Obama wraps up visit to West Bank

>> turn back to the politics here at home where the government is likely to stay open, at least for now, in a broad bipartisan vote the senate passed a spending bill 73-26 on wednesday to keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year. but the next fiscal fights are already under way this morning. after a day of pageantry and political theater on the house floor, the house will vote on congressman paul ryan 's 2014 budget .

>> as a member of the budget committee opposed to the job-killing pathway to poverty ryan budget , i stand in strong support of the progressive caucus 's back to work budget .

>> the ryan republican budget is a job killer. in ten years there will be no medicare guarantee.

>> here's the theme. take more money from the economy, take more money from families, take more money from small businesses, spend it in washington and hope everything works out.

>> it is a vision that will not be implemented and he knows it.

>> taxes just went up by $1.6 trillion. what do they want to do? throw another trillion on top. guess what, they may say it's for the rich, it's for the loophole. watch out middle class , the tax man is coming to you.

>> nbc's deputy political editor is here with this morning's first read. all right, dom, let's start on ryan and the budget . you heard steny hoyer , the second-ranking democrat in the house saying this will never come to pass. that is something that people need to be reminded of. this is a budget outline that will never be law. let's talk broadly about the ryan budget . is the ryan budget good or bad politics for republicans not named paul ryan ? it seems to be good politics for paul ryan , it got him as the vice presidential nominee . is it good politics in general?

>> it depends. it depends on where you're running and what districts. and it depends on how certain members of the republican party decide to change the messaging on this. we saw paul brown now making some trouble saying that the paul ryan budget isn't conservative enough. he's running for the senate in georgia. if he's going to say that the ryan budget doesn't cut enough and starts pulling people off of even the ryan budget , well, you know, that is going to be some very, very tricky politics for the republican party and something the democrats will use against them in places that are competitive.

>> now, tricky politics, republicans no question on the ryan budget and budgeting in general. tricky politics on guns for democrats. now, the assault weapons ban stripped out of the broader senate bill , harry reid has taken some flak for that. joe biden yesterday, the vice president of the united states who has taken a lead role on this, on npr talking about the assault weapons ban and whether or not it is doomed. let's play that and we'll talk about it.

>> we are still pushing that it pass. the same thing was told to me when the first assault weapons ban in 'now was attached to the biden crime bill, that it couldn't possibly pass. last time we passed it we only had seven republican votes in 1994 .

>> but he doesn't have the democrats.

>> well, again, i just -- i've never found it makes any sense to support something and declare there's no possibility of it passing.

>> okay. it still seems very unlikely to pass. harry reid on the floor two days ago saying there are 40 votes and they need 60. but there is a disconnect on gun legislation in general between congress and the american public. you pointed this out to me and i wanted to note it. quinnipiac poll of florida voters, support for gun safety measures, 91%, 91%. 91% of people don't agree on anything. 91% of people are in favor of universal background checks . i think we both agree the assault weapons ban is going nowhere . 56% of floridians are in favor of that. why is even background checks , looks like a pretty heavy legislative lift. what's the disconnect?

>> it is fascinating. this is not just this quinnipiac poll, it's national polls where we see 90% of people saying they're for universal background checks . 88% of people who own guns in this quinnipiac poll said that they were in favor.

>> that may be the more amazing number, gun owners , 88%.

>> but this issue of universal background checks as biden talked about in that interview was something that in even the '94 assault weapons ban debate, the nra was widely against this. they go to a point to say, look, you know, this is the government going to try to take away your guns, they're going to try to register your guns to know where the guns are so when they come to get the guns they know where to look. that's what the debate is over. it is fascinating that a majority of voters, 56% on the assault weapons ban , 53% on high-capacity clips and yet it's laughed at on capitol hill .

>> domenico, you will be back to talk about a little senate march madness .