board he was sorry for his actions and said he was only trial to retrieve property that already belonged to him. simpson has spent more than four years behind bars. jeff dornan is the capital bureau reporter for the nevada appeal. he join us now. jeff, so this does not mean, though, that o.j. simpson is walking out of the prison doors today? >> no, it does not. he will begin in october, serving the four deadly weapon enhancements that goes with those sentences. >> so what kind of time -- >> he has to serve at least -- >> go ahead. >> go ahead. >> what kind of reduction, though, is this on his sentence? >> oh, it's a big reduction. the maximum on these was 15 years. and he has served just about five. so, that takes ten years off the potential total that he was looking at, which at the time of sentencing, was more than 30 years behind bars. >> so essentially he was looking at dying behind bars. but now he could, as i

understand it, if the numbers are right here, he could be out in four years? >> he could be out just about in four years if his next two appearances before the board go as well as this one did for him. >> what was, i guess, the reasoning behind this approval for leniency in this case? >> well, they listed several things. one that they -- no prior convictions for anything. and they don't give a lot of specific reasons, because parole is a grace. you have no right to parole. so they don't hang themselves out there by explaining in great detail. they listed low -- he's considered a low risk to reoffend. and in part that would be because of his age. he's 66 years old now. >> and just quickly, though, the board looked at the fact that he'd never been convicted of a felony. obviously, that will not go down well with many people who know

that he was not convicted in the deaths of his wife and her friend. but nevertheless, he lost that civil case, that resulted in him needing to forfeit over his possessions and other things there. but the bottom line, i've got to ask you, what kind of reaction have you heard there. are people -- especially even the brown family -- very upset about this? >> well, when i wrote the story from the parole board hearing, person after person, and everybody who contacted me, basically said that he is a murderer and should stay in prison for life. there are a lot of simpson supporters who have patented all along that he was convicted for what happened in that hotel room, but he was sentenced for what didn't happen in california. >> all right. jeff, thank you very much. but, begin, a victory for o.j. simpson. he could spend now just four years behind bars, as a result of this leniency request being approved by the judge. he was literally looking at life behind bars.

that is not the case now. "news nation" is also following president obama's follow-up to what he calls the grand bargain for the middle class. as the president left a meeting with house democrats on capitol hill, he kept his me think tight and focused. >> what's the message you're bringing to the hill today? >> jobs, middle class, growth. >> the president was on capitol hill for closed-door meetings with democrats from both houses to map out a strategy over the federal budget and debt ceiling. on the other side of the aisle, the senate's top republicans dismissed the president's trip to the hill. >> on the rarest of occasions, when he does come to the hill, as he will today, you find out it's basically just another internal campaign rally with democrats. >> and while the president is urging democrats to stay unified, congressional republicans are increasingly split over the idea of forcing a government shutdown in this fall's budget battle, unless

obama care is defunded. tea party members are enthusiastic about the tactic, but other gop leaders fear it will alienate voters. nbc's kelly o'donnell is on capitol hill with us for the latest developments. kelly, give me more of a feel on the ground. we know that the august recess is upon us, just days away, the fifth of august, but what was the feeling there? >> reporter: well, definitely a sense that by meeting with the president, democrats can go home to their districts and states, with the freshest interpretation from the white house about the agenda ahead. trying to really get everybody in the democratic party on the same page. the president explained he would be doing speeches around the country, talking about issues that pertain to the middle class, really, the domestic issues, and trying to encourage democrats in congress to do the same. there were, of course, questions about some of the plans that are upcoming, implementation of the health care law, what to do about the budget. there are sources who tell us, when the president talked about some of these issues, there were positive reactions in the room.

obviously, that's coming from democrats who were there. there weren't any reporters in the room. these are infrequent opportunities. so for senators and for members of congress to get some face time with the president for however long it is, and to be able to ask questions, is something they consider valuable. >> and kelly, as you well know, people are still giving some type of analysis, if you will, on the president's strategy, from the speech that took place this hour yesterday, to the meetings this morning. and they're wondering if, for example, the leaders in corporate america will hear this tax cut proposal, and then call republican leadership, and start to at least box the republicans in through the democrats on one side and maybe even some of these large corporations on the other. >> reporter: the good starting point is that both parties now seem to agree that corporate taxes are too high in this country compared to other nations and that makes u.s. companies at a competitive disadvantage. so that's a good starting point. how it will work out in the

details and what will be used in terms of new revenue coming in. for example, if companies are given a chance to bring their profits home to the u.s. and pay a fee or a tax, what would that money be used for? >> sure. >> republicans say, pay down the debt. the president and democrats are saying infrastructure, job creation. so, it always comes down to different approaches about how the tax code should work. the positive is that they both seem to think that corporate taxes are too high at the moment. >> but as the first read team, and you're part of the analysis that comes out of there. they say that the white house offer landed with a thud. >> reporter: well, i mentioned the one positive, that people are in agreement. yes, there's a lot of criticism of this plan. and certainly, republicans are saying that it doesn't accomplish what is necessary, which is, to stimulate enough jobs. the president is suggesting a drop to about 28%. republicans would like to see that even lower. and there are some questions about what would happen to the smaller businesses that pay their taxes like individuals. the president's plan is more

about the bigger companies. so there are some areas, narrow as they may be, where there is a bit of agreement. now the hard stuff begins. and often in the first pass of a new proposal or a renewed proposal, the hardest negatives come out in the first 24 hours. >> that's a part of negotiating. all right, kelly, thank you very much. now let me bring in new jersey congressman, democrat bob pascrell. thank you for your time. >> how are you today? >> i'm fantastic. let me ask you how this meeting went for you. nancy pelosi said it was a very enthusiastic meeting. >> it was. it was the president's birthday, so we had to sing happy birthday to him. the president was basically summing up what he said in illinoises and tennessee in the last few days, and that is, he wants to deal with the budget in a bipartisan way. he's made some compromises himself with that budget. but we are not going to renegotiate and negotiate and renegotiate the debt ceiling.

that is off the table. and unless republicans understand that, we're not going in place in october, september, and november. >> in kelly o'donnell's report, she noted there at least seems to be some narrow agreement, especially when you look at a corporate tax rate. but the issue or the rankle is the corporate tax rate, in exchange for spending on infrastructure and other jobs investments, which is what the president wants. >> right. but we have a long way to go, because we need a budget in the first place. don't forget, the senate passed this budget, we passed the budget, but we are not to knock on the conference. the middle class in this country is being held hostage, and democrats are standing up, almost to the person, and saying, we need to protect the middle class. things are not getting much better. we still have a lot of people who are unemployed and we need to do something. the president is right on target when he says, let's get to the infrastructure. that work has to get gone sooner or later. it's not going to cost us any cheaper -- it's not going to be

any cheaper five years from now or ten years from now. i believe what the president is saying is correct. >> this meeting, in addition to singing an early happy birthday to the president, which is august 4th, how much of this is about marching orders, making sure they're a unified front, who will be asking the same questions about jobs and the investment in this economy. >> well, we all wanted to hear from the president. we need more meetings like this. there is no question, tamron, that this is not a one-shot deal. can't be. if there's more communications between the administration and the house, be it democrats or republicans or both, i think we're better off. and there's no question in my mind that there was a civil meeting today, it was enthusiastic. right after that meeting, interestingly, we had a ways and means closed door with both democrats and republicans, to talk about what we do agree on, and what we disagree on. soy thought it was a very helpful meeting.

i think chairman kent is trying to get us together, ranking member sandy levin is trying to get us together. we need to come together on the major issues. the president reached out and talked about immigration today. he talked about gun violence. he talked about foreign policy very briefly. i think we need to come together. and you know what, just before we take off from washington, this is the time to get at least what we agree on up front. >> congressman pascrell, thank you very much for joining us. we always appreciate it. and things roare only getti worse for anthony weiner and bob filner. weiner heading back out to meet with voters this weekend, a day after losing his cool during a campaign stop. >> yes, i did. you know who i decided to vote for? anthony weiner. i decided, i've got good ideas. i decided i'm not beholden to the political class. i decided i have shown a level of independence, in standing in front of you today. i don't know if i'm going to

win. i don't know if i'm going to come in second or third or get no votes at all. but i'm going to stay here and keep fighting for what i believe in, and you're welcome not to vote for me, sir. >> that video was released hours after his campaign spokeswoman was forced to offer an apology for remarks she made about a former intern who gave an interview on the campaign to the new yo"new york daily news." meanwhile, on the west coast, the city of san diego now suing mayor bob filner to recover costs from a former sexual harassment lawsuit. that after filner tried to get the city to cover the cost of his attorney fees. and all of this comes after an eighth woman has come forward this week, saying filner sexually harassed her. joining me now, politico's isaac duvnier. nia-malika, let me start with you.

anthony weiner, he's become more compassionate, i don't want to say he's lost his cool, but he's got a softer side he's showing in this new campaign ad, where he says, bottom line, i'm not going anywhere. >> in some ways, his outburst at that meeting is reminiscent of the outbursts he had on capitol hill. i thought the campaign ad was effective in showing he has flashes of being a good retail kpligs. and it would have been effective were it not for the side show that has become the sex scandal and everything else that's going on with his campaign manager. people think he's going through a very public meltdown. he's got 40 days or so to last in this race. i think he's got some really hard decisions to make about whether or not it actually makes sense for him to stay in. you have folks calling for him, apparently the clintons, even, just saying that he should bow

out quietly. >> edward, let me bring you in. your article starts out, anthony weiner has lost his mind. and those are serious words here, when you look at -- i was thinking last night, you know, it's like the "titanic," where people want to bring down the entire ship with them. and what you hear, as nia-malika and others have reported, the clintons and now his wife has taken a brief leave of absence, it's almost as if he's willing to bring anything and everything down with him to stay in this race. >> and you see him lashing out all over the place, at voters, at reporters, at even the clintons. and that was really -- it struck a lot of people on monday night, when he said he wasn't interested in what bill and hillary clinton have to say, because they're not new york city voters. that's a really weird thing for any democratic politician to say about a former democratic president and maybe a future democratic president, when you add in the fact that huma abedin, his wife, is basically a second daughter to the clintons, it gets even weirder. >> let me play a little bit of

what weiner said about the clintons. let's play it, for people who didn't see it. >> first of all, let me make it very clear. i've got enormous respect for the clintons. they've been enormous friends to my wife and to my family, and there should be no intent to disrespect. but i want to -- what i've been trying to make clear is that what is important to me in this race is the ideas that animated me to run. >> what are the ideas that have animated him to run? >> he has released a back of policy ideas and he started his campaign with that. but no one is talking about them. anthony weiner is having a lot of trouble convincing people that this race is not about him, but is about other people, about new yorkers at this point, because it continues to be all about him and him alone. and one of the things that was really striking about that video that he released yesterday is that, yes, he was more forgiving, or more sympathetic,

perhaps, than he's seemed at other times, but he was sitting there alone, by himself. and that is where a lot of people see this campaign going. >> let me play, michael, cindy leathers. she is the woman who said she was sexting with anthony weiner. she was on howard stern's show. let me play it. >> i think i am a little bit angry with him, just because, you know, i feel like he lured me into this situation and then he didn't want to own up to it. what pissed me off was him on the campaign trail saying, oh, i've chained, and trying to act like he has this perfect marriage right now and everything's just peachy. >> the hypocrisy got you? >> exactly. i was like, bull [ bleep ], i'm proof that you have not changed. >> she is not as eloquent as the women who have accused bob filner of inappropriate. nevertheless, the messengers are who they are. but you have two men, double trouble, but it's triple trouble for, i think, some democrats. >> well, i listened to that

whole interview. it was well in excess of an hour -- >> you were able the to stick with it the whole way? you were able to hang with that interview the whole way? >> frankly, tamron, and then some. it left me wanting more. listen, howard stern has met this woman. here's something that is really odd. howard stern has met this woman, anthony weiner has not. it's just a bizarre, telling statement about where we are. i thought, really interesting, was susan jacobi's piece in "the times" today talking about the women involved in sexting-like cases. not the filner case, not the case of sexual harassment. but, she said, you know, they're not victims, they were equal participants. and i found miss leathers to be shameless and sort of indignant like, look at anthony weiner and how could he, but the whole way, she was in for it. >> yeah, i mean, i don't know anyone who saw the women who were sexting as victims. i think it was quite clear, they were all willing participants and strangers and they hooked up like a lot of people apparently

do online. but the problem with anthony weiner's situation is, he picked a woman and she's the gift that keeps on giving. so when you see her, and her presentation, and, you know, let me tell you. some of the things she's saying, quite explicit, it feeds into the narrative of this man's judgment. and when you are a leader, your judgment has to come in question in some respect. it is not total sum, but, michael, doesn't it have to be a part of who you are? >> well, i think it does. i'm a believer in compartmentalization, generally, but he goes much too far, even for me. i just didn't like the sort of indignant nature of what she explained to howard, as if she were holier than thou. because she knew what she had on her hands. she knew of his fall from grace, why it happened, and she bought into this program. so her hands are not clean. that's all i'm saying. >> and i get that, but is that even a question or even relevant, whether her hands are clean? i mean, she's a young woman who has some racy pictures online.

here, she's not running for office, and she might try to present herself as clean, but her choice of venue to talk and her words that she chose, i think, indicate, that she doesn't think that she's, necessarily, this whole system housewife. >> but what kind of credibility, then, does he bring to the table to say, he's unfit to be your mayor. >> the bottom line is she didn't make up the story. he picked her and put her in is a position where she can thus continue to tamper with his career, if that's the word you choose to use, or a cloud over his head. he picked her so he owns it. >> i'm just stating the obvious, it takes two. she was a willing participant, that's all. >> michael, yeah, definitely, but i'm concerned that you're focused on her. yeah, it definitely takes two, and she didn't say -- >> i think she's got a free ride. i think she's got an free ride thus far. i think that susan jacobi wrote a hell of a piece in today's times --

>> but what free ride is she getting? >> the only victim is the wife in this case. it's certainly not the sexting recipient. >> nia-malika, what do you think? >> i think she has taken advantage of her 15 minutes of fame and gad for her. she's going to pose, i think, she was on howard stern for an hour, you found that conversation very interesting. i didn't listen to the whole thing. maybe i will go and listen -- >> no, you won't. >> yes, you will. >> but the thing is, i think tamron's right. this whole idea of judgment, and now weiner is saying, well, i trusted these random strangers to keep my confidence, who i met online, i think that does go to the way that he's spending his time and the people he is putting his trust in. >> the company you keep. my mother said, you don't see a penguin with a flamingo off. so with that said, you've got bob filner and his situation, i think, is very different. i know we put the two together, but we're talking about a man who is now being pseudo. he was only mayor for a year and

the city is now turned against him in a major way. i don't know how he continues, when he can't even meet with female employees without a chaperone. >> i think it's a very different situation. anthony weiner was sexting people, which may be gross and weird and elicit, but it's not illegal. bob filner was sexually harassing people, which is illegal. bob filner is the mayor of san diego. at this point, anthony weiner is just a candidate for the democratic nomination for mayor. what's going on in san diego is much more serious. it may not be as great for tabloid fodder, but that is a situation that cuts to the heart of what the people of san diego have in charge of their government already and how they're supposed to go forward with it. he -- you've got to think, when he's saying he's going into therapy for two weeks and there are aides that have to show up in the mornings and in the evenings every day of that therapy to update him on city business, i feel sorry for the people who have to deal with

that kind of thing and be there at the clinic with him. >> edward, nia-malika henderson, and michael, i'll talk to you later about miss leathers. >> i wish we could hear that conversation. >> we'll record it and put it on the post show. thanks, guys. right now in egypt, the military is vowing to end sit-ins by supporters of the ousted president by calling them a security threat, just as president obama has asked for republican senators john mccain and lindsey graham to meet with egypt's military and opposition. we'll have a leive report for you. and heated moments on capitol hill. how many terrorists were thwarted through the tracking of cell phones. and the government court delivered a big blow to privacy protection. this is the king of bacon and talking about bacon. >> senator rand paul and governor chris christie at it again. it is escalating over pork barrel spending. it is getting personal. but how much taxes do their states send to d.c.?

and how much each state actually get backseas back. you can join our conversation on twitter. you can find out @tamronhall and @newsnation. l time and we're talking with maria about the walmart low price guarantee. you got your list? let's go. if you find a lower advertised price they'll match it at the register. really... yeah, in a "jif". you ready? what?! that's the walmart low price guarantee backed by ad match. bring in receipts from your local stores and see for yourself.

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welcome back. heated moments today at a senate judiciary hearing on the government's phone and internet surveillance programs, exposed by nsa leaker, edward snowden. patrick leahy clashed with the department's deputy director, over the agency's claims that the programs have disrupted 54 terrorist plots since 2006. >> not by any stretch can you get 54 terrorist plots. how many cases with section 215, bulk phone records, collection

critical to prevents s s a terrt plot. >> the administration has disclosed that there were 54 plots that were disrupted over the life of these two programs -- >> in section 215 was critical to preventing -- >> no, sir. and of those plots, 13 of those had a homeland nexus. the others had essentially plots that would have com ia, other p around the world, of the 13 -- >> how many of those 13 were plots to harm americans? >> of the 13, that would have had a homeland nexus, 12 of those, 215, made a contribution. >> meantime, the obama administration released newly declassified documents today that shed additional light on the nsa's surveillance program, including new details on the extent and the capabilities of the technology. joining me live now, "new york times" reporter, charlie savage. thanks for the time. >> thank you.

>> as i understand, the government referred to hop analysis. >> hot analysis? >> hop analysis. >> actually, i'm not sure what you're referring to with that. what happened today is there was in hearing on the domestic phone log tracking program, that was revealed by edward snowden, the former nsa contractor, and ahead of that, the government declassified and released several documents, court documents and briefing papers going back through the years, in which it had told limited members of congress about that program and what restrictions there were on the data it was collecting, every phone call dialed or received inside the united states. and separately, simultaneously, there was a new leak published by the guardian from the trove, it was given by mr. snowden, involving the nsa's capabilities in sucking up web browsing habits, primarily apparently of people overseas, not just kmuxs,

but what they're doing online. >> what i'm referring to, charlie, the hop analysis is that the government can analyze the phone calls of millions of americans in the hunt for just one suspected terrorist. that's because the nsa analysts can look at not just a suspect's phone records, buts a the records of everyone he calls, everyone who calls those people, and everyone who calls those people -- >> ah, yes. >> let me finish. if the average person calls 40 unique people, three hop analyses could allow the government to mine the records of 2.5 million americans when investigating one suspected terrorist, and i understand that was revealed for the first time today. >> well, hop, h-o-p, like a rabbit hopping. that is how they perform link analysis. it's not just who did you call, but the circle of people they called and the circle of people they called, looking for patterns suggesting there may be some sort of hidden terrorist cell and so forth. that was not revealed today.

that was revealed several weeks ago. there was some further discussion of it today. the reason why this is important is the government has said, well the comprehensive database of everyone's phone records, we only go into that when there's some specific reason that some particular phone number has become suspicious to us. that doesn't happen that often. there's only a tiny set of records that ever get looked at. in 2012, it searched for about 300 suspicious numbers. but once the hop analysis is relevant, one they do one search, they're going around it and around it and around it like it, it becomes a much larger number of numbers that have been swept into it. >> let me move on to the follow up i want to ask you. this major victory for the justice department over privacy advocates. a federal court ruled yesterday that government agencies can collect records, showing the location of an individual cell

phone without obtaining a warrant. what are the ramifications of that? >> this has been a hot issue in terms of 21st century technology and how constitutional privacy protection should adhere to that. the question is, when we walk around with our cell phones in our pockets, our cell phones are constantly talking to cell phone towers, so if someone wants to call us, the right tower relays that call to us. and that's effectively a tracking device. everyone now is walking around with a tracking device in their pocket. so the question is, what do police need to do to be able to find someone's location through this tracking device in our pockets. do they need to get a warrant? can they get a court order based on a standard that's much easier to obtain than that? so there was a ruling yesterday that says, at least for historical data, where you've within in the past, the court can use a court order that's based on a lot less probable

cause than they would need if the standard was a warrant. i'm sure this will eventually reach the supreme court. >> charlie savage, thank you so much for your time. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, a new report is out on america's best cities to live. we asked the report's author on where peep are going, and quite honestly, what cities they are avoiding. om capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? [ crso, if you're sleeping in your contact lenses, what you wear to bed is your business. ask about the air optix® contacts so breathable they're approved for up to 30 nights of continuous wear. serious eye problems may occur.

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ayman, what is the latest now that we know that the military may move those folks out. >> reporter: it is really a very ominous sign that many people here think is a sign that the situation is coming to a head. as you mentioned today, the egyptian cabinet had a vote and they decided to describe the situation as a national security threat and gave the minister of interior the green light to break the two protests, the major two protests belonging to the supporters of the ousted president. a short time after that, the country's ministry of interior told the associated press that this is likely to happen over a gradual period of time, first beginning with warnings and ultimatums, and possibly security forces moving in, using tears go, and ultimately acting if self-defense if they need to. some of the speculation has been that these protesters have been armed, some have been concealing weapons and the situations have become way too dangerous, not only for the residents nearby, but disruptive to the country.

the concern is that security would ultimately lead to more deaths. and that is, perhaps, why we're seeing a spike in visitors from the international community, including the german foreign minister, and more importantly, the visit from the republican senators, perhaps delivering the message that violence or more security crackdowns is not the way to try to resolve this. it has to be a political solution, to try to bring the supporters back into the political process. >> ayman mohyeldin live for us in cairo. thank you. coming up, doubling down. the president takes on republicans over how many jobs the keystone pipeline would actually create. but now some say the president has sent a cryptic message that they mean an approval of that pipeline. hey linda!

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rand paul and chris christie still at it, slamming each other over their fiscal conservative credentials. take a listen. >> i find it interesting that senator paul is accusing of us having a gimme, gimme, gimme attitude toward federal spending, when in fact new jersey is a donor state. and interestingly, kentucky gets $1.51. >> this is the king of bacon, talking about bacon. you know, we have two military bases in kentucky, and is governor christie recommending that we shut down our military bases? he wants to be this great champion of national defense. what does he want to do? shut down military bases? >> well, the public beef started last week when governor christie took paul to task over his programs. joining me now, mark murray. mark, what is your take on what's happening here? >> well, it's gotten personal,

it's gotten a bit nasty, but this current argument they're having over pork, i think the debate they were having last week is more important over national security. you're seeing chris christie kind of represent the robust, tough on security, tough on terrorism that we saw during the george w. bush years. rand paul has taken the mantle from his father with a heavy skepticism about u.s. roles in world affairs. and that's a healthy debate for the republican party to be having, after its two consecutive losses and presidential contests, to talk about what its direction is for 2016 and beyond. the question is, is this a debate they're having now or a debate we'll continue to see in 2015 and 2016? >> well, joe scarborough on his show this morning noted that he's pretty good friends with chris christie and he said that chris christie is the kind of guy, he likes to get down and dirty lake this. and i know that rand paul had his own version of bring it on to him. but in this the end could certainly end up damaging one of

them in a fight, you don't often walk away with two winners. >> and what is striking is how early this has started and how personal it's gotten. in politics all the times, you have different brands with people representing different things. but the fact that we're already kind of getting a food fight between folks, naming everyone at this stage, this looks a whole lot more like the buildup to the iowa caucuses, rather than even a year away from the 2014 midterms. it really has escalated very quickly, as anchorman ron burgundy once said. >> thank you very much. pork, beef, anchorman ron burgundy. thank you very much, mark. well, while president obama continues his renewed push for job creation, he is making it clear he does not think the keystone pipeline is the answer. now, republicans and other supporters of the proposed $5.3 billion project argue it would create tens of thousands of jobs. however, in the president's speech yesterday in tennessee, he doubled down on his assertion

that it will leave very few permanent jobs. now, despite the president's assertion, politico notes there are some signals that the president could still say yes. in an interview with "the new york times," the president said, canada could, quote, be doing more to counteract greenhouse gasunleashed from alberta's oil sands. the final decision on this project is expected later this year or even early next year. politico's interview reporter andrew rasusha joins me live. so in your report, it's that little lain from the president in that "new york times" interview that's given some experts what they see as a cryptic message regarding an opening, if you will, for canada to make some changes that would appeal to the president. what else are they saying here? >> yeah, well, there's no doubt that the president, for the first time, publicly, is coming out and being quite critical of the pipeline. but there are some analysts who are looking at his words and

saying, wait, he's opening up the potential for an approval by saying to canada, clean up your act a little bit, and we can talk. >> does that mean that it would be a yes? i mean, the headline says that president obama may be headed towards a yes. would that yes come after a no here? >> i mean, a yes would -- we frankly just don't know what the final answer on the pipeline is going to be. you know, analysts are playing a guessing game at some point. but we do know that, you know, the president, while he's criticized the pipeline, has also said some positive things about the pipeline in the past. so at the end of the day, we won't get a final decisions for several months, maybe not even until next year. >> i just got this in, andrew. a group of lawmakers, republican lawmakers, have said that president obama's recent comments on the keystone xl pipeline are -- regarding downplaying jobs, that it jeopardizes the project, by adding to its uncertainty. again, i'm just getting this in. several republican lawmakers have sent a letter to the president, saying his comments

regarding job creation jeopardize the project. what kind of pushback regarding numbers is the other side presenting as far as jobs created? the president said yesterday, 50 permanent jobs. do we know any counter numbers coming from the other side? >> the president said it would create about 10,000 jobs over the two-year construction period of the pipeline, and that would be followed by maybe, between 25 and 50 permanent jobs. and those numbers are little bit lower than what his own state department has actually suggested. they've said there are going to be 3,900 or 4,000 or so jobs for construction. now, republicans kind of, there's going to be tens of thousands of indirect jobs that could come from restaurants, along the pipeline route, hotels for poor construction workers. but the state department itself, which is a little bit more of a reliable source, says around 3,900 in the short-term and maybe about 35 permanent jobs after that. >> andrew, thank you so much for your time. very swregs report. people should go on and check that one out. thank you. >> thanks. and developing now, the

federal reserve releases a key decision on interest rates. last month's comments sparked a huge sell-off. we have today's reaction from the markets. the average fast-food dinner is over $6.50 a meal. this kraft dinner from walmart is less than $3.10 a serving. replacing 1 fast-food dinner a week, saves your family of 4 over $760 a year. save money. live better. walmart. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

following some developing news right now. wall street reacting positively after the fed announced earlier this hour it would maintain its economic stimulus program. you can see right now, the dow is up 62 points. the dow did not change its assessment -- the economic did change its assessment of the economic growth to modest. that is a slight downgrade from last month's assessment. joining me now in our studio, zachary karabell, column for reuters. did change its assessment of the government growth to modest. what does that mean? >> sometimes, it's sometimes hard not to be amused at these sometimes modest -- i have an image of people sitting around the fed. are we going to call it modest or tepid. the fed is doing nothing

different than it's done. we know the political ramifications, the economic and fed policy ramifications are, they are doing nothing. it is there, just the same policy they've had for the past six months, they're not changing. there was a market kerfuffle. we talked about this in june, when it seemed like they would stop buying these bonds. but until this economy is more than a 2% growth economy and less than 7.5, 8% unemployment, the fed is doing what it's going to do. >> and who will replace fed chairman ben bernanke? that's still up in the air. what are you hearing? >> you know, there's clearly some degree of opposition. he's clearly the white house's internal candidate. janet yellen, who is the fed governor, the rigmarole is there's some bad blood between some people in the white house and her. and robert ferguson, who was a deputy fed governor, his name has appeared as a possible alternate candidate to those two. >> all right. we'll see the selection very soon, i'm sure. thank you very much, zachary. >> okay. up next, america's best cities to live in.

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welcome back. when it comes to urban cities is attracting the most ambitious americans, they may not be where you think. the daily beast has compiled a new list, identifying what it calls america's aspirational hot spots. and many are moderately sized and in the south. topping the list in the great state of texas, austin, followed by new orleans, houston, oklahoma city, and raleigh, north carolina. to compile the list, editors focus largely on economic indicators, but they also looked at the quality of life and demographics. daily beast contributor joel kotkin joins me. thanks for your time. >> nice to be here. >> you co-wrote this piece. and i want to give people a quick glimpse of the list there. some of them, when it came to jobs, several of these cities

were texas. austin, houston, san antonio were on that list. >> well, texas has created about a million jobs since the recession. in comparison, california has lost a half million. it's not surprising that texas would do well, and that people would go to texas -- look, you don't go to texas for the climate and topography. you go there for jobs. >> how dare you say that. i'm a texas tennessee. of course you go for the -- >> well, i'm a californian -- >> don't try to backtrack, joel. it's done. it's all history now. but what i would say to you is, it is interesting, because many people traditionally thought the growth and like would be in the north, in the northeast, for example, as well. but your report shows, it is, actually, a majority of cities in the south. and they're not big cities. >> no, a lot of these cities is, if you take number two on our list, new orleans, it's a city with great culture, great food, great music, wonderful

architecture, and it's about half the price of new york. so what you find is that younger people are going to these cities, because they really can't afford to stay in new york or l.a. or san francisco very long. the rent alone is going to kill them. and in some cases, the economies aren't expanding. so people are going to places where, if they can find cultural life and they can find a job and it's affordable, that's what sells the best. >> this is interesting, your report comes out, "the new york times" had a map of upward mobility in the united states. the lighter areas show areas where children from low-income families are more likely to move up in income distribution. how does this gel, and i know that's a lot of coloring there, but how does this information gel with what you got in your report? >> well, what you really have, you have people moving from the northeast and california to places like texas. so they're doing better there. we don't know where these people are that they measured where they're living now, we only know where they lived in '97.

but we do look at where jobs are, where people are moving, and what's really interesting is the change in immigrants. the second highest number of immigrants moving to a city in the last decade was houston, a city that didn't have immigrants very much. >> all right, well, we're out of time, but you're right about this report. i think it is intriguing and i hope people check it out at the daily beast. thank you very much, joel. that does iter if this edition of "news nation." "the cycle" is up next. so gross. well you didn't use pam, so it looks like you're "stuck" with me. [ female announcer ] bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. that's why there's pam. i'm in my work van, having lunch, next minute i'm in the back of an ambulance having a heart attack. the emts gave me bayer aspirin. it helped save my life. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. my doctor recommends i take bayer aspirin to help prevent another heart attack. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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