>> it's what we do. martha: space cowboy. >> we'll see you back here tomorrow. "happening now" starts right now. jenna: that's why you got to stay with us until the end, for all the coverage, day in, day out! we have this fox news alert. we're keeping a close eye on tornado watches and warnings this hour. there could be more dangerous weather in store. right now three tornado watches are in effect across parts of arkansas, tennessee , kentucky and ohio, this after deadly storms slammed the midwest overnight. at least four people killed in two states, in kansas, illinois and missouri. those states have been hit hard. a tornado also confirmed in harden county, kentucky. this is obviously very widespread. we're going to keep you up to date on it. one of the areas, the music mecca of bran son, missouri -- manson, missouri suffering serious damage and there are reports of injuries as well.

we're going to get a live report out of branson in just a few moments. >> in the meantime, brand new developments in the gop race for the white house. hi everybody, i'm jenna lee. and i've been abandoned by my coanchor, jon scott! >> jon: be back there tomorrow, jenna. i'm in our washington newsroom today, and fallout from the michigan and arizona primaries is the big story after mitt romney racks up two more wins but the rest of the candidates are not giving up. here is how it all shook out last night. romney scoring a big victory in arizona, 47 percent of the vote in the winner take all primary in that western state. santorum, a distant second, with 27 percent. >> jenna: the race is a whole lot closer m in michigan. that obviously grabbed headlines, romney winning his home state by three percentage points over santorum and now all the candidates are gearing up for supertuesday next week, where ten states have con tests and the most delegates

to date will be up for grabs. jon: chris wallace is the anchor of "fox news sunday", we believe he left the cowboy gash at home. >> no, it's in my office, it's ready! when we break it out, it's like our victory cigars. jon: very good. so speaking of victories, can mitt romney claim victory? >> absolutely. it's so interesting. i wondered about that, i mean, if he eked out a victory in his native state of michigan, how wo that be perceived. all you have to do is look at every front page of every paper in america today, you see a triumphant looking picture of mitt and ann romney and it's romney wins double victory. he's the winner. and you know, it was ugly. he won by three points in his home state of michigan, where he grew up, where his father was a three term governor, but wining is a lot better than losing and he has momentum, and it was a very good race and in the

latest polls, santorum is leading in ohio on supertuesday but i think you have to say at this point his momentum has been punctured to some degree and romney has once again regained his status as frontrunner. jon: especially when the factor in the adds numbers where romney won big. some say that it sort of shows the limits of a santorum candidacy, he didn't have a great organization, a huge organization, and didn't have the money, the kind of money available to him to spend that mitt romney had. >> i think, jon, that santorum has a problem, a dilemma now, and that is how does he play from now on. he did well by playing the social conservative card. i don't mean that anything other than genuine. i think he is a true social conservative, but he talked about that a lot and he saw that because he won among values voters, he won among people who felt that moral character was an important issue. i think that was kind of a shorthand for he shared beliefs -- for whom sharing

religious beliefs was specifically important but he did bad an electibility, romney beat him there and beat him on the question of experience and the economy. so now does he go and try and mobilize his base among social conservatives which is an important part of this party, but i think a lot of republican voters may be concerned that somebody who moves that far to the conservative side on those issues may have a problem getting elected in november, and that creates a quandary for santorum as to which way to go. jon: so much was made of the robo calls that the santorum campaign put out there, urging democrats and independents to go vote for rick santorum. i suppose you would be able to pull from the after poll ing some information about how many of these voters actually were democrats or independents, but then again, i'm not necessarily sure those folks would own up to it. >> yeah, 9 percent of the exit polls said, identified themselves as democrats and

santorum won overwhelmingly among them, but last night, the states' cowboy, karl rove said he talked to several top republicans in michigan who felt there was a backlash. and it is interesting that that was in the last 24 hours, and according to the exit polls, people who voted, who made up their minds in the last 24 hours went for romney over santorum, and he thinks that there may have been blow back, people who thought republican -- i'm not comfortable with a republican candidate openly with the robo calls, calling for democrats to come into our primary and decide who our nominee is going to be, so he may have gotten some democrats who may have been there either because they genuinely liked santorum or because they thought he was the weaker candidate, but he also might have had some backlash from some republicans who weren't pleased with that tactic. jon: chris wallace, thank you. you can watch more of chris on "fox news sunday" this weekend, his guest will be rick santorum, sitting down for an exclusive interview. check your local listings

for times. jenna: we'll look forward to that. in the meantime this is our top story today, four people dead after violent storms trigger apparent tornadoes across the midwest, dozens more injured in kansas, missouri and illinois. the disasters, striking overnight, with daylight came house to house searches for survives. you're looking the a the scene in kansas, the governor there declaring a state of emergency after a tornado hit harveyville, damaged areas include trailer park, a major tourist destination, branson, missouri that is known to attract millions of visitors is a year. a building in the theater district sustained damage and we're hearing from people who lived through it. >> i felt like my chest was going to explode, and my ears, 57bd i -- and i thought i'm so scared, what is this, and by then, it was over, and everything was quiet. >> i said i need a hug. they said i got blood all

over me. i just need a hug. i just need to know that everybody is okay. and it's like we don't know. jenna: that was terrifying. on the phone is gary anderson, communications director for the city of branson. we are seeing some of our first images, mr. anderson, of your city today. tell us a bit about what it looks like. >> well, we had a chance to tour around the city a little bit also this morning and we have been up since 1:30, that's when the tornado came through, and overnight, we were answering a lot of phone calls. we haven't -- we hadn't gotten a chance to see it ourselves. it was definitely worse than we expected, a lot of damages to hotels and theaters. as you mentioned, we are a major tourist destination and we are getting set in the spring for the new tourism season, so this will be a bit of a set back, but we're fortunate that no one in branson has been killed by this event so far. our hearts go out to those communities that did lose

people but we're fortunate not to have lost anyone. yuen jen that is fortunate and we're glad you're okay as well. where were you when the tornado was -- they have to make an official announcement about this but where were you when it happened? >> i was just on the bed. we had gotten done with a late city council meeting, so i had two hours of sleep, and then i've been up all night. we're optimistic really about the level of damage. it was not totally -- it's not totally destroyed like some communities. you know, we're a near neighbor to joplin and we were some of the first responders to joplin last year when that disaster happened and it's not that type of -- it's not that level of destruction. certainly, there's specific buildings that were damaged, and some quite severely, but in total, i think we'll be ready to open for the tourism season come the next few months. jenna: we know there's a lot of work ahead and you haven't had a slot of -- a lot of sleep.

we'll check back with you mr. anderson and see how your community is doing. thank you for the time today. >> thank you jenna. jon: there is breaking news on north korea, jenna, as that rogue nation agrees to suspend its nuclear activities and accept a moratorium on nuclear and long range missile tests. secretary of state hillary clinton, calling the move a modest first step in the right direction. the north also expected to let weapons inspectors return to that country. and there's new information on the deadly school shootings in ohio, hundreds taking part to honor the victims of the shooting. three students are dead, are two -- two injured after a student opened fire in a cafeteria monday morning. now they're releasing the chilling 911 calls. >> 911, what's your emergency. >>

>> jon steve centanni is live in chardon, ohio with the latest. >> reporter: jon, the students will not be returning to the high school where tragedy struck monday morning, until later on this weekend, friday. some of the teachers did start arriving, teachers and staff, and we have pictures of that. some of them were in a very somber mood, one teacher hesitating before opening the door to go into the school, as if to gather her strength to carry on. the teachers are back at school, but the memories are still fresh from just the other day. the horrible tragedy that struck this school. people being reminded once again, when the 911 tapes were released. and here's another piece of that: >> everyone is running away. >> where is the student with the gun? >> i don't know. he was in the cafeteria and everyone just started running. >> do you see the shooter? >> no.

>> did you see the gun? >> yeah. >> are you injured? >> new york i'm fine. i currently have a group of students. >> did you see the shooter? are you a student? >> yes. yes, i'm a student. i was right by the shooter when he pulled the gun. >> jon: and we're hearing more details about that monday morning shooting in the cafeteria, t.j. lane appeared in court yesterday, documents from the prosecutor said he arrived on campus and admitted that he let loose with ten rounds from a 22, randomly choosing people he didn't know to shoot, then ran off with police in pursuit. t.j. lane, 17 years old, appeared in court yesterday, and the judge ordered him held for at least the next two weeks because he could be a danger to the community or a danger to himself. he left three victims in the wake of this shooting, danny parmentor, russell king, junior jsh, ddemetrius

hulen. this leaves one boy in the hospital, condition unknown, but last we heard, it was serious. jon: those 911 calls really bring it home, the sadness and the outrage there. thank you. jenna: the housing crisis had a meltdown four years ago and now new developments, what the banks behind it may face. we're live with that story. jon: also, you say you want to see texts your kids are sending? you think you're entitled because you pay the cell phone bills? think again. how one lawmaker is trying to help. jenna: i like to keep my text messages to myself, jon! we'll talk about that for sure. rick santorum seems to be changing his strategy. why he seems to be turning the focus to the women in his life. is it going to work? we're going to go in depth. when i grow up,

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jenna: "happening now", it's being described as a big bull's eye on some of america's biggest banks, the fed putting some of america's largest financial institutions on notice that they may have to pay for their handling of the subprime mortgage mess. this is nearly four years after a tidal wave of defaults led to a meltdown of the stock market, a bailout of wall street. if you're not appropriately depressed by now, take a look at all those factors! liz belt mcdonald is with us. that's quite a list, we talk about the effect of the mortgage market on the economy overall but we also, didn't we just get the news on the big settlement with five big banks when it comes to mortgage fraud? so what exactly is this now? >> that's right, jenna, that was over a robo signing and foreclosure problems, but this new front against the banks has to do with the mortgage bonds that were built on bad loans including

bad subprime loans and basically what we're hearing is from j.p. morgan chase, wells fargo and goldman sachs all have disclosed that now the fdc is looking into these banks, they've used what areo they've issued wells notices, asking more information about whether or not they properly or improperly disclosed the risks for these mortgage bonds, so we've got breaking news on this too, j.p. morgan chase, according to reuters, is saying the sec is weighing actions on two separate mortgage bond probes, one over the due diligence j.p. morgan did on the bonds and also, bonds related to j.p. morgan chase's takeover of bear stearns in 2008. j.p. morgan bought bear stearns for two bucks a share. so the issue is the wells notice is ordinarily the next step to an sec civil lawsuit against these firms. jenna: what does that mean for us as just people that go to banks? if they have to settle further, does that mean higher prices for us, is there any actual effect on the consumer when the fdc

and the banks are trying to figure this out. >> what this means for the regular consumer is whether or not the cost for settling the lawsuits guess passed to consumers in items of higher borrowing costs but i tell you something, we don't know the dollar figures involved just yet. this has been a long going probe by the sec. the fbi is also telling me they are continuing to look into the complex mortgage loans to see if there are violations of criminal law for the fbi and the civil securities laws they're looking into, violations there, so that's the issue here, jenna. we're going to be staying on top of this one. jenna: it's all unraveling and obviously a lot of threads to go through here. thank you for being here today. >> delighted. jon: there were fireworks in d.c. yesterday as the nation's top cop defended himself on capitol hill. and the congressman who asked eric holder tough questions on operation fast & furious is with us. we'll get his reaction to the attorney general's testimony, next.

>> to the extent there's any dismissiveness of this by the department of justice t. fuels the rage and drives the concern. very clearly you weren't following your own polices, that's admitted because guns were being given to folks and they weren't monitored. >> once this was brought to my attention, i stopped it. i stopped it. jon: that was attorney general eric holder answering a question about operation fast & furious on capitol hill, the failed gun trafficking program blamed for allowing guns to get into the hands of mexican drug cartel members. the man who asked holder that question is kevin yoder of kansas. he joins me now. you say your constituents in the kansas city suburbs area

are pretty concerned about this fast & furious thing. >> i think when americans all across the country learn that the united states government was using their tax dollars to walk guns into mexico and give them to drug cartels in some sting operation and then it turned out that those guns came back and led to the heartbreaking tragic death of a border patrol agent, that outraged a lot of americans and they don't really see that this administration and the department of justice is taking responsibility and accountability for what was a failed program. jon: it's interesting the dynamic yesterday, because you're part of the appropriations committee, a very powerful committee in congress. you decide who gets the money in washington, right? >> well, yeah. and as a freshman member of the appropriations committee, i came to washington with the number one priority of cutting spending, and so the dialogue we had yesterday with the together is we want confidence in your leadership, you're not holding your department accountable, you're not taking accountability for what happened in fast & furious, why shouldn't we

come to the department of justice and start making reduction necessary your programs fir as we try to balance the federal budget. jon: because your point is give the money to the people who can manage it the best. >> he's clearly shoney's not capable of managing this department because one of his first defenses to this fast & furious program was that he did not know that it was happening under his watch. that's a real challenge for a lot of us who when he's asking us for in this year's budget $27 billion to fund his programs. jon: but you heard his answer and he was emphatic, pounding his hand on the table saying i stopped it as soon as i learned about it. >> we don't know the veracity of that claim. we have the oversight committee with chairman issa has asked for volumes of information, they're being stonewalled i believe in many of their requests. jon: the internal investigation, the justice department's own inspector general, has 80,000 pages of documents that the inspector general has been given. congressman issa's committee has 6000. >> i think it's 8 percent of

the documents they've requested have actually come in. there's a long way i think to go in this investigation to find out when general holder knew about this program, what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. jon: and you said you think he should resign. >> what we do know is that we expect the attorney general, the highest law in the land, to be accountable for programs and to be responsive to concerns. and the stonewalling of congress, the response that i didn't know anything about t. that just doesn't fly with the american people, and so if he's not going to be responsible enough to run the agency, many of us have said we'd like to see a new attorney general, we'd like to see him resign. >> congressman kevin yoder of kansas, thank you. >> thank you for having me on. jenna: we have a fox news alert, kansas by the way one of the states that was hit by the severe weather overnight. a few other states affected, missouri, kansas an illinois are the main ones and six are dead after this supposed tornado hit harrisburg, illinois. and if you look at that picture, it takes your breath away. a loft damage and search and

rescue teams going in at day break. we expect the figures to change, we hope they don't but that's the initial read, six dead in illinois, one dead in missouri, and more updates as we get them. in the meantime, mitt romney wins big in arizona but the race in his home state of michigan was tight. so did democrats give rick santorum a boost there? we'll take a closer look. >> and a big controversy over a column on the huffington post website, it's titled the jesus eating cult of rick san tore up. provocative indeed. is it satire or something else? juan williams and andrea tantaros give us their analysis in a fair debate, next. eeeeeeeeeeeee!

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lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. jenna: we did share it with you breaking news reports that six people are dead in the severe weather that hit the midwest, specifically in harrisburg, illinois. we have brand new pictures from that area coming in now. not only have there been reports of death and injury but massive power outages in the area. more than 12,000 without power right now. you see the severity of this storm hit overnight, hitting harrisburg illinois moaning other cities in missouri and kansas. as we get new reports we'll bring you updates and follow the severe weather today here on fox news. jon? jon: just awful pictures. rick santorum make as strong showing in michigan even though it was mitt romney's home state. santorum coming in just three percentage points

behind former governor romney. here's a possible reason for the tight race. michigan allows democrats to vote in its republican primary and there was a push to get some of these democrats to vote for santorum. in fact, that was the thrust of robo calls heard around the state over this past week, take a listen. >> on tuesday, join democrats who are going to send a loud message to massachusetts's mitt romney by voting for rick santorum for president. this call is supported by hard-working democratic men and women and paid for by rick santorum for president. jon: chief washington correspondent james rosen live in our d.c. bureau with more. james? >> reporter: i love this game, jon. mitt romney called it a dirty trick, attempted kidnapping of gop primary process. rick santorum suggested rob robocalls romney campaign engineered in michigan were far worse. this was one of the points of contention between the two front-runners in the first season industrial

swing state primary. one month ago senator san diego told voters in minnesota if you want to vote in the republican party, become one. this morning however in interview with fox news's mike tobin in grand rap pitsds, santorum was glad democrats showed up in the polls in michigan. >> we called them reagan democrats. there are conservative issues core value issues and making sure they have the blue-collar jobs that give emit the opportunity to rise in society. on those two issues they connect with me. think think that's why they came out to vote and that is why we were i believe a to win the city of detroit for example in that congressional district. >> reporter: fox news exit polls of the nearly one million voters who turned out in michigan yesterday, 9% identified themselves as democrats. that is slightly more than the perage who voted in the gop primary in 2008 when both parties held nominating contests of that 9% more than half, 53%, voted for rick santorum.

mitt romney as you can see drew about one-third of santorum's total. long-time democratic pollster and fox news contributor pat caddel saw this trend and nothing less than historic. >> for 40 years no incumbent party has attempted to influence the nomination of their opponent. tonight for the first time in polling we can see the evidence that that concerted effort paid off. >> reporter: another famous effort of this kind was launched conservative radio show host rush limbaugh whose operation chaos was to designed to extend the 2008 democratic primary. jon: interesting stuff, james rosen in d.c.. jenna: new reports that rick santorum may be tweaking his campaign strategy ahead of super tuesday and there's a reason for that. it has to do with last night's concession speech after the michigan and arizona primaries. santorum had a message for a crucial voting bloc and that is women.

santorum referencing one of the most important women in his life. take a listen. >> my mom is in a very, well, unusual person for her time. she is someone who did get a college education in the 1930s and was a nurse and got a graduate degree even as a nurse and worked full time and when she married my dad they worked together at the veterans administration. that's where they met right after the war. later on they had me and the rest of the family, my brother and sister and my mom continued to work. jenna: juan williams is a fox news political analyst and outnumbered here in this conversation about women, well andrea tanteros is joining us as well. the "new york daily news" columnist and co-host of "the five" on the fox news channel. juan, we will not gang up on you. >> it will be all right. i'm lucky to be in such esteemed company. jenna: we'll rely on other expertise from you when we talk a little bit about the role of women in this race. andrea we've seen women come out since 1980.

the voting rates of women are well, higher than man. if it is about the economy and jobs and everything else we heard about candidates why talk about women now? >> well a lot of women have been forced back into the workplace because they called the recession the man is. ession. a lot of men lost their jobs. women headed into the workforce in overwhelming numbers. women are the caretakers in their family. they're taking care of their parents and assumed the role i guess the budget watcher of their household. they're managing health care bills and grocery bills. so women are very critical voting bloc and barack obama won women, arguably women elected barack obama to the white house. so they're critical. rick santorum, jenna, lost women last night 43% to 38%. he was 38%, romney got 43%. according to our exit polls. he realizes he has a bit of a many pro. if you look back to new hampshire and to florida, he has lost women by double digits. and i think a reason for that is because the media

has made rick santorum seem anti-woman because of his position on birth control. look rick santorum just tried to say i'm not here talking about religious freedom and that is good for everybody. i would never try to stop a woman from getting birth control. i can't. the supreme court ruled i can't. still the media parented this narrative about him i think is unfair. jenna: juan, have you weigh in a second. what andrea is saying we're awesome. not maybe quite as awesome as rick santorum mentioned. take a listen to this and get your response. >> right. >> the men and women who signed declaration of independence wrote this final phrase, we pledge to each other, we pledge to each other, our lives, our fortune and our sacred honor. jenna: juan, women did not sign the declaration of independence. >> i would guess would take you and andrea, women would know this in his pandering

rick santorum went too far. i thought andrea was on target to the analysis until she got to the thing about the media. you don't have to be left or right to drum up something about rick santorum when i talking about a radical femist agenda destroying the home. he said women in combat will weaken the u.s. military. he suggests he personally is opposed to contraception and even ultrasound for pregnant women because he believes it leads to abortion. that kind of stuff is a turnoff. as andrea said, look at numbers, men split between santorum and romney. the deciding factor in last night's race in michigan, female vote and women decidedly went for romney. this of course is now, i think, as andrea was saying something you can see across all the primaries and caucuses. certainly we've seen it in recent elections. women have become the voters who turn out, reliably and they look for candidates who speak to their issues. we know soccer moms and security moms and kitchen

table moms. and santorum is just turning them off. jenna: the question is, will the president actually maintain the women vote? we did see a as andrea pointed out in 2008, according to exit polls despite having a woman candidate as vice president on gop side the president got the woman's vote last time around. that will be interesting topic we'll talk more about. wayne, andrea, for a second he want to get your reaction to another story also a big story. it has to do with the "huffington post" website and rick santorum. rick santorum is part of this next story as well. rick, give us the background here. >> reporter: sure, jenna. larry doyle former write for hit tv comedy, "the simpsons." you expect his take would try to be funny. critics say he went too far. his piece on the "huffington post" skewering the catholic church and gop candidate rick santorum igniting a ton of controversy. he wrote roman catholics are a part of a flesh-eating

cult and reference to taking holy communian. he worked in so-called jokes about nambla kennedy assassination. doyle he said the piece was satire tire and was not poll guys what he says would be over the top. senator santorum invited this kind of thing when he said religious discussion has to be brought into the public square. this he says like it or not, is exactly that. back to you. jenna: quick reaction from you, you said you know rick santorum invites criticism on himself. i'm going to juan, bring juan back up on the screen as well. is this a case though, juan, out of bounds? is it case of satire? it was on the come dissection of the website. >> it was satire. he worked for "the simpsons." and he writes novels. he is a fiction writer. reaction is because you see if anybody makes fun of mohammed and has like a character of mohammed muslims go crazy, right.

>> they try to kill each other. >> people saying we in america should have heightened sensitivity and why pick on rick santorum? santorum made his catholicism such a large part of his campaign and religion i think it is out there toe be skewered. i'm an american, you know what? it is healthy? part of who we are. jenna: final response, andrea. >> it is not satire. it is sick disgusting piece. i don't find it comical at all. he will not apologize as he said they don't see anything wrong with going after christianity, going after christianity and in the world is last form of discrimination. if they did this about the muslim religion and tried to do a cartoon in denmark people's lives were at stake. there were death threats. there is absolutely a double-standard when it comes to christianity and other religions. jenna: leave it there. viewers can check it out and check it out for themselves. andrea, see you at 5:00 and

juan, always look forward to having you. >> love being with so many women, wow. jon: fox news alert and very sad news out of southern illinois. the new reports that 10 are known dead after a tornado, believed to be a tornado, toward through harrisburg about 5:00 this morning. this is new video just into the fox newsroom. you can see what used to be a neighborhood obliterated there. at least, look at that. that appears to be a shopping center with virtually nothing left. now in some respects the good news is that it happened in the wee hours of the morning, 5:00 a.m. when there would not have been a lot of people out on the streets. the bad news is people weren't awake and able to be alerted by weather radios and that sort of thing. so, again they have already found 10 victims thus far in tornadoes that hit just about five hours ago in southern illinois. it is possible maybe even

likely that the death toll will continue to rise from there. we have this new video into the fox newsroom just now. we'll continue to watch it. as we get more information we'll bring it to you. well, with cyberbullying and fears of sexing on the rise, parents might want to see what their kids are sending out in terms of those texts. right now mom and dad will have to jump through a lot of hoops for that even if they're paying for the cell phone bill. that could be about to change. good idea or bad? we've got details for you next.

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and most importantly, its lobster. it's the tastiest, the sweetest, the freshest. nobody can ever get enough [ male announcer ] it's lobsterfest at red lobster, the one time of year you can savor 12 exciting lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new maine lobster and shrimp trio. [ laura ] hot, right out of the shell. i love lobster. i'm laura mclennanfrom spru, and i sea food differently jenna: happying now, -- "happening now", an arizona lawmaker wants parents to see what their kids are tex tinge. unless you grab the phone or get a court order most you find from the phone number is the number they're texting or texting them.

sponsoring the bill arizona rich crandall who we note is proud father of seven. as a politician and father, senator, why do you think this bill is important? >> well for the last two years in the senate education committee i chair we've been talking about bullying, specifically cyberbullying. what thing we're finding there is very difficult area to legislate around. there are some rules and bullying takes on so many different forms. my wife was with one of my daughters to verizon store, mentioned to clerk if i want to see my daughter's text. no problem you bring us a court order. that night we're talking about it, doesn't seem right that the federal government tells us we have to have a court order to see our children's text. jenna: how old is she, that daughter in particular? >> that daughter happened to be 17. i have several down to twins eight years old. jenna: i have a hunch, dad you probably pay the phone bill? >> exactly. jenna: for most of them which begs a broader question we'll talk about that the legal ramifications of this.

not everyone is on board especially in your state you have also another republican, state senator who says why don't you take a flashlight and go in the closest and read the text. this is not where we need government involved. how do you respond to that criticism? >> you know what? so critical as a parent today you know what is going on. i got a letter yesterday from a mother in virginia talking about her daughter being bullied she was 12. she was so afraid to come to her, took two months before she did. when the mother was finally able to figure out what was going on it was very critical. jenna: i can see the seriousness of the situation as well. state senator rich crandall. thanks so much for joining us. your story definitely caught our eye. we'll follow up with you. thank you, sir. >> thank you. jenna: the legal implication has broader questions. attorney joey jackson is with us. joey, if i pay the phone bill does that give me access to everybody's text message? if i pay your phone bill, joey does that mean i get to read your text messages but i don't get to read mine? >> you are welcome to read

them anytime. proponents will say proper to monitor what your kids need to do. opponents say about communication. the that is political issue. the bill will pass through the state senate or won't. legal ramifications as follows. talking about something like a national and indeed international entity which is wireless communication gets into federal law. whenever there is conflict there's a problem. let's be clear about this. there is no question you have states regulating but what they regulate when it comes to phone, they regulate the manner which the phone is used. you can't text and drive. you can't speak on handheld and drive. when it comes to legislating access to information and mandating dictating what a service provider can do it's a problem. under federal law, jenna --. jenna: wait a minute, joey. our viewers have this question, why as a parent, do i if i own the phone and pay the bill, not have access to what happens on that phone? especially when it is a minor in my household? >> well, here's the problem. the problem is the law,

under federal law says you need authority from the service provider, right? the content originate tore. jenna: right. >> has to provide you with authority to get the information. if the content originator is not you, then it is problematic. so while there may be merits to what you're saying of course, there a lot of merits to what the state senator is saying the issue becomes whether a state can do this or whether it needs to be mandated more broadly by federal law. even if this bill passes the service providers will say, wait a second, you know what? i will honor the bill but get me consent form from your child. jenna: it is extra pay service that the state senator is suggesting. you pay extra for the service. the phone company says listen that is lot of work. we're not sure we can do it. i'm hearing a lot of our viewers on twitter, say my roof, my rules. getting that a lot. >> not only about this issue, right? jenna: that's for sure. joey, thank you very much. an interesting story. we'll continue to follow it. jon, as joey mentioned it

might have national ramifications. jon: i will be asking my kids about that one, jenna. jenna: i'm sure. jon: this fox news alert now. we just are getting in some horrific pictures from southern illinois. this is the town of harrisburg, illinois, where a line of severe thunderstorms, possibly including, likely including tornadoes, rolled through about 5:00 this morning. 10 people are known dead now in harrisburg, that according to the emergency management officials who have just gotten that updated count. the governor's office in missouri says three people died there. the resort town of branson, missouri hit hard by this line of storms that swept across the ohio river valley. at any rate, you can see some of the damage there we are continuing to stay on top of the story. we'll be back with more coverage. janice dean is up next. ♪ [ male announcer ] we didn't have to make safety features

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jon: a very strong and dangerous line of thunderstorms has torn through small towns like harrisburg, illinois, this morning. at least 10 people are dead there. three dead in missouri and the death toll could continue to rise. a string of apparent tornadoes touched down across illinois, missouri and kansas. again 10 killed in southern illinois and three dead in missouri. the count go up. meteorologist janice dean is in the fox extreme weather center. some new information because this storm system is still on the move, huh, janice? >> we'll see tornado watches in effect across much the ohio river valley and northeast. 13 dead and death toll has risen. in and around the harrisburg

area, 300 homes have been damaged, that is according to emergency officials on the ground assessing the damage. and numerous office buildings also in that, in that structural damage. so unfortunately, as the sun comes up we're going to continue to see this damage. a lot of folks saying this is very like, what we saw in joplin, missouri. we don't quite know the extent of how long these storms were but certainly we will bring you the very latest as it cops in. more importantly want to show you several watches for state of kentucky. until 1:00 p.m. local time and several tornados warnings. doppler radar indicating strong rotation south of elizabeth town and lebanon. if you live in these areas you need to take shelter immediately and listen to your local weather officials a severe weather threat will continue throughout the afternoon and evening hours. that red shaded area

including memphis and nashville you're in the moderate risk where we think the more concentrated risk will be throughout the afternoon. as we head toward the evening hours where things get dangerous as people are sleeping maybe not listening to the weather radios we could see more tornadoes. quickly on the cold side of storm, blizzard warnings for upper plains and midwest. you see shaded in red, obviously a very dangerous situation. again on friday, jon scott, we could see the potential for more damaging storms including tornados, possibly even a greater risk than we've seen overnight last night. back to you. jon: wow those are just awful pictures from other than sill know the well have more on it after the break. as janice said this storm is still on the move. if you're in line of it, pay very close attention. we'll be right back. ♪

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just take that in. it's unbelievable. severe weather is moving across the united states. a violent storm is battering the midwest, including several twisters causing at least 13 deaths we know of right now. dozens of injures, and devastating damage. an apparent tornado, we don't have a read on it yet, ripping through branson, missouri around 1:00am in the morning. a popular tourist destination was hit hard. we spoke to city officials, at least there in branson no reports of deaths as of yet. the storms killing at least three people across the state overall. one person was killed and 13 injured at a mobile home park where cars are flipped over and homes completely flatted. in kansas an apparent tornado there tearing across harveyville. one person was critically injured and a number of homes and a church were damaged. trees and power lines are down. there are some images from kansas. other areas saw hail the size of

golf balls. back to illinois, we are getting word at least ten people were killed early in morning in that storm that swept through the southern part of the state. the severe weather hitting around 5:00am. again when so many of us are sleeping, and causing a lot of wide-spread damage. a big question about how much warning some of these folks had. after hitting the midwest the weather system is moving into kentucky and tennessee. janice dean keeps us updated on what is happening there. we're keeping a close eye on the weather. we'll keep you updated as we get new information. >> reporter: we have a lot of new stuff coming up in the next 50 minutes. you'll only see the stories object "happening now," including this one, a terrible accident last night, mobile, alabama a coast guard rescue crew on a practice mission, one is dead, three are missing. the very latest. the trial of the college roommate who is accused of using a web cam to spy on his roommate. that trial continues, a surprise witness later today. we'll tell you who it is. take a look down here, president

obama's defense budget, and what it asks of our nation's military. is it fair? we'll have a fair & balanced debate. the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: a lot of news to get to today. we're going to start off with politics. the night belonged to mitt romney winning both primaries in arizona and michigan. we are glad you're with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee, welcome to the second hour of "happening now." jon: i'm jon scott. the former massachusetts governor beating out rival rick santorum last night solidifying his claim as frontrunner in the race for the republican nomination. what are the real changes of either candidate beating president obama in november? charlie hurt a columnist with the washington times is joining us live. there has been a lot of gloom among republicans and conservatives who say that president obama's poll numbers are rising, the republicans are tearing each other apart and they are not likely to win the white house back in november.

>> it's completely understandable that after this long, drawn out dogfight where, you know, you've had the frontrunner, mitt romney, who everybody has thought should have wrapped it up by now, he keeps getting pulled down by these other candidates who pop up and sort of drift away as people get to know him better. if you step back and look at the much larger picture i think that once this gets behind us, and last night mitt romney did a lot to put it behind us, i think that republicans are in a much better position than i think they realize. unemployment is above 8%, it's even much high err i higher if you include the people who have given up looking for work. when you add that and some of the unpopular policies, like obama care and things like that you're looking -- if republicans can make the race a referendum on president obama i think that they are in much better shape than they feel right now, because basically what they are feeling right now is this angst

overall the intramural fighting. jon: the the gallop approval poll asked people what they think the president is doing. 43% approve, 53% disapprove of the job mr. obama is doing. but the numbers have been getting closer. in other words, his approval rating is on the rise. >> and all the economic indicators suggest that everything is moving in the right direction, and of course it can't be said enough that the entire election will be determined on the economy. you know, if he really does manage to turn the economy around he'll do very well. but he's got a long way to go. the other thing to remember is, you can't ever forget about the thing about polls, as you know, jon, the thing about polls, if you go back to 1980 when you had jimmy carter against ronald reagan up until the very last days pollsters said it was too close to call. it was a blowout and we look district attorney at that now and scratch our heads and say how would anything think that

was too much to call. jon: you had a line in your column. you said president obama is doing all he can to serve out jimmy cart tear's second term. >> i've long believed that maybe they were twins separat separated at birth and obama is carrying out his second term. jon: charlie hurt from the washington times. thank you. jenna: another name we have to talk about is newt gingrich. newt gingrich is focusing on georgia. he says every candidate should within his home state, so that is what he's looking to do. that is part of the strategy, being in georgia. shannon bream is also their live in atlanta with a look at what is going on there. >> reporter: he mentioned that you've got to win your home state. there is a debate about whether georgia is truly his home state. it is where he launched his congressional career and it could be a huge prize that he needs for next tuesday. it is the biggest delegate count at stake on super tuesday, 76

delegates in total. with that in mind the former speaker has been crisscrossing the state of georgia trying to remind folks of his roots here. he spoke to legislate yourself at the georgia capitol where he continued his focus on energy policy promising to make several bold moves if easy elected president. he said he could get gas back down to $2.50 a gallon. he told supporters at a rally in western georgia he wants to do that by focusing on domestic production. >> it's very important to think about what the iranians have been doing. they have been practicing closing the straits of hormez. the short term answer to that is the u.s. navy. the long term answer to that is to produce so much oil in the united states that we don't care. >> reporter: two gingrich advisers have taken the unusual step of writing a letter to several newspaper publishers asking them to think twice about taking on ads from mitt romney.

these advisers say that the romney ads are filled in their opinion with many falsehoods. here is a part of a letter that they sent out this week. quote, we ask you to protest the candidacy and a campaign without a conscience, a way of politics that if left unchallenged could corrupt our electoral process and democratic system for a generation. gingrich has a very interesting challenge next tuesday in the state where he lives now, which is virginia. you'll remember he's not on the ballot there, only romney and paul are. group supports gingrich have been sending out blast emails asking folks who do support gingrich, but do turnout and vote for ron paul. they their hope is that they will take delegates away from the man likely to win that state, mitt romney. jenna: very interesting. thank you shannon. jon. jon: fox news alert, jenna. there is new reaction from secretary of state hillary clinton to breaking developments out of north korea. the ra sraoepl there ha regime

has agreed to suspend work on its nuclear program and a been on it's long range missile testing. secretary clinton calling it a modest first step. it was over two months that kim jong-il died. his sun replacin son replacing him as said of state. north korea withdrew from negotiations in 2009. jenna: new developments in a war crimes tribunal underway in guantanamo bay. a former maryland resident is pleading guilty to to helping al-qaida plot attacks from his native pakistan. the first of the so-called high value prisoners detained at gitmo for nearly a decade. that's where we find cat ridge herridge streaming live from guantanamo bay. >> reporter: i have just returned from the high security courthouse. in that courtroom i was about

15 yards away from the man who has not been seen since his capture in pakistan in 2003. when he entered the courtroom it was quite an extraordinary scene. there were 11 guards. he was unshackled. and he was wearing civilian clothing. he had on a dark navy suit, a crisp white shirt and gold rimmed glasses. he was very western, very american in his appearance. this morning he pled guilty to all of the charges against him, that include murder, attempted murder, providing material support to a terrorist organization, in this case al-qaida, also conspiracy, and spying. in that open courtroom this morning he admitted that he was part of the successful attacks on the marriott hotel in jakarta, indonesia in 2003. 11 people were killed in that car bombing, more than 50 people were injured and two of the victims were in the courtroom this morning. as part of this plea agreement it's expected that he will testify against a selfdescribed architect of 9/11, khalid sheik

mohammed. they wanted the plea agreement kept sealed because they felt that unsealing it would put a target on the back of his family here in the united states and his relatives overseas. the prosecution team which was led by a department of justice lawyer argued that they would like to see this information released in the public's domain because they said it was in the public interest. a short time ago he was told by the military judge even if he lives up to his end of the deal in this agreement there is no guarantee that he will walk out of guantanamo bay. he responded, quote, i do my time, this agreement does not guarantee me that i will ever be free. i'm making a leap of faith, that is all i can do. so the bottom line today is that we've had one of the high-value detainees held in the cia prisons plead guilty. we expect this individual to testify against khalid sheik

mohammed in the 9/11 case, perhaps one of his coconspirators. this is evidence that the trials are moving ahead here on guantanamo bay. we may expect that the second arraignment as early as may if not earlier, jenna. jenna: thank you so much for that reporting coming out of the court for us. we'll continue to watch catherine herridge and her reports throughout the day today. jon big news there in guantanamo bay. jon: there is a break to tell you about in the case of a missing florida firefighter. police calling it a drug-related murder. now a body, as yet unidentified has been found in the area where investigators were looking. we'll update you. plus, we are awaiting a new search for survivors of a coast guard helicopter crash. the latest on that tragedy coming up. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪

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a search of sur sraoeufrs o survivors of a coast guard helicopter in alabama. it going down in mobile bay last night. rick has more. >> reporter: this was a training session that went horribly wrong. a coast guard rescue team on a practice mission and somehow their helicopter crashed. one crew member was found unconscious. he, we're told was a rescue swimmer and he was taken to the hospital. sadly, though he didn't make it. three others are still missing, the pilot, the copilot and the flight mechanic, all four we're told were wearing survival gear for the water, which was around 60 degrees fahrenheit at the time of the crash last night. the coast guard in the position of having to rescue some of their own, or at least to search for their bodies. divers going to the site of the chopper which was under 13 feet of water, but they were not able to get to the fuselage where they suspect their fallen colleagues may be. as you mentioned, jenna, they

are at it again today. we are waiting for word on their search. as soon as we hear anything we'll keep you posted. back to you. jenna: thank you. jon: new information now in the mystery of a missing florida firefighter. investigators in maine say they've found a body in the area where they were searching for jerry perdomo. police are calling this case a drug-related murder. steve harrigan has more live from miami. steve. >> reporter: jon, at this moment medical examiners are trying to determine if that body, discovered in the main woods is that of the 31-year-old florida firefighter, jerry perdomo. he was reported missing several days ago. police are calling this a homicide. it is related to drugs. the chief suspect is a 24-year-old maine man, daniel porter. he was arrested earlier today and charged with murder. the two men have a violent history between them, several death threats exchanged. there were bits of blood and

jerry perdomo's skull found inside the house where the suspect was arrested. his disappearance reported several days ago drew several firefighters both from florida and maine to help in the search for him when the suspect was arrested some of those florida firefighters were present. >> i'd be relieved if they found somebody. i'll be a little morey hraoefd when we actually know that we have him. >> reporter: in ao digs to being a firefighter here in florida jerry perdomo was also a veteran of the iraq war, a former marine. he was discharged after four years with post-traumatic stress syndrome. he leaves behind a wife in central florida and two young children. jon back to you. jon: steve harrigan, so sad. steve, thank you. jenna: the competent, a tough concern or a top concern for voters as we head into the next election. is the government helping or should the government step aside when it comes to managing the economy? we have the results of a new

rasmussen poll breaking straight ahead. plus an international manhunt for this man who police say killed two women in california. the latest on that just ahead. and we're continuing to watch to new video and new information out of southern illinois and really across a broad swath of the midwest hit by severe weather overnight. we'll have updates for you as they come in. [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony, a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning unequaled inspirio [ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan in a recent comparison test.

trying to keep you updated on all the breaking news out of the midwest. severe severe storms crossing through the area of missouri and kansas and illinois overnight, and we are joined now live on the phone by mayor eric craving harrisburg in illinois where we are just getting to see some of the damage that this storm caused. mayor greg, first of all our

condolances. we have been reporting at least ten dead in your town. how are you holding up? >> it's been a devastating morning in harrisburg, illinois. we've had a horrific event. the loss of life is heartbreaking, the injuries of course are heartbreaking. we've had millions of dollars worth of damages to this small community here in the midwest. it's very difficult. we've got basically an army mobilized to try to make sure that we are having -- that we are accounting for every man, woman and child in this community that dealt with this devastation. you know, it's just a hard morning for us. and we're pulling together. this is an area of the country and a community that pulls together and rallies around each other and we are doing that today. it's a heartbreaking day for us. jenna: we can only relate so much as we're seeing through this video, this helicopter video we're seeing on the screen here that is just showing a broad swath of land affected by this tornado. we don't have a reading on the

tornado yet. mr. mayor, tell us about the warnings. did you get fair warning that this was coming through last night? and what time did it hit? where were you? >> actually, when the sirens went off i think it was around a quarter to 5:00, maybe 4:30, around that period ever time. i remember waking up, waking my family up, immediately i went outside with my sons and we looked -- the sirens were blaring, it was quiet up in the north end of the community where i live at. i just had another sense of fear that there was an impending disaster and unfortunately that is what happened to us. the warning i think, there were several minutes prior to the actual tornado coming through that people were warned and was able to take some cover, but unfortunately at the time of the morning when it did hit most people are still sleeping, they are not listening to the radios or watching televisions. it was a horrible time for anything like this to happen, and it's never good, but this was probably the worst possible

time to have a tornado come through a community. it's heartbreaking for us today, and, you know, we are dealing with it, we are trying to, again, make sure everyone is accountable, do what we can to keep the rest of the community safe. we're concerned about our other areas of town that suffered structural damage. it went through the southern part of our community and wreaked havoc. jenna: mr. mayor, a quick final question, we are actually seeing again new video. we saw someone going through their home. what area of the town was most affected? was it mostly residential, the whole town affected by the storm, can you tell us about that. >> it was primarily residential areas. it did actually though wipe out a shopping center. it went through the walmart parking lot where you've seen the semis turned over. there was a small mall right there beside it that is just leveled, it's gone. there are vehicles in the retention ponds behind it. there was duplexes that basically they were wiped out.

that's where we suffered the worst loss of life in our community, and, again, i was out immediately afterwards, 15 minutes after it came through i was on site with our crews, and with our people, and it was heartbreaking, you know, you don't really -- you hope and pray to god nothing like this ever comes to your community, and as we've seen in other parts of the country they've dealt with this. our hearts went out to them, and we ask them to keep us in our thoughts and prayers and the nation to keep us in our thoughts and prayers as we deal with this tragedy. jenna: i think heartbreaking is not even adequate enough. we will be thinking of you today, sending you our thoughts and prayers and we'll check back in and see how you're doing throughout the day today, thank you, sir. >> thank you so much. jon: right now new information on crime stories we are keeping an eye on. police arrest a california man on the run in mexico. he was wanted in connection with the murders of his 19-year-old

girlfriend and her mother. their bodies found yesterday at an apartment complex in redondo beach. robert henry more money set to be executed today in arizona, despite a spate of last-minute appeals over his mental disability. this death row inmate is accused of killing and dismembering his adoptive mother. a secret witness to testify in the rutgers invasion of privacy trial. dahr u.n. ravi used a camera to spy on his unsuspecting roommate. the roommate was seen kissing a man in the video. jenna: 27% of voters think the government helps, while 50% say government efforts are doing more harm than good. scott rassmussen is president of

rasmussen reports.com. you didn't name which government. it's government overall. its not a democrat government for a republican government. >> that is exactly right. there is a partisan difference. democrats tend towed have a positive view saying government involvement can help. republicans and unaffiliated voters tend to think it hurts. one fact that might surprise a lot of people is when you talk -- when you look at the income break down, upper income americans are evenly divided as to whether government helps or hurts. middle income americans, they are the ones that say it does more harm than good. it is a real problem. jenna, this is part of the disconnect we're seeing this election season. republicans and democrats are trying to find government programs to help the middle dallas anmiddle class and they are skeptical that they will work. jenna: i'm just curious, we are a week away from super tuesday. why did you decide to ask this question now? what were you looking for and why did you think this was the question to ask this week?

>> we ask different questions every single night, and we are preparing now, exploring the underlying issues of the general election campaign. sooner or later, i know it's hard to believe, but the republicans will have a nominee, and we want to begin looking at what things will be there. we know about the healthcare issue, that is a little bit of a problem for the president. in this role of a government in the economy is really significant, because it reflects something that the candidates will be talking about in september and october. jenna: how does this compare to other times, other election cycles that you've asked about the economy? what stands out to you most of all as to what is important to voters this time eye round. >> the biggest difference between this and other election cycles is just how important the economy is. you know, it used to be said that voters always vote their pocketbook, their wallet. now it's true to some degree. in 2004 we had an election primarily about national security matters. when economy times are good it doesn't play as big a role. right now americans are concerned not just about the state of the economy today, but

about, are we ever going to get out of it? has something gone fundamentally wrong in america? they look at housing prices, trillion dollar deficits and there is a growing concern that something has gone fundamentally wrong and that america can't turn it around, and that is what is driving the intensity of this election. jenna: so interesting, deeper ideological, philosophical questions about the role of government and the people. those are big to tackle during any time especially during an election time. scott thank you very much. i always enjoy the first look at your polls and look forward to having you back, thank you. >> thank you, jenna. jon: fox news alert, and it appears some good news in the case of those 19 americans who have been detained in egypt on charges of fomenting revolt there. the travel ban ha has kept sam lahood the son of our u.s. transportation secretary, the travel ban that has kept him and

18 others locked up in egypt is apparently going to be lifted. that will allow prodemocracy activists who have been refused the chance to exit, it will allow them the opportunity to leave. this comes against the backdrop of egypt announcing that new elections for president will be held may 23rd and 24th there. big changes in egypt, and it appears to be good news for sam lahood and the 18 other prodemocracy activist whose have been there effectively locked up under house arrest. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more pcessed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i kn is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

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jenna: fox news alert. more updates on the severe weather that really has crossed through such a broad part of our midwest overnight. chris higgins with our fox affiliate ktvi, in broon son, missouri, one of the areas affected by this storm -- branson. chris, what is going on there today? >> tell you what, amazing story so far this morning, jenna. look at this truck. this truck is one of dozens if not hundreds of trucks in branson that were obliterated by flying debree in the storm. looks just like that. look at those rocks. thousands upon thousands of them went flying through the air off the rooftop of this grocery store. this is the branson mall where the storm hit. it ripped the rooftop off there and took the rocks and threw them all away across

the parking lot. you can see the parking lot is loaded with debris and these rocks. when these rocks were flying it was flying about 150 to 180 miles an hour. you can imagine being hit by one of these. look back over our shoulder. that is the holiday inn. that is the main business district here in branson. this is the country music capital of the midwest. this is their strip, just like the las vegas strip. and hotel and building after building along the strip, the tornado hit every single one of them from west to east down the line. they are all littered with debris very much like this. windows at the hilton blown out. the holiday inn express almost leveled in spots. there is lot of damage down the main strip. there is with all of this damage and all this debris, the amazing thing, jenna, there are no fatalities in branson. this did not turn out like joplin last summer. much more warning ahead of these folks. hit the best time of night, in the middle of the night, when all the folks instead

of walking up and down the strip were in their rooms and hotels sleeping. a lot of folks were in shelter when the storm hit and that save ad awful lot of lives. reporting live in branson, chris higgins, fox news. jenna: thank you, chris. thank you to you and your camera team showing us so much on the ground. a new look for us today. chris higgins, ktti. thank you very much. jon: president obama's defense budget is getting heavy criticism. some fear the proposal is going to have a big impact on military families causing them to pay much more for their health care. it's an issue that we started to explore yesterday. we want to go back to it and take a fair and balanced look today. joining us live republican congressman buck mckeon, chairman of the house armed services committee. with us democratic congressman, adam smith, ranking member of the house armed services committee. congressman mckeon, to you first. the proposal here is that military members and even retired members, people who

have done the their service under the president's budget will see a huge jump in the premiums they pay for tricare, the medical health insurance service for military retires and members? >> that's right, from 345% over the next five years and means testing for military. it is just another hit on military. you know, the military accounts for 20% of our overall budget but 50% of the savings have come out of defense and, these people, that have given so much for us, why are they to be singled out? the other civilian defense employees are not being hit with this same increase. they're not going to be means-tested. jon: why is that? >> i don't know. to me it's a fairness issue. and i don't know why, we just keep trying to solve our financial problems on the back of the military. if we keep doing that, who will have our backs the next

time we get attacked? jon: so some of these troops, for instance, back from afghanistan, who have been out fighting the war, they come back, the pentagon says welcome home, we're going to increase your medical health care premiums 300% or more? >> iraq, afghanistan, and they have been there, some of them many times. jon: and it isn't just those serving now or recent veterans. this also goes to retirees in their 60s and '70s and beyond? >> yeah. it, i don't know all the details. we haven't seen all the details yet. as we go through the process we're just in the hearing process now. we had all of the service chiefs and now we're, having the combatant commanders and then we'll go to subcommittee where we can really delve down into more of the issues. we just got the budget a couple weeks ago. jon: this has to be approved by congress. do you think the mood is there in congress? you told the pentagon they have to, they have to cut

their budget by what, $487 billion over 10 years? >> and the sequestration which would be another 5, 600 billion. jon: that is trillion all together if that happens. >> over a trillion. and i just think it is just asking too much of the defense department. we understand that everything has to be on the table. people spoke loud and clear i think during the last election but, again, to take such a big part of the savings out of defense, those who have, you know, they lay their life on the line for us every day. we have troops over there in afghanistan as we speak that probably go outside the wire today on patrols. they should not have to be thinking about the increase in their health care costs or their retirement or what is going to happen to their families. they should be able to concentrate on their missions. we shouldn't be putting them through this. congressman, buck mckeon, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. >> thank you, jon. jon: let's talk about it wit democratic congressman,

smith. you are quoted saying this is what private business would do when it faces increased cost it would try to cut back someplace? >> i haven't quite said it that way. no question we have a deficit 38% of what we spend. we need to find savings everywhere. i agree with congressman mckeon on two key points. one we have to make sure we take care of our military and their families. and two, it shouldn't just be defense that bears brunt of this i argued we shouldn't just extend all of the bush tax cuts. we should find some revenue so we're not faced with these choices. we have to look at all the spending in the budget. i completely agree with that we need to keep perspective on health care costs. in 1996 the members of military paid 27% of the cost of their health care. right now they pay about 10. at the end of this plan, they would pay before 14%. the real demon hear is the incredible increase in health care costs. i would answer one other issue.

civilian employees, even at the end of this, will pay two and three times more for their health care than the military. right now they pay four and five times more. so the reason that civilians are included in this they're already seeing their health care costs go up. their health care costs are already scheduled to go up. only been in the military that we capped it. there is no increase in premiums. no increase in co-pays. let me be clear, the people who serve in their military deserve a better health care plan than anybody else. and they will have a much better health care plan than anyone else, even at the end of this process. we're talking about for the first time in, gosh, almost 20 years now, having increased in the premiums. over a period of time. again at the end of it they will still be paying vastly less than anybody else which i think is perfectly appropriate. jon: according to the article we first saw on this written by bill gertz, washington free beacon, part, well the administration said to congress, part of what they're trying to do here is to push some of these military employees and

retirees out of the tricare program and into the new, the president's, the president's new health care plan. >> absolutely not true. absolutely not true. we're maintaining tricare. the we want them in tricare. the main benefit of tricare for life implemented sometime in the late '90s, when you turn 65 everybody has medicare, even people in the military will have medicare. but what the people in military will have, they will have tricare paying their medigap insurance to make up for what medicare doesn't pay. we will keep that. this plan absolutely locks in tricare. absolutely locks in the fact that those who serve in the military will pay much, much less for their health care. i think we have to do that i agree with chairman mckeon. we have to protect these people who are serving. we have to protect their families. i think we're doing that. i think we're maintaining health care plan vastly superior to any other available to any other federal employee. in fact available to most, not all other private employees for that matter.

i'm committed to making sure we do that. >> well it has to be approved by congress. we'll keep an eye on this and let our viewers know where this thing goes. democrat adam smith, washington. thank you. >> thank you. jenna: gas prices on the rise. they went up overnight in fact. the president says there is no silver bullet to bring them down. our next guest disagrees and says there is a way out of this mess. we'll talk to senator cornyn on his solutions next. my cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. i'm going to own my own restaurant.

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8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! jenna: some new fallout today over rising gas prices. they did go up overnight jet again and millions of americans feel the pain at the pump. many want to help of course. the president saying last week drilling alone is not the answer. many of his fellow democrats agree with. that take a listen. >> over the long term any change in drilling, for example, would take 20 years, about 20 years to impact the price of oil. and the price of gas. so we can't really do anything in the very short term, which is why we need

to be looking over the short term and long-term using all of the above strategy. let me again point out, under president obama we have more domestic energy production than anytime last eight years. jenna: my next guest disagrees with the timeline there. senator john cornyn is chairman of the national republican senatorial committee. senator, why do you disagree, 20 years is what she says. is that more or less correct? >> that's what they always say tooks too long to get online of the takes a long time if you never start. and what i'm saying is we need a national energy policy that says we'll produce what god gave us here in america first. we still import, 47, 49% of all of our oil supply from unstable regions of the world. and that is one reason why we see these prices spiking because of uncertainty in the middle east. and yet the president seems determined to stop safer, friendly suppliers of oil like canada on the keystone xl pipeline.

so their policies seem intentionally designed to drive up prices. this is an entirely predictable result. jenna: so some might say, listen, you're from the state of texas. you have big oil industry there. when the price of oil and gas goes up texas benefits. as you know when higher energy prices happen a lot of other industry get hurt by that. consumers as well. i'm just curious how do you navigate that, what is seeing what is beneficial from your industry and understanding there is tension what happens with the local consumers as well? >> one of the reason texas has been growing during this economic downturn is because of the energy industry. we know it creates a lot of jobs, creates income, that people can spend to provide for their families and grow the economy. that's the problem wit, washington, d.c. and this white house, they seem determined to undertake policies that will actually drive up the cost of oil and gasoline and because of their hope that we will somehow live a world where

only wind turbines and solar panels are necessary. 85%. our energy needs still come from fossil fuels. better to produce them here at home and this white house seems determined to block that. jenna: that is good reminder as we get other thoughts on that. senator cornyn, nice to have you from texas. mike santoli, associate editor of "barron's" magazine. we brought you in, mike, because you wrote a article how the higher gas prices could potentially or you're exploring this what happens in the stock market what effect would it have in the stock market. >> there is price the stock market would be upended yet. i don't think we're there yet. it would take uptick in price globally -- all the instability in the world we're talking about is growing global economy that actually demand more oil almost every day. so it is no the strictly about traders or the iranian situation driving prices higher. if we got a spike like we did in 2008 went from 100 to $150 a barrel really fast,

that would be a bigger problem. jenna: some of the democrats, senator schumer suggested have saudis increase their out put. that will be quicker way to affect the market. >> yeah. jenna: when you hear something like that on the business side what goes through your head the effect might be? >> the problem it is not unlimited tap over there, right? you have diminishing returns. there is all kinds of talk exactly how much saudi arabia has. the demand side is just going to be there. in the short term, yeah you could have the supply disruptions. we shouldn't wish for steeply lower gas prices very suddenly because that would imply a really nasty economic downturn or recession. we don't really want to see that, right? jenna: no, we don't want to see that now. that is good reminder. you say, we'll get more oil from the saudis and will there and we don't necessarily know that. mike always pleasure to have you on set and we'll be back with more "happening now" [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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jon: it can sound like a cliche but it's true. our children are america's future but if those kid don't get an education the future looks pretty bleak for them and really all of us. a recent study shows in some areas up to one-third of kids drop out before high school graduation. that is the nationwide overall number. 1.3 million kids who dropped out in 2010 are going to cost our nation more than, more than $337 billion in lost wages over their lifetimes. those dropouts need and really deserve a second chance. so enter the national guard. last night i had the honor of hosting a star-studded fund-raiser to support a wonderful program to give deserving kids that second chance. the national guard youth challenge program helps high school dropouts turn their lives around and get back on track. joining me one of the celebrities who has become a spokesman for the national guard youth foundation, wwe

wrestling superstar, kofi kingston. i suppose there could have been a time you could have been one of those kids. you grew up, first born in ghana. >> yeah. jon: grew up in rough neighborhood of is a bush of boss then? >> i wouldn't call it rough by any means. i definitely had my problem just like any other kid growing up, you know what i mean. sometimes you kind of fall off the wagon. what is really great about this program, these kids really, you know they realize that their lives are kind of in this downward spiral. they realize they want to make a change. no one has to be, they don't force you to be in the program. the kid volunteer to actually be in it which is a great thing. jon: i was astounded looking at brochure from the dinner last night, right here in washington, d.c. the graduation rate is 43%. that means 57% of the kids in washington, d.c., the nation's capitol, never even graduate from high school. so, here are a couple of the pictures from the benefit last night.

there's gail davie in the center who got the whole thing together alongwith general mckinley. dale earnhardt, jr., race car driver rides the national guard car for nascar. all these folks pitched in to help the kids who you see in the pictures make something of their lives. >> something we all believe in. the numbers don't lie. think about it, and 75% of the people who graduate from this program end up getting back into high school, getting their high school diploma or their ged. it is amazing. on top of that, i think when the numbers are all said and done makes financial sense too. 166% return of --. jon: right on investment. >> return on investment. jon: invest, brings you back 2.66. >> makes financial sense too. it's a great program and wwe and myself are just very proud to be a part of it. jon: i know you kicked in 10 grand last night. that was very generous. >> we try to do our part.

jon: got to say good-bye. >> thank you. jon: we'll be right back this mio energy is completely crushing my game.

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