tv Americas Newsroom FOX News December 12, 2013 6:00am-8:01am PST
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and charles krauthammer and bill o'reilly right ahead of us. incredible. thanks to everybody that got the book. i appreciate it. the villages tomorrow and the ritz. >> are you here tomorrow for the show? >> nope. see you tomorrow. >> bye. bill: a fox news alert. the obama administration making a big splash about the numbers of those who actually even rolled in obamacare. martha: the white house says 364,000 americans have signed up on the exchanges. it's a long way from their target of 7 million which they said they would reach by march.
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bill: lawmakers on the hill without paying for it say they don't have actual coverage. >> these are people who put a plan in their shopping cart. and the number of website hits. but the number. americans who will actually have coverage effective 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. bill: that was the best answer we got. what does that demonstrate, do you think? >> i don't think she was very straightforward. when you talk about 365,000
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people who even rolled. who actually filled out the paperwork. that's who'sing if to be do haved. there was an interesting article yesterday which suggested that somewhere between 15% to 20% of those who filled out the paperwork have made that first payment. so you are talking about a fraction of that 365,000 figure kathleen sebelius gave who are actually set to be cover candidate when this begins. bill: they were poking around and trying to get a straight answer. do you believe she did not know or did not want to say? >> they can give every single other marker, every single other measure of people who have come on the website. how long they have come there. how many people have half filled out these enrollment forms. i believe they knew the signup
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numbers a month ago. they want to give the sense. they are interested at this crucial juncture of giving the impression that there is momentum, that people are actually now signing up in greater numbers. they don't want to give any numbers that suggest that's not happening. >> i think all of this is a assuage democrats to give them something to hang their hats on and preextend everything is okay. but the beginning of january is going to be a train wreck for them. bill: do you agree with that statement, and if so, what happens and what is expected come january. >> i entirely agree with that statement. i think what we are looking at is the potential for mass chaos. you have got a number of people perhaps in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands who are going to show up at their doctors
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thinking they have covering will will not have coverage. what you have going on now, kathleen sebelius acknowledging that the administration and insurers are doing what she called hand matching applications. the back-end data that's i put goes through the system and is spit out to the insurers to tell their insurers who they are covering and what the payments have been. that data is so fraud they are literally going through by hand and matching that data on the back end with the data people have provided on the front end. bill: in 2013. martha: staffers on capitol hill are being warned that despite some fixes in the exchange website that they should not trust any of the information they have received from it. they got an email, the capitol
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hill staffers that circulated to the congressional folks warning them they may not be enrolled for the coverage even if they technically went through the process and did sign up. they say if you don't have a confirmation letter, you may not be covered. what about the rest of america in terms of whether they can be expected to rely on whether they signed up and have it. >> a startling email. pap reminder of the tough task the administration has been getting folks to sign up for obama care. they are saying 4 in 10 americans would rather pay the fine. the same poll finding americans are confused about the mandate tax amounts and who is required to buy a plan. so we wanted to know on twitter, would you rather enroll in healthcare or would you pay the fine? send us a with tweet @billhemmer
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and martha maccallum on that. martha: my guess is they will be much more effective at finding people and levying that tax against them than they are so far at signing them up for healthcare. bill: you have to get a tax refound for them to extract the tax. march a the house is setting set to vote on a budget deal that would avert a government shutdown. but despite both side agreeing, conservatives are not so happy. some democrats are not so happy. senator rand paul thinks the deal stings. >> it's worse than the status quo. the status quo will spend $6. >> billion less on the budget deal the next two years. they do some ledger domain and shell games and they want to say
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there is less addition to the deficit. but over 10 years this deal will add $7 trillion to the deficit. it does not significantly alter our course. we are still on a course for disaster. >> house speaker john boehner is holding his ground. he said critics of this deal are outsidageday dayer toes who are stirring up trouble. >> you mean the groups who opposed it before they ever saw it? they are using our members and using the american people for their own goals. this is ridiculous. if you are for more deficit reduction, you are for this agreement. martha: very strong word from john boehner as sends a sal have to the heritage group and a couple other organizations who are very unhappy with this deal. stuart varney is the host of varney and company on the fox business network.
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you heard rand paul. conservatives think it's not a good enough deal. and on the paul ryan side they say we are not in power. >> sons * so pose this deal on the:ground of principle. they say it breaks the sequester. on the left much more quietly they want more taxes and more spending but they are probably going go along with the deal because they wants to put the focus on republicans. paul ryan said you have got a divided government. you are not going to get everything you want. this deal negotiated by him and senator murray is the best we have got and it means no government shutdown. the government leadership is saying don't mitts up by shutting down the government. if you bail out this deal would almost certainly pass, go to the
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senate, pass and become law. martha: it feel like it's the best way to get the budget off the table. that's what paul ryan is saying. this is the best way to move it over to the side. behave done our side on this at least for now. that will allow him to take full advantage as they have clearly been trying to do. >> there is a heavy element of politics and the democrats think they are in real trouble with obamacare and they want to have a government shutdown which will be blamed on them. this deal with pass. martha: stuart, have a good day. bill: senate republicans staging a protest on the floor right now, launching a round the clock talk-athon over 11 of president
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obama's nominees. from 5:00 a.m. this morning, four hours ago, watch here. >> to change the rules our friend on the left had to break the rules. we are here tonight because the obama administration and our friend on the left needed a distraction by evoke the nuclear option they are attempting to quiet a disaster of their own making. health law hurts the president politically. the american people know this is a law the president pushed through middle of the night christmas eve, partly-line vote. everybody knows we are here because of democrats' unwillingness to talk with their colleagues.
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bill: how long will they stay in session? >> reporter: until saturday. this is republicans saying to the democratic leadership. you changed the rules so only democratic votes are needed to confirm some presidential nominees. there is nothing we can do to prevent those nominees from being confirmed. but what we can do is use up all the procedural time the rules allow. that what's they did pushing a vote on justice pilliard until 1 in the morning. one aloud for 30 hours of debate. it's an important one, mom snaiftion jay johnson to the position of homeland secretary. because the democrats used the nuclear option. the senate is in nuclear winter is how our producer describes
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it. bill: beater doocy in washington. martha: we have new video of that fatal crash landing in san francisco last summer. how this may help investigators dined out what happened to asiana flight. bill: what has forced an emergency space walk and can they fix it. the president often tells his critics, if you have good ideas to improve the healthcare law, bring them on. >> i always said i will work with anybody to improve this law effectively. if you have got good ideas, bring them to me.
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martha: the ntsb released video of the crash landing of the asiana flight in san francisco. three people were killed in that crash, 180 were injured. that happened back in july. we have new details about the man behind the controls. the pilot telling investigators he was very concerned about the approach because the planes automatic landing aid were not working. >> the folks who were criticizing it don't have any ideas in terms of how to reduce costs and make sure insurance is more secure. bill: that was president obama challenging republicans to come up with ideas for healthcare. in a letter to obama, 34 republic since the
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inception of the affordable care act in 2010 many of us have offered countless ideas. tim griffin, one of the signatures on the letter, member of the house ways and means committee. bring on the ideas. what would you do. what do you stole this white house? >> he said he would meet with anybody. i don't agree with him on much, but i think i can qualify as anybody. but the question is why does the president want to keep doing things the old way, the old top down washington knows best one size fits all approach where people in d.c., pick a couple of agencies like irs and hhs and say that's the answer to the
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problem, that's the answer to the few folks that we have got to see insurance. we have seen that approach does not work. in fact it's a disaster. what we say is it's not a choice between obamacare or nothing. there are a host of ideas that we have that will folk fuss on a bottom up solution. meaning the patient and the doctor make choices about healthcare. let me give you some examples. let else expand the role of health savings accounts so people can save tax-free and make decisions about their healthcare and use that money for that. let's have competition across state lines where insurance companies have to compete. if you are in you don't have four providers to choose from. you may see a plan in oregon, or some other state, ohio, that you want, and you have the ability to get that. we can deal with the high risk
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folks, the people that preexisting conditions. we have high risk pools that deal with that so we can address some of these problems that people feel like they are getting addressed with obamacare. but we can do it in the a way that doesn't wreck healthcare for everybody else. that's the problem. bill: they came up in 2009 and 2010. they went nowhere, now you are asking for an audience from the president on these ideas. will you get it? >> we'll keep pushing. i think i qualify as at least anybody. now we have the benefit of showing folks the results when you go down the road he chose. we have seen what their reforms do and they don't work. and they certainly don't lower costs and preserve quality of care. there are a lot of people who like the understand plan they had. they like the amount that it
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costs them. but this president said i know better than you. i'm going the tell you which insurance plans it need and that you can have. we disagree. we think people ought to make their own decisions about what's good for their health. bill: the administration says it took massachusetts a year to get up and running. is it a question of time? >> no, because it's built on fundamental flaws and that's the problem. this is a system set up for washington to say one size fits all. we'll tell all of america how you have to have your healthcare. this system that the president said up strips away patient choice. our ideas and solutions are patients centered that allow the doctor and the patient to make
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decisions about what they want to do and give lots of flexibility. >> your letter concludes at your earliest convenience. thank you for your time today, sir. march rar there is new word the sign language interpreter at nelson mandela's memorial was signing pure gibberish. the interpreter is speak and he will tell you what went wrong. bill: members of congress have nothing on these guys. what sparked this brawl. guys in suits and ties. don't slip on your wingtips.
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bill: you thought poll nicks washington was a full contact sport. watch here. any time the papers ghoipt air, them is fightin' word, mccallum. they were suggesting helping protesters in neighboring ukraine. martha: maybe some of this might be helpful in washington. all right. here is a fox news alert at a serious problem at the international space station. it's a cooling pump issue. they say the crew is safe so
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far. casey, what's the issue? >> reporter: engineers are trying to figure out if it's a hardware or software issue. flight control teams note the colder than normal temperature readings inside one of these cooling pumps so it shut itself down as a precaution. the space station has two of these giant cooling sloops located outside the space station itself. their job is to keep external and internal systems cool. nasa tells us the six crew members onboard including two american astronauts are not any danger. if it's a software issue they can uplink a patch and it's a patch. but if it's a hardware issue they may have to do a space walk to repair it.
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martha: they just did a space walk in july. >> it was to continue doing work to prep the station for the arrival of a new laboratory model. it was intended to last hours 15 minutes and ended a little more than an hour and a half. it italian astronaut was not injured at the time. the international space spatials station, a 100 billion project. it's the product of five space agencies representing 15 different countries. bill: there is always drama build into the story until it's actually done. martha: can you remember being up there and thinking the cool
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system is not working? bill: there are so many problems with the healthcare website, not evening congress can trust it. the memo just went out telling staffers not to believe what they have read. we'll explain that. martha: you think it's cold where you live? bundle up. we'll show you the coldest place on earth. bill: not jersey, right? martha: no. though it can get chilly. it's not new york.
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email telling them not to rely on the information they got. it's red, green, blue and says in big letters. please do not assume you are covered unless you have seen the confirmation letter from the disbursing office. you can't make it up. monica crowley is a radio talk show host. and doug schoen. can you imagine if our wonderful employer sent us a memo saying you think you are covered, but you may not be. the idea that congressional staffers have some sort of
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special privilege, special access, can sign up separately, it stinks. it's wrong and it's all the reasons why obamacare needs to be fixed. martha: the website we are looking at for obamacare they have their d.c. health link. >> the d.c. health exchange. we heard the last couple weeks of regular americans struggling to get on healthcare.gov. the reason this story is important is the d.c. health link is the one servicing capitol hill. you are talking about the elites in many cases he athletes that pushed obamacare and helped shepherd it into law. now they can't get on. the bigger issues for anybody trying to sign on to obamacare at any level, the onus is on
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you. you cannot assume that you are being covered here. the onus is on you to call the insurer that you think you have enrolled in and make sure youar. covered. i don't think many people know that. martha: you guys at home may be having some problems. you may be concerned. but the people in washington are having the same problem. this is potentially a good sning is there any way it's a good thing if necessity stream to high heaven? >> a large percentage of congressional staffers haven't signed up. now they may have coverage through their share spouses, but bottom line if in fact the problem is as substantial as it appears to be with the d.c. website and staffers have problems, it may focus the attention of the congress in a way that nothing else has on the
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real problems with the legislation. martha: when they mitt you personal hi it has a different meaning. let's play this sound bite from marco rubio who signed up as well. >> if everyone else is supposed to go on balk care why shouldn't members of congress. i didn't vote for the law, i wasn't here when it passed. but i don't think i can go back to florida and tell them i have an insurance plan they don't have. >> last week week harry reid excepted his staff from obama care. the biggest split in america is that it's not right, left or republicans and democrats so as much as it is the ruling elites versus everybody else. a story like this throws the ruling elites into the same pot with everybody else and you will
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see increased frustration. it's really not about the website. we have spent a lot of time talking about it because it's so in front of our faces. but the bigger issue is with the law. and these are just first wave of a much bigger catastrophe coming down the pike. >> we have questions about cost and coverage and we have questions with young people in congress working as staffers with privacy of personal information. what i took away from this is you are not covered unless you get a note from the disbursing officer. where is their information going? martha: congressional staffers are covered until the end of january and other folks have until the 1st. bill: in the country of kenya a
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grenade has been thrown at british tourists. kenya was marking 15 years of independence from britain today. the device did not go out and failed to detonate. no claim of responsibility. but that's a town of a country very dependent on tourism. attacks blamed on islamist militants and their sympathizers. a grenade that did not go off thrown at british tourists. martha: an interpreter for the deaf, the deaf community says he was a big fake. he was speaking jipper i shall. he was just feet from president obama. now that we are hearing his shock confession it raises a whole bunch of other questions. bill: could the number of
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martha: new reaction from south africa on the sign language interpreter at nelson mandela's memorial service. they say he made no sense in signing what was being said. the interpreter is speaking out. his excuse? he suffers from schizophrenia. >> i was in a very, very difficult position. i don't remember.
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martha: he he he saw angels at the event and was trying not to panic because there were armed policemen around him. all of this raises questions, one of which is should this person have had access to the president and all these world leaders? bill: this should not happen. this should just not happen. there were stories floating around all these presidents flying over to the funeral on whether there was going to be an issue between local security and the secret service. martha: what a real sign language interpreter says he was saying. bill will be kathleen sebelius could not give a straight answer on how many americans have even rolled and how many have insurance. >> would you define enrollment?
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>> we are giving you the numbers of individual who have chosen a plan. >> but not actually paid the their first -- >> the payment isn't due until mid-december in order to be fully covered. so we don't have those number and i think most americans probably will not pay until their money is owed. >> you can't dwairn tee an actual number of constituents. >> not until they pay their premium. bill: what did you learn from that? >> i learned the secretary is less than forthright. they are losing credibility every day. they wouldn't admit how many cancellations there were. they wouldn't tell is how many were actually enrolled. they won't admit this is harming
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the american public. they don't admit their broken promises. unfortunately they are not trustworthy. bill: why would that be? let me refreight it. do you think they have the information and they are just not coming forward with it because it would be embarrass together program? did they possibly just not know, sir? >> i think they have a lot more information than they are giving us. that has been the case in the past. and so we are just going to have to wait and once we get the information then perhaps call the secretary back and review what she said last time and try to get more information in the future. because this is a rolling disaster. bill: if that is the case what do you think that lack of
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information reveals? >> it reveals not on is the website broken, this is a broken law. there are a series of problems waiting to happen. the next big one is the gap in coverage. people who think they are covered. who on january 1, they find out they are not covered. that's going create real panic. so we are just going to -- bill: do you have a number or approximation for the number of people who may be a victim of that scenario in january? >> no, but i think, you know, it's a huge number. we don't actually know. we know, for instance in all the states the high-risk pools are being canceled. so those with preexisting conditions will lose their coverage on the state high-risk pools.
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there will be hundreds of thousands of people with preexisting conditions who are not covered. bill: you are saying hundreds of thousands of americans next month will find out that they thought they were covered and they are actually not? >> that's what i would suggest, yes. bill: the administration will argue massachusetts did this and it took them a year and eventually they got their wheeled under jeet their cart. do you think that could be the case here? >> i think they will get the website fixed and the process fixed so that people can sign up. the problem is a lot of the younger people will choose the fine of $95 rather than premiums going up several thousand. you will see a death spiral occur if that happens. and rates go up next year. you will see small groups cancelling plans. you will see many, many more people losing coverage than the
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5 million so far. so there are problems coming down the line, not to say anything about the cuts to immediate care advantage to seniors. and other cuts that they have in the system. bill: hundreds of thousands? that will be a stunning story if that's true. joe pitts thank you for your time. martha: a leading voice on national security saying john kerry was not completely truthful on the issue of iran. the fight to stave off functions. which way is john mccain leading on this? >> think it's cold where you are. think it many cold where you live? you ain't seen nothing yet.
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martha: scientists say they have located the coldest place on earth. it is a high ridge in antarctica where the temperatures have fallen the record they record was negative 139.8. we have an ice scientists which made this announcement. ted, good to have you with us today. what's the meaning of that. what do we take away from this?
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>> it's a part of the globe that's reached an extreme and that h tells about how the works and how clue matted works. we found the ultimate chilly morning you could possibly find. it's pretty much the same kind of thing say a gardener would know about how cold could get on a clear night. in antarctica ita whole lot colder. martha: how do you measure it? >> we use satellites and sifted through quite a bit of data. one of the good parts about this was there is a new satellite we used that should be capable of making a good measurement in detail of these areas and that will tell us more. another thing that we learned is there is no cloud that gets as cold as it gets on the surface. that made it easier to map the
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area and detect where the coldest place was. martha: what do you think is driving the temperatures colder in in that area. >> what we are doing is mapping the minimum temperature in antarctica as an end point. but, the temperatures are going up slowly any amount art today in general but that's not really what we measured here. still the tells us something about how the works, how climate works. if we were to continue to monitor these things we might see a change in the minimum temperature over time. >> can anyone survive in a temperature like that? what would happen to your body? >> it's tough, you freeze pretty quickly. it hurts to breath. your eyelid start to freeze shut because anything with any moisture cities freezing out hard as a walk.
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if you are walking on the surface it's loud. it doesn't sounds like some of the slushy snow, it's like walking on broken glass, tiny shard because the ice is like rock. martha: do you as the scientists for fun like to run out at the south pole negative 13 degree naked? >> i have not. they are allowed to wear shoes and a scarf and it's people being people. they work hard at the south pole. you have got to have a little bit of fun and take advantage of the challenge antarctica poses to you. so it's not something that happens on a regular basis. but, yes, that's a little bit about how we know how long you can stand outside at 100 below 0
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degree. martha: thank you so much. really interesting. thank you for being with us. what do you wear in that temperature? what is 135 below? you wear everything. everything you brought is on your body. martha: and shots of vodka to warm you up. bill: will congress pass the first budget deal we have seen in years? we are about to find out. martha: what baseball is about to make illegal. >> i lost time as a catcher being run over a couple different times, but i thought it was part of my job and i enjoyed the contest. i'm not sure everyone enjoys the contact.
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on the first budget agreement they have within able to come up withç in years. welcome, everybody, brand new hour of perk's newsroom, i'm marthasj=$ñ maccallum. bill: good morning, you mean do your job, right? speaker john boehner confidentç the bill will pass the house even conservative members slam it. this is why they say today do not like it, it does not tackle the $17 trillion in debt hanging over our nation, and marco rubio was talking about thatç with megyn last night. >> we are going to have a debt crisis in this country. it is going to continue to destroy jobs, it's going to disrupt the functions of our government, threaten our national security. when are we going to get serious about dealing withç this once d for all? bill: carl cameron, good morning to you. can you call it a deal? is this something that will pass? >> reporter: well, it's first important to remember thisç is just a deal between two people, paul ryan and the chairman of the senate budget committee,
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patty murray. they still have 533 other members they've got to convince on this, and ultimately, it's not a budget in theç sense the president's going to sign a law here, this is the guidelines that congress will use to spend money over the next two years. will it pass the house today? yes, they tell us they've got the votes. there will beç some dissent frm conservatives who, as you say, have lots of complaints, there'll be some complaints from liberals but not enough to derail it. by the end of the day, there will be a vote, and there will be dissen ç and they will have guidelines for the appropriations process which has to go through next year, and at any committee at any moment it could all dissolve next year. this is a blueprint, this is a road map. it's notç binding. and then it'll go to the senate, but probably not until next week. the house hopes to pass it and take off for holiday vacations tomorrow afternoon. bill: carl cameron, thank you. we'll see whatç happens.
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there's been drama in december for the last four years now. why break the string in thank you, carl. here's martha. martha: some republicans saying the best chance for a sweeping 2014ç midterm election is justo pass this budget and move their attention back to obamacare. here's house budget committee chairman paul ryan. >> elections have consequences. we're going to have to win a couple of elections to actuallyç pass the kind of budgets that you and i are in favor of, the one i passed in the house just last spring. martha: bret baier joins me now, anchor of "special report." good morning. >> good morning,ç martha. martha: this clearly is paul ryan's strategy, he wants to just get a deal done and leave the focus on obamacare for the midterms, right? >> yeah, that's right. that is the argument those republicans like paul ryan, like speaker boehnerç are making, tt they need to get a w on the board. they need to get back to normal action in congress. they're making the argument that by continuing these continuing
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resolutions, they're essentially putting up0budget numbers that then speaker nancy pelosi was in charge of. and they're saying, you know, let's start the normal process of appropriations -- as karlç accurately described -- get that off the table and then focus on obamacare in 2014 and really get some ws on the board when it comes to the election in the midterms. martha: yeah. and what aboutç that, you know? what about the issue of obamacare in terms of what kind of impact it could have on 2014. we're already starting to see ads in the pipeline. >> yeah. i think there are a lot of people looking at it and looking a, the prospect of january and the chaos that may ensue with people trying to see if they actually have insurance, if they are enrolled, if they're not enrolled. there are a lot of potential problems here that!éoom for obamacare. i think the real question for republicans is whether an
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alternative comes to the table. last night we had congressman tom price on who's a doctor. he has his ownalternative called h.r. 2300, it's an alternative to obamacare. not to go into too complex, too detailed, but it's one of many republican plans. the president says the republicans don'tç have alternatives, there are a number of plans out there, they just haven'trallied around one. i'll be interested to see after the new year if republicans do around one alternative plan as they get ready for the midterms in 2014. martha: yeah. i think that's a great point, bret, because that's the one criticism. even though we all know that they have floated a lot of ideas,ç and we've heard them since the last presidential election, i think the feeling out there in the country, they can't wrap their arms around one solid idea, one kind of what would you do answer. we have a pollç we want to get
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your thoughts on as well. 2014 congressional race, who would you vote for. it's a straight up republican/democrat question here. back in october 34% said they would voteç you've got the doctors and the hospitas and the back end that we haven't really dealt with yet because it hasn't been put into play. january 1st it will.
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martha: so true. bret, thankm]ñf you so much. >>ç see you, martha. bill: doctors explaining how obamacare affects not only insurance plans premiums,ç but also how it will affect them. mike emanuel's listening in, what have they said so far, mike? >> reporter: well, bill with, lawmakers are hearing today from the other people who are directly affected by obamacare, americanç doctors. and so we've heard the familiar promises that if you like your plan, you can keep your plan, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. well, in some cases that hasn't turned out to beç true. here's chairman darrell issa setting the stage for the hearing. >> when our government, including this congress, passed this law, we had a solemn duty to honestly inform the american people of what isç going to happen. in this case, clearly the american people were misled. this duty is no more solemn when
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it affects americans' relationship with their physicians. that is a sacred trust, itç is the most important thing in the life or death situation to many americans, and it is a trust that has been broken. >> reporter: we've heard a lot from political folks. justç yet we heard from hhs secretary kathleen sebelius, but today we're getting to hear from the mds. bill: they have been saying that there will be a shortage of doctors, and you justç wonder f they drive that home today in their testimony. >> reporter: well, that's right. they're hearing from an eye specialist from new york city, a surgeon from arizona and a neurologist from atlanta all about the indirect effects, if you will, of obamacare,ç some direct, some indirect. but they recognize that, obviously, the lawmakers who supported this law were hoping to do a good thing. but they're hearing, essentially, that these doctors are saying this law is interfering withtheir ability to treat their patients.
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and the impact of these bigger numbers, a lot of people are signing up for medicaid and, ultimately, how it may rock a lot of state budgets in theç months and years ahead. bill: thank you, mike emanuel on the hill there. martha: speaking of congressman darrell issa, he thinks kathleen sebelius is not being truthful to the american people. >> kathleen sebelius isç not providing america the truth. as a matter of fact, in a letter that i sent to her, i warn her that her people are actually obstructing justice. they're telling individual companies who have serious reportsç on security flaws, in other words, vulnerability to hackers, to the to provide us the information. and what's amazing about it, brian, is they're saying 73 days later, don't provide information because it's aç road map to hackers. bill: that interview from earlier today. 38% of you would rather pay a fine than enroll in obamacare. of we asked you to tweet us what
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you think. james tweets: iç would rather y the fine. cheaper in the long run. martha: another, i will not sign up and not pay the fine. a tax is a tax, fine is a fine. that i will take to court for a constitutional violation, because as youç remember, the supreme court said it is a tax. bill: jim tweets: i just want to wake from this bad dream. martha: my insurance has tripled, i will pay the fine.ç bill: my cancellation notice for whole family plan has a $12,000 deductible, can't do it. keep sending us your tweets, @bill hemmer and @marthaç maccallum for the past hour nine minutes we've been trolling through these, i'm frankly very surprised how many people say i'd just rather pay the fine. martha: pay the fine, pay the tax. bill: if the government catk@co. martha: i think they can. they're pretty good at that. [laughter] well, the white house and secretary of state john kerry
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putting on a full court press to beat back any new sanctions on iran, but a key senator on foreignç affairs, john mccain, not buying what they're selling. >> i was not only not persuaded, i came out -- many of the statements that the secretary of factually false, because i just came back from the region. martha: really fired up about that, and his colleague, senator lindsey graham, is as well. south carolina republican will join me in just a minute onç wy we can't back off on iran, especially now. bill: also a big win for jana winter in the thick of this fight in court in her first interview. you will hear from her alongç with shepard smith. >> i promised my sources i would keep their identities confidential, and would have ended up having to go to jail to do so. >> youv/lñ were going to jail. >> correct.ç
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martha: and the 6-year-old boy who was booted from school and labeled a sexual that harasser -- this is so crazy -- he kissed a little girl on the hand. >> i didç something wrong. she sent me to the office. i feel sorry. bill: cute little guy, right? there are i newç developments n the story that you do not want to miss about that young man. ♪ ♪
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massacre. but the new york court of appeals ruled in her favor this week, and winter spoke out for the first time about her ordeal with shepard smith. >> i knew i was kind of in trouble when my fellow colleagues and competitors at different channels or people i worked with or i competed against when i was at "the new york post," when people suddenly started being very concerned, and i thought, oh, i wow, this is kind of a big deal. this is about what we do, all of us. and that was sort of a lot of responsibility to feel for just what we all do every day, covering breaking news. this was the last thing i thought that would ever in a million years turn into this. bill: constitutional experts support the court's decision saying that the case highlights discrepancies in so-called shield laws. winter is safe only if she stays in new york state, we're told. the minute she leaves, it is possible she could be subpoenaed in yet another state. she had a lot of aping psi the city for a long time on that matter.
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martha: sure did. and we think it's over. judge napolitano said it was basically over, but there was this issue of what might happen if she left the state, so, yeah, very courageous on jana's part. ♪ ♪ martha: so putting the hammer to iran. lawmakers like senator john mccain seeking a new round of sanctions against the rogue nation despite protests from the white house that that would kill the deal they just struck with the nation. >> we want to make sure that the iranians understand that if there's no agreement and we don't trust this interim agreement, that the congress will act and act decisively. they are months away in the view of some, a few months away from the acquisition of nuclear weapon, and they're continuing with their development with the missiles and the weapons to deliver it. martha: senator lindsey graham agrees with senator mccain, he's willing to block a key pentagon spending bill if the senate doesn't vote on iran sanctions.
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the member of the armed services committee joins us now. senator graham, good morning to you. >> good morning. martha: you are, as i understand it, so upset about not having congress can have the ability to vote on whether or not these sanctions will be lifted or implemented or added to that you're willing to attach it to the defense authorization bill that you would very much like to pass, correct? >> yeah. i want to make sure that the iranians understand that the congress believes that the only reason they're at the table is because of pressure of sanctions, and the congress is going to continue sanctions unless we achieve an acceptable outcome. the interim deal is a terrible deal. it doesn't dismantle any of their nuclear capability. there's bipartisan support for a new round of sanctions that would pressure the iranians to stop their nuclear ambitions, and i want a vote. martha: if you and senator mccain and others, obviously, are so concerned that iran is very close to establishing a
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nuclear weapon -- which pretty much the entire world agrees can't happen -- why do you think the administration is going in such a different direction? they have to believe that what they're doing will prevent that from happening as well. >> i think they believe there are two iranian regimes, a moderate regime, and a hard-line regime. and that if you impose sanctions, it will embolden the hardliners and marginalize the moderates. i think that's a mistake for the ages. there is no difference between rouhani and the ayatollah on the nuclear ram. this new president is charming, but did he say thinking when the ayatollah killed iranians who were asking for honest elections and more say in their lives? has he ever criticized the regime for putting people in jail and executing them randomly? no. when he was the negotiator in 2004, the current president, he bragged about the advancements under his watch of their nuclear program.
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so they're mistaken. there are no moderates in the government when it comes to iran, and i think the obama administration -- like this and other things -- are misreading the tea leaves. martha: i want to play an an exchange with your colleague, john mccain, who got very exasperated -- john kerry, who got very exasperated the other day. >> do you believe it is the goal of the supreme leader to destroy israel and the united states? >> well, you know, when you say do i believe, do i believe, i think their rhetoric is dangerous and threatening and, you know, incredibly counterproductive and damaging to any potential sort of rational relationship. martha: what do you think about that exchange, senator?
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>> i think the iranians would kill the israelis the they could. i think the iranians have a goal of dominating the region. they want a nuclear weapon to advance their influence, that the shia persians would be a safe hard bar for the regime. -- harbor for the regime. they would threaten israel and the sunni-arab nails -- neighbors, they could share knowledge with a terrorist organization that could work its way here. why? for the last 30 years they've been a regime spreading state-sponsored terrorism ahead of all others in the entire world. here's another question for secretary kerry, do you believe they're lying when they say they're just trying to build a nuclear power plant for peaceful purposes. they're lying. when they say they're not trying to build a nuclear7htoñ weapon, they're lying. there are no moderates there. these people are dangerous, and they mean what they say, and i am going to do everything i can to let them know that this is going to end one of two ways;
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peacefully, where you dismantle l your nuclear ambitions, or otherwise. because if they don't believe sanctions are coming and will stay in effect if they don't do the right thing or there's a credible threat of military force, they're going to break out like north korea, and god help us all if the ayatollahs get a nuclear weapon. martha: senator graham, we'll. watch it closely. good to have you with us and merry christmas. bill: major league baseball making a major rule change. jim gray will react to that and why next. martha: and check this out, why italian grandmothers around the world might not be saying that's amore about a new way to make pizza. printing a pie? bill: with pepperoni too. large pepperoni. martha: printing a pie. bill: yeah. maybe some bacon, a little sausage. what else would you put on that? martha: black olives. bill: yeah.
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♪ martha: check this out, folks. this is a three-deep printer that allows you to cook and create meals like pizza pies all with the push of a button. i'm liking this idea so far. the food comes out of the nozzle in a specific pat and help you make foods that you would otherwise get from a box or delivery. it's expected to hit the shelves this spring for about $1400. can you explain this to many me? bill: no. i'm throwing the hooie card on that. i just don't believe it. martha: it comes out of where? bill: air. martha: we need more
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information. bill bill major league baseball eliminating the home plate collision in hopes of avoiding something like this from two years ago. >> a great arm, tagging and coming to the plate is cousins, and he scores! he= clobbers -- bill: that collision sidelined an mvp catcher for almost an entire year, so players cannot target catchers trying to score. catchers will not be able to block home plate. jim gray joins us now to talk about this. this is a major rule change for major league baseball. obviously, they're trying to make the game safer. will this do it? >> yes, it will, because these collisions can be avoided. the catcher can step back, the runner doesn't have to run him over. it looks to me like any ball that makes it to the plate in time is going to be an out.ux'ó and when you look at the cost of all of this, look what happened to buster posey, and his manager
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was very upset. the rule's been in place, the contact has been part of a tradition that goes all the way back to pete rose and even before that in the all-star game. but the fact of the matter is you're talking about one out, major league baseball teams have in one inning -- more than one inning, and also, bill, there's a liability issue. we've seen what's happened in football. they want to make it safer. there's a lot of concussions. they say almost 50% come from this play at the plate. bill: no collisions at home plate, no tailgating at the super bowl here in new york, new jersey, i mean, come on, america, let's have some fun here. this is like the quarterback rule in the nfl. that league is trying to protect its big money players from being lost for the year or even lost for their career. um, and this seems like a similar situation when you see posey go down two years ago.
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he came back the next year and won everything. >> well, a lot of people aren't going to like this, and a lot of people are going to say that they're watering down the sports they love. we've seen it in professional .aall, a lot of people don't like the rules with the quarterback and not being a able to hit the receiver, but you have to augment and change with the times, and if we knew then what we know now, perhaps these things would have come sooner. baseball doesn't want to be where football is where they're paying out $750 million because people are suing for concussions. i think they're -- bill: on that point. >> what's the point? we don't have any contact in baseball any place else. bill: you do at the plate if pitcher hits the batter in the head. i don't see concussions as a big deal in baseballment. >> reporter: well, they're not because you don't see it a lot. but also, we're not getting concussed. so the fans just want the
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action. the fans want to see the game the way it was meant to be played, and that's why there'll be some resistance to the rule. ñ the people pl, it just makes it a heck of a lot easier, and it also takes out -- what threatens the games in the sports, a the integrity, b the injuries. so the integrity is threatened by gambling, steroids and now the injuries. so they're trying to clean up the other end so the sport won't be as threatened as it has been in the past. it won't meet resistance from the players or the owners. bill: jim gray in on that from los angeles. good to see you, bill. >> thanks, bill. happy holidays. bill: and to you as well. 19730 at the all-star game, ray fossey, a well known cleveland indian the prime of his career, fossey was never the same again. rose was interviewed about this with the associated press, said the hitter's wear more armor
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than the humvees in afghanistan. then he continued, evid% x0p the guys making all these rules never played the game of baseball. there it is from 1970. martha: i don't know. bill: play on! martha: i agree. all right, so there's a dangerous situation that is unfolding on the international space station right now. what crews are doing to try to fix this problem. and right now the wife ofside abedinny, the american pastor who is jailed in iran, is testifying at a house hearing. she's been a guest here many times in "america's newsroom," we'll tell you what she is pleading for today. >> my 7-year-old and my 5-year-old cry themselves to sleep every single night for the last 444 days. and knowing that unless we get said out quickly, he might serve the eight years, or he might not even survive the prison sentence.
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bill: at the moment, the why have of an american pastor jailed in iran testifying at a hearing on the hill. said abedini has been behind bars for 18 months, said to have been beaten and tortured, and the obama administration coming under fire for failing to even raise the issue in recent nuclear talks with iran. >> i had anticipated that i would battle the iranian government for my husband's freedom. i never anticipated that i would
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also have to battle my own government and that the journey would become even much more difficult than it had been. my husband is suffering because he's a christian. he's suffering because he's an american. yet his own government did not fight for him when his capturers were across the table from him. bill: that is powerful. founder of the islamic forum for democracy, sir, good to see you again. >> good morning, bill. bill: you believe this is a dip plomatic failure from the department of state. explain. >> it could not be worse. here you have an opportunity, supposedly the american people are to believe we're going to get something out of these talks, but coming from a family that's dealt with these thugs in syria and if you talk to the abedini family, they'll tell you you deal from a position of strength. not weakness. you don't hand $8 billion to a
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regime that's sponsoring genocide in syria. they should have demanded the pastor be released up front as a sign of good faith to show they actually mean they're going to start changing their society. you don't change these societies' behaviors where religious freedom is the canary in the coal mine by just coming to the table. you have to demand good faith up front. will: the new leader, rouhani, he's said to be a moderate in public, and as a result, you believe christians are in a worse environment now in iran than they have in some time. explain that. >> bill, it's not only my belief, it's what's been happening. protestants especially in the last six months since rouhani -- the so-called moderate who's simply just another tool of the supreme council there -- has basically been imprisoning more christians. abedini himself has gone to the more violent prison and has been tortured. and you have prisoners like husseini, haqqani, porteo,
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abedini is the tip of the iceberg. and rouhani is dancing -- the farce news agency had a cartoon that showed he was breaking down the walls of sanctions, and basically we were bending at our knees in america. and all the while we're simply doing nothing. the president says nothing about pastor abedini. religious freedom is suffering, and our fuzzy rells from america are weakening our position in the world and in the region. meanwhile, iran fuels a genocide in syria that we're saying nothing about, and i can tell you the plight of religious freedom is suffering, and they need to release pastor abedini to show some good faith. bill: we'll see if this wife can get her way and cause action because of it. thank you. out of arizona, back with us today. ♪ ♪ martha: all right. good news story for you now. this christmas there is hope in the battle against a disease that takes the life of a child every minute. malaria is one of the most deadly diseases for children
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worldwide, and campaigns like ma malaria no more are working little miracles every day to combat it. >> every minute be malaria claims another life. but donating just $1 provides a life saving and treatment for one child in africa. $1 given, one child saved. martha: not a lot of money, right? and it is working. death rates from malaria worldwide have fallen by 51%, but children under 5 -- and children under 5 and infants and pregnant women are the most vulnerable to these deaths -- but this work is far from over. martin is a good friend, ceo of malaria no more. this is good news, isn't it? >> it's great news. for the first time we've cut child deaths from malaria in half. so we're talking about a disease that's been with us since the dawn of man, something that's probably killed more people than any other cause in human
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history, and we've cut deaths by half in less than a decade. martha: it's something american children died from in the early 1700s. it was eradicated here, it is doable, and it was really under president george w. bush that this initiative began, and he continues to be a huge supporter, right? >> he really does can. america has led the way. it started under rush with the global fund in 2002, the u.s. president's ma lair what initiative. it's con continued under president obama. and president bush issued a statement yesterday talking about every american should be really proud of this. martha: i've seen the work that you all do firsthand. is it the nets that are hung over, you know, family beds in africa, or is it the medication? what's really working and changing the picture here? >> yes. this is a mosquito-borne disease, and the good thing with malaria is we have simple, proven,, cost-effective tools, a net costs only $7.
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it costs less than a dollar to buy and deliver a full course of life saving treatment, this from our friends at novartis. so we have the tools, and now we have the proofer, the data that this is really working. martha: a lot of people say, you know what? why should we care about this issue? >> yeah. it's a great question. if you care about kids, this is one of the best ways to help kids in the world. one of the top three killers of can kids, as we've said, down by i half. if you care about the economy, africa's an important trading partner. every dollar we spend on malaria control creates $40 in economic b productivity. if you care about security, you want stable, prosperous communities and families. and if we want to make friends in the world, there's no better way to make friends than to save a mother's child from malaria. martha: today we just heard about a grenade that was thrown into a tourist vehicle if kenya and to have healthy families really does help to stabilize these commitments, as martin's
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saying. what can we do, if somebody says this christmas i would like to do something for this problem -- >> we're making great progress, but we really do need your help. we have a new campaign where every dollar delivers a life saving treatment, so go to malarianomore.org. martha: martin, good luck to you and congratulations on all the success you guys are having, changing lives for so many people. >> thanks for your help. bill: going to happen in our lifetime too. martha: sure is. bill: so the white house turning to hollywood to try to turn the tide on obamacare. plus, we told you about the 6-year-old accused of sexual harassment for kissing a classmate on the hand. this morning we have an update on that young man. wait until you hear this. >> i just have a lot of energy. a 6-year-old? they have a lot of energy.
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and accused of sexual harassment for kissing a little girl on the hand in school. principal now says the allegations on hunter's record will be changed to misconduct. the school says the 6-year-old got slapped with harassment because he had been in trouble for kissing the same girl before. hunter says he's wrong, and hunter says he's sorry. good young man, age 6. ♪ ♪ martha: all right. well, the administration reportedly enlisting all kinds of celebrities to help boost the number of young people signing up for obamacare. among those said to now be involved is pop singer adam levine -- hugely popular and named by people magazine this year as the sexiest man alive -- joined by richard fowler and mike slater, who were also -- they were runners-up. [laughter] and both radio talk show hosts, hey, guys. richard, i would imagine you think this is a good idea, right? >> yeah. i think this is definitely a good idea.
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nothing new from white houses in the past, they've always used celebrity or star power to help promote government programs whether it be when fdr was going to war and having celebrities to right now, i don't think there's anything different. martha: good point. so historically, mike, people have done this before. so what's wrong? >> sure. it's quite poetic because president obama used to be the biggest celebrity in the country, and you know his approval ratings are getting pretty low when he's recruiting fran drescher to pitch his policies. that's, perhaps, a new low for him. martha: don't be talking negatively about the nanny. [laughter] >> i don't mean to. i think it's a testament to the fantasy land of the left, right? four years ago they thought they could solve health care with a 10,000-page bill, and now they think they can solve obamacare with 100 million retweets and facebook likes. i'm looking perhaps to the new
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low, miley cyrus. we'll see. martha: wow. that would surprise me, but i mean, i guess anything's possible. richard, what does it say about the difficulty this program's having? and there is an irony in the fact that this president was seen as hip and cool, and he can't seem to get a web site running. and can that has a lot of young people scratching their heads. like, gee, i wonder if he knows how the figure this out? >> i think there's no question with the web site. don't get me wrong, i still think this president's pretty hip and cool. any president that takes sell mys -- selfies -- martha: a lot of opinions on that one. >> the truth of the matter is i'm not sure what fantasy land mike is talking about when one million americans have gotten access to health care. that doesn't seem like a .si land -- martha: more than five million have lost their policy. >> wait a second, i think those tokes who have lost their
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poll -- lost their policy -- martha: he suggested that the insurance companies could extent of those folks, a lot of them -- >> i hear that. but we're talking about folks who have never even had coverage at all, millions of people have already enrolled in the affordable care act, and those benefits are seen all across the country especially in states where the governors decided to create their own exchanges. martha: wow, it's looking pretty rosy, mike. >> richard, i'd love to get your take on this, 70% of doctors in california say they will not accept obamacare patients. so, yes, maybe people have health insurance for the first time, but what good is it if it's nearly impossible to access health care? >> will be, mike, i hear that buoyant, and i get it -- point, and i get it. a lot of americans have depended on the emergency room for their health care x that has cost all america, all of us money. we all pay more when we go to the doctor because folks have
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just depended on emergency room checkups. with the affordable care act, everybody has a chance to get health care meaning across the board prices go down for all americans -- >> they don't. they have a chance to get health insurance. >> they finally get a chance to get preventive care so they don't end up costing millions of american dollars. martha: richard fowler, mike slater, thank you very much, guys. i think we're going to be doing a little bit on this in the new year as well. bill: trouble onboard the international space station, a malfunction that could force the crew to make an emergency space walk. we have an update on that. also alabama's kicker criticized for his performance during the iron bowl gets a positive note from a former commander in chief.
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martha: alabama kicker kate foster has been on the receiving end of a lot of hate mail, even death threats since missing three field goals in his team's stunning loss to auburn, and what an exciting win that was for auburn, right? he's got at least one big fan, former president george w. bush. mr. bush saying in a personal letter that he wrote to foster, quote: dear cade, number 43, life has its setbacks, i know. however, you will be a stronger human with time. i wish you all the best. sincerely, another 43, george bush. pretty cool, huh? bill: a major rob in space, international space station above earth, a cooling pump has malfunctioned. nasa says the fluctuating temperatures will restrict the crew's mobility, and we want to know whether this could be a bigger problem. mike, visiting professor at
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columbia university, the engineering school there. nice to see you in person. >> pleasure. bill: i'm honored to finally meet you. a man from long island, new york, the first man to ever tweet in space. >> thank you. bill: two space shuttle missions, you've made four different can space walks. >> that's right. bill: there might be a space walk involved in there. this. >> well, there's too cooling -- two cooling loops, and one of them has gone down. they can transfer some of the equipment that's normally on one loop to another so they can continue to do their science, keep their critical systems going, so right now it's not so bad, but the issue could become worse if that second loop goes down. b bill so if it dose down -- >> then you have a bigger issue because you've got to shut off equipment, and a lot of your critical systems are going to have to be turned off, your science is probably going to be compromised. but nasa usually thinks of what's our next failure going to do to us.
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two cooling systems, one goes down, that's okay, we still have another one, but you want to get it back up. bill: can you fix it with a says walk? >> well, they're trying to figure out if that's necessary. right now there's a valve that's involved that is causing some trouble for them. if they have to replace the whole unit, they practice doing that on the ground. you've got two very good space walkers, very experienced astronaut. mike hopkins is a rookie astronaut, but he's a great space walker. i've been in the pool with him, so i think the space station's in good hands. if they have to replace a module, if that's necessary, they can -- bill: what do you mean in the pool? >> that's where we practice our space walks, and we do a lot of training in there to prepare for things like this. will: you can certainly relate to things they're going through right now. are they concerned? >> i think they're definitely concerned about it, and they're trying to work with the ground be, the control team. you've got these really smart people who are working around the clock to try to fix this
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problem on the ground, and they're working with the crew. the crew is saying what can we do to help? they understand the systems, they're ready to go, and they're working closely with the control center. bill: a cooling loop does what on the international space station? >> you've got all this equipment humming along, it builds up heat just like a television set or a refrigerator this your house. believe it or not, it builds up heat. you've got to get that heat away. so ammonia is used just like a car has antifreeze, ammonia takes it away and radiates it to space. your equipment can overheat, and that's not a good thing. bill: terrific meeting you. >> my pleasure. bill: an honor. merry christmas. >> thank you. martha: stunning new accusations of stonewalling after the benghazi terror attack that left four americans dead. a new report suggests the security firm on the ground was told not to talk to the media. why? when we come back.
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bill: so we're having our christmas party later today and martha and i are the hosts. we don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. martha: we may or may not be back. see you later. bye, over. have a great day. jenna: right now breaking news on today's top headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. jon: shocking testimony in the newlywed murder trial. what the defendant told investigators after her husband's body was found. new questions about benghazi terror attack that killed four americans. new documents show the state department ordered security dreams not to talk to the media. what they knew and why they couldn't say anything. plus a pregnant woman murdered with her two-year-old nearby. her husband convicted of killing her in a trial that made national headlines. now he could get a new trial. we'll explain why, "happening now."
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