smith from texas now look you don't have to dig deep at all to understand who lamar smith is this is a guy who got seven hundred thousand dollars from the energy industry and they only asked get a little more to do one thing and that is to be the mouthpiece for the energy industry so what he's done is he's been the mouthpiece out telling the american public in telling the media a there's no such thing as global climate change that's where he started off and then he morphed into the fact well if there is something called global climate change it wasn't caused by fossil fuel and tom i think what's so setting about lamar smith being in that position he is the key guy in the science committee for the house of representatives in the greatest power in this country the united states of america now he's the same guy this political hack who's telling people who lived through sandy people who survived the western drought fires people who survived three hundred fifty tornadoes over a two month period of time last year he's the republican telling them that you know what you sound ridiculous when

smith from texas now look you don't have to dig deep at all to understand who lamar smith is this is a guy who got seven hundred thousand dollars from the energy industry and they only asked get a little more to do one thing and that is to be the mouthpiece for the energy industry so what he's done is he's been the mouthpiece out telling the american public in telling the media a there's no such thing as global climate change that's where he started off and then he morphed into the fact well if there is something called global climate change it wasn't caused by fossil fuel and tom i think what's so upset about lamar smith being in that position he is the key guy in the science committee for the house of representatives in the greatest power in this country the united states of america now he's the same guy this political hack who's telling people who live through sandy people who survived the western drought fires people who survive three hundred fifty tornadoes over a two month period of time last year he's the republican telling them that you know what you sound ridiculous when you

and nothing says science, space, and technology like representative lamar smith. he's a climate change skept particular. so what was that that the gop chairman said about this election? >> i don't think you can draw any quick conclusions other than the fact that we lost and we know that. >> about that, i think i have a couple of quick conclusions. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, now an nbc news political analyst and cynthia tucker, pulitzer price columnist. thank you both for being here this evening. >> our pleasure. >> good to be here, reverend. >> cynthia, let me go to you first. why didn't the gop get the message? what are they thinking about with these committee chairs? >> well, that's a great question, rev? why didn't they get the message? for one thing, if they wanted to present people of color as committee chairs, they don't have -- they have very few to call on. they have a very small handful of latino men in the house and now that allen west is still there for the rest of this year and that leaves scott of south carolina of the

and lamar smith who still doesn't thing climate change is caused by human behavior, and now he's in charge of, wow the science committee. you could find more divererererererererererererererererererererererererererererer >> eliot: how do you convention millions of americans to impose a tax increase that will have no impact on them or their friends. some how the g.o.p. has managed to do it president obama's proposed tax increase on the wealthiest 2% of americans would affect 4 million households. they're predominately in areas like south florida major cities like new york, francisco and los angeles, all traditionally democratic enclaves. those who are won't pay the taxes oppose them, and those who will support it. here with me, robert reich at u uc berkeley's goldman school of policies. is this politics that goes back to what is the matter with kansas book a few years back. they would really not be affected by the tax increase that they want us to go through. >> it is one of the great ironies. it has to do with the big lie. if you tell the big lie over and over again people start believing i

this is representative lamar smith wiping out diversity visas and replacing them with visas for foreign students who come to the u.s. and have degrees in math, science, and the argument that we're having, the conversation that we need to have is about the 11 million immigrants who live in the shadows. most of them are low-skilled workers. what we see are representatives like representative smith, robbing peter to pay paul. we can increase access for those high-skilled access at the same time that we increase access for low-skilled immigrants. that's the conversation that we need to of. the fact that they hide under the guys of increasing family unity is disgusting in my mind. >> alicia men dendez, thank you very much. >>> coming up, they just can't get enough of it. but today the truth came out and tomorrow, ambassador susan rice will meet with her harshest critic, john mccain. will we see an apology from the senator? >>> plus, donald trump is under fire with ugly attacks against the president from his own family. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. ♪ questions? anyone have occ

the contenders, first, lamar smith who's accused the media of skewing media of global alarmist. jim sensenbrenner offered this nugget on global warming in 2009. i personally believe the solar flares are more responsible for climatic cycles than anything human bes do. and dana rohrbacher asked this question s there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rain forests in order to eliminate production of greenhouse gases? what could be more counterproductive than chopping down entire rain forests? things are evidently not looking up for the science committee. >>> up next, the president met with union leaders today to get them on board as he prepares to deal with republicans. can he get the deal done? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazi

so the senate might be talking about it, but people that matter like lamar smith who was the chair of the judiciary committee, hasn't made a statement. he's bringing back the word amnesty real quick. >> words that matter, you have bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana, i feel like we should get a plug every time we say politico, but he says governor jindal says we must not be the party that protects the rich so they get to teep their toys. we also had enough of this dumb-down conservatism. we need to thrust the intelligence of the american people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of voters. so i mean he didn't say amnesty but we saw the heated rhetoric to insight fear and get people fired up and ready to be against any kind of program for the 12 to 14 million people in this country right now who obviously will not all be sent back to their home countries. >> i think that's right. they have painted themselves in sb into a corner in this respect. the republican base is not in favor of a pathway to citizenship. when people talk about comprehensive immigration reform, that'

the contenders are, first% lamar smith, accused the media of skewing in favor of global warming alarmists. jim sensenbrenner who offered this nugget on the subject of global warming back in 2009. quote, i personally believe that the solar flares are more responsible for climatic cycles than anything human beings do. scientists disagree with the member. facing off against these two, there's dana rohrabacher who asked this question of the u.n. hearing on climate change, quote, is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rainforests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases? as we all learned in grammar school, yucker people watching, trees absorb carbon monoxide. who could be more counterproductive than chopping down entire rainforests. they're evidently not looking for -- well, they're not exactly looking up -- things are not looking up for the science committee. >>> up next, the president met with unileaders to get them on board as he prepares to deal with republicans and see if he can get a deal done on debt reduction. you're watchi

smith -- he is chair of the judiciary committee, but will no longer be the chair. and that's the first stop for immigration reform. >> bill: charlie of course it has got to get to congress and the president is the one ultimately who will have to take the lead, congressman. he was criticized by many progressives and leaders of the latino community for not pushing harder for immigration reform in the last four years. do you feel that the president is committed to making this a high priority starting right away in his second term? >> absolutely. and bill, one thing that didn't come out in the campaign but we met with us on a regular basis, and we charted a legislative course, and we were frustrated. and the truth this we couldn't get the votes that were needed to get immigration reform off the ground. but it will just be a question at this time -- the republicans will participate in those negotiations and meetings at the white house. we never had anyone participate, and starting in 2008 after the president's election when we had lindsay graham and -- >> bill: right. >

and in fact the house judiciary chairman, the distinguished member of the house, congressman lamar smith of texas, and i worked on other parts so that we needed up with an improved bill. we had a modest expenditure of benefits for deserving emergency medical responders, wholesome reforms to make the benefit program stronger, more cost-effective and efficient. the most important thing, we had c.b.o., which initially had concern, reviewed it and found this cost nothing. what we're saying, mr. president, since 1974, this country has recognized we have first responders who are killed, disabled in the line of duty. this came from bipartisan legislation. it's always been joined in bipartisan legislation. you have a police officer who is shot in the line of duty. you have a first responder, a firefighter, e.m.s., others who are killed in the line of duty, die as a result of their work in the line of duty, that they would have -- share in the same benefits that we provided for the whole country. this just clarifies -- this clarifies it for all first responders. it is hard to think of anybody who

you could argue -- lamar smith says this all the time. we'll hear this a lot in the next coming months. host: the caller brought up rick perry. will it be the folks on capitol hill? guest: i think rick perry is out of the conversation because he got lambaste the. " rubio in the senate is a key person to watch -- marco rubio in the senate. he is concerned about the tone republicans have taken. he has put forward a couple of ideas to fix immigration, where the kids would not be deported. it is interesting to watch rubio. there is the hispanic caucus of folks that would like to see like a legalization program and then other republicans like the caller who think it is not ha fair. lindsey graham -- he and senator chuck schumer have an outline for several years that they will be revising. lindsay grant is pushing a broad bill -- lindsay gramm is pushing a broad bill. mike crapo is another one. the new senator from arizona worked on this issue in the past. then there is john mccain. everything has changed since the election. it was politically

the judiciary committee which is headed by lamar smith right now, he's term limited, he's going to make a bid for the science committee. and he will find himself in competition with james sensenbrenner who has indicated he is interest inside that job as well. ralph hall, who's the republican -- who's the chairman now is term limited. also the transportation and infrastructure committee which is now headed by john mica, and mica is term limited in that role, and there are a few people who have seniority, but they either have committee assignments or are not looked upon as viable. it looks as though we are passing the baton to a new generation. bill schuster, who is the son of bud schuster, the old transportation committee chairman, he is making a very strong play for the chairmanship of that. and that will be just in time for congress to start thinking about another reauthorization of transportation programs. the highway bill, if you will. there's a short-term extension signed recently, they'll need to revisit that in the 113th congress, and representative schuster will likely be, you kn

legislation, the house judiciary chairman, lamar smith and i negotiated additional measures to be added to the legislation. i want together to produce a package of improvements that contained a modest expansion of benefit for deserving emergency medical responders. and a host of reforms to make the safety officers benefits program stronger and more effective, more cost efficient. the legislation will become one of the cornerstones of the partnership we have between the federal government and our first responders who make that partnership even stronger. in fact, the reforms that chairman smith and i developed in consultation with the department of justice and the first responder community completely offset the eliminated increase in spending. unfortunately, at that time due to an error made by the congressional budget office, the matter was dropped from the f.a.a. conference report. c.b.o. to their credit later corrected their error. they provided an official cost estimate that makes clear this legislation will result in new federal spending, and, madam president, i ask consent that lett

you could argue -- lamar smith says this all the time. we'll hear this a lot in the next coming months. host: the caller brought up rick perry. will it be the folks on capitol hill? guest: i think rick perry is out of the conversation because he got lambaste the. marco rubio in the senate is a key person to watch. he is concerned about the tone republicans have taken. he has put forward a couple of ideas to fix immigration, where the kids would not be deported. it is interesting to watch rubio. there is the hispanic caucus of folks that would like to see like a legalization program and then other republicans like the caller who think it is not fair. lindsey graham -- he and senator chuck schumer have an outline for several years that they will be revising. lindsey graham is pushing a broad bill. mike crapo is another one. the new senator from arizona worked on this issue in the past. then there is john mccain. everything has changed since the election. it was politically not viable and now it has become politically viable. host: this comm

god bless this speaker, god bless you, lamar smith, you make a good chairman of science, space and technology. and i yield back the time i don't have. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. garamendi: mr. speaker, if mr. hall would like to finish his statement, i'd be happy to yield five minutes to mr. hall. mr. hall: i thank the gentleman. i think i've said about -- you are a gentleman, you are my friend, and i appreciate you. i just think we need to get together and remember the most important part of all of us is our children and our children's future. and that's what we all get together and -- that's the reason for us to change some of the positions we've taken in the past, to try to work something out that the american people expect. you're a gentleman to offer me that. maybe i've used part that have five minutes but thank you very much. and these folks need to go home sometime tonight. mr. garamendi:

chairman lamar smith, along with congressman raul labrador, congressman bob goodlatte, and of course, the gentleman from california, mr. issa, have all worked on this and we have now put forward the measure before us to spur job creation by providing a pathway for american educated foreign graduates with advanced stem degrees to work here and contribute to our economy. the bill also keeps immigrant families together by letting the husbands, wives and minor children of immigrant workers wait in the u.s. with their families for their green cards. the stem jobs act realindicates existing visas currently distributed through a random lottery and direct them instead to the highly skilled foreign graduates of u.s. universities who have enormous potential to help grow our economy, our top priority. the partnership for a new american economy found that every immigrant with an advanced stem degree working for a u.s. company creates about three new american jobs, and one quarter of all stem focused companies in the u.s. count at least one immigrant as a founder. at american multinationals like q

after the elections there will an new chairman, lamar smith. does he believe in manmade global warming? >> the reporting was largely slanted in favor of global warming alarmists. during a sixth six month period, four out of five news reports failed to acknowledge news regarding global warming. the network should tell americans the truth rather than hide the facts. >> cenk: so 98% of the world's scientists are global warming alarmists. the guys ahead of the science committee. the climate change, he throws it in the middle of the ring, and here he comes--he's not taking out climate change but our climate. why is he doing it?