criticized. >> eric: thank you. that's it. i'm eric shawn. have a great sunday. >> juliet: have a wonderful sunday. eat dark chocolate and have walnuts in the chocolate. america's news headquarters with shannon bream from washington starts now. >> shannon: desperate search on for survivors as many as 100 people could be trapped in a building. we have a live update next. health concerns, after the big healthcare summit, are the democrats planning to go nuclear in order to pass a bill? we're going to hear from one of the lawmakers who was in that room this week. and texas showdown. the wild west of texas politics takes center stage. the tea party movement may once again be getting in the middle of a republican family feud. i'm shannon bream. america's news headquarters live from the nation's capital starts right now. we begin this afternoon in chile where 400 people are reportedly dead following the massive 8.8 magnitude

earthquake. that number is expected to rise. right now, hundreds of people could be trapped in the rubble. but there is a heroic rescue to report. more on that in a minute. first up, jen ross is a reporter with the christian science monitor and she is on the ground in santiago, chile and joins us now on the phone. jen, thank you for joining us whooch . what is the latest there? >> reporter: again, people are in middle of rescue effort efforts, trying to find people trapped in the rubble. you may have heard 100 people are still unaccounted for inside a building in concepcion and the efforts have been very slow because moving and trying to blast through the side of the concrete of that building could dislodge it and cause more damage. rescue efforts are slow in some areas. as well, many people in small coastal towns hit with what they call high tides, not a tsunami, but when you are

talking about five, six-meter high waves that came in up to kilometer or more, there are vast areas where the the downton core and houses that have been completely flooded or taken out to see. we're getting a lot of news about what is happening in much smaller areas that were cut off transportation and communication wise yesterday. >> shannon: jen, let me ask you. we heard so much throughout the day and the night about the shaking and tremors there. has the situation stopped or are you experiencing some of that today? >> reporter: we are still experiencing the tremors. now have the latest count i saw was 114 tremors. the latest was earlier in afternoon. the biggest one hit around 8:30 this morning which caused a lot of further damage to some buildings around a city further south than santiago. of course, people here are really paranoid about any

shaking a and considering the traumatic event and concerned about whether or not the buildings will continue to hold still or whether this continued shaking will cause any new damage or considerable damage. >> shannon: jen, thank you for taking out time to talk with us. our prayers and thoughts with the people of chile. stay safe. >> thank you. >> shannon: well, this this is a fox news alert. chilean tv is reporting that 25 people from the collapsed apartment building in concepcion have been rescued. the extent of their injuries we don't know but dozens are trapped inside the building. rescuers are trying to get to them. the conditions are tough as they continue to have tremors. many buildings are unstable. but 25 people have been rescued from the rubble. others still trapped. the work there continues. we will update you as we get more information. minor damage in a few locations but for the most part the worries about tsunamis were unfounded

following the earthquake. the warnings have been lifted for nations all around the pacific rim. hawaii issued a warning for 53 countries and region after the 8.8 quake. the warning for hawaii was canceled yesterday after the small waves hit the island causing little to no damage there. one scientist put it, "they dodged a bullet." look at the video. this is time-elapsed video tsunami waves covering a land mass and receding. this is in oahu, hawaii. they predicted waves would be 14 inches or higher but the surge was lower, six inches and some places 12 inches in height. secretary of state hillary clinton leaves later today for previously scheduled trip in latin america and she will stop in five countries including chile. she had been planning to press latin american nations to support stiffer penalties against iran over the growing nuclear program. president obama has signed a one-year extension of the patriot act. some provisions in the measure would have expired today. without the president's

signature. the patriot act adopted after the 9/11 attack expands the government ability to monitor suspected terrorist and seize property in anti-terrorism operation as. president obama completed his first official physical as commander in chief. it was performed at the national naval medical center in bethesda. after the check-up, the president spent some time visiting wounded troops. wendell goler is live at the white house following all the action this morning. hi, wendell. >> reporter: we will try to shout over the workers on the white house lawn. the head of the white house medical unit dr. jeff culeman a navy captain pronounced mr. obama in excellent health and fit for duty after an hour-and-a-half of tests at the bethesda national medical center. and the doctor said the president doesn't have to return for another physical until he's 50, which is about a year-and-a-half from now. the president himself gave a thumbs up after he returned to the white house. he was asked how the examination went. he said really good. doctors performed a battery of routine test -- ear, nose,

throat, gas, lung, gha gastrointestinal. his cholesterol was high. eyes was 20/20. colonography performed with normal results. he's still trying to quit smoking and taking nicotine substitute. he said he has tried to quit and doesn't smoke every day. he's fairly active and plays basketball and golf. they recommended muscle program to keep his left knee developing tendonitis. year-and-a-half between physical seems unusual, but bill clinton the only recent president that took office at younger age came in the office overweight, allergies and higher cholesterol to. he had two bypass operation since leaving office. george bush had preprecancerous skin lesions, but he was

routinely pronounced in superior health. like all presidents, the president obama has one of the six doctors in the white house medical unit following him every day. dr. culeman says the president could continue daily exercise and continue with the nicotine replacement therapy and reduce his cholesterol in his diet. shannon? >> shannon: good at vice for every one of us out -- good advice for every one of us out there. it's a hard bat tle to kick cigarettes so maybe the president not immune as other americans wage the same battle with him. thank you. days after the bipartisan summit, healthcare reform was the hot topic on the sunday talk shows. the democrats seem to go forward even if they don't get republican support. pelosi surging the democrats to back legislation even if it costs them their job. julie kirtz joins us from washington with details. >> three days after the bipartisan summit moderated by president obama, it's as parody san as ever.

polls show along with congress, the american people are divided on healthcare. many are against a big overall, but making rounds on the sunday talk shows, house speaker nancy pelosi urged democrats to make a bold move anyway. even without republican help and november elections on the horizon and she urged them to pass healthcare legislation saying it's what the american people need. >> and they can't wait any longer. if you have, you know, if your family has a preexisting condition, or if you are denied coverage, or if you have a rescission, if your insurance has been withdrawn as you're about to need a procedure, you know that it's long overdue. and what is the point of talking about it i? longer? >> reporter: the house and the senate passed different version of the healthcare legislation late last year. lawmakers in washington have been unable to compromise as you know. now it looks like democrats will use a budget process called "reconciliation" to push a bill through.

on "fox news sunday," the top republican on the house budget committee said it is not clear whether speaker pelosi and the democrats can muster the votes to pull that off. >> we've been frozen out of this process all session long, and it's quite clear to us that they're really not interested in engaging and collaborating on bipartis bipartisansh bipartisanship. they want to jam it through. >> reporter: he called the healthcare blueprint proposed by the president deficit nightmare filled with gimmicks. also this morning the republican leader in the senate co mitch mcconnell said he's confident the bipartisan summit was not enough to win over g.o.p. votes. if the rare seven-hour marathon made a difference, hard to tell at this point. >> shannon: you made a great point whether or not it would be political theater. i guess the question depends on your interpretation of what happened. but certainly no massive ground made up. thank you, julie. be sure to tune in for all of "fox news sunday" today at 6:00 eastern time. you can catch chris wallace's exclusive interviews with

senators kyl and menendez and hearing more from congressman paul ryan, 6:00 eastern on fox. well, the head of toyota motor company is travelling to world's largest auto market: china. akio toyoda will speak to reporters in beijing tomorrow. as he tries to limit all the damage from a massive global recall. the trip follows toyota's appearance in -- toyoda's appearance in washington last week where he was grilled by lawmakers. he's not the only one taking tough questions in the hearings and those to come. many lawmakers want to know if a ntsb has the resources it needs to keep american drivers safe. jail c joan clayburn joins us. great to see you again. >> thank you. >> shannon: how much heat do you think the agency will take as this plays out? >> i think the agency will take a lot of heat. it open and closed five investigations about the toyota sudden acceleration, all during the period from

2004-2009. a lot of people have been harmed. over 34 people have been killed. a lot of people injured, hundreds. so everyone is asking is this, you know, a lapdog or a watchdog? it's grossly underfunded. as you mentioned, it's an agency that has about 15% of the total program funds for the whole agency devoted to the vehicle. $132 million a year. tiny amount of money for federal government agency. it covers 95% of the deaths on the highway and has 1% of the department transportation budget. >> shannon: well, tell me what it would take to get this agency up to speed with funding and staffing so they could better investigate the kind of situations? >> secretary lahood said they are adding 66 new positions to the agency but didn't say where they would go.

they need to go in the motor department of the program. that's a great asset. they need $100 million more in budget. that's a slice from the federal budget but it deals with the deaths of 38,000 people on the highway. and there's so many things that the agency can do issuing the safety standards and making sure that the defective vehicles aren'tp on the highway and doing research to prepare for those. that is a minimal amount of money to do that. >> shannon: what do you make of the criticism over the last several years about 28 former agency employees have now gone actually to work for spots within the auto industry? is that a little too cozy? >> i'm quite disturbed about it. it's a real brain-drain from the agency, itself. also, these individuals, many of them were top-ranking officials. the head of the agency, the deputy head of the agency. the general counsels. a bunch of general counsels have done this, lawyers, engineer engineers. they know how the agency

operates. the function and purpose is to work as lawyer or contractor or in toyota's case on the staff of the company is to maneuver and manipulate the agency to prevent the issuance of safety standards or defect recalls. in fact, at toyota last summer, they gave a briefing for the new japanese head of the company in the united states in which they boasted the $100 million binay narrowing research for the vehicles. ray lahood says standards should be tightened and senator rockefeller is having hearings on tuesday is calling for investigation of this because he feels it's harmful for the american public. >> shannon: jan claybrook, thank you for your time. much appreciated. we know it will continue to play out. you mentioned the internal memo. we have another guest to talk

about that as well and shed more light. thank you. >> thank you. >> shannon: texas republican senator kay bailey hutchison plans to say in the senate until the healthcare effort is defeat and says she will stay a senator for eight months more if congress is still debating healthcare. she's challenging governor rick perry in the republican primary has no firm deadline for resigning. the lonestar state might be the battleground for the republican party heart and soul this year. recent rasmussen survey has perry leading hutchison 48 to 27% in the latest poll of likely g.o.p. voters with conservative activist debra medina pulling in 16%. with the state's primary two days away, how will it shake out? wayne plaiter is writer for "dallas morning news" and joins us from live from austin. great to see you today, wayne. >> great to be with you. >> shannon: so the deal on tuesday for at least the governor trying to avoid a potential runoff? because you hear so much about perry and hutchison, but there is that third

party -- not third party, but a third candidate in the primary. >> yeah, that's exactly what this is about, at least from the hutchison -- i mean from the perata pory point of view. i was travelling with kay bailey hutchison yesterday and it's all about trying to force a runoff. a year ago, kay bailey hutchison was ahead in double digits in the polls. a lot of people thought she would win. as you just said, the polls today show rick perry in striking distance of winning the primary next tuesday without a runoff. that's the game right now. >> shannon: all right, wayne, you mentioned that she was ahead by double digits months ago, a year ago. how in the world does this take a 180? >> you know, it's amazing. more than anything else, it was that the rick perry campaign understood and seized on the anti-washington fervor, the tea party uprising, the movement in texas is very, very strong. so what he did and what she was slow to recognize was to frame the race around

washington. she's wash. rick perry, i'm texas. every answer in this contest has been in that context. even when rick perry's accepted billions of dollars in federal stimulus money to balance our budget, when he talks about rejecting $500 million of federal stimulus money for unemployment, the biggest cheer of any campaign event, this is the issue. the populist uprising, anti-washington fervor that has given rick perry the edge. >> shannon: ask about the hutchison campaign, has talked quietly about trying to bring in ind pen didn'ts and moderates. they certainly don't want to a alienate tea party groups throughout but how will the strategy work for them? >> it won't. republican primary voter in texas is conservative con touch whensy. the hutch -- constituency. they wanted to bring in moderate voters. i was with senator hutchison

and president 41's house a few weeks ago when he endorsed hutchison and talked about this idea of bringing in moderate and democrats, but the last thing that kay bailey hutchison's campaign wants to talk about when they're try to woo some conservative republican as. you don't want to be appealed to, to vote for hutchison if she is also trying to attract democrats. it's a tough tightrope for her and she has had difficulty with it. >> shannon: we can't wait to watch and see how it plays out on tuesday. wayne, thank you for your time today. >> great to be with you. >> shannon: still ahead -- check of your sunday forecast and the latest word on whether or not more snow is headed to some of you. new number just released on the housing market. it's a real estate reality check after this quick time-out. ( sneeze ) transform drinks you want, into cold medicine you need. introducing fast crystal packs. a new way from alka-seltzer plus to...

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>> shannon: well, as if they haven't had enough winter more snow could be on the way for people out there. meteorologist rick reichmuth is at the weather center with that and the rest of the forecast. how does it look, rick? >> tomorrow is march, shannon. that's good news. you start to get to march and you think it has to warm up and it does have to. it's not going to happen anytime soon. we have cool air across much of the area, across the northern part of the country at least. a little more snow in across new england. this snow we will see in the next 48 hours from the exact same system that brought us all of the snow just a couple of days ago. that is hanging out here, it's going to etch its way out of here by tomorrow afternoon. and we'll get at least a day or two of clearing. very clear across the southeast. then we turn our attention to parts of the southwest. this storm brought rain and snow in higher elevations

yesterday. now snow in new mexico. moving over the next 48 hours, this storm is going to be a weather-maker again for us across much of the south. in fact, probably pretty significant rain-maker and some snow again across parts of texas. still seeing that snow there. by the time we get to tuesday, maybe a little snow across parts of georgia and south carolina. and tuesday and wednesday, shannon, it moves in around the northeast and mid-atlantic. i think you will see more snow unfortunately and across the nation's capital. >> shannon: all right, rick. if you say we must, we will endure. thank you, rick. >> you bet. >> shannon: last month's housing figures are in and the numbers are not good. "bulls and bears" anchor brenda buttner is in new york to explain them to hi. hi. >> the latest numbers hit home with the housing market. first, quick look at new home sales. falling to the lowest level in nearly 50 years. january sales down in every region except the midwest. now, you can always blame the weather.

no question the snowy cold is not the best environment for house-hunting. you can always add that new home sales numbers are not as revealing as existing home sales. because those are the ones that really count. they make up three-quarters of all sales. guess what? there, too, sales were bad. friday we found out sales of previously owned homes surprised forecasters, too. down more than 7%, especially since january of last year saw the sales of existing homes were way up. more than 11%. so what is with the shaky ground for real estate? well, sales started to drop late last year when perspective buyers thought it was too late to use a tax credit for first-time buyers. that has since been extended through the end of april. here with many things in the economy, much of thism cos down to unemployment, consumer confidence is down and you have to be pretty confident these days to buy a house, even with foreclosures

at fire sale prices. more bad weather in february, especially in the northeast, where new home sales fell 35% in january could mean another tough month. all this, even as interest rates are extremely low, but there are signs that those could change before the end of the year, that they could warm up. keep in mind, we've been through tough housing markets before. it took several years to recover in the late '80s and early '90s. even optimistic forecasters, including home builders say until we start to see some improvement in unemployment, the 17% when you count part-timers and those who dropped out of the labor market. don't expect housing to settle either. back to you. >> shannon: all right, brenda. great to see you. thank you. we've got a programming note to pass along. "bulls & bears" and rest of the "cost of freedom" can be seen in the entirety at 2:00 eastern. it was pre-empted yesterday for breaking news coverage of the earthquake in chile.

catch it right after our show. a little too close for comfort for passengers on two u.s. airways planes yesterday. two jets clipped wings taxiing on the ground at reagan national airport serving the d.c. area here. airline spokesman says no one was hurt in the accident. flight 1703 to fort lauderdale had to be canceled due to damage to the plane but the other flight was weekend shuttle arriving from laguardia in new york. new homeland security center unlike any other is set to open in new york on friday. laura ingle has details to tell us about it. >> reporter: this is a two-part idea that is coming to life. getting businesses and security experts under one roof to collaborate on homeland security projects and set a state-of-the-art command center to be used by first responders and lawmaker. this is at the local state and national level.

it may not be obvious from the outside homeland security are developed here. that's the point. inner workings of protecting the homeland don't need to be advertised. they received a $25 million grant from new york to get top-notch technology and ideas to be used to prevent terrorist event. companies plan to set up shop inside the center. four companies already moved in. >> here in the command center we can see what is going on the scene. >> rich and bob are twin brothers who used to design navy flight simulators and now they design four-dimensional browsers for balfor technology allowing a first responder to take floor plans, alarm and security cameras and put them on a single screen. >> now we can bring live surveillance assets in the virtual reality scene. >> this is put in the system called "tailgater" allowing

awa awareness information to stream live in handheld devices. in the event of natural disaster, terror attack or to other catastrophe in new york state, the center would switch to command and control mode. >> too many times the technology companies developed enough. but the end user of the customer hasn't been consulted so it falls short. >> department of homeland security reports the center will be used for a model for future d.h.s. projects. the center will bring hundreds of new jobs in the region. shannon, back to you. >> shannon: very cool stuff, laura. thank you for taking us inside. well, is gridlock on capitol hill passing the burden of healthcare reform to the state? we'll talk with vermont governor douglas who says he won't wait for a fix from washington to get something done. it's supposed to be a way for school kids to raise money. not a dating service. we tell you why some parents are outraged. we continue to follow

breaking news around the world, live from america's news headquarters live in washington. ♪ ♪

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>> shannon: a day after the earthquake in chile, the ground is still shaking but rescue crews are rushing to rescue people trapped in the rescue. we have the top news with caroline shively. >> they are saying 25 people have been pulled from an apartment building in concepcion that toppled

backwards in the quake. extent of the injuries still isn't known. crews continue to try to free dozens more trapped in the rubble. 90 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater rocked chile since the 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck. the national emergency office says 400 people are dead and that number is expected to rise. president obama took his first physical exam of the presidency and said it was really good. he went to the bethesda national medical center for the exam. it lasted an hour-and-a-half this morning. after the check-up, he met with wounded warriors. at sea word in orlando, killer whale show is going on as people packed in to see the first show since the trainer was killed. no trainers were allowed in the water for yesterday's show. central indiana mother is furious over a fundraiser at daughter's school that apparently aimed to match boys and girls in grade six

through ten. michelle everett's 11-year-old daughter brought home the survey and the mother says she contacted the superintendent and said match-making could effect pregnancy rates in the community. those are the top stories. back to you. >> shannon: thank you, caroline. people in new york continue to dig out from this week's latest winter blast. if dealing with the snow isn't difficult enough, thousands are in the dark and in the cold. nicole johnson from fox affiliate nyw has the story. >> reporter: throughout westchester county, folks are still feeling effects of the storm. more than 24,000 con-ed customers are still without power. the generator is working to pump electricity for the cavern, but it's not enough to keep the food pressure or the bar open. >> we haven't been open. i have no life in the kitchen and i have no life in the bar. >> to help out, new york state electric and gas is handing out dry ice and water but many are coping the best they can without necessity and even without heat. >> we feel awful. we have been without power

since thursday at 7:30 at night i called in. >> reporter: to days after heavy snow took down tree limbs, power lines and caused chaos, buried cars and covered everything. in some cases the scene was pretty but the damage was extensive. in orange county, more than 40,000 people are still in the dark. >> shannon: that was nicole johnson reporting from nyw in new york. house speaker nancy pelosi is standing by ways and means committee charlie rangel for now. they acknowledged him for accepting sponsored trips to the caribbean. the "new york times" says it's time for rangel to lose his chairmanship. in the editorial today, the times said charles rangel was far from humbled after the ethics committee admonished him for taking corporate paid junkets in violation of the house. rangel already deserves to be stripped of his gavel

according to the "new york times." the 18-year-old son of marie osman died in an apparent suicide on friday. in the statement, mother of eight children, said her family is devastated by the tragic loss. "entertainment tonight" is reporting that he jumped to his death from a downtown los angeles apartment building and he reportedly left a note which referred to a life-long battle with depression. the olympics are wrapping up, but was there a financial gain for vancouver? we crunch the numbers up next. st: could switching to geio really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: did the waltons take way too long to say goodnight? mom: g'night john boy. g'night mary ellen. mary ellen: g'night mama. g'night erin. elizabeth: g'night john boy. jim bob: g'night grandpa. elizabeth: g'night ben. jim bob:'night. elizabeth: g'night jim bob. jim bob: g'night everybody, grandpa: g'night everybody. jim bob: g'night daddy. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more.

>> shannon: on abc, nancy pelosi said the lawmakers are elected to "do the job for the american people." the senate top republican predicts all 41 g.o.p. senators will vote against the healthcare package in the current form. still fresh from the appearance on capitol hill, akio toyoda is traveling to china monday to speak with reporters in beijing about the global recall. the number of toyotas being recalled in china is relatively small. but china is important to any auto maker. china overall vehicle sales increased by 45% to 13 million, passing the u.s. as the world's largest auto market. three months after the now infamous salahi crashed the state dinner, the woman in charge of that event is

stepping down. the high profile desiree rogres, friend of the obamas from chicago says she will leave her job as white house social security next month. replacing her is juliana smoot, finance director for president obama 2008 campaign. those are top stories now. the u.s. brought home a gold medal yesterday which marks the 36th medal for the u.s. nine are gold. olympics conclude this weekend in vancouver with closing ceremonies scheduled tonight. bode miller's last chance to be the first man to win four alpine medals at olympics ended yesterday when he skied offcourse eight seconds in his event. he's just one of five to win that many medals in one olympics. he won gold at super combined, silver in super-g and bronze in downhill. the vancouver winter olympics wrap up today with the u.s. leading the world in medals.

currently, the u.s. has 36. we told you nine of those are gold, followed by germany with 29 medals, ten of them are gold. host country canada has 25 medals with norway and us a strayia in fourth -- austria in fourth and fifth place. the past olympic games for the host city have been a gain or loss. will vancouver come out on top financially? dan springer is streaming live with the latest on that. hi, dan. >> hey. tough to do a real accurate cost benefit analysis, because we don't know the cost at this point. estimates range from $6 billion up to $9 billion. they're also a lot of intangibles like what is hosting a games mean for a city's image? what does it do long-term to be considered a world class city? here is what we know. 300,000 foreign visitors descended on vancouver. ticket sales have been good. hmerchandise flying off the se shelves and hotel have been packed and restaurants packed. but a couple of venues were

built and luge track and the highway to whister with was widened and $2 billion light rail line built for the airport. there is debate over they are really needed and just who benefits from the two-week shot in the arm. >> the big problem with the olympics today is that a governments use the games as an excuse to put forward massive infrastructural spending to leave a legacy of debt for taxpayers. >> having the olympics here gave us platform and gave us the reason for them to come. another reason for them to come. >> reporter: one study estimated that british columbia will get an additional 1.1 million visitors because of the olympics and they'll spend, those people, $1.5 billion. some games have been financial disasters. think about montreal in 1976. they were more than $1 billion in debt, had to raise taxes. same thing in athens a while back. they had to raise taxes.

$14 billion sent there. salt lake city made money and los angeles made money, some break even. i have to tell you, if canada beats the u.s. in the gold medal match in the hockey game today, no amount of money will be too much to spend on the olympics. i got to tell you, shannon, watching over here, two-and-a-half hours away from when they drop the puck. there are people standing out, sitting in the rain in front of a big screen in a couple of hours will show the biggest hockey match this country has ever seen. shannon? >> shannon: absolutely. that is going to be huge. we appreciate your coverage from there. great job. >> thank you, shannon. >> shannon: more than a million people tuned in to see the president and washington lawmakers spar over healthcare reform during thursday's summit at the blair house. also, likely tuning in, well, the nation's governors who did not have a seat at the table. should the states have a bigger voice in the debate? joining us is vermont governor douglas, chair of the national governors association. thank you for your time

today. >> nice to be with you. >> shannon: let me ask you, would you have liked a seat at the table? >> well, i certainly want a seat at some table. it's not about one meeting this week, but a process over the next weeks and months. it made it clear to the president when he met with the nation's governors last week we have to implement whatever is passed by the congress. it's important to get it right and to learn from the experience that states have. a lot of states have been doing exciting things, innovating across the board, improving the health outcome for people they represent. and we certainly need to make sure that that experience of the governors is part of the process here. >> shannon: governor, you said you're not going to wait on washington to try to fix this problem and that governors will be the ones who come up with different ideas. you mentioned some of those. what else do you plan to do moving forward while the rest of the world waits to see what d.c. is going to do? >> well, it's interesting. while the debate goes on in washington, healthcare reform is happening. it's happening in the states. we had a great conversation a week ago today at our national meeting. and, you know, if you went

around the table, you wouldn't know who was a republican or who was a democrat. governors are talk about the innovations they put in place in their states. vermont is leading the way in many respects. we cut the number of uninsured in our state by about a quarter over the last year-and-a-half. we've been deemed the healthiest state in america two years in a row according to national surveys. other states are doing great things as well. what i want is for governors to share those experiences. to learn from each other, to begin to implement reform at the state level. now we can't do it all, because medicaid and medicare are federally funded programs. we have to have them be a part of this. i think a lot of great things are happening already. >> shannon: governor, let me ask you. in the weeks and hours really leading up to that senate vote on christmas eve here in washington, if their version passed, how concerned were you about some of the deals that apparently seem to be being made that would have benefitted the specific states? what kind of concern was that for you in vermont? >> well, i think that all states need to be treated

fairly and equally. the process that we saw unfold in washington was not very satisfying to the american people. that's reflected in the public opinion polls about how they're viewed by the people across the country. so, we have to have a process that is fair to everybody. and i think we need to have everyone at the table. when something passes with only one party voting for it, frankly it's not going to work. i think back to the last few years where we had the real i.d. license, driver's license bill, the no child left behind, things that were done in a way that a lot of states said we're not even going to be a part of. that i don't want that to happen to healthcare reform. we should have something we can feel good about, so we have to get republicans and democrats working together. year, speaker r, speaker pelosi reached out to governor.

both parties and i appreciate that but we have to work hard to come up with something that make sense for all americans. >> shannon: governor jim douglas of vermont, a busy week for you. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> shannon: well, a school in rhode island fired all of its teachers. the principprincipal, too. we tell you why. we break down the presidential poll numbers following thursday's healthcare summit in washington up next. ring ring. progresso. i have a question about these clams. the taste is amazing. clam transfer. clams. are theseeally fresh-caught clams in your new england clam chowder? we take what the ocean offers, be it clams, camaraderie or heartache. wait, what? i hink that was a yes. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

wait, what? i hink that was a yes. we all know haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake. tens of thousands of haitians have died, and that number is rising. we don't have time to sit around and talk about what we can do to help. you can help by donating today.

>> shannon: fox news alert. we are getting reporprh in a single town in chi >> shannon: fox news alert. we are getting reporprh in a single town in chile following the earthquake 350 people died. this is the town of concepcion. seaside town in the area most heavily impacted by the earthquake. chilean tv say some of the

deaths might have been caused after the quake from waves and tsunami that swept through the city. we are hearing about a lot of damage on the coast of chile. we'll follow it and bring you more if we get news from the country. new poll suggests a large nutiaer of americans not happy with the obama administration and how it's handling our financial recovery. fox's ali of vn camerota has the numbers. >> it's been one full year since the federal stimulus program was put to work. president obama says it's responsible for bringing our country back from the brink. >> one year later it's largely thanks to the recovery act, the second depression is no longer a possibility. >> according to the latest fox news opinion dynamics poll, voters are not convinced. 44% agree with the presidenone fs claim. 51% do not. there is even more disagreement about what to do with the rest of the stix'li s e honey. two-thirds is still left in the pot. 31% say it should be spent as planned. ãare n9% of those polled say th money should be used to pay

off some of our national debt. the stimulus bill was approved for $787 billion price tag, but the non-partisan congressional budget office calculations show it could cost $862 billion. numbers like that fueling the fire of critics who say government spending is out of control. nearly eigarea in ten american voters agree. a whopping 78% say spending needs to be reined in. thaone fs up 16 points since the last time we asked in the spring. just 14% now say spending is managed carefully. voters are overall not impressed with how the president personally is handling the economy. a 56% majority of those polled disapprove. thaone fs ord more than in neecember. a large percentage of voters believe the rest of the elected officials running washington are not helping either. 77% say they're actually adding to the countricis problems. and that appears to be contributing to a growing

neistrust of d.c.. in>> shaune of 2002, 54% said they trusted the fall gover86ent. a year namo, bute% said they did not. today, the lack of confidence continues to clitia up to 59%. ali of vn camerota, fob neot o. >> shannon: joining us now to break down some of the latest poll nutiaers, pollster doug shoen and alex. we thank you for joining us today. >> good to be here. >> shannon: start with the first poll. this is out from fox news opinion d noamics this week, the overall approval of how president obama is doing can. 4eve say they approve. 45% say they disapprove. that's still a pretty tight split down the middle. how do you interpret the nutiaers? >> more bad news than good news for the president simply e oor the reasons we>> shaust s. increasing skepticism about the president economic policy, uny.ployment is close to 10o, no real sense that washington has a plan to deal with the

underlying economic probly.s d.ccing our country and distrust of government as we saw is going up and up. >45shannon: and alex, you know when the president took office a little more than a year ago he was in high 60s in a lot of polls for approval ratings. normal they would settrye down or did he drop oord more than you expect? >> this is political gravity. what goes up, must come dotinu. it has really dropped in a year. he dropped more than other presidents. . this is the second poll in a row you have done where he's below the >> shann% approval rating. we know that when he is hovering there in theg thay t f0s, that's a big shia house seats in november. going in the mid-term election, he's not in good shape now and i'm not sure it will get better looking ahead. >> shannondowlobly at the topical things and the policies we're dealing with here. another fob news opinion dynamic poll out talking about specific issues and how the president is haning cing theers look at the economy and healthcare, those seem to be the biggest iss cal of trouble

for hiers ãare nall of pears ple say they disapprove of how he is doing on those two issues. neouoff any surprise? ãa p45no, i don't think there is a surprise given what is . if you have the 56% negative on two of the most important issues facing ay te a the countt tends to create situation mid-term eselection referendum on your performance and thaone fs bad news for president and the democrats. >> shannondowi want to break dotinu heah thcare a littrye moe and get to you, alex. we have a usa gallop poll that a, sped pears ple a

[brief technical difficulty] >> we know the public wants them to work to pass something but they don't want the bill president and democrats are pushing. we saw in the poll we did six in ten americans would rather start all over again than continuing down the path that democrats led us over the past year. >> shannon: we'll watch and see how it plays out. it gets more interesting by the day. thank you, both. >> thank you. >> shannon: well, rhode island school superintendent is cleaning house, firing 88 teachers and a principal of one of the poorest performing schools in the state. the teachers say hey, the low scores from the students, they're not all our fault. that story is coming up.

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>> shannon: after consistently low grades and grade wake rates from students at a rhode island school the superintendent fired all 88 teachers at the school but they say they aren't to blame tore the bad grades. fox's ted daniel has the story.

>> it took five minutes to read all of the names. 8le central -- 88 central falls high school teachers fired. >> you should be ashamed. >> nobody expected it would go well and it didn't. cheryl la coin teaches developmental reading. >> i have been here for 15 years. we have a dedicated staff. it was never about money. it was always about the right for us to have some input. >> that is the group that should be looking for other work, not the teachers! >> teachers rallied for their jobs before the meeting but it didn't change the vote. the mass firing is the result of failed negotiations over how to best turn the troubled high school around. superintendent fran gallo says there needs to be change. >> hearing from students who leave this building and come to my office and say dr. gallo, mr. so and so said you are not going to amount to anything go get a ged, that is unacceptable.

>> central falls has a large immigrant population. some students can't read. teachers say if they had the right resources, test scores would be better. >> i have students at a first grade reading level that i am not able to teach. i have nothing. >> the teachers can reapply for the jobs but there is a catch. under federal guidelines for the turn around plan no more than half can be rehired. 88 teachers now wondering what the future will hold. >> will we have a chance to work some where else, i don't know. >> the union representing the fired teachers is planning to appeal all of the dismissals but school officials say they will proceed with the firings. >> the desperate search for survivors continues in chile as the death toll continues to rise. reuters reports more than 50 people dead in a single town.

some believed to be caused after the earthquake from waves that swept in from the tsunami. this is a fox news alert. jen ross is a reporter with the christian science monitor and has the latest on the death toll. she joins us on the phone. what can you tell us about such a large number of deaths coming in from a single town? >> the estimates that we first heard were 400 people who had disappeared in constitution because there was an end of summer festival going on there and people were camping out on an island just off the coast. with the high tides that will robert dixoned in they just simply swallowed everyone camming there and so now the estimates have been adjusted for the people who have been declared missing by their families and they are now reporting them dead because there is virtually no chance that they survived. as well, we have got people who

have disappeared in a similar wave in smaller towns across the country, some of which there is still no communication with and emergency crews have not been able to get in. so we are waiting to hear the death tolls probably increase more,. >> shannon: and how are people doing today. you told us earlier there is still tremor there's and shaking. we are seeing more and more devastation and getting more and more reports of lost life. what is the mood there among the people? >> somber. people are afraid. people are -- i would say that is the mood in santiago. people are afraid. beam are talking about what is happening and lamenting what is happening. the further south it is desperation. people that are hungry. they have been sleeping outside all night and they don't have typiers for their children which led them in many cases to

looting around shopping centers in concepcion. people have been evacuated from their homes and haven't had very well coordinated health in terms of their immediate necessities. they are calling for the government to install chemical bathrooms and more food distribution. of course, it has been difficult with the infrastructure so damaged around there to get in but they are definitely what you could call now in a state of december prattion. >> and you -- desperation. >> you mentioned outages difficult it is for rescue workers and others trying to get in. are you seeing any human terri relief or supplies able to get to some of the areas. >> some areas have been very well covered, particularly those with better roads. if you can get crews in you can get the food on to the ground.

the problem is with a lot of the roads so damaged there are some cities they have never been able to get in and they can't properly assess the damage or help people. >> jen ross, thank you so much for your continued reports live there from chile. >> no problem. tellingon: as we were you in one town the tsunami that fired back there on the coast in chile, hundreds dead from that. there was minor damage in a few locations, but for the most part the tsunamis unfounded for areas further away from the earthquake. the warning now lifted for nations around the pacific rim. the pacific tsunami warning had issued a warning for 53 countries and regions after the 8.8 magnitude quake hit chile. the tsunami warning for hawaii was canceled yesterday after a small wave that lit the island caused little to no damage there. fox news.com has all the latest information, live streaming of local broadcasts there from

chile and educational materials telling you more about quakes and tsunamis and how it all happens. and now we turn to the healthcare showdown brewing in washington. you saw the summit this week. well, just days after that, are democrats and republicans agreeing on anything. in they are hitting the sunday talk shows to talk about what happened. doesn't appear a lot of minds, if any were changed on thursday. julijulie kirtz joins us with e latest. >> the american people are divided on healthcare and so is congress. house speaker nancy pelosi urged democrats to make a bold move anyway without republican help and in the face and to face the heat they may get when they face reelections in november. speaker pelosi saying sometimes members of congress need to take action even if itless unpopular with voters.

>> i know this will take -- it took courage to pass social security and medicare and many of the same forces that were at work decades ago are at work again against this bill. >> it appears dems will proceed with the process called budget reconciliation to try to push through healthcare reform without republican support. today, republicans continue to object. >> a bill that spends $2.5 trillion. 2500-pages. big tax increases. that is what folks are leery of. they don't want, washington making all of those decisions, especially if they think it might interfere between them and their doctor. >> it many coulds down to the votes here in washington. when pressed on whether the white house and dems have the votes to pass a bill the reform director saysrm correct he believes he will have the votes. what he is going to do to get there still not clear, shannon. the battle over gun rights could take another dramatic

turn soon. on tuesday, the supreme court will hear arguments in mcdonald versus the city of chicago to determine if the second amendment applies to the states. for the plaintiff in the case, he says it is a basic question. >> if these 12 or 13-year-olds can walk up and down the streets here with them, i pay taxes, i have worked all my life. i have been -- i have been openly to government. i have been in the army and served my time. why can't i have a handgun in my own home? >> and that is otis mcdonald fighting for the right to get a handgun of his own and be able to have it legally in his neighborhood. now, we will talk about what is at stake as far as gun rights for everyone across the country. we have a couple of experts with us. allen gurra who has argued on something close to this issue and dennis hennigan.

welcome to you both. >> thanks for having us. >> it has been less than two years since we got the decision about the gun rights laws in washington and whether or not the second amendment was an individual right. now, we are talking about gun rights and gun laws in localities and states. that is the case before us on tuesday. allen, you will be arguing. in the appellate level you haven't won on this so far. why do you think you will win the tuesday. >> the supreme court does have the power to give the relief. virtually the entire bill of rights has been applied against states and local governments. the second amendment is a normal part of the bill of rights and protects a meaningful individual right important to people in this country and throughout american history and we believe that we have a strong argument for why is should apply and we believe it will apply in the end to places like chicago. >> which would then in turn give individuals the right to own guns with certain caveats

in place and gun rights and control laws in place. why do you think they shouldn't win on tuesday? >> i think most observers probably think this is alan's case to lose that the same five judge majority that held in his favor in heller is going to apply the second amendment to the states. but i think the important issue is what you just alluded to -- in the heller decision itself not only did the court find it was a very narrow right to have guns in the home for self-defense but in addition the court implicitly recognized there is still broad legislative authority to enact reasonable laws to reduce the risk from that right. and we hope the court gives similar assurances in this case. after all, this is clearly the most dangerous of our constitutional rights. people who exercise the right to have a gun in the home actually expose themselves to three times greater risk of homicide in the home, five times greater risk of suicide

in the home. this is a right that creates enormous risks for people exercising it, for their families and for the community at large and that is why we want the court to reaffirm the authority of legislatures at the loestri local level and stl to enact reasonable restrictions to protect all of us from gunfire. >> i guess you would take exception to some of that? >> the right to keep and bear arms is primarily dangerous to criminals. where the right is respected crime tends to go down. the social science is going to be disputed. the supreme court is a court of law, not a court of social science and under the laws of this country in our constitution the right to keep and bear arms is precious, indeed. this is the one right that people need to have in a meaningful way to defend themselves when the door is broken down, when the police aren't there, this is what will preserve your life and enable

you to exercise all of the other rights that, of course, we hold so dear. we believe that nobody wants unreasonable laws but only one of us here believes that the way we achieve that is through a strong constitutional right to keep and bear arms. >> a few seconds left. any chance alan doesn't win this case on tuesday? >> of course. there are strong arguments on both sides but i think that what the justices can come together on is the authority of state and local governments to enact legislation to keep guns out of the wrong hands. in the oral originalment in heller alan himself conceded that he had no constitution problem for, for example licensing of gun owners. that is the kind of thing that will help to keep guns out of the wrong hands and still preserve the right of law abiding citizens to have everyones. today it the 16th anniversary of the effective date of the brady law. we a want to make share that statutes like the brady law

remain on the books to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. we ought to extend it to private sales at gun shows for example. we want the supreme court to say four square those kinds of laws and regulations are consistent with our constitutional tradition. >> always a good debate. we will be watching on tuesday and we will watch and see how it impacts millions of gun owners here in america. thank you both. house speaker nancy pelosi is not calling for congressman rangele to give up his chairmanship left. what is the latest. >> admitd that the ethics violations probably don't pass the smell test for many americans but is urging people to wait for the bipartisan commission to rule on more weighty issue.

here is pelosi on abc. >> what mr. ranle many wassed a monitoring p initialed for was a violation of a rule of the house. it was not something that jeopardized our country in anyway. so what remains to be seen what the rest of the work of the committee is and i hope it will be soon. >> the new york times editorial page is calling for pelosi to act now. it reads "speaker nancy pelosi who championed ethics reform should top protecting him and relieve him of his crucial role as chairman of the ways and means committee. they didn't find that rangel knew about the sponsorship, only that his staff did but said he should have known about it. also including failure to pay taxes and report income on a villa he owns in the dominican republic. he plans to introduce a

privilege resolution to remove rangel from his position on the house and ways committee. >> shannon: caroline, thank you very much. well, a little too close for comfort for passengers on two u.s. airways planes yesterday. two jets clipped wings while taxiing on the ground. an airline spokesman says nobody was hurt. flight 1703 to fort lauderdale had to be canceled because of damage to the plane. the other flight was arriving from la guard tha la guardia i. another aviation mishap yesterday. an empty american airlines jet liners being towed when it went off the taxiway and got stuck in 6-inches of mud. took all day to get the boeing 757 out. american airlines is now investigating exactly what happened. police in russia are becoming stars on the internet

but they have serious reasons for spending so much time on the web. we will have that story for you, right after this break. will everyone with constipation please report to gate 17? thank you so much. constipation's uncomfortable enough, so why take a harsh laxative? phillips' caplets work naturally with your colon... for overnight relief without cramps. phillips' caplets. owdon: ...no matter where you walmart's $live.-day generic prescriptions... don: plus get free shipping on over 3,000 other prescriptions. don: call 1-800-2-refill for your free home delivery. save money. live better. walmart. how do the editors of consumers digest determine if a car is a "best buy"? first, they drive it in the real world. and put it through its paces. they rate its fit and finish and the amenities inside. they factor in purchase price and operating costs. fuel economy and resale value. in short, they dwhat you do to test its quality. now get a low mileage lease on this 2010 malibu for around $199 a month for 39 months.

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>> shannon: this a fox news alert. reports from chile say that 350 people are dead in a single town. we are talking about constitution. a seaside town most h heavily impacted by the earthquake. some of the deaths were caused by waves that hit, a tsunami that swept through the city actually after the earthquake. reuters is reporting at this hour that some international flights are landing again at santiago's airport. it was closed yesterday due to the quake damage but we know that rescue grews and humanitarian groups with relief and supply efforts trying to get in. the airport open there at least so some flights.

we will continue to monitor information from chile and pass them on. violence erupted at one of jerusalem's most holy site. mass palestinian protesters were throwing rocks at visitors. mike tobin has all the details from jerusalem and joins us live. hi, mike. >> as the trend goes out here, when all hopes for a peace process seem to be dashed palestinian violence boils up on the street and often times centers around the holy sites and that is what is happening in jerusalem and in the west bank. clashes broke out today. in jerusalem's old city at a spot that jews all the temple mount and muslims call the noble sanctionary. they ultimately involved israeli police storming the sites and firing rubber coated bull lets and tear gas. then the clashes spilled over to the old city. it began with a rumor that jews planned to enter the holy site.

in the morning they threw iraqs jewish siteso the jewish and it all spiraled downward. essentially, taking control of those two sites. now, the holy sites have been the spark for larger conflicts in the past. back in 2000, sharon walked around the holy sites and that sparked a second palestinian uprising, a bloody uprising. the grant mufti of jerusalem said today that israel will pay a price for storming the noble sanctuary. back to you. in russia, frustrated police officers using a new technology to complain about an age old problem. dana lewis explains from

moscow. >> in the shadow of the kremlin, a russian policeman waves down another motorist. rarely do traffic cops issue tickets here. usually they ask for bribes to be paid curbside to supplement their meagher salaries. more than two thirds of russians don't trust their police. >> our police force is totally corrupt. it is a system because those on the lower level there is a food chain and they gather the money and it goes top. >> and a growing wave of public outcry on the internet. along with videos making fun of drunk and abusive policemen are more serious disclosures. alex, a policeman the hundred miles from moscow became an internet sensation when posted this appeal, calling his superiors corrupt and professing he was promoted to major for putting an innocent person in prison. he has since been filed and jailed on what he claims are

trumped up charges. this police chief was sentenced to life on friday for a drunken rampage in a supermarket where he killed two and wounded seven. h his commander said at the time he should keep his job because he was a good job. last week, the russian president announced so-called sweeping changes to the interior ministry overseeing police, firing two deputy ministers and 15 officers with the rank of general but the head of the police union told us what is the kremlin is really preparing is a series of new laws to muzzle policemen to control growing political unrest. any officer who speaks out or disoh boys an order will be fired and imprisoned. the goal he said is to remold the force to control growing political discontent. to change the police completely and turn it into an interior army he states because the authorities are afraid of public unrest in the near future they want all officers

to be silent and obedient. the police union says the new rules means that the police officers will soon still be corrupt but also silent, too. they are only making it harder to dig up the dirt. in moscow, dana lewis, fox news. the toyota recall sent transportation secretary ray lahood over to testify on capitol hill last week. now, that he promised to make sure that toyotas are safe, will the uproar end? we will talk to a congressman who was in the hearings, next.

>> shannon: if there was any agreement reached during last week's healthcare summit you wouldn't know it. democrats and republicans drawing battle lines over the trillion dollars overhaul and they dished it out on "fox news sunday." i sat down with fox news anchor chris wallace for a preview. >> coming up a big week with the healthcare summit in washington. some key capitol hill players in to talk about it today and a little bit of disagreement about whether or not democrats push ahead without a bipartisan maneuver. i don't think there is any disagreement that they will try. you got the sense it from bobby menendez. he said we want to see if the republicans are going to agree but they are not. i think they are going to try to pass it through the house on the straight majority house and then through the reconciliation process, the budgetary maneuver where they can do it with 51

votes instead of 60 in the senate. not clear that they have the votes to do it but they decided full speed ahead. >> and you pushed senator jon kyl about whether some republicans may have been for it but certainly not in this instance. >> i don't know that they make a terribly persuasive case. they say there were big majorities in some of the cases and we didn't just fashionista by 51 votes. -- we didn't just pass it by 51 votes. they used it for very sweeping issues like cobra, the plan that allows people have that lost their jobs to keep healthcare insurance. welfare reform was passed under reconciliation. the argument it should only be used for small budgetary matters. it has been used 23 times and two thirds of the times by republicans and not democrats. >> and you broke down the numbers and facts with congressman paul ryan.

>> this is an interesting guy. he is whip smart. i think he is really one of the rising stars in the republican party. the top republican on the house budget committee and the one guy who the president didn't want to mess with at the summit because i think he knows that paul ryan may know more about this stuff than he did and we went through do the premiums go up or down, what about malpractice reform. there are a lot of issues out there. does it bend the cost curve up or down. he makes pretty good sense in explaining going inside the numbers which is what we did with him and trying to explain what the real life practical impact of the democrat's comprehensive plan will be. >> i wanted to make sure in the preview that you are kindly giving to us each week of "fox news sunday" that we mention your power play he of the week. it was one that got a lot of attention here. many of us were very interested in in this young man. >> dale earnhardt, jr. this may show i'm not a huge

nascar follower although i'm becoming one now. and when i told people i was interviewing dale, jr. they were thrilled. he couldn't have been nicer. he is in town wore a wonderful thing he is involved with, with the national guard called youth challenge. we talk about his racing career and we talk about his dad and his slump because the fact is i think he has won one race in the last 136. he is racing today out in las vegas after your show so people may want to watch because it is going to -- all of a sudden i'm a dale, jr. fan. number 88, go! >> it is infectious. a wonderful show and a spirited and great panel always as well. folks can catch all of that later on. thanks, chris. >> all all of craz chris wallas interviews on "fox news sunday." also that piece and dale earnhardt, jr. at 6:00 eastern time right here on the fox news

channel. new reports say 350 are dead in chile in just one single seaside town. caroline shively standing by with the top of the news. >> you are exactly right about the death toll. chilean tv is reporting at least 350 people died in the town of constitution. some killed by waves from the following tsunami. rescue teams using shovels and sledge hammers to find survivors. 25 people freed from a collapsed apartment building in concepcion but dozens still trapped. and reports say the airport in santiago is letting some flights back in. president obama went to the national naval medical center in maryland for a checkup. the president's physical lasted an hour and a half. at sea world in orlando the killer whale show is going on. about 2,000 people packed in the stadium to see the first

performance since kristine brancheau was killed by one of the whales. i took office with approval ratings of just over 60. now, 47% of people approve of the job he is doing and 45% disapprove. on domestic issues, 56% disapprove of the way president obama is handling the economy and also healthcare. should the president take a second look at reforming healthcare. congressman who took part joins us now on the phone. thank you for your time. going into the summit on thursday before things got started did you have hopes that you would be able to reach any kind of consensus? >> i'm not sure that was the

goal of the summit but we went prepared to negotiate in good faith if the president and the democrats wanted to negotiate in good faith which as it turns out they didn't. >> what was your overall take away from the meeting on thursday? >> my overall takeaway is that the president would be a great professor at the harvard law school. he has a grasp for the detail but that the republicans had ideas and were prepared to discuss them and they are ideas that would work and it wouldn't cause a massive restructuring of government run healthcare if we were to implement some of our ideas like just selling insurance across state lines. that would be an easy thing to do and help a lot of people. >> certainly thursday didn't appear to provide much common ground but there is a lot of talk on the sunday shows today from both democrats and republicans that it looks like democrats have the votes they believe to move forward in a different way, possibly going through the reconciliation path. what do you think about that possibility? >> well, when they keep talking

about having the votes, shannon, that means that they don't have the votes. i don't believe they can get a bill through the house like one that passed the senate and they certainly can't get the house bill through the senate. reconciliation is supposed to be used for budgetary issues to reconcile budget changes with appropriations bills and things like that. so, this is a last gasp. the bill is not going forward not because republicans oppose it and not because the american people don't understand it, it is not going forward because the people understand it and don't like it. and republicans are reflecting the will of the american people. >> congressman, you mentiond that reconciliation is generally supposed to be used for budgetary issues but it has been used for a number of things including welfare reform and others. some supported by republicans in the past. does it make it tough it shouldn't be used in this case?

>> not really because when we used reconciliation it was primarily to change tax codes or actually reconcile authority, legislative authority with spending appropriations. that is not the case here. this is one sixth of the american economy. you have got two very controversial bills in the house and the senate. there is not -- there is some common ground obviously but i point out when pelosi talked about medicare and social security, those bills passed with strong republican support. only one republican voted for this bill in the house and i don't believe any republicans voted for it in the senate. so this is really why we said let's start with aachen sheet of paper and -- with a clean sheet of paper and agree on what we can agree upon and do it that way as opposed to still trying to cram this big massive

left of center government-controlled healthcare bill down not just the throats of republicans in the house and the senate but the american people. that is why john boehner and senator mcconnell oppose it and the rank and file republicans like myself oppose it. >> congressman joe barton live with us from texas. thanks for your time today, sir. thank you. >> shannon: president obama had his first official physical as commander in chief this morning. wendel is live at the white house with the results. >> the head of the white house medical unit pronounced the president in excellent health today after an hour and a half of tests. he did say the president has slightly elevated cholesterol level and still hasn't managed to completely give up smoking. mr. obama himself gave a thumbs up when returned to the white house and said the examination went really good. doctors checked eyes, ears,

throat, lungs. the president was told to stick to his nicorette. fox news contributor dr. rosenfeld said that could go on for a year or more. the president also has a taste for burgers and fries and his cholesterol level was 209. dr. call man recommended a reduced cholesterol diet perhapses with more veggies from the first lady's garden. mr. obama is 48 and exercises daily. he plays basketball and golf. doctors recommended a muscle strengthening program for his left knee to cope with tendonitis. a year and a half between physicals seems unusual but bill clinton the only recent president to take office at a younger age than mr. obama came into office overweight with allergies and high cholesterol and other card 8 cardiovascula. he had annual physicals as did

president bush. plus, like all presidents mr. obama has one of six white house physicians following him every day which may make them more comfortable with going a year and a half between physicals. >> i'm glad that my physical isn't made public. that is not a fun part of the presidency. >> you and me both. there is a lot of information made public that is not a fun part of the presidency, shannon. >> we know he is fit for duty and that is the best news of all. thanks. nascar is motoring on into the sin city and providing a much needed boost to the economy. casey stegall is live in vegas where we often find him. hey, casey. >> shannon, start your engines! we are just about an hour and a half from the start of this big race. up next, we will tell you why las vegas city leaders are seeing green in a live report from las vegas motor speedway. keep it right there. ♪

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>> shannon: this is is fox news alert. the death toll in chile is rise gd and dramatically. chile's president says the death toll from the quake stands at 708. we are getting more and more numbers in. this follows reports that 350 people are dead just in one town, constitution, a seaside town. that number could continue to rise throughout the day. we will stay on top of all the latest news and bring you all the developments as we get

them. nascar action at the las vegas motor speedway and it is more than excitement just for fans. it can also mean big bucks for sin city. casey stegall live with the best assignment of the day. >> good to see you. numbers that put this into perspective. the super bowl draws about 80,000 people. this event here drawing 155,000. and it, of course, means big bucks for the area. they come for the thrills and the racing. that is how these fans spend their money speeding up the recovery of sin city's economy. >> it's jobs. it's restaurants. it's gaming. it's entertainment. it's transportation. >> in fact, this three-day event is expected to inject more than $100 million into the region. cash that is needed badly since vegas has been crippled by re is off around

25%4 of the gt 350 and the 427 cobra that meant so much to hurricane heritages taj.and >> friday were the qualifying rounds. yesterday a race featuring danica patrick. she crashed. the big race today and it is being carried on your local fox affiliate. back to you. >> thank you very much, casey. >> you bet. >> shannon: even in this fragile economy, wall street continues to rake in money and big bonuses continue to be

doled out. ainsley earhardt has more. >> the country's financial system is still fragile but wall street is raking it in. more than $20 billion in bonuses for wall street firms in 2009, just one year after the bailout. the payouts are higher than the previous year's bonuses. >> bonuses rose by 17% to a bonus pool that we estimate to be at $20.3 million. >> what do these folks do to earn the bonuses? >> in 2008, wall street firms gave out more than $17 billion in bonuses even though it was one of their worst years. >> it has been part of the economy and will continue to be. >> reviewing tax collections each year and then basing the annual projection of wall street bonuses on income and other taxes paid in new york city. scrutiny of high pay for wall street executives is likely to continue in the coming months and some are questioning if the

bonuses fit the times. >> i think in the best of times americans aren't crazy about bankers and traders and times like these when we feel like we as a people kind of saved the institutions. >> that is why the obama administration tried to take a hard line and rein in the size of the bonuss. >> with all due respect to the institutions giving the size of bonuses given out i don't think they are having trouble attracting employees. >> president obama believed that some progress had been made toward curbing ekimov biv compensation but remains frustrated. many americans are fed up with what they perceive as the culture of washington which includes overspending and the big government bailouts and now a new coalition is trying to put a stop to needless government bailouts. the cochair of the stop too big to fail coalition joins us now.

thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> how is tubage to fail wreaking havoc with the economy? >> the whole idea that there are certain companies in our economy that are too big to fail is just wrong. there are no companies tubage to fail. we have been convinced because we have been intimidated and frightened to consider what would happen if the companies fail. we have been convinced that we ought to protect the companies and provide them a competitive advantage that is not consistent with capitalism. our basic few is that there are no companies too big to fail. >> even if we talk about something like a lehman, how would the economy survive something like that? >> the lehmans and what happened in the fall of 2008 is in the past and going forward we are very interested about how this financial reform focuses and on what to do about the companies that are so-called too big to fail. our idea is simple. we have to let some of them

fail. how do we let them fail. >> with conventional protections to consumers we always had. one is called bankruptcy. the congress is considering this dissolution authority which i know you read about and studied and this is a good idea but that authority doesn't need to cut any favors to the companies that fail. you know, we -- you just had a report about compensation of executives on wall street. they get rewarded handsomely for the risks they take but there also has to be punishment in the new regulation that puts some fear in those executives so they don't take risks that put you and i at risk. >> do you think that we are coming together now with a generation that sees how this has played out and maybe is losing some of the concept of personal responsibility? >> i think that personal responsibility is at the heart of this. but on a business level, there is just nothing consistent in our capitalistic economy that says any company is too big to

fail. you know, to your point about responsibility, we would like to see responsibility sort of legislated into the reform package going forward. for example, in my little community here in atlanta, i am a community bankers. if my bank goes under and the fdic has to compensate share holders for the loss or compensate taxpayers i have to pay the balance. i'm personally obligated to pay the balance. i don't know why we don't have the same provision on wall street that if they fail we go back to the directors and leaders of the company and ceo and staff and say you have got to pay. personal responsibility has to be built in, in principle, or build it in with some fear. i would like to see the reform have some provisions that say look, if you come to us for some kind of bailout, some kind of insurance then you are going to pay for that and you u are going to pay for that with your own personal money, your share

holders are going to pay for that with the value of your shares and your creditors are also going to be subordinated. >> thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. >> shannon: another group in hot water. toyota. we will talk to florida we will talk to florida congressman john micah about that, next. treating with vesicare. (pipe woman) then you could treat yourself to a night out with fewer urges or a day with fewer leaks or a trip with fewer overactive bladder problems. (pipe doctor) once daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to reduce frequent, sudden urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. tell your doctor right away if you have a serious allergic reaction, severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion.

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>> shannon: this a fox news alert. the death toll from the huge earthquake in chile continues to rise. we are getting dramatic new numbers today. the chilean president says the death toll right now stands at 708 people. the president says the country faces a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude it will require a giant he for the for chile to recover. the president spoke after a six hour meeting with aides and emergency officials. one town, more than 350 people

believed dead. we know the numbers with continue to change and we will keep you updated as we learn more. check out fox news.com 24/7 for all the latest breaking developments on the quake in chile. in depth cover and, up-to-date information, live streaming of local broadcasts from there in chile and educational materials on quakes and tsunamis to explain it o all on fox news.com. the white house top official is opt mckinley islamists tick the democrats will have the necessary votes to pass healthcare legislation. meanwhile, house speaker nancy pelosi is urging democrats to back the bill even if it causes them to be voted right out of office. just three months after the now infamous salihis crashed a state dinner the woman in charge of that event is stepping down.

desiree rodgers says she will leave the job next month. more than 250,000 homes and businesses still without power days after a slow moving storm pounded the northeast. more than a million homes lost power at the peak of the storm. residents are still digging out from one of the snowiest months ever in some parts. more snow, you guessed it, in the forecast for next week. those are the top stories for right now. there were some harsh words on capitol hill this week like these from florida congressman john micah to akia toyota. >> this is, indeed, a very embarrassing day. i'm embarrassed for you, sir. i'm embarrassed for my dealers that i have talked to. i'm embarrassed for thousands of people. >> the congressman was fired up about a july 2009 internal document from the company about how it handled the floor mat recall.

congressman mica joins us live to talk more about this. thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you, thank you. >> we had another guest reference that internal memo. can you tell us more about it. >> i brought a copy today and actually was directed to the head of the washington operations for toyota and it was done last july 6th. and it outlines some of their concerns about safety and when was the accelerator pedals and certain models on one page and the next page was actually specifically citing avoiding the federal regulators on the issue of dealing with the accelerator pedal, calling it a win for toyota. and then citing $100 million in savings which it turned my stomach and i know a lot of other people that saw it because i don't think that has

been the policy of a great company with a great product. but, it was very disappointing, indeed. >> and you were in those hearings this week as mr. toyota sat there and testified and apologized again and again. were those apologies enough for you? >> well, i think, you know, they are sincere. the minut main thing is a great company has to get back on its feet and restore confidence. we had embarrassment with federal regulators who left the federal government and went to work for in this case toyota and had communications back and forth. we will investigate that further and probably put some additional constraints on that revolving door of the regulator jumping ship and going to the private sector. so, there is a lot of embarrassment to go around and then finally the obama administration just days before had cut dramatically the amount of money to go into vehicle

safety research which is the agency and activity in the federal government that actually could give us the evidence or look into the problems with the toyota accelerator. a lot of it didn't make sense. it was an embarrassing week for toyota and also for the federal government. >> shannon: we are talk about more than 34 people who died over the last decade in connection with the toyota vehicles. what could they have done better to handle the situation? >> again, our investigation at the committee, this is the government reform and oversight chitee sews that the problems -- committee shows that the problems go back to 2003 we have known about the problem. the federal government has a responsibility to make certain that automobiles are safe and when reports come from the public of a problem, it is our job to find out why. this is put off and ought puff. there were miner changes made.

there are still questions about the accelerator that need to be resolved. when the obama administration is now gutting the vehicle safety research division under the highway safety administration, something's wrong. so we have to change that and we have to do a better job from the federal level and you tow that has to make certain that they restore the confidence that the public and their customers deserve. >> thank you for joining us today. >> thank you, good to be with you. some mayors in florida decide to show support for u.s. troops by taking a flying leap. all about that, next. rength ty. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day.

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to technicians like ronny who are helping us provide you with safe and reliable vehicles. for more information, please visit toyota.com. >> shannon: mayors from florida came up with an unusual way to show support for the military. sky diving. more than a dozen mayors prepared to leap out of an airplane at 13,000 feet but only three were able to make tandem jumps before the wind gusts grounded the group. one mayor said sky diving wasn't much different than his day job. >> i think it is the same thing we do every day as mayor. >> i love it. that is it here in washington. stay tuned for the cost of freedom. the number one rated business news blocks on cable next at 2:00 and catch "fox n