pathway to citizenship called amnesty but directs billions of dollars for border security, it was put in there to secure republican votes. it languishes now in the house of representatives. the president wants it done this year. in many respects it's going to be a test of john boehner, his willingness to defy the tea party which has led his larger republican party to virtual political ruin, at least the lowest standings in the poms in the history of a couple of polls we've seen recently. it's going to be a test of whether president obama has the political capitol coming off last weeks victory in the shutdown showdown as well and another test of whether this debacle, basically an indefensible snafus in this website, and it's fallen flat on its face, whether that's going to get any traction on capitol hill and have political

repercussions as well. i think that depends how quickly they can get some of these problems fixed, but is the president ahmadinejad wishes? no question about it. he wants this year. next year is a congressional election year, making things that much for complicated. >> the reason the democrats want this bill to pass is many of those 11 million immigrants living in the shadow right now did vote democratically in the last election, so they see those immigrants as people who need citizenship and potential votes. the republicans realize they took a beating in the polls concerning the hispanic community. your thoughts on whether the optics were all about that? >> the larger concern is those of a hispanic heritage or those who have relatives here who actually are voting or are politically active, many of the 11 million, 12 million people illegal, you have to presume that the vast majority of those are not casting ballots.

you look at a state you like texas, there has been talk about the latino population there, how the deep red state of texas is becoming a little more blue, safer to say purple at this point. there are changing demographics. that is not lost on many in the republican party. here again, we see this divide, this chasm among republicans between hard core conservatives who no how, no way are going to vote for anything that provides legal cover, whether six years or 12 years for people who have broken the law and are here illegally. that from a realistic standpoint, many will tell you the business community is behind this reform. the evangelicals, the religious community, catholic bishops, big april, you seldom see a coalition like this behind a piece of legislation like this, but many groups pushing for this. it's them, essentially against the conserve actives. i'll go back to the original point, what will john boehner

do, will he have learned his lesson last time and push more aggressively and defy the core of his party represented by those who do not want this legislation. >> we're joined in studio now by the new york office director of immigration policy. you are of the opinion that the window concerning immigration reform is starting to get smaller and smaller. why no. >> it is getting smaller for two reasons, because there are very few congressional calendar days left, and congress is not in session every day, so there are only limited number of days left for 2013. that makes it harder competing with budget and fiscal crisis issue. then you come to 2014 and you get into the primary time line, when many members of the house will face primary contests in their home districts, and for many of the republicans, immigration does not play well

in their districts, so they become soft on immigration, then they get a contest. >> it is baffling why people on both sides of the aisle don't want to reach out and address this on a humanitarian issue. why do you think it is that there are so many thorny issues with regard to immigration when the largest unsecured border anywhere in the world separates the united states from canada and there's no issue concerning immigration there? >> the point the president made is valid, is that from policy pointed, when you look at economically, modernly, even national security point of view, there's been consensus in immigration for a long time. >> why nothing being done no. >> it's about politics, clearly not about policy, it's politics. we know there are enough votes in the house of representatives, the republicans and democrats combined to pass the bill. it's not about the vote, it's whether the speaker will bring the bill for a vote and that unfortunately gets caught and

he'll have to defy his own caucus to bring the bill to the floor and that became the issue in the budget and that's again the central issue that he is dealing with. >> i've heard people address the immigration issue this way, as ing it's not an immigration problem, it's a problem with some members of congress not wanting those people into the country. is that a safe assessment? is that fair? >> i think there are some people who have attitudes toward certain groups of immigrants. i think it's increasingly about what the political demografy of what groups of people are going to do. 71% voted for the president in the last election. some republicans believe if you legalize a large number of this 11.2 million people, they're potentially likely to be democrats. why would you like to make for

democrats in the future. >> they can't vote, so what can they do to bring this reform about? >> they have built enormous coalition. we have never been more united in the spectrum of politics on the issue of immigration from the left to the right. i think it is the pressure on the small group of republicans that has prevented the bill from coming forward. i think the pressure in those districts and pressure on the republican leadership that it's finally the interest of the republican party and finally in the interest of the nation that this has to move forward. >> mike viqueira in washington, is there the political stomach right there now to tackle what would be another tory issue after we just finished this huge debate concerning obamacare and the hearings are just now starting on capitol hill concerning whether or not it works. >> absolutely, especially on the part of the white house. they feel they have political capitol, momentum coming off the shutdown fight. they feel the public is on their

side, obviously the polls into indicate that most people favor a form of comprehensive immigration reform. we talked about the coalition of special interests in washington that are behind it, as well. i think the president is going to press this advantage for the reasons i just stated. number two, what else is there to talk about? a malfunctioning website? certainly they're going to want to change the subject from that. i think the stomach is there. i think you're seeing republican rank and highly, darrell issa, know friend to the president, certainly chief inquisitor of the president, he even has his own version of immigration reform with a form of path to citizenship, amnesty, take your pick. you are starting to see a lot of republicans coming around to this idea. we get back to the fundamental fact that this hard core base of republicans is against it. they hold sway within the

republican party particularly in the house of representatives, and again, it boils down to a question of whether or not we're going to go the same road in terms of that internal dynamic in congress among republicans where things are blocked or whether the speaker is going to try to push this through for a larger political benefit of the larger republican party. >> let's talk about the numbers. there are 11 million undocumented workers in this country. if we talk about health care, 30 million people who lack insurance, that's 41 million people out there, 41 million votes. who listens to who on capitol hill and why are all these people voiceless? >> it's a question who votes. who is donating money to the party, who gets themself elected primary day. it is on either side, you might term them the zealots, taking stock of all the twists and turns in capitol hill that

frankly the vast majority or silent majority prefer not to be bothered with. that is the fundamental fact when it comes to these issues, del. that is not lost on our elected representatives. >> mike viqueira at the white house. thank you very much. we are going to take a break right now, because we continue to follow those hearings on capitol hill concerning that other controversial issue in washington, got affordable care act with that these are the people who built the website defending their product before what is a rather contentious house. we'll be right back. a

>> welcome back to our continuing coverage of the capitol hill hearings on the affordable care act, also known as obamacare. at points, those hearings have been rather contentious, and let's listen in. >> my friends would go down this road. and i would ask you to put that article in the record, mr. chairman >> without objection. >> i have one last question, when can these exchanges be ready and when can people get on them are reliability, miss campbell? >> as soon as possible, we're working as hard as we can. >> we're doing everything that we can to maintain them. and will do everything we can do to assist >> i want to say, mr. chairman,

my healthcare aid went onto the exchange in virginia last night, and she was able to register and i hope this happens for all americans. >> i just went on my ipad and i was able to access the choices of plans to my constituents in california. within a 5, 10 minute period. >> let's go to kimberly live on capitol hill. and we took a break, and bring us up-to-date on what we missed when the president was speaking >> you heard it there, it's a lot like listening to a bunch of children bickering. that's the overarching tone of this hearing as they're talking about what example has gone wrong and why it has taken so long to fix these glitches with

the healthcare.gov website. but on further questions from both republicans and democrats, it has been demonstrated for a lack of test being. each of these four contractors did testing independently, and there was very little testing done until the day that the website opened on october 1st. this is the first time they integrated their systems, and many say this they actually mentioned to the obama administration that it might be a good idea to delay the rollout of this, and maybe it wasn't ready, and they were encouraged to keep going, and ultimately, it's the obama administration's full responsibility for the problems they're experiencing right now >> i got the impression there were two sep airios. one was a broken website when it was rolled out and it's getting better, and the other being a

situation this nobody really wanted on the republican side of the aisle anyway, and they were clutching at straws to find something to sink their teeth n which is correct? >> bingo, it's the last one. come on, how many days has it been from the partial government shutdown, which was the result of republicans holding their ground to try to delay and defund the presence of the affordable care act. this was not done in the last few weeks, but it has been attempted 40 times before. and this has shown that nothing has changed on capitol hill with regard to the agenda. and the republicans argue that they're trying to help many americans protect them from something that's not ready for business. democrats have been angrily at points calling this a monkey hearing, saying that once again, it's business as usual on capitol hill.

and it's simply partisan. but i think we're not going to get clear answers. what we're looking forward to is a hearing held next week, and that's when we have kathleen sebelius testifying before the committee. and i imagine there will be very pointed questions. >> and kimberly, is congress doing any favors? i thought we were going to lose you there, but we are almost a week after that government shutdown after the debt ceiling is lifted. and the entire world is wondering what we're going to do, and now this. did congress do themselves any favors? have we lost kimberly? i think we have. we lost kimberly. i want to listen into the hearing a little bit more as they continue to address the issue of the affordable healthcare act and any glitches that there may have been. let's listen in. >> can you break it down to say, how many people from nebraska,

since we don't have a state exchange like california does, and have to go to the national, can you determine how many people from nebraska have tried to access in >> i don't know. >> do you know how many people have tried to access on any particular day? do you have that data? >> i don't know. >> does your company have that data. >> yes, we do. >> will you try to share that with us? >> i will followup on it right away. >> are you able to give us that data? >> i will followup. >> has cm -- >> we're going to take a break from the hearings on the affordable healthcare act because there's much much more news happening in the world today, including the fact that the german chancellor, merkel, just arrived, and a suspension for the agreement that grants the u.s. authority's access to bank data for investigation. this is a sharp review of those surveillance programs that we

hear so much about concerning the nsa, which has just been reported may have tapped into miss merkel's phone. and our tim friend is live in brussels, and any activities by the nsa are overshadowing this summit. is that a fair assessment? >> they are indeed. they were meant to come here to focus on immigration and on the economy. but with these latest revelations, including the allegation that merkel, the german leader's personal telephone was tapped into by the nsa, have overshadowed all of the discussions here. as you were same thing, merkel arrived a few moments ago, and i think that we can hear what she had to say of the she arrived at this leader's conference in brussels >> since we have been speak being about the nsa, i made it

clear to the united states that spying on friends is not acceptable at all. i said that when he was in berlin in july, and it's not just about me but every german citizen. >> well, that was angela merkel talking, and sorry to interrupt you, but she's incandescent. and it's clearly going to have an effect on the u.s. in the eu. >> i want to ask you how does playing across the ocean on your side of the atlantic, because on this side of the atlantic, there's the passive knowledge that every nation spies every other nation, and on your side, there's outrage. and that's the difference in the two sides of the atlantic? >> it would be -- to think that

angela merkel and other leaders were not aware of the fact that the national security agency might well have been listening into conversations on their citizens. not only suspected terrorists, but perhaps political leaders and people from the world of business. they perhaps considered it to be in their mutual interest. but listening into the personal telephone of perhaps the most powerful woman in the world, who lived in a communist regime in eastern europe and was well aware of the type of totalitytarianism that ensues from that type of operation, and points being raised about that, is another matter altogether. and of course all of this is emerging from information provided by the whistle blower, edward snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges in the united

states. so that gives you an indication of what washington feels about being spied upon itself. >> tim friend joining us, where there's outrage in germany! >> and we turn now to florida, where there have been 17,000 hit-and-run accidents this last year, and the officials are trying to stop it. they're considering increasing the penalties. natasha joins us from miami-dade county. and natasha, what are they doing? >> reporter: well, people are pushing to pass new laws, but i want to put things into context for florida. florida is very dangerous when it comes to ped screen deaths. it ranks number one in florida by a large margin. whether you take that and the hit-and-run epidemic in the state, you can understand why people are doing everything they can to make the state safer.

patty often thinks what would have happened if she ran into the man who killed her husband. the driver lives three miles away and he has already served his time >> i'm so angry, i can hardly talk about t i feel that such an injustice has been done, it's almost embarrassing, the obvious lack of sense that it makes. >> aaron was riding his bicycle with hi friend along a scenic stretch of road in miami-dade county when traverso slammed into him. he left the scene, called his attorney and turned himself in hours later. the investigators found evidence that he may have been drinking, but driving away made it impossible for the police to test his alcohol levels. traverso was in jail for a year. she's trying to raise her

three-year-old son and five-year-old daughter. her son barely remembers daddy >> i really have tried to look at this as a challenge, and not be a victim, but a survivor. >> somehow this busy widow is trying to help passage of the aaron cohen act. he helped to draft the bill >> the state leads the country on the basis of totalities, and there's a multitude of reasons for that. some of which has to do with road designs, and some of it with a culture. >> wallner said that the current florida law gives drivers incentive to leave the scene of an accident. they want to propose a mandatory sentence for leaving the scene of a fatality accident, and also to increase sentences.

>> it's not a short-term problem, getting more people into prison. but it's an educative project. when you hit someone or you kill or injure someone, you need to stay on scene. >> reporter: other states, such as new york and delaware have already passed law for cyclists. patty hopes that the aaron cohen act becomes law and fewer families will have to live with the void in their lives. >> you can try to change it t. and you can try to improve life for other people. >> the legislature will reconvene next spring, and cohen is asking people to sign petitions and change.org. and she views the aaron cohen act as a legacy to her late

husband. >> thank you very much, in the asha. for the first time in years, doctors are feeling hopeful about fighting breast cancer. because they say there are several new treatments that have emerged and they're making a big difference in the lives of patients. jonathan betts has more. >> 15 years of karen's life have been filled with doctors visits and painful treatments for breast cancer. >> i lost my hair, and i had to be in the hospital. and you sort of felt like it was a death sentence, almost. it was very scary >> but now she has hope and strength after being among the first in the country to start receiving a new medication, called tdn1. >> what makes this so special, it works like a smart bomb. it attaches and kills the cancer cells with a tiny dose of chemotherapy, while leaving the healthy tissue alone. >> hey, how are you?

for patients like beellen, she doesn't get sick or lose her hair >> i'm amazed by this chemotherapy and it also seems to be working. so that's the key. >> approved in february, tdn1 only treats the most severe types of breast cancer, but it's encouraging at the cancer institute, among the first in the country to test it. the patient's lives were extended by nearly half a year. >> this is what we have all been looking for for a long time. it's a very effective drug, and yet, it's accompanied by very few side effects. >> reporter: it's one of the first to emerge in the last three years. it comes as researchers better understand breast cancer as a family of diseases, not just one. tumors grow and spread, changing everything from medicine,

radiation and surgery. >> i think it's very reasonable to hope that 20 years from now, across the board for breast cancer, that we'll be able to say that no woman should have to die of this disease if she's able to get treatment for it. >> reporter: for now, breast cancer remains the second deadliest cancer for women. killing close to 40,000 a year, and these new drugs, like other chemotherapies, can have severe side effects like liver and heart damage, but other patients feel better, no longer wracked from illness from chemotherapy, she's traveling and spending time with her family >> i'm stage 4 terminal, but i don't look at myself as that. i figure the treatment i'm having now, the tdm1 is working, and as long as it's working, i'm alive, and i'm feign. >> she's not cured. but now has hope, one within

reach. jonathan betts, aljazeera, boston. >> cold air is coming down from the east. and dropping about 10-15° from a few days ago, and it will stay chilly, especially in the mornings. the winds die down, and the temperatures down to the freezing mark. many freeze warnings. the cold is here, and there's snow coming down because the cold air is coming across the warm great lakes waters this, and that leaves the lake affect snows. here are the warnings there in new york and pennsylvania. freeze watches, meaning that the temperatures are dropping to 32 by tomorrow morning. the radar plus the clouds shows the rain and snow going over the

same area. a closeup view shows it's in new york and western pennsylvania. and the we're talking about amounts close to a foot. because the air temperature is 40°, and the water is 45, and it pulls a lot of moisture up from the great lakes and dumps it down as snow. the snow amounts, in new york, 12 inches and 6 inches in western pennsylvania, just to the east of erie. as far as the temperatures go, 55 by thursday and friday. and by sunday and monday, climbing just a bit, 57 and close to 60 on monday. so the warmer weather comes back, and you can see the temperatures tomorrow. 60s in the -- i should say the southern plains. houston, 81, and denver and billings. the cool air is here, and warmer each day. but not until the end of the weekend and the start of next week where we'll see the temperatures climb back up to 60°. pacific watching the two

typhoons closely. here is japan. and they're slowly moving to the north and the west. and they will combine together. this is not until about saturday. both tracks take these storms just off of the coast of japan. and by saturday, they're moving to the north pacific. staying off of the coast. and the wind off of the east coast of japan. >> okay, warren, thank you very much. we're following breaking news at this hour. two u.s. citizens have been kidnapped off of the coast of africa. the state department confirming that a u.s. flagship was attacked south of nigeria. the captain and the engineer being taken, and they don't know who else was onboard that ship. we'll bring you any new information as we get it. and as we continue to watch the events unfolding on capitol hill, that being the hearings concerning the affordable care act and we're watching those.

inside story is next. damages. >> when u.s. national security policies kill civilians in ally nations questions of sovereignty and legality get in the way of good relations. drones in pakistan. that's tonight's inside story. >> hello, i'm libby casey in washington. pakistan and united states have a complicated and often strained relationship. the two countries share vital interest