track as a country. in his first fund-raiser in two weeks, president obama attend add private resepgsz last night in washington. dnc officials estimate the night would bring in $800,000. that followed an afternoon announcement where the president unveiled executive actions targeting the nation s servicemen and women. the programs which include customized job search assistant and online job bank, aimed at pressuring republicans to pass the next part of the americans jobs act which provides tax credits to businesses hiring veterans. the president once again urged congress to move forward on his jobs proposals. we ask our men and women in uniform to leave their families and their jobs and risk their lives to fight for our country. if last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home. there s no good reason to oppose this bill, not one. our veterans did their jobs. it s time for congress to do theirs.
and say, not right now but later. it muddies the message. and i think, you know, speaks to a caucus that s, if not in disarray, there s a lot of people are unsure, i think, as to what they want to do with the jobs act and sort of where the president is and how need to play themselves against him. what s interesting, right, is if you go there s a really good piece in the new york magazine about eric cantor and one of the points he makes in that is talks about cantor being the mastermind being republican unity in opposition to the recovery act. this was eight days after the president was elected with the huge electoral majority. it was sort of shocking. in some ways the lesson you learn from that is unity confers its own advantages, right? that if the democrats would unify around this bill that produces sort of increasing gains, politically, which they seem incapable of actually understanding. yeah, but i think that s a testament to the weakened power of the president right now
after the number two house republicans said yesterday the chamber would not vote on the president s bill in its entirety saying the american s jobs act was dead on arrival. this morning congressman cantor told reporters it s the president who has a problem reaching across the aisle. the problem is the policies being promoted by this administration that are sending the signal that we re not open for business in america. so if the president would join us in trying to do some things and actually help people that help create an environment for growth, i think we can all see a way to work together to actually produce a better future. the majority leader s office put out a statement today directly responding to the president s speech in texas that called cantor out by name. that statement read in part president obama needs to understand it is my way or the highway approach i m laughing because this is the guy who rallied the votes.
the system. jon: that souyz craft that failed on launch is not that different from the one that sends the astronauts up. reporter: the boosters are identical. we need to have a redundant way to get to the space station. the bottom line is nasa needs for funds to get this transportation system backed up sooner than they had planned and i think that is a policy failure. jon: tom jones, thank you. jenna: what a contrast. interesting seeing that video. we talked a lot about jobs, it certainly is the big issue in american minds right now. unemployment is rising in half the states in the nation. we just got some of that information. the president is traveling the country selling his plan, the americans jobs act. some, though are not sold on it, including some democrats. we ll talk to one of them, senator joe mansion straight ahead.
lowe outside of nashville, back to you. jon: that is a tough story to bring to our viewers. harris, thank you. jenna: new information now on the nation s unemployment rate and the situation is bleak to say the least. more than half of the states in the u.s. are reporting increased unemployment rates for august. this is on the heels of the president s push to pass his jobs bill. we ve heard it from many republicans who have made it clear that they do not support the plan. even some democrats are speaking out against us. joining us is democratic senator joe mansion. you just got done presiding over the senate. it s been a busy morning for you. thank you for joining us. would you vote yes or no for the president s jobs bill. there is the good, bad and ugly. i don t think it will be given to us in one jobs bill. it was very encouraging yesterday, 37 of epl came together supporting a larger deal for the deficit. we showed that we can come together.