the president will be having a dinner tonight at the jefferson hotel. ten republican senators have been invited. this follows calls made to a group of republicans. lindsey graham, rob portman, bob corker, tom coburn and susan collins. >> i expect the president to talk to various members. frankly i wish he had done more of that over the years. we've had all of us very limited interaction with the president. he certainly doesn't have to go through me to call my members. >>> so on the international front, seven days of mourning have begun for the polarizing leader of venezuela. live pictures as people are coming on ultimate en masse. the body being moved from a military hospital where he died taking through the streets and mass crowds. people started filling the roads last night as of news came he lost his two-year battle with cancer. as required by the constitution, an election is set for 30 days from now. the white house issuing this statement, saying at this challenging time, the united states reaffirms its support for the venezuelan people and its inter

took them to the jefferson hotel. pretty swanky hotel. i'm sure a few bucks and president obama picked up the tab himself. we're told. so we taxpayers did not have to pay for that dinner. one senator who was not there one republican who was not there, senator rand paul wasn't there because he was talking talking, talking on the senate floor. rand paul with the ninth longest filibuster in senate history yesterday. 12 hours and 52 minutes filibustering over the lack of answers from the obama administration on when it plans to use drones and how it makes its decisions and what about the latest claim by attorney general eric holder that they are totally illegalized to use drones to kill american citizens here on american soil. man, lots to get into today. and we will. all of that coming up next on current tv. support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date

senator toomey one of many senators invited to the jefferson hotel in washington. of the republican senators who attended. then today, representative paul ryan, of course, the vice presidential nominee. the budget committee chairman at lunch along with chris van hollen on the set last knight. speaker of the house is optimistic, but maybe not too optimistic. >> now he is going to -- after being in office now for four years he is actually going to sit down and talk to members. that is a sign, hopeful sign, i'm hopeful that something comes out of it. but if the president incysts on tax hockeys we aren't going to get far. if the president doesn't believe we have a spending problem i don't know that we ole get far. but i'm optimistic. >> bret: bring in the panel. jason riley, editorial member of the "wall street journal." a.b. stoddard from the hill. sindcated columnist charles krauthammer. jason, welcome back. your thoughts on the outreach? >> i think the president is scared. he is on the offensive. poll numbers are down a little bit. "wall street journal" poll said th

president obama was joined by a dozen gop senators for a private dinner at the jefferson hotel near thehite house. linds lindsey graham and kelly ayotte took the president up on his offer. other republicans gave the thumbs up and said, they had a good exchange of ideas. no word on the tab. but the white house said that the white house picked up the check. >>> we talked about having to establish a process to move forward and i got the sense that president obama's planning on probably doing something with a similar gathering with some dem senators. he seemed very sincere to get engaged in the process. trasie potts has more. >> reporter: part of that process that he was talking about is really setting a different atmosphere and a different tone for compromise. first of all, to let these republicans know that the president is willing to compromise and number two, to talk about some of these key issues not just the budget and of course the budget and the cuts from sequestration are a big part of where these differences lie. things like immigration and gun control and to sort of bring down th

the two and a half hour dinner was held in a private room in the jefferson hotel in washington. the menu for discussion tonight were fiscal issues, immigration reform and gun control. earlier today a senior administration official told nbc news that the president believes a number of rank and file republicans are not clear about his willingness to compromise. no kidding. including on the issues of chained cpi and means testing for medicare. and the president planned to make that explicit tonight. you know, for those republicans who might not have been listening when the president said it explicitly on national television. >> david, as you know, one of the proposals we made is something called chained cpi. >> or when he said it explicitly in the capitol in his state of the union address. >> we'll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. >> republican lindsey graham offered this explanation this afternoon about how this dinner got scheduled. >> the president called senator mccain and myself a couple weeks ago. and senator m

last night the president sat down with nearly a dozen republican senators at the jefferson hotel. the goal, the white house says, was to reduce tensions between mr. obama and the gop, not only on budget issues but on gun control, immigration as well. the white house says the president personally picked up the tab. >> i'm encouraged by the president's outreach. i hope it bears fruit. >> meantime house republicans passed a budget yesterday to prevent a government shutdown later this month. the government keeps last year's spending and the sequestration cuts in place. >>> we hear they are skipping botox but facebook is getting a facelift. the menlo park company announcing changes to your news feed. photos and videos will reportedly be bigger and better according to facebook. and for the first time, users will get to customize what appears in their news feeds. these changes will also help facebook learn what users want, which is of course very valuable information for advertisers. >> it's 4:45. the faa could soon approve a fix for boeing's dreamliner clearing the way for test flights a

the number system's fine, perfect for haggling and you don't have to head over to the jefferson hotel to do it. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >>> good evening, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. rand paul, the senator from kentucky, okay, he gets all kinds of accolades for standing up. i think he's grandstanding. and i think it's very dangerous. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> i rise today for the principle -- >> it's one thing to stand with rand paul for his talking filibuster. but is anyone listening to his absurd fear-mongering? >> that americans could be killed in a cafe in san francisco is an abomination. >> john mccain drops the boom on rand paul. >> and he needs to do more than pull political stunt that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. >> and lindsey graham calls out his own party. >> i don't remember any of you coming down here suggesting that president bush was going to kill anybody with a drone. >> tonight, james carville on the republican chaos on the

arizona senator john mccain was part of the dinner party at the jefferson hotel a few blocks from the white house. the group didn't include senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who says he won't agree to any further tax increases. next week the president plans to meet with the house republican caucus on capitol hill. by the way, the house yesterday passed a stop-gap measure to fund government operations through september 30th. it now goes to the senate. meanwhile, more criticism of the obama administration for cutting costs by suspending tours of the white house. >> the white house is our house! we want to visit! >> from 6th grade students from iowa, they posted this video on facebook. they have a trip to d.c. planned for march 16. >> wow. >> pleading. >>> 4:49. another day another record on wall street the dow at 14,320 during yesterday's session the day after hitting an all-time high. it finished at 14,296, a gain of 42 points in the day. nasdaq dropped about 2 points as apple shares fell. by the way, futures up again today. >>> more changes coming at facebook. the company has a n

to attend the outing a few weeks back when president obama invited a group of republicans to the jefferson hotel. that was followed by a series of visits by the president to capitol hill in an effort the white house hopes will yield new compromise on the budget, immigration reform and gun legislation. >>> when it comes to immigration, senator john mccain says he got a firsthand look at the challenges facing the system. the arizona republican tweeted yesterday that he "witnessed a woman successfully climb an 18-foot" fence. someone teach him how to use the camera on his phone, just a few yards away from him as he toured the border in arizona. he was there with three other senators, including chuck schumer, who are part of a bipartisan group on immigration reform. he followed up the tweet saying border patrol successfully apprehended the woman, but it served as another reminder that threats to border security are real. president obama, meanwhile, says he hopes the talks will lead to real action and soon. >> i'm optimistic. i've always said that if i see a breakdown in the process that i've got my

president obama asked graham of south carolina to organize the dinner, which is occurring at the jefferson hotel blocks from here. graham told us he chose republicans open to negotiating a so-called grand bargain with the president that would include tax reform and cuts to medicare and social security. now, senior advisors tell us scott, that the president knows he's in a political vice. he needs republican help to alleviate the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration but he can't get that help unless he negotiates a bigger deficit-cutting deal. tonight's dinner, scott, may be a step in that direction. >> pelley: may be a thaw on a cold night. thank you. nancy cordes is on capitol hill for us. what do the senate republicans think of the invitation, nancy? >> reporter: scott, they were tkpwreurbs today saying they were honored to be invited but they pointed out in previous presidencies this would not be big news because it would be a more common occurrence. in fact, senator susan colins of maine, a moderate republican who was not invited, told us in the beginning of his presidency m

they had lunch at the jefferson hotel to discuss key fiscal issues. among those he met with was house budget committee person paul ryan. ryan said major philosophical issues do remain. >> we have an impasse right now which is the president wants to continue raising taxes, not for deficit reduction, but to fuel more spending, and we see tax reform as an incredibly important goal and policy in getting pro growth economics, getting businesses growing again and hiring people. tax reform to us is an economic growth generating exercise. tax reform to the predecesso pro far seems to be suspending growth ente enterprise. >> eric: joining us now is the anchor o chris wallace. >> instead of the president campaigning and bashing republicans, he actually sat down and talked with them. in terms of substance, i can't say i saw a lot of warming. we talked to paul ryan who will unveil the new republican budget on tuesday. in the bucket he calls for -- in the budget he calls for repeal of obama care. he has tax reform and it would lower rates and use the money for econ

it's happening right now, amidst the snow quester at the jefferson hotel, the president and over a dozenn senator are having dinner together to talk about how to keep the government running. it's all part of the administration's latest effort to curve bipartisan bickering. most recently resulting in the sequester. has the federal government finally decided it is easier to work together? we'll fine out now with political correspondent for "politics 365" jason johnson and professor of political science at hiram university. jason, welcome backn "the war room." >> glad to be here. >> michael: what do we expect to come out of this dinner especially since the president is heading to capitol hill tomorrow to meet with senate republicans anyway? >> i think this is the inside meeting. this is the sort of rehearsal dinner before the real wedding. he is hoping to talk to these senators so they can find some kind of common ground. they can think long term. they recognize the damage that is being done not only to this country, but the republican brand, but he is hoping he will be able to make some pr

we'll see. >> the posh jefferson hotel. e of my favorite hangouts. >>> so what exactly went on in that big dinner last night and why has the president changed his strategy? where is this story going? joining me on set this evening, keith boykin and we welcome congressman dave swiker, republican from arizona. and senator from nebraska. so what is driving this? how do you see this and where is this going? >> well, look. we had a good dialogue. it's an opportunity to figure out how we come together to address our debt and deficit, which we need to do. so i hope the president continues to engage us for the good of the american people. >> is one of the key points that came up last evening is that the president wants to get rid of the sequester and put together a grand design? >> not really. we went through where we're at with the sequester right now. we made it clear we have to make these reductions and we're working to do it. the house pass ad continuing resolution. it's in the senate. we're working on it in a bipartisan way. we

>> andrea: it's ridiculous they would hold it at the jefferson hotel at the plume restaurant where it's tasting. i get they didn't want to do it on obama's turf at the actual white house. but look, the visual, the split careen of senators like rapid paul trying to do what they were doing in the senate. and the other old dog senators drinking wine and rubbing elbows and hobnobbin' with president obama when it's a p.r. ploy. president obama was using the senators. he wants to extend olive branch. >> bob: this is for the country. they see obama inviting the people. >> andrea: they should have rescheduled. >> eric: probably going get a bill from them either way. >> kimberly: that was too flashy. it looks like fancy people, 1% ers hobnobbin'. >> andrea: you are already paying the guy. >> eric: good point. >> andrea: the b.p. oil spill went on for weeks they didn't think about it. they don't have a sense of reality. >> eric: we got to go. we got to go. coming up, why does planned parenthood have a problem with the new campaign to discourage teen preg flansy? iflansy -- pregnancy. no problem g

now this follows the dinner last night at the jefferson hotel just a few blocks from the white house.ding to the white house, the president paid with his own money. >>> the control towers at 5 small areas are closed in napa, san carlos and they plan to announce a finalist and the towers will be closed in early april. >>> time now 5:38, sal is back, what is happening on the east bay? >>> well, the roads are getting more crowded dave and pam although it has not reached a critical level, this is richmond to berkeley, it is getting more crowded but not a lot of stop and go traffic right at the only end -- open pep coliseum. they are moving south from hayward to fremont and it does look good. let's go to mark. >> we are dry right now and we have some green showing up and the bulk remains offshore and we cannot rule out the chances of a shower but this will be the source of a few isolated thunderstorms. you definitely want to bump you will up -- bundle up as far as temperatures oakland 42, hayward 42 and livermore in the up eastern 30s at 70 degrees. here is the weather system we have been

. >>> ryan is a house budget committee chairman and he was at the jefferson hotel just a couple of blocks white house. john mccain was invited. according to the white house, president barack obama paid for the dinner out of his own pocket. >>> sal, what is going on at milpitas? >>> westbound 237 as you drive through you will see some slowing and so far anyway we have conditions which are not quite as busy except for one key spot and you can see the bay bridge toll plaza, it is lighter than normally and we have about a backup delay. if you look at 880, we had a minor crash and you can see traffic is very busy but even then, if this was a heavier day, traffic might be backed all the way into panola making it slower in richmond. let's go to mark tamayo. >>> we don't have rain showers but that will be changing, we have overcast skies and a look at storm tracker 2 there is rain in the north pacific and you will notice with the live doppler sweeps, it will become a lot tighter and rain showers in forest noel and this -- forest knolls and over the next hour i suspect there will be an increase es

this very moment, president obama is having dinner with a number of republican senators at the jefferson hotelwhich is some four blocks from the white house. there are at least nine republican senators who have joined the president for dinner, and, well, at least, one would think, bipartisan discussions of budgets and tax reform commemoration and get control. another group of republican senators, however, and one democratic senator have been busy throughout the afternoon and early evening on capitol hill. joining senator rand paul and filibustering that complement -- confirmation vote on the president's choice to lead the cia. and that filibuster is under way at this hour. senator paul seeking to slow, if not stop the confirmation of john brennan as director of the cia. the senator wants president obama's assurance that is the administration will not support the targeted use of drones to kill american citizens on american soil. senator paul accusing the president of shredding the constitution. >> i rise today to begin to filibuster john brennan's nomination for the cia. i will speak until i ca

i mean, tonight the president is taking a bunch of guys over to the jefferson for an expensive dinner. >> greta: one of the greatest hotel in washington, great hotel. >> i'm not against going to the jefferson. >> greta: he's paying for it, by the way. >> personally. >> greta: that's what i'm told. at least in our computer, we have urgent in the computer says he was. >> the president is personally paying for it. >> greta: i was surprised. >> this is wonderful. >> greta: maybe that's wrong. >> maybe he'd like to reimburse, 900,000 for his golf vacation and apply that to keeping the white house tires. >> greta: let me go to something else. you were talking to laura ingraham and made a crack with cpac, you're not a big fan of cpac anymore? >> i'm going to speak there i think that cpac serves an important function, but i think it's lost some of its ideological edge and focus and i don't understand some of its decisions. >> greta: ayou're going booed if you stay this stuff before you speak? >> i don't operate out of fear. cpac attracts a lot of young people and a dynamic place for the future, but if you look at cpac in the '70

president obama is apparently taking a bunch of republicans out to a very posh restaurant called the jefferson hotel. what does this mean? is he going to become the investor in chief? joe mansion, mike lee. mr. lee, you first. what is this all about, ten or 11 republicans, jefferson hotel, what's up? >> first of all, when he found out joe and i were not available, we were on your show, he invited a few others to join him instead. i'm not sure what's on the agenda. i hope what it is is the president wanted to interact with members of the other party. >> as i understand it, the not so hidden agenda here is to stop the sequester and to develop some entitlement reforms and some tax reform but tax reform means the president wants to raise revenues, close loopholes and not lower the rates. entitlement reform and revenue raising in place of the sequester. is that what you're hearing? do you think that's all possible? >> i've always been a big supporter of the bowls simpson. it has stayed bipartisan. we haven't had any leadership really on the democrat or republican leadership taking hold of this as their o

so he tried asparagus marmalade at the jefferson hotel on the rank and file. 12 guys with the help of lindsey graham because they are up for re-election in 2014, or retired. or previously announcedded they are open to this kind of deal. i guess the idea is if you could fete six of them, or eight or whatever you need to kind of get to 60 votes to block a filibuster, then you could cut a deal and present that to the house. so you would go around mcconnell and around boehne boehner. you would work from that group out. >> chris: 30 seconds left in the segment. give the tie-breaker. >> i am more cynical than charles. in order to believe that the president is sincere here, you'd have to accept that the president is now believing in a means bipartisan he rejected throughout most of his first term. toward an end cutting spending and reducing the debt he never seems to care much about. it makes no sense whatsoever on the face. republicans ought to be very cautious as they enter in the talks. do everything in public. only time you are serious is if the president says i

he sat down with republican senators at the jefferson hotel. goal, the white house says, was to reduce tensions between mr. obama and the gop. not only on budget issues but on gun control and immigration as well. the white house says the president personally picked up the tab. >> i'm encouraged by the president's outreach. i hope it bears fruit. >> house republicans passed a budget to prevent a government shutdown later this month. it keeps last year's spending and sequestration cuts in place. >>> president obama expected to sign the much anticipated extension to the violence against women act into law. it strengthens the justice against women and extends rimes federal protections for gays, lesbians, transgender, native americans and immigrants. the violence against women act expired back in 2011 and stalled in congress over objections by conservatives on certain protections. >>> the national transportation safety board will give us an update on its investigation into the battery issues on boeing 787 dreamliners. this comes as reports say the fa

senator bob corker was at that dinner at the jefferson hotel here in washington. ill take us inside the room and give us a flavor of what is going on. that's coming up next. i know what you're thinking... transit fares! as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. no? oh, right. you're thinking of the 1.6 million daily customer care interactions xerox handles. or the 900 million health insurance claims we process. so, it's no surprise to you that companies depend on today's xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. which is...pretty much what we've always stood for. with xerox, you're ready for real business. >>> so what was it like when president obama sat down last night for dinner with a dozen republican senators? one of them is joining us now, senator bob corker of tennessee. senator, thanks for coming in. >> good to be with you, wolf. >> take us behind the scenes. what was it like inside that room? i take it it was 2 1/2 hours of talking? >> it was a good dinner, wolf, from the standpoint of 12 legislators and chief executive office

head off the future crisis by inviting a group of republican senators to dinner tonight at the jefferson hoteluding lindsey graham. >> i am encouraged by the president's outreach. i hope it bears fruit. >> white house spokesman jay carney says the president wants to talk about a grand bar gone budget deal. but also coming together on issues like immigration reform. >> the president is interested in, you know, finding the members of the caucus of common sense. >> the president is dining to close to a dozen rank and file republicans, a list that does not include boehner or senator republican leader mitch mcconnell. >> i wish he had done more over the years. we have had all of us limited interaction with the president. he doesn't have to go through me to call my members and i'm sure he will. >> the president has asked to meet separately next week with the caucuses of the house democrats, senate democrats, house republicans and senate republicans. the first time he has met with the republicans on the hill since 2010. >> bret: thank you. what has been characterized as major snowstorm is moving up t

convinced and you were one of the senators that had dinner with him on the thursday night at the jefferson hotel. is he being a workhorse? or a showhorse? >> that is the ultimate the question. time will tell. he asked me to put the dinner on so i did. i picked some republicans that i thought would be interested in talking to the president. i know there are many more that would have been interested. we had a kind of limited number so i picked people i thought the president would like talking to. it was a great dinner. if he is going to be a workhorse that means he and his administration have to get in the room with the republicans to find a way to solve our budget problems. you just can't do this campaigning. i think he realizes that being campaigner in chee chief is not working and if this is just an effort to create an image of bipartisanship it will not bear fruit. he has to get in the room and that is what you told him. >> mike: also an indication that he is still holding fast there has to be more revenue on the the table even though republicans have given up $600 billion six weeks ago and sa

it's relevant that the meeting is not happening at the white house and the jefferson hotel. it's a middle ground. next week obama is going to capitol hill and the president trying after months of not doing it to reach out. >> is it bad strategy that he started with the people first? given the proximity of the election, was it necessarily a bad thing to get the speeches in virginia, for example. people who can be laid off from their jobs and then go to some of those on the list, the a team. this is not just about the budget, but immigration and gun control that he would like to see implemented. >> it's a very, very tough balancing act. i think he alienated a lot of folks and republicans and democrats in terms of whether it was an effective strategy. he seems to have public opinion on his side on questions and not on others. the fact that the sequester cuts happen on his watch raises i think series questions about the prudence of going around the country giving campaign-style speeches. >> i think it was a smart move to go to the country and speak to the american people about th

earlier this week with 12 republican senators at the jefferson hotel. the idea was to hone in on deficit reduction. of course, this comes on the heels of this president having been widely criticized for not reaching out enough to members of congress. so this really represents a new strategy on the part of this president and this white house to reach around congressional leaders to circumvent them and go directly to the rank and member files of congress and talk to them. i've been speaking with administration officials here who say this is a good time for the president to have productive conversations on this point of deficit reduction with members of congress. there's no countdown clock. there's no deadline or fiscal deadline looming, so they're hoping this will create an environment in which they can have these productive conversations. that remains to be seen. of course, still deep differences over the issues of taxes and entitlement reform. one interesting thing that came out of that dinner, alex, one of the senators who attended said he prior to the

the meeting is set to last for another hour or so at the jefferson hotel in washington, d.c. inistration official says the jefferson is neutral ground. god forbid if they go to the white house. and the timing is crucial. the leaders aren't facing a pressing deadline so they could hey, maybe actually have a productive conversation. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is not at the table tonight. instead, the president is talking to tea party folks like ron johnson and pat toomey without the normal obstruction. now, here is what could be on the political menu. the main course is reportedly budget issues, but the president could add some sides like immigration reform and gun control. you guys want to talk about that. at the same time, the president meets with willing republicans, there are new signs of obstruction just down the street. this is live. you are looking live at senators ron paul, ted cruz, john cornyn, and also senator lee as they stage an old-fashioned fill buster to block the president's nomination of john brennan, cia director. they've been talking for almost ni

the president was there with his chief of staff. >> bill: where were you? >> we were at a hotel. i think it's the jefferson hotel in washington. >> bill: right. >> yeah, the president was very cordial. everyone was cordial. we had a candid conversation. most of it was around fiscal issues. the president listened to every one of the republican senators made several comments. and the president -- he was engaged. he was paying attention. >> bill: this is is a departure. this hasn't really happened for a long time, correct? >> nothing like this has ever happened since i have been in the senate. >> can i, senator, with all due respect take credit for this? since, you know, we have been absolutely pounding on him this week as you probably know. but i don't want to take credit for it he bought, i understand. did he buy all you guys dinner? >> well, it was either him or the taxpayer. >> suffice it to say, i did not pick up the tabernacle. i will admit that. >> who was there with the president? >> on the president's side, the president had his chief of staff and there was one other gentleman who was with the presid

>> perhaps the beginning of a beginning happening tonight at the jefferson hotel. wed the picture of it. that is in downtown washington. that is where president obama will dine with the senators, kelly, kristen, thank you both. >> thanks, chris. >>> slightly less kumbaya note, eric holder was on capitol hill this morning testifying before the senate judiciary committee on his agency's policies on controversial matters from guns to drones. one person who won't be at the dinner tonight, republican senator ted cruz. >> does the constitution allow a u.s. citizen on u.s. soil that doesn't impose a imminent threat to be killed by the u.s. government? >> i do not believe that -- again, you have to look at all of the facts, but the facts you have given me, and this is a hypothetical, i would not think in that situation a use of a drone or lethal force would be appropriate. >> general holder, i have to tell you, i find it remarkable that in that hypothetical that is deliberately very simple, you are unable to give a one word, one syllable answer no. >> justice correspondent

he takes out a few of them at the jefferson hotel and has lunch with paul ryan and suddenly he's reaching out and there's all of these efforts to have coombaya. he's had two meals. >> right. the white house is not going to change it overnight by having two meals. >> i think the jury is not in yet. it's the 10th today? >> absolutely. some people felt the administration went too far in protecting all of this instant doom and gloom and the press swallowed it. there was very little independent reporting from some of what they're saying is exaggerated. >> there's no doubt, they make decisions. charlie peters at the washington monthly, he had some funny line about this. i think he called it the fire house rule. when there's a budget cut, the first thing they say is the fire house will be cut. >> the washington monument. they've done the white house tour. >> is the press so easily manipulated that the president who has been criticized even by his own party for not schmoozing, members of congress, kind of referring to hanging out with his family can have a couple of meals with the gop and suddenl

a lot of senators you saw coburn is one of them and mccain sat by his side at the jefferson hotel interestedthat republican are about the people, too. >> i understand that, too. but what will obama offer? that is the question. >> that is. tomorrow at 10:30 house republicans will unveil their budget which they say will balance the federal budget in ten years. going to be specific. a sign no matter where it guess that they are reenenergized and they think the president has gone too far. he has on one specific issue. gown control. if your goal and table president's is to win mid-term election and unobstructed path to get the program through. clearly his goal. i think he blew it with this. if there is any issue that will energize republicans in the swing district, 17, obama needs to win, the congress back for democrats is gun control. i really think he went too far, we'll see the fruit osthat have soon. >> bret: deal or no deal? >> i don't, i'm with charles. i don't see a deal. >> a deal on the budget or -- >> yeah, yeah. >> i think there is something coming. you going to be surprised because ag

everybody i've spoken to who the 12 republican senators who attended that dinner at the jefferson hotelere in washington the other night, almost all of them came out saying it was positive, a good start. paul ryan himself had lunch the next day at the white house. chris van hollen was there as well. they both said it was a good start. let's see what happens. this week there are going to be some important meetings. the president is going up to capitol hill and meet with democrats separately, will meet with republicans separately. let's see if they can come up with some sort of plan that that so-called grand bargain, suzanne, as you know to deal with tax reform but also at the same time deal with entitlement reform, social security and medicare, see if they can come up with something. it's not going to be easy given the philosophical differences especially over increasing tax revenues as they say. but it's worth a shot especially knowing that by the end of july they have to raise the nation's debt ceiling once again. and we don't want to go through that whole bruising battle because it's

. >> right now also at the jefferson hotel, president obama meeting with some republican senators. d looks like the senators -- some leaving the dinner. appears to be over. these things both going on different parts of washington. margaret, what do you make of it? >> the filibuster, i can't believe peter and i agree on it. it's a good, old-fashioned filibuster. it's a well prepared senator making well -- >> there were tweets read earlier while he was in the bathroom. >> he is making the case for the point of his filibuster which is is there a constitutional question to the kill list that president obama's employing abroad? can he do that on american citizens not an imminent threat to american security here in the united states? >> not just president obama. can any u.s. president kill an american citizen at home using drones. >> or a balance of checks and balances on that question. >> that is important question. >> beyond that. drones are an important question. look, president obama's move towards drones because they're cheap. this is what we do when we as a country don't want to exp

obama invites paul ryan to the white house for lunch after dining with senate republicans at the jefferson hotel too. >> how did the meeting go? >> just fine. great. wonderful. >> i am more optimistic just from a personal standpoint. >> senator bob corker was at that dinner. what sde think? we'll get the details. >>> north korea today threatening a nuclear strike against the u.s. as the u.n. passes its toughest sanctions yet. >> the strength, breadth, and severity of these sanctions will raise the cost to north korea of its elicit nuclear program. taken together, these sanctions will bite and bite hard. >> direct from that vote, u.n. ambassador susan rice joining us live from late-breaking details. >>> and we'll hear from house intelligence chair mike rogers. and what's in a name? that's what stephen colbert wants to know. >> i think we should naem all of our weather events after what kind they are, plus whatever people are talking about on television at the time. today washington is blanketed in the snow-quester. tomorrow a storm covers the u.s. in drone-cicles. or a freak blizzardashian. oklah

arizona senator john mccain was part of that dinner party at the jefferson hotel a few blocks away fromot include senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who says he won't agree to any further tax increases. next week the president plans to meet with the house republican caucus on capitol hill. >> who picked up the bill? >> i don't know. >> we did. >> yes. >>> it is 5:41. facebook's latest face-lift. the radical change and it's all launching today. >> and mitt romney's plan b. the former presidential candidate gets some help in the working world from his own son. 97 enough about the book, i want to hear about your date. well, he showed up in a van. [ women ] oh-awww. [ voices in background ] [ female announcer ] swapportunity. the opportunity to swap a higher calorie snack for a delicious 90 calorie yoplait light. ♪ ♪ sorry... about your date, the details of your date. [ female announcer ] just one swap a day helps keep the calories away. yoplait. it is so good. '/÷za unemployment dropped.. to 340 thousand last week. ge is the >>> this just in. the number of americans seeking unemployme

the president took some senate republicans out to dinner tonight? >> that's right, shep. maybe some inspiration from mr. jefferson. at the jefferson hotelcouple blocks here from the white house. a fancy hotel. they have got a menu that is so fancy that you can get a meal for $1,776, all kinds of fancy wine and whatnot. we're told they are not ordering from that special menu after all the government is broke. we are not sure who is paying for this dinner tonight. senator lindsey graham one of the republicans dining with the president. this might be a dr. phil moment. take a listen. >> i see the president reaching out. everybody wants to, you know, be dr. phil about what he is doing. i'm assuming the president wants to talk serious buy about -- seriously about the issues of the day. he will go up to capitol hill. he rarely does that meet separately with all four democrats. same in the senate. first time he has really done that since 2010, shep. >> shepard: this is a new strategy to do, what? >> well, is he sort of going around the leadership. if you look at some the faces that will be there, more rank and file senators like lindsey graham

night the president broke bread with a dozen republican senators over a two-hour dinner at the jefferson hotel washington. the reviews, while lacking specifics, pretty positive. >> it was very respectful. i think people -- i think the president probably walked away saying that it was one of the best meetings he had been involved in probably since he's been here. and i think people on our side, the 12 senators that were there, felt like there was a lot of sincerity and straightforwardness. >> all right. as nbc's first read blog reports, the overall suggestion from the dinner was that president obama would have to give cover for any cuts in medicare while the republicans would have to pony up additional revenue to get it. but not all lawmakers were clued into what the white house has already offered according to first read. one senator told us that he learned for the first time the actual cuts the president has put on the table. leadership hadn't shared that list with them before? huh? so where's the republican leadership? at this point not in the picture. and john boehner and mcconnell's refusa

melissa: you guys met at the jefferson hotel. i was curious why that was the location? is that a neutral site? >> as you know the sequester kicked in so i imagine they had to lay off all the chefs at the white house. i don't know why it was the jefferson. that was the choice. melissa: okay. so you, what, in your mind what is the next step from here? what should we look out for? >> well, you know, i think we've got, to continue the discussion but get a little more specific and concrete with some of our democratic senate colleagues. i'm, i sit on the finance committee. that is a committee that has jurisdiction over entitlement programs and the tax code. if we will get something done through the senate that includes, these are the giant challenges before us, it is probably going to involve our committee and so, i'm going to be meeting with every single democrat on the committee to see how serious is the interest here and is the president providing the encouragement and support that ses going to be needed. if there's a will, i want to solve these problems. i want to get thi

at this hour, the president is wining and dining senate republicans at the jefferson hotel in washingtoney arrived about an hour ago. e they said it is part of an effort to break the grid with republicans. lindsey graham says it's about time. >> the fact there is a lot of interest in a dinner between the president and a handful of republican senators is a pretty good statement about where we're at as a nation. not blaming anybody because it takes both parties to get $16 trillion in debt. ths going to take both parties to get out. >> some interesting polling causing some to say is this the president on his knees to the republicans? "outfront" tonight, former campaign spokesman for the president and terry holt, former press secretary for the bush cheney campaign. this comes five days after the republicans refused to cave on the spending cuts. they view it as a win. democrats say they will live to regret that. but is the white house now caving to republicans? saying look, we need you more than you need us? let's have a dinner. >> let's look at where the president is. he still hasn't submitt