say unemployment numbers could be much worse. >> we hear from governors from different states, florida and new york, are supportive saying if it wasn't for the recovery act number we would have saw a higher number unemployed. >> when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, great white sharks threaten beaches in part of the country. tell but that coming up later. good day, everyone. happy labor day. i'm david shuster live in washington. the afl-cio the first to hear president obama's first pitch on health care in two hours. he will speak at the union's annual labor day picnic as a preview of sorts to wednesday' major speech to the joint session on congress on health care reform. you're looking at live pictures of marine one touching down at andrews air force base. the president will make the short walk from there around to front of that giant 747 and board air force one for the roughly 50-minute trip. the afl-cio and other unions want a public option. they want the government to finance the plan or at least to organization a plan that would

compete with the for-profit private health insurance companies. the argument and logic this would cause the cost containment, a lot of people feel that health costs have been rising too quickly under the rising for-profit insurance companies and this would be a way to inject competition and lower costs. senior white house adviser david axelrod says this is not one of the president's mandates, though, for congress. >> the public option would be a valuable tool within that group, that package of plans that we would be offered private and public. ebles the private option is a good tool. it shouldn't define the whole health care debate, however. >> jonathan allen is a reporter at politics.com. as we see marine one taxi over to air force one and the president will get out and board that aircraft, how much pressure is president obama looking at this week, a crucial week for him in terms of his effort to get major health care reform

through congress? >> i think this is the most pressure he has faced since becoming president because it's not only coming from his right but also coming from his left. there are a lost liberals in congress who very much have been hoping for this public option and, really, for them, that's already on the scaled back version what they might have wanted to see a few years ago, single payer universal health care system and scaled it all the way back there. they are putting pressure on him to go ahead and support that. we haven't seen any indication that he is actually going to go to the map for that. so now in addition to the right which has been jumping all over him on health care he is also getting it from the left and i think he is going to try to navigate some sort of centrist path here but that might be difficult to do at this point. there is lot riding on the speech on wednesday and what he says to the afl-cio in a particularly important area in cincinnati event the labor unions have said they will not support president obama health care inform unless it includes the public option. the president has heard something similar when he's had these meetings over the phone

with progressive members last week to congressional black caucus as well. when the president, jonathan, has asked them how much flexibility they have, how is that conversation gone as far as the latest reporting on those discussions? >> well, it's interesting. there are varying levels of flexibility. the leaders of the congressional progressive caucus have said they won't vote for it without the public option, yet the leaders of the congressional black caucus have said they want a public option but not drying the final line in the sand we won't vote for it. i think there is division between the liberals in congress and probably the labor movement in terms of how far they are willing to go to finish barack obama if he doesn't include the public option, how far they willing to go in terms of sinking his other health care reform plans beyond that public option which includes a lot of restrictions on insurance companies and their practices. >> one of the intriguing developments over the weekend, i thought political was senator ben nelson, a very centrist democrat, who gave remarks that

suggested he might be open to a public option trigger which is, nks the position of senator olympia snow the republican the white house wants to try to get on board. when senator nelson is suggesting a trigger option is the way to go does that seem to be the position that democrats are coalescing behind centrist democrats and what might work? >> i think what it really signals is ben nelson is a very good indicator of where the extra might be. as you say, he tends to find what the promise will be and tries to get there as fast as possible so others are coming around him and it's not entirely clear the trigger will happen and makes a lot in the white house nervous and upset but it seems to be the place where the white house is moving for a long time. rahm emanuel in early july brought up the idea of a trigger and got beaten up in the press a little bit by liberals but at the end of the day that is what the white house has been talking about the last few months. >> we see a little spring in the president's step. do you get the sense, ron, that this sort of speech today where he is sitting down to talk with

labor union leaders talking about their concerns with the public option do you get the sense this is something he looks forward to in terms of the challenge or something perhaps he fears may be more difficult than he initially thought it would be? >> well, i think there is a little bit of a dry run for the president. an opportunity to talk to some folks, to fine-tune the message perhaps. he'll get reaction to whatever he says today before wednesday and if anything he says gets jumped on he will be able to dial it back a little bit. this is really an opportunity for him. the audience is going to be, i would think, more favorably disposed to him than a joint session of congress which, at the very best, split almost eachly between his supporters and distractors. >> jonathan allen one of the best reporters in washington, d.c., a pleasure having out board today. appreciate it. >> thank you, david and thanks for working on labor day. >> okay! you got it. three british muslims have been convicted of conspiring to kill thousands by blowing up commercial airplanes in mid air.

they were arrested three years ago for trying to smuggle liquid explosives aboard the air croft by disguising them as soft drinks. in sudan a female journalist fined and not flawed after wearing long pants in public. she says she will not pay the $200 fine and says she would rather go to jail. the case made international headlines after she and a dozen others were arrested for wearing long trousers which violates islamic law against public indecency. ten others were fined and flawed. it seems wherever you go, you hear talk about the swine flu and kids getting back to school and facing new dangers. nbc's ron allen is following the story. dozens of colleges around the country are already dealing with the swine flu. how big of a problem is this so far and what are the fears some. >> well, so far about 77 colleges have been affected. places like washington state university up in the northwest have some 2,000 cases that have

sprung up over the past two weeks and southeast, emory university in atlanta has a number of cases and they set up an isolation dorm area where students who have the swine flu can go. and that seems to be the wig big approach is separate students out who have swine flu until they get over it. the big problem colleges face is many students can't go home because they are living on campus. but the idea is to separate students who have the flu. when you start talking about high schools and elementary schools most health officials it seems are encouraging schools to stay open. one big decision they have to make whether to stay or close. they are encouraging schools to stay open to avoid massive disruptions and separate the students who have the swine flu stay home. the numbers of cases that we can encounter in the flu season, who knows. the federal government released a report some time ago that predicted there could be as many as 1.8 million hospitalizations of americans throughout the country and some 90,000 deaths across the population in this

flu season. it's a brand-new virus. so few people have immunizations and we won't have a vaccine until mid october and we'll have to see how successful that is in beating back the flu. >> ron, this factoid we keeping hearing 1 out of 2 americans will get the swine flu in some fashion, is that unusual in terms of the general flu and flu season? is that higher? is that something of great particular concern? >> it is much higher and, again, because this is a flu strain that has not been detected before, so most people don't have natural defenses to protect themselves from it. particularly young adults and children. that's also something different because threw tends flu tends to affect the elderly more. the swine flu started in april and it has laid low during the summer months, but now cool weather, congregations of people coming together in schools and a lot of those contacts.

so there could be real problems. the good news, however, is that most cases have been mild or moderate and westbound some treatment and, again, staying isolated, the symptoms pass. it's not a very deadly strain of flu. again, if precautions are taken. >> nbc's ron allen live for us in new york. thanks for the update, ron. allegations that the afghan election was rigged. those allegations are presenting some major problems for president obama, just as he is poised to decide whether to send more troops to the region and put more trust in a possibly functioning afghan government. up next, a live report from afghanistan. plus, a reunion 18 years in the making. new details how jaycee dugard's reunion for her family as her hometown comes out in force to celebrate. reading about washington these days... i gotta ask,

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there was some excitement in new jersey on this labor day for a lot of commuters. this began as a routine traffic stop and ended at a toll plaza following a lengthy chase. as you can see, during the chase, police say the suspect threw several bags of drugs out of their car windows and they decided not to rush the easy pass lane at the toll plaza and they were pulled out of the car when they were stopped and arrested. the driver and a passenger are in police custody. again, this is a police chase that went on for some time this morning and ended not that far actually from the lincoln tunnel. take a look at this. an air-borne car slammed into the second floor of this long island home, leaving behind one heck of a mess! police believe the 20-year-old driver was drunk when his car hit a mound which sent it flying into the house. the car that crashed in the foyer. the homeowner was not hurt.

the driver who was slightly hurt was arrested for driving while intoxicated. an illinois boy misses two years has been found alive hidden in a secret room of his grandmother's home. the boy and his mother disappeared after she lost a bitter custody battle. authorities thought they were at the grandmother's home all along, but they could not do a thorough search until friday. the mother and grandmother are now behind bars. the boy is preparing to be reunited with his dad. they have true reason to celebrate in south lake tahoe this labor day weekend. the safe return of jaycee dugard. as many as 2,000 people paid tribute to jaycee who returned home last month after 18 years in captivity. jinak kim is live in our burbank bureau. explain why they have this gathering. are there financial issues the community is worried about?

>> well, you know, obviously, they not only want to send a message and love and support to jaycee and her family because they felt that she was very much a part of their community history for the past 18 years, but also they want to try to raise money for her because it will be quite a road of recovery ahead as you can imagine for her and her two children. and the rest of her family members. but, you know, david, i love this story because it's such a positive, happy, great way to mark the end of such a horrific event that has really marred their community and what is remarkable to me is that jay dedugard and her family only lived in south lake tahoe for less than a year when she was kidnapped and in this day and age when most of us can't remember who our neighbors were from 18 months ago, here is this community that remembers her after 18 years! and not only remembers her, but kept vigils going, marches, campaigns to keep hope alive. so in the end, this is not jaw healing event for jaycee, it's a healing event for the entire community which feels that it has never been able to quite get

out from under the black cloud that was put there when she disappeared. david? >> nbc's jinah kim live in our burbank bureau, thanks for the update. iran president mahmoud ahmadinejad says as far as he is concerned, the nuclear issue is closed. that is despite word from the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog group which says tehran is defying sanctions by not allowing inspections of its nuclear facilities and continuing to produce fuel that could be used in a nuclear bomb. iran pushed back saying it has cooperated with the u.n. and it's nuclear program is peaceful. at least four nato soldiers, including one american, have reportedly been killed in afghanistan in the past 24 hours. the top commander there, general stanley mccrystal, is expected to request more troops to deal with the violence. already the debate is under way at the white house. msnbc's "meet the press" senior adviser david axelrod talks about how the president will

make his decision. >> the main thing is we have to keep focused on what our mission was there, which was to disable and destroy al qaeda so they don't threaten us any longer and that is the prism through which he'll make his juchlt. >> nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live for us in kabul. as the discussion continues in washington how many troops should be added and what sort of components, paint the picture for us in how the u.s. mission is going in afghanistan these days. >> it is extremely complicated and it is not going particularly well right now. i think, indicated by the high death toll that you just mentioned, they are at record levels over the last several months and it is not just a question of more u.s. troops. this is a nato fight and several incidents over the last several days have exposed how inefficient nato is operating. tens of thousands of nato soldiers here but a lot of them don't go out on combat patrols

and don't often leave their bases. you remember an incident a few days ago with an air strike on a few tanker that was actually called in by german troops. the german troops never went to look at the site until about 24 hours later, taking a lot of u.s. officials by surprise who thought the germaniance should have had a more active presence on the ground. also another weak link is the afghan troops. there are not enough of them. the afghan army is considered a success story. the soldiers that do go out on patrol are of fairly high quality, they are brave, active, but aren't many of them. we were down with soldiers in the south and jaw few dozen afghan troops for a very large area. so it is not just a question of sending in more americans, it's trying to streamline this command structure here that has been, many say, ignored the last eight years. >> richard, the strategy in iraq of essentially buying off a local tribal leaders, there has been a similar effort to a certain extent in afghanistan.

how is that part of everything going? is that also a part of the problem that is not working so well? >> well, it's not that advanced. it has been tried in a few areas south of kabul and attempted to try and create these local councils to protect the population. it's a very different dynamic. in iraq it was the tribes in anbar province that asked the americans for protection. they wanted jobs. he also wanted to be militarized and take the fight to al qaeda which they felt was driving them out of their traditional power structure. here, it's a different scenario. the taliban is an indigenous movement in places like kandahar the taliban doesn't intimidate the population very much. generally the population toes the line. so you don't have this active desire on many people's part here to form militias to fight with the americans. >> nbc's richard engel with

terrific reporter from kabul. thanks for joining us, richard. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. coming up, thousands of holiday beach-goers here in the united states are out of luck because of great white sharks. up next, we will show you the pictures of the shark terrorizing an east coast beach. ♪ we will not be quiet. ♪ when we're in a sandwich, you'll know it. we are our own mixed up blend of one of a kind spices. we are miracle whip. and we will not tone it down. to silence headaches... doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand...

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today a three block stretch of chicago's magnificent mile is closed. part of michigan avenue shut down to traffic for none other than the queen of day time, oprah winfrey. the stretch of street will be closed more than two days while a stage is constructed for a musical performance to kick off the 24th season of the oprah winfrey show. area merchants are happy the street is closed. they are banking on increased sales because of the foot

traffic. commuters are not as pleased, though. the street will reopen wednesday at 5:00 a.m. summer movie block busters were on the rebound this year. studio films like "transformers 2" won big at the box office boosting summer attendance by 3%. courtney hazlett reports the scoop for msnbc.com and at burbank with a look at summer's winners and losers and a look at the fall films might be that are generating buzz already. courtney, take it away. >> hey, david, how are you? we got about 41.7 billion, billion dollars at the summer box office this season and stacks up great and sound like a lot of money but i'll tell you why noits so good news, okay? even though 47 billion is a lot of cash in, it's not necessarily

a tremendous amount of profit. two films that really illustrate this, "the hangover" cost $35 million to make. it made $270.7 million so that is not a lot of budget but a ton of output. because it had relatively no-name actors in it. even though we know bradley cooper's name now, when he signed on for this he wasn't a huge, huge hit. what studios don't want to do is this next film, "land of the lost." will farrell, huge name and extremely successful but it cost $100 million to make and made less than $50 million. even though it sounds like the box office raked in all of this cash it doesn't mean tremendous profitability for the studios. for the entertainment industry to be healthy they have to fix that profit manager. >> films coming out this fall, what is the buzz around them and

which ones are people already talking about? >> people are definitely already talking about where the wild things are that comes out october 16th. it's a spike jones film. it has a really creative feel to it at the but at the end of the day it comes from a children's story book that we know very well. that's exciting. "new moon" comes out in november. "vam tire jen -- everybody is enjoying the genre. that comes out in november. another film a lot are looking forward to is "the lovely bones." that is the film adaptation of the book of the same name that came out several years ago. that is peter jackson. you know that name from "the lord of the rings." he is directing it and it comes out in december. >> courtney hazlett is reporting "the scoop." thanks for coming on today. appreciate it. >> you got it.

this holiday weekend is all about taking advantage of the final days of summer. but near cape cod and massachusetts, some are at the beach and it didn't last long. several great white sharks have been spotted over the last few days prompting officials to raise the red no swimming flag sunday for all oceanside beaches in the town of chatham and, of course, the red flag continues. on sunday, officials were able to tag two of those man-eaters. one of the sharks, ten feet long. yikes! new york city's famous naked cowboy is dropping out of the mayor's race. robert burke is the one-man times square tourist attraction who strums the guitar only wearing white briefs and boots and cowboy hat but dropping out of the race saying is tired of the red tape that goes with a mayoral run. now to a naked bike ride in philadelphia. hundreds of people enjoyed the

beautiful weather to take part in the first annual naked bike ride. the city of brotherly love? wow. organizers say they wanted to raise awareness about alternative forms of transportation and the need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and what better way to draw people's attention than to do it naked. president obama is gearing up for his prime time speech on health care reform. can he convince congress to work together for a quick resolution? and what does bipartisanship really mean? we will talk to congresswoman -- a congressman who is part of the crucial debate ahead. the recession is on the rebound so why is the nation still loses hundreds of thousands of jobs? we will take a closer look at the reason why and where the jobs are when we come right back. (announcer) metamucil with psyllium fiber supports your health in 4 ways it helps your natural cleansing process helps lower cholesterol. promotes overall well being and provides a good source of natural fiber

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"discovery's" astronauts waking up for their final day of their mission to repair and resupply the international space station. on sunday they were busy packing up a corporate module with tons of trash to take back to earth. today, they will get down time before preparing for tuesday's trip back home. right now, president obama is en route to cincinnati on board air force one. he will unveil his new push to regain control of the health care debate at the afl-cio labor day picnic this afternoon. it certainly supports health care reform, but members are insisting on a public option to compete with the for-profit private health insurance industry. white house aides say the president will not mandate a public option from congress. nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house. a balancing act i suppose for the president when he is in front of this crowd today. are we expect to go hear details

how the president is going to finesse things today? >> you're right, david. afl and cio and the rest of labor very strong supporters of president obama and the afl-cio insisting on that public option you described it being included in any final package that were to ultimately reach the president's desk. that is still very much up in the air, and we might add the president supports that public option and expected to do that again today when he speaks to the annual picnic in cincinnati of the afl-cio and again on wednesday night when he takes the biggest stage of all, a joint session of congress and a prime time audience around the nation. but the question is will he insist on it? is it a make or break piece of legislation, a provision within that legislation? indications are now, if you listen to what the white house aides have been saying and again on yesterday on the sunday talk shows, they say it is a valuable, good tool. several formulations of tool with a positive adjective in front of it, david, but none of

them saying the president would veto any legislation that did not include the public option. that will pit him against the base of his own party, liberals who are insisting on it. very interesting to see how this is going to work out in the coming weeks. david? >> mike, a number of democrats are concerned in that they don't see the president making republicans pay a price for the way many republicans have approached the health care reform debate and perhaps some of the most vocal people who want an aggressive approach by the president are those in labor. is there a sense that the white house that the president, though, still has more time to try to reach out and try to reach something bipartisan before he has to bring the hammer down if that is what he is going to do? >> by their own account, david axelrod's formulation was there and in the eighth or the ninth inning now and the president is acting as sort of a closer when he makes that speech before congress. that analogy doesn't quite fit because usually you're ahead when you bring in the closer and by no estimation are the white house and the democratic leadership ahead in this debate. max baucus has said he is the

leader of the so-called gang of six behind closed doors for months now trying to hash it out. baucus a democrat from montana. he has said he is going to try to come up with something concrete. so time is running short by everyone's estimation. we should find out within the next couple of weeks what they are going to be voting on in the house and the senate. david? >> nbc's mike viqueira, thanks for the report. >> sure thing. the san francisco bay bridge today remains closed as transit crews continue to fix a five-inch crack in the bridge's support structure and discovered as part of maintenance in which they essentially close down the bay bridge for part of a day and keeping it closed. minutes ago, we got an update on the bridge work by a city transit official. the big question, could the repairs spill into tomorrow leading to one heck of headache for commuters who essentially go between oakland and san francisco or vice versa and will be going back to work after the long holiday weekend. here is the answer.

>> this is going to take what it takes. as soon as it's done, we're going to open the bridge and that is about all we can say right now. can i tell you all of the engineers, all of the contractors, everybody putting anything into this, right down to janitorial staff, is doing everything they can do to get the bridge open as soon as possible. >> to put this in context, nearly 300,000 people a day go across the bay bridge. the krak crack was detected by bridge inspectors on saturday while workers were starting the process of replacing part of the bridge. another update is specked this afternoon. so if you live in the san francisco/oakland bay area, hang on to your hats. you may have one heck of a commute tomorrow morning. during his address to the joint session of congress wednesday night the president is expected to warn lawmakers against seeking a perfect plan and then ending up with nothing at all. joining us by phone is representative barbara lee who serves in the house appropriation subcommittee on labor health and human services

education and related agencies. congresswoman lee, do you get the sense that the president can get progressives on board with anything less than a public option? >> well, thank you very much. i think if you look at one of the public option entails, i think once that is explained clearly, not only will we have progressives and members of the black caucus and tri-caucus on board we should have the majority of at least democrats and hopefully, republicans on board. robust public option very similar to medicare. people understand and believe that medicare is a good health care system for our seniors. what we are talking about is robust public option to keep one of the options so people can choose from. it would help reduce the cost of insurance plans for those who have insurance already. insurance costs are exorbitant

and their rates need to come down. would also allow for the ending of preexisting condition requirement. it would give patients a choice of doctors and hospitals. this really is the only way to bring down costs and private insurance as the president has said. it will allow for the insurance companies to be honest in this and so this is very key for many of us. i believe if you look at what we have said, what we have said directly to the president are the speaker also indicated that she did not believe a bill could pass the house without a robust public option. >> you mentioned conversations of the president. i believe you may have been part of one of these conversations when he spoke to either the progressive caucus or the congressional black caucus the end of last week. the president seems to be saying to you and your colleagues it's fine for all of you who are in the safe democratic districts but people in the sort of purple districts, that they might have a more difficult time. you just said it would be pretty easy for people to support a public option if they understand but the fact that the president

doesn't seem willing to want to risk that, that he doesn't seem confidence that he could be explained in time for election day 2010 are you disappointed in the president? >> i think the president is doing a very good job in bringing people together. his entire campaign was about unity and so, yes, we have different districts, we have different points of views, but at the end of the day, i'm confidence the president is going to do the best for the majority of the american people for the majority of the 47 million uninsured and for the 85% of those who have insurance, and that is find a way through a robust public option, very similar to medicare, to begin to bring down the costs of insurance for everyone and to cover the uninsured. we understand as progressives and as members of the progressive black caucus there are differences and different interests in different parts of the country. but this cannot be a political decision. health care, as the great -- our

beloved senator kennedy has said over and over again, it should not be a privilege, it should be a basic human right in our country, so we have to get on that page and we have to move toward making sure that the 85% of the american people who have insurance coverage, that their costs come down and for those who don't have insurance, that a public option, a strong robust public option is in place. that's the only way this will work. >> congresswoman lee, before i let you go, quickly here, we've been talking all morning about the san francisco bay bridge. there is a huge crack apparently in it. it may not be repaired in time for the rush hour tomorrow. hundreds of thousands of your constituents use that bay bridge. how concerned are you? >> well, i'm very concerned because it will be a nightmare, but we have great public transit system. our b.a.r.t. system is up and running. we have to commend our caltrans workers for the fine job they are doing, but we have to

remember it's safety first. they are working day and night, day and night to repair this and let's hope that it will be completed, but let's understand that we have to develop our options right away, because the safety of those traveling across the bridge has to be the priority and i know that our caltrans officials understand that and they are working diligently to get it open tomorrow morning but just know we have to have our backup plans because, in fact, the safety of those riders come first. >> congresswoman barbara lee, a democrat who represents the east bay in the san francisco/oakland bay area, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you very much. good to be with you. >> you're welcome. take a look at the damage left behind by a huge storm near seattle, washington. this is all that is left of a 92-year-old barn. a garage roof collapsed and a silo imploded. the national weather service has not confirmed it but witnesses say they spotted a tornado. thankfully nobody has hurt.

flooding in west africa claimed at least 70 lives in the united nations says more people are at risk. more than 430,000 people have been forced to evacuate. the flooding is also affecting food supplies and fresh water. ghana appears to be the area that has been hardest hit. still ahead the fate of the controversial public option part of health care reform. we will talk next to congresswoman maxine waters to hear what she is expecting to hear from the president's prime time speech to congress on wednesday night. we roll out tht for drivers of these great gm brands. we can do the small things, the big things, just about everything... right inside your gm dealership. find out more at goodwrench.com. what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family.

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target liberals inside his own party. congresswoman maxine waters is a member of the black caucus. we keep hearing from the white house a public option mau not be a make or break part of this debate. what is your view? >> well, of course, i know the president has supported public option. he campaigned on public option. he would rather have public option. and he's got to understand that he's got the support from a good number of members of congress in the progressive caucus, the black caucus, the tri-caucus and others for a public option. he's got to understand that we're there, we're going to be with him, that he has support from his base for a public option, and i think, even though he is getting pressure from the insurance companies and those people who do not want any competition, that he can move forward and engage in this

fight, because we can win this fight. >> if the president ends up in the position of saying, look, we can't do a public option immediately in order to get the votes, any other chamber in the senate, we have to do something like a trigger where we give the insurance companies a few more years beyond 2013 to get their house in order and if they don't, then we trigger the public option. do you believe that the progressive in the house would go along with that? >> i can't speak for everybody but can i tell you this, i don't think any of us are willing to give the insurance companies five more years or more to continue to rip off the american public. americans are paying high premium costs. they are paying high deductibles and high co-payment costs, and they are still being denied claims after paying premiums for years, once they put the claims in to cover the health care that they need. we're not willing to continue that. >> what do you make of what is going on in the other chamber of the senate? clearly, the votes are there in the house to pass a public

option bill right now if you wanted to. and you're looking up and seeing so much of what the president is doing to try to get one or two republicans and how much he is trying to reach out for bipartisanship. how frustrating is it to you that with all of the work your chamber has done, you look up at the other chamber and it looks like things just a -- job. >> it should be obvious to everybody now that the president is not going to get any real support from republicans on this issue. it is not simply about health care. they want to stop him. they want to bring him down. it's political and he's not going to get their support. he needs to use the skills of parliamentary procedure in order to do budget recognize sill nation yaigs and move this bill with the majority vote. we do that. >> is there a fear, though, that perhaps -- i mean, the white house expresses if they try reconciliation because of a variety of reasons and rules, it's like you could essentially make it swiss cheese based on the number of amendments that can be attached in the process.

when they say, look, we may not be able to do it through reconciliation that the idea sort of jamming this through and having the bill at the end that looks anything remotely like what the house passes would be very difficult. how does that make you feel? do you believe them? do you feel that this is -- i mean, give us your sense of things. >> i don't believe that the president and those who care about the american people and their ability to have credible reform should be deterred from their efforts with the threat that, oh, maybe it will get worse, maybe you can't do it. if, if, if! if we fight, we can win. we need to make a fight on this issue. this is extremely important. not only to the base of people who support it, putting democrats in the majority, this is something that we must do because people are suffering. the amount of income disproportionately paid by those who are paying premiums every day, every week, every year, is just unconscionable to not give

them the kind of support that they need. >> california democratic congresswoman maxine waters, a member of the congressional black caucus, congresswoman waters, thanks for coming on and look toward to talking to you later this week and maybe on wednesday night following the president's speech and thanks again for coming on. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. it is a bleak picket for famed photographer annie leibovi leibovitz. she could risk losing rights to her entire life's work. she was sue inside july for breach of contract and she may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection. your body needs sleep to feel healthy... to feel better.

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millions of americans don't have much to celebrate on this labor day. the unemployment rate has climbed to 9.7%, the highest level of this recession and it's the highest in 26 years. more than 7 million jobs have

been lost since the recession began in december of 2007. washington post financial reporter neil irwin is joining us live. neil n the political sense, the white house is saying it would be so much work had it not been for the stimulus. is there a way to quantify that? >> it is really tricky math. it is hard to assume, so much has been done with the federal reserve cutting interest rates, the financial bailouts, the natural healing of the economy, it is pretty clear the stimulus has helped the economy. the economy does seem to be improving some now, but to say how much it is responsible for is no easy task. >> a lot of people are talking about the jobless recovery. instead of losing 200,000 jobs a month, it will maybe get to slightly lower or positive growth, but for a couple years, you won't see the massive job creation to make up for the jobs lost during the recession. what does it mean when you have a jobless recovery? what's the overall job impact?

>> we know what it feels like. if you remember the last two recessions, 1991 and 2001, we had exactly last. in 2001 there was a short milder session and unemployment didn't peak until 2003, it took two years for it to peak. if we have it this time, this is a much more severe recession, of course, it would mean the entire recovery would be in doubt. if people keep losing jobs, if job gains don't come back, then people don't have wages and we don't have the self-sustaining recoughry to get mo minimum going into the economy. >> wall street is seeming to do well or doing better over the last couple of months. >> it looks like we are in expansion this summer. it looks like the economy after contracting for the last year is finally bottoming out in terms of producing surfaces. will companies need to hire more people to produce goods and services and will this be a short-term blip. a return after cutting back on inventories and cash for

clunkers, will many prove to be a short-term blip and prove to be something more lasting and long term. that's the question right now. >> neil irwin, thanks, as always. we appreciate it. >> thanks very much. massachusetts lawmakers are expecting an co tentious debate on wednesday to replace ted kennedy's seat. we are getting an idea who may run for the seat in next january's special election. former republican lieutenant governor carrie healy is out due to family considerations. democratic congressman stephen lynch is on the fence and has to weigh family members. one wild card is former potential pitcher curt shilling. he is a man who is pro-life and anti-day marriage. if i do this, but by some slim chance i do, it won't be for a

joke and it won't be for laughs. the special election is at the end of january. in any minute, the white house is expected to release president obama's speech to schoolchildren tomorrow. plus, the president is on his way to speak to union members and their families about health care reform. we'll wrap it up live at the white house when we come back. i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world. when a tornado tore through holly, colorado, air life denver took to the air...

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