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>> gretchen: all right. have a great day. season storm that blankets the midwest and heading east. check out the radar. washington d.c. grinding to a halt as federal offices close today and some of america's busiest airports, canceling thousands of flights. setting off a chain reaction of delays that ripple across the country. one way to save money. cancel the tours. cancel works. >> since nobody will be in the offices anyway. bill: we're just idea people. i'm bill hemmer. right on. martha: good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. you have a combination of heavy, wet snow and high wind that has already taken down some of the power lines in the area and chicago's bustling o'hare airport has a lot of stranded folks. they realize if they didn't get out yet they may be there some time. >> going to baltimore i had

a flight canceled at 6:00 a.m. when we could have gotten out and trying to get out at 11. not sure it will happen today. >> i think we'll be staying in chicago. i think we'll go have some fun. >> i think the window is closing on us to get it out. bill: there is lot to do in chicago. martha: she doesn't sound disappointed. bill: fox meteorologist, maria molina in fox severe weather center. doug mckelway in fall's church, virginia. doug we'll start with you. how goes it? >> reporter: so far its all right. there is no city as dysfunctional, no metropolitan area as washington, d.c. in a snowstorm. all it takes to one half-inch of snow to throw the metropolitan area in absolute paralysis. we'll get a lot more than that today. all schools are shut down in in region. all government offices are shut down. congress is in session

today. that's about it. snowfall totals are very difficult to predict around here because we fall right on the rain, wintry mix, snow line. to the southeast of town we're probably expecting about three inches of snow. in the city proper, anywhere from six to nine inches of snow. the north western suburbs perhaps up to a foot of snow. further west, an hour west where we stand now, the shenendoah mountains, blue ridge mountains, we could look at 18 inches of snow. this is all complicated by the fact this is a very wet, heavy snow. it is warm out here about 33 degrees. with the wind blowing as hard as we expect to blow we could have a lot of power outages, down trees and downed limbs. power companies are known for their slow response time. john f. kennedy, says it operates with all the charm after southern city and the efficiency of a northern one. bill: sound like you're

going to have a great day. if you go further west and couple of towns and states we'll show in a moment where people have been pounded already by this storm. typically do you get early march storms there like this, doug? >> reporter: i can remember one back in the mid-'90s that was a pretty bad storm, a huge nor'easter left a lot of ice and freezing rain and some snow in the region but it's pretty rare. the good news about this, once it does fall it tends to warm up quite rapidly and it will all be gone in next couple days. bill: it looks pretty for the moment. we'll check in later. doug mckelway, in his backyard, he's kidding. fall's church, virginia. martha: winner storm and coastal flood watches issued for parts of new england. when and where is this storm headed next? we continue team coverage with meteorologist maria molina in the fox weather center this morning. hi, maria. >> hi, martha. this storm system who by the way will be a very

slow-mover. we'll deal with the storm system across the mid-atlantic, into new york city and across portions of new england today, tomorrow and even into friday. a very long duration event out here and that is what is really so concerning. we'll have a long period of time that we're dealing with very strong wind and coastal areas. that is a huge concern out here with coastal flooding and warnings and watches are expected. not just across new englanded, new york city area, parts of long island and new jersey coast and delaware and maryland coastal areas. right now the snow is coming down heavily like you saw in northern parts of virginia, parts of the state of west southern pennsylvania and western maryland as well. out hear some higher elevation, the highest elevations could see up to 20 inches of snow. so that is very significant. here is the rain-snow line you heard about in d.c. we have mostly rain and winter weather advisories. we're expecting six to 12 inches of snow. winter storm warnings are in effect.

martha, winter storm watch was issued for city of boston. we could see four to eight inches of snow into friday morning and strong winds as well. you know how they're calling the storm snow questionster? he already has a twitter account martha: down on the jersey shore there are laces you can't get into successfully. what about them in all of this, maria? >> we'll have a prolonged period of time of the onshore flow. we'll see wind gusts 50 to the 60 miles an hour. there is no land to slow down the wind. that is why it is so strong along coastal areas. when you head further inland you're talking gusts, 20, 30, possibly 40 mile-an-hour wind. and that meals travel delays across new england, through new york city and philadelphia and d.c. throughout the day and tomorrow and again on friday. big issues next couple days.

martha: a busy corridor. people go through there a lot but today sounds like a good day to stay put. maria, thank you very much. >> thank you. bill: could be next couple days especially the northeast. weather permitting, we're told this is going to happen, janet napolitano, homeland security secretary, will testify on the hill. she is set to talk about the threat of cyber attacks and says our water, our electricity and gas are all vulnerable to attack. we'll watch for headlines today. the budget cuts for sequester now in effect by the way, not expected to interrupt collection of obamacare taxes. the affordable care act has 40 changes in the tax code. including penalties on people that choose not to buy insurance. it is the irs's job to collect the fines. the agency will begin furlough of its employees during the summertime but it is not facted to -- expected to impact the collection of new health care taxes. six past. martha: we're just about 24

minutes away from the opening bell this morning after a big record setting day for the dow yesterday. closed at an all-time high of 14,254. that took out the record set back in october of 2007. what a weird ride this has been for the market over the past several years especially when you think what is going on in the u.s. economy during that time. it is now up more than 117% from its 12-year low that was set in march of 2009 and for this year-to-date, january, february, march we're in now, it is up 8.77%. that's a very nice roll for the beginning of 2013 so far. where is it headed from here? stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, you think there's a little bit more upward movement here? >> you see this smile, martha? yes, there is. 23 minutes from now, at least at the opening bell the dow jones industrial average will, in all likelihood, almost certainly go up another 50, maybe 60 points. that would put it above

14,300. that would bring the gain, to 9, 9 1/2% just for this calendar year. in other words, martha, the market is ignoring president obama. the president has said, hey, it is armageddon with when we get the budget cuts. the dow plows through that and keeps going up. by the way, the nasdaq, that is where the technology stocks have their niche, the nasdaq is close to the level it was right after the dot-com bust, all the way back to november of the year 2000. that is where technology stocks have struggled back to. smile, martha, we'll to up again in 20 minutes. martha: you think 50, 60 points. i'm curious. why that amount of points? what is telling you that is what the number is today? >> something called the futures markets, okay? that is an indicator how thin will open when real trading begins. look at futures. whichever way that is pointing that is what happens at opening bell. i'm looking almost precisely

60 points up, 60 points up for the dow in 22 minutes time. martha: i'm curious, stuart, what happened to the individual investor? back in the early days of these big highs, 2000, 2001 and up through 2007 there were so many people across the country so heavily invested in the stock market. a lot of that changed after the big crash. >> yes. wall street went out of fax after the dot-com bust and then after the crash of '08 and '09. people just did not want to know from wall street. they were right out of it. so they stayed in bonds, went to gold, something like that. unfor the fatly -- unfortunately those people have not been able to repair their finances because they're out of the stock market. they're looking on the sidelines, is it too late to get in? that's their decision and essentially they have missed this rally and i have to say i'm sorry for them. martha: stuart, thank you. we'll keep an eye out this morning as stuart said, futures look to open higher. bill: what a shame if you missed out on the run? we saw it coming.

stuart points out for five or six months it was up and up. martha: it is difficult to time the market. we'll see people with 401(k)s benefited. bill: we mentioned napolitano in the hearing? it is not going to happen. it was postponed. because of snow of course. martha: because of the snow. so there's a little more money for sequester. throw it right in the pot. bill: it adds up. we're getting moving on a wednesday. the top republican in the senate slamming the white house. what mitch mcconnell says the white house is focused on instead of the crisis we're facing right now. details on that, martha. martha: he is the governor of the state that has the largest border with mexico. why he now says he is extremely concerned about what's going on with the release of illegals from prison. >> a parently there are dozens who survived the attacks in benghazi but three are still in the hospital. lawmakers however can't even identify them, much less talk to them. now some are demanding answers.

>> no. we pound on this every single day. slowly but surely these documents keep trickling out from the state department. i work on this every day. we're not going to let go of b this [ bop ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i don't like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 v-fusion. a full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. but what you taste is the fruit. so even you... could've had a v8. but what you taste new griddle-melts to youre usual breakfast sandwich. a lot more flavor. [ anouncer ] ihop's new griddle melts... made fresh and hot! hand crafted just for you. it's like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4. it's like a sexy sandwich. it's an epic breakfast sandwich.

martha: well here's the latest on this, what you can bring on an airplane. the tsa is putting a big rule into place after 9/11, announcing it will allow passengers to bring items like small pocket knives on airplanes. this applies to knives with blades less than 2.3 inches and narrower than half an inch. wonder how long it took them to come up with those measurements to figure out what exactly was safe and what wasn't? items cleared are golf clubs, toy baseball bats and hockey sticks and no moisturizer and hairspray. bill: if you're driver is less than 2.4 ounces. martha: plastic bag, you can take it. bill: six months after the attacks in benghazi

lawmakers fuming they have not been allowed to speak to any of the american survivors. that story takes on a new urgency after secretary of state john kerry confirming with our own james rosen, he, secretary kerry, visited survivors still recovering at walter reed hospital in washington. here is republican congressman ed royce, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee on this. >> that is absolutely unbelievable, that we, in the united states, could not obtain access to those who, who participated in this, who had knowledge about it and that is being blocked, and we want answers as to why we can not obtain the facts and interview those who had a hand in this and why they're not brought to justice. bill: that was with bret last night on "special report". with us republican congressman jason chaffetz on the oversight committee in the house. welcome back here to "america's newsroom.". i want to get a baseline of knowledge here. how have you tried to reach

out to these survivors who are now back stateside? >> well i went to libya shortly after the attack. i was able to visit with just a handful of people. a lot of them i was not able to talk with. i've been trying to do this for the last six months. we know some people were interviewed in tripoli. some went on to germany and some were injured and interviewed there. we have at least one person from the state department, still, still in recovery in the hospital six months after the fact. i appreciate that secretary kerry went there but they will not give us the names. in fact we've been told that one of the people who actually went to the hospital had their name changed on the hospital records so we can't even find them. bill: why would they not give you the names? >> i don't know, bill. this is, this is --. bill: why would they, but there has to be reason why they're trying to protect these people from something or somebody like you, what do you think? >> that's why it causes so many questions because we're now in our 8th tranche much documents.

still just a couple weeks ago they're still giving us documents. it is six months after the fact. we still have whistle-blowers who will provide us information. they won't allow us to materials the accountability review board looked at. we would like to talk to the accountability review board. they don't want to do that. we like to talk with the survivors and they won't do that. the president has the gall to go on television we're providing all the access? baloney, bull crap. that is not having. bill: how many are there, survivors? >> i don't even know. i don't have a full list. when they go to the hospital and change their name you're going to have lawmakers like myself will go out there and continue to pound on the desk and say mr. president, the white house, mr. secretary, provide us this information. we're not going to let go of this until we get to the bottom of it. bill: all right. now, you wonder about the condition of these survivors. >> yeah. bill: are they able to talk? are they still recovering from injuries? do you have that answer? >> well secretary kerry said he went and spoke with them.

again this is just one individual. we have more than a dozen people that were engaged in this. we think we should be able to talk to -- look, we have got four dead americans. we have hundreds of embassy, thousands of people serving overseas. we want to understand what helped cause it and how we prevent it in the future that is the whole goal here. bill: i'm reading something, fox news learned the house intelligence committee and some members will be able to see some of the talking points that were circulated back in september. what do you know about that? >> i know that the senate, particularly lindsey graham, has been tenacious on this they have some documents as well. but, again, this begs the question, why won't the state department just give us what we requested? we're getting to the point, bill, we'll be left with no choice except it issue a subpoena. we don't want to do that but we're already six months into this and we don't have the answer. bill: let me come back to the subpoena. if you have had the talking points from september how would that change the story do you believe? >> we need to find out what led up to the attacks and

how we prevent that in future. what went down in the 25 hours during the attack and then afterwards how the administration misled the american people and the world. those are three big buckets. bill: why have you not issued a subpoena? obviously you're frustrated. you're getting nowhere at this point based on your current tactic? why not issue -- >> if it was unilaterally left up to me i would do that and done it months ago. i don't make those decisions. i worked closely with chairman issa and the speaker's office. i think they have been exceptionally beyond patient. there comes a point you say look, we've been polite, we've been nice, we're not getting answers. in fact we continue to get the runaround. i'm assuming you expressed that to --. >> yes. bill: what would you expect to learn from the survivors in after -- if and when you get the opportunity to talk to them? what's your first question? >> what happened? what kind of communication? did you ask for air support? i really worry that once we did have injured and we did

have dead bodies the extraction of those people back out of benghazi, look, when a plane landed in benghazi we had injured people. that plane didn't go to italy which was the shortest route, it went back to tripoli. we evacuated our embassy in tripoli. why in the world did the plane take you to tripoli and didn't get you back to germany until 10:00 p.m. that night? we want to learn so many things about the warnings and what happened getting them out of there. then how do we find the perpetrators. bill: listen, we want to bring you back. we'll be in touch with others too once they get a look at talking points circulated between the cia, the state department and the white house and what it might tell us what happened on september 11th. jason chaffetz, thank you for your time. >> thank you, bill. bill: martha. martha: this is disturbing. this new warning for anybody set to enter a hospital anytime soon. there is super bugs that kills up to half of the patients who goat this bacteria into their system.

we'll tell you what you need to know. dr. manny coming up on that. bill: maybe watching tv isn't all that bad, huh? wait until you hear why the 17-year-old survived two nights lost on a mountain in subzero temperatures. freezing it was. >> it is america. 2 1/2 days in a mountain. who could survive that? hey. they're coming. yeah. british. later. sorry. ok...four words... scarecrow in the wind... a baboon... monkey? hot stew saturday!? ronny: hey jimmy, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? jimmy: happier than paul revere with a cell phone. ronny: why not? anncr: get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

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bill: so just yesterday at this hour we were reported on north korea and new warnings. now we have warnings from south korea. the south saying it will take military action against pongyang if it makes good on a threat to attack with lighter and smaller nukes. those escalated threats on both sides comes a the u.s. or rather the u.n. moves closer to imposing tough new sanctions with the north

over ongoing efforts to expand its nuclear program. the u.s. and china are heading up that effort at the u.n.. martha: go back here at home now because the centers for disease control are warning of an alarming increase in several dangerous super bugs that have been found now at u.s. hospitals. they're called cres and they are germs that become extremely resistant to any antibiotics. very dangerous stuff we're talking about. 42 states have now reported at least one patient is suffering from an infection from the cres. and the whole thing is more common, we're told in the northeast part of the country. they have increased from one to 4% over the last ten years and they kill up to half of the patients who get this super bug germ into their bloodstream. dr. manny alvarez joins me, managing editor fox health.com and very scary stuff. >> very scary stuff. one in 25 hospitals are

infected with these bacteria. these are bugs we usually see for utis, for pneumonia, wound infections. martha: upper track infections. >> pneumonias, e.coli, bugs everybody is very familiar, they have become resistant to the last, the last antibiotics we have available. they get embedded in hospitals. they get transmitted from person-to-person. they make surgical challenges, i myself have been dealing with a patient now for a while with a resistant bug. it is really creating havoc. now why is it happening? i think a lot has to do with overcrowding hospital, number one. because right now the turnaround, occupancy in many hospitals is 100%. you don't have enough time to clean the beds and things of this sort. and also these, these bugs have evolved genetically. they have evolved perhaps because of overutilization of antibiotics in the past. so this is a big, big challenge. martha: who is most at risk

and what can we do to lower our chances of having this happen? >> well, look, everybody has risk. you can be a healthy person and go for an elective caesarean section and in my case we put a catheter in and you get an infection. what we're doing is removing catheters quickly. we're using different kind of chemicals to prep surgical wounds. we're trying to send people home as fast as we can. we're trying to do infection control by cleaning operating rooms and hospital beds more efficiently. and, look, at the end of the day, this is being put out by the cdc, but you have to remember, we will get punished as hospitals and doctors if we don't bring the infection rates down in other words. medicare and medicaid, will say, you know what, dr. manny, we're not going to pay you, 20% of your patients are getting these types of bugs. so we have to do the job basically moving people out, do a better job of cleaning

hospitals and you know, i think things will get worse before they get better because with the overcrowding hospitals we have coming now, especially with the new health care reform this will be a challenge. nonetheless this is something we have to do because the morbidity and mortality of these bugs are very high. martha: there is this antibiotic things all over, gel all over hospitals, do they help at all? you're talking about things in the operating room. >> the health care professionals have to do better job. washing hands before we touch a patient. that's a must. real hospitals that have really brought down the infection rate do things like that, in other words, infection control. explaining to the staff, to anybody, it could be, it could be a nurse, it could be a assistant nurse, you have to have proper hygiene. this is a campaign many hospitals have to do because --. martha: you find out the rate of infection at the hospital that you're going to? >> 100%. martha: how do you find out? >> all infection rates are reportable. every state carries list of

infection rates. these are things reported. >> state health department where you find out? >> absolutely. yes, absolutely. martha: dr. manny, always informative, thank you very much. >> good to see you. thank you very much. bill: 20 mine -- 29 minutes past the hour. hundreds of illegals expected to be released soon. why the governor of a state with the biggest border with mexico is concerned about that move, martha. martha: our own brit hume is saying president obama's handling of the budget cuts is nothing like he ever seen before from any other president. his interesting take on this just a couple minutes away. stick around, as the snow falls in washington. >> president obama's behavior about the budget cuts this is some of the most peculiar behavior i've seen from a president. ♪

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bill: extreme weather alert right now. we're getting this late season winter storm slamming millions out there in the mid woes and now hitting the east coast as well. this is new video just in out of chicago and check that out. that storm has dropped at least ten inches of snow and a school bus goes into the building. the city's two major airports returning for normal operation. you wonder who was on board the bus and how they got there in the first place? must be something to do with the ice beneath the snow in chicago. you have more than 100 flights out of o'hare have been canceled today. that is not a great number but chicago is pretty good clearing off the white

stuff. in the beltway, a different story. leesburg, virginia, outside of washington, d.c., it is heavy and wet snow coming down hard and fast and weighing down trees and power lines which is what you do not want. already knocking out electricity to 112,000 customers. that number could climb throughout the day. maryland, meanwhile, the biggest concern is widespread power outages and the state's emergency management agencies getting ready to work with the red cross to move people to warm shelters if they indeed need the help. meanwhile at the white house the briefing is canceled. oh my, is that a die off for reporters there? martha: apparently. bill: what will happen to the tour groups through the white house? is that on or off? martha: can't move from one part of the building to other. bill: you might save five bucks on that today, martha. martha: texas governor rick perry criticizing the obama administration over the release of hundreds of illegal immigrants she said as a result of the sequester. the homeland security department is saying that

more of these detainees will be let go as a result of the budget cuts. governor perry went "on the record" last night with greta. listen to him. >> wonder who these people are, greta? we made the request. we asked ice and all the way up to dhs now we did get a response back from secretary napolitano. she gave us the kind of carpet bombing approach if you will that there will be huge discombobulated, and lots of problems and we heard and saw all of that and the fact of the matter is lot of that has been hyped up but when you start talking about turning loose individuals who could be quite criminal in their nature, that's a big problem and this administration, needs to be thoughtful about how you deal with the sequester issue and in cutting and prioritizing. we do it in the states every day. martha: hmmm, do it in the states every day he says in terms of budgeting and where the cuts will come from. joined by former arizona senator jon kyl who is now a

fox news contributor. this is the first appearance in that role, we welcome you back to the role. senator, good to see you this morning. >> thanks very much, martha. good to be with you. martha: you're obviously from arizona and spent so much of your career thinking about and talking about these issues with regard to border safety. what was your reaction when you heard as a result of the sequester they would start to release hundreds if not thousands of illegal immigrants from detention september terse. >> incidentally, our governor, jan brewer, shared the concerns of texas governor perry about the number of people and the way they're being released and asked the same question, who exactly these people are. martha: sure. >> i was confused at first because there were a lot of different stories coming out of the department of homeland security. it was00, then thousands. it was made by people on down the line. no, it was made by people at the highest levels. really wasn't related to sequester. well, yes it was. i'm not sure we know precisely why but i suspect part of it has to do with the administration's effort to portray the effects of

sequestration so bad that people will rise up and put pressure on congress to do something about it. i noticed there was a story in "the new york times" that profiled the typical person being released here, prisoner being released. it was a man who violated his probation for assault and battery and child abuse, rising out of a domestic dispute. now, women and children can't be too happy about the prospect this is the kind of person that may be released. so i think there are two problems. the first is practical, the number of people and what kind of people they are and what might do in our society and second, i hope we can talk about this, which is the political problem the trust that will be necessary to pass comprehensive immigration reform and this really shatters that trust. martha: i want to move to the larger issue of immigration reform in a second but if you look at that possibility, if you what you say is true and if there is some extent a political implication here or desire here to prove, if you don't come up with some

budget agreement, these are the kind of things that can happen, if any of these folks hurt somebody, it's going to be a hajj story. >> it is. martha: and the calculation, that you know, that will reflect poorly on republicans, that's a pretty risky bet, isn't it? >> it is indeed. and i think the next question that you're going to see all people in congress asking is, well, what did the other departments do about the necessity of cutting back on their spending? remember the definition of sequestration, is across the board. every account is reduced by the same percentage. you don't get to choose choose which ones you reduce and which ones you don't. i would like to see the evidence throughout the entire department of homeland security, every department, every agency, every aspect has been reduced exactly as i.c.e. has with respect to the prison beds. martha: the white house had to push back on a report they were spending $50 million on new tsa uniforms. they are getting a lot of heat for that along the lines what you're saying. talk for a moment the larger

issue of immigration reform. it is something that republicans have been taking on. jeb bush is certainly taking it on. he caught some heat for what is being seen as a change in his approach to this. that he would not support necessarily a path to citizenship. in the new book he put out, he talked about supporting a legal status avenue for illegal immigrants who were brought into this country as young people. what do you think about that? what do you think the larger issue is for the party? >> well, going back to the larger issue with respect to this release of prisoners it all depends on trust because the big bargain is that illegal immigrants get a legal status and perhaps a path to citizenship in exchange for enforcement of the law in three ways. enforcement of the law at the border, enforcement of the law at the workplace to insure only people entitled to get a job are in fact hired and to insure people don't overstay their visas. if the administration is signaling it has no real commitment to enforcing the law, which this administration seems to be

doing, then it will be very, very difficult for those people who are wary of the administration to make the other part of the bargain, namely to grant the citizenship for illegal status. that is why i think it is very problematic with respect to getting comprehensive immigration reform. maybe, i'm not going to say the white house doesn't want it because they appear to want it but if they really want it think need to be bending over backward to demonstrate to members of congress we will do everything they can to enforce the law. martha: what about the jeb bush issue, any thoughts on that he have about i let you go? >> just briefly. it seems to me was not saying a contradiction this what i'm saying before and what i'm saying now. it is all part of the grand bargain. the question of what exactly the legal status is and terms and conditions for potential citizenship should be those are the most difficult issues ironed out in the development of a comprehensive immigration bill. martha: senator kyl, good to have you with us, sir. thank you very much. we'll see you soon. bill: good to have you on

board. >> that thanks, bill. bill: 20 minutes before the hour. there are that white house is focused more on an event down the road rather than solving the current budget battle the karl rove has been in the white house with times like these and he joins us from in a moment on that [ female ann] from tracking the bus. ♪ to tracking field conditions. ♪ wireless is limitless. [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wiress is limitless.

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[ female announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty helps lock in skin's natural moisture to improve the look and feel of hands in 5 uses. [ sponge ] gotta hand it to your beautiful hands, huh? [ female announcer ] love it, or get double your money back. dawn does more. [ sponge ] so it's not a chore. martha: one of the world's most active volcanos is at it again. check out the amazing sights from italy's mt. etna, lighting up the night sky on sicily with large plumes of ash and lava. stones shot from the volcano covering roads on streets nearby. look at that. pretty incredible. no reported stopping of air traffic which sometimes happens but this is an amazing show for everybody. bill: top ranking republican in the senate with harsh words about the white house dealing with the sequester. senator mitch mcconnell saying washington continues careening from crisis to crisis because he believes president obama is too focused

restoring democratic control of the house come 2014. karl rove, former senior advisor to president george w. bush and a fox news contributor. we find him today in new orleans, louisiana. carl, good morning to you. "the washington post" wrote about this over the weekend. "wall street journal" writes about it today. do you believe these reports that he is playing a long game for the midterms to get control of the house and senate? >> "the washington post" article was apparently based on reporting, covers with white house aids who said this is president obama's legacy seeking to return control of the house of representatives to the democrats, make nancy pelosi speaker again, speaker pelosi ii. and look, if your goal, if your goal in is a second term is political legacy, that means you deal with all of these issues from a political perspective, not from a perspective of how do we resolve them but how do we use them politically and that's not good for the country. also a frankly a goal that is unlikely to happen.

if you look over the history of the united states there has been one second midterm election in which a president's party gained seats in the house and senate. it was 1998. democrats gained five seats in the house and it took the republicans trying to impeach clinton which was huge overreach to help them do that. the democrats would have to pick up a net of 17 seats in order to --. bill: not impossible? >> well, but it never happened before. it would be over three times the number that is ever happened in the one election where it did happen. i mean, second midterm elections are midterms are bad for the white house party. and there's also little ground for the democrats to work with. there are only 16 districts that president obamacareried that are occupied by republican. four of those president obama got less than 50%. three of them --. bill: you really have to thread the needle based on the hathaway it is stacked up right now? >> right. bill: on the face of it do you believe the reporting to

be true yes or no, playing for a majority in the house? >> yes i do. one of the key things to me is sequestration. the way that he played it which was, game of chicken. let me try to force the republicans right up to the end to sort of the unilaterally capitulate and give me taxes. he was never very clear what taxes. never laid out a plan saying vote for my plan. i want the republicans admit that we need to raise taxes. it didn't work. and his job approval ratings plummeted. but the other thing is, the republicans said, mr. president you keep painting this dire picture how the sequestration cuts are going to hurt. why don't we give you flexibility to cut less important things and protect the more important things and president said no. if you were presidency sitting there saying i'm trying to focus on the in issue, you would say yeah, give me the flexability and we'll manage the problem. bill: if you're right and believe this reporting then you have a stalemate for 18 months yet again in washington. now go back to 2012. if you buy into the theory that the president won re-election because of the

ground game and because of technology that was used at a level no political campaign has ever seen before, that, that political infrastructure is still in place. >> yeah. bill: seem possible if you turn over all the data and all the information you have on voters in these key districts, if republicans do not counter that strategy, he has a shot at doing it, right? >> no, i don't think he has much of a shot. first of all the republicans will counter it. i spent two days in meetings the other week with a group of people actively closing the data gap and they will close it. the other issue the president's popularity. the president's approval rating today as of yesterday was 49%. to give you a sense at this same point in 1997 bill clinton had a 59% approval rating. by election day of, excuse me of 1998, clinton was at 63%. president obama's, by being so political is not going to raise those numbers. and again, i repeat, this

happened one time in history. do we think that technology alone will allow the democrats to overcome all the disadvantages they have got of looking so political, of having won such a narrow re-election victory and essentially pursuing unpopular agenda? sequestration --. bill: when people say his last election was 2012, it really wasn't. his last election is 2014. he is already indicated that he will campaign heavily and in some of these tight districts and will go out and raise a lot of money at these big democratic events. we'll see whether or not that work. >> yeah. bill: karl, thank you. we'll talk to you real soon. >> thanks. thanks, bill. bill: martha. martha: well a new state is looking to join seven others and collect no state income tax. what stopped that change dead in its tracks. bill: also an incredible survival story that broke on our watch just yesterday. he was sking in the mountains in a popular resort. what helped him make it through two nights lost on a mountain in freezing

temperatures, with a good samaritan on a snowmobile brought him to safety. martha: it was moments after he was found. >> i was up here and knew the area where he was real well. on my snowmobile i will go for a ride anyways and see if i can help out and assist. [ male announcer ] it's a rule of nature. you don't decide when vegetables reach the peak of perfection. the vegetables do. at green giant, we pk vegetables only when they're perfect. then freeze them fast so they're are as nutritious as fresh. [ green giant ] ho ho ho. ♪ green giant

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bill: so when you it comes to defeating the bad guys sometimes you have to get creative. case in point, dunkin' donuts, connecticut. that is would-be robber trying to climb through the drive-through window. the employee, take as hot cup of coffee and puts it in the guy's face. i say supersize that fry. looking for change for $100. didn't happen. suspect is still on the loose.

martha: missing 17-year-old skier who spent two nights lost in subzero freezing temperatures, subfreezing temperatures, actually, says he credit his survival watching tv, watching survival shows on television. there he his, nicholas joy, resting with crackers on a snowmobile that rescued him on sugarloaf mountain in main. when he and his dad decided on the last run to two take separate trails and meet at bottom. that was sunday morning. when he realized he was lost he built a snow cave to keep warm and drank water from a nearby stream, basic skills he picked up watching a popular survival reality show. >> he used his head and made some very good decisions. >> almost like a miracle. >> unbelievable. i'm just so proud of him. i have him two periods a day. just amazing, amazing what he did. martha: isn't that great? everybody is so happy that this turned out so well and he did such a good job

taking care of himself out there. dozens of people were out there searching for him, knavesy veels, border patrol personnel. the guy who found him was not part of a search party. he was driving around on a snow meal and -- snowmobile and spoke with shepard smith yesterday. >> he was on a snowmobile trail. i knew it was in my way because not too many people go hiking in ski boots. >> understand he built a decent little snow cave there. what did you think of his, i don't know, of his homestead there? >> well, i didn't see it but he told me about it. he said he saw it on survivor and took a bunch of hemlock branches and made himself a shelter to get out of the weather. he stayed down by a stream and, so he had water to drink. martha: boy, good for him. his family released this statement saying, quote, there is great relief and happiness that nicholas made it through the difficult ordeal. we want to thank everyone for their hopes and prayers

and especially members of the rescue team. he learned watching on tv how to build a snow cave. he put hemlock branches over himself and managed to stick it out there. tough kid. bill: has he spoken yet? holding out for "america's newsroom"? martha: must be. give us a call, nicholas. we would love to talk to you. so glad he made it out okay. bill: as we said yesterday, a lot of happiness. martha: home and warm with his family. that is good story. bill: the people's house is closed to the people, martha. white house tours are canceled to save money. one republican has a different idea how it do that. martha: and the cardinals of the catholic church preparing to select the next pope you know the latest on the selection for the next pontiff. new information when we come back. jenna shared her recipe with sharon,

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martha: the future of the country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world is newspaper the air. venezuela president hugo chavez died at the age of 58 after a

two-year battle with cancer. that's how we start this brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." good morning, everyone, i'm martha maccallum. >> i'm bill hemmer. the leader who called the usa a real enemy is no more. the country's vp is stepping in. nicholas maduro50 years old former bus driver and trade unionist elected in 2000 as the deputy of the national assembly. he shared close ties with the castro brothers in cuba and his commitment to socialism. martha: president obama says his death marks a new chapter in venezuela history and it certainly does. adam housley is live. we know there is a new chapter, we just don't to what it is right now, right. >> reporter: right, the old chapter is the man who called president bush the develop, that being the man who passed away a 59 years old when he died. he led venezuela for 14 years as

well. the successor that chavez appointed, he could be the man that could take control in 30 days when the rehrebgs takes place withithe election takes place but it will likely be someone else. what people are hoping for down there is a peaceful cessation whatever that may be. will the people and the military back one of these two candidates. ed royce who is the special committee chairman spoke about this last night. >> it's now that the people in the absence of hugo chavez will begin to compare their situation and whoufp browned they've lost compared to what they are seeing in their neighboring state, columbia. i think that is the most hopeful things in terms of a new direction in latin american.

>> reporter: there will be a state funeral for hugo chavez on friday. once again most people will tell you in latin america especially in venezuela this is a problem more amongst leaders between venezuela and the u.s. than amongst people. martha: what about the reaction here at home? >> reporter: there are a lot of epats over the years. a lot of them left the brain drain, the masses shall, since chavez took over. a lot of middle class people have come here as well. they celebrated in south florida when the death was announced, hoping for some sort of change. in fact we have sound from some of the people last night who took to the streets. take a listen. >> the end of a nightmare, this is a man who lied to his people, to his followers. >> i'm not happy because he's deed because i don't think we should celebrate death but we should celebrate change. >> reporter: seane sean penn, a

man of hugo chavez he said a number of things including a letter where he said that he was a friend the united state didn't know they had. michael moore, oliver stone also expressing condolances. this is a man, chavez who called bush the develop. he's also known for torching and inch prison inks political prisoners. he supported iran. he tried to overthrow the freely government in klum bee a. there is hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars of oil money missing. he nationalized everything, including the radio and television stations in venezuela. a lot of people are hoping that this may mean something new for venezuela but we will know over the course of the next 30 days as theee hr-bgs happens and we'll see if the military backs whoever wins. martha: in terms of information, freedom of the press is strangled in venezuela as you just tkoeupltd. >> reporter: completely.

martha: we listen to ed royce talk about whether they are aware of the growth in their neighbor country columbia. what do you think the awareness level is of people there in terms of things how could be. >> reporter: people are very aware. what chavez has done is kept the poor population, he's given them basically, thrown them pwroepbs here and there. money has come in from anything walk ra as well as cuba. the problem is the country overall has suffered, and you have the oil reserves which are there and significant. a lot of the technology he's brought in he bought from china it hasn't worked. they are only getting a low% average of oil out of the ground that they could be. columbia next door has done well but there will be a lot of unrest potentially because we don't know how this is going to go through with the poor population, will they support, or will these other people who have left the country come back. it will be interesting to see how this transition will take place, if there will be unrest or not.

martha: a big story over the next 30 days. thank you very much. bill: there are allegations that the venezuela government covered up his illness. in may of 2000 they say he suffered a knee injury while jogging. it was not until the end of june that year that chavez first admitted to having cancer. in the fall of 2012 he declared himself cured. but in late november it was announced the ill net illness came back an was going back to cuba for treatment. he talked about the reus -fb operation. and then yesterday the vice president announced his death in venezuela. martha: elections will be underway have to be held within 30 days. during that 30-day period the president of the national assembly will serve in the president's place before undergoing his last cancer surgery chavez had urged

venezuelans to support neighboring hr-nicholas maduro. bill: there are new signs the vote on the next pope might be any day now. the sis ten chapel in rome is now closed. at the vatican that's where the cardinals will meet in secrecy to choose the leader of the church. they do the election inside the sis ten chapel. the cardinals meeting at the vatican today for the third straight day to talk about the final preparation. that's where we find amy ke kellogg live from hom italy with more on what the cardinals are doing this week. hello. >> reporter: we are waiting for two more cardinal electors to arrive, one from poland and one from vietnam. the vatican says they will be here today and tomorrow respectively. in the meantime we've been hanging on every word from the american cardinals who have been briefing the press on a day lee basis about what is going on in the meetings. they have been silenced or

decided to selfsilence, because there were stories in the press that were just divulging too much detail about what was going on inside those meetings. those weren't necessarily coming by the way from the american cardinals, but as a group they've decided to basically speak with one voice and do that after the conclave takes place. we know that they will be getting together this afternoon for a prayer in st. peters basilica and that will be open to the public. but we can pretty much guest they will not be talking too much to us there. bill: what other preparation can you report on, amy? >> reporter: we know that there are three robes ready now for the new pope. the official vatican taylor, the gamareli family always does this. they get a small, immediate or large, as soon as easy elected he goes to the room directly behind the fresco behind the last judgment and he gets ready

to face the crowd at basilica share. the sistine chapel hats bee has been closed because that's where the conclave will take place. they are putting a new floor in. and the floor covers up a whole series of anti-bugging devices. the vatican said that is a myth but admitted that there be plenty of bugging devices inside the sistine chapel so no leaks can get out. bill. bill: amy kellogg in rome, italy. martha: the group of american card tphalt cardinals in rome have declared their own vow of violence. this is the largest number of american cardinals to weigh in on the decision of the next mope. there are $1 o11 of them. they may the decision after fellow cardinals made concerns

about the briefings. so they are done. bill: the storm that buried chicago chicago about a foot of snow, it is wet, heavy, it's moving he's ward affect -lg millions of you out there. it's been a nightmare getting in and out of airports. airport canceled more than a thousand flight in chicago and all that snow also meant school and work was canceled for many, giving them a chance to maybe enjoy the weather, get out a little bit. >> why not enjoy the weather? most of the time i don't get a chance, i have to be out here at 5:00 in the morning before i get to school. when they called it off, why not have none fun, and i'm having fun. >> a little more fun than snow blowing. >> a little bit. bill: the snow is phaoeulg up in oupiling up in our nation's capitol. outside of washington its coming down in northern virginia, and parts of maryland.

federal government closed officers for the day, snowquester it is. martha: they closed the press briefing. it doesn't look too bad at the white house. some scathing emails sent to the agencies about recent budget cuts. what they reveal about how this is all working. bill: how about a drone strike on americans inside the u.s. is that a possibility? that is the question for the attorney general. martha: an update on a story we've been following about the woman who was denied cpr at a nursing home-type facility. why the family says the nurse did the right thing, we're going to tell you about that. >> hand the phone to the passerby? anybody there can do cpr. give them the phone, please. i under if your facility is not willing to do that. give the phone to that passerby, to that stranger. this woman is not breathing

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bill: the family of an 8 seven-year-old woman in california who died after a staffer rear fused to perform cpr on her, the family says they are satisfied and do not plan any suit against the facility. the woman collapsed and stopped bleeding last week at glen wood gardens n. a dramatic 911 call the worker telling the dispatcher that heights against company policy to perform cpr. mrs. bayliss died shortly afterward at the hospital. relatives say she knew the facility did not have medical staff and chose to live there because she did not want life prolonging intervention. martha: internal emails are surfacing that show an administration official instructing an agency to basically make sure that the budget cuts come out as advertised, meaning that they hurt. a staffer who asked to distribute the pain in a slightly different way at the

animal and plant health inspection service reportedly received an email from a superior that said this. take a look. so it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction you need to make sure that you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be. interesting, right? alan colmes joins us now ho*efs the alan colmes radio show and tuck err karlsson editor of "the daily caller," both of fox news contributor. alan ha do you make of in. >> i don't know who that is and why they would say that. the notion that somehow there is a desire to hurt the american public is contradicted from the facts. and there is no a attribution there. who said it? martha: we are looking at all kind of examples that prove that it's intended not to sort of use $85 billion in a way that hurts people the least, it seems to

there is a point to be made here with these actions. >> who is trying to hurt people? there is an attempt to negotiate with the other side. the president just today, for example, invited 12 senators, including lindsey graham and suzie collins and ralph portman to the white house because he's not getting any reaction to republican leadership who choose not to work with him. john boehner 0 points to the white house and says let him do it. he says let senate do it. he is working around them and having a meeting with other senators to try to get something done. martha: let's take a look at what brit hume said about this last night. >> president obama's behavior in this business about the automatic budget cuts, this is some of the most peculiar behavior i've ever seen by a president. >> absolutely. >> this is not what we expect of presidents. presidents in the end are supposed to be the people who put on their big boy pants and are prepared to shoulder responsibility and if they are criticized for using that responsibility or authority so be it. but that's what you expect of

presidents. this president seems more inclined to let the chips fall where they may and hit as hard as they might as long as he can blame something else. martha: is he putting on his big boy pants and shoulders responsibility, tucker? >> i think it's okay to nod to reality and acknowledge to emails like that are appalling, it's rang. you don't want to think the executive branch of government is working against you, is trying to punish you to make a political point. he over reaches.ident reaches a he thinks he's anointed by god to bring his programs to the american people. this president did it quite too early. when you get your cabinet secretaries on television like arne duncan in education to tell things that aren't true in order to make a political point i think you lose the public and the poll numbers reflect that. he went too far. martha: alan did he go too far.

>> you have a bunch of polls that say on immigration the people are with the president. martha: we're tacking about in terms of the sequester issue. we've seen the president kind of back peddle on this a little bit. it was all doom and gloom and armageddon, then the day before he said you might not feel it right away. there was some acknowledgment that they sold this in the wrong way. >> over time he said there was going to be pain for a lot of people, including lines at airports and veterans not getting checks it wasn't going to happen day one. martha: the president does have leverage at his control to make that less painful, to make cuts that are less painful. the president does have some power over that that he opted not to use. >> he's offered republicans $980 billion worth of cuts. he's offered 2.30 cents in cuts for every dollar raised in taxes. he's offered chained --

martha: i believe -- you're going back to the grand bar gone. the reason that that fell apart was because $400 billion in revenue increase was tacked on the deal at end and that broke the camel's back. >> we are talking about closing loopholes. they are saying he wants to raise taxes, he's not even talking about raising taxes, he's talking about closing loopholes. martha: we already got the tax hikes, that's been done pw-r. t*eurbg. >> you do expect a little more from any president. this is the executive. he's supposed to take an active role. he's supposed to ral hraoet country behind his program not take a passive position. martha: he he invited all the members of congress in and wants to talk to them alan said. >> this is a little late. >> a little a little? >> right. it happened five days ago, sequestration. >> he was come forth time and time again with plans that are rejected where. is john boehner's plan. >> i totally get that. martha: the houses put two plans

for the already. >> john boehner says let the senate and white house take care of it. martha: john boehner said we have put through two budgets we have to tput put a third through. >> i don't see what boehner is doing right now. the president is proactive lee saying i want to get together. martha: i'm sorry that doesn't make any sense. >> i think the president could have got even a lot out of this moment if he had just tried at least a little bit in public to rise above partisanship. trust me, this is not about the budget. the white house is not looking at the way republicans are, which is i don't know, how do we balance the federal budget? this is about the 2014 midterm election, an effort to divide the public party and to regain

the democratic majority? the house. martha: if you go through the airport next time and they have a new look you'll know where it came from. >> take some personal responsibility for the division in your own party that you can't get your act together. don't brave blame it on the president. martha: we have to believe it there. by alan, buy tucker. bill: plan plans to scrap an income tax in a new state are now dead. what caused the change may surprise you. details on that. martha: did a slip of the tongu by kate middleton let a royal secret out of the bag, boy or girl? michael, tell us why you used to book this fabulous hotel? well you can see if the hotel is pet friendly before you

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martha: was it a royal slip of the to*pbg? tongue. a strong indication that they are having a baby girl. when kate middleton was given a teddy bear during this public appearance you're watching tuesday a woman in the crowd reportedly said, i distinctly heard her say, thank you. i'll take that for my da -- and then she stopped herself. she says, former captain middleton, now the dutchess of cambridge, that it was not a slip up. >> no, no, no. [inaudible] martha: no, no, no, we don't know yet. she is pregnant, of course, with the royal couple's first child

expected to give birth in july. whether it's a boy or girl. bill: we don't know. martha: only time will tell. bill: we list toned this slip earlier today. we played it like ten times. martha: you can't hear it. you can't hear the part where she says anything at the beginning of it. the most interesting thing about it is that if it is a daughter then that daughter will be next in line 4 for the throne for the first time in british history -- bill: because? martha: because they changed the succession rules. whatever they have will be next in line after william. if it's a girl -- bill: what about harry? martha: he's not in the direct line, you have charles, william, and william's child. if they have five boys after that it won't matter. charles had an older sister. she was not even in the running. this child would be directly -- bill: my head is spinning. martha: we'll explain it during the break. bill: if it's a girl it will be the next -- martha: after her father she would be next. bill: nebraska's governor khapg plans for a controversial

overhaul of the state's tax system. had this passed nebraska would join the list of seven states without a personal income. but the governor wanted to take it a first further and eliminate the state's corporate income tax. william la jeunesse on that story. so the fight is not just in washington, is it on taxes? >> reporter: yeah, what happened in nebraska, bill is a lot like the tax reform debate in washington. the president says he wants to raise money by closing loopholes and ending tax breaks and republicans prefer that to raising personal income taxes. in nebraska this republican governor proposed something different wanting to raise billions by closing loopholes and use the money to get rid of the personal income tax. >> i've had a number of governors who have come up to me and said, hey, look, we applaud what you're doing. you're going to be more competitive. governor perry e of texas told me i to you're going to catch up

to me and i need to be prepared to compete even more in the future. >> reporter: so the politics, bill looks kind of attractive for tax reform, you close the loopholes for business rather than raise or in in casey limb nature the personal income tax. bill: what happened there, william? >> reporter: what happens when main street meets k street handsome politician tries to take away a special piece of the tax code, the lobbyists from the churches, the manufacturers, agriculture, they swarm the state capitol and do what special interests do what they are threatened, they circle the wagons to protect the bottom line and kill the deal. >> authors the industries we should be working to protect and enhance rather than reupbd der with the negative impacts that would come from the governor's tax proposal. >> reporter: the governor says he'll try next year. when you here about tax reform the administration says it wants to close the loopholes. washington has been doing it for

decades and the special interests fight back. bill: thank you, martha. martha: we are told that the snow is starting to pileup in washington, the same storm that caused a travel nightmare across the midwest. of it is now hitting the east coast. there is iowa, look at that. who is the nation's capitol handling it? we have an idea. we'll take a look. bill: if you're heading there you may want to scratch the white house off your tour schedule. the surprising reason why public visits there are being canceled, no more starting this weekend. u never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money

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martha: the snow is now falling in washington d.c. from the same storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow in chicago. hundreds of thousands of government employees have been told, just stay home from washington today, in anticipation of the storm that could bring up to 16 inches of snow out in the suburban area. but peter doocy is not afraid of that. i know you've weathered many storms in new jersey. how are they handling there it? >> reporter: martha it's wet and wintry. it's a wintry mix of rain and snow. you look behind me because there's been rain mixed in with the snow almost no accumulation here. you can still see the green

grass on the lawn in front of the capitol. the storm has been kind of making its way through virginia where there are about 112,000 customers without power right now in the dark, in the cold, and it's coming here to the capitol, to the nation's capitol where there are power crews on hand from alabama and georgia to assist the power company here petco in case this high wind and heavy precipitation, whatever you want to call this. rain-snow mixture knocks the lights out here. the roads are pretty dead for 10:30 on a wednesday. all federalless are closed. federal employees, nonemergency employees are told to stay home, you have an excused absence from the day. you won't hear anything from the state department or the president obama secretary today. even though there is no accumulation the roads are pretty slick right there, martha. martha: peter, we are glad you showed up nor work this morning

even though nobody else did. thank you very much. peter doocy. bill: new reaction from the attorney general eric holder. moments ago on the use of drones inside the united states now. kapt to*pt toll hill hearing that did take place today. holder says he has no intention of allowing drone strikes here at home, from minutes ago. >> what i said in the letter was that the government has no intention to carry out any drone strikes in the united states. it's hard for me to imagine a situation in which that would occur. we have within the united states the ability to use our law enforcement capacity. as i laid out in a speech that he gave at northwestern university with regards to the use of these kinds of letha onel things was that the possibility, the niece built of capture was difficult in foreign lands, afghanistan, pakistan, other parts of the middle east, that is not the same thing here in the united states where the possibility of capture is obviously enhanced, and as a

result the use of drones is from my perspective something that is entirely, entirely hypothetical. bill: there is more to this. i want to talk to retired captain chuck nash now, former u.s. navy captain, fox news military analyst. does that settle it there, captain? >> well, bill, i come from a way of life in the military where you don't buy weapons that you don't intend to use. why would you? and if you look at what the department of homeland security has been purchasing over the last year, it comes out to like 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, more than 7,000 fully automatic assault weapons, 2700mrap type vehicles and now drones. those are instruments of war. department of homeland security who are they going to fight a war against? bill: how do you wapbs that? >> answer that? >> i don't know. a bunch of people um here should be asking more questions about

this. how dwhy do they need all that of stuff. bill: rand paul the pep from kentucky has been really after this story trying to get answers from the attorney general. until those comments that just happened in a hearing all we had was a pretty long letter, a long statement i should say, about the possibility, and he referred again to it as unlikely to occur, entirely hypothetical. what he suggested was that if you had a catastrophic attack, such as september 11th, or pearl harbor, perhaps that would be the hypothetical that would enter into this equation. how are you to interpret that, or how do you read that letter, captain? >> well i will read that line to you if i may, because he says for example the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances of a catastrophic attack like the ones

december 7th 1941, septembe september 11th 20002001. if such an emergency to arise i would talk to the president. those were acts of war and surprise attacks, you don't go in there and start doing things. bill: what is your interpretation of that? >> this is a completely muddled letter. in military terms if that was my commander's intent i have no idea what he's talking b. it's conflicting, it's muddled. who is the enemy, terrorists? you know, you have true weapons of war here that are being purpd. this is not law enforcement equipment. so what is going on? and i think senator paul is fully within his rights as a member of the congress to ask these questions. bill: we've reached out to the senator. we'll see if we can get him back

on the air even maybe tomorrow. what we heard from that statement in that hearing is similar what he told senator paul, arguing that law enforcement is best suited to resolve any sort of conflict in this country. that would further suggest that he puts the police, the fbi first, right? >> absolutely. and he is the chief law enforcement officer in the united states, and the fbi works for h*epl hi him in the department of justice. bill: it would seem to suggest that drones are off the table, but you apparently are not so convinced of that based on what i hear from that. >> if they are off the table why buy them? i go back to my original statement. com from a way of life where you don't buy weapons that you don't intend to use. bill: fair point. we will reach out to rand mall and get his reaction too. captain, thank you. much appreciate your insight on that. captain nash. martha: a very sad day for fans of 70s television, valerie harper has been diagnosed we are told with a terminal brain

cancer situation. she is 73 years old, best known of course for her loveable character of rhoda on the marry tyler moore's show. doctors say she has about three months to live. in a reseven interview she said i don't think of dying, i just think of being here now i. had the opportunity to meet her. she's been a guest at faction several times. she is just a lovely, hilarious, talented, wonderful woman. i hope she is watching right now because we wish her well, we know she is a fan, and just an amazing contribution, and so much laughter. remember sitting on the 0 couch with your family watching the shows growing up? what was that on the marry tyler moore's show and the rod. bill: major concerns by military officials if iran goes nuclear. martha: we have been warned of

course as a result of the sequester that there will be fewer tsa agents out there thanks to the budget cuts. at least we know they will be well dressed. what am i talking about? wait until you hear h. we'll be righ. we'll be right back. ididide?

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martha: a top u.s. commander is now warning that if iran gets a weapon it will spark a nuclear arms race. that is what military generals had to say yesterday testifying on capitol hill. take a look at some of this. >> if the iranians develop a nuclear capability how certain are you that other nations in the region would acquire an equal capability? >> at least one other nation has told me they would do that at a

leadership level, they have assured me they would not stay without a nuclear weapon if iran was armed. >> was that a sunni hi arab state. >> yes, sir. >> so the likelihood of sunni-arab states would arm themselves. >> yes. martha: steven yates served as deputy assistance to the vice president for national security affairs from 2001 to 2005. welcome become to the show. what is your reaction to that back and forth. >> it's an important warning because of who the general is that is speaking. he's the commander of this central region and has more one-on-one leadership meetings than the national security team of president obama with the new secretary of state and defense. he has a clear sense of what the

thinking is of those in the region that are concerned with a break-out capability in iran. martha: what would that mean? you go to the next step, if iran does indeed have a nuclear weapon, which everyone from the president on down agrees we want to try to prevent from happening, if at all possible, that that will spark an arms war in the middle east? >> in a certain sense i think his warning is telling us that that strategy is baked into the cake already. in many case iran has not declared that it has a nuclear weapons capability and these states haven't declared that they have programs to count teurt, but they see the u.s. efforts and international efforts by sanctions and other means has failed to change the trajectory and they can't rely on those efforts alone to protect their security. my sense is that they are likely already underway in proliferating this dangerous technology across the region. stkwra martha: we heard some stronger language from secretary of state john kerry with regard to iran the other day.

what did you think about that? >> it's one thing to take a tough tone, and of course the secretary has covered a few warnings in the region to the leader of syria, which is also a part of this strategic play by iran, but we have to back it up with an "or else" and it has to be credible. one of the problems we have right now is that iran doesn't seem dissuaded from its current path. its primary enables, china and iran do not seem dissuaded and our allies in the region don't seem assured. i think the combination. martha: i'm sorry for interest rupgt. if you'r interrupting. you say the sanctions haven't worked. president bush said the same thing that all options were on the table. where do you do from there? what posture do you take after that. >> i think all options need to be on the table but they need not be extreme like an iraq-style invasion, and continuing to talk and doing

what we know hasn't worked. we chose not to support divisions who wanted to counter the leaders pursuing these dangerous weapons. we know there are actors in the region who might of their own might want to shape developments in iran and the broader region, like i said with syria. we have not sent a clear signal whether we would even consider sanctioning them if they took actions to support those who counter these forces. a lot of middle ground is yet to be defined. ultimately it's up to the president to say, what do we seek and what do we have to mind in accomplish it. martha: it's such an interesting point. it's something that president bush talked about midway through his term, encouraging change from within and surrounding countries that may move the kneeled a bit in that signatures. it hasn't happened yet. thank you very much, good to talk to you. bill: jon scott standing by. "happening now" rolling your way. what are you cooking up? jon: about 11 minutes from now. we actually have good news on the economic front to tell you

about. one day after a new record for the dow. good numbers on factory orders again giving markets a lift. fallout from the death of hugo chavez, the twisted says the sequester is being used for politics in this country, plus is president obama reaching across the aisle? and is taking calcium bad for your heart? we'll get into that, the wicked weather and raoepblg gis regis phlibin joins us live. a packed show. bill: the white house canceling tours, but guess who says we are open. stop on by, america.

bill: the white house stopping all tors fo tours for visitors,

blaming it on sequester. >> perhaps by avoiding furloughing all of these federal employees we will be able to get the democrats and republicans across america, people who don't even have a party, because they are just americans, they'll be able to get their tour of the white house and all it will cost is one or two golf trips less. bill: jonah goldberg editor at large of national review and fox news contributor. one up? >> we were sort of moved from an argument about whether or not barack obama is managing things badly to whether or not he's ordering people to badly manage, right? i mean we are now looking at him, you know, with this wildlife service memo actually telling officials of the executive branch to make she's cuts as painful as possible. and while i don't think canceling self-guided tours at the white house rises to the

level of a painful cut, i think what he's doing is very cynical, what he's doing isee lying upon low information voters, people who haven't been paying attention to this fight, just hear that republicans are insisting on the sequester and they take obama's word for it and they don't understand that most of these things are avoidable, and it's a -- i think some conservatives go too far in constantly saying everybody obama does is a very community organizer approach to politics where you try to arouse the passions of the politically uneven gauged to put presents ourpb washington to have them do the things you want them to do. bill: these are selfguided tours right? >> yeah. bill: you wonder what the expense is in the end, anyway. >> double a batteries in the headsets cost a lot of money. bill: and you have 19 different languages from which to choose, i'm guessing. it's been ten years since i've taken that tour, the east wing of the white house. give the white house the benefit of the doubt for a moment here, because there are secret service

members who do have to patrol to some degree anyone who comes into the white house. what they are suggesting is if they reallocate the workload you will not have to furlough those secret service officers. does that fly? does that pass the smell test? >> they haven't really earned the benefit of the doubt. president obama's statement about janitors has been completely depw*upbg debunked by "the washington post" fact checkers, these guys completely have called them on the dishonesty about that. so, the idea that somehow this is vital to the secret service, at the very least dubious. my guess is that it costs more to take a secret service detail on a golf trip than it costs to send them down to the other wing of the white house to guard some tours. bill: i would think you're right about that. we'll break down the numbers.

maybe we can determine what the true answer is there. speaker boehner -- sorry the capitol building, they've reae rained everything they do over there. they saved the money already. they anticipated sequester and the capitol building is open for tours. in fact a few of them are going through today. joan a get on up there, okay? they are waiting for you. right behind you there. >> pretty bad weather to go to the capitol. >> give it a shot, tough guy. see you soon, jonah. martha: big news, late yesterday afternoon, and he had seized control of oil-rich venezuela decades ago, now longtime leader hugo chavez is gone at the age of 58. what does this mean for the country's future and its relationship with our country? we'll be right back. this is so sick!

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