7 coming up tomorrow, maria? >> darrell issa. >> yep. >> who and joining us, he'll be joining us live and cheryl casone has your holiday party dos and don'ts. plus reverend billy graham's son, franklin graham. >> see you tomorrow. bill: good morning, everybody. a fox news alert on what has turned out to be a busy day. brand-new enrollment numbers for obamacare just into the newsroom. 258,000 signed up in november in the federal and state exchanges. that brings the total number of enrollees 352,000. that's a long way from the 7 million the administration are expecting by the end of march. martha: we are expecting to hear more on these numbers this morning. we'll hear from the health and

human services secretary kathleen sebelius. she'll be on the hill. she'll talk about where these numbers are going. even the staunchest supporters of the president called this thing a disaster. we'll bring you there live as all of that happens. bill: another fox news alert. more trouble mounting for the white house and president obama. new numbers showing his approval rating that at and you time high. "wall street journal," 54% of americans disapprove of how he's doing this job. >> obamacare is a big part of why the president is doing so poorly in these polls. if you look back to then't of

october, the -- back to the end of october, the government shoulddown was over. the differential was on the 6 points. you have to look at obamacare and look deep at these poll numbers and say this signature domestic achievement of his presidency is dragging him down. bill: half of the uninsured in this poll think the law is a bad idea. three months ago in september that up in was only at 34%. but the people who are uninsured are the ones doing the due diligence and exploring plans to found out what is right for them. clearly from this number they do not like what they are finding. >> it's an indictment of the law's implementation. they are suppose to be getting

affordable health insurance when they were able to. the problem with this law is the president and democrats oversold what it was supposed to do. it was supposed to make everything better for these folks. it's clearly not doing that. i spoats ththat.i suppose the wd improve and the implementation could improve. you will have to see a higher rate of enrollment than the numbers you showed at the top of the show. it will be difficult logistically for those numbers to catch up and for the program to work. bill: on the economy, that number jumped to 6 points. michael, there is a lot to go through on this, appreciate the time. from washington with us there. martha: let's give sow more on enrollment numbers that just came out. in november, just over 258,000

people were able to get on to the website and sign up. 364,000 combined for october and november. these are a far cry from the 7 million they hope to have by march. stuart varney joins us here. what's your reaction to these? >> reporter: it's a low number. 364,000 people have quote selected a marketplace plan. 364,000 in october and november. that's a very low number bearing in find millions have to sign up about it early part of next year to make this thing work. kathleen sebelius is about to testify on capitol hill. i'm sure she'll put the numbers as heading in the right direction. but that's putting a spin on

what looks to me to be a low number. martha: no doubt she'll try to make it look as positive as possible. we don't know how many of these are medicaid enrollees. >> reporter: 803,000 qualified for medicaid. that's free medical care. taxpayer subsidized. 100%. if that's a good number, that's a judgment call. is it good that 800,000 signed up for free medical care and only 350,000 signed up to pay for it themselves. 800,000 seems like a big number when you consider they are signing up for free medical treatment and insurance. martha: we don't note ages of those who signed up. we know it's important to get the young and healthy into this mix.

itsing the older people who are more concerned sthor trying to figure this out, right? report * how are you going to get young people to sign of southern pay for something they don't actually want and if they don't get it they won't have to pay. of a penalty. they only pay $95 as a penalty and that they will only fay out after tax refund which may be coming to them. you have no incentive for young people to sign up though you desperately need young people to sign up. bill: a family missing for two sides subzero temperatures in the neft mountains have been found alive. -- the nevada mountains have been found alive. the crowd was roaring with applause as one of the four children wheeled into the

hospital after that dramatic rescue. the family is said to be doing okay. they were found yesterday afternoon 20 mile from their home where they were stranded for two frigid nights. the first night it was 16 degree below zero. police say it's a miracle they survived. >> everybody's prayers have been answered and it's been a wonderful thing. bill: william lajeunesse is back on the story. how did they manage to survive? some of these details are inspiring. >> reporter: it's great to tell a christmas story with a happy ending. as low as minus 21 degrees in the mountains. those two adults and four children arrived in a hospital

in nevada in good medical condition. mild hypothermia and dehydration. the jeep rolled over. the first thing he did was make a fire and kept it burning and heated rocks to put in the jeep. and they were found in what people call a miracle in the mountains. >> i was expecting the worst. when i came around the corner and i counted all six of them standing there nice and warm. cell phone experts inside a civil air patrol air plane picked up an air signal at the same time a volunteer on the ground spotted them with their binoculars and they both converged on the family.

bill: what kinds of condition are they in after an experience like that. >> reporter: hypothermia can start to affect the body at 40 degree above zero. so the group ran out of food monday. they ran out of water as well. they rationed food and parents told the kids they were camping so they wouldn't panic. doctors say the family will be released after a good night's sleep. doctors say staying with the jeep saved their lives. >> reporter: the father did a good job of keeping everybody warm. he got a fire going immediately as soon as they had a rollover accident. everybody is looking really good. there are mild exposure symptoms. but other than that nothing severe, not even profit bite.

-- not even frostbite. bill: a merry christmas, too. thank you. william lajeunesse on that story. martha: how cold was it out there? we'll talk to a nevada wildlife official. the guy handle it really well. light the tire on fire, stay around it, heat up the rocks. report report privilege the heated rocks inside to keep everybody warm. they brought no food and they brought no water. but they are alive today. it could be a rough morning for kathleen sebelius. she is in the hot seat in 60 minutes. we are getting an idea what she might try to say and deflect some of the republican questioning. martha: the selfive that was seen around the world. why critics have anded this presidential moment. >> reporter: john kerry

grilled on the nuclear deal. pleading as the centrifuges keep on spinning in tehran. >> there are a lot of people in the intel community who will tell you there is a whole school of thought in iran, the hardliners, who welcome the idea that the united states might whack them because they think they will be heroes in the streets.

martha: president obama taking heat for posing for a selfie with david cameron at the nelson mandela memorial service. there are a series of these comments saying she does not look like she is amused.

others argue it's inappropriate. what do you think? send us a tweet. what do you think it's going on in this picture. is it okay for these world leaders to take selfies? i guess it's in the dictionary. bill: how do i reach you on twitter? martha: @marthamaccallum. michelle obama is probably exhausted. a long trip. there you go. bill: john kerry asking congress to hold on on sanctions on iran. >> mr. secretary are you willing at the end of the 6 months to

say we are willing to lift the sanctions when you stop enriching uranium? >> if they are less than 100 or 1,000, they will be limited in what they are going to be able to do. bill: sir, good morning to you. where are we now? did he answer the questions that you came prepared to ask? >> he did. his answer was that deal is lost. in other words, he -- if we lift the sanctions, he will allow iran to continue enriching uranium. i think this is a very dangerous idea. it's prime minister powering other partners in the middle east to do the same. it could start a nuclear arms race. violate 6 security council resolutions. so i'm concerned about that. we passed a tougher sanctions bill in the house that passed by

400 votes. i sent a letter to harry reid to go forward with that. he was getting ready to go forward with that before this deal got hatched by the administration. when you go into negotiation you need all the leverage you can get to play your best hand at the table. i'm concerned what's goingcome . bill: lake what? >> the idea that iran is negotiating in good faith. they have called for the destruction of israel and the united states. nothing good can come out of it. i don't think he's doing the right thing which allowing them to continue their enrichment process. the president of iran himself said the centrifuges will never

stop spinning. bill: the enriched uranium outside of iran. that's ship sailed years ago. it's clear the administration is not changing its opinion. is congress? >> if harry reid would take up our sanctions bill it would be a powerful leverage tool. the idea will continue to let them spin and enrich our rainup and go forward when other partners in the middle east have been denied that right. who is to say saudi arabia and turkey and other nations won't start enriching uranium as well. bill: what did secretary kerry tell you specifically about what the united states gets for this deal? >> we know what return gets from this deal. we heard back channels that they are laughing at this deal. i guess you could argue the

united states, what he's trying to avoid is iran going down a nuclear path to get a nuclear weapon. this does nothing with the technology. currently iran can deliver weapons to israel and europe. the pentagon says 2015 will have icbm capability to deliver warheads to the united states. and we are giving them $7 billion in aid. sort of what we are doing with north korea that failed. we are giving them $7 billion with no assurance that money won't go into more activities. we have no assurance this money won't dough right back into their nuclear weapons program. bill: pastor aberdini is still being held in iran. did secretary kerry tell you what is being done to get his

release. >> this is one of the saddest stories out there. these are not good people and they have held this minister hostage for so long, i think the minister needs to put as much pressure as he can. bill: you could ask if you want the deal a week ago to send him home. in a word, yes or no, is the pastor coming home or not? >> he could not answer that question unfortunately. bill: 20 minutes past. martha: what weren't wrong with asiana flight 214? that was the plane that crashed on its landing and killed 3 people. the ntsb is trying to figure out exactly what went wrong with this flight. plus this ...

bill: police move in as police move in against government demonstrators. we'll tell you where it's happening.

bill: because we are learning more about the deadly crash landing back in july in san francisco. an ntsb hearing is under eye. the pilots onboard knew the plane was traveling too slowly and tried to correct it in the final seconds of that flight. 3 people killed and 180 others injured. martha: in ukraine thousands of

riot police are pulling back after clashes in the capital city of kiev. the whole thing started when the government barked away from a deal with the european union over a crisis with russia. this tension has been building ever since. protesters toppling a statue of former soviet leader vladimir lenin. what happened overnight, amy? >> reporter: it was another flash point. a lot of people found it odd that there still was a statue of lenin. there was building anger from these protesters. this standoff coming up on three weeks now. last night another flash point with clashes as riot police try

to clear the protest camps that had taken over a large section of the ukrainian capital. but finally the troops backed off. the protesters are seeing this as a victory. at this point many want more than interests gracious with the european union. they want the president to resign. assistant secretary of state victoria newland met with them and handed out sandwiches to protesters. >> i made it clear what has been happening is impermissible in a european state in a democratic state. >> reporter: all of this because the ukraine backed out of an accord that would have integrated it more closely with the european union under present viewer in the kremlin. and a customs union with russia. martha: very interesting

situation there. bill: it feels like -- we'll keep an eye on it. guess who is back in the hot seat. kathleen sebelius is back on the hill in 33 minutes. she reported live had news to break on healthcare.gov. how will she address the low number of americans that are signing on to obamacare? martha: a 6-year-old boy suspended from school for kiss stag girl on the hand. and wait until you hear why the school says they are not backing down on this youngster. no way. >> i leaned over and kissed her on the hand.

martha: kathleen sebelius heads back to capitol hill as another get together over this botched obamacare rollout is about to get underway. she'll face the house committee and is expected to announce an inspector general will investigate the development of healthcare.gov.

i want to start with the question of kathleen sebelius asking for the inspector general what went wrong the obamacare website. >> we have documents that she was informed in april, early march. and she told us everything was fine. how court have been fine if she was warned there were serious problems. now she is calling for an inspector general. there are serious problems. something went wrong to make this website crashing. it still isn't working right and it's costing hundreds of millions of dollars. i want her to be honest and straightforward. we'll work with her to fired out what's wrong. but this isn't something

somebody just woke up november 1 and discovered something was wrong. martha: do you expect some of the answers to those questions might be something along the lines of we'll have an inspector general now. we'll let him look into the or her. we have been asking these questions long before we had an inspector general. it will be a way of deflecting some answers from us. i would suggest let's find out if the people who had the contracts to put this website together were incompetent and didn't know what they were doing. but as soon as you have people together work who are not honest with each on the better problems, it doesn't matter, they can't get the job done, and that's part of the big mess we are facing. martha: the other piece of news

is the numbers we have seen. in the 200-300,000 range for people who have enrolled. what do you want to know about those numbers? >> it's clearly not sustainable. when they need many, many times that amount to make this program work. i want to know what they will do to get people involved. a big chunk of that was the members of our staff who had to sign up before a couple days ago. what are they going to do from the next coming weeks? i us expect it will be a lot of what we heard that young beam are not going sign up and we'll have other problems that will occur. i want to know how they will anticipate this. starting january, doctors will want cash you have frornlts. thefrornlts -- will want cash up front. they don't know if you are insured. i don't know if i have a confirmation of being insured'. doctors and hospitals will say you pay cash.

a lot of the deductibles and copays are so huge. $5,000, $10,000 and more, even if people have insurance they will have to pay a lot of out of pocket costs and they will see they can't afford it. martha: you have said you think a significant part of the numbers we got this morning may be driven by members of congress who signed up? >> there are thousands of people here who work on capitol hill who had to sign you have. that's a big chunk of that. there are also other people realizing they are ill. that's an of that. of that 369,000 i would bet a sizable portion are people who are already chronically ill. i don't know how many are actually healthy that they have to have to make this works financially. if it is not a majority healthy young people. then what people will see -- you have think sticker shock was bad?

wait until next fall which see plans go up even more because they don't have healthy people to sustain those. martha: what about the 5 million to 6 million people who got pushed off their policies? the president said we encourage the insurance companies to extends those policies so you can keep your insurance if you like it. i imagine you will want to know how that's going. >> in pennsylvania the bluffs did something where they offered it basically to healthy people. but even that will be a 10% increase. they will evaluate those costs. we'll know how that worked out. they are even keeping data. part of my concern is i don't know if they are keeping this data when you look at what hatches when you have fill out these forms, they want to know a number of demographics about you. will they know if they have healthy people in this? clearly 300,000 is not going to work. martha: can you ask kathleen sebelius how that breaks down?

how many of these young invincibles are in this number? >> one of the things you put down is your age and birthdate. they ought to be plotting those demographics. nip of us returning a company, you want to know who your customers are. the whole thing is based upon having enough money from the healthy people signing up. that's when the costs will start climbing. martha: congressman murphy, thank you. we'll be watching with great interest as this hearing gets underway. so what would you ask kathleen sebelius? we just talked about a few things that were on my mind. we are wondering what you would like to know. send us a tweet @marthamaccallum and @billhemmer. bill: apparently there is a new inspector general who will be

brought into examine the website and the launch itself. george bush number of 41, the latest living commander-in-chief to join twitter honored nelson mandela in his first tweet. quote, barbara and itch wish we could hav joined the u.s. delegn honoring president mandela today. he and his countrymen are in our prayers. martha: they know the secret to longevity in that family. it's staying interesting things and passionate about things. bush 41 is starting to tweet at his age. 43 took up painting after his retirement. how about these numbers that we got. the dismal poll numbers that

show democrats may be in danger of losing the senate and also some not good numbers for the president. is obamacare taking a toll on the approval numbers for democrats and the president? we'll take a look at the numbers. bill: this 6-year-old boy being accused of sexual harassment for kissing a girl on the hands. a true story. martha: that's horrible. >> i did something wrong. she sent plea to the office. i feel sorry. i have been good fat school.

martha: "time" magazine named the person of the year. they just named pope francis for

his humble nature in taking on tough i shall piewps. second runner up was nsa leaker edward snowden. bill: obamacare is dragging down the president's approval numbers and the entire democratic party with it. 79% of americans do not like the president's performance. alan colmes, and rich lowry. , gentlemen, start you your eng.

bill: what are going to do about the numbers? >> this is the ebb and flow of the a presidency. you have got to compare to it previous presidents. george w. bush had a low of 25% at the even of his presidency. and he was about where obama is at this point in this presidency. bill: so much of this seems to be self-inflicted wounds. >> the republicans are ahead narrowly on the generic congressional ballot. quinnipiac has him at 38%. some others had him in the lower 40s. quinn by yaquinnipiac has them g

of his handling of the obama by a 2-1 margin. bill: i think the demographics are stunning. 18-29-year-olds. 41-4 th-49 disapprove. hispanics are 54-43. where they were, allen. >> you have to take the longer view. it ebbs and flows. historically this is not incompatible with other presidents. over the long term you will see people will accept healthcare and like it over the long term and it will change as time goes on. bill: you buy into this ebb and flow? >> you hear alan comparing his

standing other presidents. the most striking demographic finding is young people. the "usa today" poll was in the 60s earlier in the year and it's in the 40s now. they think if he can't make a website work maybe he's not so cool. bill: let me get back to the numbers. very telling. when asked who you would like to control the house of representatives on the screen, 41-38 say republican over democrat. when asked in general, who would you like to see republicans or democrats take control of the senate and the house, that's the entire congressional picture, republicans are up 5 points on that. >> i say that is a snapshot of a

moment in time which will not be the end result. you are celebrating now how bad he's doing and how bad democrats are doing but you know it's a longer game than that. >> it's a year until the election. the healthcare laugh is not going get better. it's not just the website. if you are taking away policies from millions of people and you are charging them more for healthcare. that will get worse politically. >> in those states where they are participate, blue state governors and legislators you know more people are signing you have and it's doing a lot better. >> millions have been canceled. >> 20 million people are getting healthcare who never had it. >> you are making up that number. bill: we'll get back to the "wall street journal" poll with martha in 20 minutes. among americans who have no

insurance, the number of people who approve of obamacare is over 50%. in jof know it was 34%. these are people studying the insurance and figuring out whether it's a good deal. that's hugely significant. >> the whole idea is a deception. it's called the affordable care act but then you layer on the regulations that make healthcare more expensive for everyone. this law is a disaster at its core. >> new york state premiums are cut 50%, according to governor cuomo. bill: rich, you mentioned mid-terms the quinnipiac favor republicans by a 15-point margin. martha: this is a college prank that some say went too far.

looks like a fun snow ball fight. they jumped in front of cars and pelted them with snow. bill: this family was strarnldsed in below zero temperatures for 48 hours. how did they manage to survivor. >> they shed tears and cried for happiness. it will be a happy communion.

bill: it's not a christmas song. but it's a good song. nasa releasing video, the cara captured the moon orbiting the earth before the ship accelerated 8,000 miles an hour on its way to jupiter. martha: the moon did look a little bit cheesy. a 6as suspended after kissing a little girl on the hand during reading. the school says that is sexual harassment.

alicia c unia is with us. >> reporter: it happened southwest of colorado springs. hunter was witnessed by classmates kissing a fellow classmate, a little girl, in reading class. >> i was reading, and i kissed her on the hand. >> she was fine with it. they are girlfriend and boy friend. the other children saifort and went to the music teacher. that's the day i had the meeting with the principal where she said sexual harassment. >> reporter: school officials save it happened before and under their policy it meets the requirement for a repeat offense

so hunter was us spended. -- was u was suspended. >> this isn't the first time he has disrupted class according to his mother and this isn't the first time he tried to kiss his girlfriend, something he admits to clearly. >> i did something wrong. she sent me to the office. i feel sorry. i have been good at school. >> reporter: he's only 6 and kids have a lot of energy and has trouble sitting still at school. she says labeling him a sexual harasser is going too far. >> how can you say this about my child. remove sexual harassment from

his record. i need to stands up and fight for it. i can't just let that happen because it's not what happened at all. >> reporter: hunter is back pat school, but that label of sexual harasser is on his permanant record. martha: unbelievable, ridiculous. where are the grownups in the this stwietion assess what's happening here. thank you very much. seriously? you can say he was disruptive. you can say don't ever do that to that little girl again. what we don't learn is whether the little girl was upset by it. but sexual harassment? it undermines sexual harassment. first grader, kindergarten. martha: he unless first grade. he has a lot of energy.

bill: we are moments away from the start after big moment on the hill. kathleen sebelius on the hot seat on obama care. the latest on the developing story and why she is asking fear review of that troubled website.

martha: fox news alert. speaker john boehner is expected at the podium. republicans are likely discuss the fallout on the budget deal that was just reached on capitol hill. this as well today. back in the hot seat moments from now, kathleen sebelius will testify before a house committee. there she is just walk into the room having her seat at the table. this is rounds 3 for her as she tries to explain what's going on with obamacare and the website and the paltry numbers are clear live what she'll be asked about. when welcome you this morning to

a brand-new hour now of america's newsroom. good morning, i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. secretary sebelius expected to announce an investigation into the website. new polling numbers show mr. obama is digging the deepest hole of his presidency. but first on the hill mike emanuel is watching the hearing. >> reporter: law makers say secretary sebelius' answers were scarce when she teffed in november. who steve sided the idea to not allow window shopping. how much has the administration spent setting up these healthcare exchanges and has security testing actually happened? we have done a lot of reporting

about the concerns of experts on whether your information is secure on this website. she'll get asked if she thinks the deal is good for the american people and will she go on the website and sign up herself. bill: what is she going to say today? >> reporter: she is calling for and i inspector general review two months after the rollout of the website. the timing a lot of people are finding, why is it coming out the day that she is going to tef five on capitol hill. you can expect she is going deflect some questions by saying i asked for an investigation into that. i don't want to get ahead of the investigation. that sort of thing. the bottom line. we have done a lot of reporting on fox. there were warnings last spring, six months before the website launch that there were serious issues with the development of the website. you can bet law makers say why

didn't she admit that back then. why didn't it take that long to be straight with the american public. bill: we'll take you back inside the hearing room when that testimony gets underway. martha: the white house is hiring a new staffer to help right the ship. chris, good morning. good to have you here. quite a bit to go over with you have this morning. let's start with john ped esta. -- john pedesta. >> he has to be allowed to fix things if he's to be effective. he's the founder of the most

influential democratic lobbying team in washington. he's a clinton loyalist. he's the inside guide. but there was a headline that tells the tale of what he is and it seems to be he's window dressing. though he's an enthusiast about regulations on global warming it was made clear he will have no influence on one of the most crucial decisions about carbon which is the keystone pipeline. this is the administration telegraphing early on that pedesta will not have that kind of influence. they bring in outsiders whenner in in dig trouble but they can't penetrate the inner circle that protects him from bad news and protects him from information

and keeps him insulated. martha: the lesson bill daly learn. he was brought in to mend fences with corporate america. it appears unless the man at the top wants change in the culture within his presidency, and we see this all the time in the second term, it's unlikely to happen. let's take a look at some of these poll numbers. this is a presidential approval rating number from the "wall street journal." disapproval number of is 54%. >> that's not where you would like to be if you are the president of the united states. the "wall street journal" poll is part of a slew of polling data that all basically tells the same story of. there is one outlier pol pop but

they bay -- out liar poll but they basically tell the same story of. what you will hear kathleen sebelius talk about today are technical fixes. but what these polls say it's a trust deficit and the american people don't believe their commander-in-chief. not that they don't think he's competent. martha: nancy he lowsive said when you find out what's -- nancy pelosi said when you find out what's tonight you will like it. healthcare law, good idea or bad idea. 50% say it's a bad idea. which of the following issues is the most important in shaping your opinion of the president. 58% say it's because of this healthcare law. >> reporter: you said it before. when you have a bad six months with the launch of your second term and problem after problem and scandals.

at the moment you need to say to the american people, we screwed up but we can fix it. that confidence isn't there and this is setting up to be a tsunamier to democrats if they can't get that trust gap closed. martha: we'll talk about that in a little bit more depth. chris, thank you very much. visit our politics page. you can sign for crisp daily newsletter. bill: on twitter we asked, what would you ask kathleen sebelius? martha: you know what joel said? he said secretary sebelius, how many people have actually paid their first payment for the obamacare insurance? bill: michelle tweets, i would ask her if she still has a job. martha: gary tweets this, has

she done any online christmas shopping? that's the multi-billion dollar question that's been coming up since the beginning of this mess. send us those tweets. weep love to get them @marthamaccallum and bill hemmer. bill: and you never disappoint. the nation's spie's spy chief fg calls for lying to congress. james clapper will concerned his agency's top lawyer. why is that? catherine herridge is live on that in d.c. what are we looking into first? >> reporter: we are expecting a vigorous defense of these nsa program with the director of the nsa general keith alexander testifying along with top

lawyers for the intelligence community. as well as james cole of the justice department. the nsa has consistently taken the position these programs are saving lives. >> these perhaps are protected lives by hoping prevent potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11. >> reporter: but the news that the nsa is using cookies to track data worldwide. they say the programs were not used routinely to collect data on americans. it's those statements that are

the reason there are calls for their prosecution. this idea of looking for the needle in a haystack is grossly inefficient. >> this is the exact opposite approach of what works. the bulk data looking examinations never work. this has been tried for the last 20 years. able danger tried this in the late the 0s. it was completely a failure. it's about data quality, not quantity. reporter: both men in the boston bombings were active on social media about their jihadist activities and they were not flagged. martha: the new numbers for earn rollment came out just a little -- the new numbers came

out for enrollment. the number of americans who signed up turns out to be a far cry from where we need to be on this. bill: how a family with four young children managed to stave alive in subzero temperatures for days. martha: how about a hash brown that sets off one desperate customer. >> we just had a 911 hang up from a cell phone. >> i have a manager who wants to try to get by me.

bill: a monster storm, 3 feet of snow in michigan. the plows are out. arctic air. multiple accidents. with warnings down to 50 degree

below zero. indiana is getting dumped on, kentucky, ohio. streams rising up to three feet in a matter of minutes. no major flooding reported yet. that's out of golden, colorado. martha: new insurance enrollment numbers are likely to take center stage. kathleen sebelius is ready to go in that hearing before the house energy and commerce health subcommittee. we are monitoring it and we'll bring you have the news as it comes out of that. in november these are the numbers. 258,000 people signed up. that brings the total for two months, october and november to just under 365,000. it's nowhere near the 7 million

number expected by the end of march. that will be mathematically very difficult. of course, we already know that nearly 6 million americans have had their plans canceled. in order to get into positive territory you have to be over 6 million to begin the upward motion. scrapes, good to have you here this morning. let me get your reaction to those numbers. what do you think of those? >> they are better in november and october. we don't know the quality of the enrollments. they have announced one fourth of those enrollment efforts have likely gatherers tonight and may not have gone through to being even promed. one-third of them are probably questionable. your point is the right one. they want to get to 7 million by the end of march.

the pace they were going in november is 8,500 per day. to get all of the people who got canceled plans into insurance options plus to make progress towards the 7 million goal, they are way behind where they need to be just to dig out of the hole of the insurance policies that have been canceled plus adding new people. >> it's mind boggling when you think about this website. i think about christmas sales at historic levels in the terms of the numbers of people they are putting through their systems. kathleen sebelius wants an inspector general to dig into what happened hund the scenes. and cgi, the company hired to do it. what do you think about this inspector general idea. >> there is a need for a thorough investigation to what happened. lots of taxpayer money was spent

on the website. $600 million paid for by the taxpayer. it is not functioning to what the specifications were at the beginning. they delayed whole chunks of this. there is a lot of reasons to look into why was this a mismanaged process. i would support having an independents investigation. it went beyond the inspector yearn. the government accountability office should be looking into this as well. >> reporter: the senate democrats are unhappy, several of whom have trying to get re-elect. they are saying the white house has not produced enough change to satisfy us to have us talk to our constituents and say it's going to get better. what's your long term and near storm outlook for this thing? >> nobody really knows. but i think the democratic senators are reflecting pretty well the vaws of their

constituents. some of them are able to get on the web site and see what their options are. but when they look they are not as happy as the president and others would like them to be. the deductibles are far higher than they anticipate. a lot of these plans, the, the deductibles are $3,000, $5,000, $10,000. so there is a lot of dissatisfaction. small businesses are told their premiums will go you have. a lot of tush learns. i think the democratting senators are reflecting that turbulence. martha: it's one of the most widespread issues we have dealt with in a very * long time and the ripples just keep on coming. thank you so much. see you next time. bill: while you were discussing that we were listening to

kathleen sebelius in her opening statement. now we are in the question period of this. let's drop in and see where we are. >> approximately 364,000 americans have selected a plan through a state or federal exchange, is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> of these 364,000 americans, do you know how many of those individuals will actually have coverage in effect on january 1, 2014? >> once they pay their premium they will be coverage in effect. >> so you don't know? these are the ones who just selected a plan but haven't paid their first payment. >> some may have paid, some may not. we are giving you have the enrollment numbers. >> this is a critical statistic. it's clear houston, hhhs knows e number of americans who put a plan in their shopping cart.

this most critical stat, the number of americans who will actually have coverage january 1. do you have an estimate. >> sir, i think 365,000 through the end of november have enrolled in coverage and we are dealing with the issuers to confirm their actual payment. >> would you define enrollment. >> we are giving you the number of individuals who have chosen a plan. >> but not actually paid. >> through the end of november. the payment isn't due until mid-december in order to be fully covered. so ween we don'covered. so we don't have those numbers. >> you can't guarantee the actual number of constituents who have coverage. >> not until they pay their premium. >> in october the ap reported a

september 14 memo listed monthly enrollment tarring test and this memo indicates the target enrollment number for the end of december is 3.3 million. bases on hhs's release this morning your department is more than 3 million off their target numbers, isn't that correct? >> through the end of november, that is correct. >> some news reports indicated 5.6 million individuals have had their policy canceled. isn't it the case january 1 more americans will have their coverage canceled than will have enrolled in an exchange. >> i don't know where the 5 million number comes from. i know people have been told their health plan doesn't necessarily match the aca compliance plans. they are not in grandfather plan and a number of those individuals are reenlisted and enrolled in plans. losing coverage and notified the plan they had doesn't exist

anymore are two different things. >> much like the millions of cancellations in the individual market the affordable care act requires the plans to comply with aca standards. the issue with the canceled plans and the president's broken prom fist you like it you can keep it, some of these individual plans do not comply with the healthcare laws 2014 requirements, correct? >> that is true or they did not stay in grandfather plan. what the law said if insurers left the plan in place an individual had in march of 2010, and there are millions of americans in those grandfather plans, that the plans stayed in effect through the implementation of the affordable care act. >> what about small group market plans? don't they have to comply with the aca standards? >> in the same way. if the grandfather plan stayed

in effect they could be in effect. if not, the consumer protections that are available through the affordable care act could come into the plan. >> could some small group plans being canceled because they do not comply with the aca. >> they change plans every year, that's part of the market strategy. decreases, some will see increases, yes? >> well, mr. pitts, i think that the president talked about health care costs going down for americans. i think that we have adequately documented that health care costs indeed have gone down based on a trajectory we would

have even absent the affordable care act. underlying health costs are rising at the slowest rate in 50 years. medicare costs have risen at the slowest rate. medicaid costs have actually come down per capita throughout the country and private insurance rates are rising at the lowest level that they have in decades. so americans are seeing a very different cost trajectory than they would have absent the passage of the affordable care act. >> my time has expired. thank you, madam seg tear, for your responses. chair recognizes ranking member mr. pallone. five minutes for questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. again, madam secretary i don't want to keep beating a dead horse here but the whole idea that we hear from the republican that is the world turned upside down and aca is a disaster it is just the opposite. as you point out health care costs, unknow, are going down. rates are rising at a less of a

level. this whole idea the president saying if you like it could you keep it, the president didn't say that if you had a lousy health insurance policy that didn't cover everything, you know that he was suggesting that, you know insurance companies continue to sell it and therefore you buy it. i mean i was at the rules committee the other day when the president issued his executive order and i had one of my colleagues from florida, one of my republican colleagues, talk about how his constituents should be able, should have the freedom, used word freedom to keep his or her health plan that costs $60 a month. and i asked, what is this health plan? it didn't include hospitalization. i don't think the president meant you should have the freedom to keep a health insurance plan that didn't include hospitalization. i mean if you want it, his executive order says you can do it but i think it is absurd to keep arguing over these lousy skeletal plans. in any case reality, enrollment

is accelerating and i wanted to ask you about enrollment. the numbers released today, are impressive and i want to get broader context from you how enrollment is progressing. we always expected enrollment to be slow in the early months. that is what happened in massachusetts when they implemented health care reform. in the first month, only .03% of people in massachusetts ultimately signed up actually enrolled but the clear trend in the report released today and reports from the states that enrollment is surging. in november there were four times more enrollments in private plans than october. more than 1.2 million enrolled in private plans were found eligible for medicaid and more than 1.9 million people are eligible for marketplace coverage and poised to enroll as soon as they select a plan. 3.7 million have applied for coverage but the most important fact is the trend. the pace of enrollments at the end of the month was double the pace at start of the month and that trend appears to be continuing. press reports indicated more people signed up for private

coverage through the federal marketplace in november, on november 30th and december 1st than signed up all of october. another press report noted more people selected a plan in the first week of december than select ad whole of november. these are exciting signs of the given technical issues we've had and corresponding delays in much of the outreach campaigns how would you measure progress at this point in terms of enrollment? >> well, mr. pallone i don't think there is any question that flawed launch of the website put a damper on people's enthusiasm about early sign-up. we had a lot of visitors early on who got very frustrated and have not re-engaged. we have been inviting them back to use a newly-improved site and we're seeing some very, very positive trends in that direction. so i don't want to minimize the dampening effect that the flawed

technology had, not just on the federal website, but i think on the news reports also. i think dampened enthusiasm at the state level. it was hard for california, for instance, to assure people that their site was fine while there was a lot of news day in, day out about the -- >> and around and around we go on that. sometimes there are direct questions. sometimes there are platforms to make speeches but what was very interesting about that answer they have tried to re-engage people and it has been difficult clearly what secretary sebelius mentions there. on the hard numbers now, okay, she says about or approximately 365,000 have signed up. not enrolled or paid money osirened up by end of the november. they had expected 1.2 million. that was the target. by end of the december they expect 3.3 million. by end of march is 7 million. so we're clearly a long way away from that. so we'll see how the rest of this hearing goes as it continues. want to squeeze in other stories and other news right now. martha: we want to remind you

about the amazing story of survival. a fam live six missing for two days in brutally cold subzero temperatures, somehow survived. how they managed to do that coming up. bill: awesome story. six-year-old boy on a mission to save nasa. ♪

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martha: well, big sigh of relief in washington because they reached a budget. people say that is the job of congress but getting a whole lot of attention today. john boehner making comments about the budget and what his thoughts on it are moments ago. let's listen in to that. >> obamacare continues to wreak havoc on american families, small businesses and our economy. i think when we get to january 1st, it will be clear more americans will have lost their health insurance than will sign up under the new obamacare policies. this is not what the president promised the american people. he promised them could keep the health plans they like. turned out not to be true. president promised the american people they could keep the doctors that they have had all these years. that is turned out not to be true as well. it's time for the president to

get serious about stopping this law before it wreaks anymore havoc on american families, small businesses and our economy >> good morning. we've obviously have got a very full agenda this week in the house, the final week of the session this year. as speaker said we still have a lot of concerns as to the american people about obamacare. psych emanuel was on tv. this week and when the president said you could keep health care if you like it, what he really meant was, you can do that by paying a lot more money. that is how you do it. that is a broken promise to the american people. i know we have secretary sebelius coming to the energy and commerce committee this week and i would be interested to hear her answer to the question of why that is now, what the president really meant. as you know the budget chairman is here. he will discuss the details of the agreement with senator murray. i want to congratulate him on

the hard work behind trying to get a deal in this divided government that we're in. the deal is something that accomplishes deficit reduction, permanent pension reform for government employees and doesn't raise taxes and it is consistent with republican efforts all along to try to replace the sequester with permanent savings that just make a lot more sense. we also have up on the floor this week greg harper's gabrielle miller's kids first research act. greg harper is one of our colleagues who has a child with special needs. he has been working very hard with peter welch to put this bill forward which essentially provides a choice. do we want to spend taxpayer dollars to pay for political conventions or would we rather put that money towards pediatric medical research which is has been woefully unattended to in terms of our research agenda?

gabrielle la miller is who the bill is named after. martha: eric cantor from virginia. they are covering a bunch of topics this morning. they eventually got around to the deal on the budget. one of the reasons they're happy about that because it allows them to continue to focus on as what they see as the abysmal performance of obamacare so far and john boehner used most of his time to do exactly that. bill: now amazing story of survival. brutal, brutal conditions. missing family found alive, spending days in subzero weather. they drove in the nevada mountains on sunday to play in the snow but their car overturned on an embankment and slid down a hill and the father is getting credit for his amazing survival skills. >> all the patients are stable. preliminary exam seems like they're all doing really well. not even evidence of frostbite. >> this is better than i could

have imagined it could be. bill: chris healy, the pio, public information officer for nevada department of wildlife. good morning to you and merry christmas and all that good, good stuff. did you think it would turn out this way? >> i think when all of us heard this on late sunday when they were not found on monday everybody was very afraid of the outcome. so everybody light, i guess it was late yesterday morning pacific time when we heard the good news and everybody was ecstatic, awesome, awesome news here. how are they doing, chris? >> well, you know, that is the amazing thing, is that from what we hear and reports coming out of lovelock which is 100 miles northeast of reno, is that the everybody's fine. a little bit of exposure but no profit bite and everybody seems to be doing very well. and ha is very gratifying to all of us. bill: they went out for a drive, right, chris? there was nothing much more than that. the car tipped over and then they were stranded. is that the story still today? >> that's the story.

in nevada there is lot of middle of nowhere. you go out into that middle of know where -- nowhere to enjoy yourself anytime of the year. they wanted to enjoy the snow and like many hinters would be out in the area, they wanted to play in the snow and got into trouble. fortunately any mistakes they made taking the vehicle down the wrong road were certainly made up for by the fact that the survival skills certainly brought everybody through it. bill: jails glanton, 34, his girlfriend, christina mcintee, 25. they have two children and 10-year-old niece and four-year-old nephew. wow, that is a full car whether a jeep. two extraordinary things how they stayed alive. number one, they took the spare tire from the jeep and built a fire inside of it. he went outside the jeep periodically, heated up rocks and brought them inside, almost like creating his own sawn n did

that happen? >> yeah. that's, you know that those are all the reliable reports we're hearing. of course a lot of credit goes to the people, the 200 or so people who were in on the search and a lot of good luck, bill because right now, this morning a lot of western nevada has what we call pogo nip, which is a frozen fog that hugs low to the ground. if they had to conduct a search in those conditions during the morning hours it would be very difficult to continue the search until the fog lifted. the survival skills were there. and that was good news. had those skills not been there, i don't think we would be asking ecstatic as we are right now. bill: one more quick point here. they had a cell phone, right. >> yes. bill: there was a ping from the cell phone. but they were in art past wilderness where it is very difficult to get a signal to establish itself. but apparently the last ping on their cell phone was picked up by a searcher? >> it was. one of the most important things that you have to remember is that they left a travel plan.

so they told people where they were going. and when they did not come back, people said, hey, you know, let's go searching for them. then the people who, forensic cell phone people who can see which tower was being used were able to look in those particular areas where these people were going and so they helped save themselves by giving a good travel plan. bill: chris, thank you. it's a great story. chris healy, public information officer out of reno, nevada. awesome, awesome news. thank you, chris. martha: he is being called the people's pope for his humility and his common touch but pope francis is just earned a new title this morning, person of the year. we'll discuss. bill: not your typical highway accident, folks. wait until you hear what flipped over three big-rigs on same road. >> you could see it like an earthquake. you were rocking back and forth. all you could do is just hold on and like a roller-coaster sometimes because you're side to side and it's pretty bad.

martha: "time" magazine officially naming pope francis its 2013 person of the year. he is a man of many first. the first jesuit pope. the first pope to choose st. francis as his namesake because he is a jesuit. and first non-european pope in 1,000 years. he is from argentina. from that moment he walked out, everybody says, who is that? that was the first reaction. he has broken with vatican tradition from the moment he was elected on march 13th, making it very clear he would work to reshape the catholic church in some ways. i'm joined by david webb, host of david webb radio show and father jonathan morris. all three are fox news contributors. why do you think "time" magazine choice him importantly. >> i think "time" magazine made

a popular decision which opens the road for many christians to pay attention to his teachings and great marketing. 1.2 billion catholics in the world. this is good for "time" magazine but kudos to the pope being chosen. he said he is not interested in honors but i think he is providing a very good image for the catholic church. i'm a jess oughted indicated guy to a little pried. martha: happy supporter i'm sure. santita, what do you think about this choice? >> i am excited we have inspirational figure who could be transformative one. he reaches out to the poor and reaches out to the privileged. challenges them not to redistribute the wealth but reconstitute themselves and be fair and really embrace the stewardship, the great steward over which god-given them great,

great, great responsibility. so i'm very excited and i'm excited about what this pope is going to do because he reaches out to the least of these and he challenges the church to have a clean heart and dirty hands. martha: we have some beautiful pictures of the pope that we've been showing and father jonathan, you know, here he is, hugging a disfigured man. these images, father jonathan, are so powerful that he has given us so far. >> you know, martha, isn't it amazing, as person of the year he has done what everyone of us can do, christian or non-christian alike can do. we're never going to be named person of the year but what he is being honored for is that he has done what we know that we should do. and that is to care about those who are suffering the most. not going up against the rich. but standing with the poor. and you know, i look at it and i say, if this guy can do this for the church at large, what can't i do in my own home and my own parish, my own family? and it is just a wonderful to

see the light being greater than the darkness. martha: been controversy as well, david webb and comments that he made about capitalism, that sort of bristled capitalists and people who think that that's a patriotic way to be. what do you make of those? >> it is nothing new that the catholic church has this dichotomy of sometimes wading into issues with politics. it's not uncommon. i think the pope should do best is, if he wants to really have an effect, stay away from the politics as much as there is political body and element to it and focus on getting a good message out to the people. we need to advance freedom in this world and capitalism in this world has raised more people out of poverty than any other political system in existence. martha: all right. i want to thank all of three of you. i wish we had more time but we did want to get this on today. important story. father jonathan, santita jackson, david webb. many thanks you all. >> god bless you. merry christmas.

>> too. merry christmas. bill: a six-year-old boy with a sky-high dream. connor johnson with a mission to save nasa. check this out next. ♪

bill: today's edition of check this out, a six-year-old boy getting ready to launch literally. he wants to be an astronaut. we started a online petition on the white house website calling on congress to restore funding for the nasa space program. connor is with us live with his parents out there in denver, colorado, eric and lauren. how are you doing out there,

johnson family? connor, you have taken on quite a mission. thank you for your time and welcome to our program. connor, i want to know why you're so interested in space? why is that? >> well because i'm, i've always wanted to fly and, and graph "gravity" so i can fly in space and loved rockets. bill: you have a nasa theme throughout our life. you have got a space shuttle and planet earth costume and all your toys are like rockets. so what is it about act an astronaut that captures your imagination? >> well it is like a bigger world out there. like, like it is just, like it's just so different. like, i would just like to be like on a new world, discovering

something. bill: nice. some days we all do to be quite honest with you. i just want to ask your mom, what is the curiosity here? what's the interest? >> he has always been a very curious young man. he has always wanted to understand the world around him and wanted to look beyond the world that we're in and so he is just always been very curious and, wanting to engage in very intellectual conversations for his age. bill: he sound like a really, sound like a really smart young man, okay. so i want our audience to know, eric, your son has start ad petition with the white house to try to get support, right? >> right. bill: the following statement reads like this, increase the funding for nasa so children can dream of exploring universe. science fund something the future of our country, signed cj, age 6 1/2. your son gave allowance, $10.41

to the cause. >> that is the first thing he came up with. felt to give nasa $10.41. we figured, just not really growing to do much. second thought was to write to president obama, pour his heart out there in a letter. we felt that, probably wasn't going to get much of a response. so as a family, we kind of arrived here on this petition and it is really taken off. bill: well the petition has 10,000 signatures. you need 90,000, connor, by the end of december and then if you get to that mark, the white house owes you an answer. will you do it, connor? >> yes. >> you think we can get there? yeah? >> i think we can. bill: so that's a thumbs up? >> uh-huh. bill: all right. good luck to you, connor. you're a good young man.

nice to see you. connor and eric and lauren out there in denver, colorado. denver is a whole lot different from space, connor. you have to get ready from that. >> i know. bill: thank you for your time today. martha: sometimes you want to be in a whole different world, you know? you want to get on a rocket and just go -- he's a smart boy. bill: can you beam me up? martha: like the birthday cake too, very impressive. bill: well-done. martha: what is coming up here, bill? >> budget deal. martha: apparently. to avoid another government shutdown. we don't want to go there. will it pass? that's the question. we'll be right back.

♪ martha: what a great song that is, huh? brand new tracks from "the man in black" we're getting from johnny cash. 12 new studio recordings 25 years ago were discovered last year when the son was cataloging

the singer's private archive. it will come out in the spring. more johnny cash. more man in black. this is good news. bill: good for america. martha: have a great day, everybody. bill: see you on the radio. you have some stuff going on. martha: you got some stuff going on. bye, everybody. jenna: we have stuff going on as well. fox news alert. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius back in the congressional hot seat today. you're seeing some live pictures of that. lawmakers on the health subcommittee asking serious questions about the botched obamacare rollout. as the government releases some new data showing more than 250,000 people have signed up for health insurance last month for a total of more than 360,000 so far into the private insurance market. that is not counting medicaid. that is bigger number than what we've seen but certainly far from the administration's goal. secretary sebelius is announcing she asked her department inspector general to review work of pri