the fbi or christopher steele should be prosecuted and they are. the president -- >> you've promoted this for years. that's what republicans and people are so confused about your culpability in this. >> i disagree with your premise. it's one thing to say that allegations should be investigated and we were. and it's another to say that people were seen as lying, which is impossible to do. let's not use that as a smoke screen for donald trump to inviting russia in to help in the election, which he did, in to inciting an insurrection which he did. none of that serious conduct is diminished by the fact that people lied to christopher steele. >> no. just your credibility is. >> martha: so now the indictment of a former clinton campaign attorney is revealing a new connection on the biden white house potentially as well. david spunt reporting live from the justice department. hi, david. >> hi, martha. good afternoon. john durham, the special counsel, began his investigation 2 1/2 years ago. in the past 2 1/2 months, things have picked up steam. we're talking about jake sullivan, the national security adviser at the white house to president biden. he's not mentioned by name in one of durham's indictments but according to several of our sources, he's the foreign policy adviser mentioned in one of the indictments specifically the indictment of clinton campaign attorney michael sussmann. he was charged in september or two months ago in september. he's the former clinton campaign attorney charged with lying to the fbi about alleged connections between donald trump and the kremlin. his information did not pan out. the indictment alleged an unnamed campaign lawyer that was in contact with a clinton foreign policy adviser. the adviser was jake sullivan, the president's national security adviser. according to the indictment, the two were in touch in september 2016. there's no indication that sullivan is a target of the durham probe. however we're told that he did receive some information from that unnamed campaign lawyer. tomorrow igor denchenko will be in cord. his diamond mentioned pr executive one. we know that is a clinton confidant named chuck dolan. he's not be charged with a crime but his attorney tells fox news dolan has no comment. durham said he was in contact with steele to produce damaging information about donald trump. a lot of names there, a lot of information. i want to point out, i reached out to the white house, the national security adviser, people for jake sullivan to let him know about the report. i have not heard back. >> martha: thanks, david spunt reporting. let's bring in casey mcfarland from the trump security department. author and former federal prosecutor, andy mccarthy, author of "ball of collusion." so it's very interesting. you hear adam schiff there suggest that, you know, if somebody lied, we should check that out and should be investigated. the problem is that the circle that we have that looks like it's being created here and i want to start with you, andy, the person that lied to the guy that wrote the opposition research dossier was connected to the clinton camp. so if he tells the lie to the writer of the dossier, then the dossier somehow finds itself to the fbi, then the fbi leaks the story that they have the dossier to the press and the press starts writing about it everywhere, what you have then is something that may have been based on a lie that then takes on such a life of its own that it turns into a two-year investigation. i just want to remind everybody at the top here, be patient, andy, because james comey, you know, basically said, we have to tell the president about this. you know, this is really bad, this stuff that we're learning in this dossier. i don't know if it's all true but we better tell him. here's what james comey said. watch. >> i'm about to talk to him about allegations that he was involved with prostitutes in moscow and the russians taped it and have leverage over it. the president's answer was to confirm it had no impact on the election. the conversation to my surprise moved into a p.r. conversation about how the trump team would position this. >> martha: andy, your thoughts. >> i think what is clear, martha is that durham is operating on a theory that the trump russia collusion narrative was really a concoction of the clinton campaign. they on the juried it up. it's not just that the sources are connected to the clinton world. the clinton campaign retained people to do this dossier and then they pushed it out to the media and to the government. in no since were they pushing on open doors. they were predisposed to think that trump was a bad guy. but it gave the clinton people the opportunity to argue to the electorate that trump was a puppet of putin and that there was such strong indication of this that the fastball was investigating him for it, which was, you know, a big argument to be able to make to the electorate. >> martha: k.t., this is john ratcliffe talking about what he knew when he was the dni. watch. >> what i did see in intelligence documents, some of which i have now declassified, that there was collusion involving the clinton campaign and russians to create a dossier. i gave john durham over 1,000 other documents that have not yet been declassified that i know include intelligence that goes specifically to this criminal activity that would be the basis for further indictments. >> martha: k.t.? >> you know, my career was destroyed over this, over the mueller investigation. my life was just put in a different direction. i had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend myself against crimes i department commit and so did other people. why? because the hillary clinton campaign during the campaign created this fake dossier, they sent it to the willing arms of the fbi and even fbi director comey said it was not verified. but then they were off to the races in investigating president trump. i keep thinking back, the more i read about this, it's clear that the clinton campaign was in cahoots with the steele dossier, they turn it over to the happy fbi that ran with it and ultimately a mueller investigation. yet nobody will pay a price, nobody will -- they're all claiming the fbi. how would they have known that the steele dos yeah -- >> martha: i love that one. aren't they the biggest investigative arm in the country? i love that one. the fbi. someone lied to them. what are they supposed to do? investigate it. figure out the sources. my head almost popped up a. go ahead, k.t. >> martha: no, let's just fast forward. remember the time line. this happened during the campaign. donald trump won anyway. when i was in trump tower in the transition, president-elect trump, vice president-elect pence, myself and eight people had a briefing from comey and the fbi, brennan, clapper. we had a briefing from these guys and they talked about russian interference. that was the same meeting that comey talked to president-elect trump and told him about the steele dossier which he knew was a pack of lies. they did bad stuff during the campaign. after the campaign was over and trump won, were they all trying to cover their tracks? maybe. >> martha: they said they tried to leave a trial so the story wouldn't die and people would dig in. here's the other narrative. people are saying look, because someone lied to christopher steele doesn't mean that the larger truth about connections between trump and russia that were nefarious, that that part of the house of cards falls down. is that true? >> well, it's true only in this sense. this has been schiff's story all along. there's connections between trump connected people and russian connected people. there's not a crime in that. the problem is if you want to play that game, the clinton team is only able to pull this off because they had extensive connections with russians. beginning with this guy chuck dolan, who is a long-time clinton person, goes back to bill clinton's first campaign. flash forward to 2006 and 2014. he's running public relations for the russian regime. >> martha: exactly. >> that's why he has these different russian ties. so it's not a crime to have russian ties. if we're going to play that game, the clinton people have extensive russian ties. >> martha: also on the way out here, there was testimony that adam schiff was overseeing that we all watched that essentially said without the dossier, we couldn't have gotten the warrants to begin this investigation. that was crucial. so so that means that without the dossier, the stuff that they had wasn't holding together and it wouldn't have been enough to have worth based on. they have a real problem here. i don't have to tell you. >> i hope so. >> martha: thanks, k.t. and andy. thanks as well. more to come on this, folks. breaking today, the white house pressed on calls from these democrats to act, please do something they're saying to president biden about these gas prices because boy, is it going to be a problem come election time. >> thanks so much. yesterday some senate democrats sent the president a letter on high gas prices and how to combat those suggesting banning crude oil exports is. the president considering banning the exports? >> rick perry has something to say about this. and also megan mccain coming up. are rethinking the choices they make like the splash they create the entrance they make, the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may 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(tiger) this is the dimension of imagination. ♪ ♪ this is a va mortgage rate watch from newday usa. while national mortgage rates are starting to climb, newday is holding the line at two and a quarter percent, 2.48 apr. so every veteran home owner can save. veteran homeowners, newday usa is holding the line on interest rates. the newday two and a quarter refi is the lowest in their history. two and quarter percent, just 2.48 apr. save thousands a year. in business, setbacks change everything. so get comcast business internet and add securityedge. it helps keep your network safe by scanning for threats every 10 minutes. and unlike some cybersecurity options, this helps protect every connected device. yours, your employees' and even your customers'. so you can stay ahead. get started with a great offer and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. plus for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. call today. >> we heard from the administration about tapping the strategic petroleum reserve. we have not heard about specifics the president is considering. is that because he feels his hands are tied when it comes to what he can do to combat high gas prices? >> i wouldn't read it that way. we don't have anything right now to announce. we're monitoring this and we're working through how we can actually address this. >> martha: working to address it is how the white house responds. you have 11 democrat senators saying their home states are hurting and they want action. we have invited them on and they won't speak about it. gas prices up 60% from a year ago, which has eaten into the child tax credits. everybody is feeling this. the white house says it's not z studying a plan to shut down another pipeline and to continue the green energy push as part of that. rick perry is standing by with his thoughts on this. first, madison alworth is in new york city where a gallon of gas can cost you even more than $5. hi, madison. >> hi, martha. if you're filling up with premium here, you're paying over $5. if you're paying for regular gas, it's $4.99. nearly $5 for regular here at this pump. you're really seeing that sticker shock. this is not the only gas station where we see an increase in prices. that is happening across the board. you're looking at an average of $3.42 up 60%, over 60% from a year ago. energy secretary jennifer granholm saying sunday that she hopes gas prices won't reach $4 a gallon. two states, california and hawaii have surpassed that milestone and there's other states that are nearing it. americans are feeling the pressure and so is the biden administration. they're trying to drive down prices, but opec is denying their push to increase production. >> we've communicated with ftc to crack down on illegal pricing and our engaging with countries and entities around the opec plus on increasing supply. we're very concerned about the impact of high energy prices on consumers as we enter the colder months. >> but critics say they're getting mixed messages from the white house and their energy policy. >> what do these guys want? $8 gas? has big oil company executives from chevron and bp and ro khanna badgered them to saying will you commit to reducing production. this makes no sense. >> martha, the people that are caught in the middle are the everyday americans. i've been talking to drivers here all day. i spoke to an uber driver that says he has to fill up his tank in little increments because he doesn't make enough money. what he makes he puts back in his car. martha? >> martha: thanks very much. let's bring in former energy secretary and former governor of texas, rick perry. good to have you with us. the vibe that we're getting at the white house is it's just very tough to do anything to turn this situation around. in fact, here's the energy secretary when she was asked what the granholm plan would be. >> what is the the granholm plan to increase production in america? >> that is hilarious? that i have the magic wand on this. as you know, oil is a global market. it's controlled by a cartel. that cartel is called opec. >> martha: such a silly question. nothing that we can do. is there anything that we can do? was this avoidable and how? >> it's avoidable by leaving in place the policies that the previous administration helped them become energy independent for the first time in 70 years. what president trump did with the help of congress working along, sending the message to the world that america was going to be an energy producer, we were going to help people around the globe. we were delivering low emission, liquefied natural gas to europe. we were doing our part on the emissions side of this as the united states was lowering emissions because of our big transition over to lng. you couldn't give them a playbook and made it turn out any worse than what they did by listening to their friends on the left side of the political aisle, which is nearly all of them on the democrat party now. but the point is they shut down the xl pipeline. that was bring heavy crude to the texas gulf coast, which could be refined there. the type of crude that our refiners use down there. shutting down oil and gas producing areas with regulations. sending the message clearly that we don't like the fossil fuel industry. that's what they did. for anyone to stand up now -- i think it's the height of hypocrisy, number 1, for the secretary of energy to be saying oh, please, opec, please give us some energy when there is a 100-year supply of liquefied natural gas in america. >> martha: if you were the energy secretary today and faced with this and there's covid implications and oil producers are not excited to make mother because they're doing well on these shorter supplies. what would you do? one or two quick things that you could do that would make things get cheaper. >> number 1, send the message that american fossil fuel is not the enemy here. that will keep our economy going. whether you're a big fan of electric cars or not, the electricity is driven by fossil fuels. we're blessed to have a country with this type of resource and we're going to use it for our own economic best interests but literally for our national security. all of that is put in jeopardy by this administration. >> martha: i don't think we'll hear that. that's what you would do. thanks very much, sir. good to see you. >> thank you. >> martha: so megan mccain and our political panel as president biden's approval reaches the lowest of his presidency thus far coming up. out of your zo? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help you get back in it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk, and losing some weight... now, back to the game! ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. >> martha: the white house saying there's no place for violence in our political system after an animation attacking president biden and alexandria ocasio-cortez. nancy pelosi saying the house ethics committee and law enforcement should investigate. fox news reached out to congressman gosar for comments. we have not heard back. president biden brushing aside his low approval numbers insisting that he didn't run because of polls. they do keep oncoming. this one from cnn. a majority of americans, 58%, believe the president hasn't given up in attention to the most pressing issues. let's bring in guy benson, host of the guy benson radio show and josh kraushaur. we're coming off of this post election phase and other dynamics with the energy situation. josh, you wrote an interesting piece over the weekend. "dems fear political wipe out in 2022" based on the election results and the polling numbers. do you see anything that has impacted your thinking on that in the recent days? >> passing the infrastructure bill, which was a bipartisan accomplishment that didn't turn out to be one after all the division that came of it is a boost, but you know, biden's job approval rating is 42% in the polling averages. that is the lowest of any president in a generation approaching donald trump's numbers. it's a very dangerous place politically for any president to be in. this is a president that campaigned on working with republicans, on returning to normalcy, not being as partisan as some of his predecessors. the fact that he hasn't governed in that way is driving the numbers down and doing damage in his own party. >> martha: juan, i want to take a look at this poll. this is the "usa today" poll. 60% of the people disapprove of his handling of the economy and the economy is the most important thing to most voters. we've seen the white house coming up short when asked about what can be done about gas prices and inflation. they don't have the answers yet to tell the american people about. what do you say to that? >> i think that's right. the numbers are so disappointing for democrats and they do spell, you know, difficult waters ahead. you head to the mid-terms because you need a popular president to really rebuff the historical trends that say the party in power loses a lot of seats in the mid-terms. i will say this about the polls, martha. these polls for the most part were done before last week. so they're done after the virginia race, a lot of people very disappointed on the democratic side and done before the infrastructure bill passed, before the great jobs report, before the stock market break the 55th time this year break records, set a new high. a lot of things going on the number 1 issue, the economy. that really i think the white house puts their hopes in at this moment. >> martha: yeah, this is a long way to the presidential election and to the mid-terms, guy. a lot can happen in terms of the improvements that democrats would say in terms of passage of the infrastructure bill and now looks like they'll pass something on this human infrastructure next week. you think that will happen and what difference will that make? >> i'm not sure what would help. we don't flow what it would look like because they're still debating it. if they pass something in the house, they have to go to the senate, which is a different ball game. i'm going to hold my horses on that particular piece of legislation because it's been a thorn in nancy pelosi's side and chuck schumer's side here for weeks on end. i think juan makes a fair point. if we start looking one year in advance of the mid-terms, events can shift. fortunes can change in politics, a year is a long time. the reason that people are looking at the polling today and already extrapolating some conclusions is just remembering back -- i did some rush ahead of this panel to 2010. republicans won a huge sweep in that mid-term circle of the obama presidency. republicans gained 63 house seats on the few days -- the weekend before that election in 2010, president obama's job approval rating was exactly two points under water in the real clear politics average. he was barely under water. there was this landslide for the republicans a few days later. right now president biden is nearly ten points under water in the exact same average. the right track, wrong track numbers are almost identical. slightly worse today. so things can change. we're a year out. where the president is right now is far worse than what president obama was experiencing right before his party got wiped out in 2010. >> martha: yeah. gentleman, hope we continue this. great conversation. thanks so much for being here. lots to talk about. thank you all. so president biden is getting ready for his high stakes meeting with the chinese president xi jinping. >> president biden, how are you going to get china to be transparent about covid origins? how are you going to get china to be transparent and covid origins? >> martha: no answer to that one. david asher that led the department of state under mike pompeo in to what happened in wuhan here on that next. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. what do you say we see what this bird can do? woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ going to tell you about exciting medicare advantage plans that can provide broad coverage, and still may save you money on monthly premiums and prescription drugs. with original medicare, you're covered for hospital stays and doctor office visits. but you have to meet a deductible for each, and then you're still responsible for 20% of the cost. next, let's look at a medicare supplement plan. as you can see, they cover the same things as original medicare, and they also cover your medicare deductibles and co-insurance. but, they often have higher monthly premiums and no prescription drug coverage. now, let's take a look at humana's medicare advantage plans. with a humana medicare advantage plan, hospital stays, doctor office visits and your original medicare deductibles are covered. and of course, most humana medicare advantage plans include prescription drug coverage. in fact, in 2020 humana medicare advantage prescription drug plan members saved an estimated $8,400 on average on their prescription costs. most humana medicare advantage plans include a silversneakers fitness program at no extra cost. dental, vision and hearing coverage is included with most humana medicare advantage plans and, you get telehealth coverage with a $0 copay. you get all this for as low as a $0 monthly plan premium in many areas. and your doctor and hospital may already be a part of humana's large network. if you want the facts, call right now for the free decision guide from humana. there is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network, to find out if you can save on your prescriptions, and to get our free decision guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. veteran homeowners. while some banks are raising their interest rates newday is holding the line to keep their rates low. two and quarter percent, just 2.48 apr. save thousands every year. >> martha: so you saw president biden dodged a question on whether or not he will press china on the origins of covid-19 as he gets ready for a summit with the chinese president before the end of the year. >> president biden, how are you going to get china to be transparent about covid origins? president biden, how are you going to get china to be transparent about covid origins? >> martha: no response there. there's no mention of the word coronavirus or covid-19 in the recent calls between president biden and president xi jinping. let's bring in david asher. he's a senior fellow at the hudson institute. good to have you here. do you expect president biden will press xi jinping and say we need to know what's going on or we won't cooperate with you? >> no. we have a wuhangate emerging in washington. you have biden covering up for the chinese of the origins of covid-19, which they wouldn't account to, tell any within where it came from or how it happened. he's covering up its existence from this discussion because he's afraid of offending the chinese premier. you have fauci lying to congress last week about his role in funding the research this most likely created covid-19, which he says that it does occur under his watch, which we have documents that show it did. now we have the intelligence community saying they can't confirm the origins because the chinese are covering it up. so we have mass murder and nobody is getting answers. >> martha: it just -- it's so confusing because it's hard to imagine why when you look at the military build up and you talk about the military presence that existed in the lab, why we wouldn't go after them. what is the reason? >> maybe the reason is that we were funding the same scientists with nih and u.s. dollars being funded by the communist to look at what appears to be covid-19. that would be worth covering up for somebody in the u.s. government. >> martha: it appears that it would. as you point out, our intelligence folks did a 90-day so-called investigation. you said you don't believe it was an investigation. they're happy to put this behind them. meanwhile, seven million people are died. we listen to the president talking about separated children at the border. he's so passionate about it. i don't understand why the passion is not there for this disease. david, you worked hard on this effort. we hope to talk to you again soon. thank you. >> thank you. >> martha: so megan mccain joins us on the fight over the teaching in our schools that says that the u.s. is at its core systemically a racist country. she joins me next. >> the real ominous thing is that critical race theory, which isn't real, turned the suburbs 15 points. ever going toowners, ie use your va home loan benefit to get cash, now is the time. because interest rates are near record lows and home values are at record highs. the newday 100 va cash out loan lets you borrow 100% of your home's values and you can take out $ 50,000 or more. pay down high rate credit cards, improve your home, or just give your family the security of having cash in the bank. veteran homeowners, newday usa is holding the line on interest rates. the newday two and a quarter refi is the lowest in their history. two and quarter percent, just 2.48 apr. save thousands a year. >> martha: critical race theory a flash point in school board meetings across the country and fired up parents to elect glenn youngkin, the next governor of virginia. we spoke to a lot of people that said it shouldn't be an issue. >> i don't think people necessarily truly understand what critical race theory is. younger children are not being taught critical race theory. they can't understand critical race theory. they're being taught history. >> martha: all right. let's bring in megan mccain, former co-host of "the view" and author of "bad republican" and a columnist for the daily mail and writing great columns and wrote one today. great to have you with us. thanks for joining me today. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> martha: i want to play that sound bite from nicole wallace. listen. >> the real ominous thing is that critical race theory, which isn't real, turned the suburbs 15 points. >> martha: everyone nods. that's right. it's not real. it's not happening. what do you say, megan? >> i just -- i watched that happened live. i thought it was bizarre when you have the shellacking that mcauliffe had and parents talking about how education and critical race theory played a huge role in why they ended up voting for glenn youngkin. i just thought it was very strange that there's a complete and utter denial that critical race theory theory exists and being taught. there's evidence of it being taught in many states. if it doesn't exist, why are they so riled up over it being banned? >> martha: this is an op-ed by a teacher in chicago that appeared in the chicago tribute. the headline is i am a teacher and yes, critical race theory is in your school. she talks about -- gives people points to look for. if you see that there's discussion of race integrated in every single court in math, science and everything else. what is it that is so potentially dangerous about this that has so many parents really reflecting on it and voting on it, megan? >> martha: yeah, i think it's because it starts out with premise that all children are either the oppressor or the oppressed, which is a bizarre way in my opinion to go about teaching things like math and science. i think it is something that has caught on recently with teachers and parents paying much more attention to what teachers are teaching, which happened as a result of covid and zoom classes. democrats have done this to themselves. it's strange instead of taking responsibility like many -- some democrat analysts have to sort of double down and just say this doesn't exist. all parents in virginia are too racist or too stupid to understand what they voted for and keep on this path. democrats should keep doing it because it's a recipe for success for republicans going to mid-terms and the general election. i wrote this column because i thought it was so weird to see the failure of an election that we saw in virginia and the response being this doesn't exist and all parents in virginia are racist. >> martha: i thought this was stunning. this is from "saturday night live." they went off winston sears on the update segment of snl the other night. watch this. >> republican winson sears seen here was elected as virginia's first black female lieutenant governor. this is a win for democrats because nothing will get republicans to support the gun control faster than this picture. >> martha: what do you make of the backlash against her? >> it's awful. it's a historic moment in the fact that she's a republican and by the way, a veteran. should be getting much more applause. if she were a democrat, she would be on "rolling stone" magazine. instead, she's a punch line on "saturday night live." she's offered to go on shows and have a conversation about her beliefs. they have not invited her on. it's disgraceful. i'm excited that she's my lieutenant governor and it's just a glaring example of the hypocrisy of the left. everyone is someone that should be celebrated, any woman should be celebrated unless they're a conservative woman. we see it for what it is. i have high hopes for the leadership she brings. >> martha: she doesn't count the boxes that are being checked are not of note to some people. we'll talk more in our podcast coming up. >> it's better to have a black face governor that appeared in black face and/or a klan's outfits that the first conservative black woman as lieutenant governor. that's what's okay for the left right knew. >> martha: great point. great to have you here. we'll talk more in the podcast that people can get a look at thursday. thanks too megan for joining us. great to have her with us. getting americans back to work in manufacturing next. indshield. the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ eat news for veteran homeowners. newday's refi rate is the lowest in their history. two and a quarter percent. just 2.48 apr. one call can save you thousands every year. and it's easy. there's no money out of pocket and no upfront fees. and while some banks are raising their rates, newday is holding the line for veterans. lock in your rate. >> martha: so there's so many manufacturing jobs that are available in this country right now that it is hitting the road trying to offer the perks as well to find new workers. andy puzder standing by, the chief national correspondent. connell mcshane live on a factory floor in iowa. hi, connell. >> hi, martha. you're right. there's so many available. 900,000 openings in the sector around the country right now. these companies are trying to find workers anyway they can. jay tibets from the national association of manufacturers has this traveling road show set up called creators wanted. he was showing me around what is like an escape the room-type of experience if you have ever done that with the kids. it's aimed at making the industry more attractive to young people that might be interested in things like science or technology especially. talking to a ceo, they're telling us that something needs to be done to bring in workers. one of the issues is getting them the proper skills. >> there's a gap. we do all kinds of things to train people on the job to provide tuition assistance to get -- to pursue a degree outside of work. >> so companies like vermere, that will provide that education and hope that they find more workers like the ones that we met here in iowa that are and seem eager to learn new things. >> right now seriously is the perfect time to star a new career. if you have ever thought oh, i have always wanted to be in tool and die, right now is the time to do it. there's companies that are so desperate for employees that they're willing to pay for you tuition. >> but this is a numbers game. the problem is the numbers don't add up. there's not enough workers and the orders come in acc the backlog builds. one more concern, if the vaccine mandate is implemented by the biden administration and the ceos that we spoke with here that might personally support that, they say is likely to make the shortage more challenging. martha? >> thanks, connell. let's bring in andy puzder, the former ceo that ran hardee's. what's your response when you look at 900,000 jobs needed in manufacturing and people don't sign up for them? >> it's really a problem even in manufacturing. look at the national numbers. we have 10.4 million job openings and 7.4 million people under employed. actively looking for work. so you're talking about three million more job openings than people out there trying to find jobs. so it's a real problem. we've been encouraging people to work now with government largesse. we've increased benefits. we have the child tax credit. we just ended the $300 a week unemployment notice and we saw 500,000 jobs created last month. we need to change policies and quickly. >> martha: even if the policies stay the same, you think people will decide to go back to work when the benefits run back or you think build back better comes back and filleds that void? >> both. we're seeing a decline in the amount of savings that people have. a few months ago, people had $400 billion more in savings than when the pandemic started. now it's about even where the savings were before the pandemic. so the cushion is disappearing. the $300 a week bonus disappeared. but you have other benefits. if they pass this build back better build, it's a long, long time before our economy recovers. only about one in four people believe that bill is going to be helpful to them. i think those are probably a lot of the people that are not employed right now and expect the government top continue its largesse and sending the checks out. >> martha: let's to the former treasury secretary. >> i'm worried we'll continue to have inflation. we have $29 trillion. we need a pause button on government spending, get inflation under control. >> martha: you think joe manchin and krysten sinema are the pause button or does it go through? >> they're the thin blue line. they could be -- joe manchin is fed up. i think he's just fed up. he doesn't understand these policies, he doesn't understand why we don't require people to work if we're going to provide them with government benefits. and sinema is just angry. she took a rationale position, a reasonable position and they followed her into the rest room, disrupt weddings where she officiates. the democrats have strengthens manchin and sinema. i hope they hold up. if there's a lot of pressure on them, i hope they hold up. they're about all that is protecting our country from a economic collapse. >> martha: thanks, andy. >> thank you. >> martha: before we go, all american christmas authored by rachel campos duffy and her husband, sean duffy. i'm one of a lot of folks here who have an essay, a chapter in this book. it's a wonderful story and a great christmas present. hope you pick it up for people on your list. that is "the story" for november 9. look forward to seeing you here today. "your world" gets started now. have a good night. >> we're looking at all the tools in our arsenal. we're very concerned about the impact of high energy prices on consumers especially as we enter the colder months. so we're continuing to monitor the situation and we're going to do everything that we can from here. >> neil: all right. all the tools at our disposal. gasoline prices creep and more commonly so over $5 a gallon as oil flirted in and out of a seven-year high of about $84 a barrel. it