martha: so tomorrow night a fox news exclusive that you do not want to miss. peter doocy speaks with the man who killed osama bin laden starting tomorrow night at 10 p.m. eastern with the second part airing on wednesday. eric, thank you very much for being here. bye, everybody, we'll see you back here tomorrow. ♪ ♪ heather: good morning to you. was the leader of isis killed during a weekend airstrike? jon: good morning to you, i'm jon scott. a new report out of the middle east says the leader of the islamic state has been critically injured in an airstrike. our pebble gone says there were missions in northern iraq over the weekend, but it has no information to corroborate reports that al-baghdadi was injured. the terrorist leader who has run isis since 2010 has a $10 million bounty on his head. conor powell is following the story live from our mideast

bureau in jerusalem. conor, what do we know? >> reporter: rumors have been swirling around the middle east about the fate of al-baghdadi. both the iraqi interior ministry and defense ministry have issued statements saying that they say he was critically wounded during an operation led by iraqi security forces, and they say he has noween taken back into syria and is receiving medical treatment there. they also say they killed a senior isis military commander during this raid. but the pentagon is telling fox news that they are very skeptical of these iraqi claims, very little is known about this self-appointed call live of the islamic state. he has led isis since 2010, now injuring or killing him would be a major coupe for the u.s.-led coalition, but pentagon officials say they are investigating these claims, but privately they say it's very unlikely that baghdadi was injured in large part because the u.s. simply doesn't trust the statements coming out of

baghdad. iraqi officials have repeatedly misled and overstated their fighting capabilities and their ability to defeat isis really ever since this summer, iraqi troops have been fleeing the fight and during that time baghdad was claiming they were defeating isis, so there's very little trust about what the iraqi defense my industry is putting out. on social media isis has denied the claims saying that isis' leader, al-baghdadi was, quote, well. the bigger question, jon, is what does this all mean if he was injured or killed? according to analysts, isis is such a powerful fighting machine that even if he was injured or killed, they would still be a formidable force because they have money, they have a lot of experienced fighters, andhey control a lot of territory and really there isn't a credible fighting force on the ground to defeat them even if baghdadi, jon, is killed. jon: his departure would be very welcome news, obviously. conor powell, thank you. stay on top of it for us.

heather: we'll going to talk with colonel bill cowan ability that in just a few minutes -- about that in just a few minutes. dozens of veterans reportedly died while they waited for medical care, the agency accused of trying to cover up long wait times and now the new veterans administer or revealing last night he apparently has a list of 1,000 people he wants to axe from that agency because they, quote, violated our rules. listen. >> how many employees do you think should be fired? based on what you know? >> well, the report we've passed up to the senate committee and house committee has about 35 names on it. i've got another report that has over a thousand. >> if a thousand people need to go, give me a sense of what are some of the things that they did? >> well, we're simplistically talking about people who violated our values. heather: doug mckelway is following this story live in washington this morning. doug, as the new secretary is

finding out, it is not so easy to the xe a federal employee. >> reporter: that's for certain. secretary bob mcdonald indicates the v.a. is now on the cusp of removing those hundreds of senior executives responsible for the culture of poor care and excessive wait times at v.a. hospitals. the reason it's taken so long? just what you said, firing people in the federal government is laborious. administrative judges must approve procedures and employees have the right to appeal. it's a us from straight for mcdonald given the hardship that incompetent care imposed on vets. >> i was incensed. i was incensed. our veterans have earned these benefits. they earn them with their lives in danger. >> reporter: in a live streaming seminar at the washington post today on veterans hiring, mcdonald said that the v.a. is making progress in other areas. >> we've cut the disability claims backlog by 60% in the last 20 months.

we've completed 1.3 million claims for veterans in 2014. that's 150,000 more than last year. veterans give v.a. health care higher ratings than patients at most private hospitals. >> reporter: the hardest part of mcdonald's mission thus far is hiring 28,000 new doctors, nurses and medical staff. he's in the midst of a recruiting campaign at medical schools and universities where he points out to prospective employees for all of its faults, the v.a. is at theorefront these days of medical care and the treatment of traumatic brain injury, ptsd and in the use of prosthetic limbs. the v.a. is expected to announce the dismissal of those senior executives in a paper statement probably released later today. heather, back to you. heather: thank you. jon: for more on the v. shakeup, let's bring in karl rove, former senior adviser to president george w. bush, he is also a fox news contributor. carl, from what you know, what

do you think about what bob mcdonald, the new head of the v.a., is announcing? >> well, it's a good first start. the v.a.'s been broken for many years. he touched on a couple of issues here. one issue was getting rid of incompetent employees or employees who have violated the values of the v.a., that's important. he talked also about expanding the number of doctors and nurses and health professionals available within the v.a. there's one other important reform, and if you saw the program last night, there was one moment where the new secretary is visiting a v.a. facility in boston, and a woman veteran hands him a note saying i'm from alabama, and i had to come to boston in order to get care. the biggest reform we need at the v.a., in my opinion, is we need to make it easier for veterans to be able to get veterans' benefits through a local hospital so that they don't have to travel long distances just to go to the v.a. a lot of the problems particularly of older veterans

are problems that can be handled by a local hospital, not by a specialized facility. sure, if you've got traumatic brain injury or psd or need help with a missing limb, there are, you know, specialized v.a. facilities that are superb. but a lot of things particularly for older veterans are problems that could be dealt with at a local hospital with a local doctor, and we need to make it easier for veterans to draw on the private health care in their communities and not just to go to a specialized v.a. facility. jon: you point out the v.a. has had problems for years, it had problems under the bush administration and way beyond that or way before that. but i just wonder if there isn't sort of a larger cautionary tale here. i mean, everybody wants to do right by our veterans, and, you know, this is an agency that is set up to do so. you had problems at walter reed a few years ago that took some time to correct. is there a cautionary tale here about, you know, trying to put, you know, people's medical care in the hands of the government?

>> well, look, the veterans administration has a tremendous, long-time record of serving the veteran community. but realize they're hitting a demographic challenge here. we have world war ii verans, we have korean era veterans, vietnam era veterans, all of whom are now drawing on the v.a. for increasing amounts of health care. and, you know, it straps the v.a. and, again, one of the answers is, is to allow veterans to get care for their service-related disabilities at non-v.a. facilities, to expand it. there's an ability today for that in some regards, but we need to expand that, in my opinion, in order to allow people to get care in their local communities from facilities that can meet their need and from doctors with whom they have a familiarity. but you're right, i mean, when we trust too much to the central government, when we call on washington to answer these problems, sometimes, you know, the marketplace of doctors and physicians and health care fundamentals and hospitals all

across the country can play an important role in helping solve this unmet need. jon: we usually call on you for some political analysis, and let's do that now. there's a new analysis, karl, of the republican win in the midterms that could highlight a path that republicans could take to win back the white house in 2016 because democratic losses were not just due to low turnout. the times reports republicans made senate -- significant gains in key voting blocs, hispanics among them. i'm sure you've seen the pape per's analysis. what do you think about it? >> well, look, the election returns give republicans a lot of hope. in texas senator john cornyn got 49% of the hispanic vote in winning re-election. governor-elect greg abbott, our current attorney general, got 44%. corey gardener got good numbers. all across the country we got a significantly larger percentage of the hispanic vote by focusing on the community's concerns, the economy and jobs, and by showing up and actively campaigning. we also had good progress in

three other areas, progress in and among younger voters, millennials who have been overwhelmingly for barack obama in 2008, were less so in 2012 and were significantly more republican in 2014. and that's a good group for us to go after. also women. the gender gap has been nearly erase inside some places. the big disparity between women voting for democrats and voting for republicans was narrowed inn many instances. and finally, working class people, particularly in rural areas. joni ernst ran extremely well in eastern iowa in rural parts of the state that had long been democratically-oriented. this idea of the republicans being able to knit together a coalitncludes larger numbers of latinos, women, younger or voters and working class people is really exciting. but there's a lot of work to be done, and a lot of it is going to depend upon how well the republican congress does at putting -- at passing legislation, sending it to the president. whether he signs it or not is less consequential, but do they

have their act together to help create in people's minds an idea of a positive and optimistic republican agenda. jon: a lot of democrats are saying they didn't do as well as they might have expected among hispanics because there was no immigration reform, and hispanics were angry at president obama for that. is that the case? >> i think that's partly it. but, look, the democrats had this problem in 2012 and overcame it. remember, the concern inside the hispanic community among leaders that i've talked to is they sit there and say the democrats had all the powers, all the levers of power in 2009 and '10 when they had 60 members of the senate and a huge majority in the house, and they did nothing. the president didn't push it. so there's been some angst for a while about that, but it didn't hurt them that much in 2012. what really matters is the republican message. are we about jobs and opportunity and growing an economy for everybody, are we concerned about the community so that we respect it and actively campaign in the community and

ask for their vote, or do we just simply ignore it? and the lesson of cory gardner and john cornyn and greg abbott is if you show up and articulate a message that is center-right about jobs, economy and opportu anitynd do so with respect, it's a winning message in the latino community. jon: susanne sa part mess and brian sandoval out west in new mexico and nevada respectively also won re-election. karl rove, we have to say good-bye. thank you very much. >> thank you, jon. heather: a whole bunch of stuff you could talk to him about. jon: that's for sure. heather: lots of political stuff going on. jon: he always has an interesting take. heather: police are desperately searching for 16-year-old lily neff. she went to a family member's house but never arrived there. plus, air lewins tacking on even -- airlines tacking on even more charges even though oil prices are way down. we'll tell you where to expect to see these charges. and what do you think? healthhealthcare.gov open enrolt

period will start again shortly. log on to fox news -- foxnews.com very "happening now" to weigh in on the chat. foxnews.com/ "happening now" to

jon: right now an update on some crime stories we're following. police in west virginia now asking for the public's help in the search for a 16-year-old girl who vanished while walking to a relative ice home. -- relative's home. officers say lily neff left a rented cabin around four in the morning saturday and has not been seen since. an appeal for oscar pistorius, prosecutors call his five-year prison sentence too light. pistorius was convicted, as you know, of killing his girlfriend who he says he mistook for an intruder. and the murder trial begins this week for a florida woman accused of killing her estranged husband. smith think claims she shot her

husband in self-defense after he raped her and threatened her with a knife, but prosecutors say she injured herself and staged the crime scene. heather: right now we're getting new information on how the airlines may be going too far, padding their bottom line. a new study finds they're expected to rake in more than $28 billion this year in all those various fees, you know, you see them when you buy your ticket. it is considered to be up 20% from last year. one rationale, they say, for charging you more money is the high cost of fuel, but that argument is on shaky ground because oil and gas prices have plunged to a five-year low. of course, the airlines aren't dropping those fuel surcharges. so joining us from our sister network, fox business network's dagen mcdowell. dagen, are they going to eliminate those higher prices? >> no. heather: of course not. >> the airlines are not going to pass on fuel savings to fliers because they don't have to. the planes are so full still, they finally learned not to have so many seats in the air.

there's so much demand for flights that they don't have to -- actually, not only are they not reducing the fees, baggage fees, food fees, entertainment fees, you name it, we have to pay for it when we fly, the airlines have tried to raise airfares about two dozen times this year, roughly a handful of those fare increases have stuck this year so far. but you're entering the holiday flying season. the planes are packed to the gills, and all this money is flowing to their bottom line. heather: and, of course, fewer airlines altogether too. look at the list of fee, you've got seat selection, you need to call to book your flight and, well, they decide to charge you for that too. you want a blanket, food, unaccompanied minors, they just add these things up and up and up, and so it goes. >> baggage fees are a huge source of revenue. heather: and i love this one. there's a consultant to the industry that helps the airlines find ways to tax us, and he says airlines run the risk of becoming too greedy. what are we going to do about it

as consumers? we don't have a ton of choice. >> their attitude is if you don't want to fly and pay the fees and sit next to somebody who doesn't want to put the seat rest down, who wants to put their bare feet on you -- you know what i'm saying -- sit at home or drive because flying is the only option. they have us by the -- heather: we don't have a whole lot of choice. >> you know what? if the economy craters for some reason and demand falls, then maybe flyers will have the upper hand. heather: okay. i want to ask you about another thing. moody's has a new analysis of young americans and wh they are saving, and the reality is not a whole lot, and that could have some long-term implications on the economy. those under 35 are actually saving negative 3%, and -- 2%, and as you look at people older and older, they start saving more. this is significant. what could it mean in the long term? >> it mean that is the lifestyle that these people lead under the age of 35 as they get older will be wildly different than what we have grown accustomed to.

this impacts -- by the way, the savings rate for this group and all groups actually went up and was pretty stellar after, during the recession and after the recession. but it means that they're going to have to postpone starting families and buying homes and how long do you have to would wk before you can rire. one of the huge issues is, well, the job market's been weak since the recession, wage growth has been stag in and about -- stagnant, and this group of individuals under 35, they have massive amounts of student debt, a great deal more than, say, 20 years ago in the same age group. heather: are they spending more on just, whatever, stuff that they used to be? >> not necessarily. they're just not making it up. heather: okay. >> in terms of spending money in wage growth. and they have, i think the student loan debt 20 years ago, same age group, the median student debt was $6100, today that is over $17,000. so it's more than double what it was for that age bracket 20

years ago. heather: so we can't necessarily fault them for spending frivolously. >> they're either eating into their assets, or they're borrowing money. and, you know, quite frankly, we are an economy based on spending, so you don't want people to save too much. can i say this? i just did. [laughter] heather: it's all right. we need people to buy houses, for sure. >> cars, you name it. heather: we've got to leave it there. don't miss the fox business network. if you're not sure where to find it, log on to foxbusiness.com/channelfinder. jon? jon: you just killed off every lecture i've ever given my chirp. [laughter] there are new report that is the leader of isis was critically injured in a weekend airstrike. the latest from the pentagon and what's next in our effort to defeat the islamic state. plus, open enrollment set to start again for obamacare. will you be signing up? will healthcare.gov work any better this year than last year?

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thank you, ping. reliably fast internet starts at $89.95 a month. comcast business. built for business. heather: right now the pentagon can't confirm reports out of iraq and the middle east that the leader of isis was wounded in a weekend airstrike. in the meantime, president obama is now speaking out about what he says are successes battling the terror group. >> so now what we've done is rather than just try to halt isil's momentum, we're now in a position to start going on some offense. the airstrikes have been very effective in degrading isil's capabilities and slowing the advance that they were making. now what we need is ground troops, iraqi ground troops that can start pushing them back. heather: joining me now to talk about the effort to defeat isis is a man with a whole lot of military experience and a deep knowledge of iraq, retired

lieutenant kohl nil bill cowan, founding member of the intelligence support activity, that is the pentagon's most classified special mission unit. he's also a fox news military analyst. so is the president right, that we've halted momentum and we're ready to go on the offense, as he says? >> well, i hope we've halted momentum, heather. i'm not certain that's exactly right. we may have slowed them down a little bit, and i'd say we're a long way from going on the offense. there are some iraqi units out there, one in particular i'm acquainted with, who are actually running some offensive operationns. but they're not -- the numbers of offensive operations we need really to start containing isis as we move along slowly here, isis continues to consolidate. i'd say we were a long time before the iraqis are able to aggressively pursue isis in the manner that's going to lead them to defeat. heather: the president just announcing 1500 more troops will

go over thereo advise and help out iraqi forces. you've spent a lot of time with some of these specialized iraqi units. if we haven't been able to train these guys up in 10,11 years, why would we be able to do it now? >> yeah, that's such a great question. i think the fact of the matter is there are many iraqis who are very well trained, very experienced, very capable, fought alongside u.s. forces or fought on their own against the insurgents, al-qaeda and others while we were all over there fighting together. the problem is that the leadership of those units, the leaders of those capable fighting iraqis were decimated by prime minister maliki, so it's not so much a matter of training these troops who are experienced and capable already, it's more a matter of getting back in those junior officers, those staff ncos and some of the senior officer leadership that is experienced that we have experience with and having them start running that war for the iraqis. heather: okay. in your view, how long can this take? >> well, i would hope in 12-18

months we could have that done. it's certainly going to take a little bit of time for officers and staff, ncos to integrate in their units. one of the things the administration spoke about in the announcement of the 1500 additional u.s. guys going over there was intelligence. and the key to any activity against isis is good, solid intelligence. we had it while we were there, we've got to reinitiate a lot of those programs and systems. we'll need it to go after isis' leadership, we'll need it to go after isis' locations. heather: all right. speaking of intelligence, there are reports coming out of the iraqi government that the u.s. has not been able to confirm, those reports say that al-baghdadi was injured in an airstrike over the weekend and that he may be across the border now in syria getting some sort of medical treatment there. what does that information tell you? what's the takeaway from that? >> well, let's hope, indeed, and there are two targets they went after that he may have been affiliated with, one was that ten-truck convoy somewhere near mosul and

another was a leadership gathering on the border. both of those, if true, indicates that isis has got some security problems. either they have people inside who are now finding a way to get information out to the u.s. and/or the iraqis, perhaps in chasing down that $10 million reward, or that we have found a way to break into some of their communications cells, some of their radio transmissions, low level or high level. in either case, if it's true that al-baghdadi was hurt, isis knows they've got a big problem with security right now, and they're going to have to find it, or they're going to continue to take hits. heather: we'll keep checking in with you our pentagon people. lieutenant bill cowan, thank you for joining us. jon: a contentious issue that's caused court fights in numerous states, it might come down to the supreme court. will the nine justices be forced to decide whether same-sex marriage should be legal in this

country everywhere? plus, as millions of americans set to sign up for health insurance, will the obamacare web site suffer another meltdown? why the white house is assuring us the site will work, new reports indicate otherwise. it says here that a won's sex drive

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jon: right now a quick look at what's still to come this hour of happing now. the infamous website that gave so many americans so much trouble last year is back up and running.

the latest on healthcare.gov. president obama is in china meeting with world leaders at an economic summit there. we'll have the latest from beijing. plus u.s. airlines boosting their bottom lines with added fees for passengers last year. now a new study said they might try to squeeze even more money out of the travelers. you heard dagen mcdowell talking about that. why one group says this hike might not fly. >> a hot button issue could end up back before the supreme court or before i should say the highest court in the land. the supreme court sidestepped making a ruling about same-sex marriage but now some new lower court rulings could pave the way for a much broader decision. shannon bream is following this story for us. she's live in washington. hi, there, shannon. >> reporter: well, heather, you know until last week all of the federal circuit courts which sit one step below the supreme court were in agreement, striking down

same sex bans. sixth circuit upholding bans on same-sex marriage in michigan, tennessee, ohio and kentucky, saying that issue shed be left up to the issue of those people of the states by popular vote or state legislatures. critics say the court got it all wrong. >> some rights are so important they are enshrined in the text of the constitution and even if you get a majority of people voting in a state to pass a law that violates the constitution you can't do that. that is not the way that it works. >> reporter: now that there is a split among the federal circuits on such an important issue the supreme court is almost certain to weigh in. first though, the sixth circuit decision will have to be formally appealed to the court. at least four justices would have to note in favor of hearing the case. traditional marriage advocates say they hope the justices see this as a states rights issue. >> it is not constitutional issues. it is public policy issues that should prevail. and the supreme court should basically step out of the way

and allow this to be decided by the people and by the state legislatures. >> reporter: so the timing on this is a bit tricky. if things proceed with zero bumps in the road it is possible the supreme court could hear the case in the spring and issue a decision by next june. however, there's a strong possibility, and if they hear the case, it could be delayed until the supreme court term that starts in october of 2015. heather? heather: shannon thanks. jon: so millions of americans getting set to sign up for health care once again, just over an hour from now. health and human services secretary sylvia burwell will be discussing the open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplace which begins saturday. meantime the supreme court agreed to hear a case challenging subsidies that really are a lynchpin of the law. joining us now, alan colmes, host of "the alan colmes show," an tammy bruce, radio talk show host and fox news contributor.

here we go again. how confident are you, tammy, that healthcare.gov is fixed and ready to role? >> well, not quite. look, it has been another year. first they had to four years to set up the website as we know was a debacle last year. they have had another year, we've already had some delays and some concerns expressed by those working on it. when it comes to the nature of the infrastructure and how well it is going to work. one case the ceo of healthcare.gov says well, it is not going to be perfect. on the other hand there also has been additional delays. they have driven down the level of expectations effective live. we also, very to tell you, jon, i haven't seen one thing about the payment portal which was the thing that just simply wouldn't work. there has been no announcement whether or not that is even functional. we all want everybody to be okay and get their health care but we've already seen political applications being applied here. they were supposed to open it up on friday but after the supreme court decision they moved it to

last night. we're also looking at effectively a delay, or at least a misrepresentation about the rates of premium increases. they only looked at platinum plans whereas the bronze plans increases are going to be something like for some people up to 78%. so we see political games being played, expectations being watered down a little bit. it is not where they should be. jon: all right, alan, same question, are you confident that healthcare.gov is going to work this time around? >> i've seen into the future, i think, disaster if it didn't work after all the brouhaha that took place over the last year. but it sounds to me like some people may be rooting, some people on the right rooting for it to fail because they want to overturn the affordable care act. any other plan to make it better, other than negating what has been something which now, according to the cbo will provide, and gallup about 14 million people additionally with health care over the next

year, about double what it did over the last year, what is the plan to make it better for those who want to put it down, other than gee, i don't know, it may not work? they're rooting for it to fail. it will do a lot better than its detractors are suggest. jon: a bunch of people, tammy, i think you mentioned, a bunch of people are looking at rate increases. some are looking at rate decreases apparently. but what about all the promises this would make health care affordable for everybody? some of those plans are far from affordable. >> well look, this is the truth of the matter. we still haven't had any transparency or outside government doing any auditing. that becomes a problem. we don't know where they're getting some of these numbers what people will expect. but the bottom line is, regardless of what the government says and what the media says, is that people will have personal experiences with what is going to be happening here. just like with the economy and jobs in general. i think they seem to be still stuck in this notion if they say it will be true. i mean we've got individuals who

have not been able to get health insurance are finding out, and i will remind alan, that having health insurance is not the same as getting health care. the fact is we still don't have our doctors. hospitals have been still taken out of the networks. these are things that americans don't like. but the supreme court may in fact end up deciding this and i think that could be a good thing. jon: how worried are you, alan, about that supreme court decision? you know there are what, 36 states that don't have their own exchanges and the congress was very clear saying you know, you can give subsidies to people in those states that have exchanges. >> well, i think 17 states have exchanges. if the supreme court rules against the subsidies for those states that don't have exchanges, it is going to really reflect very poorly on republicans in the red states that never went to the trouble in participating in the affordable care act. they will be responsible for millions and millions of people losing health care coverage. jon: it is not all republicans.

>> mostly. wait a minute, you're telling me be republicans have not been participated? mostly red state positives and red state legislatures have not participated. it will be incumbent, part done the expression, incumbent to do something if these people are going to lose health care coverage. jon: as you know, democratic president and democrat legislature that foisted this law upon the american people. >> most people like it. 58% like it according to the commonwealth. only 9% say they don't. millions and millions additional people health care. i don't think it has been sold properly to the american people. if you actually look at numbers and rate of increase has actually gone down. the increase over last couple years has been nine to 11% a year. it is actually going down much less. maybe there is small sliver of people that get increases above but it has been successful. most people realize that. jon: all right. we'll have you two back on another time -- >> got to hand it to alan. >> thank you. you're welcome. jon: we get rolling to see how the reenrollment period goes.

tammy bruce, alan colmes, thank you both. >> the president is now in china saying the two economic powers can work together. there are new fears about the china's growing ties to russia. how this will impact relations with beijing. we'll go in depth. plus the first big snowstorm of the season. it will get cold. minneapolis, 3 degrees. we'll tell you where they see more than a foot of snow. and why the snow isn't only reason it will feel like winter in some spots. should you have your skis out? jon: i'm ready. ♪

heather: let's check out what's ahead on "outnumbered" at top of the hour. hi, ladies. >> hello and happy monday. president obama is doubling down on the message that he will use his executive authority and pen to enforce immigration. a top republican threatens that could blow up any hopes of bipartisan cooperation. is he right about that. >> they tell us what our kids to eat in school a federal committee is calling for fat intervention at work places. i don't want to tell them what i ate earlier this morning. >> let's not talk about. could you date someone who votes differently than you do? what people say they're looking for in a partner that may surprise. >> you all that plus our #oneluckyguy at "outnumbered." i will talk to harris about the happy monday thing. we'll not do that anymore. >> we love it. heather: i think i know who your one lucky guy in. the guy you were whispering to in the hallway, andrea.

>> no. he does not have a british accent. >> darn. i was right. >> we'll check it it is a happy monday. thanks, ladies. jon: new information about the economic summit underway in beijing. president announced china and u.s. can work together. and that both country was start granting visas to each other's citizens good up to a decade. the president also made it clear that one country's prosperity does not have to come at the expense of the other. all of this amid concerns about china's growing relationship with russia. a relationship that has been on the increase of late. those two companies are deepening energy ties with a blockbuster deal. but both countries have economies that are in trouble. especially with the price of oil dropping. especially dropping on the price of oil. russia in particular could be in

trouble. joining us, gordon chang, the author of, the coming collapse of we've been talking about the title of your book for a while. you say china is in trouble and it is a matter of time. >> the economy is growing one or 2%. they're headed into historic debt crisis. they postponed problems from 2008 and they're much bigger. the at the same time the political system is in distress. you have some pretty unhappy people in china, especially on the periphery, what we're seeing in hong kong, tibet. china has a lot of challenges in front of it. people i don't think understand that. what we're seeing in beijing the image of a strong china. i don't think it is that way at all. jon: they trotted out. they're working on aircraft carrier. they trotted out a nuclear submarine. they have a mission to the moon. they look like they're a rising power. >> they are spending a lot of money and that is money they do have at the moment. other thing we got to remember, that they have $4 trillion of

foreign exchange reserves. that is backed up by almost equal amount of debt on the books of the central bank. that is money they can't spend on moon missions. they're running very big deficits. you think we have a problem in washington. china's is about the same dimension as ours about deficits. jon: when china gets together with russia don't we have double the problem? heather: >> we certainly do. the russia-china alliance is our number one foreign policy problem. we have not face ad united china russia since the end of the 1950s. they're forming an enduring participate. they're targeting the united states. they want to change the world in ways that will not make it better. jon: you say there is hardly a situation anywhere in the world, international relations situation that they are not involved in? >> yeah. and they're making them worse. when you talk about iran, north korea, economic

cooperation across the globe, you know they will meet with the g20, economic meeting in australia pretty soon, the environment. the only possible exception might be what is going on in iraq and syria where china certainly doesn't want problems there. russia likes to have turbulence in the middle east because it wants to drive up the price of oil. you got to remember now that russia is in trouble because we're seeing three-year lows on the price of oil. that means the chinese, the russian economy will be even worse than predicted. jon: all right. gordon chang, we could talk about this all day. we'll have you back because there are some other interesting developments including the release of those american prisoners from north korea. gordon, thank you. >> thank you. jon: heather? heather: birds making themselves right at home on a bridge and refusing to leave. we'll tell you why they're costing taxpayers millions and millions of dollars and where it is.

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jon: an arctic blast hitting parts of the country and it is set to dump as much as foot 1/2 of snow north of minneapolis and northern michigan. other areas like the dakotas are digging out today. snow not only bit o winter weather as temperatures plunged 20 to 40 degrees below average across the south and east. only areas escaping cold being florida, the southwest and california. heather: i have family in minneapolis, and that's yes say we don't there. it is coo told. love you though. major construction project stalled by mother nature. installing the new san francisco bay bridge have to protect 800 birds. california spent $2 million trying to lure the birds away to different locations. oh my. you will remember, a portion of the bay bridge collapsed in the 1989 loma quake.

the new bridge opened earlier this year, 25 years after that quake. claudia cowan is live in san francisco with more. >> reporter: yeah, heather. 25 years after that massive earthquake destroyed part of the bay bridge it has been replaced by a new $6.4 billion span and the old bridge, built back in the 1930s is coming down. you can see the demo work behind me. the problem is, 800 federally protected sea birds that live on the old span don't want to move. strict environmental laws boosting the cost of this project by about $37,000, per bird. >> we have decoys where we're hoping that they will see themselves. they are double breasted comorants non-endangered but federally protected ignoring pricey recordings, bird condos installed on the new bridge to live next door. once the birds lay eggs in

february, dem mission must stop. so taxpayers are shelling out another $12 million to speed everything up with another million plus for netting to prevent more birds moving in. one price estimate for the bird relocation, $30 million. >> your recommendation for what we do with the come more rants. >> but put a sign on new bridge, free health care, free fish, free transportation. they will move over there and never leave. >> well-played. >> reporter: san francisco radio talk show host brian sussman, bird relocation laws written in 1918 don't make sense today but likely won't be revised. >> there are so many avowed environmentalists and ecome exists want that set in stone because i believe they see us as invasive species, okay? >> reporter: caltrans argues it is saving taxpayers money. >>we don't do, our penalties could far exceed the cost. we're in a balancing act. >> reporter: but this demolition work won't be done until 2018,

so the balancing act for the bird will be around for many years. much heather? heather: claudia cowan in san francisco. what a story. only in california. thanks. jon: we'll be back with more "happening now" in just a moment.

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means more growth today, more opportunity tomorrow. and the time to start is now. >> we'll be back with more "happening now" in an hour. "outnumbered" starts right now. >> this is ou "outnumbered." today's hashtag one lucky guy, jessie water $ on the couch and he's outnumbered. welcome. >> thank you for putting up with me. >> you're back. >> i am back in a big way. >> you counted the days. >> really? >> like an advent calendar counting down for christmas. >> you have like chocolates each day. a little treat. >> i like that. >> then you on the final day. >> it's a beautiful thing. >> it is a beautiful thing. let's get right to it. there is a showdown