with us. also dave ramsey. we'll talk politics with larry sabato. >> brian: we might have an extremely special surprise guest. >> steve: really? >> brian: yep. see you on the after the show show. martha: there is yet another new candidate who has taken the lead for the republican pick. rick santorum is on top in two brand new major problems. i'm martha maccallum in "america's newsroom". gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. martha, good to see you. how about surge by santorum. he is a in a statistical dead heat with mitt romney. martha: according to the pew center research poll the one you're looking at right now he leads by two percentage points. put a bunch of polls together in the "real clear politics" national polls, santorum a razor-thin margin

ahead of romney. the gingrich and paul, 18 and 12% respectively. byron york, "washington examiner". good morning. what do you make of the move by santorum? is it legit? >> absolutely. this is the momentum he built in the wins week ago today in colorado, minnesota and missouri. newt gingrich and santorum argued if they had a one-on-one shot against mitt romney they could do well. that is kind of what santorum got in colorado, must siri and minnesota because newt gingrich didn't play. in a lot of those santorum won. he crossed that the threshold of electability which they worried about santorum. martha: you look at the situation, you think herman cain and all the other players who rose and fell. with santorum is the story any different for him? will he hold up to the

scrutiny? >> romney people are steady as she goes. they have seen the rise of michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain and newt gingrich, all rose up and all fell down. what is going to be interesting to see is, there's a really critical race coming up, february 28th in arizona and michigan. perhaps especially michigan where santorum is going to concentrate. the question will be, will mitt romney go negative against santorum in michigan the way he did quite effectively against newt gingrich in florida? martha: santorum is ahead in the michigan poll numbers we're seeing. we have a couple weeks. we've seen how much can change in a couple weeks in the past. that is his home state. he was a child in michigan. his father was governor there i'm talking about mitt romney of course. how tough would it be to lose michigan? what would that mean in this race? >> it would be huge. romney has not shown he can win in the midwest. he won in new hampshire, he won in florida, won in nevada but not in the big midwest. the question is, does that

native state advantage hold for romney? he was born and raised there. his father was governor of michigan from 1963 to 1969 which is quite a while ago. i have to tell you in my reporting i recently met a lot of people from michigan who remember romney's father as governor. i met them in florida. they had retired and left the state. we'll see how strong the advantage is. martha: we will. there is still a lot of thinking that santorum has a blue-collar type of momentum in michigan perhaps mitt romney might not have at this point. we'll see. byron, thank you so much. >> thank you, martha. martha: as we look at this race which gets more interesting by the day, gregg. gregg: it changes every day. it is hard to keep up. as the president unveiled his budget, critics called it the first shot for the fight in re-election. mitt romney very eager to return fire. the massachusetts governor says the spending plan proves it is time for new leadership in the white house. >> he unfortunately came out

with another trillion dollar deficit and, if you recall back in his election, he said that he was going to cut in half our deficit by the end of his first term. he did just the opposite. he doubled it by the end of his first term. [booing] >> yeah. don't forget there is other promises not kept. just after he was inaugurated he went on "the today show" and said if i can't turn around this economy in three years i will be looking at a one-term proposition. we're here to collect. [applause] gregg: romney went on to say that the president failed to deal with entitlement spending. not just republicans slamming the budget plan. wait until you hear what one democrat is now saying getting a load of attention today. that is coming up. martha: remember fox news is america's election headquarters in case you didn't know. head to our website at foxnews.com/aehq for all the latest. lots of brand new polls to take a look at.

the michigan stuff is very interesting and all of it is posted for you on our website. gregg: well the price of a gallon of gasoline once again inching toward the $4 mark. the average price for a gallon hitting $3.51, 38 cents more than this time a year ago. the experts, well they're predicting prices will spike another 60 cents or more by memorial day, pushing gasoline past the price we saw in summer of 2008. remember that? it should happen months before the voters head to the polls for president. lots of implications here. let's get to it with fox business network's stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company". what is causing this spike? it has to be the concern over war with iran, uneasiness in the middle east? >> that is part of it. that uneasiness in the middle east has indeed pushed the price of oil well over $100 a barrel. that clearly is part of the gas price rise but so too

also is the fact that driving demand picks up in the spring. that adds to demand, tends to raise the price. another big factor the government-imposed switch on refineries going to a different blend for gasoline in the summertime, a more expensive blend. that also puts the price up. there is also politics, gregg, got to remember that. there is the perception here that president obama is anti-oil. and that he is not doing much to boost domestic supplies. won't build a pipeline. not too quick on establishing new drilling areas for oil. and he is going to tax the oil companies in the future. you add it all up, and you've got $4 a gallon gasoline predictions by many analysts come this spring. remember one thing, gregg. it was 1.84 dal, $1.84 when president obama was inaugurated bark in january 2009. gregg: refining capacity, i was stunned to learn in the northeast has dropped by a third in the past two years.

so for folks in the northeast it is only going to get worse and worse. we're approaching an election. people who are angry over money leaving their pockets and going to gasoline they can't afford want to blame somebody. so what are the implications for the election? >> remember when gas went to $4 a gallon in summer of 2008, then president bush was widely given the blame for this. whether or not president obama gets blamed for rising gas prices this summer, that is a political question. odds are he will get some of the blame. you're right, it is a political question and a economic question. you go to $4 a gallon, you're taking a lot of spending power out of the economy, diverting it just to gasoline. that hurts the economy and clearly may well hurt president obama's re-election chances too. gregg: a lot of people have to go to work to get the wages but then it is going to gasoline and not food on the table. boy that causes consternation. >> you see it every day. gregg: stuart varney, great

to see you. >> thanks. martha: well funeral arrangements are now underway for singer whitney houston. her body was flown to her home state of new jersey late last night. police then escorting the golden hearse, there is picture on left-hand side of your screen, to a newark funeral home where they expect the rest of this will take place. there are reports that her family is planning a very large public memorial later on this week. we'll get continued word on that. the troubled megastar died saturday at a beverly hills hotel. cause of her death is undeterminedded right now. police say she was found in the bathtub. they're doing toxicology reports which could take 10 days to determine if drugs or alcohol played a role. gregg: there are so many reports about the number of drugs found, prescriptions involved. we're trying to sort that out. martha: whether or not different doctors were involved. doctor shopping all those kind of issues still to be revealed in this whole thing. gregg: part of the investigation.

all right. those are just many of the stories we're following this morning in america's newsroom. a new bride's lifeless bod underwater. highlighted there a moment ago. prosecutors say her new husband intentionally shut off the oxygen to her scuba tank. the trial getting underway. we'll get latest from the courtroom in a case that shocked two continents. martha: such a disturbing story. there is this new report. shows two million people registered to vote in this country are no longer alive. that is pretty good trick. details on tens of millions of errors in voter registration. this one will blow you away, folks. gregg: republicans say president obama's budget is packed with spending and a war cry against the right. >> dead on arrival. it's dead on arrival. and that's what we're seeing. you know the president, this is an ambush, an ambush budget. gregg: one democrat even calling it, quote, a nervous

breakdown on paper. why the president is not pleasing with either side. copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure.

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martha: jurors in the highly charged first-degree murder trial of a former college lacrosse player were given a stack of letters and evident mails between george huguely and yeardley love. huguely, a former university of virginia student on trial for the murder of his former girlfriend who was also a student ad uva. police found a bunch of letters in her bedroom drawer of the those letters were submitted in evidence. they were not read out in court. jurors read the bombshell e-mail exchange which huguely wrote, quote, i should have killed you. huguely was said to be emotional at times and despondent at times as well in court. >> at a time when our economy is growing and creating jobs at a faster clip, we've got to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track. gregg: new fallout over

president obama's budget plan. republicans say it fails to deal with a massive debt facing the country and doubles down on spending. >> this is a very sad day when the president of the united states fails to keep his promises to the american people once again and rather than treading water he actually makes things worse. >> this is a charade. a charade the only question is when this president's own refusal to lead will catch up to all the rest of us? gregg: on the other side democratic congressman emanuel cleaver calls it a nervous breakdown on paper. why? well he says the president isn't spending enough. douglas holtz-eakin is a former cbo director. president of american action forum. thanks so much for being with us. >> my pleasure. gregg: the president claims that his budget will cut spending by four trillion over the next decade, cut

the deficit by four trillion over the next decade but i talked to senator jeff sessions yesterday about that and he said that is absolutely inaccurate and dishonest essentially because he says the president is using all kinds of crazy premises that are faulty and gimmicks and tricks. so who is telling the truth? >> this is a budget loaded with gimmicks. the president wants to take credit for both the wind down of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. that already happened. you can't do it twice. take credit for a trillion dollars in savings that happened last august in the debt deal. there are a lot of holes. reality there is $2.7 trillion in new spending in this budget. it doesn't address the fundamental problems that the united states has with an already large level of debt and projected increase that is literally unsustainable. gregg: well the president's budget at least in the near term certainly increasing spending, increases borrowing

allows to compete successfully on the international stage. indeed, it is a nervous breakdown on paper but largely because of what is not in the budget and tax reform is not there.

entitlement reform is the other. we put our brain room on it. the revenue received by the government, there it is, just from the increase in income, federal income taxes, 1.4 trillion, 40%. 47% i think of the increased revenue from taxes, so i mean that's needed revenue, isn't it? >> the bottom line if you spend the money you have to pay for it. the real difficulty with this budget there is no control on spending. if you roll the clock forward to 2022, long after the economy is assumed to be completely recovered, unemployment rate down to 4.4%. there should be no fear about impeding any recovery where you hear so much from the president. if you look in those years we're spending well above historic norms. this is a budget that is bloated with spending. if you spend that much, of course you will run deficits unless you raise taxes. we would be far better served to spend less and tax less. gregg: a lot of his projections is based on a

forecast of 4% gdp growth by 2014. do you know of any forecaster or economist who thinks it is going to be 4%? >> i believe we could get 4% if we had the right policies. i do not believe it is internally consistent to have the 4% growth in the policies this president has in his budget. they are not pro-growth policies. they go the wrong direction on a regular basis. gregg: douglas holtz-eakin. thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you. martha: you wonder why the cost of health care is rising so quickly? there is a very alarming report that is coming out this morning that shows billions of dollars in health care fraud and waste in america. it is a very disturbing look who is cheating the system and for how much.

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gregg: developing right now in "america's newsroom". good news for the airline industry. boeing locking in its biggest order ever, 230 planes, some 20 two.4 billion headed to an int niche shun carrier. -- indonesian carrier. squaw valley unveiling the first ski-through starbucks. >> don't even get off the trails. you just ski over, grab a coffee and get back on the chair lift. couldn't be better. gregg: skiers and boarders getting their morning bus while on the go. a sin city offer you can not refuse. las vegas honoring some of its founding fathers with a, wait for it, a mob museum. it opens today, the same day as al capone's famous saint valentine's day massacre. martha: they have a whole wall, gregg, that shows some of their bloodiest hits. they have tommy guns and they have got also more

creative instruments of death like ice picks and that kind of thing. also museum is fascinating. gregg: but i must say, benny siegel, otherwise known as bugsy, recognized true al view of vegas. martha: let's head overseas now where there are some very real, dramatic violent issues going on the ground. literally the city of athens is just smoldering today. [shouting] some of the scenes of a weekend of shocking riots across greece that led to massive fires in downtown athens. firefighters are still deathing with ash hot spots in the rubble after dozens of buildings were torched. even after politicians passed severe budget cuts that sparked this kay i don't see. some say those cuts still might not be enough. ashley webster is covering this really important global economic story for us live

from athens. good morning, ashley. >> reporter: yeah. yes, hi, it is a cold, somewhat miserable afternoon in athens. that pretty much describes the mood of the greek people. greek leaders trying to prove to the european union they are worthy of another round of bailout money that they so desperately need but in exchange more severe economic cuts and because of that we're facing more wages that will be going down, taxes that are going up. many greeks are now doing whatever they can to survive. that includes selling jewelry to get cash. >> business is very slow and also, us, we're getting a double whack because the gold price is up and no one is thinking about buying gold now. they want to sell because of their financial problems. i've been working here for 20 years. i've never seen so many people sell gold because of their they're going broke.

most of them elderly people from 50 and up the from 50 and up, yeah. some people sell with tears in their eyes too. some people are selling wedding bands, just to go get groceries from the store. >> reporter: that is the sad reality. homeless also up 25%. we're seeing soup kitchens pop up across central athens. it is taking a huge to, martha. we have more economic cuts in the future for greece. a very tough situation indeed. martha: that is a tough situation, ashley. where does greece stand now in terms of getting more bailout money? are they on the road to that? >> reporter: well, they are. they passed the measure on sunday night that created those violent protestsers you were talking about but now they have to wait and see whether the european union believes the greeks can actually put the reforms in place, something they didn't do the first time around when they received

bailout money. a big meeting in brussels tomorrow may determine whether that indeed will happen, martha. martha: thank you so much. what a situation, ashley webster in athens. gregg: it was a crippling bipartisan standoff, neither side willing to budge but now the big fight over the payroll tax cut, basically over, at least those are the reports. which side gave in coming up? martha: plus a shocking report on voter registration in this country. get this, 20 million people have mistakes on their voter registration forms. two million voters out there are actually dead already. more details on that. unbelievable story. that is coming up in "america's newsroom". gregg: tough to vote when you're dead. martha: kind of tough to pull the lever. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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gregg: welcome back. less than nine months till election day and you're not going to believe this one. a new study raising some very serious questions about our voting system. according to the pugh center, a whopping 24 million voter registrations contain significant mistakes. how can that be? eric shawn live in our new york city newsroom. so, eric, what were some of the problems here? >> reporter: gregg, believe it or not, one out of every eight voter registration are invalid or inaccurate. the study found 12 million registrations have a wrong addrs. 2.75 million, almost three million people, are

registered in more than one state. and nearly two million people, 1.8, listed as active voters still on the rolls. well they're actually dead. the researchers claim there is no evidence that dead people actually cast ballots though that has been claimed. one florida elections supervisor told us that keeping the names of dead people on the rolls for a bit actually protects the system. >> if you die on monday, don't expect the voter registration database to be updated by monday at 7:30 at place. there is lag time to take place to insure all the data is correct. last thing we want to do is take somebody off voter registration roles because of a mistake in another agency. >> reporter: it is up to each state to share the voter roles to make sure they're correct and clearly gregg, not everybody is keeping up. >> what about all those other mistakes, can't we catch those? >> reporter: they're trying to work on it. eight states, colorado, delaware, maryland, nevada, oregon, utah, virginia, and washington, those eight states are teaming up with

study sponsor on database to collectively share information. more states are starting online registration. let's voters update their own information. maryland starts in july. >> that will eliminate a lot of the data entry errors that result from trying to read people's handwriting or just because you have temporary folks in there doing this and just, you know, making the normal human errors in data entries. >> reporter: critics fear online registration could make voter fraud easier but states who use it claim it is more secure and can prevent voter fraud. by the way if you suspect election problems where you live, there is our address, voter fraud@foxnews.com. gregg: i know you will follow it. eric shawn, thanks very much. martha: we've got new developments this morning in this investigation into the website known as media matters. "the daily caller".com is leading this probe and they're saying they have internal memos from the website discussing strategy

by the liberal website to take down fox news channel. take a look at this. here is one of the quotes from the e-mail that the daily caller uncovered as part of its investigation. we must take fox news head on in a well-funded presidential style campaign to discredit and i am bear as the network making it illegitimate in the eyes of news consumers. we'll show you more of the e-mails as we go through here. bob beckel, worked on walter mondale's 1984 presidential campaign and andrea tanteros, both co-hosts of "the five.". >> happy valentine's day. martha: bob has the fancy suspenders on in honor of the day. good to see you guys this morning. so many things that are sort interesting and shocking as you dig into this. one of them to me, bob, the overt nature of it. there are executives in the organization openly discussing in these e-mails they want to use these kind

of tactics, not saying oh for the better of society what we need to do, clearly to take down motivation that is completely unshielded. >> yeah. let me do a little truth in lending here. i have a lot of friend who contribute to media matters and i know people there i have come under attack from them personally in terms of meetings. i was asked to come to a meeting where i was said i was lending my liberal history to fox, et cetera, et cetera. now, having said that, i came into politics during water gate and when enemy's lists and these kind of tactics discussed in these memos were real and people were hurt in a real way. their reputations financially. so far as i can tell this memo is over two years old and there has not been any implementation of the tactics. that doesn't mean they won't happen. it is disgusting the way it is laid out.

how much is ever going to be implemented is another question. i don't see the evidence it has been. martha: one of the shocking things to me, andrea, the sort of, this is a tax-exempt organization. anybody in this country can say whatever they want and put it all over blogs and talk about it in the their meetings. it is a free country. take a look at next quotes found by daily caller in these e-mails. it really raises questions about the tax-exempt nature. we should hire private investigators to look into the personal lives of fox news anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors, senior network and corporate staff and then it goes on in another section to say this we should look into contracting with a major law firm to study any available legal actions that can be taken against fox news. they go on to talk about, sort of putting yard signs in people's neighborhoods, going after them in a really personal way. then getting a law firm to sort of legitimatize their findings. andrea, dig in. what do you make of all this?

>> it is really scary stuff. bob points out, we don't know if they have been doing this but we do know media matters has actively been trying to take down fox. they put out numerous e-mails throughout the day. most are not based in fax. they are trying to launch a campaign against fox news. it is scary if they will embark on any of the things they blatantly outlined in the memo. the scary news is fox news is one place you can go to get fair and balanced news. you hear from bob and i. you have a balance on "the five." the left does not like dissenting opposing opinions. anybody who has an opinion different from theirs they seek to silence. now we see, martha, they want to do it in the most egregious of ways which go after personally. >> there is not exactly a balance on "the five.". martha: bob, you are such a strong character you provide all of the balance. you hold your own very well, i might add. i think about some of the surveys that have been done who people trust the most in

the news business. fox news always tends to be at the top of those lists. most, 67% in a recent poll said that they think there is bias in the news. so it is not surprising to me this kind of organization would want to put a dent in the numbers and success that fox news haste. that is not surprising but nature of it. i go back to this issue, bob. it is a tax-exempt organization. when you go on the website, this is about 70, 80% of it is aimed directly at fox news. do you think they should lose the tax-exempt status if they have such a clear mandate as evidenced in these e-mails? >> if these tactics have been implemented they clearly crossed the line on tax-exempt status. keep in mind fox news came under attack, story out today at cpac for not being conservative enough. so i guess you can't win for losing here when you put together some sort of balanced reporting. so it is not, look the right-wing blogs, have taken on the left a lot. myself included a lot. but, i still think that

media matters better be very careful here. if they implement any of this, they are jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. >> and, martha, one of the other things that i think was most frightening the fact that media matters, according to the report by daily caller is working hand-in-glove with the white house at highest level. that is really --. martha: show ties to the white house and msnbc and david also owns a pac. interesting investigative report. one of the interesting things you guys both raised whether or not any of these things were carried out. this will be part three of this daily caller investigation. you will talk about it on "the five" as well. thank you. fair and balanced. >> happy valentine's day. >> you too. gregg: i love the suspenders. martha: we can get you a pair of those. gregg: i used to wear a lot of suspenders. i don't do it much anymore. no wonder it costs so much. a new report shows billions of dollars in health care fraud. what is being done about it coming up next?

martha: taking a battle-axe to the pentagon's budget that is live look at capitol hill where defense secretary leon panetta, that is carl levin of michigan but leon panetta is set to testify on this on a slimmed down military budget. hot, hot topic. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪

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gregg: welcome back. we're awaiting a major announcement on the state of health care abuse and waste in america. the feds expected to report that they have recovered more than $4 billion in fraud judgements in the last year alone. let's bring in fox business network's eric bolling. at first i thought, oh, they have uncovered but no, they're saying they have recovered. in other words, they have gotten back 4 billion. >> yeah that sounds great, right? 4 billion. fantastic. however, dig a little deeper they expected to recover 60 to 90 billion. they have 4 billion. we'll take it. bring it back. i also like to know what they will do with it now

they recovered it. not sure. most importantly what is going on here, there is guy named jonathan gruber. he was part of the architect of obamacare. he is mit economics professor. also a very prominent democrat who, part of his selling point to obamacare he was going to bend the cost curve down. gregg: right. >> what we found out, we show you the numbers, up 17% from 0 the-10. up five to 6% from 10 to 11. over the weekend jonathan gruber made announcement saying all bets are off. he doesn't think the cost curve will go down. he said will dramatically increase. also finding 4 billion number one and massive amount of waivers. gregg: you're saying one of the fundamental premises upon which obamacare was justified was a faulty premise by the author of obamacare? >> one of the authors of the bill that became law says he has changed his tune.

he said he didn't expect to see these many waivers to be handed out, these many gifts and these many freebies. he looked more than a $4 billion recovery on waste, fraud and abuse. some estimates were as high as $500 billion coming back in waste, fraud and abuse. 4 billion, great. fantastic. they have to stay on it. gregg: what kind of abuse are we talking about here? are these people who just say they're eligible and they're really not and there is no ability to properly screen? >> honestly, gregg, there is whole list of weast, fruit and abuse they need to tie up. people providing services they're not providing. gregg: including doctors. >> doctors all up and down. insurance fraud is massive and rampant. one of the selling points of obamacare they were going to fix this. 4 billion sounds great. that is big number unless you look how much they promised us. they promised us a much bigger number. gregg: in fairness to advocates behind the health care act, it's still early. they have only had it on the

books for what a year, year-and-a-half, something like that. you have to give them a little time. >> give them time to tie up the loose end. i have not necessarily a problem with 4 billion number. i have a bigger number with the 2,000 health care waivers, 1500, how many? >> approaching 2,000 now? gregg: really. >> six states have been given a year. you can delve into, well if there are 2,000 waivers, unions are given waivers, states are given waivers, pancake houses given waivers, why not grant a permanent waiver and end the discussion. gregg: well, these waivers are only temporary to allow unions and other entities enough time to figure out ways that so that it doesn't hurt them initially. >> unions, unions need to figure out ways huh? gregg: yeah. >> looks to me there are a lot of pay backs to friends of obama to me. states, unions, friends of the administration getting waivers. gregg: right. >> not necessarily the,

probably deserve a permanent waiver but another discussion. gregg: eric bolling thank you very much. martha? martha: thanks, you guys. there have been three attacks around the world and israel says it is all the work of iran. motorcycle bombers slapping magnetic explosives on the side after car and then riding off as the passengers try to scramble out of these vehicles in time. gregg: plus newt gingrich says he is staying in for the long haul but is three starting to be a crowd these days? the scenario where the former speaker may have to quit sooner than he says. ♪ .

♪ i left my heart, --. martha: should be like a big red shaped heart thing. gregg: should be. one of the most recognizeable songs everywhere. of course we know who it is, tony bennett. it was 50 years ago, that tony bennett won first two grammys for that famous ball let. san francisco celebrating the milestone with tony bennett day. but comments from the 85-year-old after death of whitney houston is making news. when asked about the tragedy, bennett said this. >> let's legalize drugs like they did in amsterdam and it is a very sane city now. gregg: well, bennett says legalization would have

saved michael jackson, amy winehouse, whitney houston. we don't know what killed houston yet, but there are reports that prescription drugs were found at the scene. michael jackson was killed by propofol that is a drug administered by his doctor. martha: yeah. i mean, the ridiculousness of that comment. obviously tony bennett is getting on in years. he has said pretty whacky things over course of the last year. to suggest legalizing drugs would have saved her life when surrounded by prescription bottles around the room. we don't know until we get toxicology. what a biz zare statement. gregg: he had to say they flew the planes in but we caused it in reference to 9/11. he had to immediately apologize. latest news on tony bennett day. martha: stick to i left my heart in san francisco. gregg: safer. >> we will act systematically with determination and forcefully against international terror

emanating from iran. gregg: that was i will ray's benjamin netanyahu accusing iran of being behind three attacks on israeli diplomats. three explosions today in thailand today alone. this comes after a would-be assassin on a motorcycle slap ad magnetic bomb on the side after car in india. senator john mccain says these brazen attacks are a reminder how dangerous a world would be with a nuclear iran. >> what about this scenario just happened today with iran having a nuclear weapon and the fact is, you're right. we are going to have to draw a line for the iranians that they understand and is credible. i'm curious whether this president, because of leading from behind, is credible with the iranians. martha: some people think this may become a major issue as we head closer to the election. joining me now is john bolton, former u.n. ambassador to the united nations and a fox news contributor. ambassador bolton, what do you make first of all of

attacks and tactics being used? iran accused israel of using similar tactics to take out their nuclear scientists, iran's nuclear scientists. do you give that any credence? what do you make of these counterattacks? >> well, some speculated that the attacks against the iranian nuclear scientists were assassinations carried out by iran itself because they thought the scientists might have been leaking to israel or the united states or others. there is certainly every reason to think the attacks in georgia, india, and thailand were iranian-backed. nothing to the contrary yet. i have to say if they were iranian attacks they can retire the 2012 stupidity award because for iran to attack diplomats in india, one of the countries critically responsible for buying iranian oil and frustrating european and american sanctions it is basically to insult one of their few friend in the commercial sense. why they would conduct an attack in india is

absolutely bizarre. martha: that is very interesting point but you also mention the sanctions. some feel there is sort of desperation that is rising up as a result of some of these sanctions causing iran to lash out in this way and do attacks that are in some ways of a different nature than we've seen before from them. >> i don't see that at all honestly. about 10 days ago the director of national intelligence, the obama administration director of national intelligence, testified to the senate that all the existing sanctions so far have had no impact on iran's nuclear program. i think what this is, is perhaps one part of the iranian government not talking to another part because india, turkey, china, have all demonstrated they're not going to comply with the new oil sanctions so that the, by basically conducting this sort of operation on indian soil they're thumbing their nose at a government that has provided them with a lifeline. martha: you say they feel

emboyer withed because the sanctions have not impacted them as you say? they have got russia and china not willing to take a part in larger u.n. sanctions that might put the squeeze on them? >> right. let's remember that ahmadinejad said on sunday they will announce sometime this week new developments on their nuclear program perhaps as early as tomorrow. we don't know what it will be maybe repeating for example, the deeply buried fordo uranium facility starting to operate but they're clearly chugging along. martha: you heard senator mccain go after president obama when it comes to leadership over iran. do you see this issue coming to a head between now and the election time? >> there is a chance of it. the obama poll at this clearly failed. if nothing changes, iran will get nuclear weapons as secretary panetta said within a year. the issue is whether israel seeing all the developments will take preemptive action.

i don't know now but we'll see. martha: thank you. >> thank you. gregg: a stunning role on the payroll tax issue. which side decided to blink and give in on the fight? martha: he says that she drowned but police say gabe watson cut his newlywed's oxygen line during a scuba trip on her honeymoon. the trial is getting underway. >> we believe gabe watson murdered our daughter. we'll continue to believe that. this is not justice and this is not over. [ 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. martha: a bold challenge for democrats and for the white house with a tax hike for 160 million americans hanging in the balance. the 2% payroll tax cut expires at the end of this month. here we go again, right, folks? republicans are set to give in on this issue saying they'll agree to extend it without paying for it without paying for

it. they are giving in, apparently. that's how we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gr aerbgs gg garrett. they say just tack on the hundred billion dollar tab to the nation's death. mike emanuel is live with the latest. what is the latest from the republican side? >> reporter: well, it's interesting because we have negotiations going on at this very moment, talking about figuring out how to extend the payroll tax holiday, now to extend long-term unemployment benefits and also the medicare reimbursement. there seems to be significant disagreements about the unemployment benefits. the republicans would like to see a maximum of 59 weeks, the president would like to see 79 weeks. senate democrats would like to see a maximum of 93 weeks. republicans are saying pull out

the payroll tax holiday, extend it for the rest of the year. they do not want to risk being blamed this election year for having taxes go up on 160 million citizens. they are going to present it to the rank-and-file tonight. gregg: what are democrats saying about the offer? >> reporter: first of all president obama is going to do an event later this hour, about 10:40 or so. the democrats have been emphasizing keeping these issues together, extending them all together. when asked about this republican offer white house spokesman jay carney emphasized the importance of doing them together. >> we need to extend the payroll tax cut to 160 million americans, as well as unemployment insurance, and the doc fix, the sgr, because they are the right things to do for the economy. >> reporter: we'll hear the latest from the president later this hour. democratic sources expect this to go on another day or so and

they will figure out a way forward from here. gregg: mike emanuel, than that you. martha: a little background on the payroll tax cut. it was first enacted back in 2010. last year the annual social security was lowered by about $900 for a worker who had earned the national average sal srao salary of $45,000. without the extension 160 million americans would see their taxes go up, the average would be by that $900 amount. it would be a lot of money and republicans are buckling on this one, so to speak. gregg: a couple of important questions. can the government really afford to extend it without paying for it? can we afford to let it expire? congressman scott garrett is a new jersey republican, he joins us right ahead here on "america's newsroom." martha: fox news alert defense secretary leon panetta is receiving right now before the

senate armed services committee defending military cuts in the president's massive budget plan. lawmakers are grilling him saying the cuts leave the country vulnerable. jennifer griffin joins me live from the pentagon coverage. what are the cuts we are talking about here jennifer. >> reporter: defense secretary leon panetta just started speaking before the committee. he is trying to reassure the nation as many of these defense cuts have trickled out, and we reported on them in the last few weeks and months, and what is interesting to me is that he is trying to reassure the active duty force, he's saying that there will be no cuts to the benefits of those who are on active duty, or their families, that their raises will continue. they will continue to get a 1.7% raise. that is pushing back on where they were hinting in the past that there could be some cuts.

but it seems that those are going to fall mostly on the retirees of working age. he's defending essentially a cut from anywhere between 1 to 6%. the defense budget is falling by that much. in terms of the specifics of the cuts the army will go down to 490,000 as we've reported before. the marine corps will go down by 182,000. the air force will take a hit in terms of some of its fleet. they will be retiring 27c5a's. refiring the oldest of 6130 planes and divesting all of the 30627s. he's making a strong point that the u.s. military will be able to fight two wars at once. you remember when they first brought the defense budget automatic, they were saying for the first time since the end of the cold war they won't be able to fight two wars at once. martha: this seems to be the one area where we are really

specific about what is being cut i from the overall budget. thank you very much. gregg: egypt releasing two foreigners arrested over the weekend for allegedly bribing people to strike. an american student and australian journalist. they say they are under investigation and cannot leave the country and also barred, leaving sam lahood's soon, ray lahood, he is charged with spending money from organizations that were operating in egypt without a license. martha: a website of a u.s. o country that makes teargas has been hacked by the group known as anonymous. it's a huge organization operating around the country. it's reportedly been used in egypt. they've stolen personal information belonged to clients and employees of the pennsylvania-based firm. gregg: new fears of a complete crackdown in syria.

government forces now attacking several rebel strongholds surrounding the capitol. our sister station sky news is on the ground inside syria. this is the most recent worth from alex crawford where people face constant danger from government snipers. >> reporter: the rebel forces are the heros, they are the people's militia, patrolling the streets with a highly visible defense. even so many are instinctively nervous showing their faces. the battle to overthrow bashar al-assad army is still happening. they have the backing of the residents. it means they can show themselves in daylight and in some numbers. gregg: millions of syrians now

with very little fuel and school. wadi natroun is streaming live in nearby beirutdominique d-natali is streaming live. what is the latest. >> reporter: a rocket attack every 16 minutes is what is happening today in hom, the heaviest shelling in five days on the city itself. residents talking about being desperately in need of food supplies. they can't leave their houses, it's that dangerous. some haven't eat even in days. a very cold winter makes conditions grimmer every day. we are hearing from defective officers from the syrian army, saying they are using chemical weapons p weapons in hom and they will use it in the rest of the country. syrians are waiting for some intervention. so far the efforts have been useless. gregg: is there a sense there of how soon something might happen

to help? >> reporter: well, hillary clinton, the secretary of state was meeting with the turkish counterpart and she says there are immense challenges getting anyone to do anything. china and russia are resistant to any humanitarian aid. they don't want to be seen supporting a public uprising in a foreign country when there is so much decent in their own home countries that could topple the governments there. the solutions that are coming forward really don't have much strength to them. a new resolution will be put to the united nations general assembly as early as wednesday or thursday. of course in a general assembly vote there are no vetos as there are in security council so russia and china can't put their foot down on here. general assembly votes are not legally binding, which means nobody has to sign up for them and that could limit the amount of effectiveness that any intervention is that comes. gregg: wadi natrou dominique

d-natali in nearby lebanon. thanks. martha: fox news alert. information about ada whitney houston's funeral will be held this saturday at the church where she first made her name. the new hope baptist church in new jersey where she first sang as a little girl. on the left hand side of your screen is the golden hearse that delivered her body back to new jersey late last night. more details on that when we get them. gregg: he says he's down but far from out. >> i think i'm clearly miss boulder than either santorum or romney. my ideas are much clearer and much more specific, and i have to focus on communicating those ideas. gregg: newt gingrich says he's still in it to win it. in truth how long can he go without another state win under

his belt? we'll have governor mark sanford. martha: president obama's green initiative riddled with problems in the last three years . why is he doubling down on that in his new budget proposal. darrell issa will join us to discuss that. gregg: his wife found dead on a scuba diving trip today. her husband in a court in alabama facing murder charges. t. it's cash back everywhere, evertime. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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gregg: the murder trial of the so-called honeymoon killer is now underway in alabama. prosecutors claim gabe watson drowned his wife during their honeymoon in australia hoping to collect on a life insurance policy. he's already served 18 months in an australian prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. if found guilty in bam rer cou alabama he could get life without parole.

we have a prosecutor joining us now. is the best evidence the photograph where we see his wife lying on the floor bed, and he's fleeing her and another driver is going to her rescue? >> yes, it's chilling. it's a chilling photo to look at. his body language on that just doesn't look like he's concerned or trying to go help. it doesn't look like he's frantic. i mean that is absolutely devastating evidence for the defense. gregg: his explanation is well she panicked and she knocked off his mask. you could see his mask is on. and it's a very out routine thing you do when you get water in your mask or it's jarred off you simply tip your head back and blow through your nose and that is what is known as clearing the mask. he's an incredibly experienced driver. that is second nature to him. on that basis does this is story seem suspect? >> it certainly does. the only thing the defense can hope for is to get people that

don't know anything about diving, who are willing to buy into the fact that perhaps he panicked, she panicked, and this was just a big mistake, and people drown all the time with diving. but certainly if they look at the facts involved here he was rescue certified. he wasn't even just dive certified. he was certified to do rescues an had done a rescue before. that photograph certainly doesn't look like he was trying to do any kind of a rescue there. gregg: during the proceedings in australia, according to authorities down there he gave 16 different accounts of what happened that day, and i believe they are prepared to put on i think it was either the dive master, or dive instructor who was actually on board the boat, but a distance away to say that when he got on board the boat after all of this was happening, his story made no sense. >> well and they certainly will i am sure try to bring that guy in. the issue will be subpoena power, and if these people are willingo come to the united states to testify. assuming they can get them here

that is going to be also devastating testimony to the defense. i mean -- people are going to want to know, the jury is going to want to know what was his reaction when he came on board? did he look like he was concerned? did he look like he was frantic? was he saying right away, my wife, my wife, i need to go help her. most people would be trying even if they didn't have dive equipment they'd want to jump off the boat to save their wife. gregg: my plea dueser says the picture there is not dave watson, it's another driver going to the rescue. look, the theory of this case is that he used all of his advanced credentials to convince the dive master and instructor that we can go on an unauthorized dive in a remote location without the rest of the group, they agreed. and then while he's isolated he holds her down and turned off her air. she goes unconscious, then he turns it back on because when she is brought to the surface there is a full air tank and her

regulator breathing device is perfectly functions. that is a lot to do in a short period of time, isn't it? >> it is, but if he's as experienced as they say that he is, i assume he would know how to do that. if you rescue somebody you have to know quickly how to adjust the air on someone and use the equipment in a quick, easy fashion. i assume he knew how to do that. gregg: originally prosecutors in alabama had two charges, one of them was murder and the other involved kidnapping. on the eve of the trial they dismissed kidnapping. that would have been overreaching. she went willingly to australia on a honeymoon. >> they are trying to streamline the case. if you make it easy for the jury, make it simple, here are the facts, here is what we're looking to do, this comes straight out of the facts, this is a very direct case and it makes it easier for the jury rather than confusing them with other issues that make it more murky as to whether they should

convict or not. gregg: the motive was life insurance he never got. but prosecutors will argue that he thought he was going to get it. >> that is the motive. gregg: thank you. martha: he was riding high on the top of the polls not too long ago. newt gingrich is in the back of the pack for the time being. how long can he stay in the race is one of the questions here? he says he's not getting out. gregg: smokers could soon be paying extra for their medicaid. is that fair?

gregg: 21 minutes past the hour. new jersey state senate passing a bill to recognize same-sex marriage, the first time new

jersey lawmakers have endorsed that idea. but governor chris christie has already promised to veto it. americans are stepping up spending, new numbers showing retail sales rebounded following a slow holiday season. notwithstanding consumer spending less on the big-ticket items. a new warning over air pollution, doctors say those exposed to poor air quality are at greater risk of developing a stroke or losing their memory. they suggest staying indoors during days of high levels of air pollution. martha: not so easy to do, right? speaking of pollution, smokers soon may have to start paying more for their healthcare. proposed legislation in utah could force tobacco users who are also on medicaid to pay a higher copayment. some companies are already doing this. they charge employees who smoke more -- they don't smoke more, they charge those who smoke more for health insurance. let's go to alicia ac u.n. a who is live with more on this. it's surprising who is proposing

this proposal. >> reporter: that's right the american lung association says there are better ways to get people to quit, but a utah lawmaker disagrees. utah state representative republican paul ray wants smokers on medicaid to pay a co-pay and has introduced a bill to require it. >> we are not going to give you free healthcare and let you smoke. >> reporter: he figures those willing to pay 7 bucks for a pack of smokes. >> $2 or 3 tkhr-rz for a co-pay is nothing. >> reporter: the charge goes away if the recipient enters a smoking cessation program. ray says part of the goal is tax savings. in utah smoking related illnesses cost medicaid $104 million in 2009. >> i'm tired of taxpayers footing the bill for people who are making bad health choices. >> it shouldn't affect us. >> reporter: will that stop you from smoking? >> absolutely not.

no. >> reporter: the american lung association agrees it won't help smokers quit but says it might keep them out of the doctors' offices. >> we think there will be more hrt attacks, more lung disease problems and that will end up costing more in the long run. >> reporter: ray doesn't buy it. he's had four open heart surgeries due to a defect from his mother's smoking during pregnancy. >> it's got to start somewhere. >> reporter: the federal government funds a majority of medicaid. if utah lawmakers back his bill they must seek a waiver to charge a co-pay. if successful representative ray says his next target could be the obese who he says should have to pay more for an unhealthy lifestyle. martha: thank you so much. gregg: republicans giving up their faith against the extense of a payroll tax cut saying the ko*gs of los cost of loss revenue, $1 billion should be tacked onto the national debt.

can the government afford that? we'll ask one of the top players in the house budget committee. martha: an outpost on the moon? newt gingrich got a lot of heat for proposing this. now nasa, they've got a plan of their own, when we come back. ♪ by the light of the silvery moon i want to spoon ... ♪ ♪ as you can see, i'm in a tricky situation here.

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gregg: fox news alert president obama set to make a new push for extending payroll tax cuts. looking live at the white house less than ten minutes away from the president's remarks there, as he's expected to call on congress to extend the tax cut for 160 million americans. this after republicans challenged democrats in the white house to let them expire proposing an extension without paying it by tacking the price tag onto the $15 trillion national debt. we are joined by the vice chairman of the house budget committee. always great to have you on valentine's day you were here last valentine's day. >> good to be back with you. gregg: you were against this in december, right. >> i was against this this past december and in 2010 when it was the last action under speaker pelosi's gavel. gregg: are you going to be against this now? >> i'll listen to see what leadership has to say about this when we get back to d.c. later

today. this was a problem that was handed to us by speaker pelosi in the last term. this is an issue a month ago the president said was his number one pry port, to get the payroll tax done and for an entire near. now i hear in the news and out of the white house, no-no no we have to couple it with this. this. and this. this puts to rest any assertions that this president is legitimate about trying to resolve it. it's really about the politics with him right now. gregg: they are saying now forget the offset, we'll just tack it onto the debt. why would they change? >> i mean, here -- the thing about it you have two examples of it. you have this example where republicans are saying we will compromise with the white house on this one. same thing on the super committee. they said we will compromise on the issue of tax revenue increases. and both side we sort of compromised with the administration and they backed off and said we are not going to cut the deal. it really shows that the president talks about trying to reach out to the other side of

the aisle but when push comes to shove it's all about politics. gregg: the presidents and democrats were with actually hammering you republicans saying that you're against middle class tax cuts because you were so adamant without an offset you were going to allow this to expire. haven't you removed that political football, very damaging to the g.o.p. by relenting? >> i think it may hurt the g.o.p. with some sort of arguments going forward and saying how much we will add to the debt, this will add about $100 billion to the debt. we come out in a strong position on the ground saying we are willing to compromise. we certainly at end of the day on the budget side say we are far he well positioned than where the president is, what he came out with yesterday where they want to add $4.5 trillion, $11 trillion on top of it. we are better off on those grounds. gregg: you're not the loan ranger in these tax cuts going

on. democrats will have to join with a lot of republicans to get this passed. do you think there are enough dems that will do it? >> if this comes into the house with the position as the speaker talks about i think they will have probably enough republicans to go and get this done. we'll see whether the democrats join on. gregg: nancy pelosi is suggesting a stand alone here on the extension of the payroll tax cuts have to be bundled. she won't allow a stand alone. >> there you go, proves the point that democrats are not committed to getting their number one priority done. they want to bring in other things. we're saying let's give it a try. i think it will possible probably the house if it's done, it will go to the senate where all bills go to die, it will go to the senate where they can't even get a budget done. gregg: what about jobless benefits and the doc fixes as well? what about jobless benefits? there is a movement to tie some policy changes to that mandatory drug testing? >> all those things are good, but at the end of the day what the public doesn't want is more

jobless benefits, it's more jobs. everything out of the white house has not been job creation. there is nothing out of the senate. they want washington to talk about job creation, not just be on the dole forever. gregg: would you expect another 97-0 vote on the president's proposed bulge stphet. >> exactly bulge. gregg: bulge. >> the president is not in touch with his own party, he's in the in touch with the senate. gregg: great to see you on valentine's day. martha: thank you to scott garrett. there are some new possibilities for even deeper space exploration. nasa is now working on a new space outpost which would be near the far side of the moon. this is what that proposed capsule would look like. if proven successful it would allow humans to travel farther into space than ever before.

tom jones joins me, he's a fox news contributor, and the author of sky walking, an astronaut's memoir. welcome. this is called l2, a little post on the far side of the moon. is it feasible that we could build this and why would we want to? what would it give us. >> l2 is a nice gravitational lee stable point on the far side of the moon. be about 60,000 miles above the su surface. we could assemble spacecraft to go out farther into the solar system. we could get farther around the moon than we did in apollo and land people by 2020. it has a lot of attraction for nasa. jo how would thi martha: how would this be paid for, and do you think it will really happen? >> that's the rub. after the president canceled the

moon return program a couple years back, this appears to be a plan by nasa to try to do something in the next ten years even if they don't get the budgets to go to a nearby astroid or to visit the moon with humans again. it's sort of a back-pocket plan for nasa to do something in the next ten years. i don't think on the current budget track we're headed on, announced yesterday by the president that we'll be able to achieve this. martha: could we get private entities? do you think that would help? >> it will help. nasa is providing on the commercial companies to provide the boost power that will enable the l. 2 plan to take police and seek international cooperation from our space station partners to provide some of the pieces of this outpost. nasa's big new booster rocket, and it's oryan spacecraft would be the way to get to the outpost. martha: the l2 area is referred to as a parking spot, it's a stable gravity area where they

think they could build something like this. there is also talk from this. newt gingrich got heat when he said he wanted to build a moon colony. building it on a rock platform from the moon, maybe you could build it from this piece of equipment. >> if you get to l2 you're 60,000 miles on the far side of the moon. there is a corresponding site on the near side. if you're at these outposts you can move down to the lunar surface. if we change our plans and become more ambitious in space, as i hope we will. you may be able to establish a prospecting base on the moon's surface to extract valuable raw materials like water and metals. the same thing would be true of our science investigations. you could use the orbit aloutpost at l2 and a lunar surface base to discover new things about the moon. martha: you use the word if quite a bit. i love it when you used because astronauts have been using f and

been achieving it for so long. thanks for being here today. we'll see where it goes. >> you bet. ♪ but i can't help falling in love with you. ♪ ♪ martha: that's one of the happy couples celebrating today. gregg: when i say king i'm talking about elvis not gingrich. you know what they say, don't kiss and tell? newt gingrich is spilling the beans about his valentine's days plans with his wife calista. he didn't hold back. >> i really need to know what are you going to do for your beautiful wife tomorrow on valentine's day? >> all i can promise you is i believe she'll be quite happy tomorrow night, and we're going to have a nice little private -- for i think the first time in a while we have a private dinner and just hopefully exchange gifts and, you know, reconnect a

little bit. [laughter] >> but i'm not going -- no more details. [applause] [laughter] gregg: okay. martha: there you go. that's a little more information than we thought we were going to get out of that one, right? we're going to reconnect. good for them. gregg: his comments coming as the campaign is ramping up. calista is high profile. gingrich says she will be a lot more prominent on the campaign trail. martha: maybe that's what they'll be discussing on valentine's day. i'm sure that's what it's all about, right? how about this? remember solyndra? who could forget. there is new fallout following the president's push for more green energy projects. in just a few minutes we'll talk to republican congressman darrell issa about that. gregg: a couple celebrating 70 years of love. their heart warming story straight ahead. martha: they are so cute. >> it was easy, very easy, no

problem, we never had problems, really, no. it was all good years, just love each other. >> well we worked together is what we did. across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon. cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance.

gregg: fox news alert. president obama is set to make a new push for extending the payroll tax cuts. looking live at the white house, less than ten minutes away from the president's remarks there. he's expected to call on congress to extend the tax cut for 160 million americans, set to expire at the end of the month. the republicans finally giving in to democrats, calling for the extension without paying for it, and simply tacking the price tag onto the soaring $15 trillion national debt. we'll go live there when that begins. martha: and president obama stepping up his push for green energy, despite the controversy that has surrounded solyndra and a few other companies over the

course of last year, that of course solyndra is the solar company that went belly-up after they received more than $530 million in federal aid. the white house is calling for even more of this renewable energy funding to more companies as part of the president's 2013 budget request. $27.2billion would be marked for this as part of the department of energy. republican congressman darrell issa is the chairman of the house committee on oversight and government reform. this is very much in his purview as you well know. good to see you this morning, welcome back. >> good to see you. this is not the largest presidential earmark in history, the stimulus was, the tarp was. very clearly after you have a record of failure, repeated failure, after you understand that the president is taking credit for the growth in natural gas, something that has nothing to do with his doe department efforts, if anything they are trying to stop it, and yet he's

trying to double down on what amounts to presidential earmarks. when you look at the way this money has been thrown around for political favoritism, when you look at the reckless disregard for the laws and guidance they were supposed to have on these loans, and certainly when you look at fact that they simply aren't very good businessman it's time for congress to say no to presidential earmarks. martha: it's interesting when you look at solyndra and the problems they had, one of the issues raised by all of that is let's make sure this never happens again. figure out how the money was allocate towed a company that went bankrupt, even though there was a lot of looking into it and it was a company that the bush administration decided not to back and it was reversed during the beginning of the obama administration. what kind of assurances that the american people can have that as the money goes forward it won't be wasted again? >> the first thing is the money is not going forward. it needs to be dead on arrival in the house. we stopped congressional earmarks years ago, and for good

reason. you shouldn't have a member of congress slipping in something for his district. the president gets this pot of money and he and his personal appointees, including secretary chu and their subappointees figure out who to give this to for political favoritism. if there is a meritorious reason to extend money to an entity or category or whatever it hud go through an ordinary process. this should not be a slush fund for the president's re-election, which is clearly what they are today and have to stop being. we've talked about congressional earmarks for years. now let's talk about presidential earmarks, let's talk about the walking around money that this has proven to be. maybe it wasn't intended to be but it clearly needs to be informed and i don't think a penny should be invested until it is reformed. martha: what about secretary chu? i know you made a lot of efforts to get answers from him about this program and how the

different companies were chosen that got money. how is that going? >> we have an agreement for a hearing date. in addition to that we have an agreement for additional discovery. let's understand, secretary chu in addition to being a political employee is a talented scientist, not a skilled business person. that's part of the concern we have is these dollars were effectively business investments that went bad. when you look at the ideology, the politics versus the sound business judgment this was predictable, and it's part of the reason that we want to see the secretary and start talking about how government reorganization can prevent this in the future. martha: you sound confident that that money that was set aside in the budget for these purposes is not going to be used that way. how can you be so sure? >> look, i have no intention on that money being set aside in the president's budget i. think there needs to be real reform. the president gave us a budget that is essentially a hundred billion-plus over his agreement to cut. the dod budget he simply ignored

the promises of cuts so he can blame, quite frankly, republicans for any of the 60 bill wrong dollars cuts that were required to make. the secretary's portion of the budget is greater than the president's estimate, in other words, he's increasing this green slush fund after it failed. objecobviously it has to be no, let's look at it from anew and let's do zero-based accounting. in other words, where could we make good investments that the house, senate and president agree to. right now there is no agreement. martha: congressman darrell issa busy man. thank you for making time for us today. we'll see you soon. gregg: thank you so much. gregg: newt gingrich, once a frontrunner is looking for another jump start and momentum. the polls showing him in third place behind frontrunner rick santorum and mitt romney. how much longer can the gingrich campaign really go on? we'll take a look at that next. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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♪ [singing] i will be there to share forever, love will keep us together. ♪ ♪ gregg: aren't they adorable. they've had seven decades of heart-shaped chocolate and they are celebrating their platinum or 70th wedding anniversary. she is a homemaker, he's an air force veteran from world war ii they married on valentine's day back in 1942 with franklin roosevelt in the white house. >> my best buddy took me for a ride. he said where you going. he said never mind.

we stopped in front of her house. she was always ready. she was on the front little stoop out there, and as soon as i seen her i said, that's for me. [laughter] >> that's for me. and i took her away from my best friend. gregg: oh, wow. the couple has three kids, eight grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren. martha: i love that story. all is fair in love in war when you're at that stage of the game you can steal your girlfriend from your best friend if it's meant to be, and clearly it was. all right. back to politics now for a moment. newt gingrich dismissing calls to drop out of the presidential race. he's saying that he is still in it to win it. he says that he knows what he has to do to get back in the lead, and here is his strategy. listen closely to this. >> because i believe when we went back and analyzed it i do dramatically better when i focus on the nation's problems and i focus on the nation's solutions. i don't do nearly as well when i

focus on my competitors. and so we took the lesson that has worked twice in the last three months. my fundraising has always been difficult because when you're a candidate with bold, new ideas it takes a while. we have 164,000 donors. i think we'll actually be just fine. martha: revelation tph-s there that we'll talk about in a moment. the latest "real clear politics" average shows gingrich in third place at 18% according to that poll. rick santorum in first place, mitt romney in second, and ron paul in fourth place. we are joined now by former south carolina governor mark sanford, he is a fox news contributor. governor, welcome, good to have you here this morning. >> pleasure, thank you. martha: it's very interesting. i just love that you sort of get inside the mind of newt gingrich in that first sound byt earnings that wyte we played. he decided if he goes positive again he may have one more shot at this thing. what say you, governor?

>> well, i would say, you know, newt gingrich is not a guy to be counted out. you need to remember that here is a guy who ran for congress twice, not once, but twice, and then on the third time actually wins. i mean this guy no, sir tenacity. if you look at his plans for the take back of the house, after 40 years of democratic control, the contracts with america. this guy has been through a whole lot of political storms, and so he's never a guy to be counted out. but that having been said, what i'd say is, you know there can only be one anti-romney who is at the top of the heap and right now that is rick santorum. if you look at what is coming here in michigan and arizona, i think if santorum seals the deal in for instance michigan it's game over for gingrich. time will tell but that's where i think this race stands. i think we are at a real pivot place in the race. martha: i was going to ask you about super tuesday.

newt gingrich hails from your neighborhood, georgia. the feeling was he would get strength from that. but santorum seems to have momentum down there as well. who is the southern candidate i guess is my question. >> i think the two things, one is this whole, you know, debacle with the administration and the catholic church, i think it's played to san forum' santorum's strength. the economy, i think it's an illusion. it seems to be improving right now, that gives santorum a little more strength on social issues versus economic issues as to what is at the tip of many people's tongue. gingrich won here in south carolina. there are a limited number of debates. there is a debate on the 22nd. a limited number of nonpaid ways to get your message out and ultimately campaigns are run on money. gingrich has about 2.1 million -- martha: governor, we have to leave it there. we have breaking news. thank you for getting through our technical problems. fascinating point, sir, thank

you so much. gregg: going live to the white house, the president speaking about extending the payroll tax cuts for millions of america. >> it's going to take time to recover all the jobs that were lost when the recession was at its be depths. but the fight is beginning to turn our way over the past two years our businesses have added over 3.7 million new jobs. our manufacturers are hiring more new workers to make more new things here in america than at any time since the 1990s. so our economy is growing stronger. and the last thing we need, the last thing we can afford to do is to go back to the same policies that got us in this mess in the first place. the last thing we need is for washington to stand in the way of america's come back. first and foremost that means washington shouldn't hike taxes on working americans right now. that is the wrong thing to do.

but that's exactly what is going to happen at the end of this month, in a couple of weeks, if congress doesn't do something about it. the payroll tax cut we put in place last year will expire. the typical american family will shell out nearly a thousand dollars more in taxes this year. you'll lose about $40 out of every paycheck if congress does not act. and that can't happen, not now. and it doesn't have to. congress need to extend that tax cut, along with vital insurance life lines for folks who have lost their jobs during this recession. and they need to do it now, without drama, and without delay. no ideological side shows to gum up the works. no self-inflicted wounds, just pass this middle class tax cut, pass the extension of unemployment insurance, do it before it's too late, and i will

sign it right away. [applause] >> now the good news is over the last couple of days we've seen some hopeful signs in congress that they realize that they've got to get this done, and you're starting to hear voices talk about how can we go ahead and make this happen in a timely way on behalf of the american people. that is good news. but as you guys know you can't take anything for granted here in washington. until my signature is actually on it. so we've got to keep on making sure that the american people's voices keep breaking through until this is absolutely, finally, completely done. until you see me sign this thing you've got to keep on speaking up. until you see that photograph of me signing it at my desk -- [laughter] >> -- you know, make sure it's verified, certified, if it's not

on the white house website it hasn't happened, and i'm going to need to make sure that your voices are heard. last december when we had this same fight your voices made all the difference. we asked folks to tell what it was like, what it would be like if they lost $40 out of every one of their paychecks, because we wanted to make sure that people understood this is not just an abstract argument, this is concrete, this makes a difference in the lives of folks all across the country in very important ways. tens of thousands of working americans flooded us with their stories. and some of them are here with me today. and their feedback has been pretty unanimous. allowing this tax cut to expire would make people's lives harder right now, their choices more difficult. it would be $40 less for groceries to feed their kids. it would be $40 less for the medications you fend on. 0 les