>> sandra: looks like a ban on natural gas appliances in berkeley, california can only be saved by the supreme court now. william is in los angeles on this for us. william, is there any chance that the high court will take up the case? >> well, given the beat-down this court gave them, berkeley, it's unlikely environmentallists want a ruling or precedent to jeopardize similar bans around the country, where they prohibit natural gas pipelines as a back door attempt to stop consumers from buying gas stoves, furnaces and water heaters. the court found it's illegal that berkeley tried to preempt federal rules on energy efficiency. the city argued it only tried to regulate the fuel itself to reduce pollution, asthma and global warming. >> when we think about pollution and the climate, we think about

cars and factories but turns out the buildings we live and work in every day are a big contributor as well. >> the question now is how will this ruling impact other challenges around the country where cities are phasing out natural gas. mandating electrical appliances. in berkeley, the home builders and restaurants still have a choice. >> until there is something else that is not electric that could work, and that is efficient and is not costly, and so forth, i would say that they have to allow it. >> once the most liberal appeals court in the u.s., ninth circuit has 13 judges appointed by republicans, 16 by democrats, 11 sided about berkeley. could it end up in the supreme court, yes, if another court reaches a different conclusion but not likely any time soon. keep your gas stove. >> sandra: for now. william, thank you. all right, here we go, any

moment now, the white house will hold its first briefing of the new year as we learn when we will see the first impeachment hearing for homeland security secretary mayorkas. i'm sandra smith in new york. great to be back with you. >> john: great to be back with you after the holidays. john roberts in washington. this is "america reports". president biden returning from vacation last night and is already playing the blame game when it comes to securing the border. listen here. >> meanwhile, the white house is asking the supreme court to let border agents cut nearly 30 miles of razor wire texas installed to prevent migrant crossing, and all of this as

dozens of house republicans travel to the border to see the crisis firsthand. >> john: texas republican tony gonzalez is part of the delegation, standing by the rio grande to talk about all of this to us, but first the white house corres correspondent jacqui heinrich on the north lawn. >> jacqui: a week from today the homeland security committee will hold its first impeachment hearing over alejandro mayorkas, mark green told fox news digital our investigation made clear the crisis finds its foundation in secretary mayorkas' decision-making and refusal to follow the laws passed by congress. mayorkas said this in response. >> i was on the hill yesterday to provide technical advice in those ongoing negotiations. before i headed to the hill i was in the office working on

solutions. after my visit to the hill i was back in my office working on solutions. that's what we do in the department of homeland security. >> you will cooperate with the hearings, the investigation here? >> i most certainly will, and i'm going to continue to do my work as well. >> jacqui: last month, more than 300,000 migrants were documented trying to cross the border, highest single month ever recorded. after returning from a week long holiday in st. croix, president biden said something has to be done but punted responsibility to congress to hand over money to protect the border. a group of house republicans at the border right now, vowing not to fund the government until the border is shut down. that group of at least five saying that the administration has not enforced existing laws and to that, the white house responded "there they go again, we'll shut down the government, we control the money. house republicans are once more compromising america's national security and economic growth

with shutdown threats." of course, broadly, more than these five house republicans say that it is the white house compromising national security by refusing to enforce current laws and so we'll see what the white house has to say about all of this in the briefing coming up very shortly, john. >> john: looking forward to that. scheduled to begin four minutes ago, now see what it actually occurs. jacqui, thank you. >> sandra: joining us live from eagle pass, texas, republican congressman tony gonzalez, part of the gop delegation, they are at the border as you can see right now. welcome to you, sir. what have you seen since you've been down there? >> thank you for having me, sandra. i was speaking with famous local resident bill melugin about how quiet it is. yesterday, 216 crossings. a low number, we have not seen in a long time. two weeks ago there were 4,000 crossings.

so you know, the place has been cleared out, all of a sudden the spigot has been turned off and this is highlights to certainly the delegation that the administration can fix this problem. some of the things i've asked for, i think short-term, is we have to end catch and release and that's what i was so worried about two weeks ago when there were thousands of people under the bridge was once border patrol reaches capacity they just release them into the streets. we have to end catch and release. the other part, we have to deport people by the thousands, not by the dozens. you do that, that puts an immediate band aid on the problem. long-term, the root of the issue, if you stop talking and listen to the local residents, they will tell you the cartels are the ones that terrorize migrants, terrorize local citizens and time to take the gloves off and label them as terrorist organizations. >> sandra: we hear it, you mean business. maverick county, texas sheriff

how the border crisis is impa impacting security. >> security of my county and it has divided my man power. now we have two units escorting busses with immigrants to laredo, texas, about two hours from here. some immigrants are coming through that don't qualify for anything, and they are the ones running and hiding and so forth and it's probably criminals. >> sandra: but still, this is an administration, you heard president biden there at the top of the hour, we played the clip again, of him saying, and flipping the script on republicans saying this is your problem. the border is not fixed because of republicans, and that they are not approving of funds that president biden says are badly needed to fix the border. to that you say what? >> yeah, my response to the president is there is no amount of money that will ever solve

this border crisis. this border crisis gets fixed -- gets fixed with policy changes. and showing up matters. today we had the largest congressional delegation that has ever visited the border, over 60 members, and all of a sudden there's nobody crossing, and there's a reason why no one is crossing. i want to thank speaker johnson for making this a priority, thank my colleagues, two days after the new year, here we are in eagle pass, not an easy place to get so. these things matter. i spent 20 years in the military. i know what casualties of war look like. as i was driving up to the river here, all these crosses in one of these fields to signify the number of migrants that have passed away. so everything this border cries touches, whether it's migrants or americans, turns to ash. >> sandra: that puts a lot of pressure on secretary mayorkas where republicans have now begun this process to impeach him over the border cries. i'll get your final thought on

that as we listen to mayorkas blaming the republican governor of texas for the failure of governance leading to this crisis. listen. >> we have one governor in the state of texas who is refusing to cooperate with other governors and other local officials and coordinate efforts to address a challenge and it's a remarkable failure of governance to refuse to cooperate with one's fellow local and state officials. >> sandra: your final thought on that, congressman. >> i'm a retired navy master chief. i don't believe in blame game. i believe in results. so, let's fix this. and house republicans have the opportunity to take a down payment on border security in 2024 and come back for the rest when we win the white house in 2025, and i think it's time for us to get off the sidelines and do it because the american public demand it.

>> sandra: got it. we will see more from you and your republican colleagues in just a bit. thank you. >> thank you, sandra. >> john: and sandra, sanctuary cities across the country are strapped for resources as a result of the migrant crisis and now chicago is using federal covid cash to help cover the bill. fox business's kelly is in chicago, outside a closed school that will soon be turned into a migrant shelter. is the city council on board with this plan? >> kelly: john, we are talking about $95 million and some members of city council are not happy about this, including alderman anthony biel who says the mayor needs to include input from the other council members and have more transparency. he said covid relief money was supposed to go toward relief for the people of chicago, not migrants migrating to the city. supposed to help businesses, people who lost loved ones and

resources we lost during the covid pandemic. over 33,000 migrants have arrived in the windy city since august of 2022. chicago's mayor brandon johnson calls on the federal government for more aid to deal with the crisis. >> what we have is clearly an international and federal crisis that local governments are being asked to subsidize, and this is unsustainable. none of our local economies are positioned to be able to carry on such a mission. >> kelly: texas governor greg abbott taking to x to criticize the mayors of chicago and new york for complaining, saying texas has transported over 95,000 migrants to sanctuary cities. like new york city and chicago have seen only a fraction of overwhelmed texas border towns face daily. we will continue our transportation mission until biden reverses course on his open border policies.

illinois governor's office set aside money in the state budget to deal with the crisis. chicago has budgeted 150 million, and cook county another 100 million. meanwhile, the department of homeland security says it has issued about 480 work permits to chicago area migrants. john. >> john: 302000 came across the southern border in december. they have to go somewhere. >> sandra: new jersey police are searching for a shooter after an imam was shot outside a mosque this morning. the victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition. it's unclear what led up to the violence or if the religious leader could have been targeted. police will hold a news conference 4:30 eastern time. looking for an update on that. john. >> john: look ahead to that. also the white house briefing

just getting underway. expected to hear the press secretary's first reaction to december's record-setting numbers on the southern border. we will monitor and bring you the headlines as they happen. >> sandra: plus former president donald trump facing multiple ballot bans and he may not be the only republican fighting in place for their place on the ticket. we will ask sarah bedford if this could become a trend. >> this is an interpretation that is destructive to our system of government. it's historically and legally wrong. it's also important for this moment for the court to speak as one voice. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network.

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white house briefing where john kirby fielded a question as to who might be behind the bombing in iran today and whether or not the killing in lebanon might escalate things between israel and hamas. let's listen. >> i would just tell you that he was a noted designated global terrorist and if he is in fact dead nobody should be shedding a tear over his loss. >> great detail of who is responsible, can you rule out israel had anything to do with this? >> we have no indication at this time at all that israel was involved in any way whatsoever. >> no indication but just be clear, you don't think, did they support or assist in -- >> i would -- i'm not going to speak for another nation. i would tell you we have no indication that israel was in any way involved in this. >> and given that this was the soleimani anniversary, did you have intelligence something was being planned for this day?

>> we certainly had no indications that there would be some sort of violence surrounding the anniversary of his death. >> just to follow up on the lebanon issue. is there any concern that particular strike might expand the conflict regionally? >> i would just say, trevor, everything that we have done, and the lay down i just offered of the force posture changes the president has ordered in the region has been designed to prevent escalation or widening or deepening of the conflict. as we have said before, we don't want to see it widen between israel and hamas and we will would, with partners in the region to keep it from happening. >> red sea, you mentioned the joint statement and singapore has added their names to that as well. but that is just, you know, 13 countries total, that's smaller than the 44 that issued a statement in december, and you

know, countries that you think would be on the list like france are not. is there a reason why that's not a broader group of countries that signed on? >> first of all, 13 other nations signing up to language like that, 13 total nations, 12 others than us i think is significant. other nations can speak for themselves about -- >> john: all right, so john kirby will continue to brief, we will jump back in if there is news to be made but kirby saying no indication that israel had anything to do with that bombing in soleimani's -- the place where he is buried earlier today that killed more than 100 iranians. it would not fit the mold of anything that israel typically would do in targeting its enemies. >> sandra: and that's what we were listening for, we got it out of the state department last hour, heard a similar message, but saying, adding he would not speak for israel but no indication they were behind this. also john kirby saying out of

the gate that the u.s. does not have detail on the iran bombing. so likely we will hear more. we will monitor the briefing and bring news as it happens. karine jean-pierre will also take to the microphone after john kirby. >> john: in the meantime as all of that takes place, a republican congressman from pennsylvania is facing new efforts to remove him from the keystone state's 2024 ballot. a liberal activist has asked a court to disqualify congressman scott perry, accusing him of insurrectionist activity following the 2020 election, essentially mirrors the ballot challenges against donald trump and several states. sarah bedford, so, i guess you know, it's a slippery slope, the dam has burst. you go after donald trump and then after anybody who supported him in 2020. >> absolutely. where does it end. if you look at the texas of the lawsuit brought by this liberal activist and what congressman perry is accused of engaging

in -- insurrection, it opens up a black hole. are these 14th amendment lawsuits going to qualify as insurrection if a republican gets into office, it's a dangerous slope and applying any official, court, secretary of state, anyone can decide if anything is insurrection. >> perry has not been charged by anyone, however his cell phone was seized in august of 2022. so that would have been after the 2022 primaries, nobody would have known about any of that, and then just recently we have heard that's been turned over to the special counsel, jack smith, for example nation. >> right, but again, they have had the cell phone for almost a

year and a half and not enough to support criminal charges. evidence is cited in the pennsylvania lawsuit but the closest to insurrection that perry is accused of is privately, you know, egging on some trump associates. so broadly applying something as serious as insurrection to actions like that, private actions that really have nothing to do with the riot at the heart of january 6th is i think what's so corrosive of this being good for democracy. >> john: scott perry is not the only member of congress supporting donald trump and the bid to some would say overturn the election, other supporters would say he wanted to make sure there was not a way that things did not end up the way he wanted and could it upon be remedied. so, when do you stop going after the members of congress? >> exactly, why there's been a lot of calls for the supreme court to step in and put a definition to insurrection and say who gets to make that determination and stop this before it does spread.

it could spread to dozens of republican congressmen. but for trump, i think this reinforces his narrative that democrats are coming after him. even if you are a trump critic, you have to concede a lot is being done to stop trump. not crying wolf on that one. >> john: you have liberal activists going after republican lawmakers, could it happen in other states, tit for tat retaliation, on the screen, 2016, after the election, seven democratic members of congress who objected to the 2016 electoral votes, not to say that they did anything wrong and not to say anything they did was not in the bounds of the constitution, it was on january 6, 2017, they stood up and objected to it. if you wanted to engage in tit for tat retaliation, gloves are off, anybody is fair game, a target. >> that's what a lot of legal experts and bipartisan members of congress are warning. if you start down this path,

this gets so much bigger than donald trump. it erodes some of the guardrails that protect american democracy if people can be denied their ability to vote for their chosen candidate because the opposing party that is in control of the levers of power at that moment decide they don't want to have to run against them as opponents. it is a big deal, so much bigger than donald trump. >> john: we'll watch the scott perry case and see where it goes. i think if the court were to rule he's off the ballot, i think that does open the door to a lot more ahead. sarah, great to see you. say hi to chris. sandra. >> sandra: more rough surf in california after giant waves swept people away last week. how big is the threat now? >> john: wow, and how far does a million dollars go. if that's your retirement goal, you might want to rethink your plans or at the very least, where you live. robert wolf and dan greenhaus coming up next. change,

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>> john: to the southern border now, eagle pass, texas, and live pictures of the congressional delegation numbering about 60 members, the biggest congressional delegation ever to go down to the southern border arriving in eagle pass, texas, that looks like the international bridge just to the right there that they are coming up under and you see fencing in the background there. they will be talking a tour of a border that looks a lot different than it did a week ago in very much the same way el paso, the city, completely different when joe biden was there than it did in the days previous. there is uncanny way of these, or tendency of the illegal migrants to disappear when members of congress come down for a look for themselves, but it's pretty clear that they have seen all of the images of the thousands of illegal migrants that have been crossing the border in the eagle pass, texas area. many of those pictures brought

to us by the intrepid reporting of bill melugin and his team as the speaker of the house, mike johnson, comes out of the bus to lead the delegation. they'll beholding a press conference in the minutes ahead and i expect that mike johnson will be echoing what we heard from congressman tony gonzalez a few minutes ago that it's very strange that there is suddenly nobody coming across the border in eagle pass, when last week there were thousands of them. sandra. >> sandra: yes, probably a simple observation to make on the ground there. meanwhile, a million dollars for retirement is a retirement goal for many, but in this economy, how far does it really get you? a question many are asking. let's ask our panel, robert wolf, a former obama economic adviser and fox news contributor and dan greenhaus, thanks to both o have to some time in the future, and used to

be million dollars in your 401(k) and retirement plan is a good goal. but how far does that get you these days? >> not too far, unfortunately. a million dollars was everyone's aspiration. two things, one, the idea of retiring at 65 does not exist anymore, and the idea of when you have a million dollars at 65 that it's good for ten years doesn't sound like oh, my god, that's going to be what helps me where i need to go. and i think partly, one, everything is too damn expensive, from home ownership to healthcare, but also you are taking care of your kids, you know, longer and longer, you know, even healthcare, age 26 it went to at one point. so it just seems that everything creeps up around you. >> sandra: pop the map up, dan, thoughts on this, how far does a million dollars go where you live. some would last the longest in mississippi and shortest in hawaii, don't retire to hawaii.

further in the american and southern states according to the analysis. i mentioned hawaii, dan, look at the annual costs in hawaii. this is unbelievable, the shortest time your million dollars will last than in any other state. it estimates retirees would need to spend huge, nearly $100,000 a year on just living expenses. that's going to chip away at a million bucks pretty fast. >> i thought you were going to go a million dollars a year on mai tais, also very expensive. the story reinforces for the viewers at home how important to invest as soon as possible and as much as possible. and i understand as i say it for a lot of people, it's not really possible. they might need all the money to support an aging elder or a child they had at a young age. >> sandra: but we have a record number of people taking on credit card debt, that's not happening right now. >> there is a lot of credit card

debt but the specifics of the modern moment aside, look at the s & p 500, over five years, it goes up over time. this hearkens back to i date myself to the george bush argument about investing social security funds in the stock market. it's up 13% annualized rate, over ten years, 10%, and 20 years, 8% annualized rate. a rate of return you are unlikely to get in other investment products, and whether the million dollars is yes, not what it once was but more than it would by if you didn't invest as soon as possible. >> sandra: karine jean-pierre about to take to the microphone at the white house the first press beefing of the new year, and she said americans need to give bidenomics more time, making her case for patience

with the president's policies. >> he wants to make sure that the middle class and building the economy bottom up and that we do not -- that we continue to build the middle class, that's what's really important and do not leave anybody behind. we get it's going to take a little bit of time for folks to feel what the bidenomics is able to do. it's not something i'm saying, it's something economists have said, right, it takes a little bit of time. >> sandra: good thing i have some economists on set. and karine jean-pierre said this president has done more in three years than any other president has done in two. is it our problem we are not patient enough with this economy? >> i think it's tough out there but i do think the economy is strong and you know, everyone was calling for recession, it did not happen. wages, every month this year has outperformed inflation but prices are still high and people still have the pain from years in the past and it's going to take time and they have to tell their story better than they are today. >> sandra: going back to the retirement conversation and what

the dow historically does, and that is goes up, but big questions what's going to happen in the new year. calls for recession is still out there. questions over what's going to happen with the federal reserve latest policy moves, but if you can pop the dow up on the screen, are you concerned, dan, that with all this talk that the federal reserve has put out there that we are going to see a few rate cuts in this presidential election year that perhaps the market has run up too far too fast? >> we are probably going to see some rate cuts this year and average americans will feel that in less of a charge on their credit card balances, auto loans will become a little more friendly, if you want to buy a house, mortgage rates presumably will continue to fall. but getting back to my earlier point about the stock market going up over time, even if there is trouble this year or next year, or even both years, if you are 40 years old and you are saving for your daughter's wedding or for retirement or for college or just for the latest

mortgage payment, over long periods of time, whether it's 3, 5, 7 or 10 years, whatever it might be, the stock market generally goes up and i think that's an important thing for people to keep in mind. this is a lot of fear mongering, but the end of the day, if the stock market is not higher over let's say ten years from now, something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. >> sandra: in new york, the nest egg, a million bucks, 14 years and a month. in california, 13 years and nine months. >> not where we live, sandra, not where we live. >> sandra: it's a tough economic environment. >> i just want to tell you, i'm on the other side of the fed here. i think that inflation has a longer tail and we may see a rate hike. >> i just want to say i don't think most americans need more time. they go to the supermarket every day, every week, they know what's going up. >> sandra: i just got you guys going. john. >> john: iranian state media reporting more than 200 people killed in explosions in a

ceremony honoring soleimani who was killed by a u.s. drone strike four years ago. will the fallout put american troops in even greater risk than they are now? morgan ortagus is in tel aviv after meeting with israeli leaders. we'll check in with her about all of that, coming up next. if you struggle with cpap... you should check out inspire. no mask. no hose. just sleep. inspire. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. yay - woo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. (♪)

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no living being should ever eat processed food for every single meal of their life. it's amazing to me how many people write in about their dogs changing for the better. the farmer's dog is just our way to help people take care of them. ♪ >> sandra: fox news alert, reports out of the middle east now say more than 200 people have been killed in those explosions at the tomb of general soleimani, thousands had gathered there for a ceremony commemorating his death in a u.s. airstrike exactly four years ago. some fear the anniversary is emboldening iran with american forces in the middle east coming

under attack at least 118 times now since october. morgan ortagus will join us on the threat of a wider war in the middle east. but first, straight to national security correspondent jennifer griffin, live at the pentagon. hi, jennifer. >> as you mentioned, today marks the fourth anniversary of the killing of general soleimani and the head of iraq's, or iran's proxy, in a drone strike at the baghdad airport. that's why thousands of iranian mourners were making their way to the father of the militias oversaw for decades arming of groups like hezbollah, houthis. u.s. officials who i've spoken to say they have no indication israel was involved. there were two blasts, the first bomb was hidden in a suitcase

about 700 yards from soloeimanis tomb, and additional 200 were injured by the pair of bombings, the largest terror attack on iranian soil since the revolution in 1979. iran's proxies had vowed to mark the anniversary of soleimani's assassination with more attacks on u.s. forces in the middle east. they have launched five attacks on iraq and syria, since the new year, the total 118 attacks since october 17th. tuesday night a container ship reported three explosions to its port side believed to be houthi missiles that were aiming for the ship shot down by coalition forces. u.s. warships remain on high alert to protect commercial vessels in the red sea, despite these efforts, sandra, giant shipping companies are diverting around the cape of good hope in

south africa. the u.s. and 12 other allies have issued a statement moments ago saying the houthis would wear the consequences should they continue to threaten ships in the red sea. >> jennifer, thank you. >> john: bring in morgan ortagus, so you've been in tel aviv for the day, a chance to talk to a lot of people. what's the word in the middle east who might be behind this double bombing? >> it was not a huge topic of discussion today. i think the israelis and the americans are sort of saying hey, nothing to see here, we had nothing to do with it. and certainly is not a hallmark of something that israel would do, especially when you look at what happened with the assassination of arouri from hamas. israel list -- israelis are

focussed in khan younis, but what they are worried about is the fact that at least 85,000 israelis who live in northern israel are not able to go home because of the constant exchange of rocket fire between israel and hezbollah and other elements in lebanon. almost on a daily basis. and remember, you have probably 250,000 israelis living in hotel rooms, funded for by the government because they can't go home. so that's another major focus of the israeli government. >> john: the chief of hezbollah nasrallah said about the assassination of arouri, it's a major dangerous crime which we cannot be silent. no indication that hezbollah is going to take retaliatory action. rear admiral daniel hagari of the idf says if they do, israel is ready. listen here. >> the idf is at a very high level of readiness in all arenas, in defense and offense.

we are in a high state of readiness for any scenario. >> john: talk to gallant, the defense minister, and the one that was the defense minister, do they think hezbollah is going to do anything or just rattling the sabers? >> always a major concern with hezbollah. it's not the hezbollah that israel fought in 2006, it's a much, much more capable militia group, one that unfortunately basically controls lebanon and has ruined it and turned it into a failed state but they do have ballistic missiles, they have the ability to inflict major damage on israel and on to their citizens. and so that's a part of the terror campaign, john, that iran has designrd, whether it's through hamas, whether it's through hezbollah, the houthis, through shia militias, but

especially the first three, what iran wants is the israelis to be terrified in their own homes and the same thing for the united states. and 20 attacks against u.s. ships and other international vessels. you've talked about this a lot on the show, it's because the ultimate goal of iran through their proxy groups is to get u.s. forces out of the region and they want to, these terrorists really believe they can kill all the jews and at they can displace israel. and so the israelis here, this is something americans don't understand, we are surrounded by big oceans and relatively friendly neighbors, israelis are in the tiny country, the only true democracy in the middle east and surrounded by incredibly well-funded, well-trained, well-equipped terrorist groups whose goal is to kill every one of them, and that's why israel says we need the space and the time to go after hamas.

and if i was nasrallah in beirut and i saw this very targeted, very precise strike to take out arouri, a neighborhood over where he lives, i would have given the same speech. >> john: he has to say something about it. we know it's been a long day. we'll let you go. >> sandra: massive waves swamping california's coast yet again. so, how big is this growing threat? we'll dig in next. people tell me they'd love to buy gold. but because it's gold - they think it must be complicated. it isn't. not with rosland capital. with rosland... the entire process from start to finish is built on one concept... one... keep... it... simple. rosland capital - a trusted leader in helping people acquire precious metals. gold bullion, lady liberty gold and silver proofs,

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>> sandra: karine jean-pierre right now taking a question about the house committee formally beginning impeachment inquiries. she's still talking now. let's listen here. >> this is something that americans don't want to see. they want us to deliver on things that matter to them. >> are you concerned the fact that they're taking the action and that this will make this more difficult? >> we think it's baseless and a waste of time. we think it's not the focus that they should have. that's not the focus that americans want them to have.

we have -- we were able to come together when you think about the budget, when you think about where we're headed on the 19th to come with a bipartisan agreement to keep the government open. that was done in a bipartisan way. 2/3s of the house republicans voted for that. they agreed on it. they agreed on it. yet they want to focus on something that is not -- is not going to keep the government open. that's for sure. >> last night the president said that he needed more money to protect the u.s. or give me the money. >> does he think it's a lack of money or funding that has led to the current situation at the border? >> it's certainly -- there's a reason we step back for a second. if you look at the national security supplemental that the president put forward, he put border security in there. he believes in order to get the work done, we need more resources. dhs needs more resources. border patrol needs more resources. we need more judges.

we need more resources to get this done. we need the technology at the border to deal with what's going on with migrants at the border. last may the speaker of the republicans in the house, they voted to get rid of 2,000 border patrol agents. that's their focus. so of course, that's not helpful. so we need to resources to do the work. they keep getting in the way. house republicans get in the way. >> sandra: this is the message the white house is putting out there, john. they are flipping the script now with this border crisis saying it's the fault of the republicans that aren't approving of this funding. the white house says they have asked for it. they say it would help solve the border crisis. we're hearing more of that messaging from karine jean-pierre. >> john: the funding they're looking for would not stop people from coming across the border. from experts we talked to, more people are coming across.

when you take a look at the december 2020 numbers, they were 1/4 of where they are now. congress wasn't giving them money back then, no more than now and yet the problem has increased by that much in just the last little while. >> sandra: we'll keep tracking the white house and any news from there. >> john: we will take a quick break. we'll be right back on the other side. don't go anywhere.

>> john: a fox news alert. back to the border. mike johnson and members of the delegation are getting a brief from texas officials about the situation in eagle pass. the month of december, 302,000 illegals crossed that southern border. a new record. >> sandra: incredible what's going on there. we'll follow this republican delegation. thanks for joining us. >> sandra: i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts. "the story" starts right now. >> martha: thanks, guys. good afternoon, everybody. happy new year.