but do the people pushing it, the companies pushing it, really have the data to show that it works and it's safe? who's looking out for you? dr. phil mcgraw and sanjay gupta join us. and a deeper look at what happened in that dramatic meeting room as a gunman came in and opened fire on a school board. new details of who he was and the amazing stories of survival, that's coming up. we begin as always keeping them honest with major developments on repealing don't ask don't tell, and a major argument over whether or not congress should keep working into the christmas holiday. in a moment, we're going to actually show you just how many days a year congress actually does work and compare that to how many days a year, well, just about everybody else has to work. but first, the senate began debate on the budget bill and the house voted on the bill, to lift don't ask, don't tell. >> the yeas are 250. the nays are 175. the motion is adopted. without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. >> well, in a moment we'll talk to senator joe lieberman who says that now he has enough votes, enough republican votes even, to pass it in the senate. majority leader harry reid has the power, if he wants to use it, to bring it to the floor for vote as early as tomorrow. senator reid's office says it's likely going to happen late next week. meantime, opponents of the repeal and of ratifying the s.t.a.r.t. nuclear arms treat is angry at the plan to keep them in washington next week and it touched off a food fight seems like you only can have in washington, d.c. only this time the senators who don't want to miss out on their vacation are bringing christianity into the argument. >> it is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out without doing frankly without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for christians and the families of all of the senate, not just the senators themselves, but all of the staff. >> senator jim demint echoed that argument telling politico and i quote, we shouldn't be jamming a major arms control treaty up against christmas. it's sacreligious and disrespectful. what's going on is wrong. they did the same thing last year, they kept everybody here until christmas eve to force something down everybody's throat. i think americans are sick of this. harry reid shot back with this. >> i don't need to hear the lectures of senator kyl and demint to remind me of what christmas means. my question, madam president, is where were their concerns about christmas, filibuster after filibuster on major pieces of legislation during this entire congress? not once, but 87 times. >> all right. for the record, senator reid is right there, there have been 87 filibusters, but also for the record, democrats joined some of those filibusters and as recently as last week with the clock ticking down toward the holds, independent senator bernie sanders took up nine hours of senate time speaking against the tax deal. as for the complaints by congress people about having to work until christmas, only in washington would that seem like a crazy idea. and it got us wondering how much do these congress people actually work in washington, d.c.? well, take a look at the numbers. 123 and 151. that's how many days the house and senate have actually been in session so far this year. 123 and 151. now, traditionally they don't like to work on friday so they can all go back to their districts and raise money and shake hands and try to get themselves re-elected which is certainly work, but it's not the kind of work that actually gets legislation passed. by the way, according to the bureau of labor statistics, the average american with a full-time job with five years on the job, they get 14 paid vacation days and 11 sick days. allowing for the weekends, that adds up to 220 or so workdays so far this year. in other words, the average american has worked 71 more days so far this year than senators have. nearly 100 more days than house members. and that's not counting the holidays. i know working during the holidays is not fun, but people whose jobs are essential, they do it all the time. airline employees, doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, utility crews, trash collectors, you name it. they work because they have important and essential jobs. wouldn't it be nice to think that our representatives also considered their jobs important and essential? senator joe lieberman, like reid and a number of republicans, are willing to work through the holiday this year to finish the job, especially on don't ask, don't tell. i spoke with senator lieberman about what he sees as growing chance of repealing the policy early tonight. senator lieberman, you said this has been a thrilling day. >> well, most thrilling is the vote in the house of representatives which acted on our standalone bill, passed the repeal by a larger margin than when the repeal was adopted by the house in may, and picked up ten more republicans. so this now comes to the senate with some real momentum. and here's the other good news today and i take it to be thrilling as well, olympia snowe, republican of maine, said she will vote on the stand alone of don't ask, don't tell, that means we've got 61 members of the u.s. senate publicly committed to the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. so all that will stop that repeal is a totally unacceptable refusal to bring our measure up in a timely way. we've got to get this done. we can get it done. it's an injustice. it's time for it to go. >> having all those republicans sign measures saying that they're not going to do anything until the tax cut deal is done? >> yeah. so the tax cut -- actually, the tax cut is of course passed the senate, now today. the republicans who signed that letter said they wouldn't take anything else up until the appropriations passed. i think that will happen this weekend. it's pretty clear to all of us that we're going to stay here into next week. let me just get down into the weeds quickly a little bit. the house of representatives, with very strong support from the leadership, is sending the repeal of don't ask, don't tell legislation to the senate under a special procedure, which means that senator reid can take it up at any time he wants and going to the bill is not subject to a filibuster. that saves us two or three days of calendar time. we can get this whole thing done in 2 1/2 or maybe three days. if we're not capable of taking the time to do something that the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff want us to do, that everybody in the country, or most people acknowledge, is an injustice, shame on us. i think we're going to make it happen before we leave. >> there have been a number of folks who are saying the repeal's fate is going to come down to basically a proxy war between the president and your friend, senator john mccain, and whoever does more to try to exert their influence in the last days is going to win. do you think that's a fair assessment? >> look. there may be a battle there, but we've got 61 votes. i've been saying this, people thought i was puffing, but i knew i had those votes and i know i've got at least one more republican who will come with me. and you know, in the senate, you don't need 51, you need 60. we've now got 61 and i believe 62. so whatever is going on between other figures about this legislation, the 62 senators have to work their will. and it would be disappointing to the point of infuriating if with that kind of support in the senate, having passed the house today, that the repeal of don't ask, don't tell is not accomplished before christmas. we've got to do it. >> and the top general in the marine corps, general james amos has just recently said that he thinks repealing it would be a, quote, distraction for marines in combat, suggested this could result in more casualties. were you surprised he made those comments at this critical juncture? and do you think those comments have had an impact on anybody? >> i was very surprised by general amos's comments. i know he's against the repeal. i respectfully just think he's absolutely wrong. 84% of marines who have served with gay or lesbian marines say that it has absolutely no effect on their functioning as a military unit, or their morale or their cohesiveness or their effectiveness. so that's the opinion of rank and file marines. >> when do you see the senate actually voting on this? >> well, you know, anderson, because the house leadership sent this repeal to the senate under what they call a special message category, senator reid could take it up tomorrow. my guess is he'll wait until after we finish the appropriations bill over the weekend and so i hope it could come up sunday or monday of next week. and i -- i really believe that after the tax cuts have been passed, which they have been in the senate, the spending bills for the government are approved, this is the next most important and urgent thing to do. let me just talk straight, hard, political reality. if we don't repeal don't ask, don't tell in this 111th session of congress, the new congress, i'm afraid, is not going to repeal it, and then we'll have to depend on the courts to repeal it, and secretary gates and the defense department have made it clear as recently as today in responding to the house vote how urgent they feel it is that the congress give them the authority to carry out the repeal of don't ask, don't tell in an orderly way, that will not harm the military, instead of letting a court come in and perhaps creating chaos. >> do you feel like you're on the cusp of history here? >> i do. i think that the overall movement to end discrimination against our fellow americans based on their sexual orientation is the front lines today of the civil rights movement. and i think if we can do the repeal of don't ask, don't tell in this session, it's going to be an historic accomplishment. >> senator joe lieberman, i appreciate your time, sir. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> senator lieberman definitely sound optimistic. those against it still dug in, listen to what louie gohmert said about the idea that history would judge this congress poorly if the law was repealed. >> to my friend who said history will judge us poorly, i will submit if you look thoroughly at history, and i'm not saying it's cause and effect, but when militaries throughout history of the greatest nations in the world have adopted the policy that, fine, for homosexuality to be overt, you can keep it private, control your hormones, fine, if you can't, that's fine too. they're toward the end of their existence as a great nation. >> now, keeping them honest, mr. gohmert doesn't offer evidence or specifics about what nations he's talking about. we're not able to fact check roman military policy or greek, ancient greek military policy as it relates to gays serving openly. we can look at nations currently letting gays serve openly. here it is, the biggest ones, australia, belgium, canada, france, germany, israel, south africa, and the united kingdom, among others. 25 in all. you can decide for yourself if they're the end of their existence as great nations as congressman gohmert suggests. i spoke with repealing don't ask, don't tell as well as the congressional work ethic tonight with paul begala and dana loesch, editor at bigjournalism.com and radio host kftk radio in st. louis. paul, we just heard lieberman sounding optimistic for repeal but others sounded optimistic before last week's vote as well. how confident are you about the chances now? >> you know, it's usually a safe bet things die in the senate. that's been the pattern for many years now. but senator lieberman's been working this issue hard. i'm impressed senator snowe has come out in favor of it. president obama i know called her last week and personally lobbied her on this, so with her addition, the don't ask, don't tell repeal lost by three the last time around. so she comes around, so now the supporters only need two more. well, lisa murkoki, the senator from alaska, republican, says she supports repeal. scott brown, senator from massachusetts, republican, he supports repeal. blanche lincoln, still senator from arkansas, she supports repeal but was at the dentist. >> she was at the dentist last time. >> maybe even joe manchin. democratic senator from west virginia. so you just need two out of those four. it's getting awfully close. so forgive me for being a little optimistic. >> what do you make about the brouhaha over people's schedules? a week until christmas, i'm working today, you're working today, most of the country is working today. firefighters, policemen, people with important jobs work on christmas day, work on christmas eve. are senators' complaints making any sense here about, you know -- is this really the kind of argument that's going to fly with most americans that they don't want to work up until christmas? >> yeah, i don't think so, anderson. i have no sympathy for elected officials. they knew what they were signing on for when they decided to run for elected office and when they were campaigning and they're in it for the long haul. this is about the future of the country. there's a lot of huge things at stake here and it's not like they're on the street in the cold in washington, d.c., under a cardboard box. they're in the capitol building. they have nice accommodations. so i don't feel -- i don't feel sorry for them at all. >> paul, any time, like i complain about my job or listen to these people on capitol hill complain about their jobs, like there are folks working in coal mines around the clock. people working all night long in bakeries, you know, and as dana said, delivering newspapers out in the cold. it kind of makes my head explode. >> in fact, this is -- it's senator kyl of arizona, republican, who's like the chief whiner about this. and senator kyl and all of his republican colleagues are the guys who blocked even debating the 9/11 health care bill. i mean, this is -- there's 58,000 men and women who inhaled frankly inhaled the pulverized particles of the world trade center. many of them are ill. they need health care. it's a national priority. the republicans filibustered against that. i guess that's in keeping with the christmas season as senator kyl is very concerned about offending his christmas celebrations. jesus would have wanted those 9/11 first responders to not get any health care. >> i heard harry reid invoke christ, what would jesus spend, i heard him talk about him on the floor. >> this is the republican talking floor. somehow if republicans have to work somehow that offends jesus. >> that's not all the republicans' talking point. >> yes, republicans are saying this. they want to go home because jesus would want -- >> democrats had two years. what were they doing? twiddling their thumbs? we wouldn't even be having this discussion if they had been doing something. >> this is like lincoln told the story about the man who murdered his parents and threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was an orphan, the republicans caused this. they delayed, delayed, delayed, now they want to invoke jesus because it will offend jesus if we have like a nuclear arms treaty. jesus loved nuclear weapons. jesus would love us for not to control nuclear arms with the russians. it's nuts. >> you have tens of thousands of u.s. forces serving overseas and in iraq and afghanistan for people to be complaining about their work schedule, for public officials to be complaining about their work schedule just boggles my mind. but realistically, time is running short. there is a whole lot left on the senate's plate, even if they work every available minute, can they wrap up their lame duck agenda? >> the problem is the majority doesn't rule in the senate. the senate is supposed to be deliberative and slow and difficult but it also, and i've checked the constitution, it's supposed to run on a majority. not 60. >> yes. >> 50. and the democrats have tried in good faith to bring up this legislation. the republicans have, using the filibuster rule which was only used once our twice a year. >> it used to be 67 votes instead of 60 and it was a democrat who changed it. >> they even filibustered the help for these 9/11 first responders. they'll filibuster anything in order to get their tax cuts for the rich. that seems to be their one agenda, which of course in the christmas season comes back to baby jesus. >> don't even go down the tax cuts for the rich paul. >> no, jesus said. didn't he say it's more difficult for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the poor person -- >> that's the 11th commandment. paul, did you know that? that's the little known 11th commandment, written on the side margin of the tablets that moses had, thou shalt not pimp jesus for the sake of an argument. nobody. because it was written on the side because there wasn't enough room. nobody remembers that. >> i'm picking up the motif the republicans have given us. senator kyl has said that somehow it's going to offend the baby jesus if these guys have to work over the holiday and i just -- i've been -- >> harry reid says do it for jesus. pass the big porker omnibus bill for jesus. what would jesus spend. >> i haven't heard jesus mentioned so much in a political debate from both the left and the right. i think we're going to leave it there. paul begala and dana loesch, thank you. >> god bless you. >> all right. let us know what you think. the live chat up and running at ac360.com. big news on the bp spill, federal government seeking unlimited damages, but get this, the families. 11 workers who died on that rig, they're getting the short end of that deal, thanks to a law dating back to 1920. democrats and republicans want to change the law and have been talking about it since the summer. basically one lawmaker standing in the way right now, we'll name names, keeping them honest and talk to the father of one of the killed workers. and we'll warn you, the images are shocking. we're talking about the shooting at a school board meeting. new details on the gunman that tried but fortunately failed to become a mass murderer. >> i don't think anything was going through my mind except for the fact these guys were sitting ducks. they were lined up like pigeons on a wire. can turn romantic any. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications, and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. 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