a couple of personal notes, is ted mcconnell here? where is ted mcconnell? would you stand up, please, ted? today is ted's birthday. ted is the executive director of the campaign of civic mission of schools and a pillar of our community. so happy birthday and many, many happy returns of the day. is kristen campbell backstage? kristen? oh, kristen. kristen is a -- is a long ti time -- oh, am i in trouble. come here. >> full-time employee of the national conference on citizenship and has become sort of of counsel in legal terms. and along the way, she's going to get married in two weeks to a wonderful guy. and along the way, she really screwed up her arm, and so, only in national service terms is she a wounded warrior. thank you. >> thank you. this morning, we aim to shed light on the issue of economic equality. and civic engagement. the goal, certainly is not to engage in a partisan solution or discuss the full myriad of economic causes related to equality. and the relationship between civic engagement and equality. what are the interplays between these two c

nancy cordes, who is going to be the leader mitch mcconnell or ted cruz? >> i think it will be mitch mcconnell. ted cruz can make mischief but his influence has waned some of the fellow republicans feel that in 2014 he went too far few times. last last week had to apologize toe fellow republicans because he tried to maneuver ended up making them stay in town through the weekend, members of congress like nothing less than everything to stick around here especially at the holidays. i think mitch mcconnell, will put the pipeline up for a vote, it's passed the house and like three pass the senate the big question will be does the president veto it. then i think see series of jobs bills. republicans want to rack up early wins to look to pass some bills that they thinking get some democratic support as well. things like making easier for veterans to transition in to the civilian workforce, things like restoring the 40 hour work week threshold and obamacare. feel that lot of people have been put on to part-time work because companies are trying to evade that thres

is ted mcconnell here? where's ted mcconnell? would you please stand up, ted? is his birthday. ted is the executive director for the campaign for the civic missions at schools and a pillar of our school. so happy birthday. and many, many returns of the day. s kristen campbell here? kristen? oh, kristen? isten is a -- is a long time -- oh, am i in trouble. come here. [applause] >> full time employee on the conference of citizenship and council in ort of legal terms and along the way she's going to get married in two weeks to a wonderful guy. and along the way she really screwed up her arm and so only -- only in national service terms is she a wounded warrior. thank you. > thank you. >> this morning we aim to shed light on the issue of economic equality. d its relationship to active civic engagement. the goal certainly is not to engage in a partisan discussion of a solution or to discuss the first myriad of economic causes related to equality. instead our goal is to better understand this issue and the relationship between civic engagement and equality. what are

is ted mcconnell here? where is ted mcconnell? would you stand up, please? executive director of the campaign for civic mission of schools and a pillar of our community. so happy birthday, and many happy returns of the day. is kristen campbell backstage? kristin? oh, kristin? kristin is a long time -- am i in trouble. come here. [applause] [inaudible] she has become sort of of counsel in legal terms. and along the way she's going to get married in two weeks to a wonderful guy. [applause] spent and along the way she really screwed up her arm, and so only, only national service trust issued a wounded warrior. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> this morning we aim to shed light on the issue of economic equality and its relationship to active civic engagement. the goal certainly is not to engage in a partisan discussion of the solution or to discuss the full married economic causes related to the quality your instead our goal is to better understand this issue relationship between civic engagement and the quality. what are the interplays between these two el

saying i'll be here as a progressive and stand up for you. >> is she to harry reid what ted cruz is to mitch mcconnell? she's actually in the leadership. >> exactly, they put her in leadership to do exactly what she did. >> the same thing to ted cruz, vice chair of the nrsc. >> that's more of a political role. in this case shes aa policy and messaging responsibility. she did what she had to do on behalf of the liberals, use her star power, make the principle point. she did attempt to get an amendment that failed but didn't cause as much of a fight as ted cruz did. >> reid is okay with her, he was for the bill. >> but she knew liberals had to have their moment to vent and she did it for them. >> it's festivus, the air of grievances of the liberals. >> all week. >> you saw elizabeth warren on tv talking about this and she said listen, go to her website and of course on the website you were directed to where you could donate to elizabeth warren, so i think she definitely did herself some good this week, she's all along said she's not going to run but she certainly looks like if she doesn't she's going to

viewers a picture they love at the white house and they don't like if you're speaker boehner or mcconnell. ted cruz standing around with tea party conservatives in the house. this is great for us if you're political journalists, this is great for us. how much of this is a real threat to the republicans getting their act together and doing things -- >> i was there. >> how much was a nuisance? >> i was at the rally. this was a small tea party rally. probably about 30, 40 people there and the rest were cameras and reporters. the conservatives still have a lot of power in congress. but they are not the power. that's something conservatives are trying to grapple with. >> vocal but less juice in 2014? everybody sit tight. >>> jeb bush on what it takes to win. and why is dr. ben carson moving up in the 2016 polls? first, this week's politicians say the darnedest things. a group called stand with hillary is showcasing its new tune. ♪ and now it's 2016 and this time i'm thinking put your boots on and ♪ ♪ scratch this ceiling ♪ think of one great lady like the women in my life ♪ ♪ she's a mother a daugh

the junior senate is wrong, wrong, wrong. >> as i read the tea leaves here, is ted cruz giving mitch mcconnell a dose of what he has to face in 2016. it is important there's a ted cruz in america, someone na plants the flag and puts the edge down saying this is right, this is wrong. a lot agree with the tactics. he makes good points. john boehner and others disagree on how to get there. they may, you know, have learnt to keep the pattern dry. they may want to rate for the senate to come in. cruz is here to stay. he'll say what he wants to stay. it is important for them to be out here. >> by planting the flag in the ground, does it make it endearing to hard-line conservatives. or does it make it an annoyance. >> if you look at the spending bill, it's a bill that favors the moderates. there are democrats on the far left that don't like the bill. i think he's planting the flag. he is trying to govern from the far right. the right need a champion that is true, as you see rand paul move to the middle. i don't agree with a lot of things that he says, but i agree with my colleague that there needs to

things the of the senate democratic leader's office was highlighting is this split between ted cruz and mitch mcconnellthe democrats thought they would get a deal to postpone this work until monday and they thought mcconnell was on board with it. , sothen ted cruz objected cruz is saying forcing the senators to vote throughout the weekend. interesting to watch what he says on the floor very carefully as he pushes for a vote on a constitutional point of order objecting to obama's order on deportations. how many shots will he take at his own party's leadership for not fighting harder against what he calls amnesty? host: thank you for the insight. we appreciate your time. caller: thanks for having me. host: you can watch the senate live today on c-span2. we are taking your calls this morning on this spending agreement and the senate in general. before we get to your calls and comments, we want to show you a bit of the dialogue, a bit of the drama from the floor yesterday. mike lee came up and on his mind with the immigration issue. senator read wanted to send folks of what the weekend and come back and st

] ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, for our next siic highlight -- civic high right, please welcome ted mcconnell susan -- [inaudible] from the national council for the or social studies. [applause] >> what a fabulous panel we were all just blessed to hear from. dr. griffin? our republic, if you can keep it, promised dr. franklin. democracy needs to be reborn in each generation, and education is its midwife, so said john dewey. more recently, america's favorite unemployed cowgirl, justice sandra day o'connor, has reserved from one end of this country to the other knowledge of our system of government, our rights and responsibilities as citizens is not passed down through the gene pool, it must be taught, and we have work to do. each of these three patriots was describing the essential, historic civic mission of our nation's schools, a mission as important as foundational today as it always has been, as it always will be. for those of us who care about the civic health of our nation, for those of us who care about people becoming civically engaged, we must care about the foundational civic mission

katzenberg and the folks who --ted to shake mcconnell liberal democrats hate mitch mcconnell, no questionthey were going to get him. very -- these outside groups would get her money. before she got in there was a very aggressive push by both her fundraisers line up and make sure the majority pack would not leave her hanging, they wanted to make that clear. it shows just how cautious of a candidate she was. super cautious on the campaign trail and before. she did not want to take the risk if there was a chance the democrats would abandon her. reid i amitially told not running. so they panic. phone ander on the she goes into a meeting with her supporters and comes back out and she is running. -- sheas this disconnect was a very well-respected executive director. it is -- the republicans have their own version. >> when we see the president allow for fundraisers, does he raise money -- houseraises money for the and senate democrats who have their own campaign committees. house republicans have their own, senate republicans. >> how much can they contribute to any campaign? much theys only so c

the big news today was the open fight between mitch mcconnell and ted cruz. there are huge differences in the republican party. on the floor of the senate we saw the soul of the republican party being debated. ted cruz was in the well pushing his so-called constitutional point of order, which risks shutting down the government, five feet away from him was mitch mcconnell imploring senators to vote the other way and the vote, unfortunately, was about 50/50 on the republican side. and so that makes me worry a great deal, because if after the terrible, terrible brick paths republicans took when they shut down the government a few years ago, half the republican senators are still willing to risk it again, despite the fact that their leader went against it. i'm worried about the next two years, the chasm in the republican party is huge and one more point, it's going to get worse because first, you have the presidential candidates in the senate pulling things to the right. second, when they're in the majority, the tea party will field its oats. we want to work with

that is until conservative senators ted cruz and mike lee went against mitch mcconnell and delayed the vote in a move mcconnell says, well, it caught him by surprise. meanwhile, on the democratic side, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren took her own party over -- took on her own party over a provision in the bill that she says will put taxpayers on the hook for future wall street bailouts, and harry reid says in politics, you can't always get what you want. >> legislation is the art of compromise. any chief executive who has to work with a legislature as presidents of the united states do, they don't get what they want. legislation is a compromise, and that's what this legislation is. >> rebecca bird, political correspondent for examination the washington examiner." i know you have been watching all of this stuff. as of now it looks like there's some sort of calm happening there inform d.c., but there was so much happening leading up to this. in fact, just the fact they were here today with senators ted cruz and mike lee breaking ranks. is this a sign of things to come you think? >

to get a deal to post one all of this work until monday, and they thought that mcconnell was on board with it, but then ted cruz objected, so basically what harry reid is saying is that cruz is mcconnell, o forcing them to work through the weekend. watch what cruz is saying carefully as he pushes for a vote on a controversial point of order objecting to obama's order on deportations, how many shots is he going to take at his own party's leadership for not fighting harder against what he calls amnesty? .ost: thanks for the insight alexander bolton is the senior reporter for the hill, appreciate your time on this saturday morning. guest: thanks for helping me. -- having me. host: again, the senate live on c-span two. 2. "star-ledger" in new jersey -- the $1o senate -- passed trillion budget. also from the "l.a. times," a left turn from obama. they write here that for much of the last six years, liberal democrats in congress have been loyal soldiers for their often .npopular president they go on to talk about members of his own party suggest democrats on the left may be marching in a new direction through all

now that republicans will be taking control of the senate in january, mitch mcconnell will face much the same thing. ted cruz and mike lee, the two republicans junior senators who held up this bill on friday night, they have shown that they are willing to go to unusual lengths to make their point and that is what mitch mcconnell is certain to face come january. i'd also make the point that president obama and the democrats will have problems of their own. elizabeth warren also voted against it because it rolls back regulations on wall street reform and you can be sure she will make those points in the come year as well. >> all righty, erin mcpike, appreciate it this morning, thank you. >>> we're learning about a frightening incident in the skies. >> a russian military intelligence plane nearly collided with a commercial passenger jet according to sweden's air force chief who tells cnn this happened friday in international air space over the sea, the passenger jet had taken off from denmark bound for sweden. swedish fighter jets were deployed and identified the russian aircraft. >> he said the transponde

saying "i can't stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching mitch mcconnell, john boehner, ted darrell issa or any of the ore legions of blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing -- she goes onto say may seem biased but history and psychological research bear me out. we, however, had a difficult time finding the psychological research that says republicans are bad. the article as you might imagine didn't sit well with many in the gop, especially the senior republican on the university of michigan's board of regions who says the article "expresses and condones hatred toward an entire segment of individuals in our society based solely on their political views." now, the professor acknowledges she once worked for a republican who she adored. and says she hopes her students didn't get the wrong idea saying, quoting again, "i especially regret any suggestion i may have conveyed that some students are not welcome or would find a hostile environment in my classrooms." the college itself simply says, the professor's opinions are not the university's

if you sat down to take the two most contentious characters in the senate -- if you sat mitch mcconnell and ted cruz down together or separately -- best to do it separately. and ask them their vision. it would be the same. then they would decide to hate each other because they pursue different tactics, which is basically the story of their lives. but i think in some ways, it's easier today than it was then, because if you could bat these people in the head and say, you agree on where we are going to go. why don't we work to get there and split the difference on tactics? you would be fine. in the old days, that was no such agreement. there was a need to remake the party. if it was going to be a vehicle for conservatism. now the argument is, are we moving fast enough? are we stalled? do our guys have courage? those are different than saying they want to leave me in a different direction. the first part -- frank is exactly right. all of that history all away that the democrats and liberals have tried to misrepresent that history. that is one thing. but what conservatives believe in terms of where

. >> will mitch mcconnell face the problem that the smoker of the house is facing. you have ted cruz out there. there. >> we had that forever. it made mitch mcconnell clear that he fought back the tea party. john boehner spoke out again. i think they'll have the leadership and the people behind them to get stuff down. >> do you think the tent is good. can it hold the view points. >> this is a democracy after all. the bigger the tent, the better. mitch mcconnell does have the notion of yes in his d.n.a. at heart he has more institutionalist lover of the senate in his ways. the names mentioned, two of the names. paul, crews and rubio. it caused a whole lot of problems. i would add that some of the newer names, the people we don't know as well, tom cotton, and others, they'll be difficult for mitch mcconnell as well. >> there's a dipolitical situation facing this country involving the shooting of two new york police officers and the protests operating around the country. let's talk about the politics of policing and what is happening in new york. former mayor rudy giuliani said tha

speaker boehner as well as mitch mcconnell, saying they have no interest in a government shutdown. tedf an island to himself. i don't believe he speaks for all republicans. certainly doesn't speak for me. so there's a little bit more nuance in that. the reality is that even mitch mcconnell is on record as saying, we have to work together, we have to run the senate a little bit differently here. but the reality is is that this is harry reid's senate until the end of the year. so there's a couple of more nuances there. i want to go back to what governor dean said a few moments ago. the reality is both members of the house and the senate but also republicans, democrats, really shouldn't have waited till the last minute to negotiate such a very, very complex bill as it relates to derivatives and the banking situation. the reality is this is something that should have been debated months ago and never should be a part of the omnibus bill. but it is because both leaders in the house and the senate decided to lump this in after the election which most likely wasn't a good idea in hindsight. >

mcconnell today. he said he was blind sided by ted cruz and mike lee last night, because it's very unusual once the leaders of the two parties in the senate reach an groomed they're going to move forward on a procedure that a rank and file sort of back bench -- i don't know that we would call mike lee and ted cruz back-benchers because they're so high-profile, but they are junior rank and file members. and it did blindside mcconnell that they went ahead and did this. but we're not going to see a government shutdown at this point. so many republicans want to avoid that. democrats want to avoid that, as well. we heard a little bit of a rumbling earlier in the week from elizabeth warren, because she was very unhappy with this bill, as well, because it rolls back some regulations on wall street. but she made her point. she is not going to stand in the way of it either. but we're not looking at a government shutdown at this point, poppy. >> but there's still politics involved, right, even if they get that $1.1 trillion bill passed, it's only going to fund the department of homeland security through february, be

ted cruz, maybe marco rubio. presumably rand paul. mitch mcconnell, fellow kentuckian has endorsed rand paul but really hasn't said whether he will help make the senate floor a vehicle for the rand paul candidacy. that will be fascinating. arthel: it will be fascinating. >> on top of that, he has got a bunch of centrist republicans trying to run for re-election in 2016 in bluish states. so he will have to decide whether he helps this confrontational republicans running for president or guys hopes will be with him and make his majority leadership last more than two years. arthel: david, last question for you. what is your big question of 2015. just pick one. come up with something. >> i guess the other one as a congress watcher that i'm most fascinated with is john boehner and whether it is really true as the people around john boehner are saying that he will have an easier time of it than he has in the last four years of his speakership. that whether it really is true the sort of tea party wave has calmed down and this new record-sized majority he ha

ted cruz, he's going to get double that. >> what a balloon head. >> and mitch mcconnell recognizes why he's so happy he had this deal to adjournhey would come back monday and pass the spending bill. after he left, ted cruz blew all of that up. >> i want to ask you, i know this guy. i want to know this. how come elizabeth warren, in failing to topple this big bill, comes out as a shooting star, at least right now, a comet on the political galaxy. this other guy looks like a big zero. >> because elizabeth warren is still out there doing deals, basically, is amicable and even among her rivals, is respected in life. she treats them with respect. ted cruz goes around denigrating everybody. we may be trying to nail the coffin in ted cruz's political future, but he is saying he is the purist, he is the ideological crew saider. ron paul did a lot better in getting 25% at one point, and people didn't think that was possible. i don't think he can win. but the point is, he's not playing to the audience that wants to see cooperation. >> is this going the presidency or is it something -- >> all right, loaded term, demagogue ri. he was prob

to come to the middle and do that, and the vast majority is very i ted in test, test, test, test, test, test, test, to make mcconnell the majority leader, holmes says he plans to leave the senate and look for a new challenge. >> i don't take jobs. i take a job that i know i want to live for every single day, and i really want to accomplish and i want to win. i'm still settling on what it is i want to do. i know senator mcconnell will be a piece of the puzzle. >> holmes said mcconnell wants to change the way the senate operates. he predicts a year from now people will be surprised the senate will actually be getting things done. that's it for today. have a great week, and we'll see you next "fox news sunday." test, test, test, test, test, test, . >>> more protests are planned today after demonstrations have thousands of people filling bay area streets. we will tell you about the arrests and to keep it peaceful. >>> the father of michael brown is scheduled to speak in san francisco today. more on the mets san jose he will deliver. >> box the presents and we will have details on when you need to get them in the mail if

boehner is essentially a nice guy and i don't think mitch mcconnell would like to be accused of being a nice guy and he'll have to take on tedf the big dram as of the coming year. >> mitch mcconnell fan here. >> kentucky. >> so, frank, the underlying truth to all of this is that republicans would actually like, secretly or behind closed door, they expect that this executive action is legal and also it conveniently takes immigration off the table ahead of 2016. sure. i believe the american prospect said this week, however much they oppose the move in the first place, undoing the executive action, and no republican has said let's start deporting -- >> and we keep talking about republicans as if it's one unified group of people. most would agree with everything you just said and the problem with washington and the problem baner is dealing with is a minority of republicans and one of the questions that we have to ask ourselves, is how is it that such a small group of people get to muck everything up in such a major way? >> and the theory is he'll have a bigger majority in the house that will give him more leeway to lose votes. u

mcconnell today. he says he was blind sided by ted cruz and mike lee last night because it is unusual once leaders of the two parties of the senate reach an agreement to move forward on a procedure that a rank in file back benture member they are junior members. it did blind side mcconnell that they went ahead and did this. we are not going to see a government shutdown at this point. so many republicans want to avoid that. democrats want to avoid that, as well. we heard a little bit of a rumbling earlier in the week from elizabeth warren because she was unhappy with the bill because it rolls back some regulations on wall street. she is not going to stand in the way of it either. we are not looking at a government shutdown at this point. >> there is still politics involved even if they get that bill passed it is only going to fund the department of homeland security through february because that is the department that would enforce president obama's executive action on immigration. we could be ahead for a big fight on that one. thank you for the update from the white house. >>> congressional spending

jeff zeleny in that report saying many republicans are upset with ted cruz, very upset, even with the republican majority next month. mcconnellig challenge keeping everybody together, right? >> sure, right. that's the nature of a free society. democrats have a hard time keeping elizabeth warren onboard. and republicans will have a hard time keeping ted cruz onboard. this funding thing, once you have a decision the best election law would allow anyone to give candidates any amount as long as it's reported every night on the internet. i have to say this, to have barbara walters suggest that david koch has a lot of influence, i'd like to know the value of barbara walters' opinion over her career on television, unpaid for. the whole thing the elite media, look at these rich guys -- >> i'm supposed to jump in here, right? >> no, think about it. i'm just saying that this is actually that mccarthy said to walter cronkite in 1968, how about the power you guys have -- what koch represents is an effort by conservatives -- >> michael, power of television -- >> i think he's got a lot more power than barbara walters, in terms of electing

not to another cuban-american in the senate, one ted cruz, who he's already butting heads with. and second of all, mitch mcconnell is the kind of guy who is not going to come out and take a stand on what he doesn't absolutely have to. there is a different skill set when you're serving as a leader. in mitch mcconnell's case over 54 individuals, he'll always take the careful path, and mitch mcconnell is a subtle individual any way. >> mike viqueira at the white house. as mike said today's policy change does not put an end to the cuban embargo. coming up we'll look at the effect that has had on every day life for the people of cuba. plus we'll talk live for a former political prisoner. tell me what is on your mind. tweet me or e-mail me, be back here in two minutes. >> blame the embargo for their country ace economic woes. half a further of poor management under a communist government has left cubans with crumbling homes, power outages, and antique cars and infrastructure. the trade embargo has done its share to degrade the cuban economy. in the 1990's cubans faced even more hardship. during this time the average cu

mcconnell it's his way to take it back to where the founding fathers wanted it. slow it down and allow each senator to have a voice. that creates a challenge with senator ted. but you will see senator scrus align himself -- senator cruz align him well with senator mcconnell. molly: some of those senators have clear voices and they are not afraid to use them. how can you get them to say yes and agree on them? >> george mitchell referred to it as herding 9 cats. when i worked in the senate in 1999 mitch mcconnell was a juneor senator. he's interested in restoring the value and significance of the committee process. he's going to allow the amendments on the floor and he will keep the senate in session a lot longer than others have. molly: he has had the opportunity to see how other majority leaders operate. will that experience help him out? >> absolutely. he's been there for a long time. i think he has been waiting for this moment for a long time. i think he will hold the republicans in line at the same time work together in bringing democrats forward. i weo -- i remember this one st. it was senator membership mcconnell who called over and said does anybody

senator mitch mcconnell seen saying bye, i'll see you monday. >>> but, then, senator ted cruz of texas, decided to bull one of his pat ented senate ted cruz of texas stuntds. he pulled the parliament maneuver late friday night. the senators, in fact rgs would not be allowed to leave to go home e home for the weekend. instead, because of ted cruz, they would have to stay in washington. they would have to stay in session on saturday for 10 straight hours of voting and parliamentary procedure because of ted cruz. now, what he held everything up for was a symbolic vote. a symbolic, meaning, a substantively meaningless vote, on the immigration act. there's no substance as to why they had to take this vote now. there's no reason it had to be now. ted cruz just decided he wanted it to be now. had it passed, it would have done nothing. it didn't pass. it failed by a huge margin. so what was that about? what ted cruz did, substantively, was this. thereby, giving the democrats more time when the senate is in session and the democrats are still in control. specifically, he let the democrats start

>> it will be interesting how mitch mcconnell, and speaker boehner really manage their party, especially with people like tedo encouraged many members in the house to pursue a shutdown over the president's actions. so i think it's a matter of who wins. >> do you think that the republicans are more concerned about the politics than the policy in that a number of republicans look up and say oh my goodness we're going to get killed in 2016 unless we can convince latino voters that we are actually doing something to try to solve problems. >> you have the speaker boehner, and center lindsay graham telling the party the only way to win immigration in a fair way will lead to good politics. so i think we are seeing the debate now between the two sides of those who really want to get it done. then there's the other side like senator ted cruz again, who are a shutdown government or not. so it will be exciting. hopefully we will continue to work with both parties to modernize the system. >> another republican potential presidential candidate rick perry. how successful was his effort? >> it was useless, period. what he

not to another cuban-american in the senate, one ted cruz, who he's already butting heads with. and second of all, mitch mcconnell is the kind of guy who is not going to come out and take a stand on what he doesn't absolutely have to. there is a different skill set when you're serving as a leader. in mitch mcconnell's case over 54 individuals, he'll always take the careful path, and mitch mcconnell is a subtle individual any way. >> mike viqueira at the white house. as mike said today's policy change does not put an end to the cuban embargo. coming up we'll look at the effect that has had on every day life for the people of cuba. plus we'll talk live for a former political prisoner. tell me what is on your mind. tweet me or e-mail me, be back >> television icon norman lear >> we hoped we were delivering real characters... >> creator of "all in the family" "the jeffersons" and "good times" talks race, comedy and american culture today... >> you're taking me to a place in this interview, i haven't been before... >> i told you this would be your best interview >> ...and it is... it's the current one... >> every mond

not to another cuban-american in the senate, one ted cruz, who he's already butting heads with. and second of all, mitch mcconnell is the kind of guy who is not going to come out and take a stand on what he doesn't absolutely have to. there is a different skill set when you're serving as a leader. in mitch mcconnell's case over 54 individuals, he'll always take the careful path, and mitch mcconnell is a subtle individual any way. >> mike viqueira at the white house. as mike said today's policy change does not put an end to the cuban embargo. coming up we'll look at the effect that has had on every day life for the people of cuba. plus we'll talk live for a former political prisoner. tell me what is on your mind. tweet me or e-mail me, be back >> the stream, >> your digital community >> you pick the hot topics and express your thoughts the stream it's your chance to join the conversation only on al jazeera america >> al jazeera america presents >> somebody's telling lies... >> it looks nothing like him... >> pan am flight 103 explodes december 21st, 1988 was the right man convicted? >> so many people, at such a hi

ted cruz tonight. you assume he'll run for president next year. really the first phase of that, to some extent, he's been merging as the leader of the conservatives in the senate. he's -- mitch mcconnellan agreement to basically have this vote on monday with harry reid and senate minority leader. democratic leader. ted cruz said no, i'll fight this. this will be a way to show a stand. there's a number of senate democrats, mary lander among them, who said i did not like the president's action. i did not like the president work on immigration reform on his own. there's democrats on the issue. even if the amendment does not pass, the republicans view this as a way to use the issue going forward or maybe in 2015 senate campaign and say this is an unpopular action president obama took to legalize some here. and a political football going forward, even if the vote does not pass. so there's a benefit for the republicans. all minds recused personally of ambition. >> perry, 20 seconds to you on this one and the way some have to look at what happened over the last week. who comes out the winner here? >> i think the winner of this has been so far elizabeth warren and ted cruz who have now i thin

mitch mcconnell telling our ted barrett when he came back to capitol hill from the meeting, we had aot the bourbon summit but i'm still hoping we will have it. lisa, they have to talk about, republicans want to change obamacare and republicans are upset about the president's immigration policy, taxes, spending, anything else. any idea what happened in the room? >> they're being really mum what happened in the room. but it's hard to see how much ground can be made here. i mean there are incentives on both sides, obama want to burnish his legacy. mcconnell has to show that republicans can actually govern. but policiwise, there's just not a lot of space to maneuver. maybe something happens on trade. maybe taxes, that feels a lot less likely. immigration certainly seems like a no go. i'm not sure given the background and all the built-up sort of personal stuff and political stuff over the past six, seven years, it just doesn't see how this, it's not clear how this becomes a very productive meeting. >> senator mcconnell said that president obama has butt-kicked in the election. that was t

>> ted cruz has the ability to throw a wrench into the gears but mitch mcconnell knows how to work thend he's eager to show his skills at that. >> steve? >> jeb bush was the republican front runner and hillary clinton is the democratic front runner. i think a year from now heading into iowa jeb bush will no longer be the republican front runner and hillary clinton will look surprisingly vulnerable as we get ready for voters to actually turn out. >> who will be the front runner on the republican side? >> going into iowa maybe scott walker. maybe rand paul. maybe ted cruz. she said scott walker first. >> and hillary will look vulnerable just because she's been bad or because somebody else will have risen? >> i think there's so little enthusiasm for hillary among the democratic base, as evidenced by her book launch as evidence by her when she gives speeches. another candidate will come along. >> who will that number. >> i have no idea. >> so, there are limits to those predictions. bob, your prediction on politics? >> well, first of all, there's a theory of the case here and that is that t

you will see the president and mitch mcconnell and republican leaders do want to get together and things done. they will have to pull it. >> ted cruz is trying to score political points. and jerry, thank you so much. we appreciate. it >> started your christmas shopping yet? >> oh. >> and this next one is you. amazon is giving an early christmas gift. it is not too late to pick out the perfect president in time of the holidays. and police looking for witnesses that may have been near the scene of the massive fire that destroyed an entire complex in downtown los angeles. that is just moments away. i'm an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about america's favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i hait's tough, but severi've managed.ease. but managing my symptoms was all i was doing. so when i finally told my doctor, he

if on one end you've got mitch mcconnell who talks about seeking compromise and at the other end you've got ted cruz who takes a much harder line. whose -- who would you be closer to in your approach? >> i represent the people of louisiana. and it is their concern, which is uppermost. i take my lead from the interest of my state and the interest of our country. i don't necessarily align myself with anybody. it sounds like campaign rhetoric. it is from the heart. i am here to represent the people of louisiana not to align with another senator. >> senator-elect cassidy, again, congratulations. thank you for talking with us. we'll see you here in washington. >> thank you, chris. >> and we'll speak with the governor of louisiana, bobby jindal later in the program. >>> but first, love him or hate him, he's the king of conservative talk radio. 20 million people listen to him each week on close to 600 stations across the country. rush limbaugh joins us from his ebi studios in florida. rush, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> i think it's been since 2009 when i was here. it's great to be back. thank

ted cruz was in the well pushing his constitutional point of order. 5 feet away was mitch mcconnell imploring senators to vote the other way. >> republicans were not the only one. many voted against it because of a provision rolling back the financial reforms. we'll examine the issue on the week ahead. that starts 8:30pm eastern, 5:30 pacific. >> dick cheney said the senate got it wrong about the use of torture. >> the harsh tactics do not add up to torture. dick cheney said what was done was legal and effect difficult. >> it worked. it worked now for 13 years. we avoided a mass casualty attack. we captured osama bin laden, and senior guys from al qaeda. i'd do it again in a minute. >> the reports reignited the debate over how the u.s. treats its prisoners, kristen saloomey has more. >> vice president dick cheney and other officials are facing tough questions as more details come to light from a 500 plus page senate report detailing the attacks. cheney defended the tactics, including water boarding, hanging people by the wrists, putting them in coffin size boxes, a technique known as rech tal

senator mitch mcconnell seen hopping into an elevator friday night. bye. i'll see you monday. but then, senator ted cruz of texas decided to pull one of his patented senator ted cruz of texas stunts. he pulled a parliamentary maneuver late friday night which threw the whole plan out the window. the senators in fact, would not be allowed to go home for the weekend. instead, they'd have to stay in washington. they had, in fact, to stay in session on saturday for ten straight hours of voting and parliamentary procedure because of ted cruz. now what ted cruz held everything up for was a symbolic vote. a symbolic, meaning, substantively meaningless vote an president obama's immigration action. there's no reason why they had to take this symbolic vote now as they are facing all these other deadlines in the end of the session. there's no reason it had to be now. ted cruz just decided he wanted it to be now. had it passed, it would have done nothing. it didn't pass. it failed by a huge margin. so what was that about? by forcing that vote to happen this weekend, what ted cruz did substantively was one thing