together. very well behaved family. >> brian: they're now in their 30s. >> gretchen: i think this interview will be yours, brian. >> brian: the models from sports illustrated will be in swim suits. >> steve: 100% attendance by the crew. we'll see you tomorrow, everybody. martha: honoring a music legend. jennifer hudson at the grammy awards last night singing an emotional tribute to whitney tuesday ton. i don't know who could have done it. it may take weeks to find out what killed whitney houston. i'm martha maccallum in "america's newsroom.". >> i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. body was found in the bathtub on the even of the grammy awards. martha: they're withholding

autopsy information until the toxicology is released. >> beverly hills requested a security hold. there will be no additional information put out as far as what was discovered in the room, any details of that nature. gregg: casey seeing gal is in los angeles. why is it boeing to take weeks for final autopsy report? >> reporter: sadly we've been through this together before, haven't we. the stock ecology will take eight weeks because the blood and tissue samples have to be sent off to a independent laboratory for testing. l.a. county coroner he is office will not rule an official cause of death until that time. of course the toxicology well know from cases in the past is crucial because it will show if there are prescription or illegal drugs in her system at the time of her death, or if there was alcohol in the

system. and they were just talking about that security hold. that is something very typical with celebrities. listen. >> there is no visible signs of trauma. and foul play is not suspected at this time. what and if any prescription drugs or illegal drugs were, would be found in her system. so that that's what we will be looking for also. >> reporter: the coroner's office saying this is typical with celebrities because of the high-profile nature of the case and there is still a whole lot of investigating to do. now that the autopsy is complete the body can be turned over to the family, gregg but we do not have a timeline on that and we have not heard anything about funeral arrangements either. gregg: casey, what about the rest of the police investigation, what is the latest on that? >> the beverly hills police department is the lead

agency on this because obviously the debt happened in beverly hills at the famed beverly hills hilton hotel. because of the security they're not releasing a whole lot of information a lot of people want to know what was found inside whitney houston's fourth floor hotel room. there were reports that there were numerous prescription pill bottles found but cops have neither confirmed or denied that information to us, gregg. gregg: casey stegall live in los angeles. thanks. martha: houston's daughter is out of a los angeles hospital. 18-year-old bobby christina brown was sent twice to the hospital this weekend after learning devastating news of her mother's death. the teen was treated for death and anxiety. she was the only child of her marriage to singer bobby brown. gregg: brown meanwhile was touring when the news hit, flying back to los angeles to be with his daughter a swarm of paparazzi met him

at the airport. [shouting] >> please. step aside. >> get out of the way!. have a little respect, man. have a little respect. >> how are you doing? >> whoa!. gregg: what a scene that was. brown was performing with his brand, new edition the night houston died. he tearfully tooked to stage and said to the fans, i love you whitney. brown and houston were divorced in 2007 after a rocky 15 year marriage. martha: so many people tracing sort of the beginning of her problems to the beginning of her relationship with him. houston's death is clearly was impossible to ignore last night at the grammy awards. host ll cool j started off the night in a very moving way with a prayer. saying that the music

industry, he came out basically said look, there is no getting around it, we have suffered a death in our family. and here is more of that, listen. >> heavenly father, we thank you for sharing our sister whitney with us. today our thoughts are with her mother, her daughter and all of her loved once. and although --. martha: quite something to see all the heads bowed in prayer in the audience at the grammys. we'll have more on the musical tribute to whitney houston later in the show. gregg: houston's life was filled with professional triumphs as show rose to pop icon status. she was the first artist to have seven consecutive singles hit number one on the charts. legendary music mogul clive davis signed houston to record deal immediately after hearing her sing in a nightclub back in 1983 when she was a teenager. davis went on to serve as houston's mentor and friend throughout her career. herself titled first album sold 13 million albums,

making it the best-selling debut ever by a female artist. over her career whitney would sell close to 200 million albums worldwide. martha: what a phenomenal career. all of those a accolades that she racked up gregg was outlining for us. that night she was at the beverly hilton for the clive davis pre-grammy party. the party took a somber tone the with friends and colleagues remembering whitney houston singing some of their favorite songs of hers. listen to this. ♪ . ♪ what do i feel inside, thought i was over you, but i kept crying ♪. one of my favorite whitney songs. >> she was having a great time. and, she wanted to come up and play and i gave her my --.

i'm going to miss her. i'm sorry. martha: emotional out there. she was epfromming for that event. some people said she had a lot of anxiety as she got ready for that event. who knows what all the details are. we're waiting for them. there is question whether or not that party should have been canceled but clive davis said that whitney would have wanted the music to go on. gregg: amid all of these success, houston's private life was often filled with turmoil. much more on that throughout the program this morning. for more videotapes and photos from whitney houston's life and career, log on to foxnews.com. check out a slide show featuring some of the singer's most notable moments. martha: this fox news alert now. protests turning into full-fledged riots in front of greece's parliament. protesters there tossing firebombs. this is some of the action here in the streets there. rocks were also thrown at

the police through the course of this, burning down cafes, historic buildings after greek lawmakers okayed a new budget that would have measures that would cut the budget in the way they wanted it to be cut. fox business's stuart varney anchor of "varney & company". what a sad sight to see what is going on in the streets of greece. >> yes. martha: as they crack down to stay in the euro with a balance sheet that will be acceptable to those creditors. >> yes. there are two reasons why athens was aflame this weekend. number one, europe imposed more economic pain on greece. 15,000 government jobs to go. private sector wages to be cut. greece to be kept in a depression style, depression level economy. that is reason number one, economic pain, more of it imposed. number two, you really have to say that greece is no longer an independent nation. it can no longer take its own decisions affecting its

own taxes. this morning european leaders have insisted that the leaders of greece's two large political parties agree that no matter what happens with elections in the future, greece will stick with the austerity plan. in other words you can have an election and the people may vote otherwise but you've got to stick with austerity. that means greece is no longer able to take its own decisions about its own money, taxes and spending. it has lost its independence. martha: it's incredible. it is awful for greece. >> yes. martha: the big question everybody thinks of what does it mean for us? are we patterned after some structure that could lead us down this road and other nations throughout europe as well? >> we're a long way from there but i would agree we're moving in that direction, uncontrol ab, unpayable debt stretching out for years in the future. i don't know about street demonstrations in the united states but our financial situation looks an awful lot similar to many european

countries. in the short-term the effect over here will give a small boost for our stock market because this latest deal in greece means there will not be what is called a disorderly default that reflects well on us so our stocks go up. that is strictly short term. martha: exactly, short term bandaid in most people's eyes. stuart, thank you very much. stuart varney coming up on the fox business network. gregg: we are getting new information now on that security scare in the netherlands. police at the airport in amsterdam arresting a man who locked himself in a bathroom claiming to have a bomb. investigators say the man did not pose any danger. earlier the threat forced evacuation of two terminals while delaying all kinds of flights. airport authorities say operations will be back to normal soon, the airport is one of the busiest in europe. martha: just a few of the stories we've got for you. a lot on the plate this morning monday on "america's newsroom" a new year and a new budget, folks. president obama is about to unveil a plan with higher

taxes and a very large deficit for the united states. we'll take a closer leak at that plan and how it will play in the re-election battle. gregg: new reports that iran may be arming boats for suicide bombings. a top u.s. navy admiral says he is ready to confront iran. we'll have the latest. martha: there is new fallout this morning from the president's controversial birth control coverage mandate. despite the president's compromise they came through with on friday, lawmakers and some clergy saying it is just not good enough. >> in this country the government doesn't get to tell you or your organization what your religious views are. sweetie i think you need a little extra fiber in your diet. carol. fiber makes me sad.

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martha: syria's armed forces are on the offense tiff yet again. new amateur video, look at this, showing the regime battering the city of homs. reports of dozens of people

killed as rocket fire and tank fire rained down on these neighborhoods. the new attacks coming a day after the arab league called on the u.n. to send a peacekeeping mission to syria. an arab league observer sent last month failed to end any of the bloodshed on the ground there. >> i want to be your nominee. i want to beat president obama. i believe i can. i believe i'm the one person in this race who actually can beat the president. gregg: mitt romney gaining some momentum this weekend winning the maine caucuses and the cpac straw poll. romney won more than 39% of the vote in maine after losing three straight contests to rick santorum. romney looking to extend his delegate lead in arizona and michigan. larry sabato joins us. he is the director for the center of politics at the university of virginia. larry, always good to see you. romney is consistently criticized and attacked as

not being conservative enough and yet he hauls off and wins the cpac conservative political action conference vote. does that help burnish his conservative credentials? >> absolutely. that is the headline, gregg out the weekend. i think even more than squeaker of a maine victory. the fact is cpac has a strong reputation with conservatives. now you've heard rick santorum and others claiming that romney bought the vote. that he bused in college students from around the east coast. well, that is called organization. if you got the money and organization to do it, you do it. so it helps him. it changes the storyline from last tuesday night when santorum won three contests. this is important for romney pause as you note he simply must win both arizona and michigan. and it looks like his tougher fight will be michigan. gregg: yeah. i want to play a clip from sarah palin.

here is what she had to say. i'll get your reaction. >> i am not convinced and i don't think the majority of gop and independent voters are convince and that is why you don't see romney get over that hum. gregg: why does sarah palin and other conservatives continue to criticize mitt romney. >> loads of conservatives say that, gregg, because it is unusual now someone to have such a strong evolution in their political thinking and ideology so late in life. mitt romney was a moderate, some would even say liberal earlier in life. he evolved. he changed in his 50s, really, to a conservative philosophy. it's not unprecedented but it is unusual and causes people to ask additional questions. gregg: yeah. i was looking at a "washington post" poll and it shows that his unfavorable ratings, mitt romney's unfavorable ratings, almost 50%. it is 49%. his favorable is just 31%?

why is that? and condition somebody with such high negative rating win in a general election? >> well, the answer to your second question first, if the election were in february he would lose but the election is no november. at some point this contest will end. why does he have such high unfavorables? because the republicans have been beating the stuffing out of one another. and the news media scrutiny of all of the candidates and particularly the frontrunner, the semifront-runner, romney has been very intense. it's difficult to maintain high favorables and win a contested nomination battle at the same time. gregg: yeah. is rick santorum now the main competition for mitt romney? or is newt gingrich still in it? >> right now he is the main competition. we're judging this contest week by week. i think you will be seeing a poll coming out shortly with santorum surprisingly having

a strong lead in michigan, which of course is associated with romney because he grew up there. his father was governor. but you know, that kind of reminds me of the lead newt gingrich had in florida early on before the advertising started. gregg: right. >> so these things change week to week. gingrich plans to come back at super tuesday and the week following when you have a lot of southern states voting. but i think both gingrich and santorum and of course ron paul are in it for the long haul. certainly through march. probably april, maybe all the way to june. gregg: well it's fascinating to watch. larry sabato, as always, many thanks. >> thank you so much, gregg. martha: all right. here we go again, folks. yet another showdown ahead on capitol hill extending the payroll tax cut. does it feel like groundhog day to you. there were heated talks over the weekend. with are -- where is this conversation going. gregg: a stellar night for singer adele. at the grammy awards.

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gregg: developing right now in "america's newsroom", the trial getting underway for the man accused of murderering his bride on their honeymoon in australia. gabe watson allegedly turned off his wife's oxygen during a scuba diving trip in 2003. actor chuck norris backing newt gingrich for president. saying that quote, he is

best man on the battlefield who will best out play, out last president obama. timothy dolan is in the vatican for his elevation to cartnal next weekend. >> i have a couple of days to myself because i have to do some work and get measured for my duds and all that stuff. it will be good to have a couple days to myself before the excitement starts. gregg: dolan will be one of 22 clergy man elevated to cardinal this saturday in rome. martha: i like how he said he has to be measured for the red duds. congratulations to him. a top u.s. navy official reportedly saying that iran is bulging up their naval vessels with bomb laden boats that could be used for kamikaze style attacks in the straits of hormuz. the admiral says he believes the u.s. navy would be ready for such an event.

irrain yanzhou side boats? is this a credible story and contention? >> reporter: it is. that is their concern but the knave vif -- mavy says the u.s. is vigilant and has a powerful presence in the gulf. one tool in the u.s. arsenal, believe it or not, is the u.s. coast guard, they're stationed in the gulf along with the navy to watch out for anything suspicious, to board vessels, check identity and rescue people at sea as they did recently with six iranian sailors and to guard the important infrastructure out there, all part of a web of is defenses with the navy providing big guns and coast guard going places where big ships can't go. here is how the coast guard decides whether to board a vessel? >> sometimes we have intelligence. other times it's things that look suspicious. vessels in areas perhaps where they shouldn't be or vessels that are not clearly identifiable by country. we have the right to do a visit and board and document

where the vessel is from, who the mariners are on the vessel. so it's a wide range of things we use. >> reporter: the job can be definitely very dangerous. one coast guardsman was killed in the gulf in 2004, martha. martha: boy, all right. thank you so much. it's a scary proposition. iranian suicide boats. steve centanni. thank you so much. >> reporter: you bet. gregg: catholic bishops rejecting president obama's accommodation on the contraception mandate. republican lawmakers not backing down either. will the president need to do more on this issue? a fair and balanced debate coming up. martha: all the questions this morning about what happened to take the life of this 48-year-old singing legend. a security hold now on whitney houston's autopsy report. ♪

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gregg: another showdown over extending payroll tax cuts. weekend talks failing to bring either side closer to a deal. if the legislation isn't passed, 160 million workers will see their payroll taxes go up next month. the rate will spike from 4.2% to 6.2%. on average that is $20 a week for a worker making

roughly $50,000 a year. senior white house correspondent wendell goler is live on the north lawn. and, wendell, what is the holdup on this? >> reporter: gregg as usual how to pay for it. right now the government is basically heading up payments to the social security trust fund to cover the cost of the payroll tax cut and extended unemployment benefits. wisconsin congressman, paul ryan, the chairman of the budget committee says you can't keep doing that. >> the payroll tax holiday loses money to the social security trust fund. if you just extend this without paying for it by cutting spending then you're accelerating the bankruptcy of social security. that is all we want to do is make sure that social security is left unharmed while we extend this payroll tax holiday. >> reporter: now the positive side both parties say they want to extend the payroll tax cut if they can find an agreeable formula to do that. both parties know that voters are going to be angry if they don't, gregg? gregg: at the same time the president's unveiling his

budget. what can you tell us about it? >> reporter: $3.8 trillion spending plan that envisions about a $900 billion deficit for fiscal 2013. that of course is well short of cutting the budget deficit in half which in 2009 the president promised he would do by the end of his first term but it comes closer to cutting the budget deficit in half as percentage of the gross domestic product. they rolled the budget out on a motorized carton capitol hill. that did more for tv cameras more than anything else. most people get the budget on a computer disk these days. with the budget opposed to tax hikes on the rich and what they call fabricated savings from ending wars in pakistan and afghanistan, doctor iraq and afghanistan. jack lew defended the budget on the republican sunday talk shows.

>> this plan gets us there. it gets us there in a way consistent with a blueprint that will build and economy that can last in the future. it will make sure we have a manufacturing base. it will make sure we americans with skills for the future. it will make sure we have an energy program and gives us independence and the ability to generate energy. >> reporter: the president will go to a community college in northern virginia today to showcase a part of the budget that would partner schools and businesses with the goal of creating two million workers, two million jobs requiring technical skills. gregg? gregg: wendell goler at the white house. thanks. martha: senate republicans are vowing to keep fighting the contraception mandate until the white house, quote, backs down and reverses that policy completely. u.s. catholic bishops rejected after giving thought on friday afternoon president obama's accommodation. we'll speak with a cardinal about this coming up in a little while. that accommodation shifted the burden of the paying for

birth control to the employer's insurance company forcing them to offer it basically for free. that pits republican lawmakers in all of this against the white house. >> this is about the free exercise of religion. under our constitution you don't take a poll to find out how people feel about a constitutional freedom. in fact the bill rights are designed to protect minority views. so what the overall view on the issue of contraception is has nothing to do with an issue about religious freedom. >> it does not force an institution that has religious principle to offer or pay for benefits they find objectionable. but it guaranties a woman's right to access. we think that is the right solution. martha: joined by kirsten powers, "daily beast" columnist and a fox news contributor. and tony seay worked on the dole-kemp campaign 1996 as well as dozens of other

congressional races. well many could to you this morning. >> good morning. martha: the question to you two, how is this playing politically? kirsten, the president decided he wants to appeal to his base on this issue. will that be successful for him do you think. >> i actually don't think he decided to appeal to the base. i think he was trying with this compromise or whatever you want to call it he is trying to first of all appeal to balancing religious liberty concerns. there are a lot of progressive catholic who is are upset including high-profile supporters of his who supported health care reform. i think he was trying to really reach out to a bunch of broader group of people than just his base with this decision. martha: tony, what do you think? how does this play for the president politically? >> look if this conversation remains about contraception the president obviously wins. this accommodation to kirsten's point was really more satisfying those who didn't like how the policy looked, not what the policy actually did. the policy will still in some way force catholic institutions to pay higher

premiums in insurance to cover the cost of the contraception. what the republicans and catholic bishops have to do if they want to pursue this in a political manner against the president is broad the debate. that's what you heard mitch mcconnell doing, making it about constitutional rights. making it about freedom of religion and political context in washington with republicans talk about what this real little means as obamacare is concerned. this is broad mandate on catholic charities. martha: kirsten that is exactly what you argued in your piece, this is sort of a, broadening out of the argument that really goes back to the basic issue whether or not you can force people or institutions or anybody else to buy health care or anything else really against their own will and against their wishes. >> right. yeah, i think what we were having before was a real debate over religious liberty. there were a lot of people who had concerns, including myself, forcing a catholic institution to cover contraception. i think that's a problem. i think the accommodation is

a good accommodation. i understand the position of the catholic church but at the same time, i think that it really is what we're having now is a debate not over religious liberty. this it is sort of dressed up as religious liberty but the old, should the government be able to mandate certain things for businesses. and so i don't think it is a religious liberty debate. i think what we're talking about here is employee working for a catholic institution goes to the doctor. says to the doctor i want to have contraception. the doctor writes a prescription and it's covered. no employer has a right to go into that office and tell that employee they can't do that. >> on the basis of a conscience clause which many states have, in some form of law i think it is allowed. i think the other thing -- >> no, it's not. >> the other thing, listen in some states physicians don't have to perform abortions if they have a moral -- >> contraception is not abortion. don't conflate the two issues. >> this is conscience clause. >> you're con flasting two issues have nothing to do

with each other. >> that is your position, that is absolutely fine. the bottom line, planned parent hood gets hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure no woman is ever in the position to not to get contraception if she can't afford it. it is not accessibility to free contraception, that already exists based on government funding of planned parenthood. this goes to fundamental question, that many democrats were concerned about including joe biden and richard daley, should catholic institutions granted a waiver like 1200 other institutions have. martha: that is excellent point because so many groups have been given waivers out of health care mandate. that is question that is being raised a lot too. if it is okay for them, why is it okay not for these groups? kirsten, you touched on something i heard a lot about over the course of this weekend. a lot of people split contraception and plan b sterilization issues. they would be okay with providing contraception but the other two things step over the line for them.

so it is a very hot topic. and as we know the bishops continued to take a hard-line on it. we'll see if they continue to press this into the political sphere as well. we'll talk to cardinal worl about it in a little while. thank you so much. great to have you here today. >> thank you, martha. gregg: as america's catholic bishops reject the president's compromise, many of them, one of the nation's top cardinals joins us as martha pointed out to explain why. so stay tuned for that. martha: we're looking forward to that plus there are this morning a lot of unanswered questions about whitney houston's death. a former homicide detective goes inside the investigation next. ♪ [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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treasure trove for historians and lovers of camelot history as well. john f. kennedy presidential library releasing some of the personal papers of former first lady jacqueline kennedy onassis. the papers they're releasing are never before released papers about her efforts controversial at the times, restoring state rooms. that was revealed in the historic 1962 televise tour of the building and the rooms are pretty much the way she redesigned them until today. ♪ . gregg: what a voice that has been silenced now. the world waits to hear the exact cause of pop icon whitney houston's death.

the l.a. police are placing a security hold on houston's autopsy report. meaning it could be several weeks before the findings are ever made public. it is a common practice in high-profile cases. >> well, we had a security hold on michael jackson, brittany murphy, cory ahaim. and all high-profile cases and in custody or officer-involved shooting cases or high-profile murder cases we'll put security holds to give the law enforcement agency a chance to do further investigation. gregg: joining us now is rod wheeler, former decease detective and fox news contributor. rod, good to see you. >> good morning, gregg. gregg: rod, why not just publish the preliminary findings of the autopsy examination and then with a caveat we're still awaiting a final decision pending the toxicology? >> well, that's a question, gregg, i think a lot of people have this morning and think i can shed light for the viewers as to why the

police department has decided to put a security hold on the information. this investigation is still somewhat a fluid investigation even though, gregg, the coroner out there in california has said that there doesn't appear to be, again, doesn't appear to be, any evidence of foul play. however, does the name conrad, dr. conrad murray ring a bell? what do i mean by that? simply this. if whitney was given xanax and it has been alleged she also possibly had valium and at this van, another drug, the question here for the investigators and i'm sure this is what they're doing this morning, gregg, why was she prescribed these particular drugs if in fact they were found on the scene? as everyone knows to mix the combination of those drugs will obviously be lethal. gregg: they could be contraindicated depending upon the doses. >> absolutely. gregg: when you're talking them with what and so on, so forth. if i hear you correctly, there's a possibility here that somebody could be charged? >> you know, gregg, it is always that possibility and

that's why it is so important we don't jump to on could conclusions. i honestly don't believe whitney's past history and challenges with drug abuse had anything to do with her death. i think it is a person not knowing, as a person wouldn't know you can't mix different drugs with adult beverages. sound like at this point that may have what happened. she may have had a drink or two and taken prescribed medication when. you're given these types of medications, gregg, these are powerful drugs. you're supposed to be under constant physician-doctor care. the question that the investigators have this morning, gregg, why wasn't she monitored a little bit more closely when she was prescribed these very powerful drugs. >> you were an emt before you became a police officer. >> that's right. gregg: you have vast experience in these kinds of situations. when you go in there, in post-mortem and the body is still there are still certain thing you look for as an investigator.

what are they? >> you will look for certain things. you want to look for obvious signs of trauma to the body we didn't have in particular case. things like syringe in the arm, gash against the head, slit wrists. you can start ruling that out. the other thing you will do right away as a investigator, collect all the medications in a person's home. you want to take those medications. you want to document whether or not those medications were open and how much of the medication is there. all that information, gregg, will go over to the medical examiner's office where it is this morning in the whitney houston case and go through that very thoroughly. i know for a fact that the investigators today are going to be probably interviewing her physician. gregg: all right. rod wheeler, many thanks for your expertise. appreciate it. >> thank you, gregg. >> very interesting. how about this? commit a horrendous crime. no worries. you will still get that big pension check that was promised you. believe it or not that is your right. even felons can cash in.

i kid you not. that is coming up. gregg: the situation in syria, deteriorating by the hour as the regime there continues its brutal crackdown on its own people. we're live in the region [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

gregg: a child is alive after being trapped underneath rubble for more than 10 hours. take a look at this. rescue crews pulling to safety this 5-year-old girl from a house that was flattened by an avalanche. everyone cheering as she emerges. that house buried under 33 feet of snow. happened in kosovo in southeastern europe. the girl was discovered after emergency workers heard her voice and ringing of a cell phone. the avalanche killed her parents and at least seven

other relatives. martha: convicted of a crime, don't worry, your pension is safe. a new insult to a state that is rocked by a pension crisis. in california any state or local government worker who commit as felony in the course of performing their public duty will still by law get their pension. it's an incredible story but it is true. john fund joins me, senior editor of the "american spectator" magazine. thanks for joining me this morning. >> thank you. martha: i won't go into the details. mark berndt, a teacher convicted of it 3 counts of lewd behavior against children. he still gets $4,000 a month from the state regardless of that conviction. how does this happen? >> well, lewd behavior doesn't even begin to describe the despicable things that he did. look, normally i can understand, you know, a pension right is something you earned on the job and you have a right to keep it but there are some crimes that are so outrageous

committed while on the job you should forfeit them. i think california should change its law. i think governor brown is trying to do that at least new employees have to forfeit the pension if they have completely unbelievable crimes in their past. martha: i mean what happens to this notion of, breaking your social contract, basically? you have an agreement with the taxpayers of your state to provide a service to your state but when you have so, when you've been so incredibly corrupted, you look at these bell executives as well, which we followed very closely, as you did as well, who basically ripped off their entire town, still getting something. not getting what they thought they were going to get. they thought they were going to get $650,000 a year. that was knocked down to $50,000. that still seems like a lot for some folks who look at this story? >> government employee unions say this is property right and can not be taken away. well a few years ago we made a changes to congress. in congress if you're convicted of corruption in

congress you lose some of your pension rights. there is bill by congressman doyle of illinois trying to extend to all crimes committed. government officials, public servants have different standard they should meet. that is higher standard. if you abrogate the public's trust, if you completely violate the rule of law your pension should be at risk too. maybe that would be a deterrent to some of the behavior. martha: you would think it would be a very strong deterrent. who knows about this crazy, awful teacher. he may have not been worth being able to save even if he thought it was. bu for some corruption in cases like bell, maybe if they thought they would be penniless it would help? >> the bottom line here is we need to at least apply to it to future employees. reaching back and taking someone pension already contracted for, that may end up in court. that may tie us up. we should have a bright line here. from now on if you violate the public trust while on the job, frankly the benefit

from your job are at risk. martha: real quickly, john, governor jerry down is very outspoken against this. he thinks this law needs to be changed, right? >> yes. he has been governor before and he has seen over the years this, these abuses continue to pile up far more than when he was first governor. he wants to call a stop to it. martha: john fund, thank you so much. good to have you here today. gregg: well, it is being called two attempts of terrorism against israel. diplomats targeted in two separate incidents. we'll tell you who israel is blaming for these attacks. martha: we've got some brand new poll numbers, folks, which candidate stacks up best against president obama. the results may surprise you at this hour. when we come back. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping.

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martha: well, today's the day. about an hour away from now president obama is set to release his version of his financial picture for the future of our country, his budget. it is heavy on tax hikes for the wealthy in order to pay for it and the deficit racks up to about a trillion dollars which we've seen already. critics slammed this as a re-election gimmick that is fiscally irresponsible in their eyes. the white house sees it in a very different light. we'll look at whole thing in a brand new hour of "america's newsroom.". good to have you with us on this monday morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. more than $1.5 trillion in tax increased over next decade and $350 billion in short term stimulus spending. martha: the white house insists the budget will reduce the deficit. watch. >> the plan the president will be sending to congress tomorrow will reduce our deficit to the point that over the period covered by this budget the deficit as percentage of gdp will be less than 3%.

which means we'll stop having new spending added to the deficit. that is extremely important accomplishment it. will reduce as debt as percentage of gdp stablize our terms as all --. martha: stephen moore, join me now. you hear chris wallace piping in there. senior economic writer for "wall street journal." steve, what do you make of that argument? he says it will lower our debt-to-gdp ratio. that is clearly a goal on both sides, is it not? >> it is. martha, i've been in this town almost 30 years covering federal budgets this is pattern of both republicans and democrats in the white house. they always promise in the future the deficit will come down. this is the reason we have a $15 trillion national debt. they always put off the pain of spending cuts in the future that is exactly what this budget does. as you just mentioned, $350 billion of new spending up front. what i call a mini new stimulus bill. the only way the deficit comes down at all is this massive tax increase that will take place on january

1st, which, as you said is about $1.5 trillion over next 10 years. i don't believe you can come anywhere near balancing the budget by simply raising tax rates on businesses. martha: as critics say it does not deal at all with the huge issue of entitlement reform. a lot of people scratch their heads, feels like america gets it. they understand this problem. doesn't feel like any politicians in power are really going after it in a genuine way. look at some of the elements of this budget. we can put them up on the screen. the new president obama budget aims to cut the deficit by 4 trillion over the next decade. it largely comes from ending tax cuts as you pointed out, steve, for families making 350,000 or more. you have the buffett rule thrown in there. anyone making over a million dollars pay 30% of the their income in taxes. you know, i guess the really biggest issue that i can see in this is this question of not tackling true spending cuts. most of them come from projected increases from the

wars in iraq and afghanistan we all agree across the board will not be at the rate they were. >> i call this a subprime budget because essentially what we're doing we're adding all this new debt now and we're saying we'll pay for later that is trick for 25 years has been used by both parties. it is reason we have a massive national debt. but there is another element of this. look, the most important thing to reducing the debt, martha, by far, is having the economy grow. if the economy grows you put more people to work, they pay tax, you reduce payments on well tear and so on. the real question can we grow the economy at a time a tax bomb will go off next year? payroll taxes go up. capital ginls gains. dividend. it is hard to square the circle we'll grow the economy at the same time businesses get hit with a massive tax increase. that is the problem i have with it. that entitlement are the source of the problem. there are virtually no cuts in medicare, social security,

medicaid. although paul ryan's has pretty courageous cuts in those programs. martha: he is really only one put his name on a program that would go after any of this. he has been criticized for it but certainly has been out there on a him. >> thank you, martha. martha: steve moore in washington. >> this budget proposal essentially more of the same for uncle sam. the federal government has run a deficit in all but four fiscal years since 1970. it has spent more than it has taken in for 70 of the past 81 fiscal years. there has not been a budget surplus since the 2001 fiscal year. martha: that is a pretty picture, isn't it? good morning. much happy monday on that note. coming up alabama republican, jeff sessions, ranking member of the senate budget committee. he is not a big fan as you might expect of president's budget plan. he joins us live right ahead here on "america's newsroom." we'll be right back, folks.

gregg: brand new poll numbers out on the presidential race. voters asked if the elections were held today who would you vote for? take a look at this. according to rasmussen reports when up against rick santorum, president obama comes out on top, 49-41. same story with mitt romney. president obama with 48. romney does slightly better, with 42. scott rasmussen, president of rasmussenreports.com. author of a brand new book, the people's money. good to see you. what do you make of the numbers. >> simple reason the president done so well when job approval rating was bottoming out only 27% of the americans said their finances were in good shape. now it is up to 37%. that is why the president is doing well. the other interesting thing about these numbers, this is the first time in week and a half that mitt romney has been closer to the president than rick santorum. it suggests maybe that

santorum surge is beginning to level off a little bit. perhaps because of what happened on saturday. but perhaps because this is an ongoing pattern, a challenger rises up to mitt romney. does well and they can't quite sustain it. gregg: a lot has to do with sort of consumer confidence, right? >> right. in terms of the president's performance, people are feeling better about the economy. for the first time in more than three years, more employees report their firms are highering rather than laying off. that economic concern is the reason the president is doing better. he leads romney by nine points among unaffiliated voters. he leads santorum by 14. those are voters very susceptible to changes in perception about the economy. gregg: and rick santorum now joins an exclusive club. tell us about that. >> yes. it's a club first was inhabited by rick perry and herman cain and newt into the. these are people who at one time in single poll led president obama. they all did it by one or

two points. and then a few days later, the next poll came out and they couldn't hang onto that lead and numbers keep sliding downhill. we don't know if santorum has the ability to turn that around but it is a pattern we've seen many times before. mitt romney is the only republican who has been ahead of the president more than once but he hasn't been ahead since late december. gregg: i mentioned this in the last hour when i was talking to larry sabato, what struck me, it was a different poll, the very high negatives for mitt romney, almost 50% unfavorable ratings. a paltry 31% favorable ratings. to what do you attribute that? >> partly it is the infighting within the republican party, impact having on unaffiliated voters and people who support newt gingrich and rick santorum are unhappy with governor romney. it has been the negative tone of the entire campaign that we have seen the hope for governor romney, if he

becomes the nominee he can move past that and become a better candidate in this process. the fear for governor romney that he can't. no matter what happens voters will look to the economy as a key issue and topic you talked about a minute ago. the budget is another key issue in this campaign but they will look for a messenger they can trust to talk about those issues. gregg: scott rasmussen, always good to see you. thanks. >> thanks, gregg. martha: fox news alert right now. israeli diplomats targeted in apparent bomb plots overseas. both of these incidents take place outside embassies in india and in georgia. israeli prime minister blaming iran and hezbollah for these apparent attempted attacks. leland vittert joins us now. he has more on the story live from jerusalem this morning. leland, how bad is the situation? >> reporter: martha, simply put it could have been much, much worse. sources in the israeli ministry, the wife the israeli attache to india

will survive the car bombing inside the capital of india. you look at the video, it is pretty bad what happened to the car. interestingly the bombers in india and georgia where they were able to defuse the bomb were able to drive up alongside the cars and attach a bomb from a motorcycle. that is exactly the same technique that assassins used in tehran to hit the iranian nuclear scientists over the past couple of years. now these were coordinated attacks. very clearly they required a lot of planning and a lot of logistical support. at least in india it happened very near to the indian prime minister's residence which is very secure area. so far israeli diplomats abroad have been told not to drive in any cars until they are checked by security. martha? martha: leland, yesterday was the anniversary of a high-ranking hezbollah officer. is there significance there? is there a connection there? >> reporter: certainly would appear that way. anniversaries have a huge meaning in the middle east. four years ago and one day

is when muni was kid in damascus by a bomb largely thought to be placed by ma saud in his car. he was notorious leader of the hezbollah militant group. hezbollah promised revenge the past couple years but so far today no responsibility taken about these attacks, martha. martha: leland vittert in jerusalem. gregg: he says it is a compromise but our next guest says president obama is still violating religious liberty. the archbishop of washington joins us coming up next. martha: terrifying to live in these areas right now. chaos that is going on. will the united states have to get involved? gregg: and an iconic voice has been silenced. today the music world reacts to the death of whitney houston. ♪ .

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all of these morally objectionable realities. there is a much bigger issue at stake here. and that is the redefining of religious liberty. we have a constitutional protection that allows for the churches to carry out their

ministry, their work in this country. we have been doing it for over 200 years with enormous success in building up the common good. all of a sudden we are being told in these new man dates new man dates what will be defined as our ministry. we had a unanimous supreme court ruling, and these included justices appointed by president obama who said it isn't the prerogative of the government to announce who does what ministries, what qualifies for ministry, and what really defines the church. martha: that was a very, very significant decision. but your immanence, you broke it down into two parts. if there is an exemption for catholic institutions that selfinsure, in other words so that the institutions don't have another insurer to push that cost on to. if there is an

exemption for all of those organizations do you think that the church's response to the president would then be favorable? >> i think we have to see what this would look like. when this was first announced we were told there would be an opportunity for consultation, collaboration, working out the details of this. and we would have to see what that would like look like. even if we were to find some satisfactory conclusion to the question of immoral activities and paying for them, we still have to get to the more basic issue, and that is the fundamental freedom of religious faith-based groups to car row out their ministry unimpeded by government directors. you know, i like to use the parallel, if we may, when we talk about religious liberty, it's one of the liberties, one of the freedoms guaranteed in the first amendment, but so is freedom of the press. i think media would be very upset if there were a directive

telling them that for the good of the country, and because the administration is greatly convinced that you would have to do stories that they provide you. martha: no, absolutely. i do want to ask you one more question before i let you go, and that is this issue of all of the catholic women out there who use contraception. these numbers have been thrown around quite a bit, and the idea is that, you know, because that's the case and because the numbers are high the catholic church should take a different upon on all of this. how do you address that? >> catholic teaching is never determined by the polls. over the history of the church there are many team inks of the church that from time to time large numbers of people felt uncomfortable with or simply didn't follow. but that isn't the norm for catholic church teaching the gospel is, the revelation is, not the polls. there will always be teaching inks of the church that a number of people simply don't follow. martha: there have been

suggestions that there should be protested against this mandate. do you recommend that? do you think catholics should let their voices be heard in the form of protests on this. >> i think the best we can do is simply be heard. that's why the bishops around the country are sharing the information not just with catholic people but with everyone of good will. people need to speak up. in our democratic republic, when people speak up they are usually heard. if there is one thing at the heart of this nation that we're counting on, it's the basic fairness of the american people who would say, why are religious groups being excluded from their service to the common good? martha: cardinal, it is an honor to have you with us today. thank you very much. gregg: the president is set to unveil his budget at an event in virgina. the kreut i saying already it has no chance of passing, paul ryan calling it a complete, political document. the ranking member of the senate budget committee will be joining

us next. martha: mourning the loss of a legend today, reaction from artists around the globe to the death of whitney houston. >> you forget with all the troubles that she went through how brilliant, how incredibly brilliant this woman was. [cheering] ( susan ) so what are you gonna get me for valentine's day ?

( seth ) wouldn't you like to know ? something sparkly ? maybe. something sweet ? mmm... let's just say it's a surprise. the helzberg diamonds gift box. diamond heart pendant and godiva chocolate gems. i love you. you do ?

martha: 23 minutes past the hour now. the trial getting underway for melissa group conspiring to kill police officers and conspiring to overthrow the government. they say the group was voicing their frustrations against the government. russia says it now may suspend adoptions to american citizens, saying that that he want an agreement which insures the

welfare of adopted russian children here in the ahh nighted states. computer giant apple is suing rival samsung for their upcoming smart phone. apple claims that it rips off several patents from the iphone. those are your headlines. gregg: artists all over the globe are paying homage to the incredible life and career of whitney houston, her death casting a shadow over the music world. last night the grammy awards marking her passing with an emotional tribute. in las vegas singer elton john dedicating one of his greatest hits to the singer's greatest talents. >> she could sing porgy and bess, she could sing gospel. she could make you cry. she was the most beautiful woman

i've ever seen. my gorgeous, lovely angel, we want to do this song for you. thank you for giving us your talent and one of the most beautiful voices i've ever heard if my life. gregg: claudia cowan is live in los angeles with more. >> reporter: you're right, last night's grammys were about two women with incredible voices, adele won top awards and whitney houston who was honored throughout the show. grammy host ll cool j started it all off with a very moving prayer as everyone in the staples center bowed their heads he said there is no getting around it, there's been a death in the family. he said the world has been blessed by houston's beautiful spirit and a lasting legacy of her music. beforehand on the red carpet presenters, performers and guests also mourned the loss. >> it's just a tragedy, it's one of those things that you don't believe is going to happen, you hear people have ups and downs, but come on, you can't die. and then it happens and it's

like, wow. it's a wake up call. >> whitney houston was hands down the standard for any vocalist. she stands on the stage with a mike and that's all she needs and she makes everybody pay attention. >> it was the light of her voice, that's what remains. ♪ >> reporter: following news of houston's death on saturday grammy organizers ja scrambled to include tributes and called on one of her biggest fans, jennifer hudson to sing, i will always love you. hudson had a tough time getting through rehearsals without breaking down in tears. but she found herself at show time and gave what many consider a very moving rendition. alicia keys, and stevie wonder a few of the others who talked

about her beautiful voice. oprah winfrey is planning a tv special remembering the pop star on thursday. back to you. gregg: claudia, thank you. martha: there is danger and death in the streets of syria, and now there is talk of al-qaida involvement there as military troops ramp up their attacks on the rebel figh fighters. a live report overseas from there, three minutes away. gregg: a new budget with a similar tone, president obama is going to unveil his budget plan. while critics are already slamming it. senator jeff sessions joins us live next. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats

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martha: fox news alert, live for this. this is the coroner speaking about whitney houston's death. let's listen in. >> because there is a security hold on the case and you're not allowed to give us answer. >> two, number one there is a security hold on the case. so we're not going to discuss it and there still is testing going on. >> could you for the layperson describe what toxicology testing in this case might involve? >> i'm not going to comment. it's toxicology. they'll test the blood, and urine, but it's the routine tox that we do. okay?

any way, that's all i have to say. we probably won't have any update for anybody for a couple of days. it will take that long just to gather and put everything together and figure out maybe a preliminary, but at this point we have no other information to give. >> is it true that the family won't be picking up the body today? >> i don't know when the family is going to get the body. >> the body is ready. >> the autopsy has been completed. there is no hold on the body. >> have they indicated that they are sending the body back to atlanta? there have been reports of that. >> i heard that from the media,. [inaudible question] >> no. >> one more time for our viewers, clear up the fact that celebrity web sites are reporting that somebody here spoke to the family and told them that prescription drugs were most likely involved in her death.

you're saying that did not come from your office? >> i'm the one that talked to the family. i did not give that information. they may have talked with somebody from beverly hills i don't know. >> would that be too soon to determine in light of the toxicology test stph-s. test? >> yes. martha: they are talking about whitney houston, it's hard to believe that whitney houston is gone and they are trying to determine the cause of her death. they say really they won't know anything until the toxicology reports are released. anything that people have heard with regard to that is not true at this point. also that her body will be peupbgd picked up over the next couple of days now that the autopsy has been completed and the information they need for tox coljoe has been sent out to the lab. incredible looking at her in those pictures, to think that the body they are discussing is

the body of whitney houston. gregg: president obama set to unveil his budget proposal for next year chocked full of tax hikes and deficit spending. critics already slamming it as a re-election gimmick that is fiscally irresponsible, some say it may just be a challenge for congress to come up with something better. >> last year i had to offer his budget for him. senate democrats haven't passed a budget in a thousand days, even though the law requires it. we only had two budget votes last year, i offered the house budget, they followed the law and had a vote on a budget, we voted on that in the senate. i offered president obama's budget since the democrats isn't seem to want to develop their own budget and didn't want to vote for his. his budget was defeated 97-0. gregg: alabama jeff sessions joins us ranking member of the budget committee. senator, good to see you. gregg: the budget which begins

october 1st calls for a deficit of 1.33 trillion. he is, however, proposing to cut the deficit by more than 4 trillion over the next decade, half of that through spending cuts and the other half through tax increases. what is your reaction? >> that's totally incorrect. he is nowhere close to reducing spending and the deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years. the preliminary numbers we've seen is it virtually has a diminimus reduction in the debt, virtually no debt over ten years. we'll still add another 11 trillion-plus dollars to the debt. we are going to move our deficit from 15 to $26 trillion, and this is a debt course we cannot sustain, and he proposes to do nothing except reduce or eliminate the spending cuts we agreed to last summer. his budget that he just

submitted will eliminate the s sequester that we agreed to last summer, the difficult choices that were there and pay for it by more taxes, so he reduces the cuts, raises taxes and then claims that two actions, reduce the deficit another trillion dollars, which is totally bogus. the tax increase would only pay for the sequester elimination. so this is a dishonest budget. it claims multiple reductions in deficits that aren't real, and it's just deeply disappointing,. gregg: they also want $350 billion in short-term stimulus spending. what do you think of that? >> well, it just adds to the debt. the first thing you do to get on a sound financial course is stop digging. the hole is awfully deep already. we're talking about borrowing

every penny of that, threatening social security trust fund in the process. i think it's a dangerous plan. i know a lot of people want to see that happen, and i can understand it and i'd love to make every american have extra money, but it's a dangerous trend, frankly. gregg: the president's chief of staff, jack lu, former budget director who helped prepare this budget said, and i'll quote him, the time for austerity is not today. if we were to put in austerity measures right now it would take the economy in the wrong direction. does he have a fair point? >> well, you know, you can discuss how much ought to be cut this year, but they are talking about borrowing more and spending more. we should have been having a debt this year of about a trillion dollars. instead it will be $1,300,000,000,000, $300 billion more because they continue to borrow and continue to spend. but in the long run this is so

information, the president of the united states has a responsibility to help this nation understand, as admiral mullen said, this debt is the greatest threat to our national security. we are going to have to have a long plan to get off of it. it is going to include the big programs like medicare, medicaid, social security. they'll have to be put on a sound financial basis. they are not now, and you could put this country on a path that would lead us to prosperity, not decline. and i would just say this. if the republicans are given a majority the republicans are going to pass a budget, it will be a ten-year plan for growth and prosperity in this country. it will get us off the debt path that we are on, and it's a fundamental responsibility of this government, and for the chief executive to not layout a plan that has any credibility, does not reduce our debt course is irresponsible, in my

responsible. gregg: senator jeff sessions, many thanks, sir. >> thank you. martha: moments ago we heard from the l.a. coroner, speaking out on the death of whitney houston. he got peppered with questions about whether drugs were a factor in the superstar's death. coming up our fox news medical a team takes a look at what may have happened. ♪ [singing] i want to run to you oooh, i want to run to you oooh ... ♪ ♪ when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. g this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

gregg: a virginia woman counting her blessings after a strong storm sent a tree crashing down on top of her home and pinning her to the bedroom floor. it took crews two hours to get her out. >> these group of firefighters are part of our urban search and rescue team which travels the world doing things on a bigger scale than this. so, something of this nature was kind of minute, small to them,

but they take everything very seriously. we just asked residents if there's been a lot of rain for a couple of days, you know, you know there is a lot of wind out there, you might want to go in the backyard, front yard, check the trees, make sure, check the ground, you know, make sure they are pretty lodged in the ground. check the stumps and make sure everything is okay. gregg: we are told the woman is expected to be okay. three other people, including her husband were also inside the house at the time. fortunately none were hurt. martha: i was just like everyone else. when she came out of the box in the 80s, it was like lena horne with the the sense pweuplt of sensibility of a soul singer. who knew she could act like that. all of her hits, i'm telling you, i will always love you, that was it. i still tear up when i hear it.

martha: everybody does. it's such an incredible song and she will be remembered for all of the incredible music that she made. that was bonnie raitt honoring whitney houston. the coroner moments ago said they will not release the cause of her death. we won't get any updates for 48 hours or so. reports have circulated that houston's long battle with drugs and addiction may have certainly played a role in all of this. i think everybody is assuming at this point that that did play a role, we will see. i'm joined now by dr. keith ablow, a forensic psychiatrist and a member of our fox a team. ken baker is also a doctor. give us the history, remind us of the ups and downs that whitney houston has had over the last several years. >> well, ups and downs would be a great way to skreut. i mean as much as an artistic

genius as she was she did have personal struggles. she was checked into rehab at least three times that we know of, the first time, in sometime around two, 2003 -- actually 2004, sorry. she was in and out a few times. recent she was checked in in april, we don't know how long she spent in rehab. she gave an interview to oprah winfrey, she admitted to cocaine use and struggling with addiction. she said it had taken over her life. we don't know the cause of death, we can't jump to any conclusions. we don't know if thisee diction issue did lead to her death or not. it could be a horrific accident. certainly she had her personal struggles, that is something that along with her genius people are acknowledging in the context of her death. they are acknowledging the context that she did have a major, major issue with this. and we are going to find out within the next four to six weeks when these toxicology

reports come back. martha: dr. keith let me bring you in on this. i remember when she started dating bobby brown, it was shocking, it was like this weird couple. everybody thought she was such a good girl. she had a great gospel upbringing in newark, new jersey. suddenly she was dating this rough-and-tumble guy. it seemed like an odd combination. he for better or worse is blamed in many ways by bringing her down on this spiral. can someone do that to someone else or -- >> there are unhealthy alliances in love. people can bring out the best in you or the worst in you. if people feel he contributed to her downfall he could be right, these thins happen. i can also say this. you can have tremendous gifts in the world, you can have what seems like a god-begin talent that doesn't defer immunity in feeling emotionally fragile, in terms of depression and drug

addiction. i just wish when folks saw her on this latest downward spiral, when they said that she looked not herself, here is my message. when people seem as though they are not able to care for themselves, take control, step in and treat them essentially like kids even if you have to hospital hraoeu hospitalize them against their l. martha: her daughter, bobbi-kristina brown there were reports that they were out on a night on the town together recently, and she is devastated, of course as any young girl would be by the loss of her mother. >> yeah, just playing off of what keith was just saying, you know, actually whitney's career and her life seemed to be on an up tick. in the fall she was starring -- at least they were shooting her first movie since the made 90s. shy shot a movie called sparkle. she was helping produce it. she had actually been

recording. people said she was very upbeat. all week we saw her in los angeles and she seemed to be having a lot of fun. martha: sorry for interrupting, the same with michael jackson. oh, he was dancing, going on this world tour and you look at the other side and you can't -- your eyes don't fool you when you see people falling down and literally unable to function, there is something going on there, dr. key. dr. keith. >> look, there is the sense that maybe it should be hands-off, after all we are dealing with a ferrari here not a camry. so if she is going 150 miles an hour, maybe it's okay. it's not okay, real friends step in. real relatives go to court, they get court orders to have you hospitalized against your will. doesn't matter to me if my daughter is a star in the future she is going to detox if she's using drugs i don't care. martha: a tpoeupbl thought, you met her, interviewed her, it's a tragic loss. >> absolutely. i was on the red carpet all day yesterday at grammys, it was really a dark cloud over the

entire proceedings. she was a legend, she was an icon, right out of the gate. you have to remember 1985 she broke out seven consecutive number one hits. she sold over 200 million hours. in today's day and age of digital downloads that is never going to happen again. so the loss is profound, and your condolances have to go out to the family right now. martha: you talk about god-given talent, what a voice. last night i was on youtube with my kids, i just wanted them to hear her in her prime, because she was so incredible, and even you hear some of the voices on the stage last night for the grammys, as wonderful as they are she could not touch her. she was incredible in her prime. our hearts go out to her family and her friends and all of her fans. dr. keith and ken baker thag you so much for being here today. gregg: let's check in with jon scott for what's happening now." jon: good morning to you. we are going to be talking about the budget battle, the president about to unveil his plan just moments from now.

republicans are blasting the tax hikes it includes and they say the spending cuts just don't go far enough. karl rove and wyoming senator john barazo here with us to react. plus, they are deployed in the war zone. why the department of homeland security wants to use drones now to watch you. and after three straight losses mitt romney rack up a win over the weekend coming out on top in the cpac straw poll as we. bret baier on what else romney has to look forward to, that is ahead in the next two hours. gregg. gregg: new details emerging over reports that iran is assembling a fleet that could launch cal attacks against u.s. naval ships in the persian gulf. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

gregg: damaging allegations against a very popular gun club, that club has been on the same property for more than 40 years but neighbors say it's got to go. dan springer is live in seattle with more. dan, who is trying to get it to move? >> reporter: well, gregg, it's like not in my backyard. in this case the homeowners moved next to the nuisance they are complaining about. the one guy didn't build a home he built a complex, a 19,000 square foot home with a guesthouse pool and vineyard. it's 700 yards down range from the ash land gun club where people have been firing guns since 1968. now the homeowners are suing the city of ash land which leases the land to the gun club claiming that endangered salmon are being harmed, birds are exposed to lead and all that noise of course. the 400 families that make up the gun club are digging in for

a fight. >> we came out here because it was away from people so we wouldn't have an impact on them. when people build houses and move closer to this sort of use it's offensive. we have a right to do this. we have a right to be here, and we're going to fight it. >> reporter: still the gun club has lost several members due to the perceived costs of fighting a lawsuit in federal court. gregg: what impact does the club actually have on the surrounding environment, dan? >> reporter: well, the city of ash land wanted to know that very question. they commissioned a study last summer before the lease was signed. they concluded the gun club was not having an adverse effect on the environment. just to make sure the environment would be safe the city was requiring all kinds of mitigation and lead recycling be done on the property by the gun club. yet the homeowner suing, an allergy doctor is not appeased.

>> lead kills birds, animals, people, and to have lead in the wetlands is definitely an area of concern. >> reporter: and of course other gun clubs around the country have had similar fights where people move out to them, and, you know, who knows how this will end up. it could be a long fight in federal court. gregg: dan springer live in seattle. thanks. martha: president obama's last budget proposal got shot down resounding lee, so will this one get anywhere with congress? that is a big topic for today, karl rove joins us live on that with his reaction after this. we'll be right back. -i love this card. -wi the bankamericard cash rewards credit card,

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martha: let's head across the pond for a second. queen elizabeth the ii and the dutchess of came ridg cambridge to make two appearances this week. the dutchess of cambridge has been making many more appearances latel w