zeke emanuel, thanks for coming in.e your time on "the ed show" tonight. >>> coming up, some senate democrats are trying to change the filibuster rule. house speaker john boehner issues a threat. the "nation's" john nichols will weigh in on that. >>> republicans make their first post-election attempt at immigration reform. and just what did they do? they voted to limit legal immigration. congressman xavier becerra will weigh in on that. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? beca

joining me today, white house correspondent important buzz feeds zeke miller. politico's maggie and georgetown university professor michael eric dyson. irene carmone of salon. new year's resolution important congress, kick the habit of procrastinating. >> coming up against a hard deadline here and as i said, this is a conversation we should have had months ago. >> that was senator mitch mcconnell reflecting on why congress has done so little in those 514 days since it passed the bunt control act. that legislation, of course, machine dated those automatic arbitrary spending cuts supposed to motivate congress tone act some kind of comprehensive budget reform. it hasn't worked out had a way. we are now four days away if the fiscal curb. this is the first time all of the congressional leaders met with the president since november 16 in a post-election session. and new this morning, cnbc's john heart swood reporting a mini deal could be in the works. without it like a 60 to 90-day deal and include some tax raises basically for those making about $400 $400,000 or mor

that's 5-year-old zane holden and that's his dog, zeke.ng a drink of water. >> i wonder if the mom accidentally calls the dog by the kid's name and the kid by the dog's name? >> the mom's name is zora. >> and baby sister is -- >> zelda. >> zelda and zraoraida. >> and uncle zeus. >> and the cat. zeely. >> the time of the year where everybody has a real or fake decision to make. i'm talking christmas trees, real or plastic? if you're going to get the plastic one, chances are it comes from a factory that looks like this in china. this video is from national geographic in their series -- i didn't know that. here's a look at one of the factories that makes basically christmas trees. >> polyvinyl chloride. or pvcs to you and me. >> this is how they make a christmas tree that's six and a half feet tall. >> the shredded pvc is pulled through the coil that separates the needles and makes them bushy. >> the branches come out way too long for a christmas tree that would fit into your home or apartment. so they cut these by hand. >> they have robots t

zeke emanuel, chair of medical ethics and health policy at university of pennsylvania and one of the architects of the affordable care act, which is now obama care. thank you for being with us tonight. sort this out for us. the $400 billion on the table with obama care or with medicare that the republicans deny cuts. who is telling the truth here? >> well, the real issue is whether you're cutting things to beneficiaries or using those cuts to really transform the system to make it more modern. and i think as they did in the campaign, they are trying to say this will harm beneficiaries. but you can make cuts without harming beneficiaries. we released a report where we had $385 million in cuts to medicare and without taking it out of beneficiaries. . >> so this is a valid proposal of savings of $400 billion, but republicans deny that. >> the president has put on a bold proposal. the important thing i would say is, there's one way of cutting. you just whack the system. take money out. make what you pay the doctors or hospitals less. but the real interesting and important thing is to try

zeke emmanuel, your expertise is always appreciated. >> nice to see you, alex. >>> coming up, republicans given positive reviews to senator john kerry's expected nomination as secretary of state, but might the gop have an altrr motive in its newfound kerry love. we'll explore that just ahead. ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪ ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow can i still ship a gift in time for christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. >>> senators mccain and kerry poked fun at john kerry's secretary of state prospects even before ambassador susan rice withdrew from contention. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. [ laughter ] >> thank you very much, mr. president. [ laughter ] see, this is what happens when you get two losers up here. we are just having fun. >> so how close are we to a kerry announcement and what cabinet pick wi

>> i haven't seen how zeke proposes to define lifetime earnings. anyway that goes beyond current income, which the irs is good at calculating becomes very complicated. anything that attempts to define wealth including assets is very complicated. something that looks at lifetime earned north carolina would not -- income would not be particularly complicated that. is already available to the social security and could be calculated. so it will depend very much on how it is done and how it is phased in. any of these changes are assumed to be phased in because it's unfair to change the rules drastically for people who are in to retire or very close to retirement. it is really signaling to people in the labor force that no surprise to many of them, if you ask them their expectations that the entitlement as they have existed are going to change for them and the sooner question decide what the package looks like so they can plan their response the better off we'll be. it's really, again, if you assume no behavioral change, it doesn't look particularly attr

decided to speak on camera about the situation for the first time to kron4 is a zeke man down. >> weat the city hall address where the human resources but department phone number with her business name, little luxuries. it is ridiculous! the public should be outraged! i am outraged! i'm being shot a web site which says perot is the city manager is abusing city resources to run an office on line party favor business. she is filing criminal and civil complaints alleging misuse of public resources. >> you are looking at what some of the progress employees would make at one time. >> these are now part of the investigation into the allegation. she says these products are packaged inside richmond city hall. >> i watched the employees make these and they look like cupcakes. i think that is amazing but not on city time. this is a city hall office in the human- resources department where they store some of the material for the products that are being sold. >> she was asked by night to take part in the operation. >> did you do that? >> no! i absolutely refuse. i did not know what the legal but

>> i haven't seen how zeke proposes to define lifetime earnings.thing that goes beyond current income, which the irs is very good at calculating, becomes very complicated as it attempts to define wealth, including assets, that are very complicated. something that looks at lifetime earnings but that would be particularly complicated because that is already available to social security and to the calculated so it would depend very much on how it's done, and how it is phased in. phased-in. any of these changes are assumed to be phased-in because it's unfair to change the rules drastically for people who are into retirement or very close to retirement. it is really a signal to people who are in the labor force that no surprise to many of them if you ask them their expectations, that the entitlements as they have existed are going to change for them and the sooner we can decide what that package looks like so they can plan their response, the better off we will be. it's really again, if you assume no behavioral change, this doesn't look particularly att