Impossible and has been so for sometime. He acknowledged this saying harry reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the resolution and right now he has the votes to do so. Yet ted cruz still refuses to back down from what he himself acknowledged was a doomed strategy. In his statement he concluded, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American People. Stand firm, listen to the American People and pray the democrats are there to help you when the whole thing falls apart. Some republicans, some, are wising up to the absurdity and bucking at following the wacko bird off the cliffs of insanity. As one republican aide said, senators cruz, lee, rubio are like the kids in school that yell fight, fight, fight but have never thrown a pumpl in their entire life. Speaking to reporters a few minutes ago Speaker Boehner did not take kindly to this. Guess what, we have a fight over here. Were going to win the fight here. Its time to take up the mantle and get the job done. Joining me senior political reporter Maggie Hagerman and chris hayes host of msnbc all in. Joining us from washington political director and chief White House Correspondent chuck todd. Chuck, it was ugly in the house now its ugly in the senate. What can we make of this gulf, if we can call it euphemistically between the house and caucus. Theres a couple of ways to look at it. Its possible this is John Boehners way out. Listen to the language he used this morning. Listen to the language yesterday, ted griffin, conservative republican in the house, what he said to ted cruz. They are all saying, okay, were going to give it the college try of what you want, pass this resolution with the attachment that says were not going to fund the Health Care Law and you in the senate pick up the mantle and fight. If you fail, dont get mad at us when we say we did everything we could, the politics of this, the sign said it was a deadend. I equate this, theres a street sign that says the road says theres a deadend. You can visually see theres a brick wall at the end of the street. Yet john boehner has no choice but to say, okay, ill get in the car, ill turn it, ill drive, ill run into it. And now you will send i will physically show you this is a deadend strategy. But like he said ted cruz gave him an out, okay, buddy, now its on you to find your 41 votes to keep up this fight. We are fully embracing the metaphor as Speaker Boehner as the crash dummy. My part is the Sistine Chapel of passive aggressiveness were seeing paint bid both sides in this as they are trying to pass the bill. It would be like me coming to you, alex, an important financial deregulation story, totally terrible television, going to drive every viewer away, really important. I have no doubt youll spend the hour on it. Thats what they are doing for epa other. Youre just the person to do it. Like ghost buster, go get her, ray. Go get her, ray. I think theres a deeper strategy here. I think having worked in the house, you remember i remember that the only power the minority had is the power over bills that must pass. The president needs spending bills to pass. Every other bill to run the government effectively doesnt need. This the one set of bills he doesnt need to pass. Republicans are using their power to make an ideological power sending it where the argument in total will fail. What part of the strategy may be, it will come back to the house where a revised bill will have a chance of passing with boehner taking out most of the cuts to obama care but giving the right something else. The sequester, which is now the moderate position. But, okay. Who wins here . I find it rather brazen of ted cruz to take this an tag nick posture. Senior gop aide says some people came to govern and make things better for their constituents. Ted cruz came to throw bombs and fraf off attacks on fellow republicans. Who wins . Does ted cruz end up strengthened with all this . I dont think he ends up strengthened in terms of d. C. I think he ends up looking relatively okay at home. I dont think this hurts him in texas. I do think this helps a credible governor loosely, the strategy of somebody who came to d. C. This isnt something to be taken seriously. Ted cruz is loathed on capitol hill by the republicans. You walk into a bar with republican aides. They are like coming up to you to tell you how much this was the impression to him prior to this. This was the time you see it. You dont normally see it dribble into the headlines. There was a lot of backlash in terms of criticism, conservative commentators saying this was transparent. There you go. Im sure youre going to do very well with your hour. Safe strategy, why boehner can be the crash dummy, there is no price to pay. What is the price . I do think this is hurting the brand. The brand is hurt. How much more is it going to hurt . The point you made about if ted cruz ran into the bar, republican aides would try to he loves when people say that. Thats part of his the strategy is that people think the government and d. C. Cant do much of anything. So the most popular position to take among the people at large, not the people in d. C. Is im not that. Im just not that. Im doing everything i can to rale on that. Practically speaking, getting things done in the government, where do you stand on the prospect of a Government Shutdown. Its amazing to me you have leaders, all of them know it a bad idea, bad for republicans, they dont want to risk it. Nobody seems to want it. I dont know how they avoid it at least for a couple of days. Thats what i keep envisioning, some sort of 48 hour shutdown or 24 where theres some small version of this. Because again you know, ive had House Republican aides say this to me before in previous fights, sometimes they have to educate some of these members, how it will play out, how they would believe it, they dont have to see it for themselves. Im of the camp, i assume its going to be at least a small one in a day or two. Then all of a sudden something will happen. What i cant figure out here is what can boehner take to republicans, to House Republicans in a final deal and say we didnt get this but we got x, y, z. Will it challenge the base . Cpi, chris is right, suddenly the moderate position, remember, everybody hated sequestration a year ago. That is a win . Boehners folks are trying to say this could be a win. I dont know if his rank and file will take this as a victory. Chris, to your point, democrats have to support this, too. Democrats dont like sequestration. I dont think this is some masterful strategy. They are bungling towards this. The bungling they are doing is ending up with this moving the center of debate which is now everyone is talking about defunding obama care. Thats crazy, its going to go, maybe a small shutdown, thing sing kumbaya and keep sequestration levels. The fight was sequestration levels. Now its the consensus position we all agree on because were fighting on obama care, which is crazy and radical. Were not even fighting about implementing an actual budget. Were fighting about a continuing resolution that might last three months, which is crazy. Counterintuitively im hoping for a shutdown. A shutdown for two or three days could teach a lesson politically to the republicans and also is not that cataclysmic. The thing i fear is they pull the nose up and say, okay, were going to double down on the debt ceilings and then youre really playing with fire. Maggie, i dont think anybody thinks they are not going do use the debt ceiling and implications for the economy are far more catastrophic. That said shutting down now is different than 1995 in large put because i believe in terms of seven of the governments 13 appropriation bills in 1995 have been signed into law. There are no Appropriations Bills in 2013 which basically means we come to a stop in a profound way quickly compared to 1995. Correct. I understand what chris is saying, i think hes right, that is exactly what would happen. It would not go well for gop. I think that is why youre going to see the rise, that crisis averted. What were talking about, the center of debate is shifteded. I think the center of debate has been shifting several months in congress. Youre seeing this back and forth, this pingponging. Were now at a point we seem to be moving. This is to chucks point, almost insane, were almost month to month. Thats where its heading. I dont want to lose sight of this. This is the thing we should be discussing instead of political calculus because its compelling. David, it is hard to decide which is worse, utter indifference among the right wing to the damage that win at all costs politics could cause the economy or its cold hearted effort to block any attempt to ease the burdens on the americans who are struggling. Look, this is vicious. Im not confident the politics of 96 play out today. Look what happened with sequestration. There is in a lot of the polling a sense underneath that it wasnt that big a deal and hasnt been that big a deal among the perception among voters. If sequestration isnt perceived to be a big deal with the kind of cuts that came, Government Shutdown is a bigger version. More dramatic. More dramatic version of sequestration. But you kind of worry that you get a Government Shutdown and a lot of us look at the policy and a lot of people who are hurting see it, but in the certainly the middle of the Republican Party theres a shrug of the shoulders, this is not that big a deal. Thats the question, right, to your earlier point. What does boehner offer his folks that is enticing enough to get them back at the table to get them to agree . I dont know. Thats what i think he could get from the president. Again, change cpi, radical change, house Social Security is recalculated. He could get possibly means testing on medicare. He could get some things you wouldnt normally get from the democratic senate. But again, i dont know i think davids point is very fair and very true that there isnt this sense of there certainly isnt going to be punishment among some in these Republican Base about shutting down the government. I think the only way you see, maybe totally crass and sound like class politics a little bit, but sequestration really affected the poor more so than anybody. It had an uneven hit on the poor. It didnt hit quote, unquote, the rest of the middle class or upper middle class in the same way. Only what would actually motivate these guys in congress, i think, is if theres a massive you know, the dow jones drops, 401 k s plummet, housing costs that affect middle in come folks or their own constituents more. I have a suggests. Maybe republicans can go to fiscal conservatives and say were going to end all the wars, cut the Defense Budget and balance the budget that way. Maybe john boehner can go to fiscal conservatives. Pie in the sky scenario. Catastrophe, utter catastrophe needs to happen to shake the party into its senses. What im hoping for as a cable news host they get down to 24 hour every day. Boom. 8 00 p. M. Its the countdown in our hour. Ill tell you this much, im not doing that story on the financial deregulation piece. Okay. If you want to disappoint the base, thats fine. Nbcs chuck todd, thank you as always, sir. You can catch check on the the daily rundown each and every weekday at 9 00 eastern. Thanks to my colleague chris hayes. You can catch chris week dmits on all in with chris hayes. When we come back after the break following the mass shooting at the navy yard, Congress Returns to the issue of gun safety reform. At the state legislatures on the march for reform. [ male announcer ] what . investors could lose tens of thousands of dollars in hidden fees on their 401 k s . go to etrade and roll over your old 401 k s to a new etrade retirement account. None of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. Etrade. Less for us. More for you. Some kind of. This is. An alien species. Reality check a lot of 4g lte coverage maps dont really look like much at all. I see the aleutian islands. Looks like a duck. It looks like. America. Ish. Thats a map. Thats a map of the United States. Check the map. Verizons 4g lte is the most reliable, and in more places than any other 4g network. Trade in your old device and trade up to americas most reliable network. Ive got the good one i got verizon thats powerful. Verizon. His day of coaching begins with knee pain, when. [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the allday relief of two aleve for six tylenol . Whats the catch . Theres no catch. You want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol . No. For my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve. Since 2012 endured pittsburgh, tulsa, seattle, wilmington, aurora, milwaukee, texas a m, minneapolis, brookfield, portland and, of course, newtown, connecticut. The fact those in washington stand by as innocent victims, children, parents, neighbors and friends are gunned down and continue to place the interest of krins over the lives of law abiding citizens is a National Disgrace and it just has to come to an end. That was mayor Michael Bloomberg calling once again for congress to pass sensible safety legislation after mondays mass shooting. As information trickles in, the details paint a complex picture of the nations gun laws and Mental Health policies. The weekend before he went on the rampage and weeks after sought psychiatric help, said he was followed by people sending microwave through his body to keep him awake. He passed two background checks and bought a shotgun. Its not clear what would have stopped him. Shootings, one a month for the past four years, often carried out by Mental Health victims. Two reviews of military security and employee screening programs. Lawmakers on capitol hill appear to be renewing the debate over gun safety. Given interaction in congress actual progress remains highly uncertain. That said, if a stalemate in washington, the rest of the country is taking action. New york times reports this morning that over the past few years it is legislation at the state level thats been the most aggressive about keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Measures that have often been approved by the nra. States like california, connecticut, and florida restrict people from buying guns if they have been deemed a danger to themselves or to others. One of the states that has been most aggressive on Mental Health and guns is new york, which requires Mental Health professionals to report dangerous individuals to local officials who can then revoke individual gun lances. Joining me now is new York Attorney general eric sneiderman. Thank you for your time. Thanks, alex. We started talking about this before the segment begins. Most people think nra addition their heels in but in some states they are on board. How do you do that . Its not that hard. The idea of background checks started with nra years ago. My experience is, and look, im a progressive and supported every gun safety and gun control in the senate, national coch r cochair, against illegal guns. I find if you talk to the rank and file of the nra, which i have done repeatedly, there is Common Ground on the issue of background checks and there is Common Ground on the issue of none of the people out there, rank and file in the nra, people that run gun shows, they dont want people with serious Mental Health problems with guns. The problem is polarization, us against them in washington that prevents them from taking steps. In new york weve overcome that. We have the strongest in the country. As noted we have very tough laws on issues relating to Mental Health. We have a system that ive negotiated, and its important to understand i did this by getting the cooperation of the gun show operators in the state of new york. My undercover investigators busted six gun shows because they werent conducting background checks they could have conducted. Instead of finding them and moving on we sat down with them, developed a model set of procedures collaboratively with the gun show operators. Im proud to say since then every other major gun show operator has voluntarily signed onto these attorney general procedures. My staff is in the gun shows. You cannot get out of the gun show in new york state without a background check if you bought a gun because they bought in. You can get the buy in. Background check is not a gun control issue. It is a Public Safety issue. They want us to work with them. Washington is the key here because whatever we do in new york, we are dependent on the National Background check system. That obviously is not what it should be given the fact that someone like mr. Alexis, before him James Loughner could pass background checks. This is something, get out of the beltre, go to a gun show in your district, talk to the rank and file of the nra, there is Common Ground and they are ready to work with us. That is heartening given the tenor of the debate around this. How do you explain colorado recall elections. Theres a place outside of washington, basic common sense Safety Measures and nra used all its power to make sure two democrats were ousted almost as punishment for those laws. They are very well organized and they are very passionate. They are sensitive to the idea that things are being forced upon them frankly by a Progressive Community that dengraden dengrates them. Rank and file should be with us on overwhelming majority of issues. Theres a sense that frankly a lot of democrats, a lot of progressives have not been talking to this audience for the last few decades. Nra has been speaking to the sense of bein