unemployment rate has gone down and we shouldn't read too much into the specific number of jobs added. >> if you look at the last 12 months, 2.3 private sector jobs. even this last month at 142,000 was a little bit below expectations. other months it's a little bit above expectations and it's basically averaging out. >> meantime, moody's chief exist mark zandi says it's all about the weather. >> i think the weather is all over this, and nothing fundamental has changed in the economy since you pointed out look at the data in august through november, you know, nothing fundamental has changed. >> and checking out wall street this hour, here's a look how the markets are reacting to all this. things are looking up, not in a really big way, but a moderate way. the dow, s&p 500, and the nasdaq. with more now, i'm joined by former white house economic adviser, jared bernstein, also the man with whom i trust our

economic news the most. thanks, good to see you. >> good to see you, alex. >> the labor participation rate was just 63% in january and we heard economic analysts mark zandi attribute these numbers to january's horrible weather. weigh in on that, is he right? >> well, mark's a smart guy, but i'm not sure about the weather. for example, construction actually posted 48,000 jobs last month. that's a pretty good number for construction and that's the most weather-sensitive industry in the job market, so the fact that they did okay suggests weather might not have been as big a factor. what mark is really getting at, though, is something fundamentally important, which is there has been a real deceleration, a real slowing in the rate of job growth at least in the survey of payrolls. and that's worrisome because we know that this job market has offered us a lot of head fakes over the years. we think it's getting better, turns out not so much. however, as jason furman, chief

economist for the white house suggested, there's better news in the report, as well, alex. >> is there anything that's a ripple effect of overseas of people? >> nothing i saw obviously. it's a good question. the manufacturing numbers, since we export a lot of our manufacturing might look there, they were a little better last month than in prior months, so i don't quite see that yet, but i do think that's precisely the right kind of question to start thinking about what might be underlying a deceleration, a slowing down in the pace of job growth if it sticks. you know, last month when we got the bad number for december, i said one month does not a bad trend make. this month i said, well, two months does not really so much make a bad trend either, but it does certainly get your attention. >> we'll certainly pay close attention to the third month there and see what happens. breaking down these numbers, jared, the unemployment rate of black americans is double of white americans. what do you think can be done to

help this demographic, specifically? >> first of all, let me tell you that is a historical relationship, in good times and bad we've had that doubling. some of it has to do with education levels. people with higher levels of education have lower unemployment rates, so there's a really strong education agenda in there. one of the things the president has talked about, which by the way, economists of all stripes, left, middle, and right all like this idea, quality preschool education for those economically disadvantaged, disproportionately will help minorities. >> so you mention part of this in terms of looking at the sectors showing signs of improvement here, construction up okay. business services, manufacturing, also up, but retail and government jobs are down. between the sequester and constantly looming government shutdowns, is that trend likely to continue? >> well, the retail trend, interestingly, was off trend. earlier months had shown better

gains among retailers. on the other hand, a lot of consumers aren't doing so great, so you can imagine retail being some place we'd want to watch. government is the real concern. if you take government out of the picture, the payroll number doesn't look nearly as bad. 142,000 jobs gained last month instead of 113,000. lots of government jobs lost. one other quick point here, this is a very bad time to allow the unemployment insurance extension to lapse. you're taking money out of the pockets of people suffering from a weak labor market. it's not their lack of effort to get jobs, it's not enough job creation. >> we talked about how that money goes right back into local municipalities, it's what they are using to live off of. >> correct. >> jared bernstein, thanks so much for the chat. the white house says it remains optimistic about the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform, despite john boehner putting on the brakes. yesterday boehner said

republicans can't trust obama to implement immigration legislation fairly. >> he's feeding more distrust about whether he's committed to the rule of law. listen, there's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws. and it's going to be difficult to move any immigration legislation until that changes. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi wasted no time pushing back. >> around here you have to always differentiate between what is a reason and what is an excuse. let's have this debate. but bring it to the floor. give us a vote. we have the votes in the house to pass immigration, comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. >> let's bring in today's agenda panel, staff writer at the daily beast, victoria, msnbc contributor, professor at university of texas, and bill

share. welcome to all three of you. we will go ladies first here. victoria, was boehner effectively killing any hopes for immigration reform this year and how do you find boehner's comments? >> i'm nervous, alex, i have to admit. even though i think he may want to see immigration reform done, there's some very powerful elements in the conservative side of the gop, so from your bill krystals, mitch mcconnell, ann coulter, one of these folks who never wants to see immigration reform done, but other elements like a mitch mcconnell who do want to see immigration reform done but on their terms, meaning let's wait until the senate goes republican. i think that's in the sights of the gop, and they know that they can't get the senate if their base is disgruntled with immigration reform. that's why we see this wait and see game until 2015, because the gop knows that the pro immigration elements of their

party will not punish the party for stalling, but the antiimmigration elements will punish the party. they are playing it safe strategically. >> bill, do you agree, this is a not so secret way for boehner to wait a year on immigration and to hope that the gop takes back the senate, which is a big if here? >> well, i'm more optimistic. this is the same john boehner who last year said we're not going to pass a debt limit increase without real spending cuts, the same boehner who said there are the votes in the house to pass a clean bill to keep the government open, but those things came to pass anyway. i'm not saying boehner is a liar, he's a negotiator, a good negotiator. what i think he's doing here is saying things to prevent open revolt on the right, which victoria's talking about, but also raise the price for a deal for democrats. the one thing i thought was interesting in "the new york times," there was a private floating by team boehner saying obama could prove his

trustworthiness if he leans on democrats to pass trade agreements. the left is very opposed, but they very much want the immigration reform. if obama takes that comment, leans on democrats to say i need you to pass this if you want immigration, that's a real gut check time for the left. >> you know what, i want to read directly from "the new york times" and pose this to you, republicans are letting the white house know that one way it can begin to win back confidence of republicans is work with them despite house and senate democratic resistance to new trade deals. so overall, how do you see this playing out? >> i'm not sure democrats will want to go for these new trade agreements, but i am encouraged by the fact republicans have concrete items they want to accomplish. one of the striking things about the last few years is how much republicans simply sort of raged

at the fact obama's president and democrats are even around. that's how you get the shutdown and the debt ceiling threats, the debt ceiling crisis. the fact republicans have said this time, hey, we want to accomplish this thing and we will trade it for something you want to accomplish is a real step forward, and that seems like the soft bigotry of low expectations, but i'll take what i can get. >> a step forward in what direction, bill, because if republicans try to trade the deals on immigration reform, what's next, might they also try to attack obamacare, as well, knowing the democrats really want some sort of immigration movement? bill, that's to you. >> you could try to tack on whatever you want to tack on. some things are going to be too far for democrats to accept. boehner is trying to raise the price of a deal, and even if

they wait until 2015, if it doesn't involve some form of legalization or citizenship, it's a nonstarter for the latino population, which is part of the reason for republicans to play ball anyway. if they have to get to that point anyway, they might as well do it now. >> victoria, looking for a sweet spot time here in 2014, where is that? do you think it is the summer and if there's nothing done by the summer, it's not happening? >> yeah, it's going to be that may, june, july portion of the year, because we need to wait until we get past the primaries. the gop, all primaries run to the extreme so the gop is not an exception so they want to turn to the middle, talk about immigration reform, but if we get too close to the elections in november, all politicians of all stripes, democrat and republican, get nervous about too much of an overhaul with a sensitive issue such as immigration and one quick point was democrats also are very

nervous with regards to what latinos are going to do, because if republicans hunker down and do not do anything with regards to immigration, latinos are going to punish democrats, not by crossing party lines, but by staying home in 2010. democrats need to really push for something to happen. >> okay. you guys, sit tight. we're going to have you back in just a little bit to talk about some choice comments made by vice president joe biden and senior u.s. diplomat victoria nuland. i think the russians have an enormous stake, obviously, in preventing any kind of terrorist act or violence. >> well, president obama in an exclusive interview with nbc's bob costas, how confident is he russia can keep americans safe at the olympics? live in sochi next. plus, which state is the latest to try to change the laws and how it could affect turnout. plus, the headlines say gm's first female ceo gets paid half what her male predecessor made.

the gm says it's not so cut and dry. is the outrage justified? we'll break down the numbers. and that brings us to today's big question, what is the first step in fixing the gender pay gap? weigh in on my facebook and twitter pages. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three types of good bacteria. i should probably take this. live the regular life. phillips'.

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google is celebrating the opening of the winter olympic games and making a pretty clear statement on lgbt rights, as well. today features athletes skiing, sledding, skucurling, and skati. just below google quotes, every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport without discrimination of any kind. well, the most expensive and most defended winter games in history is under way in sochi. in an exclusive interview with

nbc's bob costas, president obama weighed in on the recent security concerns and insists these games are safe. >> i think the russians have an enormous stake, obviously, in preventing any kind of terrorist act or violence at these venues, and they have put a lot of resources into it. we're in constant communications with them, both at the law enforcement level, at the military level, at the intelligence levels. >> meanwhile, the opening ceremony for the sochi games has a lot of people excited. that includes michelle obama, as just moments ago the first lady tweeted, "let the games begin. so proud of all of our athletes. opening ceremony team usa." kiera simmons must join those sentiments. it's getting under way now, behind you there? >> as we speak right now, it is getting under way in the arena behind me here, alex. it just went dark. we heard a roar from inside as

the whole thing got going. it was time to get going. clearly, we are a lot later here. it was time to get going at exactly 14 minutes past 8:00 for the winter olympics 2014 and it has begun with references to russian history, ballet, to alexander the great, just going through all of the things that this country is proud of. we know that the opening ceremony will take about two and a half hours, and the director has promised some exciting moments, including during the parade of nations, which, you know, at times can be quite long, while all of the athletes come out and walk around the arena. he said specifically he hopes to make that more exciting. we know they will walk out of the countries they belong to, the world projected on a wall or something like that, clearly, we have to wait and see exactly what happens. something else is who exactly

will light the olympic caldron. you may have heard behind me -- >> there's fireworks. that's awesome! >> fireworks. so just in case you didn't believe me, now you know it really is under way. >> yeah, no, it definitely is. okay, well, i wish we could have our cameras inside, but we all know we can watch that tonight. that said, i would like to turn to something the deputy prime minister said to "the wall street journal" when asked about conditions in the sochi hotels, the lack of water. he said, "we have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall, then leave the room for the whole day." okay, the government later said the hotel rooms are not under surveillan surveillance. are they or aren't they? >> we don't know is the honest answer. i think it's possible when crow talk to western intelligence officials and you talk to them about other intelligence agencies outside of europe and

the u.s., because, obviously, they are criticized at times for invasions of privacy, they will talk about other agencies being more invasive, and we know, as well, that the law in russia does allow for more surveillance than perhaps is allowed in other western countries, but we don't know exactly what it is they are doing. let's be honest, we know from the nsa controversy that all of the agencies are wanting to watch and look and that would include the russians as much as anyone else. putting cameras in people's bedrooms seem pretty extreme, wouldn't it? i don't think you can necessarily rule it out. the simple fact is, these are secret intelligence agencies, so we don't know what they are doing. >> can i get your perspective on it all? as you know, on twitt twitter #sochiproblems has been trending. as a journalist there, sum it up. are these horror stories are is everything going along

swimmingly? >> half and half. there's an awful lot done here, but you have to remember this is nothing, to be honest. sochi is a city on the black sea, but this olympic park has all been built for this. there are things unfinished and things having to be done in the runup and the stories journalists are telling are true about some of the total rooms they are in. the hotel room i'm in is very nice and most of the nbc team are in decent hotels, so, you know, i think it's a balance. you'll remember from other olympic games, winter olympic games and summer olympic games that there's always concern about whether things will be ready. there are always these questions, but you know, i think now with the opening ceremony and with the sports under way, unless there is a serious issue, that will be the focus now. >> okay. nbc's keir simmons right there in sochi. thanks so much. here's a reminder, coverage of the opening ceremony begins tonight at 7:30 eastern on nbc.

if i took you and blindfolded you and took you to laguardia airport in new york you think i must be in some third world country. >> ouch. joe biden striking again. the agenda panel weighs in on his criticism. take a look at this, rescuers had to get creative to rescue drivers trapped in icy waters and you might not believe how this mess got started. that's ahead. hey guys! sorry we're late. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ you walked into the hotel as a "5"

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turnout? zachary roth joins me now. zach, this is really interesting and i want to quote the head of the league of woman voters there in georgia, who says, this will affect turnout, "if they make specific provisions for certain elections, it's just so confusing, educating the normal voter is enough, it's taking away the right for some people to vote because they won't know." so who are the voters who would be impacted by this? >> well, voters who want to vote early and, as you say, they would be used to having that 21-day period, which will still apply to federal elections. as you say, that's a confusing situation where a lot of people are going to show up and not be able to vote. just to make one point on this, we talk about municipal elections, those are important contests for ordinary people, the people fixing the potholes in the road, picking up the garbage. it may not be about barack obama or 2016, but stuff that matters to folks, and since the voting rights act was weakened over the summer, these are the kind of

local level changes that we've seen a string of since then. >> well republican representative brian fleming is the one who introduced this bill and argues there's not enough demand for early voting and paints a picture that says the cost of this is not enough to justify it for these small cities because you've got small cities, three people sitting around all day when one or two people would be voting. i guess it begs the question, is this the best way to spend money? >> it's a reasonable concern, but the way to address it, and this is what they've done in other states, is allow flexibility, so when you have more rural places that do have three people sitting around and one or two people show up to vote all day, they don't have to be open all day, but then you have more crowded places able to open more. when i asked why don't you allow for that flexibility, they seemed to say we haven't really considered that. >> this isn't the first time georgia republicans have tried to change the voting system and the rules there in the wake of

the supreme court ruling last year. how have lawmakers there tried to take advantage of this? >> there have been two larger cities, augusta and macon, both of which have tried to move their municipal elections from november to july or to the summer and the significance of that is black turnout is reduced greatly in the summer, as opposed to november. and those are exactly the kind of moves that we're seeing since the voting rights acts was weakened. >> okay, zachary roth, thank you, zach, appreciate it. we've all heard of the wealthy 1%. now one billionaire says they shouldn't attack them because the 1% simply works harder. plus, general motors is coming under fire for what it's paying its new female ceo. is mary barra a victim of the gender gap? is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

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the economic divide, an extension of aid for long-term

unemployed stalls in the senate while the ultra rich criticize the 99%. and what's okay to say? should lawmakers and high ranking officials always say what's on their mind? those are today's topics for our agenda panel. staff writer at "the daily beast," victoria defrancesco soto is an msnbc contributor, as well as professor at the university of texas and bill share is a senior writer at campaign for america's future. welcome back to the three of you. i'll begin with you, jamelle. senate democrats essentially came up one vote short. are republicans doing themselves any favors here with the unemployed? >> i don't think so. i think a lot of republicans see the unemployed as not their constituents or people who belong to democratic constituencies, but the fact of the matter is, unemployment joblessness doesn't know the partisan divide. there are a lot of republicans who are relying on jobless

benefits because of the bad economy, and i think that if this becomes a campaign issue in 2014, it won't be too difficult for democrats, especially in senate races, to argue that electing a republican guarantees that you and your friend and your family and your community will be left without the funds they need to rebound from the loss of a job or the lack of a decent job market in their area. >> here's what's interesting also after the vote, dick durbin said the reason the republican political leaders in the senate want to stop unemployment benefits is because they believe unemployed people are lazy. what about minimum wage, are republicans more willing to move on that front? >> you know, this, together with the unemployment insurance, are questions that are going to be played out in the next election. you know, these are hard working folks, they've given the great recession and difficult times in a lot of our states just need a helping hand, and if the republicans are not providing that helping hand, not a handout, a helping hand, the punishment is going to come in

2016. interestingly, we're seeing democrats use a wedge issue. we traditionally think of republicans using wedge issues to court democratic voters, now we're seeing democrats do the opposite. >> you're right, i see that. bill, you have billionaire investor sam zell commenting on the 1%. let's play a quick clip of that. >> the problem is that the world and this country should not talk about envy of the 1%, it should talk about emulating the 1%. the 1% work harder, the 1% are much bigger factors in all forms of our society. >> trying to make sense of what he was saying here, saying he agreed with fellow billionaire tom perkins who recently said this, "i would call attention to the parallels of fascist nazi germany to its war on its 1%, namely its jews to the

progressive war on america's 1%, namely, the rich." bill, do you think billionaires are not seeing the irony of the situation when it comes to government aid? >> you have to look at it from their perspective, it's hard for a 1%-er, you're working hard and people say mean things to you at times, it's very hurtful. >> oh, please. >> i think these folks have to understand if they don't want us to help the unemployed, if they don't want raising the minimum wage, being a caricature of the monopoly man is not the way to get your political goals and need to understand no one is disparaging hard work. no one is disparaging people who are successful. we're trying to help other people who are trying to work hard. working hard to get jobs and working hard at minimum wage jobs to actually reap the fruit of their hard work. and not everyone in the 1% is so hard working. there's a lot of idle rich in the world, but those who have

succeeded also have some responsibility to give back and invest in infrastructure, invest in unemployment insurance so people can have a leg up. no one is disparaging folks that are successful. >> okay, let's switch gears here and get to our second topic about vice president joe biden's less than complimentary comments about laguardia yesterday. let's take a listen. >> if i blindfolded one and took them 2:00 in the morning to the airport in hong kong and said, where do you think you are, this must be america, it's a modern airport. if i took you and blindfolded you to laguardia airport in new york, you must think i must be in some third-world country. i'm not joking. >> okay, then i shouldn't laugh, but jamelle, is that okay for the vice president to say that? >> absolutely. i mean, you could be proud of your country, you can hold your country in a lot of esteem and recognize that your country has a lot of problems, and the united states, one of our big

problems, infrastructure, it isn't very modern. it is an embarrassment we have airports that look like they are out of a developing country, and i think that the vice president, if he's trying to spur states, localities, to do something about this, if he's trying to spur federal lawmakers to do something about this, it's definitely worth pointing out. >> okay, laguardia is trying, there's a lot of construction going on. poor laguardia. victoria, we also have this u.s. diplomat caught on tape. the u.s. says russia was spying, but the language of victoria nuland, that language has been criticized. here's that. >> so that would be great, i think, to help glue this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and, you know, [ bleep ] the e.u. >> okay, so the two were talking about the ongoing political crisis in ukraine, nuland apologized for her remarks. what's your take, are you surprised by this? >> it is inappropriate language, but the issue is, she thought

this was a private conversation. to my knowledge, victoria nuland has never said "f" word in a public speech. i'm going to give her some benefit of the doubt here. >> okay. how about, bill, your thoughts on this, do you want to weigh? >> well, i'm sure there are many diplomats in the world that have said "f" the u.s. at some point. i think most diplomats use rough language sometimes and understand that. i think the bigger issue here is that let's not be so naive and think other countries don't spy on us. countries spy on each other, that's the way of the world. it does not mean that for those who think edward snowdens of the world think it's evil, some foreign surveillance going on with the nsa, that does not need to be reined in. we talked about domestic civil liberties separately, but also an agenda from the snowden crowd that our foreign surveillance is inappropriate and it's not about using surveillance techniques,

it's to what end. russia's using it so they can keep a hold on ukraine and keep them from being independent. we often use surveillance to try to help other countries expand their freedoms. i don't think -- i think this incident shows you russia's real agenda and have us rethink what the value of our surveillance techniques are. >> okay, thank you all for keeping it clean in our conversation. i appreciate that. janelle louis, victoria defrancesco soto, bill scher. thanks for all that. 50 years ago today, four young men landed on u.s. soil for the first time and we haven't been the same since. the beatles invasion next. and let the games begin. a live look at sochi right now, where the opening ceremony is right now under way. you can watch it tonight beginning at 7:30 on nbc. a stadium that can hold up to 40,000 people and we'll be right back. welcome back. how is everything?

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the gender pay gap, it's a hot button issue and here's why, according to the census department, female full-time workers make 77 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts. that number is slightly higher as you climb the corporate ladder, and that is where we find the current poster child, mary barra, general motors newly installed ceo and fortune magazine's most powerful woman in business. she is making less, a lot less, than her male predecessor, dan ekerson, at least for now, gm will not release the terms of her full compensation package. barra has become somewhat of a lightning rod on this issue, especially since being featured prominently in the president's state of the union. >> our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and scope of our dreams. that's how the daughter of a factory worker is ceo of

america's largest auto maker. and today, women make up about half our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. that is wrong, and in 2014, it's an embarrassment. women deserve equal pay for equal work. >> joining me now, joy reid, host of the new msnbc show "the reid report" and managing editor of the grio, heatha. we want to point out there are just as many headlines refuting this point. that said, gender inequality, this is a real issue. >> and as you're pointing out, even as you climb the corporate ladder, so women doing everything they are supposed to do, getting education, climbing through the ranks as this woman did and you get there and are still not at that equal level and i think a lot of women coming into the workforce, i can

remember right out of college, you hear these stories about finding out that your colleagues with the same education as you, same background as you, were making considerably more and finding out, well, you know what, employers build in the fact you're going to miss "x" number of months or years out of your working life because you're going to have children or this idea as women you're going to be less driven because you're motivated by family. this many years on into women being equal in the workforce, we shouldn't be having this compensation. >> this compensation package may look different by year's end because there are things built into this, performance, how gm does with quarterly reports and things like that. >> right, exactly. as she goes ahead and becomes ceo and does her job, she might get a long-term package in terms of stock omgss, but what's interesting is she was making more as an e.v.p. before she took this job than she was as ceo, and another interesting factoid is the former ceo, he

was saying that as a consultant to gm, he's making his compensation package is more than hers at ceo. >> that's disconcerting, he's making more. >> he's making more. and i think to joy's.compensation, as you get higher paying jobs, women and men, the gap tends to narrow, but there's still a gap, but as we get into the lower income jobs, you see a bigger pay gap there and that's what really also affects consumer spending. the women, you know, there was a study that came out last couple months ago that said that women are 40% of women are the bread earners in their homes. they are the ones spending that money. when you see a pay gap, they start to rescind their money and spend less on things. >> there was a recent interview, i'm going to read part of this to you, joy, when mary barra was

asked have you ever asked for a promotion, no, i have not. have you ever asked for a raise? no, i have not. what does that reflect about your approach to your career? do every job like you're in it to do it like you're in for the rest of your life. does this approach explain some of the reasons for this gap? >> well, something that you do hear about a lot. our colleague has written about this in her book, not raising your hand or putting yourself out there, part of the way women are e cultured as not asking for what you want and it is something that we have to really talk about, especially in our young women and girls as they are coming out of college and high school, you have to sort of put yourself out there. >> as if your value is going to be rewarded because it's been observed and noted. >> listen, this is the guy you want bringing to the table, you do wonder if there is something about women that plays into this, as well, but that aside, women should not be facing these -- we're talking about starting salaries not being

equal for the same job. that is something that's awful to be happening. >> sort of the touch point here, if we do not address this issue now, the president did, i find it ironic the president had her as a guest but is also talking about income inequality. we have to focus, especially on that high level. there might not be a huge discrepancy, but it trickles down and that's where it has the impact. >> there's another thing i want to read to you, written by charles blow. here's what he says, "this is not an issue for men to observe from a distance, because we are integral parts of it. these kinds of disparities and inequities are unconscionable and men must be more vocal about saying so." so what do we expect from men in the corporate world? should they step up? >> it's interesting, because sheryl sandberg wrote about this in her book, "lean in," it's not just women, men have to step up, as well. women, you know, we could do as

much as we can to sit there and negotiate our salaries and talk about how we need to have equal pay, but equal pay means exactly that, we have to have an equal conversation on both sides to make sure both genders are getting paid equally for compensation. >> you mention the family and daughters, we have daughters, do we need to be training our daughters differently? >> we do. i remember talking with a woman in academia a few months ago who found out far into her work life that her starting salary had been unequal to her male colleagues so they each advanced, the gap was getting wider and wider and she also had been asking, inquiring about her salary status until very late in the game. i think we do need young women and girls to be more assertive about asking for what you want, negotiating for yourself. we live in a less unionized work world where you don't have the collective bargaining power anymore, the floor set for you,

you do have to do it from yourself. >> from a personal standpoint, hi to learn that on my own, i wish there were women telling me how to do that. >> now you're a role model. thank you so much. >> thanks. >> i still call you joy ann. >> you can, we're family. >> separated at birth, that's a whole nother story. here's a reminder, "the reid report," february 24th at 2:00 p.m. eastern. this brings us to our big question of the day, what is the first step of fixing the gender pay gap? sherry writes, they told me they had to pay the men more due to the fact they had families to support. karla says on facebook, make it the law. mark writes on facebook, it's sad, but i don't think you ever will. keep the comments coming on twitter or facebook. meantime, here's a look at some of the stories topping the news now. jaw dropping video out of detroit where giant front loaders were used to rescue

trapped drivers after a water main ruptured and buried their cars under ice. new surveillance videos released showing justin bieber getting a patdown by miami police. racing while under the influence. he has pleaded not guilty. it was 50 years ago today the the beatles arrived for first american tour kicking off beatle mania and they are unveiling a historical marker that pays tribute today. but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? fifteen minutes could save you

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it's been a long strange trip, president obama is on his way to michigan right now where he'll sign the farm bill. it took congress four years to pass this bill after arguing over food stamps and subsidies, the president will sign the bill at michigan state university. >> bernie sanders is in cuba, his office is discussing havana.

is the state of the union curse? cathy mcmorris rogers is now under an ethics committee allegation, that she improperly mixed campaign and official funds to help win a 2012 house leadership race. she denies the accusations. john kerry is getting into the olympic spir i he performed the ceremonial puck drop last night. several players on both teams compete for their countries in the game and the nhl will play before it starts its break for the olympics. jay leno ended his run as host of the tonight show. >> jay, you made a lot of jokes about me over the years. do not worry, i'm not upset. on an unrelated note, i've

decided to make you my knew ambassador to antarctica. hope you have a warm coat, funny, man. >> his finale was packed full of celebrities and surprises. the his first game from 1992, billy crystal led a musical tribute including jack black and carol burn net and oprah winfrey got into the act ♪ so long farewell you really raised the bar ♪ ♪ if you were me you'd buy them all a car ♪ >> leno thanked his staff and audience before signing off for the last time. >> it's fun to kind of be the old guy and sit back here and see where the next generation takes this great institution and it really is, great institution for 60 years. i'm so glad i got to be a part

of it. but it really is time to go and hand it off to the next guy. it really is. in closing i want to quote johnny carson, who was the greatest guy to ever do this job. he said, i bid you all a heartfelt -- >> jimmy fallon takes over monday, february 17th. that's a wrap up of things for me. i'll be back tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. >> i'm 11 seconds over. >> 13 seconds. 20 seconds. >> i'm leaving now. eight million new jobs. new businesses. new factories. new hope. still, it's harder than it should be to raise a family... save for retirement. so president obama is urging congress to give america... a raise. his plan raises the minimum wage to ten ten an hour. and requires equal pay for women to boost family incomes.

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here on the road today to sign that farm bill, a rare bipartisan stroke of the pen as we head into the weekend but we start with those games, the official opening of the olympic games after all the buildup and anticipation, training, construction, of an olympic park and the security preps of course, after all of that, the wait is finally over. the opening ceremony taking place in real time at this very moment in sochi. the games open surrounded by storylines, some of them controversial, just consider the feed coming in from the twitter handle sochi problems, which is seen its following to well over 200,000 in the past few hours, posts about questionable drinking water and strange signs about using the tie lets there. that one. then there are far more serious issues like protests surrounding russia's anti-gay legislation and laws passed last year making it a crime t