A lot of back and forth with our science adviser about this over the last several days. The fact is that we are going to keep working on this and Everything Else to make sure we are on top of it. Lets talk about some of these agenda items. First of all, chuck hagels nomination, it is being held up, the expectation, he will ultimately be confirmed. But bill cullen, former defense secretary, this week said something to politico that caught my attention that underlines the problem hagel has, that will put him in a a difficult position once he gets there. Those resentments will weigh around. I think its tragic what is happening and i think its shameful. If he is confirmed, is he a weaker defense secretary and is that something that weighs on the president s mind . No, he is not going to be a weaker defense secretary. He will be a great defense secretary. He is a leading republican senator. He has always done the hard stuff and made it look easy frankly. Mccain will be coming up in a couple of minutes saying frankly republicans dont like him. I had an opportunity to talk to senator mccain about this. Several other republicans are uncomfortable how this has played out and why i think senator mccain and others say they intend to vote to end this filibuster as soon as they get back from the recess. I think senator mccain and others know that we all have to Work Together to get this thing done. Because when it comes a national defense, national security, that at least has to be above politics. I hate to see this being played ploks with politics with here in washington. Anything in there that hurts his reputation, his views about israel . Anything . No. Nothing to worry about at all . No. What about ben ghazi and the attack . One other things as ive talked to republican senators. They said they want to get Additional Information about what the president about the night of the attack. Some of the advice he was given and talking points and what not. Has the president finished on the ben ghazi matter or is there anything else he has concluded should have been done that was not done . Just the other day, our council sent an extensive letter to capitol hill in response to the latest on ben ghazi. Letter. 10,000 pages of documents we provided. But here is the question, david. The president is not done with ben ghazi because here is why. He is demanded of us since that night to find out exactly what happened and then to make every reform needed to ensure it does not happen again. The president of the United States sends these diplomats, our military overseas to these tough spots and not send them and have them be exposed and hes made darn certain that we are doing everything we can to enassure this doesnt happen again. Lets talk about the spending fight. The reality is the debt is a huge issue that the president faces. This is the fact about it. When he came into office, the debt was 10. 6 trillion and now the debt today is 16. 5 trillion. We need to separate the debt from when we talk about the deficit. Automatic spending cuts happen in a couple of weeks. It was very interesting. Speaker boehner said to a group of us before the president s state of the Union Address, the president simply doesnt have the guts to take on spending, doesnt have the courage to take on liberals in his own party. Its gotten that bad. You know, you talk about what the president found when he came to the office. What has happened since then . 35 straight months of job growth and 6. 1 million new private sector jobs. We are seeing the Housing Market starting to heal and seeing the stock market come back. And seeing Consumer Confidence strengthen and those are the things we should be focused on. This isnt a spending fight for us. This is a fight whether we will make the investments in middle class families in this country in education, in science and technology and food inspections and those kinds of things. What government is actually capable of doing . I mean, you talk about the economy and jobs. There is, obviously, debate how many jobs have actually been created in the economy. Look. You pointed out to apple ceo, tim cook was in the audience in the state of the union. He is sitting on over 171 Million Dollars in cash at apple. Why . Because uncertainty in the marketplace. Tom friedman writing this morning something that caught my eye. He said you can feel the economy wants to launch but washington is sitting on the national mute button. We the people feel like the children of permanently divorcing parents. How does this sequestered business end . The president said during the campaign the sequester, the word for automatic spending cuts, he said it would not happen. Is it going to happen . I always read tom friedman he has that good minnesota sensibility. You guys stick together. We do. The column today i think is continuation of that. Frankly, i believe its a continuation of exactly the plan the president laid out in detail in the state of the union on tuesday night. We have already made 2. 5 trillion dollars in deficit reduction, Debt Reduction efforts. We are ready, as the president said, in a very detailed way to make another trillion and a half. Provided we can work with our friends in congress. How are we going to do that . One through the lens of how we invest in the middle class families and, two, we have to Work Together. And three, why the president in a plan he laid out, david, was very clear that hell take on some things that are not popular with our party and we want ask the republicans to do the same thing. Is a sequester going to happen . I sure hope it doesnt. Because when you think about it. Wait. The president said during the campaign its not going to happen. There was no uncertainty there. Thats exactly why he laid out a very reasonable plan to ensure that it doesnt. Right. But republicans say we are done with revenue, yet the president is saying we need more revenue. Senate republicans are calling for new tacks hikes, as well as spending cuts. Boehner says im not going to negotiate with the white house any more. Let them come to us with a plan. Is the president going to have to get involved in the final hours like before . The president is not only has been involved right from the beginning on this. The question isnt whether were going to insist on some position because that is the right position. We are going to insist on doing this in a balanced way. Why does it have to be balanced . Because the way we insure that Economic Growth continues. And job creation we have seen the last 35 months continues. Thats why it doesnt make sense for us to take a meat cleaver to the kinds of investments that happen if the sequester comes and do it in a balanced way like over the course of the last year. Will he do something to stop this from the automatic cuts from happening . He will continue to make reasonable and balanced proposals as he has time and time again, david. We look forward to working with our republican friends and colleagues in the house and senate to make sure it doesnt happen. Here is the reality about medicare. If youre an average earning couple you make about 44,000 a year. Say, you retired in 2010. These are facts i think a lot of people dont know about. You paid in 122,000 in medicare taxes, but youre drawing almost 400,000 in benefits received. This is why medicare is going broke and that ratio is only getting worse. Yet, the president seems to be saying, well, lets make modest reforms when it comes to entitlement programs like medicare. Simpson and bowles say you have to do more than that. Republicans. Speaker boehner saying we have to raise the retirement age and we have to means test this. We have to find a way to change the cpi and a way to gradually decrease benefits. Why is the president not prepared to do those things today to get a deal to avoid the sequester and to take on medicares sole solvency . The question that is driving longterm debt, no question about it is Rising Health care costs and why the president did the Affordable Care act and were seeing the impact of that now. The president laid out in very very concise detail on tuesday night to the senate and to the country exactly what he is willing to do on medicare. The fact is, david, you just mentioned simpsonbowles. We get the same as they do in we get the same amount of savings in the next decade as simpson and bowles do in their plan. Do we do it the same way . No, but get the exact amount of savings in medicare as they do. We have made clear the question with the retirement age that is not a cost reducer but a cost shifter and takes the exploding costs and shifts them to our seniors. We are not going to do that. What we are going to do is the kinds of common sense reforms the president laid out. Reducing the kind of subsidies to Prescription Drug companies and making sure wealthier seniors do more for their parts and that is the plan the president laid out. I hope that the speaker and others will come to the table with similar common sense approaches so that we can do this in a way that helps middle class families in this country. News about immigration. A Bipartisan Group working on just that. The usa today has a story elite story about a draft white house immigration bill offers a path to residency. A draft of the white house immigration proposal obtained by usa today that would allow Illegal Immigrants to become legal residents within eight years and bill is developed as both members of chambers of congress and goes on to say rub rubios key in this. Is obamas bill repeats the failures of past legislation and dead on arrival in congress. Has the president concluded its time for him to drive this reform and would that not kill what is being put together on capitol hill . On the contrary, the president , i think you saw congressman ryan and many others commented. Even president bushs former speech writer commented favorably on the president s the approach we are taking to immigration reform. Lets strengthen our borders and make sure there is an earned path to citizenship, provided people who earn it learn their english and pay their back taxes and have a criminal background tax. And make sure the Legal Immigration system is a reasonable opportunity for people so that they dont get kicked out of the system by others. Were going to continue to do that. The fact of this report, david, i think all it says to me is that we are doing exactly what we said we would do, which is we will be prepared in the event that the bipartisan talks going on the hill which, by the way, were aggressively supporting. If those do not work out, then we will have an option that is ready to put out there, as the president said in las vegas. Would the president support something that is more conservative, more stringent than his principles . Would you support it with the overall goal of getting a comprehensive bill . I will not say what we will or wont support in our abstracts. You heard our principles. We want to continue building on the Great Strides on Border Security and tracking down on businesses that gain the systems. We want an earned path to citizenship and want the legal system which is frankly too cumbersome. We will talk to mark kelly, the husband of Gabby Giffords, on gun support. When the president said that Gabby Giffords deserves a vote was it not a recognition when it comes to a magazine band that politically that may be out of reach but hed at least like to see the vote. No a recognition the president has put out there with a comprehensive on gun reform that includes the issues you addressed. It includes the issues you addressed and universal background checks and investment to make our schools safer and investments in mental health. We will have approach on all of these things. Youre absolutely right. Congress should vote on each of these proposals. Whether the votes are there is going to be something that we will see but we are not going to wait and see. We are working aggressively across the country. The president and Vice President himself. Before you go. I know youve been a religious adviser of sorts to this president. Youre a devout catholic. As the pope is preparing to abdicate. What is your analysis on what the church needs in his successor . Im not going to try to get into church politics, but what i do know is the church has been universally but here in the United States a critical part of this society and help our educational system. I think as long as the Church Continues doing what it has done over the course of these many years by advocating investments in people and an opportunity in education then i think we will be just fine. Big question for you. Have you stopped biking to work now that youre chief of staff . I have stopped biking to word. That is the president s order . The. Have to listen to the boss . Absolutely. Denis mcdonough, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Up next on this program, the man leading the charge against hagel. Former presented and former friend and colleague, senator john mccain try to get Straight Talk on what is ahead for hagel. Plus our round table looks at what is at stake in the hagel fight and the obama agenda as the president squares off against an eternally divided gop. We will hear from the following. Its all coming up next. I know what youre thinking. Transit fares as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. No . Oh, right. Youre thinking of the 1. 6 million daily Customer Care interactions xerox handles. Or the 900 Million Health insurance claims we process. So, its no surprise to you that companies depend on todays xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. Which is. Pretty much what weve always stood for. With xerox, youre ready for real business. Which is. Pretty much what weve always stood for. Pog issued an emotional plea during his states of the union this week, for congress to act on new gun control lin slaying. Gabby give zpooersd was a vote. The families of newton down deserve a vote r the families of aurora deserve a vote. The families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities affected by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. Will they get that vote . For mark kelly, the husband of former congresswoman Gabby Gifford [ male announcer ] from our nations networks. To our city streets. To skies around the world. Northrop grummans Security Solutions are invisibly at work, protecting peoples lives. [ soldier ] move out [ male announcer ]. Without their even knowing it. Thats the value of performance. Northrop grumman. Talk to senator mccain in a moment i want to begin with our roundtable, joining me here, alex castellanos, Lieutenant Governor of california and author of the new book citizenville, gavin newsom, former chair and you ceo of hewlettpackard, Carly Fiorina and our own, msnbcs chris matthews. Chris you let me start with you. We heard from mcdonough on makele, not going to be a weaker secretary of defense when all of this is done. How does play out and what is the last thing he said . He is going to have to prove himself. Starting with a lot of criticism. He will start with a lot of the republicans voting against him, maybe a few for him tend. He has to prove himself. He has not been a strong nominee in his performance there are questions about him which are legitimate, i think he may benefit from the fact that i think senator cruz went overboard the past week with the innuendos, things like that guilt by associations, i think the senate will react to that the senate has a lot of pride in the institution, you heard fromsome, you heard from senator graham, almost like we are looking back on advise and consent again, certain rules the quorum, pre tremendous pride in the institution, he may benefit from that, in other words, ironically tough treatment may help him. Alex castellanos, how do you see it . A lot of republicans initially only concerned that senator haig hall such a change of heart over the years on policy moved left even further of obama onner is things and also worried about his character, he turned on his own party and i think quite intensely, now worried about confidence. If he cant hand al room full of senators, folks very worried hour can this high guy handle the Defense Department in such a trying to time . He has unified the opposition against him and this plays in washington but doesnt play much outside of washington. I think republicans feel they have got Carte Blanche to obstruct here. Let me bring in senator mccain in phoenix. Welcome back to the program. Always good to have you. Thank you. So at a time when congress is in such low esteem, you seem to candidly offer the reason whying ahaguele is facing such trouble, you folk spoke to fox news on thursday around this is what you said u as far as secretary of defense is concerned, to be honest with you, neil, it goes took theres a lot of ill will toward senator hagel because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly. At one point, said he was the worst president since herbert hoover, said that the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which is nonsense. And was very anti his own party and people. People dont forget that you can disagree, but if youre disagreeable, then people dont forget that. So is that to say senator, that its pay back time for chuck haigle . Thats what this process has amounted to . Of course not. Most of those senators who will be voting werent in the senate when mr. Hagel did those things. Hes a friend of mine. And that is a part of it the major part is the Washington Post editorialized he is to the left of president obama. He has been taken last week, i believe mr. Gibbs, who i dont often agree with, said he was the most unprepared and unempress sive nominee that he had ever seen. Certainly the most unimpressive that ive ever seen. It r