unemployment claims were only down slightly from the week earlier. cnbc's brian shactman joins me now. help us understand. we saw eight straight days of declines. yesterday was a teeny glimmer of hope. what happened between the last 24 hours? >> to be honest with you, i think the european central bank spoke and made people more nervous about what's going on in europe. we talk about the term credit crisis and that's how we had that in '08 and '09. and there's a feeling that there's an absolute credit crisis going on in europe. add to that what you said, double-dip recession fears in the u.s. -- you know when jay carney says no double dip, it's almost too self-conscious of a global statement. and then maybe global growth fear that is china is slowing down. what you have here is a classic situation where people are just trying to raise cash and get

some security because we had gold touch an all-time high earlier today. it's now negative. usually it's a flight to safety when things get rocky in the stock market. that tells you people just want to get cash and sit on it and see what's going to happen. we have the government jobs report tomorrow. and if we get a negative report there, i think we're pricing that in today, the expectation is pretty low at this point. >> to your point, there's a quote from the bank of new york. it says, in the past month we've seen a growing level on our balance sheets from clients seeking safe havens. people are looking for shelter, those who have the money, i should add, to invest and put their money in their portfolios and in the stock market. >> and bank of new york, along with what they've said, they're starting to charge people who want to put large chunks of money in their bank. think about that. not only do you not get any interest, you have to pay them if you want to park your money there. it's a fascinating thing. this whole quantitative easing

to keep rates low and stimulate the economy, the bottom line is if they have to do something like that again, that's not a positive either. that means the economy can't stand on its own two feet. there's a real lack of confidence. the s&p 500 has lost over $1 trillion in value in the last week and a half. that is a little bit frighten g frightening. but like i said, the selloff doesn't feel like the worst days of '08 and '09. >> and people have losses in any gains that you have in your portfolio, that is always obviously jarring for anyone in these times. brian, thank you very much. this massive stock selloff probably was not the birthday present president obama or anyone would want. mike viqueira joins me from the white house. we know the president and his administration wants to move

past the debt ceiling debacle. and now you have the stock -- the dow down 363 points right now. >> reporter: and the question here in washington is what tools are left in the fiscal or monetary toolbox, what policy options does the president have? there don't seem to be that many. congress is out of session at least for the next month or so. the white house and the president have talked about patent reform and free trade agreements, extending unemployment benefits during the course of this economy downturn to try to keep the economy going and mitigate of these job losses we're talking about. tomorrow is jobs friday and all eyes are going to be on the new unemployment number. it went north last time, going in the wrong direction from 9.1% to 9.2%. jay carney had his briefing here today, again saying they are looking at the situation in europe, they are monitoring the debt crisis there but reiterating there is no silver bullet for what ails the american economy. and on the monetary side, we were talking a moment ago about

the quantitative easing, a lot of people think if quantitative easing 3 isn't in the cards and a lot of people don't want to see it -- earlier today, jay carney cited the european markets but tried to put a positive outlook on what was happening here in washington on a policy front. >> the analysis i saw today was not in terms of the american economy. but there are a lot of global issues. we strongly believe, as i've said, that we will continue to grow and we will continue to create jobs. and we need to take the measures necessary to do that. >> reporter: the president will continue to talk about the economy. they've announced a midwest tour, unspecified locations. it's going to be the week of august the 15th. he's going to be talking about the economy a lot in the weeks to come. but, again, with congress gone, there's little that can be done at this point in terms of new policies, new laws, tax cuts, things of that nature, to try to continue to stimulate the

economy. >> mike viqueira live for us at the white house. thank you. breaking news right now at virginia tech. still on lockdown after three teenagers reported seeing a man with a gun. campus police have just released a composite sketch of the man possibly seen outside of a dining hall around 9:30 eastern this morning. the teenager who is made the report were on campus attending a summer academic program on the campus. they told police the man was carrying what looked like a gun covered by a cloth or some type of clothing. the campus responded with heavy force. certainly scarred by that mass shooting in april of 2007 that left 33 people dead. one student told my colleague contessa brewer how they're holding up. >> people here, we understand, we are hokeys. everyone's in pretty good spirits. just waiting. >> joining me live is scott

lehman from our affiliate. what's the situation there? >> reporter: occasionally you see officers driving by on patrol. there are some buses not far from our position here where we've seen officers taking a look at, making sure people aren't trying to get on those bus, certain things like that. now around 9:00 is when this group of teenagers saw this man on campus. this is burriss hall, the main administrative tall here at virginia tech. about a four or five-minute walk over to the dining hall where they reported seeing that man. as you said, he had the gun supposedly covered up. and that's about all we've heard so far from campus officials. we expect more a little later. as you said, they've released the composite drawing of what they believe this man looked like. we haven't heard the exact word

"lockdown" mentioned here on campus. but they have been pretty specific about encouraging people to stay indoors, make sure and not come outside, stuff like that. but there are people kind of walking around campus, buses running, stuff like that. so it gives you kind of the impression right now at least that the seriousness of this matter, for lack of a better term, has toned down just a little bit. >> thank you very much. i appreciate the live report. we'll keep your audience up to date on what's happening there. to the extreme heat, heat advisories are up in 15 different states spanning from southern california to north carolina. and many of those states including texas have been dealing with these blistering triple-digit temperatures for weeks now. in arkansas, forecasters are predicting that temperatures could top at 108 degrees. in phoenix, the temperatures are inching towards 100. >> it feels like the worst one so far. i've been here 15 years. >> this is serious stuff. and i'm glad the coaches are

taking the necessary steps of taking care of the safety of the kids. >> joining me now, the weather channel's todd santos. in memphis, the heat index 114? staggering. >> i know. and the crazy part is yesterday, fort smith, arkansas, hit 115 without the heat index. that was the actual temperature outside. a whole bunch of areas still really feeling it. that's another spot today that's going to be close to record. our forecast for fort smith is 113. dallas at 33 days right now at 100 or better. and we could easily keep that going through the remainder of this week. the real chance for some of these areas to get a little bit of a break is as the ridge has been centered over oklahoma, kansas, texas, shifts towards the southwest, we'll see a little bit of relief through the northeast, the midwest atlantic and the southwest. not seeing any relief in the short term. >> give us an update on tropical storm emily. we were getting the reports in that it was near just south of

haiti. what's the latest there? >> yeah. that's one of the biggest concerns, at least in the short term with tropical storm emily. you can see behind me, there's puerto rico. dominican republic and haiti, the next in line there. the center of circulation is right about in there. the system very slowly drifting. what does that mean? with it just parked there, talking about a tropical storm, max sustained winds at 50 miles per hour. but the rainfall, a big concern. especially for a country that's pretty much deforested. it could be a dire situation. we're keeping a close eye on it. you saw some of the dry air on the western side of it. it is fighting the dry air and some shear. that should keep it on the weaker side of things in the shorter term, say, today into tomorrow. we have some tropical storm warnings out. at least across portions of the central bahamas back through the turks and caicos. i should at least note that as we get into the weekend, would not be surprised to see watches

through portions of eastern florida, a few areas that need to watch the system. there's a look at the forecast over the coming days. certainly a potent tropical storm and one to keep a cleose eye on. now back to washington. the latest bipartisan battle is costing 74,000 people their jobs all because congress went on vacation without approving funding for the faa. as a result, the faa is partially shut down. 250 airport construction projects have been halted and the government is unable to collect $30 million a day in airline ticket taxes. that all started july 23rd when the faa funding expired. earlier today, transportation secretary ray lahood once again called on congress to return and fix this problem. >> congress gives great speeches about jobs and putting people to work. well, the way to do it is to pass the bill, come back to washington, come back from your vacations for a couple of hours. you're being paid. let's help pay american workers.

>> kelly o'donnell joins us live. you have a lot of people out there wondering what is the problem, what is the divide that these two sides cannot work out, especially 74,000 people immediately affected by this. >> reporter: you'd think that jobs would be the greatest lever to get them to act. yet there's been this impasse that has been something we've seen coming for weeks now, this faa authorization that pays all the bills for the faa expired in july. and the problem is the house has passed a version of this extension that would carry it through for a while and included in that would be pulling back some of the subsidies for rural airports, when you have a place used by far fewer people and the tickets would cost more if you just went by the market being able to bear the cost. so the government subsidizes those tickets. republicans would like to see that changed at a time when they're trying to look for ways to save money for the government. the great irony is the government is losing money every single day.

the president spoke to speaker john boehner yesterday trying to urge a resolution. at this point, house republicans say the answer is for the senate to act and pass what the house had already done before it left town. so we're in another one of these stand-off moments where both sides see it differently, where both sides are waiting for the other to blink. we're being told something could resolve itself by the end of this week, by tomorrow. but it's unclear. a lot of people are upset about this and one of the issues is for some of the democrats in real power here, whether it's harry reid or jay rockefeller of west virginia who is key on the committee that oversees the faa, they're from those places that have those so-called rural airports. so they have a very personal stake for people in their own home states and jobs involved there. it affects everyone. if you're paying for an airline ticket, there might be a piece of that that's being pocketed by the airlines. it should have been going to the government. this is a complicated and

seemingly crazy impasse that may force some members to come back into town. coming up, more on the people impacted immediately by this impasse. going to talk with a laid-off worker from the faa. he says congress has thrown him and others under the bus. coming up, a teacher who was suspended for calling her students laiz and frightfully dim. she's been allowed to return to school. but now some students are opting out of this teacher's class. also ahead, it is day two of our special series. dylan rhadigan will break it down for us. >>. i feel like i'm blessed. i overcame an incredible

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welcome back, everyone, to "news nation." a high school english teacher in suburban philadelphia has been cleared to return to her job after being suspended back in february for writing a personal blog that described some of her students as, quote, rude, lazy, whiners and she called some of them frightly dim. natalie monroe wrote on her blog that she tried to remain anonymous as possible. she also noted she never mentioned her students by name but she refused to apologize for what she wrote about them.

>> the intent of my blog was never to be an expose on the world. it was to get out my feelings like a diary. i'm not sorry for what i said. it was true. >> officials in the central bucks county school district said it was not in the best interest of taxpayers to dismiss monroe and face a costly legal battle. joining me now is michael, she's not sorry at all. >> no, she's not. i thought it was interesting the way the school district handled this. they recognized that she has a first amendment right and in this economic climate they didn't want to spend taxpayer dollars to battle her on this which would probably be a losing issue for them. but, tamron, then they exercised their own first amendment right. and there was a press conference yesterday and they regarded her as unprofessional, disrespect and shockingly profane. so often you see legal parties, one side or the other would say,

we couldn't possibly comment. they wanted to make sure their feelings were heard yesterday. >> yeah. no one's perfect, but when you hear a teacher described as unprofessional, profane, as a parent, would you want your child in that individual's class? >> definitely not. and you've presented the sanitized msnbc version of this, the family version of it. she said that these kids were lazy a.h.s and she said that, rude, belligerent, argumentative "f" bomb. and what she was saying is, this is what i sh i had the option of putting on report cards so i could tell parents what i really think of their kids. you get this vision of her -- a lot of people hear this and think, it's got to be an older teacher, worn down by years of abuse by students. she's 30 years old, for goodness sakes. >> she should be energetic, fresh and optimistic. the school district says, the

decision to do the right thing lies in the hands of the person who very hands created this controversy, mrs. munroe. they pretty much ld her how they feel about her. students can opt out and some are opting out of her class. do you think that's the right way to handle this? >> i think it is. i think the school district has been prudent so far and the reports are that 60 parents have so far said, please, we don't want her teaching our kid. >> i think a lot of people would agree with them. michael, thank so much. hello to your listeners. the number of americans on foot stamps, this is absolutely heartbreaking, the number of people, some of them you probably know, some of them are you, climbed to an all-time high this year. in alabama alone, more than one-third of the state's population now using food stamps. what's happening here? plus, the mayor of one american city admits he was drunk when he signed a big deal with a company that is now suing the city.

we'll explain. plus, we'll take you back and get a look at the dow as a big plunge is happening right now. the dow is down 395 points, gains from this year, wiped out. dylan rhadigan will join us. we'll get his reaction and have more on our "jobs wanted" series. what you spend? pnc virtual wallet now comes with spending zone. it organizes all your spending, including your pnc debit card, credit card, and your bills. so you can view them by category... or by month. you can set a budget... and it'll even alert you when you're getting close to the amount you've set -- and when you've gone over. spending zone is built to help you keep better track of your spending. experience everything virtual wallet has to offer at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc bank. for the achiever in you. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®.

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welcome back to "news nation." we're following breaking news from wall street. take a look at this. the dow now down 377 points. at one point during our commercial break, we saw it dip to below 400 points. we'll keep you up to date on what's happening and have more reaction on this situation. what's fueling this fire. and the united nations says the devastating famine in at least four east african countries has now spread to more areas in southern somalia. the u.n. has declared three new regions there famine zones. heartbreaking new images today of a somali woman next to the grave of one of her children.

in the past several weeks, the famine has claimed the lives of four of her five children. aid workers in the famine area say that 29,000 children in somalia alone have lost their lives in the past several months now. nbc's kate snow joins us live from the refugee camp in kenya. kate, i understand you wept out with aid workers today. what did you see? >> reporter: we actually went in to somalia today. we went up the border and crossed into a place in somalia. there's a lot of fighting and instability in somalia. it's a divided country. the place where we went is now government controlled. so relatively secure place. but that said, a lot of aid is not getting through. so it was really something to see this aid convoy, an american group and a canadian group working together to bring two big trucks full of aid in there. and people were saying to me, we need this so desperately. a grandmother of six grandchildren said, my

grandchildren are starving. those pictures that you're showing, tamron, are not unique. i wish i could say they were. but we're hearing stories like that -- >> i believe we just had a technical problem with kate's live report. but as you heard her there, she'll have more tonight on "nightly news." sadly not enough aid getting to those people who are starving who are in need. we know the situation, the civil war and the chaos happening in somalia greatly affecting -- i think we have kate back now. kate, are you there? >> reporter: i am. >> obviously you have many people here wondering what they can do to help the situation. but as you pointed out and we heard you say on "nightly," there's a dire situation also created a manmade situation because of the war in somalia. >> reporter: right. they're intertwined. there's a famine, as you said, that affects 12 million people across four countries. but then there's this instability, the political

crisis in somalia making things even worse. where we are in dadaab, the hospitals are flooded with people. one hospital we went to the other day say they have 20 times as patients as they would normally have. and many of them are malnourished children. one of the big problems is parents don't know much about hospitals. it's hard for the aid workers to even get to some of these kids because parents, frankly, are digging the graves and watching their children die without realizing they could get help. we do have a great resource at msnbc.com, a list of various aid organizations that are trying to get in, that are trying to work in somalia and here at the camps in kenya. that's a great resource for anybody who wants to know how to help. >> we'll see more of your reporting tonight on "nightly news" on nbc. up next, msnbc's dylan rhadigan joins me live for part

2 of our series "job wanted." dylan will talk about how the tax code could create new jobs for americans. the dow is now down 407 points. plus -- a high school marching band showed up at the white house with a special birthday surprise for president obama. "news nation" is back in three. ♪ let me entertain you ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile

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welcome back, everyone, to "news nation." we are keeping a close eye on the breaking news from wall street, stocks continue to plunge. the dow is down 391 points, trading just over 11,000 there. we'll continue to follow this and we'll have some reaction as well. but we continue our special three-part series on "jobs wanted" where dylan rhadigan walks us through how fixing banking, trade and the tax code could be the key to creating jobs in this country. yesterday we explained the trade component. today, we're talking taxes with

dylan. but what's happening here with people -- my twitter is literally on fire. people think it's because of the debt ceiling debate. it's all over the place here. >> and we're having a real selloff today. >> why? >> you don't need me to say that. you're looking at an across-the-board 3% reduction in assets. but it's not just today. the dow jones industrial average has been down nine of the past ten days, the s&p 500 has been down eight of the past nine days. the question is why are we seeing over the past two weeks a constant selling force that is now reaching a crescendo today with this big spill? to the best of my reporting in talking to bond investor investors, stock investors, long and short term, it comes down to a simple story. the american government over the past month, six months has revealed itself at this point of not being able to engage in constructive problem-solving. >> so that brings uncertainty -- >> that brings the fact of government that is not engaged

in constructive problem-solving for the wealthiest country in the world. you have a powerful country with real problems where the power base that is supposed to resolve for those problems is manifesting itself as not capable of doing that. what that means is from the financial market standpoint, the implied future prosperity of our country -- employment, production, creation -- it's not about whether you believe in a republican or a democratic party. the implication is these people right now -- these people being the american government people -- are having a hard time to find a way to constructively solve problems at a time that they have a lot of them and they're still really wealthy.

the intelligent bond investor, the intelligent stock investor observes this and says, i want to have less exposure to the future production of that country because it doesn't appear they're going to be dealing with prosperity in a constructive way. >> let's transition to jobs wanted. the dow down 364 points. you say it's about tax code, that we could create jobs with the tax code. >> this is like our weight loss problem. we want to have jobs. we talk trade, let's talk about taxes now. again, away from our broken leg, which is the market. the weight loss program is job creation. we want to get into taxes and how they can be used as leverage to influence how we spend and invest our money so we can foster the prosperity in jobs we want. washington needs to stop viewing

the tax code as a way to reward special interests and instead use taxes to create results. the u.s. tax code should spur investment in american. it should spur job creation in america. right now, it currently prevents that. it's simple economics. if you lower taxes on anything, you'll see more of it. if you raise taxes, you'll see less of it. on anything. the principle works in reverse. you have a great example. if you look at it, the cigarette tax is probably the best illustration of this, back in 2008. new york raised its cigarette tax by more than a dollar. the result, consumption goes down, the state smoking rate goes down by 12%. imagine if that principle -- not advocating a policy here -- but that principle could reduce smoking by 12%, by altering the tax code, we could make investing in america grow by

10%, 15%, 20%. that would add jobs by the millions because now you have money coming in and you're hiring people and saying, listen, i've got this money flying this n and you can invest it in your own country as opposed to a tax code right now that makes it more profitable to send the cash and the jobs that we have overseas and use it for financial speculation or trade or something that is not investment in america. >> a lot of people talk about the loopholes and the importance of closing these loopholes. how does that generate jobs or help us here? >> basically the thing with the loopholes is -- and every year we all send a check to washington to pay our taxes. we all know that -- >> we're supposed to. >> right. large corporations, we also hear the stories like ge and others don't pay a time. one of the best thing you can do is to hire a lobbyist to get you a tax loophole. it's not that hard to pull off. i'm not here to demonize big business.

the company is taking advantage of a system we've all agreed to. we're the ones that have to be aware that we're operating in that system and seek to close the loopholes and ultimate shatter the practice of the large corporations of any kind of anywhere using that money to gain -- energy subsidy is 5% for all fuel sources. >> we know that lawmakers have vested interests and sometimes are linked cozily with some of these oil companies and they get the breaks. >> yes. and that comes down to the leadership breakdown -- we don't have a political leader engaging with the american people saying, i the political leader am going to lead a crusade to flatten these things out. the congress has so much of an incentive not to do it. >> yeah. well, i think for a lot of

people, you're speaking gospel or the truth. >> i'm trying to speak philosophy. >> you're speaking factual. >> there are so many ideas to get these things done. i've got a bunch of them. if we don't share a common goal of having money come into america -- >> with the dow down over 300 points right now. >> this might be the kick in the you know what that we need. >> dylan will be back tomorrow for the final part of this series. he'll be on his own program at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. so dylan will be back with us. greatly appreciate you joining us and reacting to the breaking news. there's still no end in sight to the bob pisani dispute. it's costing 4,000 faa workers and 70,000 construction workers their jobs. congress went on vacation. without approving a bill to fund the faa whose funding authority expired july 23rd. democrats and republicans are blaming each other for this deadlock.

the faa administrative called on congress to return immediately. >> we need to put 4,000 back to work, we need to put 70,000 construction workers back to work. we've got 250 projects already stopped around the country and that number increases every day. so i just would like congress to take a break from vacation, come back and pass a bill and let us get back to work. >> joining me now live is furloughed faa worker neil boland. thank you for joining me. what would you like to tell congress right now? >> get to work. why aren't you at work? you've not got me at work. the previous guest you had mentioned problem-solving failure. well, you're fill failing. >> you've been working with the faa -- you've been there -- >> 24 years. >> 24 years. i heard some other people say that they're having to postpone

their child's birthday. one employer, construction worker said, i had to go in and tell these men and women who work for me that there is no work. what kind of problems is this creating in your life? help people understand that this is real business here. this is the real deal. it's affecting you right now. >> just this afternoon, i wrote a check for $270 for going back to school. i ain't got $270 waiting to be put back in my account. that's a little bit painful. we've got school clothes -- back-to-school books and such to buy. and i don't see my congressman having any problem with this. he's on a vacation. while you were talking, randy babbitt, the faa administrator, mentioned 258 contracts as of today. on the 15th, one of mine goes in delay. i've been working on it for

quite a while, a radar building we've been building. we've got -- just put those back to work, we're talking 4,000 faa, 70,000 construction contractors and suppliers. add 74,000 spouses, one each. two kids, 148,000 folks. that's almost 300,000 people waiting on congress to do their job and every one of them was talking monday and tuesday about jobs, jobs, jobs. we're going to make jobs. we're going to make jobs. and yet you just put a bunch of them out. where are you at, fellows? >> you're not a politician. obviously all of this is coming from your heart when you just wrote a check that you really cannot cash here. how much longer can you -- i imagine now if you wrote the check and you don't have the money, you can't go. you're at the end here, you and your family. >> well, we got our recent paycheck. it was last week for a full 80

hours, full two weeks. our next paycheck is half a week. that's on the 9th for our folks. next paycheck will be on the 23rd for no hours, zero, big goose egg. our next one would be the 6th of september, a big goose egg because they don't come back to work until about that day. and they'll argue for a good three days. that's the 9th. pay period starts on the 12th. we're back to work on the 12th. we get paid october 4th. thanks, guys. and yet for those 4 1/2 pay periods -- 3 1/2 pay periods, seven full weeks, you got paid, congress. thanks for your help. >> neil, you are echoing what many people are feeling, especially those 74,000 others that are out of work like yourself. we wish you and your family the best of luck and hope this impasse is handled quickly by our lawmakers that we sent to washington to do the right

thing. nearly 46 million americans are getting food stamp assistance, that translates to 21 million american households. alabama saw a 120% surge in the use of food stamps. more than one-third of that state's population, 36%, is now receiving government food aid. officials say it could be attributable in part to the tornadoes who hit that area. er what is going on here, ellen? >> well, the economy is having great difficulty. a lot of americans are suffering, not having enough jobs, not having enough income and they're struggling to afford food. when you add on top of that the natural disasters that have hit so many parts of the country, there are people who need the

assistance that they can get. the good news is the program is responding the way it's supposed to. it increases when need increases. and so it's terrible that there's great hardship. but it's a testament to the effectiveness of the program that it is responding. >> but nobody wants to have to go to this. it is great that it is available for people. but 49 states, the numbers went up in 49 states. alabama, half the state, they say it's partially because of the tornadoes. but that is an incredible number of people across the board affected here. >> yes, it is. i think if you keep in mind that we now have one in seven americans who's receiving help from the s.n.a.p. program, that's what the latest statistics are, there are two other gauges of hardship that really can help explain why it would be that large a number. one is that one in six workers in the workforce is either unemployed or underemployed. that's an official government statistic that looks at

comprehensive unemployment. that's one in six workers struggling with unemployment or underemployment. and we know from food hardship data that frack analysis says that one in five americans reports having a hard time having enough money to afford food for the family. that shows you the struggles that families have and that it's no surprise, then, that so many people would need to turn to the s.n.a.p. program. >> ellen, thank you very much. i hope we're not having to talk to you more. but sadly, i believe we will. >> thank you. jerry lewis was supposed to make his final appearance as the host of the muscular dystrophy teleth telethon. but jerry lewis will no longer be the chairman. courtney has the scoop for us. but first, a lot going on today here. congressman david wu has stepped down following allegations he made unwanted sexual advances towards an 18-year-old.

the oregon democrat's rez sags was effective yesterday. he's the fourth member of congress to resign this year alone due to a sex scandal. and the mayor of a small town reportedly says he signed $1 million worth of contracts with a california company while he was drunk. and now that company is suing the city for work it performed under the contracts. the city says the contracts aren't legal since they were never approved by the city council. and right now, secretary of defense leon panetta is holding his first press conference since taking that post. let's listen in. >> i've been truly impressed with the expertise and the professionalism of the department's senior leaders. i'm proud that we're going to build on this terrific team in the weeks ahead. we just announced yesterday, the president announced that he will nominate ash carter to be my next deputy secretary of

defense. and the senate confirmed general marty dempsey and admiral sandy winifeld to be the next chairman and vice chairman of the joint chief, along with some other posts that were filled. i'm very pleased the senate was able to rapidly approve those nominations. i've had the honor of administering the oath of office to admiral winifeld in my office this morning. these fine leaders give me a sense of confidence that we will continue to have a great team as we confront a lot of the challenges that will face this department and the nation. as we lead our efforts to try to meet both our fiscal and our national security responsibilities. that brings me to the debt ceiling agreement that was enacted this week and its impact on our national defense. as i said in the message to

d.o.d. personnel that i issued yesterday, the reductions in the defense budget that were enacted as part of the debt ceiling agreement are largely in line with the civilian and military leaders of this department, what we were anticipating and preparing to implement. make no mistake about it, we will face some very tough challenges here. as we try to meet those numbers. but those numbers are within the ballpark that we were discussing with both the president as well as with o & b. and we have the opportunity to make those decisions based on sound and balanced strategy and policy. and with the best advice that we can get from our service chiefs

and from the service secretaries on how to proceed to build a strong defense not only now but in the future. thankful thankfully, so far this is a very different process than has so often been used in the past when there have been defense drawdowns. defense cuts were applied across the board and force as a result was hollowed out. it was left undersized. it was underfunded relative to the missions and responsibilities that this country must fulfill. and that approach would be particularly harmful because we are a nation at war.

we face a broad and growing range of security threats and challenges that our military would be prepared to confront. from terrorist networks to rogue nations that are making efforts to obtain a nuclear capability to dealing with rising powers that always look at us to determine whether or not we will, in fact, maintain a strong defense here and throughout the world. it is that multitude of security challenges that makes me particularly concerned about the sequester mechanism that was contained in the debt ceiling agreement. this mechanism, this kind of doomsday mechanism that was built into the agreement is designed so that it would only

take effect if congress fails to enact further measures to reduce the deficit. but if it happened -- and god willing that would not be the case -- but if it did happen, it would result in a further round of very dangerous cuts across the board, defense cuts that i believe would do real damage to our security, our troops and their families and our military's ability to protect the nation. it is an outcome that would be completely unacceptable to me as secretary of defense, to the president and, i believe, to our nation's leaders. most importantly it would be unacceptable to the american people. the american people expect that our military will provide for their security.

rather, they expect that we will always protect our core national security interests while meeting reasonable savings targets. as i've said before, we do not have to choose between fiscal discipline and national security. i recognize the resource limitations we face as a result of the size of the deficits that confront this country. but i also recognize that the department of defense has a responsibility to do its part in dealing with that. and we will do so. but we always have to remember those who are doing their part for the defense of this nation. our men and women in uniform and their families. throughout this process, i will be working closely with the leaders of this department,

including the service chiefs, to ensure that we do not break faith with our troops and with our families. we have a volunteer force that is the heart and soul of our military strength. and we have to do everything possible to protect that volunteer force. i have no higher responsibility as secretary of defense but to do everything i can to protect and support them. every decision i make will be made with them in mind. they put their lives on the line, too many have made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of this country. we owe it to them to do this right and to do this responsibly. >> thank you, mr. secretary --

>> we are now listening to -- >> i fully agree with you. we have no issue with the military budgets being held to account in these challenges times. or with the need to make tough program decision moving forward. indeed, we had long ago braced ourselves for a decrease in defense spending and have worked hard to ease some of that pressure by finding efficiencies where we can. we are gratified an agreement was struck to raise the debt ceiling and we believe the terms of that deal are, at least in the near term, reasonable and fair with respect to future cuts. the cuts required by this agreement over the next ten years are certainly in keeping with the president's previous budgetary direction. and we're already hard at work inside the comprehensive review process to find the requisite savings. but we also share your concerns about the devastating impact of

further automatic cuts should the congress fail to enact additional deficit reduction measures. the defense department may represent 50% of the discretionary budget in this country. but there's nothing discretionary about the things we do every day for our fellow citizens. >> that's admiral mike mullen describe possible cuts to the deficit budget. we also heard from secretary of defense leon panetta saying they expected these cuts as a result of the debt ceiling agreement. but moving ahead, he has great concern believing there is fiscal discipline that can be had but also a balance with our national security. much more reaction to this. and we have developing news out of virginia tech. the campus has now lift that had alert. they will continue to be a large police presence on the campus today after two teenagers

attending a summer camp on that campus reported they saw a man possibly holding a gun. right now, the campus has lift this had alert. they've issued this information on their website. we'll keep you posted. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. you can catch "news nation" each day. er class. morning starts with arthritis pain... that's two pills before the first bell. [ bell rings ] it's time for recess... and more pills. afternoon art starts and so does her knee pain, that's two more pills. almost done, but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve because it can relieve pain all day with just two pills. this is lisa... who switched to aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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good afternoon. it's thursday, august the 4th. and here's what's happening. happy birthday, mr. president. the markets take a dive. happy birthday, mr. president, a shiver sent down the spine of wall street. happy birthday? to you? >> we knew the road ahead was going to be difficult but the climb was going to be steep. i didn't know how steep the climb was going to be. >> with the latest monthly jobs report set to drop, how old are you feeling now, mr. president? breaki