While the Government Shutdown is day 14 and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers in financial limbo and nothing of the scores of businesses around dc and federal installations around the country hurting. Joining me is Geoff Bennett, and Garrett Haake on capitol hill, and msnbc political analyst Michael Steele, a former Republican National committee chair. And first, are they still in that meeting at the white house . Yes, and no signs of horse trading between President Trump and the House Democrats so we will have to see what if anything comes from are the meet i ing. What we do know though is in order for the shutdown to end, one side has to give in, and one side has to cave, and if it is going to be donald trump, then he is going to be needing political cover to do that, and the president to this point has balked at every attempt by the ai aides and allies to do just that. Earlier in the process with Nick Mulvaney and Kellyanne Conway and Lindsey Graham trying to budge, the president wanted ono parts of it. So is one thing that i am going keep an eye on is at some point in this afternoon, if the president is open to expanding the scope of the deal and take this idea that Lindsey Graham floated of protection for the dreamer s dreamers is which juan to pushing the price tag up in the 5 billion range, and gives both sides something they want with, and ultimately reopen the government, and we will have to see. So far, it is mes sanling coming from messaging coming from the white house the pin it on nancy pelosi. And Sarah Sanders saying it is a test of her new leadership, and even though President Trump preemptively claimed credit for the shutdown, andrea. And the facts are, Garrett Haake, that the senate, and the republican senate, and Mitch Mcconnell had unanimously accepted the same deal, and what nancy p pe lelosi had them pass night is what the senate had passed wordforword, and it is the burden on Mitch Mcconnell to say why he is Standing Firm, and the obvious answer is that he had the rug pulled out from underneath him by the president of his own party and he does not want to bring anything no the floor that he doesnt know for shurna the president is going to accept. And now a crack in the republican ranks, right . So far, Susan Collins and gardner from colorado saying, make a deal and end this shutdown. So the republicans made two tactical missteps into the leadup of the shutdown. First, the president saying that he would own the shutdown, and the second is the white house giving the senate assurances if they passed that clean c. R. To keep the government funded until february, the government would pass it. And Mitch Mcconnell does not put it on the floor for practice. It was passed and then the president reneged and the democrats have using that fact against the republicans throughout the negotiations, and as things stand right now, and again, the republicans are looking down the barrel of the vote that is similar the to o t they have taken, Mitch Mcconnell does not want to take a vote and at the same time not get crosswise with the president. And so it is worth remembering that the context of all of this will change, because the democrats dont have to protect red state senators anymore, because the math for 2020 revolving around protecting the republican senators in places like maine and colorado and now all of the sudden a crack in the armour here, and the democrats will continue the apply the pressure no the president , and to Mitch Mcconnell to move these things forward to a vote and separate the issue of the wall from the rest of government funding. That is what we will continue to see. The other thing that i am watching for today, the white house talking point for the last week and a half or so is that nancy pelosi cant strike a deal, because she needs the votes to be speaker first. And since nancy pelosi got the votes to be speaker, she has not changed the tune. She has continued to say there is no money for the border wall, and does the white house come to theizati the realization that there is not a break between pelosi and schumer and come to the bargaining table with Something Else . Just today, preparing to the t town hall meeting that is going to air tonight on msnbc with joy reid, nancy pelosi talked about the position that Mitch Mcconnell is in. And one of the thing ths tha you talked about yesterday in the acceptance speech for the spe speakership for the second time is the power of congress as a branch of government. And Mitch Mcconnell your counterpart in the senate has made it clear that even though these were senate bills passed by republicans that he wont put them back on the floor unless the president approves of them, and how do you get around this conundrum if the other half of the first branch of government will only act at the behest of the president . Well, i think that what Mitch Mcconnell is doing, and i say it as respectfully as possible is a saying that we are not needed, and Congress Might as well stay home. What we need is one person to show up, donald trump. That is not what our founders had in mind. They talked about can coequal branches of government, and article i, the ledge sgislative branch, the Peoples Branch of government. The president can sign or not, but he should never say, i amt not even going to put it on the president s desk. Michael steele, how much leverage does nancy pelosi have and how little does Mitch Mcconnell have . Mcconnell has very little leverage here largely because of the fact that he is weaken ed b a president who is mecurial on the subject. Nancy pelosi has all of the cards in her hand right now and no incentive to go to the white house the say lets make a deal. She has made it firm to your point, and since she has landed the votes for the speakership, she has held her line that she will not put one dollar in the budget for a wall. The president now has to figure out what he is willing to settle with. His problem is Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham sitting on the sidelines saying over and over again that you cannot capitulate here, because if you do, you lose a lot more than this particular debate with nancy pelosi. And you know, real people are involved. To all of you, our colleague Vaughan Hillyard was in North Carolina with an air Traffic Control specialist matt craviati and he is one of hundreds of thousands of people affected by the shutdown. Lets watch. Reporter what should d. C. Know about you right now and what that paycheck means . The paycheck is going to help me to get my house back tot together. It is going to help me to feed my son, and put gas in my car. Obviously im not a huge politics person, and i dont know the blame, but they are supposed to figure it out together. Reporter what what is their message then . Do what you are paid to do. And these are people in his case that are affected by Hurricane Florence and just back to work, and so, to Geoff Bennett, the politics of this are really against the president. And maybe he is speaking to the the base, and fox news, but how long can he sustain this . I dont see a compromise unless he is willing to give in . It is a great question, and for the people directly affected by this and it is far more than the academic argument and the head of the largest federal Workers Union said that most government workers live paycheck to paycheck and most of the government workers live well outside of washington, d. C. , and they are folks stretched across the country, and many of them in trump country, and as Michael Steele points out, there is a political dimension for the checkdown for President Trump, and the primary one, but the substantive one is that the white house does not have much of the legislative agenda absent from the Border Security issue in part because the democrats control the house. In many ways, this border wall is the only game in town for donald trump, and now you have government workers who are being in effect held hostage by this overall debate. Garrett and Michael Steele, what about the republicans . Garrett, will Susan Collins and cory gardner and others, others follow them and put more pressure on Mitch Mcconnell to bring it up and present it to the president with a fate de compli and dare to veto it . It is possible, but it is more pressure on Mitch Mcconnell to fundamentally change the calculus here. Among the senators, there is not a particular appetite for this fight. The wall as a political issue has always been much more about the president and much more about his hard core bases represented by the house republicans, and on the senate side, a widespread agreement for the need of Border Security, and perhaps the need for some type of barrier, but this is not the hill they want to die on so to speak. And so to keep the government closed has a real effect on some of the republican senators, but whether anyone is going to go as far as what jeff flake tried to do by blocking the judges or things of that nature to force the issue remains to be seen. All of the players that we have mentioned so far, Susan Collins, and cory gardner would like to work behind the scenes on Something Like this, and if the number grows, you would see more of the public pushback. And the other thing is that senator tri senators are trying to offer their own plans and deals. Lindsey graham has done this and la mar alexander, and people who are trying to coax the president to a solution. And it is still a person who has to make a decision here about what he wants. And Michael Steele, the difference of the republican senators, most of them, and the president is that the republican senators know the facts of the border and the facts of the wall, and the facts of what can be done through other money to be spent. Right. And they are not necessarily go going to die on this. They are not going to die on this, because they dont want the wall. The are Republican Leadership has never bought into the president s political agenda with respect to the wall. That is the first Sticking Point. The next Sticking Point is how do you then get the president to come into the space effectively and present something that the republicans can sign on to with the fix. Yes. And so not different name name. And not wanting to defend the wall. And there is a daca deal. And that is back a year ago. And this is what the president signed off on, and the republicans are liking, that and the democrats have are like, if you want to put that on the table, then there is if there is enough of the president to get past his own selfinterests to get this deal done on behalf of the federal workers. And Michael Steele, we will wait to see what comes out of the situation room, and Geoff Bennett and Garrett Haake, the numbers that came out for employment are bragging for him understandably, and even though there is not an end in sight to the stalemate, and there is a celebration for Something Special, and provided for Something Special on both sides of the aisle, the 116th congress and the most Diverse Group of lawmakers ever, and including the most women. And including a muslim women, one of wore a traditional headwear, and also, deb hollins and the other American Indian women to be elected to congress. And this one i call this a reuniuniwelder and retired public secretary walking into youngest daughters congressional office, my first visitors. And this is bella who was Nancy Pelosis biggest fan jumping up and down when the votes were cast for her grandmoth grandmother. And nothing like babies. And Lance Goodwin taking a selfie with his 11monthold son liam with maxine waters. And also, the most poignant photo of the day, the secondterm congressman welcome ing in two fellow combat veterans into congress with this photo illustrating their sacrifices writing, five eyes, five arms, four leg, and all american. Coming up no, apologies with a congresswoman caught on camera talking about impeaching the president in no uncertain terms. She said she wants to shake up washington, and she is sticking by her guns. This is on Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. I am a family man. I am a techie dad. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. People love you and you win. And when your son is 15 and says, mama, you won with and bullies dont win. I said, baby, they dont, because we are going to go in there and teach the mother [ bleep ] and hours after being sworn in at one of the post swearing in parties one of the first Muslim American women and palestinian women in Congress Rashida tlaib struck to President Trump, and perhaps showing what Speaker Nancy Pelosi is going to have to rein in. And tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern is a town hall with joy reid and nancy pelosi. And one of your members who s is a newly elected congresswoman from michigan and you can talk about the language of what would happen to donald trump, the president , saying that quote, we are going to go in and impeach the mf er. Your reaction to that comment. I probably have a generati generational reaction to it. But in any event, im not in the censorship business. I dont think, and i dont like that language. I wouldnt use that language. I dont, again, establish any language standard or for my colleagues, but i dont think it is anything worse than the president has said. Fair enough, but i guess that the question would be does that kind of discussion of impeachment on that level help the the cause of oversight or make impeachment more likely or less likely or impact the actual trajectory of it . Well, i think that it consolidates the base, but they dont need much consolidation, and so i dont think that it makes that much difference, no. And so you are not concerned about the way that the president s base is going to react to the way of an incoming caucus coming in with the idea already prebaked into the cake that they are going to go get him, and you guys are going to go get him . Well, you so weigh the equities and that is not the position of the Democratic Caucus, and the freedom of speech of that individual member, and as i say generationally, that is not language that i would use, but nonetheless, i dont think that we should make a big deal of it. I really dont. I really dont. That is the way people talk around, and again, i am a grandmother, and it is a different story. But it is really that wordses have a way of weighing a a ton, and the president s do, too, and his words have an impact on peoples lives, and my colleagues comments do not have an impact on peoples lives. And joining me is former democratic congressman joe crowley who chaired the Democratic Caucus and you could say stepping back that Nancy Pelosis response Pitch Perfect . I thought so. Watching your reaction. And yes, recognizing the right to free speech, and express one self and the temperament starts from the top. If president sets the agenda, ta tone, and the language that hehn to what he has said. So get back to the most vulgar way that the congress is a collaborate body and needs to Work Together to get things done. I think that nancy handled it just perfectly. And in fact, you could argue if you were in Rashida Talibs shoes that the muslim are ban and so many things that are offensive and that is what nancy pelosi is alluding to. And the spokesperson has issued a statement saying that in part the congresswoman absolutely believes that he needs to be impeached. She ran and won by making it very clear to the voters in her district, that Donald Trump