were welcomed by local citizens. [ applause ] russian supporters then blocked ukrainian troops just outside the city. they feared kiev sent the troops to crack down on the occupiers. the ukrainian government is now calling on local residents to form riot police forces armed with automatic weapons. the ukrainian prime minister still blames russia for the escalation. and today he's accusing russia of having a new export, terrorism. ukrainians say they've intercepted documents between russian saboteurs that prove moscow is orchestrating this unrest. but russia denies stirring up the militants, instead insisting they are actually trying to settle things peacefully. that's despite nato's claim that 40,000 russian troops are amassed just across the border. as a precaution, nato has ordered an immediate allied buildup in the baltic region, more ships, more planes and greater readiness. we've got all the angles covered with nbc news foreign

correspondent ayman mohyeldin. we've also got michael crowley and former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, steven pifer. ayman, you just left ukraine. you've been posting some pretty incredible photos on instagram that we've been taking a look at. what is the sense of people there? do people feel like they are inching towards a civil war? >> reporter: well, certainly depending on who you ask. now, we spent most of our time in the eastern part of the country. and the sentiment there among those that we spoke to is that there are legitimate grievances against the government in kiev. and that sentiment of somewhat being disappointed and disenfranchised by what happened in kiev over the past several months has led to a ground swell of pro-russian sentiment. now, those pro-russian sentiments are definitely being exploited by the russian government. there are a lot of cultural

similarities, ethnic similarities, linguistic imlaters with russia, so there are also economic interests between the eastern part of the country and russia. all of those have allowed for the russian government and now some of these forces that we've seen over the past several weeks to materialize and actually help with some of these takeovers. it's hard to say that everything that is happening in the eastern part of ukraine is coming at the hands of russia, but there's no doubt there are also sympathies ng among the local communities that favor a more robust russian role in the eastern part of the country. now the question is how is the central government in kiev going to try to counter that? they want to preserve the territorial integrity of ukraine, but at the same time, they know that they're in a difficult position. if they use force to try and control these areas that they are losing and their buildings, they run the risk of alienating the prop lags and provoking a russian military response. but if they sit by and do nothing, we've seen the result of that. over the last two weeks, dozens of buildings and nearly dozens of cities have fallen to the

hands of pro-russian sympathizers. >> we're seeing all this happening in advance of this big diplomatic meeting that's coming up tomorrow in geneva, foreign ministers from the u.s., european union, russia and ukraine getting together, trying to resolve this issue. what can we expect to come out of that meeting? >> well, the important thing will be if the meeting happens. that's a positive thing because that will be sort of the first venue where you bring all of the right parties together. secretary kerry has met with russian foreign minister lavrov several times to talk about ukraine, but i think there's been a certain degree of discomfort on the american side about having that conversation without the ukrainians at the table. although i think the administration has worked very carefully to talk to kiev to make sure that in those conversations with the russian foreign minister, they're not crediting crosswise with where ukraine wants to go. having ukraine there will be a plus. i think the big question is we've seen the russians over the last several weeks take lots of steps, i think, to destabilize

the government in terms of massing troops on the russian border, on the ukrainian border, in terms of raising, by 80%, the price of gas that russia sells to ukraine, and i believe in the last ten days that while there certainly is some disaffection in eastern ukraine, that these takeovers have been instigated in many cases by moscow. the question will be does mr. lavrov come to geneva tomorrow with some ideas to defuse the crisis? would russia like to help find a way out in which case there are issues where you might be able to find some convergence in terms of defining a way forward. >> how much influence does the u.s. have here in terms of driving this relationship between russia and ukraine? do we have the influence we have to really change the direction? >> there's a couple things at play. one, it's pretty clear the russians care more about losing ukraine than the west cares. so there is thatasymmetry. but the united states government

has become particularly concerned as you have seen over the annexation of crimea, and you have in play from both the united states and the european union sanctions targeted primarily to individual russians. now, the sanctions are not all that large at this point, but they seem to be having an effect. capital fight out of russia is up. and yesterday the russian finance minimum strster project the russian economy would experience zero growth this year. >> michael, politico had an interesting front story today, and it caught my attention. it's titled "ukraine is business as usual in washington," basically making that point that while we are seeing these gruesome images broadcast all over the place, congress is out of session, the president is on the phone congratulating the uconn basketball teams and the cherry blossoms are blooming. not saying this is good or bad, but just pointing out that there's a sense of unreality inside the beltway. and my reaction to this was, you know, the world can't just stop. the president should be on the phone congratulating the uconn basketball teams, and you can't control the cherry blossoms. i hope that they do bloom.

but if we reach a breaking point, which could very well be the case soon, should washington change its reality and how does it do that? >> right. well, i mean, it's an interesting dynamic. i think it's notable that the president has not really turned this into a constant bully pulpit, you know, firm declaration kind of situation. you saw him -- i believe it was at the end of february -- come down to the white house briefing room. this was kind of a dramatic, unexpected appearance. and he told putin, don't go into crimea. there will be serious consequences. and within hours, crimea was being absorbed by russia, and putin completely ignored him. to some degree, i think the president maybe feels a bit burned. he realizes if he comes out and talks tough and goes in front of the cameras, he might get a little bit embarrassed. i also think this reminds me a little bit of his approach to terrorist incidents. he has made it a practice of not rushing out and holding a dramatic press conference every time, you know, there's a near miss or there's a terror alert.

i think he sort of likes to lower the temperature on national security generally. and congress, there's no stopping a congressional vacation. we could be on the brink of nuclear war, and they would honor their plane tickets. that's not so surprising. just to wrap up, the question, though, at what point do we say if putin's army doesn't cross the border, which is obviously a trigger for a significant american response, where do we kick in new sanctions? if we say you're stirring up trouble but you're not actually invading, then do we have a new round of sanctions, new round of escalated rhetoric and posturing? i think that's what they're trying to figure out now at the white house. >> michael, if only congress worked as hard as the average american. ambassad ambassador, all this started between russia and ukraine when the former president was moving toward a more stronger alliance with the eu, something that putin could not allow to happen. fred kaplan says we may be about to see an end to the situation.

kaplan writes, the potentially crucial move came when the interim president said he would be open to changing the country's political system from a republic where the power is centered in kiev, to a federation with considerable autonomy for regional districts. this matters because it would keep ukraine from growing too close to western powers. do you think that what kaplan is saying is correct and this could be the way to defuse the situation? >> well, i think the government or the acting government in kiev said it is prepared to consider some decentralization of power. and actually in ukraine, some defusion of power makes sense. right now the local governors are appointed by the president, not elected by the local populations. so some diffusion of power would produce more effective, efficient and accountable governance. it would be a good thing. although my guess is the ukrainians are not prepared to go as far as the russians would like to see them go. and i think there is still a view in kiev that the foreign policy would be set by the central government and quite

frankly in the case of the european union, most opinion polls in ukraine including the entire country show that well over 50% of the population supports the idea of ukraine drawing closer to the european union in part because they see the higher living standards of the european union. also i think it reflects the unhappiness and corruption in ukraine and the expectation that the closer they get to europe, the closer they'll get to a normal rule of law system. >> i want to get ayman back in here. how are ukrainians in kiev viewing the u.s.'s role, viewing the role of the west? are they hopeful that there's going to be an effective response that's going to clean up this situation from the west? >> reporter: well, i have to be honest with you. i've spoken to some ukrainian officials both in the current government and in previous roles, and they've expressed some dissatisfaction with the united states on two different fronts. one, they feel that there are enough international treaties in

place that were supposed to guarantee that no countries, whether it be russia or others, interfere in ukraine's affairs, but they've been disappointed with the fact that some of these protocols have not been honored, mostly by the russians, but more importantly now that the russians have violated those treaties, the international community's response led by the united states has not been strong enough. so that's wen one factor. the other is they feel that the united states has not been forceful enough in trying to support some of the ukraine's initiatives in tackling this kind of growing rebellion inside the -- inside ukraine territorially. there has been some criticism with the way the united states and europe, not just the u.s., but europe as well and some of the nato alleys that they haven't taken a stronger position with trying to confront russia's strong interference in the eastern part of the country. >> yeah. and michael, it seems like putin is hoping for one of two things. he's trying to provoke the west and ukraine into military action so that if he responds, it's somehow justified, or he's

simply trying to strengthen his bargaining position ahead of tomorrow's talks, or maybe it's both. >> right. i think those are good points. those are kind of leading hypotheses. and you know, i talked to somebody yesterday who's an expert in the region. former state department official who was saying a big problem here is we don't exactly know what putin thinks. we don't know what his game is. we don't know his end game. we don't foe how far he wants to go. we don't know what his limits are. a big problem is that everyone in washington is guessing, and they're mind reading, and they're trying to figure out what is this guy up to. and i think he understands that. and i think to some degree he's enjoying this. he's sending out false starts and false signals to try to confuse us, keep us off our toes. he's doing a great job of it. and he's winning at it. he's the guy with the initiative here. he's the guy with the proximity to the situation, the connections to the country. so we are, unfortunately, in the west in a very reactive situation.

and we do have this card to play, which is economic sanctions which could potentially be very powerful. but that will cause some pain to businesses in the u.s. and into europe. so it's not an easy card to play. it would be great if we knew what he was up to, but we just don't. and i think we're going to see washington and europe reacting to putin for some time to come. >> ambassador, what michael is saying is absolutely right, that putin is a mysterious figure in this situation right now. so does it make you think that tomorrow's meeting is a sort of make-or-break moment? >> well, i wouldn't say it's a make-or-break moment, but it's going to be an opportunity for the american, ukrainian and eu foreign ministers to get a sense, are the russians prepared to find a deal and a way out of this? and the question at this point is we just don't know. the evidence over the last several weeks suggest that the russians do want to keep kiev on age, that they do want to destabilize this place. they're going to have this meeting. will they see that as an opportunity to repeat demands that are will be unrealist track

th unrealistic that they know the government would not or could not meet or explore decentralization of power where they might be some room for some convergence and a way forward. >> ayman, let's turn to another story cycling no you. there's no video posted by a terrorism watch group that reportedly shows a high-level al qaeda meeting in yemen. what do you know about it? >> reporter: well, it's a video that shows the number two leader of al qaeda and also a haitian individual who the u.s. believes to be among the most important, if not the most operationally important individual within al qaeda, particularly because he played an important role in the formation of al qaeda in the arab peninsula which according to u.s. intelligence and other sources is perhaps the most potent branch of al qaeda that could or has tried to strike against the united states in the past several years. now, the video itself, you can really interpret in one of two ways. on one level, you can say it's extremely important because it shows al qaeda being very brazen

and defiant, the fact that they felt comfortable enough to be able to hold such a high-level meeting in public, record it, and then ultimately post it online certainly would make a lot of people feel very nervous about the fact that al qaeda is regrouping in a very bold way, and more importantly, did u.s. intelligence officials know about this meeting? and if so, did they attempt to try to strike it out with a drone strike? we've known in the past that the u.s. has attempted drone strikes against high-level al qaeda figures in yemen. so why would they not on this one had they known the intelligence? there's also another dynamic. it's not operationally significant. we know that al qaeda has been very potent in yemen. they've carried out high-level attacks in the past several years including even in week, there have been two attacks on officials in yemen. so it should not come as a surprise to many that al qaeda in the ararian peninsula is very active and robust and now putting out more of their material online in an attempt to recruit. i think one of the more

important elements was the fact that individuals had their faces blurred. and as a result, some are speculating that these individuals may be people of particular interest, perhaps operatives in process of trying to carry out attacks and as a result al qaeda went to great lengths to preserve their identity or to conceal their identity. i can assure that you intelligence officials are definitely going to be combing over that video with a very fine brush trying to get as many intelligence or information from it as possible. >> pretty scary stuff. thank you all. and it is a busy hour here on "the cycle." the president has just arrived in pennsylvania where he'll talk jobs and the economy live in this hour, and we will bring those remarks to you right here as "the cycle" rolls on.

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cycling now, you're looking at live pictures inside the automotive shop at a community college outside pittsburgh where both the president and vice president biden will speak. the pair will first tour the lab. the school was chosen for its focus on aligning curriculum and training with employer needs, and it's a rare joint appearance for the president and vice president who was tasked with leading a review of federal job training programs in january. together they'll tout $600 million in federal job training investments, money to support programs like what's happening at the school. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker is traveling with the president. she joins us live from oakdale, pennsylvania. kristen, what are you seeing over there? >> reporter: hey, josh. well, we're waiting for the president and vice president to arrive. i'll give you a few details about those competitive grants that president obama is going to announce today. they are both going to be used

with preexisting funds. this is another way that president obama is using his so-called pen and phone to circumvent conference in this midterm election year. so the first one is a $500 million grant, competitive grant program, that will seek to identify the best programs that link businesses and community colleges like this one. and then to expand those programs nationwide. the second one is aimed at expanding apprenticeships nationwide. that's $100 million program. there are currently about 375,000 apprenticeships nationwide. white house officials say about 87% of apprentices go on to earn full-time employment with a salary -- an average salary of about $50,000. they say this is a high rate of return. republicans are prebudding president obama's visit today, urging democrats and the white house to support a house-passed bill called the skills act that would streamline job training programs.

democrats currently oppose that legislation. there are some politics, of course, to this visit as well. president obama really trying to rally his base ahead of the 2014 midterms, jobs -- the job growth, the economy is a good issue for democrats. of course, the unemployment rate at 6.7%. republicans want to keep the conversation, of course, on the way taz they want to improy tha to amend the president's health care law. it's a chance for vice president biden to return to his home state. of course, he is a potential -- we underscore that word -- potential 2016 presidential contender. again, it's a rare appearance by the president and vice president. the optics should really rally the crowd here in pennsylvania. back to you guys. >> kristen welker, thank you. now let's bring in "washington post" political columnist and friend of the show dana millbank. >> hi, josh. >> the president's given a lot of speeches on jobs over the last year and a half. what do you expect to see in this speech that's different from what we've been hearing?

>> well, of all the speeches this president has given on jobs in the la s year and a half, this will definitely be the most recent. i mean, the truthful answer to this is not much. $600 million, look, i wouldn't turn it down. if you were offering that to me. but in the grand scheme of the united states treasury, it's not that much money. and that is -- the reason is there's limits to what the president can do with his pen, with his phone, with air force one, marine one, whatever else he's got there. if you look through the long list of what this initiative is all about, the very last paragraph they say, well, we're going to continue to push congress for additional action. and as long as these guys are sitting on their hands and taking their vacation this week, we're not going to get the kind of real money behind big programs. so it is, as kristen was saying there, really more of a political exercise to keep the

president visible, to keep the conversation on topics he wants to keep it on. and the truth is it may well work at that. if congress isn't playing along with him, why shouldn't he be doing it? there's nothing better to be doing. >> dana, cynicism doesn't look good on you, brother. what's going on? >> he wears that quite often. >> i kind of like it. >> kristen -- >> cynicism, my gray is my cynical look. >> kristen mentioned the $100 million grant, the secondary grant, that's going to go to boosting apprenticeships. and the money's going to come from the h1b visa program. these are folks who are highly educated, often entrepreneurial immigrants, the sort of folks that silicon valley really want to come to america, develop new apps, develop new companies. these are brilliant new americans being used to help long-term americans who are in a rut. and this is the way that immigration should be used to help revitalize america. >> yeah. i don't disagree with you. i just think that we need to have a whole lot more of that

going on. you know, when you can't get the house of representatives to take up a comprehensive immigration bill, well, you have to nibble around the edges at this. you know, everybody talks about expansion of h-1b visas, but we can't actually get people around a table to approve the legislation to make this happen. i'm not being so cynical as to say the president shouldn't be having these initiatives. everybody agrees that the major reason unemployment hasn't dipped further than it has is because we don't have the kind of retraining programs we need. that's particularly for the long-term unemployed. that's the largest problem right now. so of course, this is what we need to be doing. i'm just pointing out that it's a drop in the bucket as long as you have a house of representatives that's not interested in doing anything. >> yeah. and what's different about this that we don't usually see really ever at these types of events is he has his wingman with him, vice president biden, who was born pretty close by and has often been used on the campaign

trail as a blue-collar ambassador. i imagine he'll be fairly scripted, not a lot of room for freelancing in this. they've planned this for a long time. how helpful and important is it to have biden with him there today? is it a big effing deal? >> if they're smart, he will have pretaped his remarks and he'll just be lip-syncing to avoid going off course. sure, joe biden fires up the blue-collar democratic base in a way that president obama never has. that's why he was on the ticket to start with. and i'm sure we're going to hear a lot about grandpa finnegan and scranton and all that hear. here. they eat that stuff up. i wouldn't go so far as to say this is the beginning of the biden '16 campaign, but it will be a shot in the arm for this president whose popularity is not exactly soaring at the moment. >> other big biden news today, he is now on instagram,@vp,

already posted one really cool pic in his sunglasses. >> that's probably, i think. >> i'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of that. dana, isn't part of the strategy here, too, that they've had this rocky health care rollout. now they've had good news in the enrollment numbers. things seem to be going more smoothly. the political terrain is shifting quite a lot now that there are real people who are benefiting from the law. isn't part of the strategy now to sort of refocus on the economic issues that the president really cares about and wants to push congress and wants to message on? >> yeah, i think so. certainly the bleeding has stopped with obamacare. now, polls would indicate it's not a inwithing issue necessarily, but it's not the kind of drag that it was before. and while historically there are all kinds of reasons why this does not look to be a great midterm election for the president's party, they are at least having this discussion, as we had last week on equal pay, as they have with the minimum wage, as they have with the unemployment insurance extension.

just keep it on improving the employment outlook, job training, all of this stuff. and that is where the democrats feel that their strongest issue where they're on the offensive and where you want to be is not answering the other guy's accusations, but leveling your own. >> thanks, dana. the president and vice president are touring that facility now, and they'll speak in about 15 minutes. we'll have their remarks for you live. but first, what's up with this weather? snow in april? you know what they say, be careful what you wish for. cars are driven by people. they're why we innovate. they're who we protect. they're why we make life less complicated. it's about people. we are volvo of sweden.

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the news cycle begins off the coast of south korea where a frantic search for survivors continues after a ferry full of passengers capsized. at least six people are dead. nearly 300 are missing. mostly students who are on a field trip. passengers described hearing a loud bang before the ship began tilting to one side and taking on water. now to a market alert. stocks are soaring at this hour in part on the words of one

person, janet yellen who gave her second public speech as fed chair this afternoon. she reiterated the fed's intention to keep interest rates low even after the economy recovers. and she also tried to downplay a recent run of weak economic data, contributing it in large part to the rough weather. and the man charged in a cruel hoax last night at the boston marathon finish line faced a judge today. 25-year-old kevin addison told police officers he had a rice cooker in his backpack, the same type of device used in last year's deadly bombing. his mother claims he suffers from bipolar disorder and has been off his meds. he's being held on $100,000 bail and being sent on a psychiatric evaluation. time for your sports report with abby. >> that is right. the stanley cup playoffs begin tonight with the boston bruins expected to make a run at the cup. they'll take on the detroit red wings at the garden. the bruins finished the regular season with the best record. they scored the third most, and

that's your sports report. for you, people are starting to say merry easter because it feels a lot more like christmas than april if you live pretty much anywhere east of the mississippi today. a rare spring storm blanketed areas of the plains to new england. and now chilly weather has returned to places like the nation's capital. this is the last week when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. and temperatures were near 80. today's high is 50 at best. and don't even get me started on the wind. but if you're longing for warmer weather, it looks like you're going to get your wish and big time. like a summer with oppressive heat, hue humidity and tropical downpours. that's according to the old farmers' almanac. and there's a reason to take these guys seriously. they've been at it for 94 years. and about 80% accuracy. so let's hope this summer falls in the other 20%. but let's see what the weather channel's chris warren has to say about all of this. now, let's first start with this last gasp hopefully from winter. what do you think about that? >> yeah, i think you'd better

have all your fingers crossed, the way this winter has been going, it would not rule out another cold shot. but as you get closer and closer to summer, the days are getting longer and longer. the sun angle is higher, more intense sunshine. it does get harder and harder. each day you get closer to summer to have more winter weather. but right now, you go outside, and as you mentioned, you factor in that wind, it's going to feel even colder than this. temperatures right now, where you have the blue here in the northeast, all in the 30s and 40s in new york city. the wind's blowing hard enough, it's going to feel like it's in the 30s. let's look at the daytime highs. notice gradual warming. and these are the highs. so the mornings are still going to be a little bit colder. but by the time saturday arrives and the weekend is here, you're going to see here in the northeast, temperatures will be back into the 60s. overnight lows will moderate quite a bit. and this is getting us deeper and deeper into spring and

closer and closer to summer. we're also going to see a similar situation in the southeast. we're going to see these temperatures go on thursday into friday back into the 60s, back a little bit closer to what you might expect this time of year. saturday, there's going to be some more 70s. even close to 80 degrees in a few spots. temperatures will be getting back to where they should be. now, after seeing snow last night throughout parts of the upper midwest, any of this yellow moving in, these 60s is going to feel like almost early summer throughout parts of the midwest. and temperatures will be back for you in chicago, back into the upper 60s by the end of the week. so at least for the next few days, abby, it looks like temperatures, at the very least, are going to moderate and get just a little bit warmer. >> and we're seeing predictions of a very extremely hot, wet summer for the northeast. is that true? i mean, and what does that mean for the rest of the country? >> well, the thing is, when you look at the long-term predictions, you have to be very, very careful. you have to figure out what are those being based on?

usually they're being based on certain indications. and any time you get beyond three days, quite frankly, the forecast confidence goes down quite a bit. five-day forecasts have been much better over the past ten years. but even beyond three days is tough. so looking ahead to the summer, chances are if you have one or two weeks where it is hot and it is wet, that's what you're going to remember. >> chris warren, thanks so much. whenever there's extreme weather, you can expect an extreme spin here at "the cycle." i could not -- we'll see. >> we're going to find out. >> we're going to find out right now. >> you put a lot of pressure on us now, abby. >> i could not believe, though, walking out this morning and seeing snow on the cars and roads. unbelievable. i thought we were past that. the farmer's almanac, they're not always correct, but they can predict trends. and given the winter we've had, i tend to believe that the summer is probably going to be even more extreme than we've had in the past. and the first thing that comes to mind is obviously summers

here often hot and muggy and oftentimes gross, but imagining the subway with a summer that is even worse. i mean, sitting on the tarmac is horrib horrible. but then when you're smashed into the car with so many folks. it's great in the winter. you're all snuggled up and you keep each other warm. >> is that true? really? really? >> no, but you get people's sweat on your arms, and ew, it's awful. >> you have your big, puffy winter coat on, though, and then you get on the subway and it's heated to a proper temperature that feels way too warm. that's actually to me worse in a way t way than the summer because usually they're air-conditioned as well. >> the subway is unpleasant as it is in the summer, they didn't start putting air-conditioning in until the '70s and '80s. can you imagine you get on the subway platform, and rather than getting this nice icebox when you walk onto the train, it being even hotter and stuffier in there? >> not to mention -- >> what i'm loving about this

picture -- i mean, i love those two guys right there. graffiti. you usually have graffiti on the trains. people would show their art. some of it was crappy. some of it was great and beautiful stuff. now it's in museums, it's not on the trains anymore. i miss that. >> i don't know, i'd rather have the air conditioning. >> we could have both. it's not a binary choice. we could have the air conditioning and some nice, beautiful art made by the people, right? this is populist art that we used to have traveling through the city. so the trains would be moving galleries. i loved that. >> did they crack down on that or what happened? >> yeah, a little bit. yeah, a little bit. i mean, they got these things called the buff where the trains could be buffed or cleaned immediately, right? >> got it. >> it used to take them a long time. then we could have the train cleaned in 24 hours. yeah, they got a lot harder on it. >> what would happen if they caught me doing graffiti on the subway. >> oh, you'd go to jail. maybe you, abby huntsman, would

not go to jail. but if i got caught spray-painting on a train, yeah, absolutely, you'd go to jail. >> we could try it out. i'll get some spray cans, we'll go down after the show. >> i'm busy that day. >> it could be fun. i did that for a story once. we snuck into this train yard in the bronx. >> really? >> absolutely. we had cutters. we went through the fence and we were out there riding on the train, looking out for the cops. we thought somebody was coming. it was actually cool. we did a little piece inside a train. it's actually fun. you would like it. you would like it. you might be scared. >> i probably would be. this is what we call an extreme weather spin. we go from the hot summer that's potentially to come to graffiti. >> this used to be a critical part of new york city. >> i know, i love the arts. it's beautiful. >> some folks were hating on it and talk about it being part of urban blight. no, this was a beautiful part of people making art. >> abby, i'm just excited that the weather is going to warm up a little bit. so all the little girls can wear their easter dresses. >> i love easter dresses. it feels like we don't have spring or fall anymore, so let's

hope we can at least have i afew weeks and months of some spring. >> before it's oppressively hot. >> this has been a great spin. up next, though, live coverage of a rare event these days. vice president biden and president obama together on one stage talking about something that they hope will create more jobs. keep it here on "the cycle." peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town.

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cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" the president is scheduled to take the stage outside pittsburgh where he'll announce a $600 million job training initiative. $500 million for a job training competition encouraging community colleges and employers to develop training programs that are job driven. and another $100 million for an apprenticeship program aimed at fast-growing field. it's also the white house's way of showing it's working to address the jobs crisis, even without this deadlocked congress. joining us once again, nbc's kristen welker and "the

washington post's" political columnist dana milbank. kristen, what is the mood in the room when the potus and the vpotus are about to come out? >> reporter: well, i think there's a lot of anticipation. people looking forward to what they have to say in part because the president is going to be using the community college of allegheny county to highlight this new program. this is one of the places that has a strong link with the business community here to train its students in high-tech manufacturing, and that's something that you're going to hear president obama talk about, the importance of these apprenticeships. the white house pointing to the fact that 87% of apprentices go on to actually get jobs, and then they wind up earning, on average, about $50,000. now, this is a part of president obama's goal to use his pen and his phone. we've heard him talk a lot about that this year to circumvent congress. obviously the white house, congress deadlocked on a number

of pieces of legislation. so this is his way of going around congress. it's not clear how large the impact is going to be, and i can tell you i was part of a background briefing yesterday and tried to get some projections about how many apprenticeships might be created by this initiative, how many jobs ultimately might be created. the white house says it's just too soon to have those figures, but they say this is the right time for these types of competitive grant programs because while you do have the unemployment rate dropping, 6.7%, they say it isn't falling quickly enough. and there's a real need to train the work force to be better equipped for the job field, which is ever evolving and includes things like information technology, health care and high-tech manufacturing. >> dana, kristen is absolutely right, as she always is. the president has got to go around congress to get anything done. we've had a slow recovery here. some people are getting their jobs back, but they're having a hard time regaining the wage levels that they used to be used

to, especially for low or middle-class folks. this could help -- this sort of a program, if it would work -- could help them enter the knowledge economy, the information economy, and be better equipped to bet back to those wage levels that they were used to. >> yeah, it sure could, toure. and that's what a lot of the problem is right now. a lot of the cyclical problems with unemployment have been reduced, but there are all these structural problems of people's skills not matching the jobs that are available. now, in the broader picture here, you have vice president biden is supposed to come up with a comprehensive report this summer on what can be done to reform and change all these job training programs. the house does have some legislation of their own, which isn't terribly interesting to this white house. so in the broader sense, of course, it will be in the homestretch of an election, so we're not. examining any real action on this. in the broader sense, there is a lot more government, if the two

sides could get together, could do to actually make some progress here. in the meantime, these are small programs as we were discussing, but they are important, and they're going in the right direction. i mean, it's sort of clintonian as the way we used to describe his bit-sized proposals that individually didn't amount to much. but when you added them all together, it was the sort of thing that people were looking for, and that was a lot of the secret behind clinton's popularity. >> and kristen, there's a reason they're highlighting this particular community college in pittsburgh. it's known for its work force development and training programs, especially when it comes to jobs of the future like energy including wind and solar, automatic technology, plumbing, electricity. and it's not just kids in their 20s. we're talking people of all ages that can do this program. >> reporter: that's right. and we're here in this automotive shop, which is one piece of that puzzle that you talk about. so president obama is going to highlight that, highlight the

fact that here you have a community, the private sector, which is working with the community college here to do a better job of training the work force, having them get the skills that are needed for the jobs that are out there and having that link be stronger. we asked administration officials yesterday during that background briefing what makes this program different than past programs that have been rolled out by previous administrations? and the answer was that the goal here is to have a stronger link between the public and private sector and industry, to have that be a stronger working relationship. and again, these are competitive grant programs that we're talking about. so the goal is to identify which programs are working most effectively throughout the country and then to really pour dollars into those programs to enhance them. >> so dana, to what extent does this really signal a shift? when "the wall street journal" was covering this this morning,

they noted that this initiative is really essentially a continuation of existing programs. these funds were already authorized. they're just going to be more targeted now. previous administrations have also made efforts with mixed success to use community colleges as centers for job training. are we, like -- is this sort of an admission by the president that he's out of stuff on jobs, that basically what he's tried to do has been blocked by congress, and now he's just left talking about what they're already doing? >> right. well, that's the whole notion of the pen and the phone, that you can do things up to a limited extent. so the president cannot say -- authorize the spending of new money, that congress controls the pursestrings. so he necessarily has to take this out of other programs, shift things around. now, if you are going to be shifting things around, this is a tried-and-true way of doing it. the idea is you're leveraging that money to get community college, the private sector to try to compete for it. so the dangling of this shiny

object of a small amount of federal money could foster a whole lot of innovation. that was the idea with no child left behind. it's a wise idea. the problem is it's a drop in the bucket until we can actually get the guys who control the pursestrings to do something about it. >> right. kristen, obviously, the affordable care act has really dominated the political conversation. is there a sense from the administration that now with good enrollment numbers, the political landscape there has shifted, and they're able to talk more about some of these initiatives now? >> reporter: i think so. certainly you heard in that week that we got those initial figures, the 7.1 million enrolled and then even higher several days after that, the administration was touting the fact that they had reached their stated goal, taking a victory lap, if you will. but i think that the white house democrats think that jobs is a winning issue in 2014. so part of the goal here is to rally the base, to talk about something that is a potential

strength for democrats. of course, as you point out, republicans want to keep the focus on health care. back to you guys. >> all right, dana and kristen, thanks so much. we'll be back with more on the economy and the president coming up. we'll be back with more on the economy and the president coming up. $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? salesperson #2: exactly. avo: during the first ever volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a passat tdi, that gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. and get a $1,000 fuel reward card. it's like two deals in one. hurry in and get a $1,000 fuel reward card and 0.9% apr for 60 months on tdi models.

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i want you to send your e-mails and tweets to squawk box. to answer the following question, is inflation as low as the government want you to believe? that's it.

send them in. i hope it's like "mr. smith goes to washington" and you're dumping 50 bags of mail on the squawk box mail in the morning. >> if you heard about inflation it's probably been about somebody yelling we have too much of it. inflation is actually low. the federal reserve is supposed to keep it around 2%. since 2008, we've been below that target. i know that sounds crazy, who likes inflation? if you're around in the 1970s like toure, you remember a time when high inflation was one of our leading problem. but were you're trying to recover from a recession you actually want inflation. here's what enflation does. it lightens the burden on borrows. and instead of sitting on it. of and it helps wages fall so sales don't drop as much and firms don't have to cut as many jobs. now compare that to the main problems our economy's had since 2008. indebted homeowners who face

foreclosure. too little demand and too much unemployment. those are all problems of inflation. even when inflation is good for most people and the overall economy there are some people going to oppose it. remember how i said inflation helps borrowers by eroding their debts? that means inflation is bad for creditors. coincidentally, there are a lot of wealthy people who oppose inflation. many are angry at the fed, quote, for printing money. some republicans including paul ryan have called for the fed to drop its dual mandate which allows higher inflation to combat unemployment and focus solely on prices. where's the 99 on this position. many here talk passionately about a higher minimum wage and higher taxes on the rich. i rarely hear inflation included on the anti-inequality agenda. it faced so much pressure from

the right and so little pressure from the right. i get why people don't want to talk about monetary policy. it's sort of confusing and boring but it's also a huge driver of employment. the key to whether economic growth is going to lead to better living standards. if you care a lot about equality, you should care about inflation. once front and center to american politics, over 100 years ago, william jennings bryan ran three times on a platform of higher inflation. his promise not to crucify mankind meant he would switch america from a gold standard to a silver standard which would alleviate the debt on indebted farmers. today, 1 1/2 inflation. it's not as catchy as gold. it's time for liberals to pay attention to it. that does it for "the cycle" today. "now with alex wagner" is next. ♪

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the year of action or at least the year of a busy schedule. it's april 16th and this is "now." congress may be on a two-week break but there has been no rest for the white house and the man who lives there. in fact, if the last week is any indication of what the president's year of action will be like, his calendar is going to be really quite busy in 2014. after signing two executive actions on pay equity in washington last tuesday and consoling the nation with the loss of three soldiers at ft. hood the following day, the president before heading back to the whit