'donnell join me live from capitol hill. we've been through this dance before kelly, but every time it happens, americans, voters viewers are watching and reading and saying what is going on in washington? the latest now is the senate and the house in this complicated tangle that's both bipartisan and bicameral. >> and it is a sort of who will blink first sort of game at this point. and part of it is the strategy. neither side wants to be left on the, you know, proverbial holding the bag. what we expect now is that senate democrats will meet this hour and talk about their options. in some way, the choice ought to be easy. mitch mcconnell is giving them what they wanted an opportunity to vote on a clean funding bill so that the department of homeland security would be fully funded through the year and then friday a second vote which would be for conservatives who want to be able to register their concern about the president's immigration executive orders. and there's some democrats who have been outspoken about that as well.

luke russert is on capitol hill. chris jansing is at the white house. luke, let's start with you. what is the senator's strategy right now? >> mitch mcconnell's strategy is sort of what you heard right there. he wants to be unstuck. what it means is democrats were in a block a bill to repeal daca. so he believes by separating the two, he then can allow a vote on the homeland security funding to go through cleanly and then possibly pick up conservative democratic support on this bill to have the two executive action repeals move forward. senator joe manson has hinted he would be open to supporting that. the question becomes if the conventional wisdom in the senate from what we know from leadership aids is that they don't want to see a shutdown of homeland security funding. they are going to move forward on their plan. can this go through the house? can clean funding go through the house? house republicans want a way to stand up to president obama over the issue of immigration. now, house speaker john boehner's spokesman said, quote, this vote will highlight the irresponsible hypocr