Coming up Wednesday
Rep. McKeon: Defense cuts coming at precarious time
Armed Services Cmte. Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) on U.S.'s preps for possible conflict with North Korea.
Franklin Graham: President Obama needs our prayer on North Korea crisis
Evangelist Franklin Graham weighs in on the North Korea crisis and how the U.S. should respond to threats.
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Kerry calls out North Korea rhetoric, calls for talks in denuclearization – Jim Clancy reports
CNN's Jim Clancy on U.S. Sec. of State John Kerry's press conference regarding the hostile rhetoric from North Korea.
Rep. King on North Korea tensions: 'We have to assume the worst, but not panic'
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) says U.S. needs to assume the worst, but not panic in the increasing escalation with North Korea.
Official tells CNN: North Korea could be planning to launch mobile missile – Barbara Starr reports
U.S. official says communications show North Korea could be planning to launch a mobile missile. Barbara Starr reports.
Fmr. NM Gov. Richardson: Attack from North Korea would be 'suicidal' and some kind of diplomacy is needed in region
Bill Richardson, fmr. U.S. Amb. to the U.N., says any attack from North Korea would be 'suicide' for the small country.
Politics to the Macks: Still a long way to go on immigration reform, and Kim Jong Un is behaving like an 'immature brat'
Members of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators working on immigration reform legislation say they should reach consensus on a draft bill by the end of this week. But other members such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida say that while they feel encouraged, “reports that the bipartisan group of eight senators have agreed on a legislative proposal are premature."
This morning, fmr. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) and fmr. Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) join “Starting Point” to discuss the immigration reform bill.
Mack says despite the AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of commerce possibly reaching a deal on immigration by the end of this week, “there’s still a long way to go.”
“We still have hearings that need to be done… we don’t want to have another situation like in healthcare where a bill is brought and nobody has a chance to read it so I think you’re going to see the senate going through a process of having hearings on the bill – understand what’s in it and then see if we could pass something,” Mack says.
Bono Mack says the compromise "is just the beginning of the conversation.”
“Immigration is a three-legged stool, and you can’t short up one at the expense of the other or the whole things going to fall apart,” she says.
Regarding North Korea’s decision to ramp up its rhetoric and military show of force, Mack says he thinks Kim Jong Un is a “immature brat.” He adds that the young North Korean leader “is trying to go onto the world stage and prove that he’s got some muscle that he can flex.”
Rep. Royce: Possible N. Korea sanctions could help deter their nuclear weapon objective
A deal to punish North Korea for its third nuclear test is possible at the U.N. this morning.
U.N. envoys are telling Reuters that they may have a draft resolution later this morning. Both the U.S. and China have apparently signed off on the deal.
The development follows a frankly bizarre trip to North Korea over the weekend where former basketball star Dennis Rodman befriended dictator Kim Jong-un. Rodman has said Kim just wanted Obama to pick up the phone and call him to prevent war. But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says North Korea shouldn't expect a call anytime soon.
Congressman Ed Royce is the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He's a Republican from California with more.
Rep. Royce says the committee would like to target the hard currency used to fund the regime in North Korea. “I think it's time that at least we curtail the ability of those financial institutions that would do business with the United States,” Royce says. “We tell them, ‘no we're freezing the assets in North Korea. You're not going to be a part of building up that weapons program.’ Because that's what the foreign exchange is used for. That's what the hard currency is used for, is to build up that weapons program."
In regards to Rodman’s exchange with Kim Jong-un, Rep. Royce says the dictator merely pays money to pursue his interest in basketball and Royce doesn’t believe his interest in will change his behavior toward the West. “They might have their hobbies, but at the end of the day, they also have their objective of getting that nuclear weapon,” Rep. Royce says. “And that's something that we should try to deter through these sanctions.”
Forbes.com's Chang: North Korea now a real threat, sanctions should be tripled
Forbes.com columnist Gordon Chang on what North Korea's successful nuclear test could mean for its nuclear arsenal.
READ MORE: North Korea says it conducted new, more powerful nuclear test
Fmr. Gov. Richardson: 'It's important that we engage North Korea'
While few people have ever traveled to North Korea, a high-profile group from the U.S. just got back from a controversial trip to the closed-off country that the State Department called "ill-advised."
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt spent three days in the communist country, and Richardson joins Starting Point this morning to discuss the trip and respond to criticism.
"We went as a private, humanitarian trip for three reasons," Schmidt explains. "One, to urge the North Koreans to have a moratorium on missile activity and nuclear tests. Secondly, to find out about the American detained there, Kenneth Bay, that he be properly treated, and then thirdly, to spread the message about an open society, the internet, and cell phones."
Although Richardson did not meet with the country's new leader Kim Jong-un, he says that he got the sense that Un is "more open to reform" than his father.
"There are some economic measures that he has taken that are a little more open-minded," Richardson says. "His manner is more mixing with the people, more speeches. His father, for instance, never addressed the country. He was educated in Europe, so I have some hope, but at the same time, he engages in these missile launches. I think now that he's done that, perhaps he feels he's established his domestic strength with his people and now he'll engage in diplomacy."
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