(excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health. turning now back to the situation in ukraine and what the u.s. government may do to try to help there. you ve got lawmakers considering a huge aid package there, reported on friday, of course, as we said here in the show, for about 6 1/2 billion dollars in help for ukraine. something you heard senator tim kaine say he s optimistic will get done in his words in the first few days of this coming month, the first few days of march. the state department points out more than a billion dollars in aid has been committed to ukraine in the last year. 350 million of that in the last week. the u.s. is trying to help solve ukraine s money problems, russia s are getting worse. western sanctions are hitting hard with the ruble tanking against the dollar. interest rates more than doubling and look at this, hours
tackle this multibillion dollar aid package to ukraine. it s expected to be in the neighborhood of roughly 6 1/2 billion dollars. here live with us this hour, a member of the armed services committee, senator tim kaine in just a couple of moments. i m hallie jackson in washington, along with our nbc news team here and around the world. richard engel in kyiv, keir simmons, and kara lee is covering the white house. i think that noise i m hearing might be coming from the background of your live shot, but i can t tell. reporter: it is windy here, but i m not sure if you re hearing the explosions or something like that. it is relatively quiet for the moment. there have been some air raid sirens earlier, none are going off right now. we ve heard air raid sirens about four times this evening, since it became dark. once during the daylight as well. but the big threat here, the big concern, is a massive column of
states shut down. many of them are finally reopening later on this morning. colorado reportedly seeing ten foot snow drifts, rough for driver, but great for skiers. gretchen: taxpayer dollars hard at work in washington. check out your screen right now. yep. that s a shrimp on a treadmill. last year we told you that s what your money paid for. oklahoma senator tom coburn s wasteful 2011 reveals more than 6 1/2 billion dollars was wasted. it went to a video game preservation center. whatever that is. 765,000 spent on pancakes for yuppies. 550,000 was used to fund a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the soviet union. and 48,700 for a festival promoting hawaii s chocolate industry. i thought that it was all about leis. brian: do you remember this from ace ventura, pet detective?
what you need to know about commodity price hikes, making almost everything you buy more expensive. joran van der sloot reveals a new strategy in the defense in peru, it could get him out of prison in less than two years. it s all new, all live. it s happening now . jenna: we re so glad you re with us on this tuesday, everybody, i m jenna lee. jon: yes we are, i m jon scott. the senate set to vote on bills, each offering a different take on spending cuts. our chief political correspondent carl cameron joins us live from the capitol with more. will there be a vote or not today carl? reporter: there s dispute about that but in all lick likelihood there will be. last week, president obama proposed 6 1/2 billion dollars in cuts to current spending as an alternate to the republicans bill of # billion dollars, in fact the
soon as tomorrow and what he also wants to do is offer been opportunity to vote on that the s plan with a 6 1/2 billion dollars cut. whether or not that s a stand alone piece of legislation has to be worked out but it will vote test votes on those potentials and the irony is that reid and democrats and republicans and mcconnell all know that th et proposal are likely to pass, meaning they ll have proven they can t get anything done yet, and the clock keeps ticking and debt keeps going up. jenna: carl cameron, definitely one of the stories we ll watch, definitely the top one this week. jon: to the gregg: to wisconsin where mark miller has just sent a letter to the governor scott walker asking for an in-person reason near the illinois-wisconsin border. he is one of four democrats who fled the state to block the vote on a budget bill and today the 14 denied a wall street journal report