the white house playing defense, trying to rebound from its admission it has no strategy for dealing with the terror threat from isis in syria. while president obama wrestles to come up with a plan, other v offense. british prime minister says the islamic state is a bigger threat to britain's security than the country has ever seen before and lays out a strategy to tackle the threat. i'm leland vittert in for uma pemmaraju. thanks for spending your saturday with us. let's start with molly with what has become a wide gap of rhetoric across the atlantic. >> the white house is trying to explain president obama's statement that his administration doesn't, quote, have a strategy yet for

combatting isis in syria. by saying that the president meant he wanted to give the pentagon time to work up those strategic options. at the same time, secretary of state john kerry says he's working to put together a coalition of nations to, quote, confront the cancer of isis. kerry wrote in an op-ed for "the new york times," quote, next week on the sidelines of the nato summit in wales, secretary of defense chuck hagel and i will meet with0akyk television. back at home, two republican senators say the president's

statement about no strategy yet in syria, they call it startling and dangerous. senators john mccain and lindsey graham say the administration has a plan -- needs to have a plan that defeats isis. they also wrote an op-ed in "the new york times" today saying, quote, the president clearly wants to move deliberate reand consult with allies and congress as he considers what to do about isis. no one disputes that goal. but the threat isis poses only grows over time. it cannot be contained, it should be confronted. this requires a comprehensive strategy, presidential leadership and a far greater sense of urgency. senators graham and mccain say if the president changes course and adopts a strategic approach, then he deserves support. leland. >> molly, thanks. many officials are warning isis fighters, including those with american or european passports are literally one plane ticket away from attacking the united states.

congressman peter king, chairman of the house subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence joins us now from new york. congressman, i want to start with this. there is this wide gap between what you hear from president obama and what you hear from david cameron. cameron really laid out a clear and present danger. on the other hand president obama said yesterday it is the media that makes you feel the world is falling apart. you see a lot of the same intelligence these two gentlemen that that got it right. >> david cameron, it's not even close. david cameron is entirely on the mark. president obama is denying reality. i don't know what world he's in. even now when he's talking about trying to come up with a strategy, trying to get allies, we have a year to do this. it's been at least a year we've known about this going back to january and february when isis took fallujah back in june and took mosul, there was no sense of urgency from the president. he gets much more concerned about domestic issues, about health care, whatever it is

happens to be the issue of the day. but when it comes to life and death for americans with isis, he's awol. i cannot explain the casual attitude that he had at that news conference the other day and speech he apparently made when he said there's always problems in the world, don't get too excited. david cameron -- i just wish as an american, it pains me to say this, but i wish our president was showing the same leadership that the british prime minister is showing. >> speaking of the british prime minister, many folks have talked about this a little bit in the way folks were talking about things preworld war ii and in some ways comparing david cka cameron the same way winston church ill talked about naziism. is that a fair comparison in your mind? >> yes, it is. no two comparisons are ever alike, but in the 21st century, this is a serious threat. it's more serious than any other we face right now and it potentially could even be worse

than naziism. we're talking about german warfare, we're talking about nuclear weapons, all of which can be done in a way to contaminate our cities and have a horrible impact on europe and the united states. david cameron is on to that but so is everyone else who looks at the intelligence. it's there. i'm on the intelligence committee, homeland security committee and it's been there at least a year. we've had the president the last several years, al qaeda is decimated. >> you brought up the issue of germ germ warfare. it talked about a bubonic plague bomb. are you confident sitting on these committees that the united states' intelligence is really good enough to understand the threat coming from isis or there's such wide gaps that we don't know what we don't know? >> i would say we're doing a very good job.

you're right, you don't know what you don't know, but i think the intelligence community, the military, homeland security, fbi, all of them know what they have to do. all they can do is really play defense. only the president can go on offense and that means military action, urgent strong action overseas and mobilizing the american people. the american people have to have a leader like david cameron who told his people how serious this is, because the day is going to come when the u.s. will have to fully mobilize and at that time the american people won't know what it's about. all i've heard from president obama is it's not that big a deal. >> one of the things that we did hear from david cameron is he said there were gaps in our arsenal in terms of what he needed and the british government needed to do to be able to deal with what he said was up to 500 british nationals, british passport holders who were going to syria or had been to syria to fight and be trained by isis. does the united states have the same kind of gaps in our arsenal as the brits do? if so, what could be done to

close those? >> it's difficult because almost nobody leaves the united states to fight for al qaeda or isis says that's the reason they're going. they could travel to europe and work their way down to syria. they could go to any other country in the middle east and work their way over to syria and it would never show on their passport. so the problem is, and we are -- again, especially units in our government, whether or not the president is involved or not, we have elements in our government that basically form a task force which are monitoring americans going to syria on behalf of isis or other al qaeda groups attempting to monitor working with the european al lies. this is a full-court press. but again this is serious stuff. you're not going to get everyone and that's the danger you face when you have not just 500. david cameron might be a little low on that. i think it might be more than 500 brits. but in any event thousands of europeans, all of whom have european passports which means they can enter the united states without getting a visa. the americans that have gone

over there can come back on an american passport. we're monitoring and looking for them but it's a big world out there and sometimes it's like finding a needle in a haystack and our borders aren't that secure either. so you have all of that coming together which is why all of this has to be so comprehensive, including a sustained, military operation against isis in the middle east. >> one of the things you mentioned is the issue of the border and we already know that there's about the threat from the southern border in terms of isis looking at that as a way into the united states. we're going to get to that point a little bit later in the show. representative king, peter king, thank you for joining us, sir. we appreciate your insights and analysis. speaking of more insights, general scales is going to join us in a second for more perspective. earlier this morning, i spoke with former second of homeland security tom ridge who had more on what the u.s. should be doing. >> there's clearly the effort to go there, so how you identify those and prevent them from going, but there's two other groups they have to be equally

worried about and more concerned about, those who are returning because they can move through europe, particularly just coming into the united states without a visa and get embedded. we just better anticipate that there are sleeper cells here. i would be losing sleep over the fact that we had potentially another tsarnaev brothers calamity disaster when nobody in the community knew about the presence of the terrorists until after the fact. that i would lose sleep over. >> so what can the u.s. military do in syria? what are the challenges? where are the intelligence gaps? major general bob scales joins us now to help understand and break down the options of what the pentagon can and should offer president obama. general, from talking to your folks in the military, is it that they don't have options or president obama doesn't want to use them? >> oh, they have options and they already presented options to the president. let's wait for a strategy. out of that, these options will be turned into a campaign plan. and the most likely plan would go like this.

a three-step process. number one, get an intelligence eye over the heart and the head of this isis entity in syria. the center of gravity of the enemy is not in iraq, it's in syria. second, develop a sustained air campaign that strikes at the logistical heart and the command and control of isis in syria. and third, much like we did successfully in the afghanistan in 2001-2002, conduct an operation of direct action to take out the upper middle management of isis in syria. these are the commanders, the managers, the financiers, the enforcers, the transporters, the brains of the organization. once you take out that, then the rest of the organization will begin to fall apart. >> you talk about this as an organization. is it a greater challenge for dealing with isis, because it is not simply a terrorist organization, this is actually a

state, a islamic state. they control vast territory, they have a large army that they can move around. how does that make it harder? >> it makes it much harder because isis is huge. remember now in the past our special operating forces and air forces have been dealing with al qaeda in small batches, going after ones and twos in order to turn the tide of the campaign. this is going after what in essence is a ground army that has a state to build itself around, that has enormous resources. >> and money. >> money, but more importantly is talent. remember, 40% of the senior officers in isis are former bathist officers in saddam's army, so these aren't amateurs. that's why it's important to have a plan, a campaign plan and one that's not going to be done over a weekend, leland, it's going to take years, perhaps a decade, to finally unwind this organization and make it go away. >> and when you talk about the need for a plan, as we've seen from isis, and they have shown in the videos that they put up,

these folks are depraved but they're not stupid in the way that they have gone about this. is the fact that it's taken the pentagon and for that matter president obama a longer time to come up with a plan, how dangerous is that in terms of giving these guys lead time to build in, to develop command and control, develop contingencies and also to learn a little bit about what the united states is doing, saying we don't have a plan yet telegraphing the wrong thing? >> first of all, it telegraphs weakness. remember, the first principle of war is that war is not a test of materi material, it's a test of will. if you ask the men on the street who's got the superior will at this time, clearly it's isis. but the pentagon does have plans, it does have contingencies. but the problem is the temporal dimension. we're taking too long to get on with it. god forbid that isis becomes not a state-supported terror but a terrorist group that owns a state. >> are we there yet though? >> not yet, but they're building a sanctuary. and when you build a sanctuary,

it's far more difficult to get into that than it is just to kill spurious terrorist groups scattered across the terrain. this is very, very serious, very dangerous, and we need more resources to take it down, leland. >> as you said, it could be a decade-long fight. major general bob scales, thanks for your insights, sir. as we have been discussing, the isis threat in syria continues to worsen. remember it was just one year ago when president obama announced a shift of strategy in syria, seeking to get congressional approval rather than going it alone and authorizing military strikes against the assad regime. chief washington correspondent james rosen looks at how that strategy may have affected the growth of isis now in syria. >> the chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time sensitive. it will be effective tomorrow or next week or one month from now. >> reporter: now one year has passed since president obama abruptly cancelled planned air strikes in syria against the

assad regime and the same commander in chief is again contemplating air strikes in syria, this time against isis. at the time the obama administration denied jihadist influence in syria was on the rise. >> it seems like initially the opposition was more democratic, as time has gone by it's become more infiltrated by al qaeda. is that basically true? >> no. that is actually basically not true. it's basically incorrect. the opposition has increasingly become more defined by its moderation. >> reporter: friendsly arab governments privately condemned the administration's conduct as erratic and weak, likely to 'em bolden bad actors, and many in the united states agreed. >> the failure to do anything there, not just strike assad but helped create the vacuum isis has exploited. >> reporter: british prime minister david cameron, whose backing of strikes against the assad regime was overruled by parliament cautions against

linkage of last year's red line moment to today's struggle of isis. >> i wouldn't overanalyze the connection between that vote about chemical weapons and what we face today, which is a terrorist state in the heart of iraq. >> reporter: the state department likewise cites the destruction of syria's declared stockpile of chemical weapons. >> we view the outcome as one that is superior to having targeted a few sites or targeted in response to that a couple of places where you would not have eliminated all of the chemical weapons and the stockpile that was in syria. >> reporter: after he finishes attending the nato summit in wales with president obama, secretary of state kerry will head to the middle east, presumably to help develop the regional piece of the strategy that the president himself so famously acknowledged the united states doesn't presently have. leland. >> james rosen from the state department. russia now faces even more sanctions from the european union over the crisis in

ukraine. european union leaders are meeting at this hour in belgium poised to raise the financial price for president putin's latest moves. this comes as ukraine says that pro-russian rebels have made fresh gains in the east. russia continues to deny any military involvement in ukraine, but nato estimates that at least 1,000 russian soldiers are in that country. we're going to have a live report on ukraine coming up later in the show. for a second, imagine having $55,000 in new debt. well, that is every man, woman and child in america's share of the national debt right now, and pull out your checkbook. it's getting worse. we're going to tell you the new record high milestone coming up that many say is a new low for the american economy. and comedienne joan rivers remains in critical condition after recent throat surgery. we'll tell you the challenges she now faces. and it's that time of year again, back to school, including for all those undocumented and

illegal children who flooded across the border earlier this year, with some saying they're draining resources and funds from our school system. congressman trent frank is going to join us with his thoughts on the president's plan for immigration reform. all that and more when "america's news headquarters" live from the nation's capital returns. stay with us. you owned your car for four years. you named it brad. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends. three jobs. you're like "nothing can replace brad!" then liberty mutual calls. and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement, we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ [music]

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built for business. we are awaiting president obama's decision initially promised before the end of the summer on imgreat lakes policy. the president blames congress of putting him in a position having to sign another executive action. however, a new problem has emerged. what to do with the thousands of illegal immigrant children who have already crossed the border. >> reporter: wl schools opening for a new academic year, many such as those in anne arundel county, maryland, are seeing a surge of new students. unaccompanied minors who recently crossed our border. >> they may have only gone to second or third grade, have limited literacy in their first language. that does create a different kind of teaching impact on a school than our traditional immigrant families. >> reporter: the children are sent to sponsors, typically

extended family members, who take care of them while they await immigration proceedings. for example, health and human services says harris county, texas, the houston area received 2866 children. nassau county, new york, on long island has taken on 1,096. essex county, massachusetts, has added 204 children. a local mayor says she's proud to represent a diverse community but she's taken a lot of heat by expressing her concern. >> i have been called a racist, i have been called a hater. that is not the case. i'm simply looking at this from the point of view of the economic impact it has had on my city. >> reporter: louisiana governor bobby jindal said they promised to keep them in the loop. >> in my state the obama administration sent over a thousand children without telling us, without telling social services, without telling the schools. >> reporter: yesterday president obama said the numbers are trending in the right direction.

>> the number of apprehensions in august are down from july and are actually lower than they were august of last year. apprehensions in july were half of what they were in june. >> reporter: congressman lamar smith wrote this letter signed by 24 texas republicans asking mr. obama to discourage any future border surges and to reinforce existing law but he doesn't sound confident. >> i really think 95% of these illegal minors are in the country to stay. the administration is not serious about sending them back home to their families they left behind. they're going to be enrolled in our schools, that's a certainty, and that's going to be an additional strain on the resources there. >> reporter: house judiciary chair bob good lat and chuck grassley warned friday about a fraud loophole with immigration officials not verifying documentation as part of the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. their concern is applicants gaming the system. leland. >> mike emanuel reporting. there are reports this morning that president obama may delay a decision on immigration

until after the midterm elections in november. congressmen have been debating the issue for months and along the border states it remains a hot topic. joining me from phoenix, arizona, congressman trent franks. congressman, thanks for being here. it's pretty easy in washington to lose track of all the crises in the world. there's isis, the ukraine and other things going on. is immigration in arizona still top of mind? give us a sense of how bad the problem is and has gotten over the summer. >> well, it certainly is. immigration has always been a challenge in arizona, being a border state, but it's especially been difficult in the last couple of years related to the president sending this message to central america and other southern country that say we won't enforce the law when it relates to unaccompanied minors. and that has supercharged the influx of unaccompanied minors and just been like any other market-based situation. people do that which gets

rewarded. when the president of the united states sends a message that it's okay to come, then they do and that's increased the influx at least tenfold. >> we just heard from mike emanuel about the issues involving school kids in terms of this influx having to put them in school, clothe them, oftentimes having to feed them at lunch and those kind of things. give us a sense of the other challenges that this influx is causing in arizona in addition to the schools. have you seen an increase in crime? what's happening on the ground? >> well, there's a genuine concern for the children in arizona. and, you know, i used to head the children's department or the office for children in arizona some years ago, so i have a great concern for these children. but what is profoundly significant that i think this administration misses is that when they send this message, as they did, it creates additional children coming over and they make that long, very dangerous trek across the border. now, i don't want to shift gears on you, but i also serve on the armed services committee, and

the great danger we have more than anything else related to border security in arizona is the nexus to national security. some of us have talked about that a long time, but people don't realize that there are really only two components to any national security threat. that's intent and capacity. and this president has ignored the intent of enemies like isis to exploit a porous border. if they ever gain the capacity to hurt us, i just have to say to you with iran on the cuss -- cusp of potentially gaining a nuclear weapons capability, we could see a situation where terrorists gain access toeapons of nuclear terrorism could fall across this world and if that happens, this president will be remembered in history as the one who stood by with a golf club in his hand and let it happen. >> we do know that isis has been looking and at least there's chatter on some of their social media accounts about exploiting the porous nature of the southern border in terms of being able to bring people

across. do you think that this issue of the president possibly delaying any kind of action on the border is one of good policy in the sense that he's trying to make sure that he gets it right, or is this playing politics because he doesn't want to take executive nx a way that could hurt democrats come the midterm? >> well, i don't want to be uncharitable but that's an obvious answer in my judgment because he's done it before related to obamacare and other things. he is putting off the decision to deal with this, but the fact remains that he plans not only to circumvent congress and the american people but to do something he knows they don't want. but in this case, in the world that we live in now with isis in the world that in my judgment has developed because of his policies, he is now placing innocent american citizens at risk and it is a disgrace that is bigger than my ability to articulate. >> that is a very chilling understanding of the problem as you see it. quickly, from the folks that

you've talked to in arizona, is it possible to seal the border down there and stop to your point an isis threat from coming across or is it right now just too big of a job? >> no, it's possible. it is a very big job, but i will suggest to you that the effort really hasn't been made by the federal government. and i'm in a position to know that. when you have unaccompanied minors able to come across this border, do you doubt that committed terrorists can do the same. and i just hope that we don't have this horrifying realization of what a mistake that we made by allowing this to continue the way it has. >> time will tell and time will also tell if the president decides to delay or bring forth his proposal as promised before the end of summer. congressman trent frank, thanks for coming on a holiday weekend. we appreciate you being here. >> thank you. still ahead, comedienne joan rivers remains in a new york hospital after going into cardiac arrest during throat surgery. we're going to have an update on her condition coming up. plus, louisiana senator mary

landrieu's race for re-election hits a roadblock that several washington veterans have stumbled over before. we'll explain. and european union leaders meet in brussels to come up with a plan to punish russia over ukraine. the details from both sides in a live report coming up next. my name is jenny, and i quit smoking with chantix. before chantix, i tried to quit... probably about five times. it was different than the other times

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the european union is meeting in brussels today to decide if it will hit russia with new sanctions over the crisis in ukraine. the meeting comes as ukraine's president is warning that the conflict threatens the peace and stability of all of europe. dominic is live with the details. >> reporter: hey there, leland. nato now saying there are at least 1,000 russian troops in eastern ukraine and the europeans gathering to see what further sanctions they can actually impose on vladimir putin, russia's president, in a

bid to actually stop the invasion from going further. you've got the ukrainian president, petro poroshenko in brussels meeting with the e.u. chief today. in a couple of hours' time we'll hear from the europeans exactly what the sanctions are. they are already saying there will be sanctions but no guidance on that yet. of course poroshenko is urging the europeans to take action. >> and thousands of the foreign troops and hundreds of the foreign tanks now on the territory of ukraine. it is very high risk, not only for the peace and stability for ukraine, but for the whole peace and stability in europe. >> reporter: you can see just how severe it is. his troops falling back today from two key cities on the main artery that leads to the russian border. the ukrainians also announcing they have had another fighter jet shot down.

we've seen the e.u. and the united states impose sanctions already on russian officials and also on its financial industry. how much further these sanctions will go remains to be seen and we'll know in a couple of hours' time. but one thing is for absolute certain here, leland, that the europeans have absolutely no appetite to see a military confrontation with vladimir putin. listen. >> we are in a very serious outside dramatic situation. we might see a situation where we reach the point of no return. >> reporter: he's also saying he still holds out for some form of political solution to this but you've got nato's secretary general saying that everything vladimir putin is doing with those russian troops in eastern ukraine really defies anything for a diplomatic solution and a peaceful one at that. >> putin has certainly doubled down in his comments as of yet.

thanks, dominic. louisiana senator mary landrieu is the latest washington veteran to come over fire over her address. two of her republican challengers say the three-term incumbent is no longer a resident of her home state. they say she really lives in washington while claiming her parents' home in new orleans as her primary louisiana residence. her campaign says the family home is owned by landrieu and her parents and that louisiana is where she votes and pays taxes. the tea party candidate in the race has filed papers asking local and state officials to investigate the claim. tough new texas abortion restrictions that would have closed all but a handful of clinics are on hold. on friday a federal judge ruled that the new law requiring abortion clinics to meet hospital level operating standards is unconstitutional. before the ruling, dozens of abortion clinics were facing a

shutdown on monday when the law was to take effect. the state says it is going to appeal that ruling. is it possible that obamacare red tape could actually tie up your tax refund next spring? some tax professionals are worried that if you got health care coverage under the law, you'll have to file a new form similar to a w-2 to get a tax credit. but some worry that the department of health and human services won't get those forms out in time, which could delay millions of refunds. the obama administration says they're working on it. comedienne and entertainer joan rivers remains in a serious condition in a new york hospital. the latest on all of her health coming up. plus, race car driver tony stewart gets back behind the wheel after the incident that low driver kevin ward jr. we'll tell you where he's racing coming up. (vo) friday night has always

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welcome back this saturday. here's a look at the stories making headlines this hour. as islamic militants continue to take the fight over land in iraq and syria, secretary of state john kerry is now calling for a global coalition to stop isis from spreading. global leaders are also concerned about the threat. british prime minister david cameron and the saudi king are warning that an attack on the west could come soon. comedienne joan rivers remains in serious condition at a new york city hospital. she went into cardiac arrest during a throat procedure on thursday. her daughter, melissa, said in a statement her mother is receiving the best care and treatment possible. it is back to driving for nascar driver tony stewart. he'll compete in the sprint cup series tomorrow night in atlanta. it's been three weeks since stewart was involved in a racing accident that killed driver kevin ward jr. that incident is still under investigation. and jurors will soon become deliberating in the corruption trial of former virginia

governor bob mcdonnell. the prosecution and defense finished their closing arguments yesterday. mcdonnell and his wife are accused of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement. those are the top stories right now from america's news headquarters, but you're going to have to brace yourself for this next story. the u.s. debt level is fast approaching $18 trillion. that is well more than $55,000 for every man, woman and child in the united states. in a new report out this week it shows that number is only going to get larger. rich edison has the details on the latest report from the congressional budget office. rich. >> reporter: well, it's a familiar debt warning from the congressional budget office. government officials have just updated the numbers. they're still troubles. the federal government is approaching $18 trillion of debt. then health care and entitlement

costs will push government debt to unsustainable levels. for this fiscal year the congressional budget office says the federal government will add about a half a trillion dollars to the national debt. the debt the public holds will hit three-quarters of the u.s. economy, and it's heading to 77% by 2024. that's when the federal government willow nearly $800 billion annually just on interest payments. analysts say those numbers are optimistic, as congress usually adds costly spending and tax benefits. the economists for the u.s. chamber of commerce says all this debt will eventually slow economic growth. >> by the end of the ten-year period, we are looking at debt levels of close to 77.5% to gdp and that's anly high level. that causes misallocation of resources, slower productivity growth, slower wage growth and an economy whose standard of living just doesn't grow as

fast. >> driving all this debt, federal entitlement programs account for most of the government spending and combined are up 4% this year. spending on medicaid with more enrollees thanks to obamacare is up 15%. social security costs have risen 5% and medicare is up 2%. the congressional budget office says costs for the federal health programs will rise 85% in the next decade. >> thanks, rich. we've got more good financial news for you. not really, more bad news. gas prices are about to soar in one state. you're going to find out who's about to pay a whole lot more at the pump, and this is probably more important. why they're going to, coming up next. h. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief.

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you always hear about the pain at the pump. well, it's about to get worse for drivers in california. already saddled with one of the country's highest gas taxes, the golden state will soon tack on another tax to enforce its landmark greenhouse gas emissions law. here's more. >> it's terrible. the economy the way it is right now with jobs and everything, it's crazy. >> reporter: at 68 cents a gallon, californians already pay the nation's second highest gas

tax. in january, it goes up again. >> gas prices go up, you know, my deposable income goes down. >> reporter: who's to blame, big oil, the middle east, wall street? new tax on oil refiners as part of its climate change law, cost ultimately paid for by carbon c. those could rise so we could look at 50 cents even a dollar a gallon. >> supporters claim it won't cost that much and will help the environment in the long run. >> we will now tackle probably 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the state that are emitted through mostly transportation, through oil and gas use. >> california already banks a billion dollars by taxing car n carbon. officials had promised to use that revenue to clean the air. so far, it's paid for affordable

housing, high-speed rail and environmental projects that help some but not the majority who pay the tax. >> i've got to go to my clients and say i'm going to increase my prices and all that. i don't think it will be any good for any of us. >> the obama administration continues to make a stand on climate change. working around congress to get in international climate agreement even as a tough recent gallup poll shows green issues rank quite low on america's priority list, rating with only 1% of those asked. meanwhile, immigration, unemployment and the cost of health care all ranked higher. some democrats in tough reelection battles are even backing away from the president on this issue. joining us with more of the politics of this is susan fa reach yoe, chief congressional correspondent for the washington zam examiner. we've got climate issues as 1% of americans' top priorities number one. number two, it's not like the

president doesn't have anything on the plight. you have immigration, isis, ukraine there's a few things to worry about. why now take up this issue so controversial and not many care about? >> i think the president is trying to walk a line between legacy building. he's in his second term, almost in the second half of his second term. and trying not to throw democrats under the bus. the 2014 election right now has democrats really vulnerable, republicans are poised to take over the senate. i think you see the white house right now floating the climate pact idea out in the media and seeing where it goes. you see pushback, mary landrieu from louisiana, also rick 98 hall from west virginia from all come out against the climate deal. other democrats have remained silent. i think you'll see perhaps the president getting even vaguer on the climate pac until after the november election. the same applies to immigration. you mentioned earlier a potential delay in the immigration foration law change.

he may wait. >> are democrats on capitol hill worried not even noesly about the president's coat tails not being big enough for them but worried about the president's policies hurting them? >> oh, the short answer to that is yes. i think that's why you see behind the scenes scurrying talks between democrats an the white house about the timing of all this. you have on immigration, immigration proponents saying he should act and do things now and not worry about politics. but you have others who are really concerned. the president has to decide, are we going to lose the senate anyway? should i just move ahead and general more excitement from the base or hold off? what we've seen in the president's administration is this indecisiveness. look what just happened with foreign pol 0cy. we don't have a plan yet. the same thing is happening with the domestic agenda. he's really indecisive. >> not a lot of plans. >> with politics behind it all. >> you mentioned the senate, which obviously there's key races. one of them is louisiana, mary landrieu, who just put out this

ad. take a listen. >> for years she's forced washington to respect louisiana. >> the administration's policies are simply wrong when comes to oil and gas production in this nation. >> like stopping offshore drilling. >> she almost sounds like a republican in that ad. >> sure. >> when you look at the senate right now, take us through just how worried democratic senators are in these vulnerable races about the president's domestic agenda and for that matter foreign policy agenda the next two months. >> leland, you have to look at the senate race at a tipping point. there are seven or eight key race wrz it's almost a tossup. it could fall to either republicans or democrats. what the president could do right now by implementing policy that's would hurt red state democrats is push it further into republican favor. and you have mary landrieu trying to stop that from happening, thus the that pushes back against the president's climate change policy. >> is the president -- is the white house and the president

listening to the senators or just going it alone? >> oh, yes, i think they are. that's why you see the pause, hesitation, mrafr particularly immigration. new hampshire is an example. you have scott brown up by double digits. there you have an example where the president's policies may be hurting democrats in these swing states. >> new hampshire, a lot of places, obviously louisiana a number of other states. >> arkansas, north carolina. right. >> we've got two months to figure it out and see what the president does. >> right. >> susan from the washington examiner, thank you. >> you bet. speaking of the holidays, we cruise into the labor day holiday just before the midterms get heat up. we're celebrating the all-american worker. you may be surprised to find out the 40-hour workweek is, well, longer. we'll tell you how much, next.

♪ ♪ ♪ great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save. and there is nothing like working hard for the weekend, especially of course when it includes a holiday. but how about working an extra day? a new gallup poll says half of americans employed full time work an average of 47 hours per week. almost a full workday longer than the standard 40 hours. the survey found that salaried workers tend to work longer

hours than those who are hourly and others have more than one job. that's all for me here in washington. "america's news headquarters" rolls on. kelly write, heather childress are standing by in new york. take care. hello, everyone. i'm kelly wright. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's news headquarters. >>" i'm heather childers. syrian rebels attacking u.n. peacekeepers in the golan heights. >> russia facing more sanctions as european union leaders huddle in the next steps in the growing crisis. joan rivers remains in serious condition at a new york city hospital. we'll have the very latest.