In case you missed it, take a moment to enjoy the heated exchange between Alex and Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID) from yesterday's show. The fireworks begin when Labrador suggests it is the Democrats who are obstructing immigration reform in congress. Suffice to say, Alex disagrees.
Joining Alex today:
Kurt Andersen, Radio Host, "Studio 360"/ Author "True Believers" (@kbandersen)
Josh Barro, Politics Editor, Business Insider (@jbarro)
Joy Reid, Managing Editor, theGrio.com/msnbc Contributor (@thereidreport)
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), and Spencer Ackerman will be joining in on the fun.
If you need to get caught up on where immigration reform stands in the House, Chris Hayes concisely summarized the House GOP's position on last night's All In.
This morning, the principal architects of the Senate bill, Senators John McCain and Chuck Schumer, are meeting with President Obama to discuss ways of keeping its slim hopes of passage in the House alive. For the most part, the White House has taken a hands off approach thus far, perhaps to its detriment. In this morning's Wonkbook Ezra Klein quotes one immigration advocate's complaints: “It’s amazing the number of people from the White House on down who’ve deferred to Chuck Schumer strategy to hug people into the bill, to assume no permanent enemy, to be very convivial." Will a last minute push from the President accomplish anything at this point? Was there ever even a chance the House would consider a bill Obama supports?
Edward Snowden remains, presumably, somewhere in Sheremetyevo Airport. The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald told Reuters yesterday that Venezuela remains the "most likely" asylum option for Snowden, the tricky part becomes how he gets there. In the meantime, a new Quinnipiac poll finds 55% of voters regard him as a whistle-blower, while only 35% consider him to be a traitor. Why have our views on national security shifted? What does Venezuela stand to gain by granting him asylum?
Yesterday, for the second time in two weeks, the Senate failed to restore lower interest rates on student loans, which doubled last week from 3.4% to 6.8%. Have we stopped investing in young people as a nation? What does it say about our priorities that we give banks a lower interest rate than students? Is student loan debt the next bubble to burst?
And oh yeah, Zimmerman.