pass immigration reform. it's good for our economy, it's good for our national security, it's good for our people and we should do it this year. despite gridlock president obama urged members of congress to work together. >> obviously because something is smart and fair and good for the economy, fiscally responsible, supported by business and labor and evangelical community and many democrats and many republicans, that does not mean it will actually get done. this is washington after all. lets not wait. it doesn't get easier. to just put it off. lets do it now, lets don't delay. lets get it done and lets do it in a bipartisan fashion. >> no matter how loud the call of reform, the din of health care remains at such a high volume hearing anything but may

be impossible. after weeks of glitches, failures, the pressure ramped up yesterday when a handful of democratic senators began drafting a bill to delay the heart of the act, individual mandate, gives individuals time to sign up for coverage before penalties kick you in but does not come without political cost. the white house is pushing back on delay. in theory, individuals must have started the application process by february 15th. open enrollment ends on march 31st. it is now syncing deadlines, deadline is still march 31st but penalties will not occur until after that date. white house officials tell nbc news the date was simply a slide to the deadline and a glitch within the law, a distinction without a difference. last night white house press secretary pushed back on claims the white house was delaying, nbc is wrong again, earnest tweeted, individual mandate

hasn't changed. deadline for having insurance is march 31st. what was true this morning is true tonight. joining me today special correspondent for "daily beast." joining us senior white house reporter for "politico," glen thresh. a lot of back and forth, footsie over the debate. the president spoke about immigration reform. i was reminded of times prior when the president sort of did not speak to the news of the morning or that week. earlier this year gave a speech on aca in the middle of the navy yard shooting, the middle of the leak fiasco, edward snowden, giving a speech on aca. he likes to pivot. my question to you is how successful is this going to be? >> now would be the time to announce a minor nonlife threatening medical procedure he has to undergo.

>> the removal of a mole. >> the removal of a mole would be really good right now. he can't keep talking -- this is pr 101. the thing about this is, though, as former senior administration official told me several days ago, this is not a communications problem, this is a fix the problem problem. i should also say that those of us who have spoken with white house officials in the last few months have been told time and time again they felt immigration was off the table until 2015. so yes this is obviously a smart play for them. they need to change the subject and this clearly cuts the gop in half in the way the debt ceiling fight did. in terms of an agenda that gets things done, i wouldn't hold my breath. >> are those conversations you had with white house officials after or before the shutdown? to me it seems there's a sense among democrats they have increased political capital. >> before the shut down, yeah.

>> perhaps, and i'll bring our panel in here, jonathan, perhaps the president does feel he can try to bring up immigration reform or it can be used to take back in 2014 when the democrats seem to smell blood in the water. >> that's right. in obama's mind he's doing republicans a favor saying, look, here is my way of helping you with your problem with the segments of electorate that hate you. help me with the bill. i'll help you and you'll help me and get an issue passed for his legacy. he says this is a win win. i don't think republicans view that as an olive branch. they just hate him more than ever and don't want to deal with him. >> it's interesting, heather, this morning, boehner's press secretary, the inimitable man who i hope is watching the speaker agrees it's a broken immigration disem and need reform to boost the economy. he's also clear the house will

not consider any massive obama care-style legislation that no one understands. this is going to be used as the boogie man. we can't do climate change, we can't do immigration reform because look how bad obama care is. >> there's so ridiculous of there's things that connect obama care to immigration reform like people in government trying to solve problems of people's lives out in the country. people are losing family members, not being able to go to college, not being able to work at a wage that will feed families. people are going bankrupt, can't get pre-existing, people are dying. thanksfully we got the affordable care act. it's beyond cynical for republicans to stop their fellow citizens from getting health care. that's what this is about. >> michael, the white house seems to be pursuing a walk and chew gum strategy, much to the

great happiness of those who called for such a move. there are going to be daily briefings on updating -- updates, if you will, on the progress relating to fixing these websites, federally run exchanges. i'm reminded of the time many moons ago when i was covering white house during bp oil spill and every day began with a new image from the horrible camera where the oil kept leaking. it was a terrible reminder of just how bad things had gotten. i think it might be good in the end for the white house to be as transparent as possible. what do you think? >> they absolutely have to be. this is going to take a long time to fix this problem. this is not going to be fixed this week, not going to be fixed next week. in the meantime success stories, kentucky being the most conspicuous and they can roll out success stories to counter bad press.

the bad press on the health care rollout is going to continue for a little while. they have to try and do other things. immigration is obvious thing to do, immigration doesn't have much of a chance in the house of representatives. the only chance it might have, alex, is if the chamber of commerce and business roundtable put muscle into their position, pro reform position and really try to lean on republicans, tom donahue has now said since the shutdown he's going to try to make the republican party more reasonable. lets see. >> karl rove said maybe it's not such a great idea to have a fractious minority ruining things for everybody else. that's a major paraphrase. glen, to the white house's strategy for a second. ezra klein had an interesting interview on the "washington post" with an insurance expert, said he's bringing things in to

shepherd this through. sebelius would be in charge by name but do you think that's accurate? >> i've done reporting for an upcoming piece that goes further in that direction. sebelius was given a fair amount of latitude. we're going to find in the coming days there were clearly signs, we've seen some reporting on this today, things were kind of going in the wrong direction. the white house has more or less disinvested from her. inside he's their superstar. there is a lot of overlap between the immigration issue and implementation of the affordable care act. three of the largest states that have the highest percentage of uninsured folks, texas, florida, and california also had a very large percentages of hispanic folks. so there's a lot of overlap in

terms of their messaging. it's a smart play, i think, to get good press right now in immigration in those states. >> in large number people that need to sign up. in the "new york times," a point liberals should focus like a laser beam on obama care. if health care works this will be remembered as an era of progressive public poll sichlt the prospects for extending that into another presidency and getting immigration and climate change and the rest of the policy wish list will get a lot, lot brighter. >> probably true. >> do you think the reverse is true? if it continues to be plagued by glitches, has to be shut down, split up as howard dean suggested regional federally run exchanges but goes through a massive revamp does that underline the broader agenda? >> it doesn't if they muddle

through. i think that's what they are going to do, muddle through. i don't think it will take weeks but months. you have until the end of march to sign up. that's a fair window of time to get this going. ross is right, how this bill fares is going to set the tone for how people look at government and how government works. >> that's part of the problem, fits into the conservative agenda which is to undermine government and also make the case government is completely dysfunctional we should not invest in it. >> look, it's broken. but i do want to make sure that everybody knows that the website is working. there's a little hysteria how bad it is. there's people telling wonderful stories taking three hours. when is the last time you tried to call your insurance company. it takes that long to get to a

real human being. taking three hours and at the end having a $6,000 coupon, that's $33 a minute, better than geico. >> this is also paul ryan plan. paul ryan wanted this for the elder elder elderly. >> if this works, why not extend it. that seems like a better argument. >> the crummy part is we've never seen implementation of anything this big by the federal government in the twitter 24/7 cable era. we weren't there when they were doing agriculture adjustment administration under roosevelt tweeting every single burp and blip. >> right. >> clearly this is noaa small problem and the buck stops with obama, but the level of hysteria i think going to work in obama's favor as these glitches get figured out. >> right, because then the

repairs will be reported in realtime, too. michael, how big a deal do you think it is red state democrats are sort of now saying we need to delay the individual mandate. is that sort of par for the course because mark pryer is up for election and is expected to be sensitive to this or is that a problem for the white house? >> more the former than latter. i know joe manchin pretty well, from west virginia and know west virginia pretty well. i haven't seen polls but i can guess obama care's popularity is maybe 20%. so you know, manchin is very adept at playing local politics as we've seen many times. he know what he has to do to preserve his position as a democratic senator from that increasingly republican state. some of these other senators have to do the same thing as well. i don't see that going anywhere as legislation, necessarily. >> to the credit the white house has said it's okay.

we can have until march 31st. i think the level of responsiveness, particularly post the shutdown of this white house is something we should actually be applauding. >> they were certainly responsive last night when nbc news suggested a six-week delay. glenn, the virulent response there or virulence of that response is evidence of just how politically sensitive this subject is. we don't know what the problems are, how deep they run, how much of the back end needs to be prepared before the front end. i'm not a tech expert. the white house is, un -- do you think they delay it significantly? >> if things hit the fan, anything is possible. this opponents out a fundamental management problem in the white house. they are really crisis oriented.

you were talking about the bp oil spill. someone said to me, we're now in that mode. we can expect the president to be fully tuned in on this. that's why the problem will get solved. the question is why do they have to wait for something like this to happen for obama to get engaged. >> do you expect the president to be goading? do you have an answer glenn thrush. >> i do not. >> more deep reporting. my friend, i'm glad to see the hat is back. >> thank you. >> i never knew. i don't expect it but happy to see it. >> i'm in my home, so i wear it in my home. >> "politico's" glenn thrush, thank you for your time. after the break, let the hearings again. contractors behind health.gov testify on capitol hill, republicans do what they do best, grill baby grill. we will discuss glitches and defacto shutdowns next on "now." bold has a huge imagination.

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the cracker jack problem solvers in house gop continued their totally objective investigation into the problem plagued healthcare.gov site today. at the first of several hearings republicans did their best to impartially ascertain the underlying facts. >> were they trying to hide from the public the true cost. >> are they simply incompetent or were they just lying to the american people. >> like all of obama care, what it appears on the surface is not what it is. >> but while the members of congress who shutdown the government to defund the entire law may not be in the best position to judge its execution

that doesn't mean the people they are grilling are without blame. maybe they are. one by one the contractors responsible for the rollout did their best to shift focus onto everyone but themselves. cgi federal contractor responsible for malfunctioning enrollment and self-described face blamed the government. >> so chairman, from a cgi perspective, our portion of the application worked as did he signed. it was not our decision to go live. >> it was not your decision to go live. >> it was cms's decision, not ours one way or the other. >> quality software services designer of data hub that determines eligibility testified the responsibility fell on mostly everybody else. >> while the edim tool is important, it is only one piece of the federal market's registration system. registration components

developed by other vendors handle other critical functions, such as user interface, confirmation e-mails to users, the link users click on to activate their accounts and the web page users land on. >> in the end, not that much was revealed in day one of implementation failures, didn't know or didn't disclose. democratic frustration for the kangaroo or monkey court quality of the hearing didn't go unaddressed. frankie pellon summed it up best. >> will the gentleman yield. >> no i will not yield to monkey court. do whatever you want, i'm not yielding. why are we going down this path? because you are trying to square people so they don't apply and so therefore the legislation gets delayed or the affordable care act gets defunded or it's repealed. that's all it is hoping people won't apply.

>> jonathan, the jury is out, as they say, whether it is a kangaroo court or monkey court. you think monkey court. >> i think he saw "planet of the apes" and i think that's what he's referring to. >> what would be the reference in terms of the monkey court, because it's a familiar term. >> well, in a monkey court, you basically have a lot of apes who have taken over the planet, who are trying to keep the humans down. the human goes before the monkey court and tries to prove he has the right. >> where are the republicans in all of this. >> they are the monkeys. >> does anybody have credibility. as ezra kline points out. democrats deflecting, a couple asked real questions, republicans are intent on highlighting everything that's wrong with this and now they are

going after so-called privacy indiscretions -- not indiscretions but violations of hipaa laws. this seems to be cooked up to undermine efficacy and permanence of affordable care act. >> this is a real issue. this is a real government failure. this is the kind of thing there should be oversight on. they have a right to hold hearings, what went wrong, who knew. i think that's proper. they are trying to drive it into the old strategy, individual mandates to stop it. they don't need a law to delay individual mandate. first of all we've got until march 31st as you reported. that's a lot of time to fix websites. second of all, they can delay on its own without legislation. they can use hardship exemptions to go to states where people don't have working websites and delay it. there's no need for a law but i think they want a law because they want to stop the law. >> heather, what's incredible

about watching hearings, incredible is wrong word, it's depressing. the lack of understanding about what exactly is happening here and the pretense, single out marshall black asking convoluted technical questions that will somehow be the gotcha question for cgi. then you kind of contrast that with the way republicans behaved in and around implementation of medicare part d, people like joe barton, in 2006 said of medicare part d, a george w. bush program. this is a huge undertaking and there are going to be glitches. my goal is the same as yours, get rid of the glitches. the irony there is almost too thick to slice. >> the irony of saying we are going to raise holy heck because some people are having delay in getting in through the exchanges

where there are dozens of republican states that denied health care at all to the working poor. you don't want americans to have access to this affordable health care? we've seen this creep over the last decade of cynicism and disgust and transparency about how self-interested and selfish. these are people's lives. >> repeal, i asked whether there would be a republican alternative. he suggested paul ryan in january was going to unveil the gop's alternative to obama care but house leadership -- republican house leadership has no idea what they are talking about. even if they do have something, as jonathan points out paul

ryan's health care plan and medicare plan would require government to run online insurance marketplaces. >> exactly. we haven't heard much about replace in a long, long time for these folks. a couple of years since i heard replace. they dropped during the presidential campaign. worth remembering, republicans stellar track record in these kinds of investigations, fast and furious, that really turned up something, didn't it. benghazi and irs scandal which darrell issa is banging on sometimes. >> this is real. there's no question. >> they are careful about seeming too witch hunty, if you can use that as an adjective. that's the shift, repeal this thing, "new york times" says refocusing efforts for denying funds to investigating it. so now we get to see marcia

blackburn don their sleuthing gear and the country is put through something where there should be answers given. i doubt we're going to get anything from this. do you agree, jonathan? monkey court? everyone is losing. he throws his hands up. yes. we're taking a break. republicans apparently have 40 billion reasons to cut food stamps because 20 billion didn't cover it. we'll discuss whether or not millions of americans will go hungry next week when senator pat leahy joins us just ahead. my name is lee kaufman. married to morty kaufman. [ lee ] now that i'm getting older some things are harder to do. this is not a safe thing to do. be careful babe. there should be some way to make it easier [ doorbell rings ] let's open it up and see what's cookin'. oh i like that. look at this it's got a handle on it. i don't have to climb up.

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recently said black americans should demand jobs not food stamps. you also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic and propose having them work as janitors in their schools. can't you see that this is viewed at a minimum as insulting to all americans but particularly to black americans. >> no, i don't see that. >> we'll take makers verse taus gop's push to stop food stamps when patrick leahy joins us next on "now." avo: the volkswagen "sign then drive" sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car, two years in a row. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. get zero due at signing, zero down,

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attempt to iron out differences and they are enormous. the biggest of all, food stamps known as s.n.a.p. representatives like stephen fincher. >> the bible also says the poor will always be with us. it also says if you don't work, you don't eat. more than that, the role of citizens, of christians of humanity is to take care of each other but not for washington to steal money from those in the country and give it to others in the country. we're not going down that road anymore. >> never mind a fincher, a farmer elected from tea party support himself collected $1.5 million in 2012 farm subsidies. back in june house farm bill went down in flames because it didn't cut enough from food stamps to satisfy conservative

appetites. that prompted republicans led by eric cantor to double the cuts. along with cuts republicans seem to have lost empathy gene while democrats and economists see the growth of the food stamp program as a natural result of recession and high unemployment republicans see food assistance as parasitic abuse of taxpayer dollars. they ground these in accusations of food stamp fraud. foot stamp fraud accounts for 1% of the program, far less than the fraud involved in farm subsidies. the facts have not stopped the grand ole party in its zeal to shred social safety net. after the house took $40 billion from s.n.a.p., huelskamp announced -- the problem, food stamp recipients are sitting on the couch.

60% include a child, elderly or disabled person. 40% of households receiving food stamps had working adults in them. the problem is not that adults are getting lazier, it's that getting by is getting harder. as senate on policy priorities reminds us, more americans on food stamps, growing share of nation's workers, having a job has not been enough to keep them out of poverty. joining me democratic senator from vermont and chair of senate judiciary committee. senator, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be with you. >> senator, we know you're going to conference on three different bills. i think there's some consternation or concern in progressive circles about how you square one bill that has no funding for snap, one bill cuts by $39 billion and the senate farm bill that cuts by $4 billion.

seems the republicans have moved the goalpost. are you confident you can go to conference and come out with something reasonable in terms of cuts to s.n.a.p.? >> we're going to have to come up with something reasonable in standard & poor's or we're not going to have a farm bill. some of these same house members who have supported enormous subsidies for well heeled agri businesses, those that paid for well-heeled lobbyists, they are not going to get things they think they cut out the most defenseless people in america. it's not going to pass. i would suggest they look at what happened in the senate. we brought republicans and democrats together. most of us on the senate agriculture committee have been there a long time. many of us in both parties served as chair of that committee. we knew how to do it right. we pass it the old-fashioned way, actually bring up amendments, up or down and passing a bill. we saved billions of dollars. we also took care of the most

defenseless in the country. you know, when i see members of the house who vote for enormous giveaways to a place like iraq, something that's been the biggest waste of money certainly in the last couple of decades, and yet they say we're not going to feed hungry children. come on. they make the cuts they want to make in the food stamp program or s.n.a.p. you're going to have millions of americans off the program and hundreds of thousands of children going to school hungry. where are the people going to come from? they are going to create the jobs, make this country great in the next generation. if you have hungry children, hungry children don't learn. this is an investment in our future as well as a moral thing to do. >> senator, i have to ask you about another worrisome deadline, which is november 1st. stimulus added money to the food stamp program. but on november 1st, that stimulus is expected to end meaning a 15% across the board

cut in s.n.a.p. that's about $5 billion for fiscal year 2014 and we're still talking about conservatively another $4 billion in the senate bill. that's a $9billion hit to the food stamps program at a time of economic insecurity. >> it means we've got to stop -- instead of spending weeks on a foolish, expensive, nonproductive shutdown in the government, we ought to be here doing our work, getting bills passed, vote them up or down. a lot of people like to talk and talk and talk about how they are saving the tas pairs money as they waste money, waste tens of billions, hundreds of billions in the private sector and government sector by needless shutdown. lets come in here and actually do our work and pass these things. there's no member of congress who goes hungry except by choice. how can they look a child in the face and say go to school and

learn, make this a better country. sorry, you've got to go to school hungry. they wouldn't do that to their children or grandchildren, don't do it to america's children. >> senator, i'm going to bring in our folks in new york, heather, jim mcgovern who has been great on food stamps and has been on this show, this has been one of the most heartless bills i've seen speaking of the cuts. as the senator said it's almost unconscionable, amoral to send children -- to take food out of hungry children's mouths. yet, we reached a point in american politics where one of the governing parties is totally fine with that. >> in fact, though they are not fine, it's what we have to accept as you pointed out. the range is all on the negative on top of that 15% cut. this is going to have an effect not just on families and children and neighborhoods but also on our economy overall. food stamps are one of the most

powerful stimulus programs we have. people who receive food stamps spend them direct lip in their neighborhood. under the circumstances more than a dollar in bang for your buck every dollar you spend. as we see cuts, we see job numbers go down. i don't care as much about the overall economic picture as much as i do there are children hungry, workers not able to feed their children. i would think at least republicans would feel like there's make pressure to not have job loss. >> not only do they not feel that pressure, jonathan, they are tim huelskamp, you're not going to be able to sit on your couch and have the american taxpayer feed you. that 47% is alive and well. >> this is a very raw manifestation of maker versus take sentiments. to me the juxtaposition with the farm program. this is the least justifiable program of any size in the federal government, giving money to people whose business happens

to be farming as opposed to other businesses has no justification. republicans are proposing to spend more money on farm subsidies than democrats and white house. republicans are saying you're not spending enough. we want to spend more. it's a problem with no justification at all. >> you've got people like stephen fincher with millions in farm subsidies decrying food stamps as unchristian somehow. the logic there -- there is no logic there. >> there is no logic there. that quote from fincher was unbelievable and a perfect expression of this attitude toward the supposed 47%. it was really incredible. somehow, you know, with republicans when they talk about fraud, somehow it's only poor people and black people who ever commit fraud in this country, voter fraud, medicare, medicaid, food stamp fraud. those are the only people who ever commit fraud in this country, according to republicans. >> senator, independent of the moral argument, there's also the

political reality. areas of the country that are most in need in feeding people happen to be gop strongholds. there would seem to be some sort of political calculation here. you don't want to knee camp constituents you're asking to vote for you. do you think there's a payback if republicans go forward with this? >> i don't know. they have gerrymandered so much in the house, they feel secure doing anything they want. when you have quote, unquote, food stamp program is somehow unchristian, i believe christ spoke about feeding the hungry. but this is not a case where logic wins out as much as hyperbole and rhetoric. it's frustrating people who vote for all kinds of subsidies everything from major mega

agriculture businesses but not the hungriest. i can guarantee you this, the senate will not accept a bill that has these draconian cuts in it. i know the chair of our committee establiwill not and i not. >> they are going to have to justify why. when the poor economy and new job numbers come out after this very foolish shutdown they are going to be worse, i'm not eager to do that. we've got to get to conference. we've got to start talking about it. i think we had to push hard. cuts are in there. that was a huge compromise as it was to bring people together. i'm not willing to compromise more unless you can show me that somehow these people are going

to be taken care of. >> senator leahy, thank you as always for your time. coming up, when you are the leader of the free world, sometimes you need a little faith. we will decide when president obama's pastor in chief joshua dubois joins us just ahead. life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time.

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while there has been much debate about the president's religious affiliation the

president has been quite clear about faith in his daily life including the scriptures to his blackberry every morning the the man who sent the daily devotionals, "time" magazine dubbed pastor in chief has a new book, "the president's devotional. 365 sent to president obama through countless elections, tragedies and unending congressional gridlock. joining us is joshua dubois, former executive director of white house office faith-based and neighborhood partnerships and faith columnist for "the daily beast." thanks for being here. >> wonderful to be with you. >> it's great to have you. i feel like this is a fascinating side of the presidency and american public life. i wonder if you can tell us how you began sending devotionals to the president. >> when i first started doing this i had no idea i would be an adviser. i was on the campaign doing outreach to the faith community. i looked at him and saw he had

all sorts of support around him, policy advisers and political support but i wonder who was thinking about his spirit, who was thinking about his soul, so took a step out there and sent him an e-mail. i didn't know if i was allowed to send a senator a personal e-mail. it was a meditation on 23rd psalm on finding rest in tough time and held my breath. he wrote back and said that's exactly what he was looking for. that's how it started way back in the day. >> it's one thing to have spiritual texts sent to you and absorb them but do you think he seeks out or yearns for it and yearns for than now. >> the president is a committed christian. >> wait, he's a committed christian. >> the president is a committed christian. he's very careful about cultivating his faith. he doesn't wear it on his sleeve. i'd rather have a leader who lives out a sermon instead of

preaches one. he tries to do that as a good father, works in the white house through integrity and care. that's the way he lives out his faith. it isn't something he preaches from the rooftop but he is a spiritual christian. >> you also have emily dickinson, bob dylan. how did that begin? were you searching for new material, or this is a president who sort of seeks -- he consumes information. i think a lover of culture. how did those get worked into devotionals. >> the president loves two things, history and jazz. i try to weave in those things, nina simone, meditations about abraham lincoln, how he dealt with enemies and folks who were tough to find common ground w i tried to find sources of inspiration that meant something to the president and hopefully to other people as well. >> we talk about sort of cultural stereotypes in this country. to a large degree the right and

conservatives have owned the mantle of the religious right and christianity. if you look at progressive policy it's more in line with good christian ideas. can you go back to conference of catholic bishops came out against the paul ryan budget and said this is not moral or sister simo simo simone, those on the left. >> it's particularly strange given how much churches were a part of the civil rights movement and also for jewish americans really compelled to find solidarity in the civil rights movement through their faith. it's been a long strain in progressivism. we see a lot of changes in americans, particularly generational, a lot of changes in how americans trust religious

institutions. you're seeing a lot of change in evangelical base with this young generation really not wanting big churches in politics. fundamental lip we're all looking for higher meaning in life. it's great you're doing this for the president. >> thank you. >> joshua, in terms of religious text, has it largely been limited to the bible? do you look at other holy books for inspiration. i'm not trying to fuel birtherism but in terms of his faithfulness and spirituality. >> in terms of religious text, it is based in the bible, meant to cultivate his faith and he happens to be a christian. there's something in here for everyone. we need to start our day with purpose and joy and how to get through tough times with the best spirit possible. that's what the book is focused on. i think there's something here for people of all different faiths. >> i feel like i'm going to read a page every day not that my job is anywhere near as hard as the president. it's sfwg and great and useful

book, too. >> thank you. i'll wake you up at 5:30 with an e-mail to your blackberry. >> joshua dubois, thank you. >> thank you to our pablo. joy reid in for me tomorrow, "andrea mitchell reports" with guest peter alexander coming up next. good thursday to you. business travel looks pretty good throughout the afternoon and evening hours. no problems at any of the big airports. still chilly, definitely for traveling anywhere midwest, northeast, mid-atlantic, be prepared for a cold night tonight and a chilly, early morning tomorrow. much of the western half and southern half of the nation remains absolutely gorgeous with dry weather. enjoy.

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