we'll talk about the political implications of that all ahead. fisthirst, though, our pane. selma irs is here with us. will cain is back, columnist with "the blaze" and assistant professor of political silence -- silence. >> science. >> oops. >> my bad. political science at columbia university. and andy is the managing editor of "fortune" magazine. so nice to have you and great to have you today as we crunch some numbers. the chances of finding survivors we now know on this cruise ship is dwindling. the rescue operations have been put on hold. the ship is apparently teetering on the seafloor. and the death toll is standing at 11. there are two dozen people still missing. that number includes an american couple from minnesota. today a prayer vigil will be held with that couple. the captain is under house arrest. prosecutors are going to appeal that decision that let the captain out of jail. plus, very more tapes between the captain and port authority

that are emerging and remember how stunned we were just reading the transcripts yesterday of the audiotapes i think are even worse. it appears to show the captain safe in his life boat while ignoring the orderis to return back to his sanking ship. listen. for our non-italian speaking viewers like myself who are having a hard time. pop that back on the screen. this is basically what we were telling you in the transcript yesterday where he was saying, i understand, listen, because you can hear schettino's voice panicking. i understand there are people coming down the ladder.

you must take that ladder the opposite direction. get on board the ship. tell me how many people are on board and how many in each category. remember, they want them by women and children and disabled so they can figure out how to do the rescue operation without leadership on board they can't do that. absolutely amazing to hear what we were talking about in those transcripts yesterday. let's get right to dan rivers because he's in italy and he can update us on what the latest is in this story. good morning to you, dan. >> reporter: good morning to you. rescue operations were suspended for a short time. this morning over behind me. the boats background the ship. again, let me step out of the way, you can have a look at what we've got here. they've started to put boons just around this little beach that we're standing in front of. i think in anticipation of any fuel spills the ship. we've been blessed with really

calm clear weather a bit concerning, if you get a big storm then this is going to make things a whole lot worse. and that's why they've put those boons out. there are forecast for winds to pick up later in the week. in terms of the mission, the number of bodies recovered and number are missinging 11 confirmed dead, 23 still missing. we've just been talking to a brother of one of the missing crew members. it's really difficult for these people to come here, seeing this wreck behind them, and really they're totally helpless. they can't do anything but watch and wait and just pray that they get some good news. they have now brought in a big crane to this island which they may start to deploy today and we're told that we're going to use explosives again today and try to open up more of the ship to getting a cess so the divers can get in under water. but it's a really long, complicated, laborious job they've got here. >> it looks horrific for the

family member just sitting there and waiting to hear any word as every minute clicksab by. let's get right to jim staples, he's a captain, been a captain for 20 years, master mariner in the u.s. merchant marine. we appreciate you've been joining us all week with your expertise. you heard me read a little bit of the debate going back and forth between the port authority and captain schettino. at the end of the debate it ends like this. the port authority says to captain schettino, get on board, damn it, like they have to convince him that the role of the captain is to go back to the ship. as someone who has been a captain for more than 20 years, what's your reaction to that debate? >> well, exactly. the captain should have stayed with that vessel until everybody was known to be off or until the rescue operation started and there was no more that he could do. he should never have left that vessel. to get back on would have been a physical difficulty but it could have been done. he's being paid to take charge of that vessel.

that's his responsibility. he should have stayed. >> i have found it so surprising to hear that and hear the audio of the debate going back and forth. >> yesterday we were saying, isn't the rule the captain goes down with the ship. and now today we're also seeing that women and children first issue. and he ignored both of these tenets of what we know as the law of the seas or what at least is proper. >> the hallmark of a bad movie is that the bad guy is i impossibly weak, impossibly cowardly. you can put him in the seats of ree vial. life is not that complicated. here we have a character who seemingly is all of those things. he seems to be that cowardly, that weak. it makes me wonder are we missing something. are we being so judgmental. >> you're looking for the exmachine nation. it can't just be that the captain of a cruise ship with thousands of people has somehow decided just not to go. let me ask calm tan jim something. they talked about the first

officers has also been arrested. what are the rules for the officers? because when we talk to the people trying to get off the ship they will talk about the wait staff helping him, talking about some of the people who worked in the lower levels of the cruise ship helping them. no one is talking about the officers. >> the first officer is second in command. he's under the captain. we need to find out at what point he left the vessel also. he may have left at the same time. he may have been in the same boat. i don't know. but if he had stayed, then he would have been in command of that vessel once that captain abandoned that ship. and one of the reasons the captain stays is not only to preserve the lives and get the lives off safely but it also has to do with salvage rights of the vessel. >> what do you mean? >> stay there and negotiate -- salvages come alongside to make an fwreeagreement to the owners the rights of salvage. they will have a right to cargo, the ship, so the captain will stay there to sign an agreement that's agreed upon through what they called a lloyds agreement. that's one of the reasons, also,

that the captain stays on board. >> have you ever heard of anything like that, the debate you hear that you have the port authority ordering the guy to go back to his ship? have you ever seen that in 20 years of this business? >> no, i've never seen that in my 20 years. that's what's so appalling is that it seemed that the port authority had more common sense and knowledge than this captain did. >> terrifying. >> it's absurd that this captain left the vessel and left during that state and didn't even realize how many people were still on board. >> the captain has said in his defense, well, you know, i was actually heroic. i turned the ship into, you know, witness we had this accident, once we hit the rocks that he claims that were not on his map, he actually was doing this maneuver to turn the ship. trying to spin his reaction. >> that may be but, in fact, as it seems like he was pushing women and children out of the way to get in the life boat. one thing that i'm curious about going forward though does this remind you tht case of that american girl getting caught up

in the italian legal system. we're going to have american interest going up against the italian legal system going forward. we've already heard the captain was under house arrest, now released, now back under -- >> wonderful tease for later this morning when we talk to a maritime legal expert because it's not only the case is in italy, it's also maritime law which makes it much more complicated. >> a friend of mine says that the captain should be under cabin arrest right now, back on the boat. but the big issue is what's going to happen to the cruise industry. hundreds of thousands of workers who work on these ships are going to be possibly out of work because americans and people all over the world are going to stop booking their cruises. >> wow, this is not -- i've been on a bunch of cruises. sometimes you cover them as stories and you get the sense that it's all -- it's all a system and all this big giant thing going down, protected, and there's a system. you muster, et cetera. and now you're like, wow, if the captain can leave and it's like every man or woman or child for themselves, it's sort of.

>> terry: terrifying. when the captain says what he was trying to do in this maneuver, i know now you've studied this maneuver a lot, where he says he actually was trying to turn the -- bring the ship into port, is that -- from what you've seen, does that seem like it's a possibility? >> well, actually, cruise ships are probably one of the best maneuvering vessels in the world. they have what they call bow thrusts and stern thrusts. soma noouferring a cruise ship is not as difficult as maneuvers a single screw deeply laid denned freight vessel because you don't have the thrusters or the nozzles that these ships can turn. you can move these ships in almost any direction. not knowing the speed that he was going or that much about that actual characteristics of that vessel, i will say there was really nothing spectacular about what he did maneuvering that ship. >> that might be the understatement of the morning for us. captain jim, like we're like this, but he's been hanging out

with us this morning. other stories, of course, making news and christine has that for us. hey, christine. >> it's all clear at the white house this morning. after a smoke bomb was tossed over the fence. it happened during an occupy wall street protest where more than 1,000 people were demonstrating. president obama, the first lady were not home at the time. they were out celebrating the first lady's 48th birthday. no one was arrested. today is the house of representatives is expected to take a symbolic vote not to raise the debt ceiling. it's a chance for conservative lawmakers to show their opposition to president obama's request to raise the debt limit by another $1.2 trillion. coming up, soledad will talk to maryland democrat chris van hollen who served on a debt super committee and georgia republican tom price. newt gingrich believes he's the only candidate that can betemit romney. he has a message for gop rivals rick santorum and rick perry. his message, drop out.

>> so i'm respectful that rick has every right to run as long as he feels that's what he should do, but from the standpoint of the conservative movement, consolidating into a gingrich candidacy would, in fact, virtually guarantee victory on saturday and i would be delighted if either perry or santorum want to do that. they have to make that decision. >> speaking of that, it's close. sarah palin says if she lived in south carolina, she would vote for newt gingrich. last week palin's husband todd went rogue and threw his support behind gingrich. wikipedia and other online websites pulling the plug for 24 hours. they're protesting anti-piracy legislation that's working its way through congress. they say that legislation would censor the web. minding your business now, let's check the markets. futures for the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 all pointing to a higher open right now. today greece's government meets with private investors trying to work out how greece with keep

paying bills on time and make good on loans. also today, big wall street bank goldman sachs will report its profits from the last three months of 2011. soledad? >> christine, thank you for the update. let's turn to seattle now. you know, everyone knows in seattle they're used to rain but not snow. there's a storm in the pacific north west and that could mean more than a foot of snow and it would be if that happens more than they've seen in 70 years. thelma gutierrez is in seattle. that's a fun assignment for you. good morning. what are they expecting and how bad is it expected to be? >> reporter: soledad, if the snow does come down right now we're just seeing flurries, but later on this morning if the snow starts to fall hard, five to ten inches. doesn't sound like a lot to people who live out where you are. but out here, it's very treacherous because you're talking about steep hills, you're talking about lots of traffic in this downtown area. you can see right behind me, a

dusting of snow on the cars still though that snow has not yet started to fall in the way that it's expected to a little bit later today. soledad, the city officials have said that they feel that they are prepared for the storm. they have already started to ice the bridges, the roadways, overpasses. they've opened up emergency shelters for the elderly and the homeless. and they've also closed schools. in fact, several of the airlines have canceled dozens of flights in anticipation of the storm. but we'll see how it transpires. back to you. >> always wurch of those things, you know, everyone can predict a lot and then it doesn't happen. let's get to rob marciano who can update us on the likelihood of the flurries that thelma was describing turning into a massive snowstorm for them. >> they're going to see five to ten inches not out of the question. south of seattle. east of portland, actually, this is what they will have in store

later today. several inches of snow coating the roadways. several scenes in downtown portland and vancouver. here's the stream of moisture if it's not the snow it's going to be the rain and the wind. hurricane force wind warnings are in effect for the coast of oregon and southwest washington as well today. here's the radar beginning to stretch into seattle. they're just getting the northern fringe of this stuff. heavier stuff towards kelso. portland getting snow. the warm air is beginning to intrude here. change over from rain to snow there. five to ten inches of snow, basically between seattle and portland. this is stretching over nine states. winter weather warnings here with winds as well from the coastline through utah, the northern rockies. and even across the northeast, soledad. you know, some winds up there across upstate new york and northern new england. 70 and 80-mile-an-hour winds this morning. blustery day for the northeast. >> thank you for the update. still ahead this morning, new questions about mitt romney's taxes, or i should say the same questions about mitt

romney's taxes bus he giving a little more information. he talked about basically he's paying about 15%. and it's the about, i believe, that everyone is kind of jumping on. we're going to dig into this story a little bit more this morning. also, the u.s. says they want back that top-secret drone that crashed in iran in december. iran says we'll send you a drone all right, but not the one you want. we'll tell you what they're doing. also, occupy wall street puts itself on a spending freeze. they're trying to keep enough cash that they can bail out the protesters. we'll update you on what's happening there. [ jennifer garner ] there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite.

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♪ the waiting is the hardest part, get it? what did you pay in taxes? mitt romney is now saying that he will release his tax return

sometime around april. he said that in the debate and he didn't even say it that clearly. it was more maybe, um, um, maybe. he's trying to. but in trying to brush away the comment from the debate, he then said that his tax rate was something like 15%. closer to 15%. here's what he said. >> what's tektive rate i've been paying? it's probably closer to the 15% rate than anything because my last ten years i've -- my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income or earned annual income. i got a little bit of income from my book but i gave that all away. and then i get speakers fees from time to time but not very much. >> not even four lines and there's so much. >> stumbling around. >> stumbling. and so, what a hot mess. decoding 2012 with our cnn senior political rob brownstein.

so, he didn't let that slip, do you believe? do you believe there was a strategy behind that? i can't actually let slip what your effective tax rate is when this is an issue that's been dogging you for the entire campaign trail. >> i think he's moving toward disclosure but it's certainly going to be -- if he gets that far, a general election issue. it falls right into what we call the buffet rule, warren buffettsay hbuffett saying he we should not pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. he is one of the only candidates who would not cut capital gain tax cles is allowing him to pay lower rate on people like himself. all others would reduce or eliminate capital gain taxes. romney will only cut it for people earning $200,000 or less. but having said that, this certainly feeds into a larger narrative. you can imagine the president using -- and the democrats using extensively in the general

election. >> andy, i believe that often when it comes to issues that he should -- will has described romney as just very organized, strategic, premeditated. he doesn't flail a lot. so then whenever you see him flail, on the bain issue and on this tax issue, you have to wonder why. is it that we're seeing the tip of the iceberg and underneath is a giant iceberg and the reason he's saying around 15% is that there is some big issue underneath? otherwise, why not just do it. >> i think he's very defensive about it. >> clearly, yeah. >> i think he's defensive. i think it's complicated. he is obviously one of the 1%. he's a wealthy american. this is lightning rod issue right now and he's not comfortable. >> is that the issue that it is 15%? you were saying, okay, is there something else going on here? being 15%, as someone who is a small business owner and pays about 40%, is that the issue? >> this is precisely the issue because when people who work hard every day go to work, pay

25%, 35%, up to 40%, and romney says, as part of the 1%, i made around $374,000 last year. >> it was not very much, talking about his speaker fees alone and he is talking 15% which is the tax on investments. this is not his annual income. >> when you but that in per expect i of half americans make $30,000 a year or less and they pay a higher tax rate, that's auntsi iv offensive people. >> hang on one second, ron. you saw this. the george romney, it was unprecedented years ago when he released in 1967, he was the first who said i'll release 12 years of taxes. the white house happy to point out the irony in that. sorry to cut you off. >> i think clearly the argument will be that romney embodies the inequality that the democrats will argue their policies would lead toward. that will clearly be the case against him. to clarify, most people below the median income do not pay the federal income tax.

they pay payroll tax. >> because they don't make enough money. >> that has become an argument for both. this is the overall portrait that democrats want to argue is that the republicans are promoting an economic policy that diminished upward mobility, widened equality, benefited the top against the middle. it is -- there's a lot of -- argument -- >> lu beisten to newt gingrich saying this. >> yep. >> will cain just rolled his eyes. >> spokesman for the dnc, newt gingrich. >> okay, bittermann. we will roll it. go ahead. >> i think that we ought to rename our flat tax. we have a 15% flat tax. this will be the mitt romney flat tax that all americans can then can pay the rate romney pays. >> mitt romney rates. a little phrase like that could stick. >> you know, i will never begrudge ron brownstein's political analysis. i think he's exactly right. this is the argument used against mitt romney.

inequality argument. pitting this against what average hardworking americans pay and bringing in the buffett rule and paying less than your secretary, these are ways to emotionalize an argument that shouldn't be emotionalized. the only question in this entire debate over mitt romney's tax record should be do you want to incentivize investment? he pays 15% because most of his income comes from investment, not wages. we as society -- >> he's saying he would not be willing to invest money in, for example, bonds, because he would be taxed at 30%, it wouldn't be worth it. >> incentivize that. >> i've never heard anyone, any business -- go ahead. >> that will be the debate in the general election and people do vote based on emotion. that's going to mobilize him. >> you have a good investment. if you're mark zuckerberg and you want to create facebook your not thinking about how much you're paying in taxes. to suggest that you're not going to do something because of tax

rates generally speaking, i think is wrong. >> it doesn't affect behavior? >> no. >> we will -- >> i think it does. >> and being broken afts behavior as well. >> not generally, it doesn't. is mark zuckerberg not going to create facebook because of high tax rates? >> okay. no more coffee for our team. >> we do not create facebook because of high tax rates in california? >> good question. >> very high. >> however, we're going to talk about it on the other side of the break. tomorrow we're talking the show on the road. we're going to be live in south carolina. there, me in the same dress in the graphic, a "starting point" will be coming to you live from south carolina. still ahead in the middle of a flight, passengers mistakenly hear that they're going to crash. it happens twice. we'll tell you what happened and how terrifying that was for some passengers. also, "get real," return that top secret drone. they don't say no exactly. you know when i grow up,

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welcome back. time to get real. remember that u.s. drone that

crashed last month in iran? it was called the aq-170 sentinel. one of the most sophisticated drones in the american fleet. it was operating over eastern afghanistan when it veered and crashed into iran. last month president obama said, quote, we've asked for it back, which was met by a lot of chuckles. we're not sure about the response but the response given now is the one he was looking for. instead of the original iranian company is sending a tiny toy replica of a full squadron of 12 toy drones to the white house. 1/80 of the actual size of the plane costs $4, mockingly. the company says he's trying to work out the president's favorite color. trying to get pr behind them. and they're going to paint those little toy drones before they sent them over. it seems to be something they should get real on. navy s.e.a.l.'s per expect i of the search and rescue operation in italy. the likelihood there could be any survivors still on that

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visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide to speak with your gastroenterologist. good morning. welcome back. it is 32 minutes past the hour. we're going to be vote to think debt ceiling vote happening in the house today. conservatives voting no on this. but a lot of it has been called

a charade because the decision was made before the year ended. we're going to talk to two members of congress about that issue, what's ahead on their agenda, and also the ridiculously low approval numbers for congress. just over 10%, which cannot be good news. all connected. also this morning, going to talk about obesity numbers just released. and again, talking about something that is not looking good for this nation. they are bad numbers for us. first, though, other stories making headlines. christine, good morning again. >> good morning. senior obama administration official says a recent visit by iran's elite military commander is the strongest sign yet that tehran is supplying weapons to syrian security forces. u.s. officials have long believed that iran is helping to drive the deadly crack down on dissent in syria. a community in maine holding a candlelight vigil for little ayla reynolds one month after the toddler vanished from her

home. police are conducting a criminal investigation into her disappearance but currently have no new information. the co-founder of yahoo! is calling it quits. jerry yang resigning from all positions with that company. the beginning of end for yang started in 2009 when he snubbed a buyout offer from microsoft. with donations slowing down and drying up, the occupy wall street movement is tightening its belt. occupy leaders have imposed a partial spending freeze looking to eliminate all non-essential spending. they say they want to hold on to enough money to bail out protesters when arrested. share ways apologizing to passenger on a trans atlantic flight from miami to london after mistakenly playing a message that says the plane was making an emergency water landing, twice. the automated announcement triggered panic among passengers in the cabin. all right. u.s. stock futures trading higher right now. futures of the dow, nasdaq, s&p

500 all pointing to a higher open. today, goldman sachs reports the profit for the last three months of last year. and the world bank is now out with a new report warning about global growth slowing down over the next couple of years. that news weighing on the markets overseas a bit this morning. all right, let's get a quick check of the weather. how it might affect your travel day. meteorologist rob marciano is with us. >> there's a couple of storms book ending the country a are going to create problems for us travel goes. the first one out east with the cold front that brought severe weather across parts of the midwest ytd. that's pushing down south and east. rainfall across parts of florida and southeast georgia. there's the snow from seattle down to portland. about to change over to rain in portland but behind that are serious winds. pretty intense storm system rolling in through here. we could see some record-setting snow totals between five and ten inch ees potentially between seattle and portland. that does not include the winds. we could see hurricane strength

winds across the oregon coastline. we've already seen hurricane strength gusts across up state new york and northern new engla england. winds are going to slow down travel across the roadways and across the airports. boston, philadelphia, d.c., there's your snowfall in seattle with wind to boot. christine, back up to you. >> soledad? >> thank you. rescue crews say they're doing all they can do find the two dozen missing passengers on board the doomed cruise ship. right now the search has been put on hold. it was suspended a few hours ago because the ship is slipping and moving. one rescue worker had to be treated because that worker started feeling sick not only because of the slipping and the moving but the stressful conditions trying to rescue people off of that ship. and the thing starts to sink lower and lower. earlier in the last hour we talked to joe ryan, passenger on board that cruise ship. he talked about as many of these passengers have done, talked about the absolute chaos in trying to just get off the ship.

listen. >> we were completely full and they had maxed out our boat. i was able to kind of view the smallest little area waiting to see other people and people's faces were panicked and trying to jump in. they just started hitting people with anything they could, the ores, the poles, trying to push people back. kept saying it's it's full, it's full, it's full. just kept ush ping but people kept persisting. that's really when the screaming started in the boat and everyone was screaming and that's when they said, all right, we need to go, we need to get this down. it was heartbreaking to see people still not being able to find a way out but then again, we were helpless just sitting in the boat knowing that our boat was already full. >> sounds horrific. also this morning, the captain of that ship was out of jail in the last hour. prosecutors are going to peel the judge's decision that meant the captain could be released from jail. now under house arrest. we're joined this morning by former navy zeal -- s.e.a.l.

author of "the heart and the fist, the making of a navy s.e.a.l.." let me ask you a question about this rescue effort that we're hearing about now has been put on hold. at this point, is it even slightly realistic to think there could be survivor thons ship? >> at this point, soledad, it's really probably a recovery operation rather than a rescue operation. miracles are always possible but at this point that's what it would take for this to be a survivor. >> when we're show ended yesterday we got word that there were five bodies recovered. apparently they were in their life jackets and they were sort of in this area of an exit. they were trying to get out. is it -- would that be people who drowned, would that be people who just the hypothermia on that ship at that point would have gotten them? we don't know a lot of details obviously, but what could it be? i know you've been in rescues like this. >> it certainly could have been that those individuals drowned, but also, soledad, what's important to understand is that in water temperature like that,

people get cold very quickly. water makes people colder than air at a rate 32 times. they get colder faster. once your body temperature drops to about 86 degrees, people go unconscious and they pass out. >> we heard -- >> yes? >> sorry. let me ask you a question about the rescuers because we're now hearing at least one rescuer said it was so stressful having to try -- showing pictures yesterday of blowing the holes into the hull so they could try to get in to get to some of the those sites to rescue people. a rescuer removed from the ship because it was so stressful with the slipping and the conditions. describe what that would be like for those rescuers at this point. >> it's an incredibly difficult and dangerous rescue situation. you have to keep in mind that the minute that they head into that hull, there is no natural light, there's no electricity. it's pitch-black. you also have debris from the ship. every mattress, every piece of

turn chush, every personal item is now floating in that ship. you're moving through a ship that was 1,000 feet long, 100 feet wide, with multiple levels, thousands of doors. and as the rescuers are moving through, they have to check every single one of those compartments as they search for bodies on the ship. >> that sounds just like a horrific situation. do we know who would be heading this rescue work? is it the italians? i know first that the coast guard -- >> italians have what's equivalent to our search and rescue. i imagine it would be the head of that agency, would be instructing all this. as well as the military forces. >> eric, i'm sorry? >> that's exactly right. it will be the head of the italian coast guard will be responsible for the ship. the minute that a captain declares abandoned ship, the coast guard immediately takes control of the situation. if you remember from that transcript last night, the coast guard was saying, you've declared abandoned ship.

i am now in control. and the head of the italian coast guard will be responsible. >> what did you make of the transcript and the audio released afterwards, eric? >> el witwell, obviously for an you can hear that the captain abandoned his duty. it's the duty of the captain to stay on that ship until every person gets off. it's r and it's important to understand why. when you make an emergency call, what the captain has to do is to let the coast guard immediately know three things. one, what's the position of the ship. two, what is the problem. three, what is the condition of the people who are on the ship. when the captain abandoned the ship, he effectively abandoned his duty to help with the rescue operation. keep in mind, the captain and his crew know that ship better than anyone. and the rescue workers who are coming out are unfamiliar with the ship. the captain should have stayed on board to provide hands-on information so that those rescuers could rescue as many people as possible. >> it is ironic and horrific the

rescuers are feeling their way in the dark through all the mattresses and all those things that eric described as they try to figure out where bodies could be and the captain has been released back home, i think, with his mom because he's on house arrest this morning. so, eric, we thank you for your insight. appreciate that. ahead on "starting point" we're going to talk about the debt sealing vote in the house today. the president wants to raise the debt ceiling $1.2 trillion. but we kind of know the outcome even before the first vote is counted. you're watching "starting point." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year.

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♪ it's so clearly not my play list, i'll tell you that. good morning. welcome back, everybody. the house wants more. expected to vote on raising the debt ceiling today. the president wants to raise the debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion. conservatives are prepared to vote it down and send a message to the president. in washington, d.c. we're talking to chris van hollen from maryland and tom price of georgia.

chairman of the house gop policy committee. nice to have you gentlemen. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> good morning. >> when you look at some of releases that the club for growth, conservative group, has been sending to my e-mail a lot, one of the things they've been blasting in this vote is the self congratulatory press release, their words, from the gop. tom price, what do you think that a lot of this seems to be a chara charade, that this decision has been made already, this is not a real vote? >> sure, this is compliant with the law that was passed back in august, is to have a vote up or down, vote of disapproval on whether or not the president ought to be able to increase the debt limit by $1.2 trillion. it's following the law already passed. these aren't self congratulatory press release. it's drawing attention to the remarkable spending out of control here in washington. this administration has increased the debt by $4.6 trillion in its three years. the three highest deficits in

the history of this country. so we know that we've got to get spending under control. we just need a willing partner on the other side of the aisle in both the democrats and house as well as the democrats in the senate who have failed to pass a budget for nearly 1,000 days. >> when they talk about willing partner, this is what harry reid said on "meet the press," he said, we've had obstructionism on steroids. the american people would say the thing. >> sure. >> i would hope they understand that everything doesn't have to be a fight. legislation is the art of working together, building consensus, compromise, and hope the tea party doesn't have influence in this next year that they had in previous years. chris van hollen, do you think that harry reid is right and what do you do about it? >> i do think harry reid is right. this is a perfect illustration of what people don't like about congress. if we don't raise the debt ceiling, meaning if we don't allow the united states to pay for the debts that's already incurred you would wreck the economy, you would spend it into a tailspin. you would destroy a lot of jobs, which is why responsible people aren't going to allow this to

happen. and what people really hate about the congress is that people want to have it both ways. so here you have a republican colleagues who last year voted for a budget that would add $8 trillion to the debt, that would require us to lift the debt ceiling. and now they want to pretend that they're not doing that by having this sort of symbolic vote. >> let me ask a question to both you gentlemen. do you think that the american voter is angry. or is the american voter, let's pop up the approval numbers, shall we, because they're really, really, really bad. which is 11% a profit of the job that the two of you are doing. the snum benumbers are really b both sides of the aisle. is it ultimately wanting to have it both ways or is it we sent you to washington, d.c. to work on this and it's not getting done and we're unhappy? is that the message? >> soledad, i think the american people are sick and tired of washington not addressing the

fundamental challenges. and one of the huge fundamental challenges is the amount of spending. look, senator reid has nearly 30 pieces of legislation that the republican house and in oftentimes a bipartisan way has passed and sent over to create jobs and to decrease spending. our budget that chris mentioned decreases the deficit over the ten-year window by about $6 trillion. it gets us on a path to balance and paying off the debt. again, what we need are willing partners, folks interested in solving these challenges as opposed to the kind of sound bite legislation and the kind of sound bites that my friend on the other side of the aisle insists on continuing. >> with all due respect, sir, everybody in washington speaks in sound bites. all due respect to both of you. 30 seconds left. what else is on the agenda, because we can go back and forth on the debt. >> unfortunately we don't have much else on the agenda. house republicans are bringing us in for just half day today. there's only one full working day in january.

i happen to be one of the conferees on the legislation to make sure we extend the payroll tax cut and make sure we provid compensation to people who are are out of work through no fault of their own. i hope our republican colleagues will meet soon as members of the conference committee because there is a lot to do. but just to close on this issue that the -- the debt ceiling. i think every american knows it will be totally irresponsible for them not to pay their mortgage. what house republicans are going to do today is vote for the united states not to pay its debts for the first time in our history. it would make us worse than greece in terms of where we are in terms of the deficit. >> what our plan is to do is to bring focus to the amount of spending. as a fellow conferee, we look forward to meeting and making certain that we extend the payroll tax holiday, we make sure unemployment benefits are provided and that we provide sustainable growth rate for physicians to care for seniors. we're looking for positive and real solutions in washington.

>> i can tell this back and forth that we're back to that confrontational because it makes everybody wonder watching the show, so how come you all can't work together when it's actually in washington, d.c.? yeah, we're out of time. i have to stop there. i know we're going to continue to have these conversations. also ahead this morning, paula dean. she says she's got diabetes and of course it brings into question that fattening and delicious food that she has been making for decades. we'll talk about that. plus the apocalypse is for rent. it's a strange one. greece is now giving out its ancient sites to the highest bidder. we ask ourselves, if we could do anything, what would we really do? what are the things that we lack in our city? what are the things we would like to do but that we can't and then make them happen. that's exactly what our position should be about is to try to make the world a little bit more

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let's talk about paula deen. she's been diagnosed with type ii diabetes. that is the kind that is acquired and also is connected and correlated to obesity. there are some people who think maybe she brought it on herself because when you look at her recipes, they're wonderful. they've got sugar and butter and they've got cream and they are amazing. >> and also just so many bread products and bread is sugar. so that translates also to being able to acquire type ii diabetes. >> let's talk to ee llizabeth cohen. first and foremost, she's actually had type ii diabetes for a while. why did it take so long before she made it public. >> that depends who you ask, soledad. she's had it for three years. she said it took me three years to learn about the disease and decide exactly what i should tell my viewers. other people say, well, you waited until you got a big pharmaceutical company to pay

you to talk about diabetes. she's now a paid spokeswoman for novo, nordis. depends who you ask. >> she's known for making these really wonderful food. i've had some of her food. it's incredible. it's incredible because it's laced with everything that you shouldn't eat in big portions. is she going to change what she's cooking. >> it sounds like she's not going change but her son is going to start this franchise where he redoes his mother's recipes to make them healthier for you. i actually have two in front of me. i'm going to be very curious to see if he redoes these. >> what are they. >> this one over here is the lady's brunchburg ger. right over here, what that is is that is a ham burger and fried egg. this is bacon. instead of a bun it's on two glazed donuts.

this is not my recipe. that is 1,000 calories right there. >> i'm surprised it's that low. >> me too. >> go on. >> if that's not enough for you. >> what's the other one. >> soledad, if that wasn't enough calories for you, we have the twinkie pie. that's twinkies, pineapple, vanilla instant pudding, cool whip, nuts, cherries for 750 calories a slice. so these are two paula deen recipes. >> that's the kind of food if you gave it to a kid they'd be spiraling around the house. >> that's gross. >> we'll get one for you. >> obviously diabetes, especially the kind that she has, type two that you acquire, is correlated to obesity. what do we know about sort of the nation and obesity? there are new numbers out. >> actually, let me talk a little bit about what she says about this. she says that her type ii diabetes has nothing to do with her diet. she's always eaten in moderation, whatever that means. she says that the food has nothing to do with it and i

didn't get to interview her. she wouldn't answer my questions, but i would like to ask her, are you overweight? if you're overweight, that can lead to type ii diabetes. she says food has nothing to do with it. doctors, i'm sure, would beg to differ. in that vein, let's take a look at these new centers for disease control numbers telling us how fat we are. what the new numbers say is that in america 36% of men are obese. not just overweight, obese. 36% of men are obese and 39% of women are obese. the numbers for women, that's been a pretty stable number for men. that is up about 4% points. >> what is the definition of obese? >>. >> it's a bmi number. it's a bmi over a certain level. it depends on your height and whatnot. >> wow, that is a shocking number, 40%. it continues to climb. the more people know about it in a way, we've known about the obesity issue for a decade. >> yesterday you were talking about fast food delivery.

is this any surprise to all of us? >> bring mcdonald's and burger king to ourn home. >> we're moving on now to commercial break. cruise ship rescue mission is now on hold because, of course, the slip is sliding and there are some concerns from the regs skewers. we're going to talk about what's the latest there. also, it looks as if the judge in the case has released the captain. 's now on home arrest. the prosecutor in the case says, no way, we want him back in jail. we'll talk about the reasons behind the release and if the prosecutor has any leg to stand on. a partial blackout. what are they protesting. stay with us, everybody. short break. i'm good about washing my face.

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welcome back, everybody. the death toll in this cruise ship crash is now 11. the captain is under house arrest. prosecutors say that's not good enough. they would like to see him back in jail. we'll hear from a husband and wife who survived. they're back in the united states. we appreciate you being with us. also, in the black. websites go partially dark. it's all a protest of these anti-piracy bills that are before congress. we'll talk about what's happening there. mitt romney says his tax rate was about 15%. he won't release his taurngs

yet. we'll talk about the implicates cases for his candidacy. we'll reveal what a stay-at-home mom is worth. i'm going to guess just under $5 million or more. million or more. "starting point" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com welcome backs, everybody. the ship is moving in the water. there are two dozen people who are considered to be missing and that number includes two americans. the death toll now stands at 11. the captain's been put under house arrest. prosecutors are appealing that decision. they would like the captain to go back to jail. we're hearing more of these tapes between the captain and the port authority emerging, their conversation in italian seems to show that the captain was safe in his life boat and ignoring orders to return to his sinking ship. listen. >> i understand. there is people who are coming down the stem line.

you must take that ladder in the opposite direction. get aboard the ship and tell me how many people are on board and what do they have, clear? you tell me if there are children, women, people with special needs. you tell me how many there are of each of this category. is that clear? look, you might have been safe in the sea but i will make sure you go through a rough time. i will make sure you go through a lot of trouble. get on board, dammit. >> it's interesting to hear the interpreter's voice where you can tell the italian, they're shouting at each other. there were 4200 people on the ship. >> when did you get back to the united states? >> yesterday morning, little after midnight. >> is it terrible to look at those pictures? what does it feel like to watch that site. >> it's overwhelming. while it was all happening we were just so focused on getting off the ship, staying together that we really didn't have a full comprehension of the

severity of the issue. it wasn't until the next morning when we came down back to the dock that we saw that the ship had finally capsized to its present position and then it was like, oh, my god. it really was serious. you just didn't think it could happen. >> it was described for us as for people who were having dinner, like you were, that suddenly there was a jolt and immediately you could tell something was wrong. >> the ship started to list. >> then what did you do? >> the first thing we did was we knew where the life boats wrmpt they were on the deck directly above us so we wanted to make our way to the gangway and up to the boats and get life jackets obviously. as we were starting to go towards the gangway the lights went out and everybody -- everyone was screaming. >> what did you do? how did you stay with each other? your daughter who's 18 stayed together. >> we made a chain.

>> was it pitch black. >> no one could have broken that chain, i guarantee you that. >> how did you get life jackets because it sounds like descriptions there was frantic, chaotic rush for the life jackets. >> the problem was everyone coming out of the dining room, which was half of the ship, they didn't have life jackets because they were back in the state rooms. when we got up on deck i checked the first locker i could find and there were no life jackets left. checked a couple of more lockers and there weren't any. finally about the fourth one there were three life jackets. i dove into the locker. >> was the ship at this point turning over. >> yeah. >> how did you hold on? >> there were railings along the deck there so we were just holding on to the railing to keep from sliding towards the ocean. >> did you think you were going to die. >> not at that point. we didn't think it was as serious at that point until it really started listing.

we were having trouble at the life boat station because there was no guidance. >> what was going on at the life boat station? >> a lot of panicky people. >> screaming? >> screaming. >> did the crew behave spo responsib responsibly. >> there was no crew. >> a lot of us are wondering was there any kind of organization for you? was there anyone leading? besides each other. >> there was one person that told us which way to go. >> who was that. >> it was a show girl in the restaurant. she showed us which way to get out the quickest. >> so you were really just depending on each other. >> really. >> you were able to fight your way into a life boat. >> pretty much. the crowd was pushing and shoving so much that the way the flow of the people went, i ended up first in the boat and zblsh the first of us. >> the first of us. then brian and alana was starting to get separated. >> your daughter? >> yes. some man was trying to elbow her out of the way, and -- >> what did you do. >> at that point i was in the

boat, which brought my eye level to the feet of the passengers on the boat. i saw her feet. i grabbed her ankles and i pulled her in the boat. >> how is she doing. >> she was the last one on the boat. >> she's pretty upset. she was going to come with us but really decided she didn't want to go through this again. >> and did you end up in the life boat in the water in the darkness? >> yes. >> what was that like? how did you get to the land and what happened? >> it was relatively short distance, but most frightening part was when the life boat was trying to disengage from the ship, it was obvious that this life boat hadn't been released in a long time because when they finally pulled the pins, paint is flying and -- i mean, they just kept painting over it and over it and over it. the crew never practiced releasing the life boats. >> it sounds like you were thinking that in your mind. when was the last time this life boat was used. that kind of scares you.

>> it was fluttering down. >> it doesn't sound like it was used in drills very often. >> we've been on other cruises and we've seen crews do their own life boat drills where they release the life boat. >> test it. >> drive them in. >> so when you hear that the captain appears to have abandoned ship, was in an early life boat, earlier than the one you were on, and that he's having this fight back and forth with the port authority. >> we were angry. >> are you angry. >> it's unbelievable that someone can take such a major responsibility of thousands of people's lives and just throw it to the wind. just disregarded. >> he's disgraced his profession and his country and hopefully the courts will take care of it. >> the court has let him out on home arrest even though the prosecutor, i think, is going to later today sort of fight to get him back in jail. i guess the argument is that he's not a flight risk, although

when i read these transcripts, i think this is the definition of a flight risk. no joke. i'm not being funny. >> she satisfies not being funny. soledad, that's exactly what part of the cnn wire addresses that issue, that he's not a flight risk, and i think like in the states when they say flight risk, they're saying he's not going to go to another country. i would be interested to hear if the judge did take his passport and another part of the conditions, the wire says, there's no risk of committing the crime again, which is also kind of laughable. the judge says in her ruling that schettino expressed intent to change life and no longer go on board ships. is that insulting? >> that's bogus. you know, just to be blunt about it, that's ridiculous. the decisions that this manmade were a lack of decisions, they've cost at least 11 people their lives. you can't take that lightly.

and just to put him under house arrest is like giving him a slap on the hands. >> what do you want? is there anything -- are you thinking lawsuit? are you thinking, i'll never cruise again? are you thinking i want not just the captain to pay but i want carnival cruises to pay? >> we're waiting to hear from costa first. there's always been a lack of communication. that's a problem. we're not jumping to any conclusions on how they're going to respond. we only lost personal property. >> i have to imagine the trauma. >> they haven't reached out to you particularly? >> we haven't heard from them. >> actually, there was a voicemail yesterday. >> that said what. >> that said they were checking to see if we got home. they would reimburse us for the full cost of the cruise. >> you think? >> gee, thanks. >> wow. >> and articles, but there were no details as to how much or what. we're waiting to see.

but one issue i would like to bring up, because we lost our passports, all our documentation, we had to go to the embassy to get new passports. we had no help. no support from the embassy whatsoever other than just getting the passports. the other nationals zblsh the american embassy? >> the american embassy. the other nationals had their ambassadors coming to the hotels to help their constituents, their people. i called the embassy and told them the situation. they said, well, come on down and get a new passport. i said, we're here at the hotel. we have no transportation. we have no money. they said, grab a cab. we have no money. >> it sounds like chaos. >> borrow it. from whom? we were on this boat for five hours. we don't know anybody. and it was just unbelievable. thank goodness the hotel supplied a shuttle and we got to go to the embassy. >> thank you for coming in to talk to us.

i know you have say lot to do. we appreciate we were one of your stops. other news to get to and christine has those head leans. >> hi there, soledad. all clear at the white house this morning after a smoke bomb was tossed over the fence. it happened during occupy protests where more than 1,000 people were demonstrating last night. president obama and the first lady, they weren't home at the time. they were out celebrating the first lady's 48th brirt dirthda. newt gingrich says he's the only candidate who can beat mitt romney. he has a message for gop rivalries, rick santorum and rick perry, that message, drop out. >> so i'm respectful that rick has every right to run as long as he feels that's what he should do, but from the standpoint of the conservative moment, consolidating into a gingrich candidacy would in fact virtually guarantee victory on saturday. i'd be delighted if either perry or santorum want to do that. they have to make that decision. the u.s. peace corps

withdrawing more than 150 of its volunteers from honduras because of that country's growing crime problem. the peace corps is now in the process of assessing the security situation in honduras which has the world's highest homicide rate. and maybe good for what's ailing debt strapped greece. some of the country's most cherished archaeological sites may soon be available for rent. greece's culture ministry says it plans to open up ancient sites to advertising and other ventures. minding your business this morning, futures for the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 all pointing higher. big wall street bank goldman sachs just announced it made $1 billion in the fourth quarter. it used, quote, encouraging signs of improved economic -- improved economy and the markets. soledad? >> thank you very much. appreciate it. people, don't block my shot here. wikipedia, one of the most popular sites on line. it's blacked out today. for 24 hours they're going dark. it's all in protest of this

ain't-piracy legislation before congress. they say the legislation would essentially sentences censor the open internet. time warner, cnn's parent company, supports the legislation. it has shut down already? earlier it was there. >> 14 minutes ago. >> i can help you. we have an actual clock. 14 minutes ago. we're back with our panel, of course. explain to everybody what what you do. >> about 35 million people visit every month to submit interesting links to sites all over the web that have interesting content and then discuss it and vote on all of it. it's sort of a democratic front page of the web. >> what's the position about this? you're against it clearly. >> yes, both sopa and hipaa are threats not just to the u.s. economy and not just all the jobs that this tech sector creates, if they had existed, steve hoffman and i could have never started reddit. it's frustrating to see legislation that was written by

lobbyists and not technologists. >> there are some people saying by going black it's a gimmick. come on morning shows, talk about it. reddit could be part of the conversation and google could be part of the conversation because it sounds to me like all sides think piracy is a bad thing. there's no one arguing piracy is a good thing. >> agreed. i just wish we had been called to the table when this legislation was written. if you look last year, $94 million was spent lobbying to get this bill -- to get these bills made. it's just so frustrating because we look at congress and we can't see them do anything that's important. they can't solve the problems of unemployment. they can't solve the problems of the deficit. >> reference the congressional figures we were showing you earlier about approval of 11%. >> precisely. yet as soon as a lobbyist shows up with $94 million, democrats and republicans line up to co-sponsor it. something is wrong. >> have media companies accused you of piracy at reddit? >> no. >> you're not part of the

problem according to the other side? >> what's curious about it is the legislation is so poorly and vaguely written, that we could be misconstrued as a search engine under these bills. >> that's a concern. what you're saying is now that they're taking the focus off, it's very hard to look at piracy if they're coming out of foreign countries? what the focus would be potentially on reddit, which would be responsible for monitoring that content, which could make you liable. >> it would not just be us t would be any of these u.s.-based sites. in a world where so much content is user generated, it's totally untenable for the next facebook, twitter. the two person startup in a cafe in new york. >> you mentioned a lobbying number, $94 million, to be clear, the other side is spending mlgs of dollars too. which is to say google, facebook. i think that's important to point out. >> i should report that number comes from the center for responsive politics. >> i'm not saying that's not true. >> the numbers are coming from the tech sector last year was 15 million. >> still a lot. >> google that.

i urge you to. >> final word to will cain. >> obviously this is an extremely complicated problem. most people at home don't understand what s so pa, stop on line piracy act. we have a legitimate problem. our boss creates something and an yoef shore company pirates it and gives it away for free. the solution is the debate. how do you stop this? the debate is do we make people like reddit take links off their site. >> everybody is against piracy. at the end of the day you should be able to move forward with a solution. nice to have you. thanks for being with us. still to come this morning on "starting point," america's envoy was heading into pakistan, they're saying stay away. mitt romney under fire again. rivalries and others would like to see his tax returns now. not in april. we'll talk about that when we come back after this break. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning

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♪ because i'm the tax man ♪ yeah, i'm the tax man that's an appropriate song this morning, isn't it. mitt romney under attacks for saying he pays around a 15% tax rate, close to it i think the words he used. back to our panel this morning and christine romans joins us.

she's been saying -- >> we woke up looking at irs tax data. >> we're fun girls. that's why. so a lot is not known. for example, we don't really know how much mitt romney made last year at this point. >> right. >> what he has said is that he pays close to 15%. everybody's gotten into a tizzy. one, that would be significantly lower than people who are in the highest tax bracket. this is a number bus because of his investments? >> right. your investments and dividends are taxed at 15%. that number has been started in the bush administration when we lowered it. you go back over years, we wanted to incentive advise investment. investment in all different kinds of things as a way to grow the economy. people who are super rich and super, super rich they tend to have more tax rates because more of their money is coming from investments. they're taxed less than work. >> so then it's not a big surprise that he's being taxed at 15%. people investing in bonds would be taxed that way. not specific to him.

anybody investing in bonds and getting their income out of that investment would be at the same rate. how much of a political issue. when you hear that number, people said blood in the water as we go forward toward november. >> from an emotional level, it's going to be effective. mitt romney pays less than his secretary. >> percentage less. >> right. the debate i want to have, andy and i started to have it in the last hour, should he be. the debate i want to have. should we insent advise investment. the debate can be does it work? does it insent at this advise investment. it shouldn't be why does he pay so low compared to his secretary. it's not that he cheated the system. this is how it is set up. >> it's more complicated than that. we haven't seen the tax forms. i don't know what percentage of his income is in some blind bain capital investment that's stached overseas. we don't know where his money is. >> okay.

my conspiracy theer lists across the table. there is an issue that has come up not only from the white house against mitt romney but also his own kpent tors in a bunch of the debates, it seems like he can't get a grip on the argument against it. >> he should take ownership. if you like the system, if you support lower tax rates for investment income, say it. say it loud, say it proud. be proud. >> only rich people support those tax rates. >> well, that's not completely true. >> right. >> but also if you support it, own it. that's my point. >> is the issue then, the reason he's not doing that is that ultimately, as christine is saying, no one knows? is it that there's a big iceberg. one of the reasons, if you look at how he responds, all these awkward moments are always around money. we have compiled a little real of this. can we play that? >> i know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple of times i wondered whether i was going to get a pink slip. >> rick, i'll tell you what,

10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet? >> i should also tell my story. i'm also unemployed. >> time will tell but i anticipate that most likely i'm going to get asked to do that around the april time period. i'll keep that open. >> it's funny, he's not going to get asked to do that around april. he has been asked. don't roll your eyes. that's a fact. >> why is he so bad at this? i'm going to tell you why. not only is he a businessman, is he a politician. i say he should embrace this argument, he knows, as everyone has said, that's bad politics. >> the moment is the occupy wall street moment. the moment is the rich aren't paying their fair share. that's the moment. >> you'll have stumbles? what was the word we used earlier? we were talking about earlier. >> striptease. >> little bit of information. >> that's a way to sexy up a very unsexy topic. >> let's talk about ripping the band aid off. you could rip the band aid off and get to the issue because i

think a lot of people who are in those high income rangers, they'll say we are investors. we are helping them grow. >> we have to take a break. i am being screamed at in my ear. coming up next on "starting point." we're going to talk about u.s. pakistan relationships. why they're taking a turn for the worst. pakistan has been told to stay away. there is a platform built for the purpose of driving innovation. one that's transforming how companies from every industry-- and of every size-- are doing business. a platform built for now. and for what's next. this...is the cisco intelligent network.

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welcome back, everybody. the relationship between america and pakistan is deteriorating. pakistan asking the u.s. special envoy to stay away. they claim if he does, in fact, visit, it could spark anti-american sent at thisment. reza is breaking the story. what's going on here? >> reporter: well, this is another sign, soledad, that u.s./pakistan relations are not well. the government essentially saying now is not a good time for a u.s. official to visit. ambassador mark grossman is the special envoy. 's been here many times. he was going to be in the region next week. he wanted to drop by and visit but the government here said, mr. grossman, please stay away until we finish reviewing our

u.s. policy and our partnership with watchishington. these are two countries that have butted heads for decades. they haven't gotten along. things really deteriorated last year when the u.s. raided the bin laden compound without informing pakistan beforehand. last november you had the nato airstrike that killed 24 pakistani soldiers. there's widespread anti-american semitism here. they want to cut ties or reduce ties with washington. the government here is taking a look at that, considering that, essentially telling u.s. officials no visits for now. stay away until our review has been completed. for their part u.s. officials are downplaying this. they say they understand. they'll be happy to try again once this review has been completed in islamabad. >> when they talk about reviewing policy and partnership, that almost sounds like a threat or maybe just is a threat. is there any sense that the relationship is salvageable or

is this the beginning of the end? >> reporter: there's certainly a lot of problems between islamabad and washington. there is no indication that these two countries are going to break their partnership because they see one another as vital partners. but there's two different narratives here. one is in washington and their position is we've given pakistan billions of dollars in aid. if you look at the money, the u.s. has given pakistan since 2002, roughly 20 billion in aid, 5 billion in security aid, another 8 billion in what's called coalition support, that's the u.s. reimbursing pakistan's expenses when they fight militants, another $5 billion in civilian aid and essentially they're saying they're not getting enough in return. pakistan's position is it doesn't matter how much washington gives us, they're the root cause of the problem, the root cause of the turmoil and violence. those two diverging narratives really illustrate why these two countries are repeatedly butting heads. >> thanks for the update.

appreciate that. ahead this morning on "starting point," iran tweaking the united states. the president of the united states a toy drone, they sent him that. >> unreal. >> the idea that, no, you're not going to get your actual drone back. also rick perry not exactly making any friends in turkey today. he says the country is run by terrorists and we've been hearing from the turkish foreign minister. we'll update you on that story straight ahead.

welcome back, everybody. headlines first this morning with christine romans with an update. >> good morning again, soledad. the house is expected to vote on raising the debt ceiling today. the outcome isn't in doubt. it doesn't matter quite frankly. this is a symbolic vote. conservatives want to use that symbolism. they are expected to defeat the measure. they say it's a chance to show their opposition to president obama's request to raise the debt limit by another $1.2 trillion. maryland democrat talked to soledad earlier. >> this is a perfect illustration of what people don't like about congress. if we don't raise the debt ceiling, meaning if we don't allow the united states to pay for the debts it's already incurred, you would wreck the economy. would you send it into a tailspin. you would destroy a lot of jobs, which is why responsible people aren't going to allow this to happen. all right.

sarah palin isn't giving her full endorsement to newt gingrich, but she says if she lived in south carolina, she'd vote for him in saturday's primary. palin says it's too early in the process to allow mitt romney to walk away with the nomination. an iranian company plans to send 12 tiny toy drones to the white house in a response to president obama's request to iran to return the u.s. drone that crashed there last month. these toys are one-eighth at thissette the size of the actual drone that crashed. the company says it's trying to determine president obama's favorite color so they can paint the drones before sending them over to the white house. funny. all right. by some accounts casey anthony is the most hated woman in america. you don't get any argument from a travel agent in florida when he learned that anthony might be living in his town, he offered her a one way ticket to anywhere in the world provided she never returns to florida. there's been speculation anthony is living in port saint lucy but her attorneys have not confirmed that. let's get a quick check on the

weather and how it might affect your travel. rob marciano joins us. >> good morning. a couple of storms. one in the norts east and one in the northwest. here's what it's doing in portland. several inches of snow on the ground. over 30,000 people without power this morning and the snow in some spots in oregon still coming down. just getting started in places like seattle and points to the north. here you go. portland, seattle, that's where the heaviest snow is falling. beginning to come down in the emerald city. they've seen several inches. this will pile up. between portland and seattle, five to ten inches. winter storm warnings exceed across nine states. we'll see 70 mile plus an hour winds not only in the coast line and inner mountain west. we've seen that across the northeast including quebec. we've seen tens of thousands of people without powers. winds gusting in northern new england and upstate new york. d.c. as well as denver.

there's your snow in seattle. showers eventually in san francisco. the mild air continues after the cold front that came through of 51 degrees in atlanta. for wintertime, that would be normal. for this winter that feels kind of chilly. >> rob, pack a good book if you're heading to the airport, any part of the country. soledad? >> might be sitting there a long time. christine, i want to thank you because yesterday i forgot to thank you. i got several hostile tweets. >> really. >> thank you. thank you for today, tomorrow, if i forget. thank you for being you. i just love you. thank you, christine. our tribute to you this morning. rescue crews are doing all that they can to try to rescue, maybe it's a recovery effort now, in those operations in italy. it now has been suspended. the account is 23 million missing. two americans are included in that number. they're from minnesota. this is because the ship is apparently slipping and moving. earlier this morning i spoke to former navy seal about what it

would be like in that ship. >> it's an incredibly difficult rescue situation. you have to keep in mind that the minute that they head into that hull there is no natural light and there's no electricity. so it's pitch black. you also have debris from the ship. every mattress, every piece of furniture, every personal item is now floating in that ship. you're moving through a ship that was 1,000 feet long, 100 feet wide with multiple levels, thousands of doors, and as the rescuers are moving through they have to check every single one of those compartments as they search for bodies in the ship. >> that was eric gretens, former navy seal updating us on what the rescue might be like. the captain is out of jail. prosecutors say they plan to appeal the judge's decision that placed the captain under house arrest. jack hicky is a maritime attorney. he's in miami. thanks for joining us on the panel here. appreciate it. first of all, this whole case will be decided in italy, right?

it's flying under the italian flag. it happened in the country of italy. the expectations is this is now a fully italian case, correct? >> right. in the ticket contract, which if you talk about the claims by the passengers against the cruise line, costa, in the ticket contract it provides that all of those claims in any cruise that does not touch a u.s. port, in the case of costa, all of those claims should be brought in genoa, italy. yes, those claims will be brought there. those claims will be governed by italian law. >> so there are 70 people or so we're told who sort of come together to create this, what i think we would call a class auction lawsuit. is that how this eventually is going to come down? it has to be a class of people who are suing, the 4,000 people who are suing here? >> no. it's really -- i know about there's talk about a class action. i think it's mainly a big group of people bringing claims. in the united states certainly it would not be a class auction,

it would be an action by a large group of individuals for claims. we, in fact, are working with an italian attorney to bring claims over there, and it's just on behalf of each individual injured person or the family of the folks who have passed away. so it's really not a class, but there is -- yes, there is a group of people, 70 people, who are banding together over in italy or to bring claims over in italy. so they should. >> sir, my question is are there now separate actions with respect to criminal actions, civil actions, and then maritime law violations? >> well, there's -- you have to sort out the different legal aspects here. one is the -- one are the claims but the crew members and that's governed by maritime law. it's going to be the law as applied by the italian courts or

by the united states courts. i'll talk about that in a minute. two is the claims brought by the passengers. then three are the claims brought by the italian authorities either against the captain or other officials or the cruise line itself in the criminal context. that's completely different and that's, of course, governed by italian law. this business about the captain, we can all focus on the captain and certainly the cruise line wants us to focus on the captain. the fact is the captain did a horrendous -- many horrendous things, running aground number one. number two, not calling for may day right away. number three, himself evacuating the ship. the captain absolutely should be the last man, the last person off the ship. and those will subject the captain to criminal proceedings in italy. those will be layers. >> let me ask you a question. i think we have a graphic of

this. lloyds of london has showed that the ship has done this before. there's satellite tracking that shows this particular ship has gone close to the shore before. so while we know that the company has been trying to obviously, every word they've said, it has been to voice blame on the captain. clearly i think from where we sit is full of blame. at the same time, how responsible -- what's their culpability of costa, if this has been done before. people who are locals knew that the ship would come by. they'd all waive. blow the horn to celebrate certain kinds of festivals, whatever. how liable potentially, sir, could coast a be? >> this could be a good question. i want to bring up something right away. costa cruise line is responsible for the actions of its master in this incident. without regard to whether it's been done before. that's number one. number two is you bring up, soledad, the big picture. the big picture is here is it just this one captain that one time did one thing wrong?

it's not. and there are a lot of questions here that go back to the systemic problems. that's what you bring up and that is, hey, this has veered off course before, number one, and why have the alarm bells not sounded then? number two, what about that night at 10:00 at night when the ship veers off course? they have gps. it's a $500 million or so piece of property. >> more people than the captain knew that that was veering off course. >> right. >> can the prior incidents be used. >> why can't they track? >> can the prior incidents be used gens costa in the litigation? >> i don't think it's really necessary that that be brought up against costa. certainly it can be, but the fact is costa is responsible for the negligent actions of the captain in this incidence. the questions, the systemic questions are, hey, if this has

been done before, why hasn't costa re-trained its captains? why hasn't costa tracked it? even that night why didn't costa track it and get on the radio, hey, captain schettino, why are you off course? we have you on the gps, we have you on the radar right now, you are off course, sir? what's going on? >> good questions. >> or whomever is on the bridge. that's the bigger pictures. >> taking a look at some of the questions that i know all the lawyers will be going through over the next weeks and months ahead. thanks, sir. appreciate your time. coming up this morning on "starting point," rick perry versus the entire country of turkey. perry says the country is run by terrorists. turkish officials say, not really, and they're furious. rick perry is holding his ground in his interview with wolf blitzer. we'll play a little bit of that for you this morning. plus stay at home moms play chef, house keeper, driver,

baby-sitter. we'll take a look at that this morning. how much are they worth? it's a lot. calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes. i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t. to any mobile phone on any network. emillike a ramen noodle-t... every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

welcome back, everybody. rick perry talking turkey says that country is run by, quote, islamic terrorists. turkish officials, no surprise there, outraged. then we know that perry made those comments during monday's debate. it was the standing by those remarks in "the situation room" on cnn is what he did when he talked to wolf blitzer. here's what he said. >> are you ready to revise your comments? >> not at all. a country that allowed 140, 160 honor killings in 2011 i will tell you, that is not a country that america wants to be associating with. >> specific issue of the other turkish leaders right now, you say they are, in your words, islamic terrorists. are you really saying that? >> i said that if they are treating their citizens that way, that they approach that terminology. i mean, when you allow for honor

killings, wolf, i hope you're not defending honor killings as an appropriate act in any country, much less a country that we send foreign aid to, and we do send foreign aid to that country. i think some $4 billion. that's not just a drop in the bucket. >> i hope, wolf, that you are not supporting honor killings. as if wolf blitzer has ever. >> let me be clear. >> we need to back away from the honor killing issue. he has never supported. that, i thought, was just odd in the debate, but then i thought it was really, really odd, this interview. >> the immediate reaction is and should be to mock rick perry. we'll get there. let's started with this, his statement has a kernel of the shadow of truth in that the last decade turkey has moved in islamist direction. >> totally different than calling someone an islamic terrorist. >> you're totally right. this is where he starts.

he goes flying over the cliff by not only being wrong. they're not islamic terrorists, but making a huge geo political statement. they're key to the east. key ally. >> it's a very big incident. >> very important relationship. >> you're saying he's going to be romney's vp pick? >> right. >> can you imagine how upset the people in the state department are who have worked for all these years trying to get turkey into the tent, trying to work with turkey. as turkey has gotten, you know, more islamist, yes, but they've managed to maintain that relationship during that process and then you ghet stuff. >> it really highlights his lack of foreign policy experience. this is not the guy that you want to be your commander in chief. >> i think it does remind americans of a previous texas governor who had a very stymied -- >> i am a texan. we're going to have a fight if we keep going after texas. >> he talked about foreign aid. i thought that actually turkey doesn't get foreign aid. am i wrong about that? should we double check this

number? my understanding was over the last decade or so turkey -- >> it does get aid from the united states, soledad. >> that's what he's calculating in. >> right. i'm not clear of the honor killings. i'm not clear what that's all about. >> the turkish officials, there is no one doing press conferences saying i support honor killings. the turkish people -- turkey's position on honor killings, we are against it, we do not support it. my question is, why? is he just trying to get relevance in a debate that seems to have left him behind? he's pulling, as we know, very, very low. what was the strategy here? >> it's he a combination of ignorance and let's start with the ignorance, right? that this idea that we're all talking about, the honor killings, islamist move of turkey in the last couple of years, it has nothing to do with the actual importance of this state. when you came in on me, as you started, it's a geo political ally. an imperfect one. right? imperfect, important. honor killings are going on in

turkey. we're not endorsing it, supporting it, but we also don't call them terrorists? why would he do that? it plays to a voting base that can only process it at times on that level. islam has some very ugly things. >> what i think rick perry latches on to a statement or a fact and then when you ask him to go beyond the four corners of that fact, he gets thrown because he's not prepared. because he doesn't know this issue. this is where gingrich is very strong. gingrich is very strong with foreign policy and he understands that to be an effective president, you have to understand islam and people do not. >> what about the strategy here? >> that was my question. i don't think anybody is answering that. it doesn't sound like any strategy. we have to take a break. my most favorite segment is how much do you think a mom is worth? >> a mom? >> a mom. >> millions. >> yes. thank you. >> not enough. >> not enough. kind of a loaded question, isn't it?

we're going to talk about how much a mom is worth with all the jobs we do. straight ahead. stay with us. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

♪ children at your feet ♪ wonder how you manage to make ends meet ♪ welcome back, everybody. we know moms are priceless, i would agree with that. what if you actually had to put a figure on every single thing a mom does? what would that add up to? the folks at invest paid yeah have done that. they've crunched the numbers. cooking. if you're going to hire a private chef to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, five days, what happened to the other two days. we'll go with their numbers. kids, you're on your own for saturday and sunday.

that would cost you more than $5200. >> 52,000. >> no, private chef, 5200. >> thousand. >> you know why, because my cooking is -- >> it's only -- >> is micro waiving chicken nuggets. so mine would be 5200. everybody else is 52,000. i clearly ri can't read. house cleaning, pay someone to pick up the toys, laundry, that would cost you $6,000 a year. child care, more than $31,000 a year to hire somebody to do child care. more than 4 grand if you needed a chauffeur to drive your kids back and forth to school. roughly $1500 a year to handle the yard work or handle the telling of other people to do the yard work. the grand total is $96,261. >> let me just say, there are over 200,000 nannys and housekeepers in new york state alone who have been engaged in trying to improve labor

standards of the houses they clean. they don't make anywhere near $96,000. >> they have a union? >> they do have say union, domestic workers united. they're trying to lift standards. they have no overtime, no health insurance. they work under often very difficult conditions that we all take for granted. >> i wonder if that $100,000 number is multiplied. is that for one kid? >> that's the question. >> you could throw more chicken nuggets in, microwave them. that's not hard. >> straight ahead we're going to have our end point with our panel. that's up next. stay with us.

the music. we have a minute left to get to our end point. >> so in wisconsin the signatures were delivered yesterday. over a million more than double. >> recall for scott walker. >> i will point out though -- there's a lot of enthusiasm to recall him. i will point out it's only happened two times in history. 1921, north dakota, and then 2003. >> we're watching that story. >> yesterday sema brought up in her end point, the iowa caucus recount that possibly rick santorum could be proclaimed the winner in iowa. we laughed at her and said it's meaningless. it's not. it changes the inevitably