For gentle hair removal at far less than salon prices. At tyco integrated security, we consider ourselves business optihow . Rs. By building custom Security Solutions that integrate video, access control, fire and intrusion protection. All backed up with worldclass monitoring centers, thousands of qualified technicians, and a personal passion to help protect your business. When your business is optimized like that, theres no stopping you. We are tyco integrated security. And we are sharper. Right now on Andrea Mitchell reports the sec wester has kicked in, but another budget battle looms. How serious will it be, and while the president and congress may be waving the white flag on the across the board budget cuts, both sides take the prospect of a Government Shutdown off the table. The president this morning agreed that we should not have my talk. The president doesnt move the manufacturing in another crisis. After spending the weekend on the phone with members of congress, rankandfile types, president obama taps a new budget chief today. Its Walmart Foundation head and a Clinton White house veteran Cynthia Matthews ber dsz well. One of the things we learn very quickly is its not enough just to talk a big game, but the real test is whether your priorities are reflected in a budget. Thats where the rubber hits the road. Sylvia knows her way around. On the street americans are a bit fed up. Somebody took their ball away and nobody wants to play. I know i stop spending when things get tight. There you go. While saturday night live adds their own take on the sequester drama that was last week. These cuts will affect our military, our civil service, federal construction projects, even grants to native americans. And im the one who has to tell these folks, young men, theres no need to feel down. Young men, pick yourself off the ground. Young man, just because youre funning is down, theres no need to be unhappy. Its fun to stay at the snl. Good day. Um chuck todd in for Andrea Mitchell live in new york. Administration officials are out in force again today talking about the impact of sequester. We are already seeing the affects on some of the ports. Eventually the big airports, for example. Some of them had very long lines this weekend. Could a grand bargain still be in reach . Joining me now for the daily fix, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics. Com susan page. The bureau chief of americas newspaper usa today, and david leon hart with the new york times. My apologies for calling usa today americas newspaper. Easier to get it at hotels in what i say is the rest of america sometimes. Im just saying. I dont know. You can get the new york times. No. You usually have to pay extra. Chris, by the way, in case youre wondering, andrea is traveling with john kerry. Shes going to have a big interview with him tomorrow. Shes literally halfway across the world. Chris, the white flag of the budget debate has been waived. I guess the idea of a march madness of budget showdowns totally off the table. How do you read sort of what happened from, say, friday afternoon when the president said, you know what, sequester is going to happen, its dumb, but its not the end of the world, and what we heard this weekend from Speaker Boehner . Well, i mean, you know, chuck, i would like to think that its very likely that were not iffing to have another showdown on march 27th and the days leading up to it over shutting down the government. I think its probably the party has recognized its not in their best interest, but i would say, look, it is hard for me to go back to the language used around the sequester when it happened. This will never happen. This is a sort of thing youre bringing into place so we dont do it, and say, you know well, definitely will avoid a Government Shutdown because president obama and john boehner dont want to have one. Can they make that a reality particularly as it relates to boehner . Can he lead his caucus to vote for something that averts this, chuck . Is he leading it or is he being led by it . Well find that out. Susan page, one of the things i hear is that Standing Firm on sequester, which is something john boehner and Mitch Mcconnell are essentially doing, actually gives them leway on not turning the continuing resolution in one government runs out of money at the end of the month into a showdown, and actually will give them leeway to raise the debt ceiling without a big fight internally as long as they stick to their guns on these spending cuts. You know, i think its really unfair to journalists to not have another showdown in three weeks because it seems like every three, maybe four weeks we should have some kind of crisis that allows us to use hyperbolic language. I actually think that we will not have a shutdown this month. I think its clear that both sides have decided for just a go along kind of strategy. Well see if that conveys also to the may debt ceiling debate, which could be tougher. I mean, that is a harder issue, it seems to me, to these real deficit hawks that you have, especially in the House Republican caucus. I do think were going to have, you know, march is going to go out like a lamb when it comes to fiscal politics. Thats for sure. David, you guys had a very interesting piece over the weekend about the affect on the washington region, and in many ways the washington region protected from the recession the Great Recession that everybody else experienced. Not just because of government stem husband. It really had to do with the fact that were fighting two wars. Defense contracts in particular in northern virginia. What i found fascinating was how many people you found that said, you know what, maybe its time for us to take a haircut. Now its going to be less so. Assuming some version of these cuts going through. Whether its these or some point they come back and try to make them a little bit less blunt, but my guess is the washington region economically will still be okay. Even if its not quite so good because it is by some measures the most educated region in the country, and if you look at minneapolis, if you look at the bay area, if you look at boston, if you look at the other really highly educated you havent had this huge stimulus, but they still have done much better than the rest of the country and wash wash still has that strength. Chris, three big names three new names. Not well known names, but three names added to the president s cabinet. Omb, energy, at e. P. A. A lot of criticism, if you recall, happened early on with the president. His cabinet wasnt looking like america. In this case two new women added. Somebody of hispanic origin, and but not big names. What message are you taking away from the president s nominees . We criticize the president for lack of diversity in his cabinet, givening that he had stated he wanted a cabinet that looked like america. He deserves credit for putting these folks in place. That said, it seems to me, chuck, that what youre seeing in the second term, whether its dennis mcdonoughs chief of staff, dan pfeiffer as Senior Advisor to the president , or the people at the treasury department, at the state department, at some of these bigger and defense. You are seeing a consolidation of power within the white house in many ways. This is these are the people barack obama wants, that the white house will be making these decisions, and that the people at some of the lower level cabinet positions really are not iffing to be in a position to be setting policy. That policy will continue to be set at the white house is how barack obama wants it. Its been it seems every white house makes the west wing more powerful, and, yet, even from first to second term, i think you make a point, that you see more and more, even with the reports today about Vice President biden. Both susan and david, hearing from mitt romney over the weekend about sort of he is clearly not yet over losing the election. Im going to play a clip from his interview from fox. The president had the power of incumbency. Obama care was very attractive, particularly those without health care. I believe it was the medias fault as well. That he was not giving being given a fair shake. People werent allowed really see him for who he was. Susan, everybodys fault but his. Yeah. You know, its hard to lose a president ial race. You know, you get so close. Youre the Party Standard bearer, and i think for mitt romney especially hard because theres not a malplace for him to be a player in the party. He doesnt have the historic kicks and stature that even a bob dole or Walter Mondale had that gave them a place in their parties after they lost the presidency. I sort of i do not see where mitt romney fits in that, and he clearly is not quite over this loss, and i think that must make it harder. David, i want to make a point. He is nott the first guy thats taken a long time to get over a loss. George mcgovern took forever. Who knows if he ever really got over the loss to nixon . Al gore clearly struggled get over that loss. John mccain. Is he in good company, if you will, getting over this. Not everybody is bob dole and Walter Mondale, who both seemed to be comfortable losing, if you will. It has to be enormously hard to put yourself out there and lose the presidency. In some ways i wouldnt expect him to be he did say some critical things about the campaign. The thing in that clip that struck me is the fact that he really honestly believes that obama care was a big plus for the president , and its really striking because when the bill passed and then a year or two afterwards it remained unpopular, the white house just kept saying, no, eventually it will be popular, eventually it will be popular, and its sort of fascinating that romney now agree with them, that it might be the obama care that it might be the early stages of following things like medicare that are ultimately seen as a benefit, part of the safety net that is actually quite popular. I think one thing that was an agreement on, it was very popular among hispanics, which has been part of that conversation that mitt romney was having about what was wrong with his campaign. Anyway, chris, susan, david, thank you all. Congresswoman Marcia Blackburn joins me now. Congresswoman, i want to start with sequester. Are you comfortable this morning . Its three days since the order was officially signed. Are you comfortable with sequester taking affect throughout the rest of the fiscal year . Is. I think that not only am i comfortable, i think that my constituents are relieved that it actually went on the books, and, you know, chuck, what were hearing from our constituents is, look, we want you to get in there and protect the military, but all of this discretionary spending, you neat to be cutting it. You got to get busy reforming entitlements. You have to stabilize Social Security and medicare, and people are ready to see some solutions brought forward, and theyre expecting us to do that. Congresswoman, do you think that now ive heard Speaker Boehners faift line that the president got his tax hikes. Democrats are now going to be able to say the republicans got their spending cuts. Does this clear does this sort of clear the brush and in september we actually do have the grand bargain that might include a little more revenue and entitlement reform that everything that sort of the third rails inside the democratic primary, missed the republican primary, does that come back, or do you think that just taxes just cants be touched . Well, i think that what people are saying in this economy, in this team period, and certainly i feel like i agree with this. You cannot go around raising taxes. When is enough enough . Even now with sequester going in, were spending 6. 2 more than we were spending in 2008, and, chuck, people are just saying, wait a minute, you got to deal with the debt. Heres a great example of that. He said, look, youre cutting 2 . He said when you are borrowing, 35 cents to 40 cents on the dollar, you have a 35 cut that you need to be addressing, and i think a lot of individuals across this country share that sentiment. If this is just scratching the surface lets remember, its not a 2 cut. You exempted so much from sequester that its the impact and what is cut is more than 2 . Right, but, see, what his point is that you have a big delta that you are yet to hit in order to start to bring this budget into balance, and that is why our Budget Committee will bring out a budget this month that will balance in ten years, and people are saying now is the time to start to have these conversations about how you clean up the tax code, how you address longterm spending and longterm obligations, and the way that we are dealing with entitlements, they want efficient, effective government. They want government to be accountable to the taxpayer. What they dont want is any more of this kicking the can. I say give me that can. The can is accountable, its spending cuts. It is bringing things into balance, and thats what we need to do. I want to ask you about a vote that happened last week. The house passed the violence against women act. You were an original supporter of it. You put out a statement in may. Absolutely. In support of it. You said you must continue to make every effort to insure that you help these vemz of violence. Then you vote against it. Why . The Senate Version. I voted for all of the house the two house versions that we had. What was wrong with the Senate Version . Is. The Senate Version, you know, what do you is begin to dilute the money that needs to go in to these Sexual Assault centers, Domestic Abuse centers, our Child Advocacy centers. All of those i have helped to start here in my area in tennessee, and when you start to make this about other things and it becomes an against violence act and not a targeted focused act that is there to address the issue of violence against women that, chuck, for far too long. That is something that you couldnt talk about. With the add advent of these shelters we were able to bring this what part of the senate bell do you like . I didnt like the conscience the way the conscience protections were there on the trafficking. I didnt like the way it was expanded to include other different groups. What you need is something that is focused specifically to help the shelters and to help out Law Enforcement who is trying to work with the crimes that have been committed against women and helping them to stand up. Weve had some great shelters and Great Success without our shelters. Our Child Advocacy centers, able to receive funds and work with our drug task forces, and some of these Judicial Task forces that have been so involved in these crimes, and that focus needs to continue. I remain it remains a big advocate for carrying forward that good work and supporting those individuals. I have to leave it there. Congresswoman from tennessee. Tennessee republican. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing your views this afternoon. Up next, the sequesters impact on 9 11 first responders. Well talk about new York Democratic congressman joe crowley about that, and tomorrow on the show as i steezed earlier andrea is live in doha. Shell be interviewing secretary of state john kerry as he wraps up his First Official foreign trip. Its been an incredibly busy trip. Dont miss it tomorrow 1 00. Andrea mitchell. Who else do you want interviewing john kerry . Well be right back. Of this oth. And that much freshness is gonna take some getting used to. [ sniffing ] yep. Its amazing what a single scoop of gain freshness can do. [ sniffing ] yep. All right thats a fifthfloor probleok. Not in my house ha ha ha ha ha ha no no no not today ha ha ha ha ha ha jimmy how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico . Happier than Dikembe Mutumbo blocking a shot. Get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. And Wesley Ashley are looking for a brand new smartphone. Lets go. Weve got a Samsung Galaxy sii on tmobile monthly4g for only 299 with no annual contract. Nice [ earl ] see for yourself. Get the Samsung Galaxy s ii on tmobiles nationwide 4g network. Walmart. The middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. Im fed up with always having to put my bladders needs ahead of my daughter. So today, im finally talking to my doctor about Overactive Bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling . Ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. One toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. If you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or can not empty your bladder, you should not take toviaz. Get emergency medical help right away if your face, lips, throat or tongue swells. Toviaz can cause blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness and decreased sweating. Do not drive, operate machinery or do unsafe tasks until you know how toviaz affects you. The most common side effects are dry mouth and constipation. Talk to your doctor about toviaz. Skwlirchlgts this video just in. This is president Obama Meeting with his cabinet. Theres a few new members of the cabinet in that room that have been confirmed, including a new defense secretary chuck hagel. John kerry, of course, is not there because he is on his trip, and he is sitting down with Andrea Mitchell. We will continue to follow that. Theres still a lot of folks that have to get confirmed on capitol hill. That second term cabinet gets completely filled out. Joining me now, congressman joe crowley