lost their -- have had their insurance canceled just in the last week. >> those insurance plans are not worth the paper they're written on. many of them exclude -- >> that is absurd. >> many of them exclude key things. >> that is totally false. >> we would not allow -- >> these are big plans that are being kicked off. >> are you going to allow me to fini finish? >> yes, we will. you'll hear more on this fight over the health care law. the ted cruz saga. he takes his act to iowa. on the pheasant hunting trail, what's he hoping to accomplish in the hawkeye state? and sticker shock even before the real rush begins. important news about how much you might be paying to travel this holiday season. hello, everyone. welcome. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west.

welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we have new reaction from both sides of the aisle to the obama care website problems just days ahead of a crucial congressional hearing on the matter. here's "meet the press." >> the thing's not working on a federal level yet, but it's going to. you know, the advice i would give the news media and critics up here is take a deep breath. you know, this is a process. everybody wants to have a date where they can declare victory or defeat or success or failure. that's not what this is going to be all about. >> i think people need to sit down. the obama administration needs to open itself up and figure out how we can get bipartisan support to move forward. we'd figure out what's good, what's bad, how do we fwix it. the problem is in washington. they talk past one another and are so polarized they can't get anything done. >> health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius will testify before the house energy and commerce committee on wednesday.

sebelius has come under intense scrutiny as the obama administration works to fix the website glitches. many republican lawmakers have called for her to resign. >> the president has been poorly served in the implementation of his own signature legislation. so if somebody doesn't leave, and if there isn't a real restructuring, not just a 60-day somebody come in and try to fix it, then he's missing the point of management 101, which is these people are to serve him well and they haven't. >> joining me now, democratic congresswoman eleanor holmes norton, member of the oversight and government reform committee. ma'am, nice to see you. welcome. >> thank you. >> so chairman issa there, do you agree with what he has to say? does someone have to go? >> well, if someone has to go, a close second is the secretary. perhaps some of the contractors should go. they've done an important thing. they brought in a master contractor to coordinate these matters. i wonder why they didn't have

one before. but we can't let the bad news about the website overwhelm the good news about health care benefits for 48 million people who either had none or had unaffordable or inadequate plans. >> okay. so i take it that you agree with the governor of kentucky whom we heard a sound bite from on "meet the press." he said, we just have to relax, take a deep breath. or do you have significant questions about the rollout? >> i do. i think it's fair game for the congress to weigh in to see what's happening here. understand that so far you've heard from a committee whose members almost uniformly opposed any health care reform at all. you got to have people fix it who at least believe in what we're doing. i think that with this november 30th fix date, which is really interesting because given what's gone wrong so far for jeff zeitz

to come out and say he's mr. fixer, that it's going to be fixed by november 30th must mean he sees the problem, knows how it can be fixed. i'm leaving it to people in the administration who know how to find who didn't do what they were supposed to do and have found somebody who knows what to do now. >> okay. as you see him saying -- clearly it appears he does know what the problem is since he has given that date, as you say. but chairman issa continues to subpoena hhs for documents about this website. all the contractors who have worked on it. how far do you think the investigation should go? >> well, when the house is controlled by republicans, and i'm on chairman issa's committee, he's obviously going to look for culprits here. that's what that committee does. i don't think he's going to find it in the underlying plan. that's what bothers me. i think what we ought to be doing is building confidence in what has not lost confidence. that is the plan itself.

we don't want what has happened with the website to step on the good news about the plan. i'm afraid if we don't build confidence and focus on that, we will have real issues. we know that we don't have real issues now because people crowded to get on to the website. so we know people are excited about doing that. we want to frankly keep that up. the way to keep that up, and i don't know why they didn't have the 800-number as a backup before or even paper to be old-school about it, but now that they have it and now that it's reported that you can call -- i mean, somebody called just before i came here and said they could get on. i do want to leave you with one thing that's very important. bloomberg news cited four jurisdictions that had smooth rollouts. one of them is the jurisdiction that all of the members of congress and their staff are going to go on, on january the

1st. unlike any other group who has an employer who funds them or who has a website -- sorry, who has insurance, members of congress were told they have to go on to a site like everybody else. smooth rollout with d.c. health link. and that's going to be a real test. one of the four jurisdictions that got it right. >> i'm curious, though, when you were talking about some of the issues. so are you disappointed, are you surprised by how this rollout came about? and do you think the president holds any responsibility for it? >> well, i am disappointed. you won't find a member of congress who's not disappointed. the extent of the problem surprised me somewhat. i am never surprised when there are multiple glitches online. i really am not. we see that. even your social security number can result in a massive glitch from the private sector.

the responsibility the president always has to take, and he's taken it. when is the last time you saw a president go on the air to talk about fixes in a website? that's taking responsibility. that's taking responsibility. >> what about information? the white house has given very little of it to the public about the number of people who have enrolled on the federal exchange. they've been pretty forthcoming to you and your colleagues in congress. have they or not? >> to tell you the truth, there's very little information, i think, that they have. but let me tell you why it would have been very misleading to tell us, quote, how many people have been enrolled. people have been shopping around for health insurances they've never had to do before. that would be silly to start enrolling immediately. if we look at the only experience we have in massachusetts, in the first three months they had six people -- 6%, sorry, 6% of the people signing up within -- by

the ti -- by the time the fines came in, they had gotten past 90%. >> all right. we're looking ahead then. eleanor holmes norton, nice to see you. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. >> coming up for you at the bottom of the hour, i'll be speaking with former new mexico governor bill richardson. we'll ask him about the health care rollout, a new report on iran and the president's mideast policy. and the other big story coming from washington and still reverberating around the globe today, some new details about allegations the u.s. spied on some key world leaders and a fresh report that the nsa spied on this lady, german chancellor angela merkel, since 2002. nbc's kristen welker is tat the white house. okay. this is tough. there's been a lot of talk about this. what are you hearing? >> reporter: you're right, alex. it is tough. it is something that is a diplomatic problem for the united states. we're already seeing that start to play out. germany, france demanding

answers. steve clements of "the atlantic" framed it well. he said there's now doubt today that the united states is the kind of ally it used to be. we've seen some of the repercussio repercussions. president obama called chancellor merkel this past week to apologize. secretary kerry was abroad in europe, wanted to focus on middle east peace. instead, these latest revelations and allegations overshadowed some of those discussions. he wound up reassuring allies instead of talking about things like iran and syria. we also know that german officials are heading to the united states in just a few weeks to talk to u.s. officials about these latest revelations. as you pointed out, alex, this was a big topic of discussion on all the sunday shows. here's what the chairman of the house intelligence committee mike rodgers had to say. take a listen. >> if it wasn't french citizens and it was a counterterrorism program, maybe we should stop and go, hmm, maybe there's something more to that. i would argue, by the way, if

the french citizens knew exactly what that was about, they would be applauding and popping champagne corks. it's a good thing. it keeps the french safe. it keeps the u.s. safe. it keeps our european allies safe. >> reporter: we should point out, alex, spying is something that has happened for decades, both with the u.s. and its allies, but what is new are these revelations. it's a divisive issue. you saw thousands of people protesting the united states surveillance program here in washington just yesterday, saying they want the united states to stop spying. so questions remain, particularly around the issues of whether or not there is enough oversight over these surveillance programs and the conversation certainly will continue. alex? >> indeed it will. thank you very much, kristen welker. this week marks one year since superstorm sandy hit the east coast. the storm made landfall in new jersey a year ago today. it claimed more than 180 lives and can be blamed for $65 billion in damage. one new sign that things are getting back to normal, ellis island will reopen tomorrow

after it was badly damaged in the storm. nbc meteorologist dylan dr drey is here with the forecast. >> i was out in a couple of the communities recently just last week. there is still a lot that needs to be done to get these communities back up and running. but there has also been a lot of improvement since the storm hit almost a year ago. that'll be on tuesday. so we are certainly seeing much better weather out there. in fact, most of the country is really pretty quiet, except for areas across texas where we had strong storms last night and early this morning. in fact, some areas across oklahoma picked up 3 to 4 inches of hail on the ground. now most of the rain is moving out over the gulf of mexico. you can see some scattered showers now from houston over into southwestern louisiana. that's really all about it for today. we are watching a much bigger storm out in idaho right now. that's going to move into montana and bring a lot of snow to parts of the rockies, perhaps 8 to 12 inches of snow.

good for the ski season. we are seeing temperatures, though, still on the cool side. 47 in minneapolis. 48 in chicago. 50s in and around the northeast. we're only going to see high temperatures in the 50s and 60s for most areas. the southeast, though, looks better than yesterday. instead of being around 60 degrees in atlanta, we should get up to about 70 degrees today. only slightly below average. the warm air is still sitting out in the southwest where temperatures will be in the 90s. as we start off monday, we are going to see some of that snow start to work into the rockies. alex? >> okay. we're in sweater weather season. thank you very much, dylan. the painful reality for air travelers this coming holiday season. plus, the funny people at satds night live take aim at the trouble with the healthcare.gov site. on your recovery? yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ under his breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh.

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act website. here's kate mckinnon has kathleen sebelius. >> millions of americans are visiting healthcare.gov, which is great news. unfortunately, the site was only designed to handle six users at a time. so if you're in a rush, consider using our low-res website, with simpler fonts and graphics. >> okay. well, back in the real washington, one democrat says partisan politics is the driving force behind a subpoena threat for that health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius. the secretary will testify wednesday before the house energy and commerce committee on the healthcare.gov glitches. now house oversight committee chair daryl issa is threat tong subpoena her if she doesn't hand over documents by tomorrow. here's how one committee member described it to me yesterday. >> it's not exactly an impartial

try ibunal we're talking about here. it's more of a republican spin factory, unfortunately. it kind of -- i like to say i'm proud to be on that committee, but that's a committee that right now makes the old soviet show trials look like honest exercises in fact finding. >> okay. let me bring in political editor for the pbs news hour and msnbc political analyst jonathan altar. hi, guys. good to see you both. i'll begin with you, jonathan. let's get your reaction to what congressman cartwright said. what do you think? >> i think there's something to it. the show trials might be a little over the top, but look, you know, they're shedding crocodile tears in the republican party about the problems of obama care. they want obama care to have problems. they threw sand into the gears of obama care and are now complaining that there's sand in the gears of obama care.

now, these particular issues right now are not their fault. it's the fault of the obama administration, which should have planned better to roll this out better. but the idea that somehow, you know, we should now depend on the republicans to help improve the performance of obama care is kind of pathetic. >> yeah. christina, sebelius will be testifying wednesday in front of that house energy committee. beyond politics, why would congressman issa threaten to subpoena her to also testify before the house oversight committee? >> this is basic politics. there are documents and information that the obama administration is keeping to itself. they are trying to do a lot of different briefings for members of capitol hill. they started with house democrats. house republicans complained about that. they will be getting their own briefing. they're trying to sort of share what they want to share. of course when you start looking into documents, you're going to find things that don't make somebody look good. if the democrats were in charge, they'd be doing the same thing. one thing that's interesting to

point out, former president bill clinton recently gave an interview to the news hour. one of the things he talked about was how many democrats didn't like president bush's medicare plan, but they still helped their constituents sign up for it even as they were going after the problems with it and complaining and campaigning against it. they at least helped it function a little bit for it the people that were using it. that's not what you're seeing here. that's part of the obama administration's concern, is that all of these problems with the website could create a larger problem with the actual act and people not signing up because the whole point is getting as many people to sign up as possible to lower cost for everyone else. >> they don't want to help. that's the thing to keep focused on president republic on. the republicans aren't doing this to help president obama. they're doing this to wreck public confidence in obama care. they're not here to help. i think that this is, you know, pretty transparent. by the way, when the problems

are worked out, and they will be, and there were problems with prescription drug benefit in 2006, with medicare in 1965, with social security in 1935. when the problems and the kinks are finally worked out, then the republicans will move on to find another way to attack obama care. >> but when it gets fixed, jonathan, does that leave the gop with few substantive topics, talking points they can go after the health care plan on? >> well, it just depends on whether they want to change from trying to destroy obama care to trying to fix obama care. there are fixes that are necessary. some of them may even require new laws. that's been part of social legislation in the past as well. but they're not acting in good faith, alex. before the obama administration can work with the republicans to serve their constituents, fix problems, the republicans have to decide that they actually want to try to make obama care work better, not still kill

obama care. >> okay. christina, i want to ask you -- take a listen to what democratic senator joe manchin said today. >> nobody should be enforced to buy a policy that costs more than that they have and is inferior to what they had. those things have to be worked out. the new markets opening up are basically going to be good, but it has to be affordable. you have to work through this. the transition period of one year is very reasonable and doable. the fines don't go into effect until 2015. >> now, he is one of at least ten democratic senators who support an open enrollment extension. i think his view is a year. that's on the extreme end of things. some are as little as two months. how much pressure is the president under from both sides right now? >> well, one thing you saw with the shutdown fight is that democrats were able to remain united. the white house was very pleased with that. they'd prefer that's what would happen here with the health care insurance exchange rollout. that's not always the case. you know, senator manchin is one

example. he's been critical of the affordable care act for quite a long time. he would like to force some changes. so republicans are attempting to exploit that. that's why you saw them do what they did with the continuing resolution fight, trying to take little pieces of the health care law and change it or delay things. if they can get the president to concede on any of those points, they can say that's a political victory. also, the midterm elections are closer than ever. we're about a year away. while the house republicans want to hang on to the house, they're trying to win over the senate. so they have to take these conservative democrats and try to exploit any divisions they can. >> jonathan, have you gotten any good answer from the white house on how all this happened, or are folks in the administration wondering how it happened as well? >> i think they're scratching their heads. this was bad management at the center for medicare and medicaid services. kathleen sebelius has a "kick me" sign on her now, but she doesn't bear all the blame for

this. there were a number of bureaucrats not getting it done. the president is apparently really frustrated and ticked off about this. it's making not just him look bad but, you know, the center piece of his domestic agenda look bad. but it will get worked out. i don't think that it's necessary to hold a hard line on no delays. some delays might be in order. there are some democrats who make good arguments for those delays. but they have to be in the larger interest of making it work better. until republicans, you know, concede that obama care is here to stay, and it is, it will not be repealed. they don't have the votes. obama has the veto pen. it will not be repealed. once they can accept that it's a done deal, then everybody can come together and make it work better. that needs to happen. >> and i wonder when it will. christina and jonathan, thank you both so much. >> thanks, alex.

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tops among teens. twitter is the most important social network for them. that's 3% higher than facebook and instagram, tied for second. oh, he is so good, james spader, on "the blacklist." 6 million people watched "the blacklist" on dvr within seven days after it aired. okay. what's up with that? we know it's a smash hit. "bad grandpa" is expected to defy gravity and win the weekend box office with a $25 million take. there's no accounting for taste, right? those are your number ones here on "weekends with alex witt." how are things with the new guy?

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from the classic lines to the elegant trim in each and every piece, kohler will make your reality a dream. don'neutralize them odorand freshen.ash. with glad odorshield with febreze. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." the fbi is investigating a case in santa rosa, california, where

police shot a 13-year-old boy to death on tuesday. two sheriffs deputies saw andy lopez carrying what they thought was an assault rifle. turns out it was a replica. they told him to drop it, then opened fire. hundreds have protested saying the shooting was in the justified. a man operating a ride at the north carolina state fair is facing three counts of assault with a deadly weapon. police say he tampered with the ride thursday, causing it to malfunction. five people were sent to the hospital. an historic win in virginia. darrell wallace became the first african-american to win the stop series. in an interview out in today's "new york times," susan rice discloses how the white house developed its new scaled back middle east policy. rice went on to say, quote, we can't just be consumed 24/7 by one region, important as it is.

joining me now, former new mexico governor bill richardson, who served as secretary of energy. i'm glad to welcome you. thanks for joining me. >> thank you, alex. nice to be with you. >> so governor, can you ever really scale back from a region, or do you have to play the cards that you're dealt? >> well, you know, there's only 24 hours a day, and our policymakers have been consumed with every single crisis in the middle east. the administration has a separate agenda too. china, asia, north korea. we've got to improve our relationship with russia, the european union free trade agreemen agreements. you know, i think what they're doing makes sense, concentrating on achievable gains. the nuclear negotiations with iran, a two-state solution israeli/palestinian process, the crisis in syria. the only worry i have is egypt.

it's not on that list. i'm sure they'll pay attention to it, but you can't sideline egypt. there's enormous interest for the united states there. israel, access to the suez canal, access for our troops in afghanistan. >> yeah -- >> so i think this makes sense. but you've got to watch every day. you can't neglect a daily crisis. >> yeah, absolutely. and let's add the situation with saudi arabia right now into the mix, sir. we've got this fracturing relationship with saudi arabia. the officials and middle east watchers saying this has been a long time coming, couple years at least. should the white house have anticipated this and taken some measures to rectify it before we got to this point? >> that's right. the saudis are very important to us. the oil relationship, they help us in the middle east peace process. they help us in syria and egypt. they're not happy with us. they're not happy with what we've done in the negotiations with iran. so we have to find a way to stabilize that relationship.

the good news, alex, is the saudis really don't have much -- anywhere else to go. i hate to be that stark, but they're kind of tied into us. but that means we still have to re-enforce and strengthen that relationship that right now is deeply frayed. they're a very important player in the middle east and very important to american interests. our military bases there, et cetera. >> talk about cooling relationships, shall we say. how do you think the revelations about the nsa listening in on 35 foreign leaders' communications, including our close allies, is going to affect the president's foreign policy? >> well, it's not helping, but i don't see the outrage in people like snowden and the wikileaks guy. they're the ones that caused this. look, everybody spies on each other. it's just that we're better at it than other countries. so there's a little hypocrisy going on. you know, the national security agency, our intelligence

agencies, they do very good work. i hope they are not decimated or hurt by this. look, on the cell phone thing, i've served in the cabinet. i never was asked for cell phone numbers. the fact that the administration says they aren't listening to angela merkel's phone, i believe them. but, you know, this kind of surveillance among allies, it happens. it happens at the u.n. when i was there. it happens overseas. >> well, sure, it does, but -- >> i don't know what the big deal is. >> well, can we put the shoe on the other foot? angela merkel's phone has allegedly been listened to since 2002. what about the president? does barack obama want his phone, did george bush want his phone listened in to all those years? how are we supposed to react to that? >> i think there have to be some agreements and parameters. i think we need to meet with our allies and talk about in very sensitive but broad scale what

is permissible, what isn't. to show this outrage right now over intelligence activity that has gone on for years among allies and especially -- what about when we're spying on our enemies? you know, this is what i don't understand. this is what edward snowden, who in some areas is treated like a hero, this guy has damaged american interests. when you're a negotiator, you don't want the whole international community to know what you're negotiating, especially if you're protecting the national interests of the united states. look, i think it's unfortunate what's happened. germany, france, they're our good friends. i'm not saying that this has caused a crisis. it has caused a strain in the relationship, also with mexico and brazil. so i think all our allies, we ought to get together, find a way to get acceptable parameters of surveillance and find ways to put this issue aside because

it's not -- it's not helping anything. >> well, and you mention angela merkel and francois hollande. they're both going to be the architects of some new plan. meantime, good segue. you brought that up, your new book "how to sweet talk a shark." all about negotiations. house members from both parties are calling for tighter sanctions while the white house is asking for more time to negotiate. can you do both at the same time? >> no, i don't think we need tighter sanctions right now on iran. the sanctions we have on iran are working. we're squeezing them. the europeans are squeezing them. their oil production has come down in one half. inflation is really high. i think that's one reason why the iranians have entered negotiation. let's see where these negotiations go. i'm skeptical. i worry about israel's security too. we've got to get them to stop enriching uranium or maybe at a level that only moves towards

cleaner energy, nuclear power, peaceful uses of power. let's test them. i think this new president needs to be tested, but what he's saying and what they're doing, the iranians, in these negotiations in geneva with the united states and european countries are steps in the right direction. if that happens, if we get iran off this nuclear path, that's a major achievement. >> all right. well, it's good to talk with you as always. former new mexico governor bill richardson, thanks for joining me. >> thank you. >> in today's office politics, my colleague and cohost of msnbc's "the cycle," krystal ball. i asked krystal about her unique name and how she feels about her 5-year-old daughter working for msnbc. don't worry. we'll explain that. but first, i asked krystal whether the democrats had a real shot at reclaiming the house in 2014. >> i think it's absolutely possible. >> gerrymandering and all? >> gerrymandering and all.

it is definitely an uphill climb. they have to win the popular vote by somewhere around six to seven points, which is a lot. but republican approval ratings are at record lows. one thing that's interesting is the reason they're at record lows is because they're own people are upset with them. now, you might think that would translate into them being fine in a midterm election, but the problem is in a midterm election, you have to have your base energized. your people have to want to come out and vote for you. we saw that was a problem for democrats in 2010. so i think the fact that their own people are angry with them and dispirited is a very bad sign for republicans. >> what about january 15th and february 7th? government shutdown, raising the debt ceiling. are we going to go through this all over again? >> i am very afraid that we are. >> really? >> because even as mitch mcconnell is saying we won't shut down the government on one hand, he's on the other hand saying we'll live to fight another day in january. we'll fight another day.

what is their leverage? it's still government shutdown and a debt default. also, it's not mitch mcconnell and john boehner that are ultimately calling the shots in that caucus. ted cruz is still saying that he would be willing to shut down the government, that he would do whatever he could to defund obama care. so i don't think they've learned a lesson. i think this has been great for ted cruz and he'll be happy to lead them like lambs to the slaughter again. >> krystal ball. it is a name that is memorable. how many times are you thinking, really, mom and dad? >> well, it's just my name. what do you think of your name being alex? it's just been your name. >> think about witt. there's so many things that rhyme with that and you feel like you have to be funny. >> but it's just been my name my whole life. so the funny thing is, i grew up in this little town. i went to preschool with the same people i graduated high school with. for them, it was no big deal. it was just my name.

so i get a lot more attention for it now than i ever did as a kid. i mean, you just kind of have to embrace it, right? i know it's a double-edge sword. i know people get an impression of me based on the name that is not exactly true. i also think once you get past that, it's memorable. >> sure. >> so that part of it's not a bad thing. >> another thing you very much love are these two precious children of yours. how do you do it all? >> i have a lot of great help. i honestly -- it's another one of the blessings here. you know, my ep, my executive producer, first thing he said when i told him i was pregnant is life is more important than television. take as long as you need. we'll be happy when you come back. but take this time for yourself and enjoy your family. i got a call about four weeks later, i think, from him asking me when i was coming back. >> and i think you have a little one who may be fashioning right

after and stepping into mommy's shoes down the road. ella is hysterical. she's already a paid contributor. she's, what, how old? >> she's 5. >> yeah, 5. >> it's a little crazy. she does a web segment with me for our show called political playground where she comments on the news of the day. the latest one is on the panda cam being back up and that pandas come from china and they're there for immigrants to this country and how should we treat immigrants. she's amazing. she came to me and she said, mommy, when am i going to get paid for my job? i thought she was talking generally. i was like, when you're 15. she's like, no, no, no, i do a job now and i want to get paid for it. >> look out. >> yeah, so i was like, okay. so i set up a meeting for her with my executive producer. she went in by herself and made her case for why she should get paid. >> why should i pay you to do that when any kid would love to be on tv? >> because the web is part of

nbc's key to the strategy. >> she now gets paid for every episode of political playground. she's super excited about it. it's amazing. >> you can all watch krystal and "the cycle" crew and ella on occasion every weekday at 3:00 p.m. here on msnbc. sky-high prices for travelers this coming holiday season, but there is a silver lining. from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future.

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saying, barneys new york has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination and we stand by our long history and support of human rights. well, if you're one of the millions of americans making the trek home for the holidays, you may be in for a shock. airfares have already soared 10% over last year. we could see the highest prices in a decade. kristen dahlgren is here with the details. what's going on here? >> good morning, alex. the window for getting the best prices on holiday travel is typically between september and mid-october. clearly we have passed that. this year you can forget about those last-minute deals. no question about it, airfares are going up. just how much depends on where you're headed. if you're headed to grandma's or anywhere else this holiday season, prepare to pay more. >> the truth is the lowest prices were two weeks ago. prices are going to go up every day. >> i'm a little nervous about it because i need to get it done. >> the average plane ticket in the u.s. and caribbean is up

almost 9.5% from last thanksgiving. christmas prices up more than 7%. >> if my didn't book it early, it would be crazy expensive. >> here's an example. the lowest fare to los angeles we could find leaving newark the wednesday before thanksgiving and returning the sunday after, $690. according to kayak.com, the lowest fare two weeks ago was under $400. newark to ft. lauderdale, $706 now. two weeks ago, under $500. in the past, procrastinate to bessing hope for some kind of last-minute deal. experts say this year that's unlikely. airlines have gotten much better at filling those empty seats. >> there are fewer planes in the sky. there are fewer seats available to con up seers. that's the main reason that holiday airfares are so much higher than they were a decade ago. >> there are ways you can save if you're a little flexible. fly first thing in the morning or look for alternate airports

if you have more than one near you. and consider flying on less expensive days. >> my favorite tip for thanksgiving and christmas time travel is travel on the holiday itself. >> it may cut your holiday short but could help stretch your hard-earned savings in what is shaping up to be an expensive season. let's end with some bright news, though. according to travelocity, seattle, san francisco, l.a., and houston have seen below-average price increases for thanksgiving and christmas travel. year. airfares to minneapolis christmas week have been down by 5%. unfortunately, i don't know anyone in minneapolis. but there you go. >> yeah, i'm staying home. thanks very much. the story of ordinary americans preparing for doomsday and beyond. we're going to bring it to you. threats are always evolving. at first, we were protecting networks. then, we were protecting the transfer of data. and today it's evolved to infrastructure...

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in a new interview today, house intelligence committee chairman mike rodgers leveled a charge against the obama care

website that has been lost among the glitches. >> it was clear to me in the hearing they do not have an overcharging, solid cyber security plan to prevent the loss of private information. i'm even more concerned today than i was even last week. i know that they've called in another private entity to try to help with the security of it. the problem is they may have to redesign the entire system. >> joining me now is jessica barber brown, national communications director for enroll america, a nonprofit tasked with maximizing the number of americans who sign up for obama care. a welcome to you. you're hearing the chairman there. do you agree? how secure is this website? >> we know the general rollout of the website has been less than successful, surely. it's been disappointing and frustrating to us for sure. the good news is that the administration has taken responsibility. we heard friday about the punch list of issues they're going to be working through. >> is security one of them?

i mean, do you have concerns about that? >> you know, we have heard that the security issues are going to be, again, that they're going fine right now and that by the end of november, everything is going to be fixed so millions of americans will be able to sign up for quality, affordable health care. we know it's working right now as well. the data hub that's a part of this is one of the best -- you know, generally functioning pretty well as part of that website. and people are getting enrolled. they are signing up. we know over 700,000 americans have already submitted applications for the health insurance marketplace. that just shows the hunger and the interest that's out there for these new options. >> what about the state exchanges? if you look at them, they've done pretty well overall. some of the states like kentucky spent two years working on their websites. did the white house rush this, or did they delay their site too much? was there a timing issue? >> you know, again, i think we've all been really disappointed so far with the performance of healthcare.gov.

you know, what we have seen in some of the state exchanges as you're saying is that there's a great hunger out there for the information and that when it works well, people are going to be excited to sign up. we've seen in states like oregon, for example, they've cut their uninsured rate by 10% in only three weeks. so again, there's a real hunger out there for the new health insurance options, and we know once the doors of healthcare.gov are wide open, that there's going to be many people who are ready to walk through that door. >> okay. in terms of paying for everything, on these state exchanges, we're seeing most of those who enroll sign up for medicaid. in washington, it's 87%. kentucky, 82%. new york, 64%. so what happens if not enough people sign up for insurance plans to fund all these new medicaid patients? >> well, don't forget that the cbo always projected that medicaid would be a big part of the number of new enrollees that

happened during this open enrollment period. we think it's great there are so many people getting connected to new health insurance options, whether that's through medicaid or the individual marketplace. again, we know from past rollout efforts and public sign-up efforts that whether that was through medicare part d or the massachusetts health law that these things start out really slow. we expect that after january 1st, once benefits kick in, we'll see another spike of interest. then we'll see the majority of signups happen really before the deadline on march 31st of 2014. >> very quickly here, a lot of reporting lately about the higher than expected prices for some of the new insurance plans, particularly in the rural areas. prices that we're seeing, is it what you expected? >> you know, overall the prices that we're seeing across the board have come in lower than expected. again, the fact that people now have financial assistance for the first time to purchase these new options is a huge relief to many people who have been waiting for years for this opportunity. >> okay. thank you for being brief there. i appreciate that. jessica barbara brown, thank

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make it delicious with swanson. [ woman #1 ] that's why i cook. the healthcare rocky rollout. a live report on the heated debate getting even hotter. also ahead, getting to know you. why is new airport security screening beginning long before you get to the airport? >> nobody's going to make it on my property. as it stands right now, you're not coming here, so don't even try. >> okay. booby traps and bunkers. survivalists prepare for the worst, but what are they preparing for? hey there, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening out there. we have some new comments today from key lawmakers on the latest problems hampering the healthcare.gov website.

here's republican congressman daryl issa and janeen shaheen. >> the president has been poorly served in the implementation of his own signature legislation. if somebody doesn't leave, and if there isn't a real restructuring, not just a 60-day somebody come in and try to fix it, then he's missing the point of management 101, which is these people are to serve him well, and they haven't. >> there's going to be plenty of time to place blame on who was responsible for whether it should have worked on day one or didn't work or whatever. but right now everybody's goal should be let's get this working, let's make sure people can get the health care they want and need. >> health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius is scheduled to testify before the house energy and commerce committee on wednesday. also wednesday, president obama heads to boston to speak about health care and the experience there in massachusetts. of course, that state passed its bipartisan health care law back in 2006. nbc's kristen welker is at the

white house for us with a good sunday to you, kristen. healthcare.gov, hot topic on the sunday morning shows today. what are you hearing? >> reporter: oh, absolutely it was. i've been speaking to administration officials. they continue to say that tech experts are working 24/7 to try to fix those website glitches. they continue to say that november, the end of november is the deadline for getting those glitches fixed. so they're dealing with that issue on one front. another issue that's emerging today, alex, is the fact that a number of americans are getting letters like this from their insurance companies basically saying their coverage is going to be canceled because they don't immediate federal guidelines. in this case, this person received a letter saying that this coverage would be automatically transferred, but this person's premiums are going to go up a little bit. some people will have to find new coverage. so as you can imagine, this is adding to the debate about the president's new health care law. that was something that was a heated topic of discussion

earlier today between one of the people who really helped to implement this policy, dr. ezekiel emanuel and john flemming. take a listen. >> millions of americans have lost -- have had their insurance canceled. >> those insurance plans are not worth the paper they're written on. many of them -- >> that's absurd, doctor. >> many of them exclude key things that -- >> that is totally false. >> we would not allow -- are you going to allow me to finish? >> you're doing all the talking. filibustering is not going to win your argument. >> we would not allow unsafe cars without seat belts, without air bags on the roads. similarly, we should not allow health plans out there that are really not health plans. >> reporter: now, according to the latest hhs blog, as many as 700,000 americans have applied for applications on healthcare.gov. that's not the same thing as actually enrolling. the administration says they will have the latest enrollment figures by the middle of

november. but this administration continues to really be in damage control mode, alex. i can tell you that in the coming days and weeks, top officials, including cabinet secretaries, are going to be crisscrossing the country, visiting the cities where you see the highest level of uninsured americans talking to people about how to sign up. president obama, as you reported at the top of the show, is also going to be engaged in that effort. he'll be in boston on wednesday. secretary sebelius will be testifying before a congressional committee on wednesday. she will face some tough questions, particularly from republicans, many still determined to derail the president's health care law. alex? >> it's interesting. yesterday dr. emanuel was talking with me on the air. he was talking about some of the examples and the reasons for which some of these plans are substandard. some things as basic for a woman, not offering pregnancy, labor and delivery coverage. those are the kinds of insurance policies he said needs to be canceled. let's be clear because the president may be taking a bit of heat for this because he said,

as you know, if you want to keep your health care plan, you will be able to under the aca. >> reporter: absolutely. that's one of the reasons why this has been such a divisive issue, the fact these letters are going out. your point absolutely underscores what dr. emanuel has said, which is that these plans don't offer basic coverage like maternity services. that is why these plans are either being transferred to other plans automatically, which is happening in this case, or folks are being asked to look for coverage that does meet the new federal standards. >> lots of is to dot and ts to cross. thank you, kristen. joining me now, eleanor clift, and staff writer for "the hill," elise. good to see you both. eleanor, i'll begin with you. how big of a distraction have these website problems been for the president in terms of implementing his health care law? has it really been the overriding issue? >> oh, it's a huge distraction

because it's coming really on the heels of the government shutdown, which demolished the republican party's poll ratings. this has been a gift now to the gop because they can now refocus on what they see as the incompetence of the website. i think it's a big public relations problem, and there are some substantive issues here as well. i think the administration is belatedly getting on top of it. the appointment of jeffrey zeintz to come in as a systems engineer person, offers assurance that the website will be up and running by the end of november. it's an important assurance, if they can deliver on it. and this latest issue about plans being canceled because they're subpar, i think the administration really has to go on the offensive there and explain the whys and wherefores here. otherwise, this is going to build into the next offensive by

the republican party in trying to really discredit this law. >> elise, your article, one of the latest ones, says that the irs has conducted more than 330,000 subsidy calculations. what does this number tell us? >> yeah, alex. that number came out yesterday from the irs. it provides us one of the clearest indications that we have so far of how many people are actually proceeding through the sign-up process. as your reporter said, the administration isn't going to give us full enrollment figures until the middle of next month, but the irs said, yes, about 330,000 people have pinged their database in order to find out whether they're eligible for a federal discount on their health care coverage. as we know, as part of obama care, people within a certain income range can receive a premium tax credit to make their health care coverage more affordable. so this figure gives us a sense that about 300,000 people, maybe more, are actually moving through that process. now, that comes from all over the country.

it's not just through healthcare.gov, the troubled website. so we'll really have to wait and see until next month about how well this is really going. certainly the administration is excited to tout these figures as evidence that, yes, even though the system seems like it's failing, there are people that are making it through. >> okay. eleanor, i want to talk about ted cruz and iowa with you here. this weekend he's meeting with republicans. he went pheasant hunting yesterday. interpret his motives and his moves for me, will you? >> well, if there is a playbook that exists for how you run for president, he seems to certainly be following it. he seems to be following it on an accelerated schedule. iowa is one of the key early caucus states. he's apparently making in roads there against rand paul, who was the previous darling.

this is still way early in this process. i think we're witnessing not only an effort to position for the 2016 republican nomination, we're also viewing a confrontation between two wings of the republican party that could cause the whole enterprise to implode. >> but you know, every time we start talking about these kinds of things this far in advance, i'm just going to say rick perry, right? >> right, exactly. >> elise, what do you make of cruz's iowa visit? >> well, he's certainly anxious to talk about his role in the debate leading up to the government shutdown. he told an audience at a republican fundraising dinner that his fight really was not in vain, even though there were no substantive changes to obama care at all in the deal to end the shutdown. what he said was this drew attention to a law that he believes will ultimately fail and that again he uses this line f the american people rise up against washington, d.c., they're going to be able to ultimately change the fate of the u.s. health care system by getting rid of the affordable care act.

it really remains to be seen whether this will happen, but certainly he's feeding red meat to the base and that's really what counts in those iowa caucuses. >> eleanor, i want to go through the budget with you. on wednesday the house and senate budget negotiators are going to try to begin hammering out some sort of deal. one key element, the sequester. "the new york times" is saying, quote, while the most dire predictions may not have materialized in 2013, the tricks have many agencies employed, deferring maintenance, using unspent money from earlier years, are likely to be exhausted by 2014 when federal departments must trim an additional $24 billion from already tight budgets. so how is this going to impact things? >> yeah, the sequester was a dreadful idea. its impact is going to be felt more severely as we go into next year. and i think democrats are fearful, rightfully so, that they're not going to be able to get the republicans to give any ground on the sequester. you've got paul ryan basically

on the republican side as the chief negotiator. i know it's too early to talk 2016, but he's got his eye there too. he's worried about the base and how much can he give and is he really going to show his cards on entitlement reform and would he really like to scale back in terms of medicare and social security? probably not because those are not popular issues. >> all right. well, you ladies are both popular with me. eleanor and elise, thank you so much. it is a staggering new finding. 500 children and teenagers die every year from gunshot wounds. that's according to a new report released today. the report also finds that 8 of every 10 injuries from firearms are inflicted by handguns. because of that, the doctors group says the national debate should focus more on the danger of smaller weapons instead of military style semiautomatic rifles. meanwhile, the fbi is investigating a story out of santa rosa, california.

an eighth grader carrying a fake gun was shot and killed by sheriffs deputies. joe fryer is here with more. what are you hearing? >> friends and relatives of the boy promised to keep protesting to make their voices heard. this all stems from a quick confrontation last tuesday afternoon. officers thought the boy was carrying an assault rifle. only after shooting him did they realize it was a toy replica. for days now, friends and relatives have hit the streets of santa rosa, california, protesting the shooting death of 13-year-old andy lopez. >> there's no justice that can compare to a little boy dying. >> classmates even walked out of school this past week and marched to the sonoma county sheriffs department where some scrawled angry messages in wet cement. >> he wanted to go to college and have a career. he wanted to do something more and better with his life. >> it was tuesday afternoon when investigators say two sheriffs

dep uties spotted lopez walking around with what they thought was an assault rifle. an eyewitness spoke to lopez just moments earlier. >> i saw the boy with the rifle in the left hand. i'm telling him, throw that thing away because the police are behind. >> investigators say the deputies shouted at lopez to drop the gun. within ten seconds of reporting the incident to dispatch, one officer opened fire. >> one of the deputies described it that as he was turning towards him, the barrel was rising in his direction. >> lopez was shot seven times. only after did officers realize the gun was actually a replica. in a news conference, police held the fake gun next to a real rifle to show their similarities. the sheriff is promising a thorough, transparent investigation. >> none of us on any level wants tragedies like this to happen, and we are very sorry about this entire incident. >> lopez's parents have joined the protests, arguing like

hundreds of others that the shooting wasn't justified. >> he's dead. he's 13 years old. an eighth grader. couldn't something else have been done? >> in addition to the fbi, the santa rosa police department and the county district attorney are all also investigating this case. so far, the names of the two deputies involved have not been released out of concern, officials say, for their safety. alex? >> nbc's joe fryer in l.a. thanks, joe. they may be the friendly skies, but the tsa wants to know a whole lot more about you before you even get to the airport. but they didn't fit. customer's not happy, i'm not happy. sales go down, i'm not happy. merch comes back, i'm not happy. use ups. they make returns easy. unhappy customer becomes happy customer. then, repeat customer. easy returns, i'm happy. repeat customers, i'm happy. sales go up, i'm happy. i ordered another pair. i'm happy. (both) i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. happy happy. i love logistics.

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frequent fliers beware. your security check will now begin long before you even get to the airport. the tsa is expanding its passenger screening process by searching through a host of government and private

databases. this may include information like your car registration, even your employment history. former head of tsa security policy joins me from washington, d.c. tom, good to have you back on the show. we have these similar background checks. secure flight is already in place. but this sounds like it's taking it to a whole new level. can you explaining what's going on? >> well, tsa is going to be doing an expansion of its precheck program. that's the voluntary program where a flyer may want to give over personal information to tsa. tsa will do a criminal history record check in conjunction with the fbi, and in exchange for that, these particular fliers will be able to keep their shoes on, keep their laptop in their bag and coats on and go through a much shorter line. so this is something that tsa is saying is part of its risk-based security program. we'll take these travelers who we know a great deal about, have been checked out, and that will

allow us to focus our -- the bulk of our personnel and other physical security on people that we don't know as much about. >> but tom, i want to confirm here. things like my blood type, the kind of car that i drive, those will be among the things that the tsa will have access to? >> well, i think what they're -- i do not believe that's the case. i think that what might happen is once the fbi gets ahold of your personal information and your biometrics from the tsa, that will trigger a broad-based criminal history record check, and the fbi, depending upon what they might find when they do the criminal history record check, they may check other databases to find out, you know, whether this is somebody that is actually a problem, needs to be investigated, or needs to be interviewed. it won't be tsa doing it. >> okay. and i just want to clarify, i have to sign off on all of this, right? i have to sign up and say, i'm a frequent flyer, i want to zip

through the lines, and i'm willing to give over whatever information is necessary to do it. >> alex, that's exactly right. we've seen this on the customs and border patrol site that lets you speed through customs. tsa would also recognize it for entry into its precheck program. for every traveler that is out there, you're subjected to secure flight since 2009. you have to give your name, gender, and date of birth. that allows tsa, before you even get to the airport, to check you against watch lists and that sort of thing. >> okay, tom. how secure is this information when it all gets put together on some website or in some computer system? how do i know it's not going to be leaked out somewhere else? >> alex, that's a great question, especially with the problems we see with nsa, the questions about the security of our health information. that is certainly something that each individual should consider. if they find it to be too great

a personal risk for identity theft or hacking, then probably the precheck program is not for those individuals. >> okay. tom blank, always good to see you. thanks. >> nice to see you. thanks. >> straight ahead, second thoughts. can president obama's hopes of great second-term success survive the obama care rollout? jonathan altar weighs in. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do.

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listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. ameriprise financial. more within reach. the american people work hard, and they try to do right day in and day out. that resilience and that toughness help to turn our economy around after one of the hardest periods we've ever faced as a country. but what we also need is some political courage in washington. we don't always see that. >> that is president obama on friday at a high school in brooklyn right before he went to a new york city fundraiser. joining me again here in studio, jonathan alter. i know we spoke earlier, but i wanted to bring you back and ask you, with your contacts inside the white house, how concerned are they about the muddled obama

care rollout on that website? >> well, they're frustrated by it, a little embarrassed by it, but not deeply concerned by it. there's not an election right around the corner. they have time to straighten this out, even if they were to delay the implementation a little bit. it's the kind of thing that people probably won't remember a year from now. remember when they had the oil spill in the gulf of mexico and everybody said this is wrecking obama's presidency? six months, a year later, nobody talked about it, even republicans. so this is assuming they get it fixed, and i'm pretty sure they will. >> do you think people will not be talking about, though, what happened with the government shutdown, the second time to threaten default in as many years and also the president feeling like i've got to deal with this and snooping on 35 foreign leaders and their phone calls. does the white house feel like it's wasting precious time of its second term? >> yes, they have not had a very

good 2013. it's been kind of one little mess after another. but he doesn't have to run for re-election. so it will be the big things that matter. obama care must work in some effective, clear fashion for that to be part of his legacy. he needs some kind of immigration reform for his legacy. the question now is whether the republicans will try to block anything on immigration reform, figuring that latinos don't vote for heavily in 2014 and then maybe do something before the 2016 election when the latinos vote more heavily. so these are the kinds of sort of bigger issues that will eventually for history overshadow the story of the day or the week. >> you've written about this president. how much do you think he's concerned about his legacy? how much does that weigh heavily on him?

>> very concerned. i mean, not a lot weighs heavily on this guy. that's the thing that those who know him, you know, stress. he travels light. he's got a kind of easy going attitude, but he's also -- and this is what's unusual. he combines that with an obsession with detail and a lack of tolerance for incompetence. so what's going on right now is ticking him off big time. he's also in good spirits. so i saw senator chuck schumer on friday. he had just been with the president. he said, you know, he was in the best spirits i've seen him in, in some time. >> for what reason, do you think? >> well, you know, he won big on the government shutdown and the debt ceiling. republicans got nothing. i think that the defeat was so stinging for the republicans that he now feels going into the next few months on the budget

negotiations, even on something like immigration, that he might be able to make more progress than looked possible even a few months ago. >> so he's pleased about that, that he won big. the truth is that republicans keep on throwing up one obstacle after another in front of this president. so i have a twofold question for you. how does this president get past it, and in the past, are there other presidents who have had the same kind of dynamic? >> well, the way he gets past it is to win the house. >> and the likelihood of that? >> i think it's still small. what's interesting about the events of the past few weeks is for the first time people said it's possible. the republicans have so discredited themselves that there's at least a small possibility of that happening. i think it's less likely now than it was a few months ago that the republicans will retake the senate, which would have been a real blow for the president. as to the degree of opposition, alex, there's always been vicious opposition to all

american presidents, incredibly nasty things have been said about them. but it's rare that you get radicals who take over essentially effective control of one chamber of congress. these are extremists. i think it's about time that the press routinely refer to them as extremists. barry goldwater defined himself and the republicans of 1964 as extremists, and they were much closer to the senate than these guys. so i think the frustration for obama is that he happens to be president at a time when the republican party is not your father's republican party. it moved in a very extreme direction. and that means that a lot of the accomplishments of his presidency will be in those first two years or in foreign policy areas or in areas that relate to executive orders where he can do things on his own authority or in handling a

crisis. something like, you know, getting bin laden, something like that. that's, i think, what will be more of his legacy. remember, at this time under ronald reagan, we hadn't had a ron contra. at this time under george w. bush, we hadn't had the economic collapse. a lot can happen to an american president. the story remains unwritten. we don't yet know how history will regard barack obama and he doesn't know. >> we got about three years to figure out the final chapters there. thank you very much, jonathan alter. good to see you. new outrage of u.s. drone attacks in pakistan, next. explo. i've saved $75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. you can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesn't charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u.s. when i spend money on this card, i can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles

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♪ because an empty pan is a blank canvas. ♪ [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. ♪ [ man #1 ] to remember my grandmother. [ woman #3 ] to show my love. ♪ [ woman #4 ] because life needs flavor. ♪ [ woman #5 ] to travel the world without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. whatever the dish. make it delicious with swanson. [ woman #1 ] that's why i cook. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." overseas now where newly released evidence shows that pakistani leaders were briefed on the controversial u.s. drone program for years and even cooperated in some strikes. this comes just as reports from amnesty international and human rights watch find that civilian casualties are higher than u.s.

officials claim. joining me now, declan walsh. welcome to you. when u.s. officials do acknowledge the drone programs, they usually describe the strikes as surgical and civilian casualties are rare. according to your reports, they're a lot higher. what are we talking about, what kind of numbers? >> it's difficult to say exactly. according to groups that monitor these strikes, they estimate there's been between 400 and 900 civilian casualties since the drone program started in pakistan about ten years ago. but exact figures are very difficult to get from the tribal belt because this is an inaccessible area. independent investigators find it difficult to get there. even the press reports aren't very reliable. but what we've seen this week is this new report from amnesty international that looks at a small number of the strikes over the last 18 months, and in two instances in particular it says that, for instance, u.s. drones killed a 68-year-old grandmother

as she was picking vegetables in a field and 18 laborers as they sat having a meal at the end of the day. so it holds this out as proof, if you like, that the drone program is not as surgical as u.s. officials claim sometimes in private. >> how about the pakistani government? how complicit has that government been in these strikes over the years? >> it has in public been very consistent. it's always insisted it has no knowledge of the strikes, that it doesn't approve of the strikes. indeed, every time they take place, the foreign ministry in islamabad issues a press release saying it's protesting them. what's emerged over the last week and what's been steadily been emerging over a couple years in reports is that's not quite the case in private, that the pakistanis at the senior levels of government and the ma military have some knowledge of the strikes, that they're briefed by american officials and in some cases have actively cooperated with the program to target terrorist leaders living in pakistan's tribal belt who

they would also like to see killed as well as the u.s. >> does this at all change the conversation there in pakistan? does it at all amend the opinion of the united states as being a sort of foreign invader? >> i think it'll certainly push the conversation along. i think it'll make it much more difficult for the government to brush away those hard questions, if you like, about what knowledge senior officials have about the program. the prime minister, he's only been in power since june, and his officials are insisting that they've got no knowledge of this program, that they don't know anything about it. but with the sort of information that's now coming out about what his predecessors knew about the program, i think it's going to be very difficult for him to brush those away, and it's probably going to force the pakistani government, i think, to perhaps try and come up with some sort of a more consistent stance on the drones, maybe even reach out to the u.s. to have some form of overt cooperation on the drone program, even though politically that would be extremely difficult in pakistan. >> is it possible at all to

quantify if these drone strikes have taken out more militants than they've inspired others to join insurgent groups? >> well, that's one of the sort of million-dollar questions about the drone program. people who are against the drones very much say that they act as a recruiting sergeant, that due to the sort of culture of people in the tribal belt where they take place, people are very quick to jump to revenge. if a young man and a family is killed, his brothers and his relatives will come out to join the fight against the u.s., for instance, across the border in afghanistan. but it's very difficult to put figures on these things. what's certainly true in broader terms in pakistan is that the drones have very much been a sort of lightning rod for anti-american sentiment in pakistan. pakistanis who express hostility towards the u.s. used to do so very much in the context of the american presence in afghanistan. in recent years, a lot of the talk, particularly from pakistani politicians, has been focused on the drone program.

>> okay. declan walsh with "the new york times," thank you so much for the story. well, tuesday marks one year since superstorm sandy devastated the east coast. 12 months after this historic storm, federal aid earmarked to help recovery continues to sputter. according to the department of housing and urban development, only $5.2 billion of the nearly $48 billion pledged had been tapped by cities and states by the end of august. more than 100 people died as a result of that storm, with more than 650,000 homes either damaged or destroyed. how prepared are you for another historic storm or massive natural disaster or what happens if you wake up on doomsday? well, the show "doomsday preppers" on the nat geo channel peeks into the lives of ordinary people turning the readiness for the apocalypse into their life's mission. >> our tank, our war machine is

the most capable vehicle in this country right now. it's been up armored. it has the ability to defeat any civilian rifle round or pistol round on the market. >> i'm building an under watcher cache for my preps so when the [ bleep ] hits the fan, no one will ever find them. >> well, the new season premiers tuesday night where we meet more people preparing for the collapse of civilization. are they on to something, or are they plain paranoid? i'm glad to have you here because we should know, if civilization suddenly collapses, what do you need to have? >> that's right. this is a great season that nat geo has ramped up with new exciting stuff they're going to be featuring this year. i'm excited about it. you know, again, it's something that america's getting really, really into. obviously we've had this string of disasters.

you just mentioned sandy. people recognize that they've got to prepare for these emergencies rather than waiting, you know, for the government to come in and take care of them. people have decided to do what they need to do to take care of themselves. it's really a good thing. >> you know, you see some of these people, and you think, maybe they're a little over the top. what's your take? >> well, yeah, some of them are over the top, but it's better to, you know, have and not need than to need and not have. it's kind of like you got to balance it off. of course, there's some people who take it to extremes that aren't even relative to, you know, what the disasters could actually do. but at the same time, it's always better to be prepared than not prepared. you know, everybody's got different takes, you know, different strokes for different folks. i guess that what this program is, is just an opportunity for people to kind of take a lens, take a look at what people do and to choose between what they'd want to do for themselves. you could be a mild version on extreme version. it's up to you. >> like what we're seeing there. these are people that are digging huge holes and the

backhoes. that's a lot right there. okay. let's take another look at the show. here's a clip, everyone. >> i'm not a quitter. this family doesn't give up. so if that makes us weird, well, then we're weird, but you know what? we're going to be the people that other people are going to come to when the [ bleep ] hits the fan or when things get really bad. >> so do you really think these guys are on to something, or are they just a little bit crazy? >> look, you got to be realistic. nobody is surviving doomsday. any time you have an emergency of that size and magnitude, you know, where something is that big, generally speaking it's usually not a survivable event. again, it depends on what you want to do. if you want to be comfortable, if you want to kind of have food, have water, have all the things that you need, then you have got to take measures against it. some of these people have taken the measures that they feel are appropriate. so again, it comes down to the personality. some people are just going to go way over the top, and some people aren't. but i'll tell you this much, nat geo's ramped it up really

well. they have a lead-in show called "american blackout" that i'll bet you is going to recruit another 5 million preppers after they see this. >> granted, a lot of this is a tv show. so you're putting the most extreme things to entice people and have people watch and go, what the huh? but is there something you think is accessible to the average person? what should the average person do to be prepared all the time? >> the average person has got to prep. i think that it's just our duty to take responsibility for ourselves and do the things that are necessary for us to survive a disaster without government help. at least -- you know, people talk about this critical three days. it's more than three days, as we saw with katrina. a lot of things extended for more five days. people have to have emergency food, water. they've got to have a go bag. they have to have all their important papers and flashlights. they've got to have everything they need to have an extended survival period after a disaster strikes. >> thank you. interesting. "doomsday preppers" premiers tuesday on nat geo at 9:00 p.m.

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go national. go like a pro. it's time for the big three. today's topics, media versus obama care, taxed by the mile, and this week's must reads. let's bring in my big three panel. hello to all of you. >> hello there. >> glad you're here for the big three. jason, we'll start with you. we've seen countless critical headlines concerning obama care. a political analyst frames it this way. the privilege of analyzing the process from the perspective of someone who's already insured and not in the need of coverage allows the core impact of the new program to be missed. does that argument hold any water? >> it's completely right. i have thought that much of the complaints about the obama care rollout have been absolutely

unnecessary. boo-hoo. maybe it takes a couple clicks. the same thing can happen on amazon. the same thing happens on orbitz. the core issue here is, is this better than what most people had before? and it is. we're doing a rollout to provide 47 million people with health care that didn't have access to it before. so complaints about a glitch here and there. >> okay, robert, too much emphasis on the website problems? is this a disservice to the program? >> no, not at all. i mean, a glitch here and there? i beg to differ here. when you take a look at the average person that goes to the website, myself included, it's about 30 to 45-minute wait. when you put in your information, for some people, it's the wrong information in terms of how much you will pay, in terms of how much the government will provide for you. so it's not just a glitch here and there. this is a major, major problem, especially given the fact that $1 billion of our taxpayers have already been spent on this and independent consultants say it will take $5 billion to $10

billion more taxpayer dollars. and the administration promised us this would be a quote/unquote smooth rollout. with all the respect, yes, 47 million people uninsured. that's a big deal. clearly the administration is working toward covering those individuals. we also need -- they also need to manager everyone's expectations as it relates to this. >> sheera, awkward here. who's right, robert or jason? >> well, this probably won't surprise you, but i think there's certainly some truth in what both of them are saying. on the one hand, people have been very impatient about this website. this is health care. i think john stewart pointed out if people are willing to wait you want up a night to buy concert tickets, maybe they should be more patience with something this serious and great as health care. on the other hand, i agree with robert that it's a bad website. it is not well run. it was not tested well. and there are many flaws and it's going to be very expensive and complicated to fix. this is something that obama has made a signature legislative achievement. this is very important. they've botched it.

>> okay. guys, moving on to our next topic. that is taxed by the mile. "the l.a. times" is saying state lawmakers are considering a plan to install black boxes in every car. that meaning every mile you drive would be tracked. tracked. drivers would be charged a tax for every mile of road they drive. the money would then go toward mending the crumbling highway system. jason, good idea? >> this is horrible. this is some 1984 new world order nonsense. the idea that i'm going to be tracked in my car? every conspiracy they'ris they'e wrist will have a field day with this. tracking people's individual movements is a are horrible slippery slope. where does it stop in does it say the kind of gas you're buying isn't healthy? terrible idea. >> but in terms of fairness, is it more fair for those who drive

more to have to pay more in some sort of a tax? >> i'm a bit confused because we already have that system, the gas tax. the more gas that you purchase, the more goes into the highway trust fund. that's exactly when the gas tax is. number one. number two, when you go on the new jersey turnpike or any other turnpike, the further you go, the more you play. also number three, our taxpayer dollars already go to other parts of the highway trust if you said. so now what we're talking about is that we would be paying almost triple now? simply doesn't make sense from a policy standpoint. >> and this is bringing together the tea party and the aclu. they both want to kill it. >> right. libertarians hate this because they see it as a massive invasion of privacy and they have a good point. there is something called the o nchn only dom odometer. and countries that are much more

congested than los angeles have ways of dealing with this and things like taxes, you go into the city, a, bag tax, parking permits, there are hundreds of other ways you can solve this from putting a gps and having government watch every move. >> but l.a. traffic, oh, wow, that's a whole 'nother side to that. halloween costumes and overcoming a real pain in the neck next. be fearless! [ female announcer ] volume without fear of clumps. covergirl clump crusher. big green brush, curved to crush. 200% more volume. zero clumps. clump crusher from easy, breezy, beautiful

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we're back with the big three for their must reads. so what's yours? >> the "washington post" has a really interesting in-depth perspective about peyton manning's recovery from the multiple neck injuries. a good read. they describe just how difficult it was for him to come back. at one point you could throw up the ball just five yards. >> what? >> yeah. he's practicing in like the basement of the denver stadiums. it's really something. should you definitely read it. >> okay. robert, what's yours?

>> the plolitico has a story about vice president biden not sitting on the sidelines, he's traveling around the country recruiting democratic candidates to run for office in 2014. the reason why, obviously he's a very good campaigner, but he's suggesting laying the ground work for 2016 because those people's help to go elect in 2014 when he comes knocking on their door asking for money and their support, it will be hard for them to say no if it's him against hillary. >> is that part of the article or is that your interpretation, his particular hopes and dreams for perhaps 2016? >> well, that's my interpretation. i think anyone can read between the lines. >> jason, what's yours? >> yes, it's from the daily telegraph. it's reporting on the united states several universities are banning offensive costumes and outfits for college students during halloween parties. it seems like ever since soecia media got big, some school has a ghetto or hood party or slaves and own ir ers party and

universities are starting to crack down. and you can have a lot of fun dressing up, you don't have to owe depend anybo offend anybody. >> good points from all three of you. up next, we have "meet the press". when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. your financial advisor should be thinking about your retirement at least as much as you do. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. face time and think time make a difference. at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing.

about yoplait's fall favorites. so we brought pumpkin pie and apple crisp back for a limited time. see? you really do call the shots. ♪ yoplait. it is so good. this sunday, can obama care be cured? >> what a disaster, what a train wreck. how much obama care is hurting millions of americans. >> this is not about the website, it is really about health care. >> the troubled rollout and the major issues still unresolved. did the administration put election year politics ahead of implementing an effective program? is there enough time to fix the website problems before the program suffers major setbacks? can the government manage it all? this morning as even democrats are calling for changes, we take the debate out of washington and explain the impacts