three agent who now been forced out on the heels of this very embarrassing prostitution scandal that continues to unfold before our eyes. i'm martha maccallum right here in "america's newsroom". gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. this agency saying one supervisor was allowed to retire. another faces termination and a third agent has resigned. speaker of the house john boehner is urging folks to wait until all the facts are known before passing judgment. >> we need to get to the bottom of it. >> from all the press reports i read, sunday like behavior that was inappropriate and, i again, let's, deal with what the facts are. gregg: new york congressman peter king whose committee oversees the secret service this is all far from over. more heads will roll at the secret service of the he will join us live in just a couple minutes with more.

martha: and the other big scandal out there, there are new calls for the gsa to, quote, clean house, at the upper levels of that organization a whistle-blower hotline has now been put in place. that is triggering a whole new set of investigations into this agency. you have more employees calling in to report other instances of taxpayer abuse beyond the federal agencies known vegas spending scandal you see forever in video here. peter doocy joins me live in washington. peter, tell us about this tip line. >> reporter: martha, the gsa's inspector general yesterday says he doesn't know what they will find from this tip line but it hasn't been pretty. you get a good idea what he means when he compares some of his employees to one of the most notorious gangsters of all time. >> willie sutton was asked why do you rob banks? he said that's where the money is. and part of the problem is, part of the reason there's a lot of crime and fraud, waste and abuse at gsa a lot

of money flows through gsa. >> reporter: during that hearing a clown and a mind reader showed up outside the capital asking the gsa to hire them at their next big conference. inside not as many laughs as lawmakers from the left and right questioned the gsa's relevancy. >> the expression is fool me once, you know, okay but again and again and again? this four scandals? three administrations. >> under both republicans and democrats there has been abuse throughout the gsa over a number of decades. you know, would it not be fair to ask has gsa outlived its usefulness as a federal agency? >> reporter: the gsa has over 12,000 employees. these reforms the senator say they want will impact a lot of people, martha. martha: what does the gsa say about the calls to disband their whole agency based on all this? >> reporter: the acting

administrate basically said that the entire government would start spending irresponsibly. martha: we will see. >> having a single accountable agency that can aggregate the expenses of the government and use the scale of the government to get the best possible price for the government i think that has value today as much as it did back when the hoover commission first proposed it and president truman set up the gsa. >> reporter: the hearings on the hill are all wrapped up for now, martha. martha: raising pretty important questions about how many of these agencies we actually need in place. peter, thank you very much. we'll see you soon. coming up later in the hour we'll look at the new investigations that this gsa tip line is now generating. we'll see how far back all of this goes. we'll speak to a former gsa administrator under president bush and what she thinks what may have happened while they were watching over this. she joins us in a little while. gregg: a fox news alert. one final journey for an american icon.

you're looking at live pictures of dulles international airport two days after it was flown from the kennedy space center in florida, shuttle discovery being towed to its new home at the smithsonian national air and space museum where the oldest of nasa's three remaining space should else will forever be on display to thrill future generations of americans just as it thrilled us at the past three decades. >> at the smithsonian we're in the forever business. if we take something in the collection, we're thinking in 100 years, 500 years we'll have kept it in good shape. gregg: doug mckelway joins us live once again in virginia wigs more. doug, set the scene there? >> reporter: we're in a little bit of a lull, gregg. just an hour ago they spuled the space shuttle enterprise out of the air and space museum and standing behind me now. first time it saw daylight when it was towed into the

museum in 2003. you can't see where i'm standing now, i believe we have video. about 1,000 yards to my left is the space shuttle discovery which arrived couple days ago on the back of a 747 and thrilled washingtonians all over the place when it was at a low altitude t will provide a very fitting backdrop to the official ceremony that gets underway at 11:00 welcoming discovery to the air and space museum. as they pull them up nose to nose two hours from you will notice extreme contrast of the two. enterprise is spiffy and white. it never flew in space. discovery scorched and worn from its 39 missions. that's the way they want it to look when they put it in the museum later today. gregg: looks bruised and battered and worse for wear but what a workhorse she was. doug, shut ills are part of

the past for now. what is the future of manned spaceflight? >> reporter: there is interesting exhibit here. a tent beyond us. we shot video there a little while ago of the next generation of manned spacecraft for nasa. it is the orion spacecraft. it looks similar to the apollo capsule. a little bit bigger, twice as big as that. capable of holding four people. it will be the craft that makes the mission to mars. although i couldn't imagine being inside something that size for the six-month duration of it. but already, this is not a concept. it is a real spacecraft. it is already undergone testing for an aborted launch attempt. two years from now it will undergo testing for reentry. five years from now the actual orion rocket will be taking off. it is not a concept. it is the real thing. there is manned space future to look forward to. gregg: doug, we'll check back with you as the ceremonies get underway. as the symbol of the space program moves to the museum

another nation take as huge step towards missile development. >> five, four, three, two, one. now. gregg: nuclear-armed india saying it successfully test-fired a long-range missile. the weapon allegedly capable of reaching china and carrying an atomic warhead. india hoping to join an eheat club of nations with intercontinental ballistic missiles. martha: this just crossing the wires moments ago. we have troubling news on the job market this morning. there is the number, 386,000 americans walked into unemployment offices to file a request for unemployment benefits for the very first time last week. that is a slight drop. it is nowhere near what economists were expecting though. the downward trend that we saw in the past month seems to be losing some steam. here is a look where we've been since december of 2007. back then we saw a low of 317,000 weekly claims that

is much more in the ballpark where you want to be for generating jobs. they peaked at an ugly number of 659,000. that was in early 2009. you can see the downward trend which is a good sign to see of course to where we are today. you can see the little recent up tick at the very end of that chart which has a lot of folks concerned. put the yellow line across the middle of this chart and you see where a healthy economy is. that is the level you want to be at to start putting real job growth into place here. economists say you need to be consistently before 375. they like 350 and closer to 300 for a nice strong recovery. stuart varney joins me now. anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, what does it tell you? >> it i was a bad number. it is a very disappointing. it paints a make turf real weakness in the employment situation and the overall economic picture. just a few days ago we learned the rate of job

creation was just cut in half. and now we've got these very disappointing numbers where we see an uptrend recently in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits. we're three years into the recovery so to speak. at this point we should be seeing maybe 300,000 people a week claiming unemployment benefits, maybe less. that's where we should be. instead we're at 386,000, the number of claims is rising. not where we want to be. overall martha, it suggests for three years in a row, hopes of a robust recovery are fading all over again. martha: so obviously the white house looks at that bigger trend and says look, we're heading in the right direction. slower than anybody wanted it be but maybe we are in sort of a different situation this time around? >> well look the trend line, as far as you know employment benefits is concerned is not going in the right direction for the white house. the trend line has reversed.

it is now going up. that is not what the white house wants to see. these are very political numbers and they spell bad political news for president obama. martha: stuart, thank you. we'll see you over at the fox business network shortly. start varney, always a -- stuart varney, always a pleasure. gregg: just to give you an idea how bad the job situation is in this country, 22.8 million people are unemployed or underemployed. the average duration of that unemployment, nearly ten months long. 42.5% of jobless americans have been out of work for six months or more. 7.7 employed, million employed just part time for economic reasons. martha: those are a few of the stories we're on top of in "america's newsroom" this morning. charles krauthamer said it would get ugly in the race for the president. remember he said you make sure your plum something working because you will need to regularly shower through this whole thing. mitt romney why he believes

the president is in way over his head. president says he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. great panel coming up. gregg: white house issues a ultimate testimony to the congress. nothing will be signed if paul ryan doesn't change his budget. paul ryan joins us to respond. martha: three employees of the secret service are out of a job as this scandal continues to heat up. we're learning a lot more what happened in the hotel. >> in baseball you get three strikes and you're out. i don't know how many strikes you get in national security. but the strikes are mounting up. they can't control share budget. can't control who gets in the white house. and now they can't control their agent are busing in loads of prostitutes [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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martha: check out this new video we just got into the studio here. it is a dramatic rescue. look at this. frigid waters. two sailors holding on for dear life in lake michigan

clinging to a very small capsized sailboat. it took the coast guard 20 minutes to reach them. they talked the men to a lifeline. diver jumped in. boy, were they happy to see that boat come along. gregg: lucky folks. we're learning new details of what went down inside that colombian hotel that now erupted into an international scandal. one of the escorts in question is reportedly saying she negotiated one price with an agent. then he refused to pay in the morning. well the dispute erupted over how much she should get. police were called. as many as 11 agents and 10 military servicemembers allegedly brought prostitutes back to this hotel while doing advance work before the president's trade summit. our next guest warns the scandal isn't over yet. congressman peter king, chairman of the house homeland security committee. congressman, always good to speak with you. these three individual employees of agency, fired, forced out or resigned, were

they the most culpable? >> they were the ones that director mark sullivan thought the evidence was the clearest on. he has told me from the start when he has, he feels enough evidence and a legal basis to move against employees he will. with these three he certainly felt he had enough evidence already and that's why he moved the way he did. as investigation goes forward and more evidence comes out we can expect to see him move against other agent as well. gregg: will he move against all eight remaining? even if they were complicit in tan genkal way, the standard here, congressman, the protecting the president should be so very high that any of veriment should be enough to merit dismissal? >> again i think we have to see the evidence. i'm inclined to agree with you. as director sullivan has shown he is moving very effectively and he is being very tough. so i will trust his judgment moving forward based on what i have know so far. so we'll see. what they did here could

have put the president at risk. it tarnished the reputation of the secret service and violates the most basic principles and procedures of the secret service. gregg: now you've been praising director sullivan and in fact your words just a moment ago seemed to be doing precisely that. i must tell you this isn't the first incident involving the president's security and safety that's questionable. the infamous gate crashers, salahis, got near the president. crashed into the white house under his stewardship. i spoke with your colleague, congressman randy forbes, very clearly demanded resignation of director sullivan. should sullivan resign? >> no, he should not. take the two things. this particular incident, there are 6,000 secret service employees. we're talking about 11. he is moving effectively and quickly which he did within minutes finding out last thursday what happened. he moved. they had investigations going on over the weekend through yesterday and today. there were agents throughout colombia carrying out the investigation. so on this particular

incident he has done an outstanding job. other than that like saying army chief of staff should be fired because --. gregg: congressman. >> let me go on. salahi, this is important. salahi was fault of the white house. white house social secretary imposed herself on secret service. that was her fault. secret service had procedure of doings thing. new obama administration wanted to change that they were superseding in that case. i was involved in that investigation. gregg: i know you were. you seem to be saying well it is only 11 people. the breadth and depth of this seems to suggest this may be a practice of drinking and carousing and so forth that endemic within the secret service. susan collins, senator, is very concerned about that. aren't you and doesn't maybe this just one reported incident among a myriad of them? >> gregg, the key word there is may. we have no evidence of others. we're looking at that. if it turns out there is culture that is different

story the for instance, should all the chiefs of staff military resign because 10 military people are involved? is that what chairman of joimt chiefs of staff because 10 military? worst thing you can do have a rush to judgement. take the case step by step. director sullivan done everything at each step. if it turns out this was a culture and condoned in the past, that is different story. let's do it step by step and see what happens. >> the agents are being drug tested that could be another aspect of this. congressman peter king as always thanks for taking a moment. >> grooeg, thank you. gregg: martha. martha: we're getting a brand new look at the race of the white house and how it is shaping up. we have new poll numbers that show how exactly tight the race is becoming at this stage of the game. we have brand new numbers coming up. gregg: and she disappeared from her post in fort bragg, north carolina. a person of interest identified in the case of kelli bordeaux who police are questioning and if they're any closer to

finding out what happened to this soldier. >> please return my sister. she's, i have a 3-year-old son and kelly was the sun and moon to him. it is hard to explain anything to my son. he doesn't understand this.

gregg: developing right now in "america's newsroom", the cia reportedly wants to launch drone strikes on terror suspects in yemen even when it doesn't know the identities of those targets. so-called signature strikes have been used by the cia in pakistan for many years. two years after the bp oil spill scientists are now finding sick fish in the gulf of mexico right where the spill hit the hardest but, they can't say for sure if the spill is the cause. thousands of honeybees swarming the front yard in

california. so many on a tree branch, the branch broke. >> they were surprised at the amount of bees that were here. we have had bees but nothing, nothing like this. i will be glad when they're gone. gregg: wow beekeepers saying swarms of honeybees are common after mild winters. my question is, who gets to keep the honey? got to be a lot honey involved. martha: i love how understated she is. we've never quite seen bees like this that actually brought limbs down from trees in our front yard. gregg: that's a lot of bees. martha: we want to bring you this story now. there are some new leads to tell you about this morning in the disappearance of a soldier stationed at fort bragg. police say that new information led them to search a pond near a bar where she was last seen. >> just through some investigative leads that have developed today that's led us from the one area

over to that particular area. those leads are once again, this is active investigation. we will not discuss those investigative leads at this time. martha: so the police now say they're talking to a person of interest, a registered sex offender, who works at that bar that you see pictured there. want to bring in bo dietl, former nypd homicide detective and fox news contributor. good morning. hi. talk to me a little bit. this is 25-year-old bar hand who is registered sex offender who apparently lives in sort of a lean-to way it was described behind the bar and may have given her a ride home. >> you know as far as the information i got here is that he was the last one to know that was seen with her an obviously he become as suspect. now his history as being a sex offender heightens the fact he could be a subject. but again we have not to eliminate anything. there is lot of controversy about the husband. if they were living together, not living together. he is in florida, not in

florida. there is nobody off the list as far as suspects as that goes. now this other person that worked as bar hand, like i said he was the last one with her. all of sudden mysteriously her cell phone stopped pinging. could be fact that the body could have gone in a lake and phone would have stopped pinging because the phone was in the lake. martha: his story, we're looking at a picture of nicholas holbert, 25 years old. he says he gave her a ride home, gave kelli bordeaux a ride home, when they got close to the neighborhood and she wanted to be dropped off to entrance of the neighborhood. he claims. that is fine. he assumed she didn't want to know where he lived or somebody at the house didn't want to see who was dropping her off. are there ways to identify where the car was, based on her cell phone perhaps and where the last she was dropped off? >> they can track the last ping from that phone and i think that is something happening right now as far

as with this lake that could be possibly in the area where the last ping from that phone was. now again, you have this guy with her. he is the last one. you can not eliminate him as a suspect. and there other things i'm sure they're holding close to the vest. this is a lady that probably spoke to her sister every day, her mom every day. now all of sudden from saturday she doesn't call anybody. obviously there is foul play involved and the detectives are focusing on that. we're in thursday now. this is gal that always possibly spoke to her officer and her mother. you have to focus really on some foul play. with that said the detectives there have a lot of stuff they're working on right now. they're not giving it all out to the public. they have to eliminate all the suspects and with the physical evidence that i think they possibly can find and if he, if she was in his car, there could be physical evidence there. they will get a subpoena to go, warrant to go into that car to see if there is any physical evidence in that car. martha: bo, thank you very much. good to talk to you.

we're putting number on the screen. if anyone has information. call crimestoppers. 810-438-tips is the number. if you have any information please make the phone call. gregg: empty romney and president obama going at it over the u.s. economy. what they say and whether either side is gaining any advantage here. our panel will be debating it. martha: he is the man who so many of us shared toasts with on new year's eve. today we're remembering dick clark and his amazing contribution and legacy. >> what is left? >> to rule the world. >> virtually anybody who is anybody appeared on the show with the exception of elvis presley, the beatles and the rolling stones. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

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martha: republican frontrunner mitt romney and president obama trading jabs over the economy on the campaign trail yesterday. governor romney says that mr. obama, he believes, has it all wrong. listen. >> we're a trusting people. we're a hopeful people. but we're not dumb. [laughter] and we're not going to fall from the same lines from the same person just because it is in a different place. we're going to, we're going to recognize that it's time that give the fact that we've learned who barack obama is and what he is capable of doing, that he is over his head and he is swimming in the wrong direction. martha: interesting. meanwhile president obama took a swipe of his own at his potential opponents up brinning. listen to this. >> we created a foundation

for those of us to prosper. somebody gave me an education. i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. michelle wasn't. but somebody gave us a chance. martha: there is the argument, really. and these are the two men that the united states will decide between in the coming election. and we're starting to see them both real are defined more clearly i think in recent days since rick santorum dropped out of this race. i'm joined by monica crowley, radio talk show host and christopher hahn, former aide to senator chuck schumer. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. martha: monica, start with you, your reaction to what i said? to the fact it appears they're both becoming much more clearly defind in this race? >> yeah. and think we've already entered the general election period and obviously the economy is going to be the central issue. it is for every single american and it is going to

be for both of these candidates. the problem for the incumbent president unlike in 2008, when he could run on no record and slogans of ephemeral kind of meaninglessness like hope and change, this time he actually does have a record and what he is going to try to do is run away from it because it is so abysmal. sky-high unemployment. just reported last week, another up tick in the first-time jobless claims. high gas prices. anemic economic growth. record breaking deficits. >> talk about records. >> excuse me, chris. and socialized medicine which are all incredible unpopular and painful for the american people. obama didn't really have a record to run on. what mitt romney to point that as well as offering a positive alternative. >> but i do really want to focus on sort of the message we're starting to hear. what i'm fascinated by what goes on in both of these campaign camps, chris. >> yeah. martha: you look at the way they're going, mitt romney do you think it is fair to

say in recent days almost if you can see the confidence of being the guy. >> yeah. martha: for the gop is starting to kick in. it is like his voice is clearer. he is finding, sort of a way to convey things that maybe a little better at connecting with people in the polls and seem to bewaring that out for him. >> yeah, listen, obviously he can focus his attack on one person instead of worrying five people he was fighting over last couple months and that is always good for a campaign. but you know what we talk about records, mitt romney made a lot of money for himself and made a lot of money for his friends but when he was governor of massachusetts, 48th in job creation out of 50. if you bring puerto rico and virgin islands in he is probably 51st. i don't see what he is talking about. this president quite frankly has created almost 6 million jobs since he was president. inherited one of the worst economies since the great depression. >> you guys are still on that line, chris? that is pathetic. >> he doesn't hope americans are stupid. he hopes we have collective amnesia and forget about the policies he is espousing

were same pollssy that failed this country. >> if you guys, if the obama re-election team and democrats are running on bashing bush and talking about what this president inherited you guys are going to lose that the loser lips. that is completely lame argument. this president has been in office 3 1/2 years. martha: yeah. >> he has had plenty of time to try to fix this economic situation and you know what? his policies have made it worse. martha: hold on, guys. hold on. just to jump in on the back and forth of this which we could go on for at length. i want to talk about sort of the message that is being crafted and the way that it is being conveyed. i thought it was very interesting yesterday, mitt romney talked about the fact that he said something about, you might like the president but you know we don't think he is doing a good job. i think it is interesting, chris, rather than sort of bashing the president or going, he saying look he accepts the fact that the president's likeability numbers are strong. that they remain strong. >> right. martha: saying liking somebody and thinking they're doing a great job are two different things. that is kind of a new

crafting of that message i think. >> well, you know he has to get away from his own dismal likeability numbers about. it is clearly a strategy. look, i know you like this guy better than you like me. i'm a businessman. i can bring businessman principles to washington even though i couldn't do it as governor. please don't judge me on my record. don't judge me on the fact you don't like me or don't trust me. trust me on the fact that guy hasn't achieved as much as he should have even though he achieved a lot in his 3 1/2 years so far. so i don't understand where he is going with this but americans aren't voting for richie rich. martha: richie rich. please can we get past that? >> no. martha: really, i was looking at times 100 thing last night. bill bain, who mitt romney worked for at bain capital wrote his have -- description. how he would get into work earlier than everybody. he always knew from the minute he hired him he would be success at bain, success at olympics. success in massachusetts as

well. obviously a glowing response. do you think that somebody like bill bain, you know, does that help, can he help mitt romney? can folks who worked with him talk about the kind of man he is be helpful or continue to perpetuate that richie rich thing? >> no. look. anytime you have a positive character witness i don't care mrs. romney or i don't care with mr. bain it is a positive for the candidate. barack obama surgeonly has his surrogates out there. on question of likeability, it is true a lot of americans like the president but likeability doesn't make a strong president necessarily. we saw in jimmy carter most americans thought he was a decent man but a very poor president. >> people liked bush but he was a miserable failure. >> like this one. martha: thank you, monica. thank you chris hahn. good to see you both. gregg: a lot of miserable failures. feeling better about myself. how far up the ladder does the gsa scandal go? what investigators have just uncovered about the general

services administration. martha: and we also have some new details that are just coming in on "operation fast and furious". the main suspect who was arrested and then let go three times. why? >> could have taken him in and prosecuted him at any time. it has got to be one or the other. it's either total incompetence, or, maybe it's something a little bit more coordinated that the department of justice is not willing yet to talk about. arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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administrator under president george w. bush. thanks for being with us. not just las vegas. we're learning hawaii, south pacific islands, nap at that valley, palm springs. my goodness. the list goes on and on. do you think these people at gsa, especially commissioner jeff neely who is immortalized now in this famous hot tub picture with a couple of glasses of wine, do you think these people are using government money as their own personal piggybank? >> it became absolutely clear that is what happened but what is really sad is the money that they're using is not just taxpayer money. it is also the stimulus money which was intended for shovel-ready infrastructure projects. which was intended to create jobs and it didn't happen. what the three hearings proved that management, the poor management started at the very top of gsa with the political leadership appointed by president obama. gregg: well this week we learned of alleged fraud, theft, misuse of federal taxpayer money. even kickbacks and bribes

according to the inspector general. >> yes. gregg: neely's wife apparently had her own parking space at a federal building even though she isn't a federal employee. of course she was accompanying neely on all of these sew jurns. are you -- so journs. are you stunned at the depth and brelth of corruption. i'm stunned because there are a lot of terrific employees that work at gsa every day. there is a political leadership that was appointed to watch the agency and they absolutely delegated all their responsibility away. gregg: you realize of course the obama administration is blaming the culture of corruption on you. >> well of course. gregg: they say this happened originally under the bush administration and in particular under your watch. in fact they cite some statistics, the vegas type conference was originally at a cost of low five figures and mushroomed under your watch to $655,000.

that was the conference in 2008. >> absolutely not true. gregg: not true? >> what we have are numbers that are being used in completely different circumstances, completely different numbers of attendees. what is really important about this is what the obama administration doesn't talk about is the fact that their budget, within gsa doubled between 2009 and 2011. i can tell you, gregg i would never have a i proved these kinds of excesses especially the fact they're using taxpayer mop any for personal use. this never happened under the bush administration. gregg: here's my question. why are conferences even necessary? i must tell you i spent several hoursing it digging into the purpose of this particular las vegas conference. and here's my conclusion. it was simply about sharing ideas and strategy. my goodness, ms. doan. why do you need a conference for that? we have internet and e-mails and telephone conferences? why do you have to have conferences to begin with? >> gregg, you have to take that up with the current gsa

management which allowed this to go completely out of control. gregg: but you had conferences too. >> we did not have conferences at this price. our conferences --. gregg: you had of site conferences. i don't want to be argumentative here. >> great. gregg: i've never been to a off site conference in my life. if we want to have conference and share ideas and strategies, we get together or get on the telephone or we send each other e-mails. it would be better for taxpayers to do that, didn't it. >> we did that during the bush administration. it was a conference it was outward reaching conference. reaching out to small businesses trying to help them find ways to create new jobs and grow this economy. it was in the designed for personal aggrandizement which is what we see. there is more important thing, gregg, we have to look at. that is, took the ig over 11 months to get the report out. took another 11 months for the white house to act. if there are 30 plus more investigations going on which is what the ig says he

needs to be a little faster in getting this information out there because what's happening in the meantime, is taxpayer dollars are being wasted. gregg: right. >> and i'll tell you he has a history of being very slow to get these reports out. so while they are absolutely, you know, misusing taxpayer dollars, the ig needs to help the new gsa management get this information out and get it to congress. gregg: lorita. gsa manages all kinds of buildings. >> yes it does. gregg: from the united states and beyond. why not have a conference, off site conference in one of those empty buildings and there are bunch of them? >> i absolutely agree with you. what i'm concerned about. the senate chairman, barbara boxer was hag a hearing yesterday the one question she didn't ask was the most important question. how do you pay for it? what of the building fund money did you use for this and what projects did not get done because you did this particular las vegas ex-traf grand is a or napa

extravaganza or hawaii extravaganza or any one of these debacles. >> lulita doan former gsa administrator. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. martha: congressman ryan joins us at the top of the hour with his reaction to the white house. gregg: plus the secret service in the red when it comes to newt gingrich. the extra protection for the presidential candidate costing taxpayers thousands of dollars a day. time to pull the plug on this? >> burned. martha: we are watching historic moment we're watching this at the smithsonian. they're moving out the enterprise which was the protoe type for the shuttle and moving discovery into its new home. we'll bring it to you live after this n here, heavy rental t in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere.

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♪ . gregg: had to be a beatles hit for this one, right? think pennies are worthless these days? this 1792 penny hitting the auction block today in illinois, appropriate. it is expected to fetch more than a million dollars. the penny is one of only 14 known to exist. the rare well-preserved coin, mostly copper feature as profile image of miss liberty on the front and a center plug that is actually made of silver. amazing. martha: pretty neat, right? gregg: yeah. martha: for a collector and somebody who has money. gregg: i will pick up pennies from now on. martha: expensive penny. there are new questions surrounding newt gingrich's secret service detail. it is costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a day. tuck ircarlson editor of "the daily caller" raising questions about that today

and also fox news contributor. good morning, tucker. >> good morning, martha. martha: this is a sticky wicket some ways. he requested the detail in march. got it in early april. how much does it cost every day and at what point do they say you don't really get it anymore? >> so much is shrouded in secrecy because it pertains to security of the candidate and nightmare scenario someone running for office or holding office is injured. there are a lot of crazy people out there so i think there is broad support for protecting people running for national office. on the other hand, you really can't find out what this cost. we know it costs tens of thousands of dollars per day. it could be many of tens of thousands of dollars per day. again the details with held from the public. the bottom line this is candidacy with very little hope of going forward. gingrich himself said he is unlikely to be elected president. you have to ask why someone running as a conservative, someone in favor of fiscal restraint, saving taxpayers money, not wasting their money, is continuing to

employ taxpayer-funded bodyguards at very, very high taxpayer expense? it is a legitimate question. and yet try and ask that question you get the response that never changes which is, we don't comment on security matters. more than a security matter. it is a fiscal matter. it is a matter about taxpayer money. martha: it is interesting because if you nudge that protection away from the candidate you're making something of a political statement. you're saying we don't believe you have any viability anymore. that would raise questions is whether or not that is the right thing to do. it is his right to stay in the race if he decides he wants to? >> that is exactly right. secret service protection conveys an aura of respectability. you're a serious candidate when you have secret service protection. gary johnson, running as libertarian does not have secret service protection. that one thing separates candidates believe have a shot becoming president from those to do not. you're absolutely right. any person, any american

citizen born in this country has a right to run for president. not every person has the right to get the rest of us to pay for a secret service detail. i think this is question worth asking as uncomfortable as it is. and i think the press has a right to push on this. martha: did you get a response, tucker. >> the response is we don't speak to security matters and basically over the top of you even to ask but we don't think it is. we think every taxpayer dollar ought to be accounted for and explained directly without embarassment by the person receiving it. martha: great question. tucker, good as always. great to see you. >> thanks, martha. gregg: some brand new poll numbers out on the race for the white house and it is heating up on the campaign trail. who now has the ad van? -- advantage. martha: new questions about the failed government gun-running sting operation, "fast and furious." what we're learning about the main target in that operation and why he was released from jail, not once, but three times when we come

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>> at this moment we are awaiting a very special delivery at the national air and space museum. you're taking a look live at dulles airport. that is the retired space shuttle discovery enroute to its final resting place. it hopes to have a very active life and be the center of many visitor. that's the enterprise right now. they're going to tow discovery up to it so that the two shuttles are nose to nose. we're going to bring you its final journey just moments away right here in "america's newsroom." martha: and big story this morning, the white house has basically laid down an ultimatum to house budget committee

chairman paul ryan. they have warned him that he needs to change his budget bill or else, and that's how we start a brand new hour. good morning, everybody, big hour coming up for everybody, i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm greg jarrett in for bill hemmer. the obama administration is throwing down the gauntlet here saying that president obama will not sign any bills that break the terms of their summer debt deal. martha: so i spoke with congressman paul ryan just a little while ago and got his reaction to that from the white house. so we're welcoming this morning house budget committee chairman paul ryan who is joining us now. good morning, good to have you here, congressman ryan. >> morning, martha. how you doing today? martha: i'm doing just great. i want to read something to you that came out from the white house yesterday which is a response, really, to your budget proposal, and here's what that letter to the house of representatives and senate leaders says: until the house of representatives indicates that i will abide by last summer's

agreement, the president will not be able to sign any appropriations bills. so that pretty much lays it out there. what's your reaction to that? >> look, what we're simply trying to do is get spending under carom. the -- control. the budget control act has a ceiling on spending, and we propose to go about $19 billion below that ceiling. we're not going to have a government shutdown. we'll get ourselves to compromise at the reasonable levels of spending, but we can't keep spending all this money we don't have. we're borrowing 40 cents on the dollar, and what we're trying to show is a little fiscal prudence and discipline. unfortunately, the president is more interested in playing politics than anything else. martha: understood. but they're going to say that the deal that was made to raise the debt ceiling, and it had those subsequent sequestration parts of that built in, that if they didn't meet that deal that everybody agreed on, then certain cuts would kick in naturally. they're saying yo and the budget

you -- you and the budget you presented, they're saying that's obstructionist. >> not only are we going along with the deal that we struck before, we're cutting spending elsewhere in a smart way instead of just accrue it across the board way which will happen in january if we do nothing. we have -- the problem is the president's not showing what he would do to prevent this across the board cut from happening. the senate announced again yesterday they're not going to do a budget again for the third year in a row, so we're showing leadership on how we will specifically prioritize spending in order to conform to the budget control act and do it in a smart way instead of this across the board way or just ignoring it which is what we think the white house is doing. they're not preparing for the sequester, it will happen, and we think we should be honest and show how we will prioritize spending cuts instead of letting this sequester cut across the board. that's what we're doing right now. martha: so the president was speaking about this in ohio yesterday and, of course, all of

this gets intertwined with election year politics as well. so let's listen, he says, you know, basically, we tried it the republican way, and it didn't work. here's what he said. >> instead of moderating their views even slightly, you now have republicans in washington, the ones running for president proposing budgets that shower the wealthiest americans with even more tax cuts, folks like me who don't need 'em. we're looking for 'em. martha: your reaction? [laughter] >> i think the president doesn't have a record he can run on. he's going hard to the left in this last two years. he didn't moderate, didn't compromise, and so he has no choice but to divide the country, and unfortunately, it's very unpresidential, but that's what we're seeing. we're saying take away the loopholes that wealthy people use in order to lower everybody's tax rates. guess what? a lot of democrats agree with us. erskine bowles and the fiscal commission, this is what they proposed.

what we're showing is how to best fix these problems, problem is it's with moderate republicans, and the trouble is the president's trying to shift blame, and that's more of this campaign rhetoric we're going to have -- it's going to be a long six months, i'll just tell you that. martha: the catholic bishops' conference has also come out and said they don't like what the plan entails when it comes to cutting food stamps and also a child credit for illegal immigrants. what do you think about that? >> well, we've always said we should not be giving tax credits to people who are not here illegally. that's just following through on policy that's been pretty well responded to on a bipartisan basis. um, these are not all the catholic bishops, and we just respectfully disagree. we think that quadrupling spending in this area has not succeeded to get people out of poverty. one in six people, martha, are in poverty today. poverty is at the highest rates under the president's failed policies. so what we're trying to do here is get people from welfare to

work just like we succeeded in doing when we reformed cash welfare in 1996. we want to take those ideas and reform these other welfare programs so we don't keep people on welfare, but with get people to work, opportunity, prosperity, getting people out of poverty. that's what we're focusing on in our budget, attack the root causes of poverty instead of simply treating symptoms and makes it easier to cope with. and that's what we fear the president's policies have done and the results are we have the highest poverty rates we've had in a generation. martha: you know, i want to, obviously, as i said before all of this becomes in this season intertwined with the 2012 presidential politics, and last night on "special report" kirsten powers had this to say about your alignment on the campaign trail and with your budget plan with mitt romney. here's what she said. >> in terms of the stark choice, yes, i think democrats are really, um, salivating, frankly, at the opportunity to go up against the paul ryan plan.

i think that they see a lot of fertile ground there for them to go after. martha: how do you feel about the fact that your name may be associated with some of the attacks coming from the left against the candidate of your party? is. >> i'm kind of getting used to it, to be honest with you, martha. look, we think we owe the country a choice. if we have a debt crisis in this nation which the president is bringing us to, the senate's not even budgeting for three years, the people who get hurt are the people who need government the most, the poor, the sick, the elderly. we want to prevent that, that's what our budget does. and so, look, we want this debate. because we think the country should decide what do you want america to be, what kind of people do you want us to be? do you want to go down this path that the president's taking us down, debt and decline, or do you want to get our spending and debt and deficits under control and stop this growth of government where government sees its role as picking winners and losers in if our society? that's not the american idea. we want to restore the american idea, get those principles that

made us exceptional in the first place reapplied to the problems of the day. and, yes, it is a choice of two futures, and mitt romney is very clearly giving the country that choice. do you want president obama's government-centered society, or do you want the opportunity society with a safety net that works? that's the choice here, and we're happy to have this debate. martha: do you have any indication from the romney camp that they want to do anything other than embrace this plan, continue to have you out on the campaign trail with them right next to him? >> look, i've campaigned with mitt a lot, we've done a lot of wisconsin, we're still working together and, yes, he's put out through his primary campaign tax reforms and budget reforms that clearly resemble what we're trying to do. if you believe in free enterprise and limited government, upward mobility, then you'll have a budget that looks like this. we can't keep borrowing and spending and taxing like we are because we'll ruin the economy, and everybody will get hurt if that happens. so put aside the hysterical rhetoric, all the name calling the president is doing in a very unpresidential way. the country has got a chance

here, a window to prevent a debt crisis, and we need to take advantage of that. martha: paul ryan, always a pleasure to have you in "america's newsroom." thank you very much. we'll see you soon, sir. take care. gregg: new fallout this morning over the failed government gun-running operation known as fast and furious. we're learning that the main target of the sting operation was busted three different times and then released. manuel acosta is the suspected ringleader who allegedly transferred 2,000 weapons to drug cartels, and now fox news has exclusive video of him in a shootout with an illegal weapon and still police let him go. william la jeunesse live with the exclusive details. hi, william. >> reporter: well, gregg, one of the unanswered questions about fast and furious is why did the atf allow this operation to go on for a year and a half when they had probable cause to shut it down?

the evidence suggests that the atf did as much to keep acosta out of jail than to put him in, but that allowed this flow of weapons to continue south while the agency tried to build a bigger case. the most wanted man in the fast and furious investigation caught in the act on a government camera firing ten rounds from this .4r5 caliber handgun. yet manuel seles acosta remained free to traffic thousands of guns to mexico only after agent brian terry's death was he shut down. >> it's got to be one or the other. it's either total incompetence, or maybe it's something a little bit more coordinated that the department of justice is not willing yet to talk about. >> reporter: congressional investigators suspect the justice department is unwilling to talk about acosta's possible role as an informant. here's why. the fast and furious investigation began in october 2009.

in april 2010 police arrested acosta on this phoenix street with cocaine and handguns hidden in his truck. he was released and not charged. in may immigration agents stopped acosta at the mexican border with 74 rounds of ammunition hidden in his car. again, released no charges. then in october a surveillance camera attached to this telephone pole captures acosta firing a handgun purchased illegally by an accomplice, sean stewart. police recover 15 shell casings from the shootout. acosta is arrested but released. >> somebody back in washington, d.c. was making terrible, disastrous calls on this, and it's led to the death of a lot of people. >> reporter: so police in phoenix confiscated guns in two of those arrests, both fast and furious guns. sources that i spoke to in and outside the atf say in the beginning the agents isn't want to take acosta out of the equation because that would have limited their chance to get a

wiretap, they would have had no big case. and once they had him in the october incidence, they didn't want to take him out of the equation because the case would be shut down. and by then many believe he became an informant. back to you. gregg: quite a sordid story. william la jewish innocence, thanks very much. martha: a live look at enterprise which is on the ground in chantilly, virginia. the shuttle discovery will soon come to meet it. they're going to do sort of a kiss, nose to nose, and we will tune into that loving moment as soon as it gets understood way. plus this just in. [gunfire] gregg: that is brand new home video out of syria of an explosion during a united nations visit. we're going to have details on this still-developing story next. martha: and this heart-wrenching story. this young man, this boy took his own life after he was

bullied. his tragic story is now featured in an important new movie. his parents will join us live with their message to moms and dads everywhere. >> we've heard that some kids had told him the day prior the go hang himself, that he was worthless. as i told the school board, my voice is not going to be silent. eat good fats.

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for multi grain flakes tt are anxcellent source of fiber try great grains banana nut crunch and cranberry almond crunch. martha: all right, this just coming in out of syria. there are reports of shots fire inside damascus during a visit by the united nations. you can see their truck in this video as they were observing what was going on there. it was caught on tape. listen to this. [gunfire] martha: you see the u.n. truck right in the middle of all of that, and then the shots begin to be fired or an explosion, we're not sure what that was. it sent hundreds of protesters

running in panic, the u.n. vehicles immediately speeding off. the same day that syria made a deal with the u.n. setting the terms, i should say, of the ceasefire which, obviously, is not working. gregg: a fox news alert, brand new poll numbers just out this morning showing president obama and mitt romney in a dead heat. take a look at this. rasmussen reports head to head matchup, romney has 46% of the vote to the president's 45%. yesterday romney supporter john boehner slamming the president, the house speaker saying the commander in chief does not have the courage to tackle the country's problems. >> the president's been awol. the president, if president is serious about helping to create jobs, where are his ideas? the president checked out last labor day. he's spent the last six months campaigning from one end of the country to the other instead of working with members of both political parties here in

washington to address the serious challenges that our country faces. gregg: steven hayes, senior writer for the weekly standard and a fox news contributor joins us. stephen, today is the seventh straight day in the polls that romney has held a modest advantage over the president, but, look, you know, incumbent presidents have enormous inherent advantages. do you think it is worrisome for the obama campaign that this early on, seven months before ballots are cast, that the challenger's already tied him? >> well, i think it has to be, especially when you've got mitt romney emerging from what was such a brutal republican primary. you could point to things in both directions. you could pound point to the high unfavorable ratings that mitt romney has had in his series of polls and suggest that's to president obama's advantage, you could point to a number of other factors and suggest that mitt romney's doing better than people might have expected after such a long primary. gregg: let's put up on the

screen the president's approval/disapproval rating, 49% approve, 50% disapprove. but the strong approval is 25%, strongly disapprove is 40%. i suppose that's worrisome too. but, look, what is it? is it health care, the economy, all of the above, something else? >> well, i think it's all of those things. i mean, look, gregg, if you look at the two chief accomplishments of the obama administration in its first three and a half years, on the one hand you've got the economy and the stimulus, and on the other hand you've got the pass an of obamacare. in both of those cases, you've got democrats across the country who have been advised not to talk about those issues. the top accomplishments of the obama administration, and you have congressional democrats run anything competitive races being told don't talk about these things, and you certainly don't hear the president out making the case that his stimulus was successful on a daily basis. he's instead trying to talk

about things like pair fairness or -- pay fairness or what have you. gregg: partisanship notwithstanding, those were scathing, almost devastating comments by boehner about the president, awol, you know, he's lacking courage and so fort. were you surprised by that? >> i'm not. one, this is election time, we're moving into the final six, seven months of the election and, two, i think john boehner feels personally burned by the president because boehner was willing to make a big deal to pursue this grand bargain and, basically, he believes the president walked away from an emerging deal that they had. gregg: he seemed pretty angry in that interview. stephen hayes, thanks. >> thanks, gregg. martha: back to the shuttle situation on the ground there, we're awaiting the arrival of space shuttle discovery as it comes into the annex there, smithsonian annex at dulles airport. it could have been back and forth to international space station many, many times, but they are wanting everybody to

take a good look at what's happening on the ground. we're going to talk to a man who may hold the key to the future of american space travel because that's where we want to turn our attention as well, and we'll also talk to the very last man to walk on the moon who's a good friend of this program. that's coming up. ♪

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wemartha: march we are awaiting the arrival of the space shuttle discovery as it pulls into the place where it will spend the rest of its days, the annex of the national air and space museum at dulles international airport. it doesn't fit into that wonderful facility at the washington mall there. it logged more than 365 days, a full year, in space, 39 missions that diehard shuttle took in 27

years, and i'm joined now by tim hughes who is chief counsel for space x which we're going to talk about in a second, and also on the phone captain gener is anyone, the last man to walk on the moon and let me start with you, captain, on the phone, and we have some video of you in that moment on that last moon walk. what goes through your mind as you look at the end of this space shuttle program, sir? >> good morning, martha. it's always wonderful to be with you. martha: good to have you. >> unlike probably several people out there in washington, i'm a little disappointed because it signifies the -- it closes the coor on a half a century of space exploration in this country, and here we are today with nowhere to go and nothing to do and no mission. so i, i look at it a little bit differently probably than most people do. martha: yeah. you know, it has been a long mission that has been sort of the focus really of this space program for so long, and now

we're talking about the future, and we're going the talk about that in a few minutes with mr. hughes, that would be sort of quasi-public/private get together to make our future dreams in space happen. what do you think about that? >> well, you know, i'm all for the future, and i'm 100% in support of the public participation as long as it's public and private. but right now we're really subsidizing what we call a private sector of our nation's space program which, you know, in the long run may be fine, but the bottom line is we still don't have a program, we still don't have a mission, we still don't have a commitment, we still don't have a goal. and, you know, we've got a lot -- there's a lot of gibberish out there on how wonderful the future's going to be, but without a real plan, that future's never going to come about. martha: interesting. thank you, captain cernan. always good to have you with us on this program. and i want to bring in mr. hughes now and talk a little bit about space x which is the

program that you have very much involved in which does have something called the dragon spacecraft which you hope will be the future of our space program. tell us about that. >> hi, martha, good morning. martha: morning. >> thanks for having me on your program. yes, we're quite optimistic about the future. on april 30th, just a few weeks from now, space x will be sending its dragon spacecraft to attempt to berth with the international space station, and it'll be the first time that a private entity has attempted such a mission, and spacex will join the likes of the european union, the russians, the chinese, the japanese and the united states government. so i think while the shuttle era is coming to an end, there is an exciting future in space, and that future includes commercial entities now carrying cargo and, soon, astronauts into low-earth orbit for the u.s. martha: so this dragon that we were just looking at, you know, sort of a recreation, i guess,

of what dragon would look like on its return to earth. it's a very small capsule, and it would be sent up and, as i understand it, linked up to the space station as a cargo transport primarily, right? >> well, that's correct. again, it'll be the first demonstration of that capability. though the dragon spacecraft flew last year, and it became the first private capsule to ever orbit the earth and successfully reenter. and the dragon has been designed from day one to carry astronauts, so we're currently competing for that opportunity with nasa, and we think we'll be able to carry american astronauts to the space station around 2015. and i think it bears noting, martha, that right now the u.s. is wholly dependent on the russians for astronaut carriage to the space station, so we're hoping to be the domestic alternative there and provide the u.s. with an all-american company carrying u.s. astronauts to the space station at a price point that is significantly less than what the russians charge. martha: mr. hughes, thank you.

very interesting to talk to you, and our thanks to cap chin gene c -- captain gene cernan, and that's the enterprise that we see there. it's getting bumped out of the garage, basically, to make room for discovery, and enterprise will be coming up here to new york, and that will be seen out here on the hudson river on the intrepid. pretty exciting. gregg: we are looking forward to that. all right. in the meantime, meltdown at 0,000 feet. remember this -- 30,000 feet. remember this? how could you forget that one? now, how this jetblue pilot is planning to defend himself in court. plus, you may remember this as well -- oh, yes. students pepper sprayed during a peaceful protest. there's new fallout. five months later, who's on the

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gregg: the pilot who had that bizarre breakdown at 30,000 feet will now use the insanity defense. >> oh, my god! i'm so distraught! we've got israel, we've got iraq! gregg: witnesses say captain

clayton osbon stormed out of the cockpit, then started shouting about terrorism, the plane going down eventually trying to force his way back onto the flight deck. now, as expected, he's planning to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. gentlemen, good to see you, joey jackson, let me start with you. insanity is a mental disease or defect so severe you cannot conform your conduct to the law. will it work here? >> you know, i really think it will. in most instances, gregg, what we're really saying is we're looking and saying, wow, he's feigning an illness, a defete and trying to get -- defect and trying to get out of it. i think the you look at this tape, his conduct is not sane, and he's talking, he's ranting about iran, he's ranting about iraq, about jesus christ, he's rambling. gregg: you know, arthur, you don't think it's going to work

here, you are so predictable. [laughter] tell us why. >> well, i'll tell you why. first of all, statistically speaking, i think it's only use inside 1% of all cases in the country, people invoke the insanity defense, and that's because it's only successful in about 20% of the time that it's used. and here's the kicker, gregg, when you're successful, when the jury says, yes, he's not responsible because he couldn't understand right from wrong, therefore, he goes to a mental institution. gregg: yeah. but he can be let out if after a period of time he is determined to be sane and not a threat to society. >> absolutely, your honor. however, statistically speaking, people spend more time in the mental institution than they do if they just pled guilty and were sentenced to whatever the regular jail time was. >> but remember this, arthur, this has a jail sentence of 20 years he could do a maximum of and i would doubt, clearly, he was sane once upon a time, he was a responsible pilot with a responsible job with no background to speak of. there was some meltdown here, and that meltdown was severe,

and when you get passengerrings to tackle you down and you're having these insane rants, clearly, he didn't understand what was happening. gregg: and, arthur, i agree it almost never works, but there's almost never a case in which the actions of the allegedly insane person are caught on videotape, and that's what we have here. this guy is caught on tape making absolutely no sense. >> but here's the thing. let's talk about frit a practical point of view. i'm a defense attorney like joey is. if you have a client, what i would rather do is either go to trial and lose or try the get some sort of a plea where it dose before the judge, and the judge decides how much jail time. you put together a packet of what a good guy this guy has been. gregg: but joey would never agree to that. he'd say, your honor, this man needs help, he doesn't need punishment, wouldn't you? >> yeah, i think clearly. i mean, in this particular instance something was amiss, and as a result of that i don't

think jail is an appropriate sentence. and i -- look, in terms of combating the facts, we have a tape as you pointed out, gregg, and as a result of that tape and addition to multiple witnesses, they're going to say something was severely wrong with this guy. gregg: and, arthur, you know it's going to be battle of the psychiatric experts, but if you've got a doctor that's going to say, look, he was nuttier than a fruitcake, i mean, that's going to be really important. >> but let's look at the practical effects though. he's going to wind up being incarcerated, away from his family longer if he's successful on the insanity -- >> i don't know about that. >> no, gregg, i do know about that. that is statistically black and white. there's no doubt about it. >> arthur, it's a fair point, but at the same time he's not in a penal institution, he would be getting the assistance and the help he needs -- >> the argument is, gregg, should he be in a penal institution. gregg: i'm getting the hard rap, good discussion.

thanks. martha: there's a new, stunning documentary, and it shows what life is really like for children who are severely bullied at school. and it also tells the tragic death of tyler. his mom and dad have a message for us all. >> we had heard that he had had his head shoved into a wall locker. some kids had told him to go hang his self, that he was worthless. and i think he got to the point where enough was enough. ugh! all work and no food is making lorenzo very snippy. oh! seriously?! ♪ [ male announcer ] hunger getting to you? oh... [ male announcer ] grab a ritz crackerfuls. made with real peanut butter and whole grain. mmmm [ male announcer ] get hunger before it gets you.

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it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye oblems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might ms out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and thatakes a difference in my eathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. gregg: this is a fox news alert, we're awaiting a very special delivery at the national air and space museum. it's actually the annex at dulles airport in virginia, just outside washington. there you see enterprise, the experimental shuttle, but soon it will be met nose to nose with discovery. the workhorse of the shuttle

fleet that had the most travel time in space be -- space ever. its final resting place for visitor at dulles airport. >> born april 25, 1992, died october 17, 2009. age 17. we had heard that some kids had told him the today prior to go hang himself. as i told the school board, my voice is not going to fall silent. i will go to my grave until a difference is made. martha: this is an emotional movie, folks. that is a scene from the documentary, it is called "bully," it is getting a ton of attention and very important to be discussed here as well. it is officially released in theaters nationwide, it focuses on the lives of five children who have suffered from extreme bullying situations at their schools, and tina and david long are feature inside that

documentary. their son, tyler, was bullied, and he died when he was only 17, and that was a bit of them in the movie. there's a picture of him. welcome, tina and david, thank you so much for coming in with us. i know this must be, it's painful for me to look at it and to look at the two of you because i can still see the pain on your faces from all of this. why did you feel that it was so important to other families and other kids for you to tell your story? >> tyler had asperger's syndrome which is a form of autism, and as we know, 60% of all kids that have disabilities are bullied. and when lee approached us to do this documentary, we thought what a wonderful opportunity to get to do something that's so important that can change lives. the ncld has took over with their tool kit as a different measure to where parents and kids can after the movie have something they can go to with resources. martha: as a parent of three

children, you feel like there's a lot of discussion these days about bullying, and you hear about different instances of it, and it's in some ways, i think, surprising to parents to hear the response that you got from the school, and this was a few years ago. but when you went in to talk to them about what he was telling you at home, what was their response to you? >> like a lot of schools, they just don't respond, and that's where, i think, as parents and -- this film is creating such a conferring. martha: yeah, it is. >> and such an opening door for, you know, a lot of families that do need some guidance. martha: and i know you've said that children who suffer from learning disabilities and special needs are even more vulnerable to this kind of horrific treatment at school. i want to play another clip from the film so everybody at home can get another look at it. >> we had heard that he had had his head shoved into a wall locker, some kids had told him to go hang his self, that he was

worthless, and i think he got to the point to where enough was enough. ♪ >> how are you doing -- tyler, what are you doing? >> drawing. >> you doing your homework? >> yes. >> you drawing daddy a picture? >> yes. >> say hi to dadly. >> hi, daddy. martha: such a sweet little boy, and i know that you miss him every day of your lives. and i wonder, you know, as a parent what i wonder is where does this kind of anger come from in didn't that -- that must have struck you. these children who were doing this to your son, where -- does it happen more now? is this kind of anger not checked by parents? you know, what do you think can really be done? when people see this movie and they're so moved by it, what can be done? >> i think if you look at what tina said earlier, at the 60% of kids with special needs or learning disabilities, those are easy targets for individuals to

isolate because they're easy victims. and i think one of the things that tina and i had discussed was where can we, when the film was organized and started receiving this -- where can we really lay our base at and have the most effect from with tyler's message. and one of the things that was so refreshing was to see what the ncld had done to come out with the tool kit and all the opportunities and the resources that have been put into it. to answer those questions of parents that are struggling or have gone through the same struggles that we did. i want you to just really think about that number. kids with learning disabilities and special needs, 60% more than the average kid without those unique circumstances. it's mind-boggling. martha: those are the kids, you

just want to wrap your arms around this group and make sure the parents have that support, and the national learning center for disabilities is a place they can go to get this. i just want to take a look at seven more seconds, it's another child, and this child is still around to tell his story. just look, let's leave everyone with this. >> get your [bleep] off my book bag. >> okay, here. >> move! >> what? martha: those kids did that to that child knowing that there was a cameraman on that bus. i thought they must have recreated that scene for this movie, but, no, they did that to that child knowing there was a cameraman on that bus who was filming this documentary, and it backed up a that child's story. i want to thank you so much for sharing your story with us, and you just want to say to everybody at home that they need to see this and be aware of it and do what they can in their own community to make a

difference. go ahead, tim, you wanted to say something. >> go to special needs, the bully project.com, and it has always information and resources there. of everything that the ncld has done, and along with the other nonprofit organizations that have joined them in on this. i think it's a very worthwhile cause and, please, don't be a bystander. if you know someone that's in that situation, refer them to that resource. martha: uh-huh. >> because it's huge. >> it could save a life. martha: you're right. >> it could save a life. martha: and as kids are told at school today, do not be a bystander, speak out. and we thank you for speaking out, tina and david. thanks so much, and we're sorry for your loss, and we just congratulate you for having the strength to do what you're doing. to you both, all the best. gregg, back to you. gregg: that's quite a story. thank you so much for being here. lots still ahead. let's turn to jenna lee now for "happening now." jenna: hi there, gregg. we're awaiting a big moment in

the history of the space program. the retired shuttles, discovery and enterprise, will finally meet nose to note. plus, big brother possibly coming to a car, a pool, even a job application near you. we're going to explain all of that. and we're also going to take a closer look at some important voting blocs in the 2012 election, voting blocs that could decide who wins the white house. that's all coming up on "happening now." gregg: jenna, thank you very much. the white house used a set of numbers to sell the so-called buffett rule before senate republicans blocked it. we're fact-checking those figures to see if they add up. and cops pepper sprayed a group of nonviolent demonstrators, remember this back in november? well, today the police department's top dog takes the fall.

martha: new fallout from the occupy protest at the university of california davis that ended in if officers pepper spraying the demonstrators. you're going to see this video, remember this moment as i do very well back in november. so the police chief has just announced her retirement. she was on paid leave since that incident in november which sent two protesters to the hospital, 11 others were treated at the scene. the chief says that, basically, she's stepping down because she doesn't want this incident to define her or the school. gregg: all right, some new questions now about the numbers the white house used to try to sell the so-called buffett rule before senate republicans successfully blocked it with a filibuster threat. the obama administration put out a set of figures used to justify the new tax on millionaires. here's the question, though, do they add up?

jim angle is live in washingto he was fact checking all of this. jim? >> reporter: hello, gregg. well, president obama has made tax fairness, of course, one of his signature issue, and to help argue that the rich are getting away with murder, an economic adviser recently gave this presentation online. starting with a single mom making $49,800 a year, an official offers three examples designed to show some middle income taxpayers are paying more than some wealthy taxpayers. >> she sits down to do her taxes, she takes out deductions and exclusions, and at the end of the day she pays an effective federal tax rate of 16 president. >> reporter: then he points to a married couple making $105,000 a year on which he says their tax rate is 19%. then a pediatrician and spouse making $173,900 a year and paying a 23% tax rate, he said. >> 16, 19, 23. it's the basic core of our progressive tax system. >> reporter: in fact, the tax system is so progressive, gregg,

that 40-50% of all working americans with lower incomes pay no income tax at all which is one reason critics were suspicious of the white house numbers. listen. >> and the executive assistant, we didn't come up with 16%, we got 7%. and when we looked at the teacher and the cop, we couldn't get 19, we got 10%. and finally, when we got to our doctor, not 23, 16%. and if you'll notice, that looks like tax fairness -- 7, 10, 16, 18. the more income you have, higher your tax rate. >> reporter: so how can these numbers be so different? well, the white house confirmed to fox that it included more than income taxes, it added in social security and medicare taxes as well. critics, however, argue it's not right to include those numbers because those, on those cases taxpayers get money back. >> you pay the taxes in, and you get a retirement benefit coming

out. they're only looking at one side of the equation in this calculus, the tax payments going in. so they're distorting the numbers. >> reporter: gregg, analysts say individuals collect many times more in benefits than they originally put in making it far different from income taxes. gregg? gregg: all right. fascinating stuff. jim angle, thanks so much. >> reporter: you bet. martha: well, it's still sitting there, the enterprise. it is waiting for its big date with discovery, and we're told that it's going the happen momentarily. you can see the crowd is starting to file in, and we're going to see the two historic vehicles nose the nose moments away. we'll be right back. having an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation puts you at 5 times greater risk of stroke. don't wait. go to afibstroke.com for a free discussion guide

to help you talk to your doctor about reducing your risk. that's afibstroke.com.

this is my grandson. and if it wasn't for a screening i got, i might have missed being here to meet him. the health care law lets those of us on medicare now get most preventive care for free like annual wellness visits, immunizations, and some cancer screenings. and that's when they caught something serious on mine. but we could treat it before it was too late. i'll be around to meet number two!

get the screenings you need. learn more at healthcare.gov. you don't want to miss any of this! martha: if you're bringing home 10 grand from a lemonade stand this is never my experience you must be making one heck of a good beverage or you have a really good cause that is driving it and that is the case with 6-year-old drew cox. he set up a standout side of his home in indiana. what started out as basically what we all do as kids and what my kids like

to do turned into a huge block party trying to raise money for his dad basically who needed help paying some medical bills. listen to this. >> they knew my dad and when they drove by, they saw me and my lemonade stand. >> i just did it because i wanted to help him. with his money. so help him pay his bills. martha: who could drive by that little boy. randy cox was diagnosed with rare form of cancer three months ago. drew took in more than $10,000 in one day thanks to the generous nabe, bo. they're helping out. that is what neighbors should do, right? >> "happening now" will look at the shuttle discovery as it moves into position. that will do it for us. martha: thanks, everybody. we'll see you tomorrow. jenna: thank you very much, gregg and martha. we're good neighbors right