hold steady at 7.6%. david: boy the market could do anything based on that number. 8:30 a.m. we'll cover it. by the way, president obama is in mexico right now talking to the president of mexico. he will have a press conference in a minute. melissa: breaking news right now. a joint news conference between president obama and mexico's president enrique knee the to, is he edge a three-day trip to mexico. both president obama and mexico's president are scheduled to make statements. then they will take questions from the press. we'll take you there live just as soon as the question and answer portion starts. they tend to make news when they do that. so we don't want you to miss it. we'll keep an eye on it. and bring it to you when it happens. in the meantime it is all about jobs. tomorrow we find out how many were added in april. the stakes couldn't be any higher after march's grim

report. many are bracing for the worst with the wave of weak economic data coming out this week. in a new op-ed, wyoming senator john barrasso says one of the biggest things blocking job growth is obamacare. the senator joins me now. welcome back to the show. >> thanks for having me, melissa. melissa: it was interesting editorial. you talked about the new phrase coined the 29ers. who is that? >> those people work part time looking for more hours because of the president's health care law if you have more than 50 employees you have to pay for the expensive health care. but you don't have to pay for part-time workers. law is, 30 hours is full time. city of long beach, california, told the 1600 part-time workers they would cut them back to 27 hours on average. so they're not over that 30-hour level. melissa: this is the city of long beach? we're not talking about a big bad corporation, a

restaurant. >> no. melissa: somebody where shareholders are taking home money while everyone else is suffering. you're talking about a government entry? >> yes the government, the city of long beach, california, we, fast-food restaurants have done it. movie chains have done it. melissa: right. >> we're talking about a government entity now saying to its employees who want more hours, sorry because of the president's health care law, we're cutting your hours. which means their paychecks are going to be cut. that is why i say this president's health care law is hurting american jobs. it is hurting care for americans and also hurting their paychecks. melissa: so what is the reaction inside the beltway when a story like that hits? does one side hear it one way, one side hits it the other? it was totally predictable this would happen. not everyone believed it. now it is here and not just big bad corporations but government entities make decisions based on how much money we have and they're cutting back hours. what is reaction to that? are democrats brush that off? >> makes me wonder if they

hear it at all. the president after listening to his news conference last tuesday i'm not sure even knows these sorts of things. i'm wondering if the white house staff is telling him this. because the health care law is continuing to drag --. melissa: do you wonder if people -- >> i do wonder what information he has for him to stand up in front of the national press and say for the 90% of the americans who have health insurance, don't worry, everything is fine, when people are losing their jobs, they're losing their coverage, they're losing their care and having their hours cut, either he is not getting information from his staff or reading the papers, or, he is intentionally trying to mislead the american people, melissa. melissa: people sit at home and think there are big bad companies out there that are saying we're going to cut people's hours back because we don't want to pay for their health insurance and their shareholders are still going home and pocketing all kinds of money and they're making decisions that are, you know, bad for employees just to make more profits. how do you respond to that? >> a lot of these are small

businesses who trying to make payroll and keep the doors open because another part of this law if a company, small business has over 50 employees, then they have to the provide health insurance for all of those full-time employees. so, as a result, if you have 47 or 48 and looking to expand and there is more business, i'm sorry, we're not going to hire the additional workers. we're going to stay small. but small businesses has always been the engine that grows the economy in this country. melissa: yeah. >> so the health care law is dragging down our small businesses. it is forcing people to have lesser paychecks for part-time workers lose losing their hours. melissa: they're not getting health insurance and getting hours cut and paychecks are lower and not getting health insurance. we're talking about this because the big jobs report is coming out tomorrow. your op-ed talked about the fact that obamacare is one of the things that is holding back more jobs in this country. your thesis is sort of we have to repeal obamacare to create more jobs in this country but to the other side, that sounds like sour

grapes. it sound like republicans are sore losers. that obamacare is already out there and running and that's that and it is done and we should move on. how do you respond to that? >> well the chief architect of this in the senate, max baucus called it a coming train wreck. democrats who voted for it are walking back from it because they know it is hurting our economy and not providing lower costs of care. when you're seeing numbers come out around the count tri, that the cost of care is going up 32% over past year, nationwide, many states higher than that so many young people will be mandated to buy health insurance they don't need, they don't want, they can't afford at that level, this health care law is not good for patients or for providers. melissa: realistically do you think it he is going anywhere, the health care law? >> i will continue to try to take it apart piece by piece. we know the tax on medical devices is causing jobs to be shipped overseas because of the impact of that tax. melissa: right. >> item after item, this

health care law is bad for us as a country. melissa: senator, thanks for coming on. appreciate your time. >> now one of the unions that supported it, they're even calling for it to be repealed. melissa: interesting. thank you so much. we appreciate it. interest rates are at record lows and wall street investors are cashing in. the flow of cheap money has private equity in particular betting big on the housing market. over the past year institutional investors bought up to 55,000 homes nationwide. that is according to the reuters. and that is helping drive up home prices for everyone but is it creating a bubble? that is the question. joining me for more on this, christopher thornberg, beacon economics, john at senior portfolio manager at leader capital. gentlemen thanks for joining me. christopher, the story we laid out, is that true? is that what you see happening? people are coming on the show all we can seeing what is going on around the country, do you see it? >> no, not at all. look, take this from a guy

who was screaming bubble at the top of his lungs in 2005 and 2006. where we are today is, if anything, what i would call a reverse bubble. if you look at levels of affordability today, they have never been better. you look at price of a house compared to incomes, compared to cost of renting, when you control for today's interest rates, homes have never been more affordable. and the reason prices are starting to go up because investors and some first-time buyers are looking at this, understanding the arbitrage and moving to take advantage of it. as simple as that. we're nowhere near a bubble. melissa: private equity investors are getting involved not creating a bubble, just to be clear? >> yeah, exactly. the reason investors are getting involved -- sorry. melissa: are investors getting involved here and are they creating a bubble? do you see evidence of this? >> we do. we think this is really first time too for, that private equity players have really come in big into the real estate market. i know the number of 55,000 was quoted.

i think it's a lot higher than that. melissa: i think it is higher than that too. i think reuters went low on that one. >> well, look, in las vegas alone it is 10%. if you got five million starts here, closer to 500,000. so i think it is a serious bubble and frankly i don't think it's a good risk/reward asset. take numbers, from, just straightforward, a thousand bucks a month, $240,000, making 6%. take out maintenance and taxes i don't get it. they got to make fees and got to invest the money. i think it is causing some problems. i think fact --. melissa: like what? john, what are the problems that it actually creates? >> well, i tell you what it creates a crowded trade. any crowded trade always ends badly, whether it is apple. whether the federal government buying $86 billion of mortgage-backed securities and treasurys a month. doesn't matter. when the fed steps away and interest rates move up you're going to see all the institutional players dump those houses on the market and just another bubble that is going to happen and it is a crowded trade by definition.

melissa: chris, is that the eventualty, that is argument a lot of people make? >> no. not only that places buy the house for $240,000 you're renting place a lot more than $1,000. the price of homes is $120,000 i'm not sure where statistics were taken from are completely selective. cap rates on are eight, nine, sometimes even 10 range. it is a great investment. that is why they're taking advantage of it, as simple as this. in as much as investment guys are of moving in there is historic level of arbitrage. melissa: right. >> my personal preference regulators back off and allow middle class folks to get out there and borrow to buy the homes and take advantage of rates. melissa: hard to borrow if you're individual person than a giant private equity fund. >> absolutely. it is is a shame they're getting to take advantage of this. melissa: john, let me ask you, it is good for a lot of homeowners at least. it kind of mark as bottom at least if large vultures to sort of clean what has gone on.

it raises overall prices. isn't that good for homeowners underwater on their mortgages. >> absolutely. 100%. melissa: hang on. >> you can make the argument short term. what you have is, a huge amountrs, not homeowners. homeowners cut grass on weekend fix up fences. take care of the house. they're owners. when you shift a large piece of that market over to a rental market the guy next car to you is renting, he is not owning. in long run that will deteriorate property value. melissa: better than an empty foreclosed house next to you. i see your point about renter versus buyer. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. melissa: update on the joint news conference by president obama and president of mexico. that they're running late. not even at podium. they're not even talking. when the question and answer portion begins we'll take you there live because they make news it at that point. prepared speech is much less exciting. we'll keep an eye on it. but next, thought the u.s.

oil boom couldn't get bigger? center of, north dakota, montana as 7.1 billion barrels of oil more than thought. that is extra. with that comes high class problems. ask the burger king manager getting a $5,000 signing bonus to manage a burger king. details next. more money coming up. ♪ . we went out and asked people a simple question:

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♪ . melissa: so north dakota and montana almost have more oil than they know what to do with. now a new ocean of it has been discovered. according to the interior department the region's bakken formation has double the oil originally thought and three times the natural gas. but will the region crack under the weight, keep going, of this huge find? joining with me are steve moore of "the wall street journal" and steve very much schork editor of the schork report. thanks for joining with us. steven schork, i have to be very specific because everyone has the same name, how much oil and natural gas is this? give some perspective for people out there who are not in the industry? >> well it is amazing,

melissa. melissa: it is acrazy amount, right? >> put it this way, north dakota is producing upwards of 790,000 barrels a day of crude oil. what does that mean? the state of north dakota now is the 10th largest producer of in opec. they produce 50% more oil than ecuador and produce 8% more than qatar. so that is obviously a significant amount of oil. melissa: no, it is huge. >> absolutely incredible. melissa: it's huge. >> now if we look at, yes. look at the trade balance numbers today, trade balance in the united states is falling. it is falling in great part because what? we are importing less crude oil and we are exporting more of refined product. melissa: it is a beautiful thing. steve moore, let me bring you in. because along with this is a huge windfall on tax revenue for the these states. it is incredible. right now this year they're projected to get just under a billion dollars in tax revenue from oil and gas. so that could go up to $3

billion. the economic boom to the region, it generates about $22 billion right now in oil alone. that doesn't count the gas. that could go up to $46 billion per year. i mean that's a lot of wealth to not like about this story. by the way it is not just tax revenue, you're right. by the way, the long-term solution to a lot of these states pension problems, you know, the time bombs, it is drill for oil and impose severance taxes and use that money pay off some, that is the only way out for california quite frankly. melissa: yeah. >> has about as much oil as they have in north dakota. so that is another state that could be a major oil producer. let's not forget by the way, melissa, despite what is going on in north dakota which is a fantastic story, the bigger five years texas has doubled their output of oil. so texas is now producing as much oil assad saud does. so it is an amazing story.

the average job by the way in that industry $100,000 a year. twice what the average private sector worker gets. we should be drilling like crazy. should go drill, baby drill. melissa: these are fan tas me to the punch. where he was leading to the tax revenue desperately, desperately in need of this money. rather than bleeding ordinary workers dry they could create a new industry and generate new jobs with new revenue. steven schork, new york is another one. steve moore mentioned that in california that have monterey shale which they refuse to take advantage of. we knew could be generated. there are tremendous formmations in new york and lord knows we need taxes here. >> the vein runs up through new york. you have the utica shale in eastern ohio, melissa. this brings up

elected in american history will have provided in eight years over the biggest oil and gas boom in american history. melissa: you're right. great point to end on. it is really ironic and has to do with technology that he probably wasn't aware of as it was happening. it is cones dental. very interesting. >> he had nothing to do with it. melissa: thanks for coming on. i didn't want to say it. glad you did. time for today's fuel gauge report. natural gas futures plunged. a jump in natural gas inventories last week, far surpassed estimates. forecasts call for mild weather across the country. that sent natural gas down more than 6%. on flip side, oil futures soared. snapping three-day losing streak. interest rate cut by european central bank. jobless claims data helped fuel the rally. crude settled up 3% at 93.99 a barrel. ceo of royal dutch/shell

will make early retirement. the announcement taking investors and company insiders by surprise. everyone says he is shocked. he says a change in life style. he took over in 2009. he plans to step down in the first half of 2014. update on that joint news conference by president obama and president of mexico. still hasn't started. i don't know what they're doing. probably having margaritas. when the question an answer session starts we'll take you are sheriff. next on "money" the economy is choppy but not stopping consumers from opening up their wallets. how do luxury hotels make sure profits check in. we have top executives from the four seasons. come back, please come back. jcpenney launch as apology campaign to make up for the ron johnson nightmare. may make more problems than it service. do you have too much money? ♪ .

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♪ . melissa: hospitality industry could be seeing a silver lining in the choppy economy. just recently we've gotten word that consumers are spending more, their confidence is up. personal income is climbing. how is this affecting the bottom line of the luxury hotel industry? what markets are seeing the biggest new opportunities? joining me now to talk about the business of travel, are the executive vice president of product and innovation for the four seasons, and paul james, starwood luxury brand leader. thanks for joining us. chris, let me start with you. the four seasons is fabulous and expensive. how are you doing in this economy right now? we said people are feeling better. i don't know if they're

feeling that much better. we have millions and millions of people out of work. what are you seeing? >> the good news for us luxury travel has never been stronger. i'm sure paul will echo the same. melissa: how is that possible? literally never been stronger? economy on fire and market skyrocket, 2006 and 2007, it was better than then. >> we're almost back to those same high occupancy levels. melissa: almost back, okay. >> almost back. melissa: okay. >> the great news is that them is bigger than ever before in travel. so destinations, like china, like so many other parts of the world is it that, the travelers are looking to go too are just opening up all sorts of opportunities for travel that they didn't see before. melissa: at the same time, paul, you have to different haven't -- differentiate yourself, right in order to attract travelers especially when you're at the high end. one thing you guys focus on i think is interesting, prearrival. is that a good investment? that takes hours from people being working at hotel. what does that mean? >> the whole experience

starting online, talking to the travel consultant, before you get to the hotel that whole planning experience is become part of what people are looking for. i think as more destinations open up and this is true, we're seeing more destinations that's where people want some advice. that's where they want insight and where they want guidance. >> reach out to them what can i do before you arrive? can i book you a spa? is that a chance, we're a business network so we want you to earn money. is that a chance to rack up more fees and get people to spend more money. >> is opportunity to help people understand things they can do while there and that helps the both sides. melissa: chris, what do you do to differentiate yourself? seems like there are more, luxury options than used to be. many, many years ago you heard about the ritz and sort of everything else. now the four season is enormous. there are so many different high-end brands. what do you do to differentiate yourself? >> i think one of the things we've taken a strong focus on, how do we evolve and continue to innovate.

we're a company that is a years old. to paul's point we're focused on the arrival experience too. things that are somewhat different today, customers want it their way, they want it on their terms. the arrival experience is just one great example some customers want to connect well in advance of their stay. others want the spontaneity of something that happens on property. some want to connect through mobile devices. some want to connect through the web. otherr want to connect through conventional way speaking to travel advisor or our trusted experts at the property level. we recently piloted a great program where we're working what we refer to as local experts. we actually profiled our concierge teams at our different properties and allow the customer to decide based on upon the profile who is the right fight for the concierge you want to engage with to improve the experience for you. melissa: paul, starwood is adding 100 hotels a year. i was shocked by that number. seems like a gamble. >> not a gamble. if you look where the world

is growing we're getting new customers from all over the world and we are seeing customers from china, india and other parts of europe. that is almost a perfect situation. we have more customers. melissa: what is the hottest market? >> all over. we're seeing multicultural cities people want to go to. new yorks, venices, parises, places where business and pleasure and the world comes together. middle east is really strong at the moment. it is becoming a cultural hub and people are moving, whether dubai or doha as a point to launch the rest of their journeys. melissa: that is really true. that is where everybody is expanding. good stuff guys. thank you very much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. melissa: did you see jcpenney? they're sorry, really, really sorry. the retailer launches an apology ad campaign to try to win back customers after that ron johnson problem. could this do more harm than good? we'll explain why might. that is coming up next. "piles of money" straight ahead. ♪ . we know a place where tossing and turning have

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♪ . melissa: jcpenney is really sorry about that whole ron johnson thing, so much so it has launched a whole apology ad campaign to try to make up for it. listen to this. >> it is no secret. recently jcpenney changed. some changes you liked.

and some you didn't. but what matters with mistakes is what we learn. we learned a very simple thing, to listen to you, to hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful. come back to jcpenney. we heard you. melissa: i don't know about you but i'm uncomfortable [laughing] is it enough to win back the hoards of disgruntled customers? could it do even more damage? joining me is marketing expert, peter shenkman, author of, nice companies finish first. i'm uncomfortable. i saw that live, real during a show. it was during a morning show. i just felt really, i wanted to hide from the television. >> there is a lot of problems with this commercial. first of all what you're doing apologizing for essentially not giving the changes enough time to take place. keep in mind when they fired the ceo, he had, four quarters, six quarters to make it. melissa: yeah. >> you need more than this. this is retail. you need more than that people to get them in and

accustomed. that was number one. number two they could have said things, without a commercial here is what we screwed up. here is what we did wrong and this is what we'll fix. they took away sales. jcpenney. people live on sales at jcpenney. melissa: penny, you're saving pennies. >> take away sales. a slap in the face to the long-time customer. they don't need commercials. sit down with a core group of 50 people been customers 30 years, to say help us stop screwing up. melissa: not only that. insulting to so many groups of people when they say please come back. >> right. melissa: customer that stayed feels like garbage. i don't count. and, obviously i don't realize i'm the only idiot that stayed. i also think that. >> market to the customers you have to get the customers you want. melissa: yeah. >> biggest mistake they made, they marketing to the customers they lost. focus on ones who stayed. we know what you're glad you're still here. let's make it better experience. melissa: not only that if you're somebody who didn't

go in and apologize the store. >> why would you go in now? melissa: what is wrong with this store they're making a huge apology. >> only aired three times course the week. premother's day thing. still bad. >> people saw it organically talking about it independent of this whole thing. apology campaign in general is not necessarily to terrible thing to do. thinking about dominoes's pizza. we have the ad. if we could run it. >> focus group and said some unflattering things about domino's pizza. >> crust is a little too rubbery. >> we're bringing in new and improved pizza. >> carlos. >> low quality and forgetable. >> i didn't know you were listening. >> domino's pizza should start over. >> she has no idea we're coming. >> yeah? >> if it is not great, tell me. >> i'm eating my words. >> i'm better. melissa: i mean, i remember seeing that when it really happened. that was pretty funny. >> you know what the difference about that? that was domino as saying we screwed up. here is how we impress upon

you, try new stuff. they went to people's home. this is what we're doing better. this scant stand. jcpenney saying we messed up. hope you come back. we'll show you something more different. melissa: they were real people. >> they were real people, yeah. melissa: those were real people. that is the other thing. >> this was proactive. jcpenney was whiney. best way to put it. dominoes was proactive. this is what we screwed up. the pizza is a product. a bad pizza is acceptable every once in a while if you can fix it, get a new one. this is store. this is store with everything you're going to pie. a whole exchange is bad, you can't really fix that. >> other really big difference, with domino's pizza the pizza was better. >> no question about it. melissa: they fixed the problem and told with you we fixed the problem. with jcpenney you don't know -- >> they didn't address the problem and didn't say what they would do to fix it. they said come back. like me saying i'm not a serial killer. come to my apartment late at night and i'll prove it to you.

melissa: that's right. peter shenkman, always great. thanks for coming on. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. melissa: here is our "money" question of the day. will jcpenney's apology ad campaign make you more likely to shop there. we want to hear from you. almost all of you said no on my twitter page. like us on facebook.co facebook.com/melissafrancisfox. or follow my on melissaafrancis. i read it. you don't like it. travel industry have gotten crushed by online travel sites. a travel agent roundtable lays out the detail. because at the end of the day, it is all about money and pizza. ♪ . change makes people nervous.

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♪ . melissa: travel is back, but if you're planning to take a trip anytime soon you might want to not log on to expedia travel quite yet. travel agents may seem

outdated given everything available on internet. you would be surprised to learn what they can do to book a vacation you can't find anywhere else. joining me someone from the american society of travel agents, and from quintessentially travel and sc, usa the parent company of liberty travel. people in these days don't think you need a travel agent. that you can get a better deal on your own. out of the gate i want you to try to come up with something you can do or provide a or a better deal than you can get from someone rather than if they went online and looked. zane, you first. what could you do that i couldn't get from expedia? >> melissa, thank you very much for having me. well a couple of things you can get when you work with a travel agent and expedia is online travel agency, but a couple things you get with the travel agent, you leverage the travel agent's experience and working with individual suppliers and so you actually, are part of a

larger buying group and you can --. melissa: maybe get a better deal. kelly, you work for quintessentially, which is a little different because it is, full disclosure i did not book you for the segment. i happen to be a member of quintessentially. that is cool. a service you join they do everything for you. >> yes. melissa: one of the things they do is travel. what can you do when you're booking travel if i go online that i'm not going to be able to get for myself? >> we cultivated amazing relationships with all the five star luxury hotels in the world. just to preface they we deal specifically with luxury five-star properties if you go on --. melissa: i got to stop right there. pores just started between president obama and mexico's president and we'll listen in hopefully get back to the travel segment afterwards. >> translator: pointing out will overcome sufficiently the soul of a fight that these two nations had on the issue of security.

it seems to be that trade is now a priority, no longer security is and for president obama, given your expert tease -- expert tease during this administration, when is your take on enrique pena nieto's new administration in terms of reforms? you have alleged that the reforms made so far that the u.s. government seeing this reform as a part of administration or a pact? thank you. >>. >> translator:. thank you very much. we have real launched our relationship and we have agreed on the clip mat which we're going to work on. we have he do find our priorities. we don't want to make this relationship targeted on one single issue. we want to broad own -- broaden our relations to

include different areas and we want to specially emphasize on the trade relation potential between the u.s. and mexico. we'll cover other areas, of course public safety is included and we have shared our view on that topic to work towards reducing violence by combating efficiently organized crime and i must insist we have reviewed the long list of potential, opportunities that we have identified in the economic relation between mexico in the area of trade and commerce. president obama has already put it for the u.s., we represent a market that receives their exports. we're the second -- destination and in our case, the united states ranks first. we need to identify the

areas where we can supplement each other's production of goods and exports and goods from mexico to the world. because these products have high content of u.s. input. as i have stated, this means that if mexico does well in its productive capabilities, that is to say, by trading more labor and its capability to export more products the u.s. will benefit and vice versa. that is why this level meeting foresees the participation of officials that are part of my cabinet. the u.s. has not a tradition of having cabinets like the ones we have but president obama has decided that high-ranking officials from different government agencies will participate including the u.s. vice president. they will be part of this

high-level group that will define specific actions that, what has been an do so far in the private sector comply men at thatry has happened and we have seen a good flow between trade between our countries. there is no doubt that even when it has reached a certain level we can push it further. we can extend its capabilities if both of our governments identify the right mechanisms, the right formula, to boost economic integration and that is precisely the agreement that we have reached today. >> first of all just on the security issue, i think it's natural that a new administration here in mexico is looking carefully at how it is going to approach what obviously has been a very serious problem and we are very much looking

forward to cooperating in any ways that we can to battle organized crime as president nieto has stated. and we anticipate that there will be strong cooperation. that on our side of the border we have continued work to do to reduce deman and to try to stem the flow of guns and cash from north to south. so this is a partnership that will continue. i think that president pena nieto and his team are organizing a vision about how they can most efficiently and effectively address these issues and we will interact with them in ways that are appropriate, respecting that ultimately mexico has to deal with its problems internally and we have to deal with ours as well. with respect to the president's agenda, we had a wonderful relationship with

president calderon and the previous administration. the bonds between our two countries go beyond party. if republican president replaces me, there's still going to be great bonds between mexico and the united states because, not just of geography but friendship and our interactions but what i have been impressed with is the president's boldness in his reform agenda. he's tackling big issues and that's what the times demand. we live in a world that is changing rapidly and in both the united states and in mexico, we can't be caught flat-footed as the world advances. we have to make sure that our young people are the best educated in the world. and that means that some of the old ways of educating our kids may not work. we have to make sure that we're staying at the forefront of science and technology. that means we have to make sure we're investing in

those areas appropriately. we have to, make certain that our economies are competitive around the world. and, that when it comes to energy, that we're addressing issues like climate change. but also making sure that it's done in a way creating jobs and businesses on both sides of the border. and so, you know, what i very much appreciate is, the president's willingness to take on hard issues because sometimes i think there's a temptation, once somebody is elected to just stay elected as opposed to trying to make sure that, you know, we use our time as well as we can, to bring about the kind of changes that will help move the country forward. >> from the u.s. press, julie pace of the associated press. >> thank you, mr. president. administration officials including secretary hagel say that the u.s. is now

more seriously considering sending weapons to the syrian rebels. how has your thinking on the effectiveness of such a step evolved as the violence in syria has continued and do you now see lethal aid as the best option available for a u.s. escalation in syria? i also had a question on immigration i was hoping you both could address. senator rubio said today the immigration bill being considered on capitol hill may not pass the senate unless the border security measures are strengthened. are you concerned that an effort to bolster those border security triggers may make a pathway to citizenship almost impossible for many people already in the u.s. illegally including many mexicans? thank you. >> well, first of all on syria, what secretary hagel said today is what i've been saying now for months which is, we are continually evaluating the situation on the ground, working with our international partners to find the best way to move a

political transition that has assad leaving, stablizes the country and ends the killing and allows the syrian people to determine their own destiny. and we've made enormous investments not just in humanitarian aid but also in helping the opposition organize itself and make sure that it has consistent vision about how it's operating and as we've seen evidence of further bloodshed potential use of chemical weapons inside of syria, what i've said is that we're going to look at all options and we know that there are countries that are currently providing lethal aid to the opposition. we also know that the assad regime is not just getting lethal aid but also training and support from countries outside of syria and we want to evaluate and make sure that every step that we take

advances the day when assad is gone and you have people inside of syria who are able to determine their own destiny rather than engage in a long, bloody, sectarian war. and you know, we'll continue to evaluate that every step of the way. but as i mentioned at my press conference back in d.c., we want to make sure that we look before we leap and that what we're doing is actually helpful to the situation as opposed to making it more deadly or more complex. with respect to immigration reform i expressed to president pena nieto i'm optimistic about this getting done because this is the right thing to do. we've seen leaders from both parties indicate that now's the time to get comprehensive immigration reform done. and part of what we

discussed is the importance of getting it done precisely because we do so much business between our two countries that for us to constantly bog down on these border issues and debates instead of moving forward with a 21st century border that is maintaining security, and that is making sure that legal immigration and legal trade and commerce is facilitated, but at the same time insures that we're not seeing a lot of illegal traffic and, allows to us continue to be a nation of i am my fwranlts that has contributed so much to the wealth and prosperity of our nation, if we're going to get that done, now is the time to do it. and the bill that senator rubio and others put forward i think is a great place to start. it doesn't contain

everything i want. and i suspect that the final legislation will not contain everything i want. it won't contain everything that republican leaders want either but if we can get a basic framework that secures our border, building on the extraordinary success we've already had and the cooperation we've had with the mexican government that cracks down on employers who are not taking the law seriously, that streamlines and enhances our legal immigration system because the problems with legal immigration system often force people into the illegal immigration system, and, provide the pathway to citizenship for those who are currently living in the shadows inside of the united states, if it has those elements, then we should be able to build on that and we can have arguments about other element of this as we

go further but that's the core of what we need and frankly, you know, we've put enormous resources into border security. don't take my word for it. you had folks like senator mccain and senator graham come down to the border and see the progress that's been made. there are areas where there are still more work to be done. some of it by the way is not simply securing the united states from illegal traffic. some of it is also improving the infrastructure which we talked about for commerce to be able to come in smoothly. which creates jobs and, you know, helps our businesses both in the united states and in mexico. but, what i'm not going to do is to go along with something that --. melissa: that was president obama. he is obviously there at a press conference with the president of mexico and they are talking about immigration between the two countries. that is going to do it for

us here on "money" today. we'll see you back here tomorrow and "the willis report" is coming up next. >> mellow everybody, i'm gerri willis. tonight on "the willis report". carmakers are slashing prices to get to you buy. new warnings about one of the most popular cosmetics in the country, lipstick. is it toxic? and the business of travel, you don't have to wait in those security lines ever again. we're on the case tonight on "the willis report" gerri: all that and more coming up. but first the largest u.s. futures exchange in the country in damage control mode after