>> go ahead. hit me. >> bam! bam! >> not in the face! >> steve: that could be trouble. see you tomorrow. alexis, calling him a ticking time bomb. that was a month before he killed 12 people monday morning. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to america's newsroom. martha: we are learning about multiple incidents that should have raised a red flag. but for some reason these were ignored. police reported him to military authorities last month after they had a bizarre run-in with

him at a hotel. he said people were following him and sending vibrations through his body and that was keeping them awake and they were using a microwave to send these vibrations. he saw a psychiatrist at a va hospital two times in the last month. bill: and he was given clearance that allows him access to military facilities. peter doocy begins our coverage back at the navy yard in washington. what was the last background check on aaron alexis? >> reporter: this summer, last than 3 months ago. that's what the contract is saying. they are adding with this

statement, we confirmed twice through the department of defense his secret clearance. that was in late june of 2013 and revealed no issues other than one minor traffic violation. the "wall street journal" is reporting the navy knew alexis had a checkered past, but since he was honorably discharged. you can lose your clearance for adult are youa -- for adultery,r substance abuse. but the background check on his weapon said it was okay.

bill: what have you learned about the rescues? >> reporter: i visited the u.s. park police hangar which is just over the anacostia river. and i learned from the crew one of the first things they did when they got here was pick up one of the first d.c. metro police officer they saw. it was a canine officer who had 0 leave his dog on the ground. but they wanted him for his radio. they saw four people on the roof. we know that was three employees looking for safety. they brought a fourth colleague of theirs who was badly bleeding up there. the injured woman was hoisted up first. the crew said the first thing she said was thank you. >> incredibly brave and

composed. i can't imagine being through what she had just gone through and being composed myself. >> reporter: in this scenario the most reasonable thing was to get her out of this area. we flew out of the area with her hang on the outside of the aircraft. >> reporter: the crew says the hoist operations are the most difficult things you can do in any circumstances. but because the conditions were so bad they were doing them with their windshield wiper going. they said they knew someone could start shooting through the windshield at any time. but that's their job. martha: we are learning more today about the 12 people murdered in monday's shooting rampage. 3 women, 9 men.

they include parents, retirees. all pictured here except for 58-year-old gerald reid. they job john johnson as a loving father, grandfather and avid fisherman. >> my husband was a wonderful man. he was always happy, always positive. never had a bad word to say about anybody. loved the world, loved life. just proud to be an american. it's more than i can tell you. up just so shocked and stunned. we were going to retire soon, and he loved his job. he wanted to keep working because he just loved it. loved the people he worked with. never met a stranger in his

life. just a very happy, positive, wonderful human being. more so than anyone i have ever known in my life. and he's going to be greatly missed by a lot of people. he was a great far it and great grand father and an awesome human being. and i loved hip have much. martha: it's not right that these people should have lost the ones they love so much. our heart goes out to judy johnson and her family. she articulated her love for her husband in such a beautiful way. this man, a veteran, a pilot. he worked on a team that designed high-tech ships for the navy. >> it's one of those things that happens to other people, it doesn't happen to me. she was talking to him on the

phone, michael said the sirens, the alarms are going off. he said i have to go, he said good-bye. at least she has that. i am not through it yet and i'll never be through it. y never -- every day -- it will never be over. martha: no word yet on when we might see memorials for those lost. but it's heartbreaking. when you look at those pictures of aaron alexis and you hear these people and the havoc he has wrought on their lives, we have to figure this out. bill: the washington nationals paid tribute on tuesday as well. as our flags fly at half staff please join us for a moment of silence as we honored the lives

lost and pay tribute to all those affected by yesterday's horrific shooting. bill: fans and players observing that moment of silence. nationals park practically across the street from the washington navy yard. players wearing blue and gold navy caps and fans sporting navy t-shirts as well. a lot of folks went to the park before they evacuated out of there monday morning. the nats won both games, small consolation. martha: they are an integral part of understanding this entire thing. a new case for baltimore care in term -- a new case for ohobama .

obama -- obama-care. stuart varney joins me now. this is being a familiar refrain. >> reporter: do you remember the shift in pensions when you went from a company offering a guarantee after pension to a company giving you a contribution toward it? this is have much like that. wall greens. 167,000 employees, they are telling them you are not going to get healthcare directed from us. you will get a check. and you can spend it anywhere you like from the range of health insurance policies from a private exchange. walgreens is saying we can't afford the rising cost of healthcare and we can't afford

compliance with obama-care. it's a huge shift in what your employer offers you for health insurance. martha: people from mcdonald's going to washington to lobby for a damage in the law. >> reporter: 300en from choice 0 franchisees swap'ed white house. they said you can't have it 30 hours. you have got to shift it to 40 hours as the cutoff point for part-time work. martha: when you look back, if you leak your healthcare plan and look your doctor you can keep it. those word region in everyone's

ears when you think about this discussion. people at walgreens and ibm and time-warner. a whole bunch of places. bill: the sentence conclude, maybe not. but this is a beginning of a flood when big companies say we are going to change the policy. martha: we'll hear from the president that premiums and costs were going down. if costs were truly going down what would force companies to push people off the rolls and say here is your check. bill: did the politicians and media get it wrong monday? and why did that happen regarding the washington killer? we'll debate that next. martha: a scandal over the irs targeting of conservative groups. how much the white house knew and why the extent of the targeting was much great than previously known.

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martha: the two men wanted in the kidnapping of a georgia teenager are demanding a hefty ransom. the family is scrambling to get $10,000 to get their daughter back. the gunmen broke into their home. she wanted money and julie. when the mother said they didn't have nip of those. they shot the family dog, grabbed the daughter and took off in a gray dodge. anybody with information on this is asked to call 911. bill: aaron alexis able to keep

his own security clearance despite his documented descent into madness. alan colmes and tucker carlson, gentlemen, two big topics. hearing voices, newport, rhode island, early august. the police in rhode island have a report of this. they gave it to the navy. they did what they were supposed to do. >> apparently alexis himself called police because he was so tormented by these voices. he may have been under treatment by the veterans administration the last month or two. the one factor that connects so many of these mass shootings is you be addressed mental illness clearly not being treated and this possibly is the legacy of the institutionalization.

there is clearly something going on here. >> there is a stigma attached to mental illness and we need to remove the stigma sow it can be openly discussed and people who need treatment can get treatment. the va was treating him for this. that's the report that came out in the last 12 hours. why was this not in a data place someplace? i know there are issues of medical privacy. but why isn't this in the database,. bill: the issue monday and again tuesday, everybody goes running after the ar-15, the semiautomatic rifle that didn't even exist. the new york "daily news," same gun, different sleigh. that was in reference to newtown. there were media outlets and

they were all wrong about it. >> your average reporter or democratic reporter wouldn't know anything about firearms. but there is also the instinct to blame it weapon, the tool, rather than find out why it was used in this horrific way. even when they found out it was a 12-gauge shotgun you saw ludicrous accounts of the rifle having a military weapon. this is the most popular gun in america that people take duck hunting every year. up can't ban this gun. >> this is a conservative talking points that the media is guilty for promoting it was an ar-15 to ban guns. the reason the media reported it is that's what the authorities said. the lax "times" said there were other people on the scene, people who worked there who had

ar-15s. another media outlet believed it may be because he may have had one at this time but didn't bring to it this figure tragedy. the media wasn't inventing this out of whole cloth. bill: they were looking for something to blame early. >> they were reporting what reports on the scene told hem. bill: wednesday, three days later -- we are learning all this stuff -- a lot of people were aware this man had problems, tucker. >> it's apparently not enough to give people with severe mental illness a pill and hope everything is fine. alan says we need to decrease the stigma around mental illness. paranoid schizophrenia, we need to make it clear this could become dangerous. bill: i'll give youd the last word. >> when i say stigma i'm not

talking about we have to ignore it. prime minister. people are afraid to report it because there is an unfortunate significant that attached to mental illness. and it should be openly discussed and talked about. martha: we are getting breaking details on the situation in syria. the united nations is apparently now ready to send chemical weapons inspectors back into the country. we have live details on what they are looking for. bill: you saw that historic supersonic free-fall, right? that's felix and we have the inside scoop on how it happened when the ultimate dare joins us live. >> felix proved you could survive going through the south barrier. will this make a continues for future crew escapes?

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put the odds on your side. visit botoxchronicmigraine.com and talk to a headache specialist. bill: acapulco, mexico, one terminal, and a parking lot under water. authorities set up emergency flights to get passengers to their destination. the storm killed 47 people across the country of mexico. bill: this is just coming in on the crisis in syria. u.n. chemical weapons inspectors are planning to go back to take another look at syria. they are going to follow up on more allegations of chemical weapons use there. leland vittert is live from jerusalem. >> reporter: this is about

building a case of whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them. they got retasked because of the chemical weapons attack. they come back late september, early october to do more research about the original attacks in march, it will be very difficult to find evidence as the evidence tend to degrade over time. look at how the world has changed since they were originally tasked. the united states has largely taken air strikes off the table in terms of punishing president assad. the u.n. up spectors say there were chemical weapons used. hard to know how that changes things in the world view going

forward. martha: the rebels who are vetted and supported by the cia and others, are they making headway? >> reporter: the on gains seem to be coming from the jihadist-backed rebels. they are the ones with the better fire power, better intelligence and better fighters. sometimes they are fighting the moderate rebels in addition to the assad regime. the assad regime is happy to let everybody fight it out between themselves on the ground. as things get colder the regime forces begin to take over a much more extra tee vick advantage because of the weather, the terrain and their training. we'll have to wait and see how the next couple months play out. bill: we are getting bombshell new details over the scandal over the irs.

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martha: a report shows the white house was acutely aware the ils wanted to -- the irs wanted to crack down on conservative groups. the irs treated tea party applications different live. applications filed by tea party groups were identified, grouped due to media attention of the tea party in general. joining me, congressman darrell issa is chairman of the government oversight and government reform committee. thank you for being here. >> thanks for covering this important issue. clearly free speech was attacked by the irs, that's what our report shows and that's what the public needs to know. martha: your critics will say there is no link to the white house. your report does not find any

connection or directive that came from the white house to separate these groups for more intense scrutiny. >> when the president shook his finger and chastised the supreme court in the well of the house over citizens united, he began a process of making it very clear that he had a problem with the court's interpretation of free speech. as he and others began to show their -- that they were offended by what the tea party was saying, hard in, he respected free speech if prove tbressives said it but not if conservatives said it because that was hate speech. that set up a situation the irs was sympathetic to. their targeting and denying due process to tea party groups had everything to do with what they said, not their right to say it. martha: did you find one person, lois lerner, one of her deputies

who was sort of guiding this group in cincinnati? because as you are well aware, it's the irs's contention and lois lerner's contention and the white house's contention these were rogue agents. you heard what the president said he doesn't like these groups and we need to separate them out. >> lois lerner took the fifth. she was pivotal to this. she was at the center of it all. we intend to have her back. and recognize the committee voted she waived her amendment rights. she wasn't alone. one of the challenges we are going to have is to get each of the individuals in, all of whom appear to be in washington and find out who they talked to outside of the irs. it's more and more clear they received information both publicly and privately into washington irs and act on it. i think one important thing is

the people in cincinnati, even if they had wanted and carter hall and others wanted to move these applications forward, recommended their approval, they were not allowed to do so. martha: the other group we are still waiting to hear from are these troops that believe that they were subject to this scrutiny. i know there are 20-some lawsuits by tea party groups that waited for 18 months, 36 months to get their tax exempt status that pro dressive groups seem to be getting at a much faster rate. 80% of the groups set aside were connecticut conservative friewms. the administration said they want want the irs to do undue scrutiny. >> they are not being honest when the white house says they want to hear from them. they put out this false assumption and documents specifically to show that progressive groups were targeted.

our investigation and our report shows they were not targeted. yes there were some groups identified. some were denied for appropriate reasons. the vast majority were approved and they were given a timely disposition. in the case of the tea party groups many of them still do not have approval or denial, meaning they have been denied deliberately far greater than it would have happened. in the ordinary course, carter hall and others, career professionals said there was nothing new. our information shows they were constantly going back looking for ways to essentially deny this whole category and in the meantime delaying it. groups are coming forward, they are signing waivers. we can get details of their information. our committee t to a great extet will be representing tea party

groups. martha: they were delayed in the system i think is clear from all the testimony we have heard. i want to get your thoughts on this benghazi accountability report. it appears the people in charge of overseeing personnel, patrick kennedy, at the state department were never asked any questions about why they would have not given extra security when they were asked for it at the consulate in benghazi. >> our study shows the accountability review board gave a complete pass to undersecretary kennedy and was in the process with secretary clinton, was in the process of making benghazi a permanent consulate as the am pass doer was attacked. what we found, accountability

review board didn't happen. as a matter of fact the four people identified by the arb, all of them are on the job, none of them having lost a day's pay. even before they identified, they are not held accountable. martha: we are going to carry that live for everybody at home who are interested in benghazi. bill: here is a rare sight. northern california, a dust devil appearing out of nowhere. it started small and quickly picked up speed shooting sand into the sky. dust devils are usually harmless. they are formed when hot air from the surface rises to a pocket of cooler air. i got that from maria molina.

martha: it remains me of the tasmanian devil. that's how he usually arrives. bill: that cartoon used to be on at 3:00 every afternoon. martha: right after school. bill: will republicans reform obama-care? martha: your heart breaks for these folks in colorado. look at this mess. the rescue crews there are now shifting their focus from emergency airlift to tracking down hundreds of coloradoans who are missing in these floods. bill: the beauty queen is breaking stereotypes. an army sergeant. what does she think of all the attention? her example and what she wants women to know when miss kansas joins us later.

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and ask about discounts for aarp members. adt. always there. offer ends october 31st. martha: opening statements getting underway in the case of the woman known as hiccup girl. she was charged with murder after allegedly luring a man to a home where police say she and her friend robbed and shot him. she is 22 years old. she twained national attention because of her prolonged hiccupping. look at her now. boy ... what a turn. bill: consequence rrp in congress trying to force democrats to strip down the

president's healthcare law if they want a deal on funding the government. something democrats ruled out. katie, good morning to you. basic questions here. in the house, they believe this is their last best hope of stopping obama-care. but in order to do it, they may have to shut down the government. as we stand here today give me the basics here. what is the possibility you would put on a shutdown at the moment. >> i would put it at 50-50. but we have seen the polite in the republican party how to delay or defund obama-care. you have 40 republicans on the house that are on the conservative side. and conservative senators in the senate saying this is the last chance to stop obama care. if we don't stop it now we are never going to.

then you have republicans in the house saying the deal with obama-care is ultimately repeal. the way you get is to delay it enough times until you get a republican president who is willing to sign on that dotted line which we know president obama won't do. but the issue stands that the republicans are willing to force a government shu shutdown. they are willing to fund every other aspect of the government except obama-care. they are not shutting down the government, they are saying we are shutting down the funding for this one program. john boehner and mitch mcconnell are on the side of delaying and repealing eventually. they are not into this government shutdown idea. they would prefer to come to an agreement on the debt ceiling. but they think democrats should come up with compromises on spending and why we continually have this debate over the debt

ceiling and it's because we are not willing to do anything about debt going up. bill: 50-50 is pretty high. that's higher than i thought you would say if you are two weeks away. >> reporter: they haven't dealt with it for months. this concept of republicans saying they want to defund obama-care is nothing new. they have been saying this for a long time. here in washington they like to do everything at the last minute. maybe it's 50-50, but republicans can use this as a way to negotiate. maybe instead of using this to defund obama-care they can say we'll compromise and instead we would like the individual mandate to be delayed rather than having the government shut down and obama-care defunded. >> we have heard that individual mandate delay. would democrats go for that? >> i would hope they would, businesses have gotten delays.

80% of democrats and republicans want the individual mandate delayed. the one key factor everyone can agree on is obama-care is unpopular and it's not ready for prime time. the majority of americans agree on that. they don't think it's fair for big corporations and businesses to get a break while they have to foot the bill starting in october. bill: some argue this is what the president wants and thinks he can win on it and paint republicans into a corn. do you agree with that strategy? >> history shows shutdowns often get blamed on republicans. the polling shows the shutdown would be blamed on republicans and the fallout is not good for them. but in the greater scheme of that argument. many argued the whole goal was to get it to collapse on itself so we can go into a single pair system. president obama argued for a single pair system.

there is evidence to back up the idea maybe this is exactly what president obama wanted. bill: this will be something to watch in the coming weeks. 50-50 you say today. thanks. martha: he gained youtube fame when he dramatically confessed to a deadly dui crash and posted this on the internet. he unless court and expected to plead guilty in the death after 61-year-old father. we are live coming up moments away in the courtroom. bill: he's the first person to break the sound barrier with his own body. feel egfelix baumgartner is hero tell us about a opportunity that almost went completely wrong.

bill: incredible video showing a man cheating death after stepping into the path of a speeding train. he was fined $2,000 for ignoring the warning signs to keep off the tracks. it happened in australia. and he's fine. martha: the jump from the edge of space by felix guam gartner. felix -- baumgartner. >> first felix opens the chute.

but with the next grasp he commits a dramatic mistake. martha: felix baumgartner who broke the sound barrier with his own body joins me now. welcome back. what was the big mistake in that part? >> that was the last jump on a test day. i was releasing my main parachute and pulling the wrong handle. i was focused on the camera and i lost my parachute. luckily i had another one. martha: there you are perched on the edge of that capsule. >> i was in the capsule and it was brought up by helium balloon. martha: you are all alone up there looking down. i was touched when we spoke about -- you said the feeling was like and what went through

your mind. just the thoughts of mortality that you experienced when you were falling. >> was not easy. as you can see i was spinning a lot. i was completely out of control in the beginning. but i was constantly work on the solution and i found one. martha: what do you think is the biggest scientific take away from this jump. you see all the people who put so much effort into making this happen. to have a human being being able to break the sound barrier. >> i think all the data we gained from this. of the systems we developed, it's something people can use in the future. space tourism will be more and more popular. martha: if people go up as space tourists you think some of the

technology that you used would be used to keep them safe up there? if something were to happen they could put themselves through what you went through to land safely? >> they needed that safety equipment. they could use that equipment and it would protect their lives for sure. there is no doubt about that. martha: i love the part when you land on the ground and you literally get down and kiss the ground. >> i was worried about the landing gear. i knew the whole world was watching and i wanted to make it perfect and i did. martha: the obvious question, when are you going to do it again? >> hell will be no. it doesn't make sense. my primary goal was to break the speed of sound as a human i did.

martha: you said it made you think a lot about life. how has that impacted you over the last year. >> since i have done this job i am constantly on the road. i met a lot of cool people. i met james cameron. martha: i'll bet he wanted to talk to you. >> he was in the mariannea trench in the ocean. he was an interesting character. i met a lot of good people a lot of conversations. i definitely think we inspires a lot of people. so that's my big honor. martha: any other challenges in your future? >> not so far, finding the right wife. the right girl to marry. martha: that may be tougher than breaking the sound barrier with your own body. but good luck. let us know how that works out.

maybe we have a few suggestions. bill: love a man and his candor. bill: when it happens you come back here, okay? a live look at a major hear going to get underway on the terror attack that killed four americans in benghazi. republicans digging for answers. who made the decisions and why have senior officials managed to escape blame. a man will make his plea in court today. >> my name is matthew cordle. on june 22, 2013, i hit and killed vincent canzani. this video will act as my confession. i'm beth...

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help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, whe experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. martha: we start with a fox news alert now. we're waiting for a moment of silence in the house armed services committee this morning that will recognize the victims

of monday's deadly rampage at the washington navy yard. the shooting killed 12 people, 11 of them are pictured here. they range in age from 46 to 73-year-old john roger johnson, whose wife judy you heard from in such an articulate, beautiful tribute to him. what a strong woman she is as she spoke surrounded by family members. among them, a former maryland police officer, a sunday school teacher and a grandfather of nine. and ahead this morning we'll also have a lot of reports this morning from top branches of the military as they will testify before the committee on base security which has become a huge concern the more we learn about aaron alexis and the more we know that the military was aware of several run-ins he had, particularly in a hotel in

newport, rhode island with the police and he claimed he heard voices and all kinds of concerns about his mental health. the navy was alerted to that there is talk about the suggestions that the sequester may have contributed in some way to the tragedy at the washington navy yard with the question of security at the gates, procedures, personnel. how many people are dedicated to watching situations like this and keeping our bases safe. so that's another real question that has been discussed a lot today. so many issues have been brought up by this once again and you wonder when the lessons will be learned in terms of mental health and in terms of alerting the officials who need to know. having those entities talk to each other because this man continued to have a pass to get on to the washington navy yard despite all of the red flags that we have learned about in the past 24 hours. so it's a troubling situation in terms of security. it is of course a heartbreaking and tragic situation as the reality sinks in for those 12

families who have lost their loved ones at the washington navy yard in that horrific shooting in the morning. so we will wait for that moment of silence and we'll keep one eye on that as that gets underway this morning on capitol hill. in the meantime it is the start to a very busy workday there. a couple of key hearings that could potentially provide some answers to some long-standing questions including matters surrounding benghazi. so that's how we get started on the second hour here of nerc's muse -- "america's newsroom." glad to have you with us, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. a couple things we're waiting on, a hearing about problems states are having implementing the health care law. we're less than two weeks away. october 1 on the calendar. republican leadership will hold a news conference likely to hear about the looming budget deadline. the big one, a new hearing on benghazi that will focus first time on evidence that senior state department officials were

left off the hook in that conclusion. martha: big questions there. we'll start with chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. she joins us live from washington. what are we expecting to learn from this hearing today, catherine. >> reporter: good morning a year after the benghazi terrorist attack congressional investigators are honing in on the central question, who set the policy that allowed the benghazi operation to go forward with substandard security? based on the congressional investigations the paper trail leads directly to the undersecretary of management patrick kennedy, who has so far escaped blame in the benghazi terrorist attack. what congressional testimony also shows that whenever there were questions about the future of the operation in benghazi it went directly to kennedy who then kicked it upstairs and asked for sign-off from mrs. clinton. we asked the state department who set the policy for benghazi yesterday. instead of answering that question directly, with we hope to hear are answers at this hearing you see there the state department read off a laundry list of secretary kennedy's

appearances on capitol hill. >> i'm not going to discuss internal deliberations as you know from the podium. but it is important to note that undersecretary kennedy was thoroughly interviewed by the arb, testified before two congressional hearings, provided more than 20 briefings to members and staff as he testified under oath he was not involved in the day-to-day decision-making on security in benghazi. >> reporter: the other thing to bear in mind which will be raised at the hearing today the four individuals who were identified for some kind of disciplinary action were eventually reinstated. what the congressional investigation shows that none of those four people were involved with setting the policy because everything followed from that policy. again the paper trail goes to kennedy and the evidence suggests that he had to take everything upstairs to mrs. clinton for sign-off, martha. martha: somebody had to set the policy, right? as you mentioned four people were disciplined. they were disciplined with full pay and now back in their jobs. as of right now we have nobody who this seems to have led to.

what do we know about this warning to the state department before the attack? >> reporter: the other thing to watch for at this hearing, fox news was told that there will be very aggressive questioning about an emergency meeting that was held in benghazi in august one month before the attack where they essentially predicted how they would die in a month later in a coordinated assault. this was like a red flare or a red flag and it went directly to washington. what we now know is that this warning from people on the ground in benghazi was considered so significant that several other top administration officials were read in on that emergency meeting classified cable and they include then secretary of defense lee on panetta, the chairman of the joint chiefs, martin dempsey and then also carter ham who at that time was the head of the africa command but significantly when mrs. clinton was questioned in january about that classified cable and the warning that the benghazi operation could not

withstand a coordinated assault she said, that it was never brought to her attention, martha. martha: boy, that raises a lot of questions and we'll see if we get any answers today. catherine, thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. bill: as catherine mentioned there, patrick kennedy is the star witness today. so who is he? his official title is undersecretary of state of management. some. things he is responsible for is the budget, logistics and security. kennedy testified under oath he was not involved in any day-to-day decision-making on security in benghazi, but nine months before the attack the kennedy signed off on a memo that approved substandard security at the consulate. martha: here are questionable events that lawmakers are investigating today. former secretary of state hillary clinton was never interviewed about this by the benghazi accountability review board, known as the arb, the big report said put a bow on it and was done. no senior level state department

officials were ever disciplined. the four employees placed on leave after benghazi were returned as we just said to active duty back in august. zero in terms of people who paid any price for what happened there. bill: we're watching for he had lines inside the hearing room. once we get headlines i will pass it along to you. it could get heated. patrick kennedy in the hot seat as we mentioned a moment ago. martha: president obama meanwhile meeting later this hour with a business roundtable trying to get some key business leaders on his side in the budget battle that is forming once again. republican leaders say they are not going to budge on the debt ceiling without cuts. >> it is quite common for requests of presidents to raise the debt ceiling to be accompanied by significant legislation that addresses the question of the debt. i would be stunned if we raised the debt ceiling and didn't do something about the debt. martha: well the debt ceiling is set to expire in october on the 15th. we're going to get a little

deeper into this argument with a panel coming up later this hour. watch for that. bill: the man behind the bizarre youtube homicide confession due in courtney moment now. this is in central ohio. matthew cordle expected to make good on his promise to plead guilty after a drunk driving crash killed a 61-year-old father. here's the video, part of it that went viral two weeks ago. >> my name is matthew cordle. on june 22nd, 2013, i hit and killed vincent canzani. this video will act as my confession. when i get charged i will plead guilty. i take full responsibility for everything i've done to vincent and his family. bill: some critics have criticized heavily that video display. mike tobin live at the courthouse in columbus, ohio. what do we expect there today, mike? >> reporter: well, bill, it should be quick.

as you heard matthew cordle made a promise he would plead guilty and his attorneys say this is the one where he will make good on promise. despite the online video confession the currently the plea on the books is not guilty. the attorneys say this is matter of procedure. as quickly as it takes to talk about, cordle is expected to enter the courtroom and enter a guilty plea to aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of drunk driving and he will be consistent with that confession where you heard him say he will take full responsibility for hitting and killing 61-year-old vincent canzani after a big night of drinking. they break for a presentence investigation. franklin county prosecutor ron o'brien is pushing for maximum sentence, eight 1/2 years. the defense team is looking for half that, bill. bill: we're hearing he might be released before the sentencing. what is that all about, mike? >> reporter: his defense attorneys say he is not going to do that. that would be a release so he could get out and push his anti-drunk driving message. thus far he hasn't posted bond. his defense team said today he

is not going to do that. he will remain in jail until the sentence begins. he wants to continue to enforce his anti-drunk driving message that is the whole motivation for posting this video confession online. you can hear him begging people not to drink and drive. they say they will continue to do that exactly how isn't clear yet, bill. bill: more on this. mike out of columbus ohio, along there with you. mike tobin. thanks for that. 10 past the hour. martha? martha: a massive explosion leaving just a smokey hole in the ground. that was somebody's house. bill: the president's syria strategy getting new criticism from former members of his own administration. defense secretaries they are. we'll look and ask who and why and john barrasso says working with russia is a big waste of time. also there is this. ♪ fly with our own wings, we care about the same things, we stand strong together, let me hear you sing ♪ martha: doesn't that make you feel good?

you know what that ad is for? we're going to show you. when we come right back. it has to do with obamacare. and oregonians who spent quite a bit of money on that ad. we'll be back. ♪ too big.

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now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪ bill: got breaking news out of ottawa, canada,, ontario it is. live pictures say multiple deaths in a collision that involved a passenger train and a city bus and witnesses are saying that the bus appeared to drive right through a lowered crossing barrier. said a witness, boom, it went just like the train, just like that. it just did not stop. there were reports again of multiple casualties here. could be several deaths as well. have not confirmed that though. we're still waiting on that but the front end of the double-decker bus was literally ripped off after the impact with the train known as via rail there in ottawa. hoping, hoping for the best.

martha: well this one is interesting and caught our eye this morning. it is sort after psychedelic new advertisement that promotes obamacare and taxpayers paying a hefty bill for it for an ad that doesn't provide actual information about the law and how it will work. here it is. take a look for yourself. this is a tv ad running in oregon right now. ♪ we fly with our own wings, care about the same things, we e hear you sing ♪ ♪ we fly with our own wings, dreaming all the big dreams, oregonians we're free to be ourselves, long live oregonians, we're free to be healthy ♪ martha: long live oregonians, we're free to be healthy. it is so sweet. $3.2 million that ad campaign cost to the good people of

oregon. byron york chief political correspondent for the "washington examiner" and fox news contributor. byron, i don't know what the ad means. what does it mean? >> $3.2 million. it is part after larger 10 million-dollar ad campaign to promote obamacare. remember the obamacare exchanges are supposed to be up and running october 1st just a few days away. a lot of republican states declined to do their own exchanges. oregon a democratic state, has its own ex-ing change and this is how they advertise it. it has a groovy, yellow submarine kind of thing a lot of people made fun of. the bigger thing they spent all the money and never said a thing about obamacare. what is it? where do you go? who is eligible for it? what do they do for you? none of it is in this ad. martha: this is oregon's own health exchange. does it fall under the name of obamacare? this, if you work for one of the companies we talk about today,

walgreens, for example, that will give folks a check, if you work for a walgreens in oregon will you go to this entity to find your health care? >> that's right. it is called cover oregon. it is supposed to be up and running october 1st although they're having problems and they won't be going full-fledged for a few weeks after that. the head of cover oregon recently said it is quote, not going to be a beautiful implementation. i think he meant it will be a bumpy ride. and but if you go there, you can find out if you're eligible for subsidies. apparently half a million people are not covered in oregon. the large majority of those will be eligible for subsidies under obamacare. so this is, this is a big project for the obama administration to roll out this new coverage. martha: so you're saying the state of oregon, they're currently about 500,000 people who aren't covered, they don't have health care? >> correct. martha: so that has, you know, triggered this, you know, huge change for, i would imagine, so many other people who are seeing their health care change and

perhaps not going to have what was promised to them. are they not able to keep the health care that they have if they like it as the president once so famously said. i want to put up the words to this cute little ditty it is a cute ad and makes you feel good. it says we fly with our own wings, we care about the same things, we stand strong together, let me hear you sing and it goes on like that. long live oregonians we're free to be healthy which sounds like an awesome idea but as you say it does not tell you one thing what you are spoused to do or who you are supposed to call and where you are supposed to go. >> it doesn't. you're getting to real key issue about obamacare. no doubt obamacare and subsidies will help some people. no doubt about that. there will be a lot of money spent by the federal government. the question is, will it be dislocating, disruptive and expensive for a far, far larger number of people who currently have coverage and they're happy with it. for example the walgreens employees who will be thrown on to exchanges or retirees who

will now be thrown on to exchanges. martha: right. >> the big political question of obamacare how many people does it help versus how many people does it hurt. martha: yeah. something to think about. byron, thank you, very much. >> thank you, martha. bill: trapped by a wall of water. roads and homes washed away by flooding in colorado. this is severe. the latest in a moment on the race to save those victims who need help again today. martha: and a pageant queen who is not afraid to break stereotypes. we'll talk to the gun-toting, tattooed-beauty, miss kansas, there she is in all her glory. you don't have to act like a princess to be like this lady. ♪

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martha: so moments ago john boehner just finished speaking at the weekly gop conference that was under way. when he came out he made some news. it turns out that there will be a vote in the house to avert a government shutdown that would be attached to defunding obamacare. this has been a bit of contention obviously within republican, within the republican party over whether or not they should include that effort to defund obamacare as part of their bill that would avoid a government shutdown. so there will be a vote to defund obamacare and it will happen in the house. let's listen to this sound. >> the president thinks that american families and small businesses are doing just fine in this economy. speech after speech is about

justifying his failed policies. and one of his biggest failures is adding $6 trillion to the national debt. you know for decades congresses and presidents have used the debt limit for legislation to cut spending and even president obama worked with us two years ago in the debt limit negotiations to put controls on spending. this year is not going to be any different. we're going to continue to do everything we can to repeal the president's failed health care law. this week the house will pass a cr that locks sequester savings in and defunds obamacare. the president has signed seven bills over the last 2 1/2 years to make changes to obamacare and i sincerely hope our friends in the senate have plans to make this an 8th time. the law's a train wreck. the president has protected american big business. it is time to protect american

families from this unworkable law. martha: very interesting. so there you have it. john boehner will bring a vote to the floor in the house of representatives that would include the defunding of obamacare as part of a deal that would come to a conclusion that would keep the government open. so watch that. we'll be watching it throughout the afternoon. bill: another fox news alert, martha. the search is back on for hundreds still trapped by colorado's deadly flooding. rushing waters washing out roads and pouring into basements and throwing cars around like dice. better weather help heiress cue crews getting to those sticking to high ground to stay dry. 3,000 rescued so far as water levels start to recede. 3,000 so far. you look at the map of colorado. you see the amount of colorado, whether down in colorado springs or specificallily up around the boulder area north of denver, colorado. we have a little bit after gauge. the blue is the worst. that is up to a foot of rain on the right. the green is six to nine inches and pink is three to six.

advance it one time it will take you up into the denver and the boulder area you see how the area in pink and green has been hammered with water. advance it one more time specifically on boulder here. it is blue at the moment. it goes to even brilliant blue. nine to 12 inches. this is where you've been seeing that water come through. the helicopter rescues and these people, watching their homes literally disappear beneath their feet. to the north and east is evans, colorado. that is where alicia acuna is standing by live now. you're in northeastern colorado where all the damage is happening now, alicia. what subpoena hag there today? >> reporter: that's right, bill and you mentioned how the water is receding. that is actually starting to happen here in evans as well. but when that does happen a whole new group of hazards is left for people to deal with. we can look back into the closed off area here in evans. those are two officials with the fire protection district examining the danger. you see power lines that have been downed when the floodwaters

came through this area and took over this roadway. what also happened here is that water treatment plants went out. which means that folks were not able to flush their toilets. they were weren't able to take showers and weren't able to wash their hands. in addition to all of that you have all the stagnant water which brought on ma keith toes. the west nile virus is still prevalent in this part of the state and will be until it freezes here. they still have that to contend with. in sedgewick, colorado, east of this area around close to the nebraska border they're still dealing with floodwaters coming into that area and taking over. evacuations are underway and people are still trying to get out. they can't flush their toilets there as well. i mentioned nebraska. people in nebraska and in areas of that state are being told to prepare to evacuate because the colorado floodwaters are headed there. bill, back to you. bill: wow, that will be the next ripple in the story then. people trying to save their belongings, how are they doing? >> reporter: they are. they are doing the best they can

but so many of their items are covered with mud. they're walking out of their homes with all of these items but these items covered in mud, that means they're also covered in sewage. they have chemicals and it is actually kind of a dangerous situation. so even though they're able to get out with some things there is good likelihood they will not be able to hang on to it according to the health department here. there are a lot of people talking about the devastation of just losing everything. take a listen. >> there is no word, i'm just in shock to see my home that i will never get my things that own. >> reporter: we're also expecting a little bit more rain today in the forecast. the last thing we need in colorado, bill. bill: indeed. you're right about that. alicia acuna in evans, colorado, there and talks about the colorado river will head down, you know, to the east. they're warning people in another state already to get ready to evacuate if necessary. martha: it's unbelievable. you look at hundreds of people that are missing.

it's just a shocking situation on the ground there and you know it will take a long time before that story is over. bill: it is. we'll stay on it for you and hoping for the best for folks in the american west. martha: so a former member of the president's cabinet saying that he thinks his former boss is makeing a big mistake with the syria strategy. former defense secretary robert gaetz is saying that and senator john barrasso is chairman of the senate republican policy committee. he joins us live on that next. bill: also getting a new report raising questions about whether the budget fight, whether or not that fight may have contributed to a chain of events leading up to monday's deadly shooting in the washington navy yard? back on that story. look at this man. >> asteroid hit me. >> i can't repair the hole that is in my heart. but, to move this hole and try to fill it i have to -- here, try this. mm, ok!

ching! i like the fact that there's lots of different tastes going on. mmmm! breakfast i'm very impressed. this is a great cereal! honey bunches of oats. i hear you crunching.

bill: washington squirm, columbus, n a lot of attention. not only drinking but driving and then later confesses all mine. he had just pled guilty to two charges, including aggravated vehicular homicide, that is a felony second-degree minimum prison sentences and also pleading guilty to operating a

vehicle under the influence. misdemeanor of first degree. he will do some jail time, but not as much as the first charge. he went online. the video confession of matthew cordell took place online. there was a lot of criticism by the way that he thought the tension would work. it's all in the judge's hands now. he could do eight years behind bars. we are watching in court in columbus ohio now. new criticism coming from two former members of the obama administration. leon panetta and robert gates both said it was a mistake to go to congress with permission and they were skeptical about the deal with russia. that is where the agreement ends. pineda supports a military strike. he said when the president also breadline, the credibility of the country is him backing of his word.

and chairman of the senate public policy committee has been critical on this issue as well. sir, welcome. you have to two former defense secretaries. what did you think of their stamps? >> what they agree upon a strategy. the president did not make a compelling or comprehensive push to the american people about why this was in the best interests of the people and why this was a threat to our national security. i agree with them that you cannot trust the russians. when president obama pushed the reset button with russia, i don't think anybody knew that he was getting over the car keys and now we have vladimir putin when the drivers seat. bill: but both say he should not have consulted congress. >> you believe that syria should've been hit for a period of hours or even days? would you have supported that?

>> no, i voted against using military force against syria. i don't think that syria is a threat to the united states. i think that the president clearly didn't know his own mind because i think that he got cold feet after the british parliament voted against supporting david cameron and david cameron said the british people are not going to go and attack syria with you. so the president i think changed directions and zigzag back and forth. that is why i think that he does not have the support of the american people for an attack on syria. bill: it appears to me would agree with robert gates when he said the following in trend following. quoting that are going to believe to blow a bunch of stuff up to underscore a validated point is not a strategy. what do you make of that? >> i agree with the former secretary of defense that that is not a strategy. i still think that we do not have a strategy. i do not think this program, being driven by russia to keep

assad and power is going to be successful. i think it's an effort to buy time. by the russians as well as by assad. i don't think that this is going to result in the sort of thing for the president hopes for in terms of accounting for an identifying and removing all of the chemical weapons from syria. bill: from this vantage point seems that this is dissolving and it's very lonely. but what you should use the following. arms select rebel groups come and take away this and put pressure on him. you support that? >> i think it's a very thoughtful approach. the question is, who are the vetted rebels that can successfully push the case. if you're trying to remove the chemical weapons, which is what this relationship calls for comment almost calls for assad to stay in power to make sure

that those chemical weapons get transmitted. that is why i believe that this arrangement set by the russians to keep assad, who they sell a lot of weapons to to buy time and i think any agreement with the russians is going to -- that vladimir putin want a high price from the american people is beyond what tran-ones has come once you draw a red line, donna, you have to do it. for obama not to back up his words, it would enfolded iran, nuclear weapons, and other american enemies. >> the president put himself in his own box by drawing this red line over a year ago. many of us on the hillside we thought it was a mistake to draw the red line. we had a meeting with secretary of state john kerry yesterday in the foreign relations committee. a secure briefing. and the advice that he asked of us, he heard from both sides of the aisle that if the bill was

brought to the senate and house today in the congress on whether we should strike syria, the vote would be for the president's. bill: thank you for your time, senator jon barrasso. we will see if it goes anywhere and whether or not you can trust the russians. martha: we have one eye on these hearings on capitol hill and they are getting heated with regard to the issue of benghazi. chairman ed royce asking patrick kennedy where the accountability is in the state department. his answer is coming up next.

martha: okay, we are taking you back to show you this exchange that happened between ed royce and patrick kennedy. patrick kennedy of the state department of who knew what and when and benghazi. watch this. >> we are here today because at the end of the day no one is held accountable. so that is contradictory to the

thesis that you are advancing here. no one is held accountable. >> mr. chairman, i respectfully disagree about the subject of accountability. four employees of the state department were relieved of their senior position as assistant secretaries or deputy assistant secretaries and are no longer holding those senior positions. i submit respectfully, mr. chairman, that accountability includes being relieved from your job and assigns the other positions and to me, that is a serious accountability. >> the reassignment, no one missed a paycheck. no one has been held accountable and the board did not take this to the upper levels of management were clearly those

who were observing from the outside, where many of these decisions were made. indeed, that is why we are here. in order to change a system in which you hold the hand and suggest to does the investigation. it would be far wiser. and this is one of the most frustrating parts about dealing with the state department. we went for years without the appointment internally of investigator that would take on this responsibility and in this process we go through in which you choose who's going to do the investigation and afterwards you move people from one position to another. they are on the paycheck, on the clock, working for all of us. there is no accountability in the process from our perspective

martha: those are pretty good questions that he is raising in terms of who is held accountable. the people who were who were suspended and moved to lower-level jobs, but they never miss a paycheck. the folks at the top of the chain went on pretty much without missing a beat after the four americans were killed and benghazi. we will continue to bring you breaking news as it comes in. bill: in the meantime, this is a scene out of ottawa, canada. an indescribable morning commute. a double-decker bus that was sideswiped by a train. reports of the driver on board the bus, at least for passengers are dead as a result. trying to confirm that, but that is the image that we are watching. >> i thought that we were going to flip over. other than that, not a lot.

>> can you describe what it was like to? >> people were just shocked. it happened so suddenly. all of a sudden just, you know, you would not expect it. it i guess we were in a panic a little bit. you know? i think you have to give credit to whoever was driving the train and if you didn't know what he was doing, he could easily flip over there. bill: you can see the double-decker bus cleaner air. there. watching, hoping for the best out of ottawa. martha: we have another fox news alert is president obama is set to make his case for raising the debt limit. he will. martha: roundtable leaders hoping that he can get them on

board and the debt ceiling battle that he is in. he believes that we have to pay the bills we have rung up. and conservatives believe that they would like to see some serious debt reduction as part of that process. we have also watched the s&p downgrade our status and say that that was a concern of theirs. so here's the president of the united states. let's listen. >> thank you to dave and andrew and john and all the men and women of the round table. i have had a chance to not only present before this body, but many of you have been doing wonderful work with the administration on a whole range of issues. the point that you just made about the commitment that some of the companies have made in hiring and promoting our returning veterans is extraordinary and we are so grateful for that. last time i was here in december, i told you once the microphones were working but i'm

hugely invested in your success. because this room represents not only an enormous amount of economic output, but it also represents the hopes and dreams of the people who are working very hard trying to make a living. small businesses that are supplying large companies like yours. when you succeed and you are doing well and you are competitive at a global scale, america can do well also. so we want to be a consistent partner with you on a whole range of issues. and we have. if you think about where we were five years ago, we are marking the fifth anniversary of the collapse of lehman brothers that triggered the worst financial crisis in an ultimately we are in another crisis, one of the worst we have seen in our lifetimes. it is fair to say that we have

come a long way. at that point, the auto industry was flatlining and you have the entire financial sector locked up. a number of banks were in deep trouble. most acutely for ordinary families all across this country. they are losing jobs and homes, losing their life savings. and there was a genuine fear across the board that we might not be able to pull our way out of it. but we have, thanks to the resilience of the american people and some outstanding work that has been done by many of our companies. we are in a much stronger position now than we were then. and we pray now for it a half million new jobs in the private sector. many of them are your companies in nevada to your payroll is matt not has made a huge difference. we have seen quarters of consecutive growth that is still

too slow, not as fast as we would like. but relative to other developed countries around the world and we have actually fared a lot better. the housing market has begun to recover. exports are at record highs. we are producing more energy than we ever have before. although in the world energy market for us to say that we are entirely energy independent is a little bit of a misnomer, the geopolitics of energy have shifted, and that has strengthened our manufacturing base here and made it a more attractive place for us to invest. the deficits have been coming down at the fastest rate since world war ii. the deficit has been cut in half since i came into office. health care costs have continued to be a major source of concern and they are increasing at the slowest rate in 50 years.

for many of your bottom lines, employers have boosted this at about a third of what they were going out when i first took the office. this so there are a lot of bright spots in the economy. a lot of progress has been made and a lot of good news to report. but i think what we all recognize is that we are not where we need to be as of yet. we still have a lot of work to do. and we know what it is that we need to do. we know that if we implement immigration reform the back and have potentially a truly in dollars to our economy, and that we will continue to attract the best and brightest talent around the world. we know that we can do even more when it comes to exports, which is why i am out there negotiating the partnership and now the trans-atlantic trade partnership that will allow us to create a high standard that

is enforceable and meaningful trade agreement with two thirds of the world's market, which is going to be incredibly powerful for american companies for many who have often been locked out up until this point in those markets. we have to make a lot of progress in the comes our education system and i want to thank you for working with us on issues like creating a common cause and ensures that every young person in america has the opportunity to get prepared for the kinds of jobs that are in the 21st century. and i will be talking to many of you at all making college much more affordable. because just as we have had to take a hard look at what you can do to start bringing down health care costs, we have to take a hard look at what we can do to bring down college costs. we now have a trillion dollars worth of student loan debt that

is hampering the economy and preventing young people from buying homes and spending money. the good news is that every one of the challenges and barriers, whether education, immigration, infrastructure, that prevents us from being as competitive as we could be, they are all solvable. we have good ideas. there is actually a pretty good consensus in terms of how we might move forward. the problem is that right now this town, washington, is locked up. and we are not seeing the kind of progress that we should on these issues. so immigration is the most obvious of examples. we had a wide partisan agreement and we have to build passes in the senate.

it is sitting there in the house. if speaker boehner call that bill today, it would pass. there is a majority that is prepared to vote for it and we could transform our immigration system in the way that would be really good for your companies and our economy. the reason it's not happening is because there is a small faction that insists that our tradition is a nation of laws and immigrants and somehow it is un-american. that duplicates itself on a whole range of these issues. over the next several weeks it will manifest itself in what will be probably the most critical debate about our economy over the next several months, and that is what we do about our budget. so let me just speak very briefly to that issue. as i said, our deficits are coming down and the imf that had

cost of this piece of content previously about our deficits are actually don't concern the we are bringing it down too fast. that is the assessment of the economists turned on the current directory that we are on and if we were to pass the budget that i put forward, our deficits would continue to go down and we would have a deficit to gdp ratio below 3%, which is typically the standard at which it is the same as. now, in order for us to do that, we have to do a couple of things. we have to continue to be tightfisted when it comes to spending on things that we don't need. we have to continue to streamline government and continually cut out waste. and there are programs that do not work or used to work but are now obsolete and we should

eliminate. we have identified a range of programs and we want to eliminate the programs we would like to consolidate. but what is also true is that if we are going to be honest about the debt and deficit, our real problem is the long-term and short-term. we are not overspending on education. we are not overspending on research and development. we are not overspending on helping the disabled. those things have all been flat for a long time. but our challenge has to do with our long-term entitlement programs and mostly has to do with their health care costs. so the fact that the affordable care act has been put in place and that many of you are taking steps within your own companies, we are seeing health care costs come down and we are still having to do a little bit more because the population is aging and demographics means that people are going to use more health care costs and the government will have to grapple with that. that is a long-term challenge.

the budget that i put forward actually proposes some smart fixes on medicare. smart fixes on medicaid and create a sustainable path where we continue to invest in the things we need to go, education, infrastructure, research and development. deals with our long-term structural deficit that rises out of entitlements and lets puts us in a strong position for decades to come. the problem that we have right now is that again, the same faction in congress is no longer talking about debt and deficits when it comes to resolving the budget. initially this was an argument about how much we spend on discretionary spending and how much do we spend on the fence. you can sit down across the table and try to negotiate some numbers. but that is no longer the argument. what we now have is not

illogical fight that has been mounted in the house of representatives that says that we are not going to pass a budget and we will threaten a government shutdown unless we repeal the affordable care act. and we have not seen this in the past that the budget is contingent on us women needing a program that was voted on and passed by both chambers of congress, ruled as constitutional by the supreme court. two weeks from being fully implemented. it helps 30 million people finally get health care coverage. we've never seen now become the issue around the budget. and so that is right now something that we must resolve with the budget. but what is worse is that that same faction has said that if we

cannot succeed in shutting the government down and leveraging that to eliminate the affordable care act, we may be prepared to let the government defaults on our debt. now, the debt ceiling i just want to remind people -- in case you have not been keeping up. raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over 100 times, does not increase our debt. it does not somehow promote privacy. all it says is that you have to pay to build the party wrapped up, congress. it is a basic function of making sure the full that the full faith and credit of the united states is preserved. martha: we have been down that road before in terms of making sure that that is preserved. the gop is saying that they want serious spending cuts.

the other folks at the 11th 2011 were s&p. they wanted to also see some new spending cuts and so we will see what we get. bill: we have to run, we will catch you in a couple minutes and our coverage continues with our colleagues at "happening now." martha: we will see tomorrow, everyone. have a great day. jon: brand-new stories and breaking news. jenna: a key hearing on benghazi already getting heated as lawmakers grill a senior state department official about why no one is being held accountable for these terror attacks the left for american individuals dead. and the suggestion that mandatory budget cuts may have had something to do with the washington navy yard and how vulnerable it was to monday's deadly rampage. with less than two weeks to go, lawmakers are getting a fearful about robot. they are