boehner sending a very clear message to his colleagues on capitol hill. good morning, i'm bill hemmer. thank you for being here. good to see you. martha: good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. speaker boehner preparing for the very real scenario, he says, that his party may lose the majority in the house. watch this. >> i would say there is two in three chance we win control of the house again but there is a one in three chance we could lose. i'm being myself frank. we have a big challenge. we have got bjork to do. bill: it does not end there. you will hear the full interview. the speaker said 2012 says it is the most important election in his lifetime. that is coming up here. meanwhile start new -- stark new warnings about the future of social security. new reports that the fund could run dry years before it was thought that is word from the trustees keeping tab on the program.

medicaid also in danger. stuart varney of the fox business network crunching the numbers. what is the news, stuart? >> 2033 is when social security runs out of money. the future is getting closer and closer, bill. 2024 medicare runs out of money. 2016, the social security disability fund runs out of money. we're paying for all of this now because medicare and social security are paying out a lot more than they're taking in. in fact over the last 10 years, one quarter of ail our accumulated debt is because of the overruns, the overpaying out more than we're taking in on those two programs. you could ask why and i give you the following three reasons. bill: yeah, please. >> number one, there has been an explosion in disability claims. 3 million extra people claiming disability in the last three years. bill: why would that be? >> the theory is that a lot of people are claiming disability because they are long-term unemployed, not

necessarily because they are disabled, but because it is their way to some kind of working things out when they can not get a job after the recession. bill: that's one. what are the other two? >> the payroll tax withholding, the holiday, payroll tax holiday would have been in effect for last year and been in effect for this year. that is $95 billion per year that does not go into social security. and number three, with the baby boom generation retiring in the thousands per day, adding to the outflow of money from social security. bill: yeah. the numbers don't add up, do they? >> no. bill: that's the reason why it is getting on a shorter leash here. what's being done right now, stuart, to head off this potential crisis? >> there is intense criticism of the obama administration because over the last three years they have not come up with a plan to deal with this. and treasury secretary tim geithner was out yesterday criticizing paul ryan who has come up with a plan to deal with entitlements.

and secretary geithner was harshly critical of him. he went right after mr. ryan. bill: did he offer a plan? >> no, the administration does not have a plan to deal structurally with the problems of medicare and social security. bill: we'll see if they come with one soon. start varney, thank you. catch you at fbn, 9:15. start varney with us now. martha: that in itself is pretty surprising. here is a little background on social security. as of right now the age to receive full benefits? 66 years old. the average worker spends 20 years drawing on those social security benefits. 25% of those beneficiaries will live to the age of 90. and get this. for every person who collects social security it takes three workers to pay into the fund to fund those benefits throughout that person's life. tough numbers. bill: we mentioned house speaker boehner also weighing in on the crushing debt from entitlement programs saying the white house is not dealing with the problem in its own

budget. >> we have debt that is out of control. the president didn't deal with it in his budget. that's why when it came to the floor of the house the president's budget got zero votes. 414 members voted against it. not one democrat voted for the president's budget? why? because it wasn't a serious effort. our budget is a serious effort to deal with america's problems. if we don't deal with our growing entitlement crisis, those programs will not exist. and so we've got to deal with them. and i think being up front and straightforward about it is the correct path. bill: much more with the speaker a bit later this hour. that is forthcoming here. five minutes past. martha: officers we want to deal with this. new developments in the secret service scandal that has rocked the nation's capitol. the white house came out and said they cleared themselves of any wrongdoing. press secretary jay carney said they did an internal

review of the white house and they found, no indication of misconduct by white house staffers. senator charles grassley is demanding to know more about this investigation. he feels it happened too quickly, too cleanly and they washed their hands of it so to speak. doug mckelway is live in washington. what are his concerns, doug? >> reporter: almost immediately after the jay carney announced that the white house counsel conducted its own investigation of potential of white house involvement in the prostitution scandal and found no evidence of any, senator chuck grassley, ranking member of the senate homeland security committee, sent a letter to the white house counsel. hear is the letter here. investigating the white house is not entirely credible. he spoke to greta van susteren last night. >> make sure there is credibility for everything is to let the office of inspector general or some independent person have access to it. have access to the people and ask the same questions that they have asked. >> reporter: here's part of

what press secretary jay carney said yesterday about the investigation. >> there have been no specific, credible allegations of misconduct by anyone on the white house advance team or the white house staff. >> reporter: but grassley is also concerned that a weekend long investigation may have not been sufficient given the dod and secret service investigations are going on well over a week continue to reveal new information, martha. martha: you bring that up. there is new information that came out yesterday with regards to this dod investigation, right? >> reporter: right. it was announced yesterday a 12th military man has been implicated in the scandal. like the 11 others previously implicated has been placed on administrative leave and had all security clearances suspended pending outcome of the full investigation. was with the white house communications information, not a branch of white house, with you the white house has

taken great pains to remind reporters repeatedly, believe me, martha. martha: as you pointed out senator grassley has a lot of remaining questions how the white house could have conducted this investigation so quickly and found itself to be exonerated so quickly. we'll talk to charles grassley a little later in the show. he is wondering all about the details of that internal investigation. he wants to know more and we'll talk to him in "america's newsroom" in the next hour. it is primary day in five states. commit romney and any speculation of a, could there be, mitt romney looks to basically clear all of these states this evening and shut out his remaining opponents. voters go to the polls in new york, in connecticut, in rhode island and delaware and the swing state of pennsylvania. as they head out to do that, today you have 219 delegates, big pull tonight. look at those numbers. highly populated states in the northeast.

mitt romney hitting the trail trail in the keystone state. >> what a terrific welcome. this is just extraordinary. i appreciate your generosity, your willingness to come out. i need your vote tomorrow. get out and vote in the primary. [applause] bill: so now the question is who will romney pick as his running mate? this is really become a major focus of interest. marco rubio, now explaining a slip of the tongue that he had, delivering what his camp calls a major foreign policy speech very soon. so we'll have more on the vp speculation hitting a fever pitch. also, take a look at this. martha: wow!. wow! details on exactly what happened there. an explosion that knocked two firefighters off their feet. bill and i back in a moment.

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martha: two new jersey state

troopers suspended without pay after being accused of escorting a high-speed caravan of sport cars down the garden state parkway. these are kind of things always happen in new jersey. i always get the new jersey stories for obvious reasons. this is youtube video that mimics this kind of ride. this is not the same one. this is from 2010. people calling it a death race. a dozen or more lamborghinies, ferraris, high performance vehicles traveling 100 miles per hour. this is not the autobahn. it is in the middle of the garden state parkway. allegedly driven by business executives and former giants running back brandon jacobs. governor chris christie called this ridiculous. >> this is dumb thing to have done could have been a tragedy and could have hurt other people. so i'm glad that didn't happen. but when i heard about it, i just shook my head. those people who made this mistake should be held accountable for it and i'm sure they will.

i'm glad nobody got hurt. martha: one of the two suspended officers, the state troopers from new jersey, was with the state police for 25 years. the other, for six years. the state attorney general says he is quote, thoroughly investigating that incident. video on that baby. bill: that parkway is like nascar anyway. look out for mccallum out there too. florida senator, marco rubio, getting ready to deliver what his cam calls a major foreign policy speech. this coming only days after a bit of a slip of the tongue and explanation from senator rubio with sean hannity last night. >> three, four, five, six, seven years, for now, if i do a good job as vice president -- i'm sorry. >> you guys all got that, right? you all got that. >> i'm sorry, if i do good job as senator instead after vice president, i will have a chance to do, i will have a chance to do all sorts of things. >> you want to explain that. >> what you said, it was a slip of the tongue, i mean

you get out so many times stuff starts floating in your head in terms of word. that's why at this point, you know, sean i think that, governor romney is now begun a formal process. he asked some people to do that process for him. i think we should all respect that. bill: is he planning a vp run? former minnesota governor, republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty is with me from his home state. governor, how are you doing? good morning to you. >> i'm great, bill. bill: thank you for coming back. talk about rubio for a moment, what would governor pawlenty bring to this ticket for mitt romney. >> well, i've taken my name off the list for vice president. we should talk about marco rubio and other great possibilities that mitt romney will have. if you put up mitt romney and whoever picks against president obama and his failed leadership and failed economy that ticket will do very, very well. i taken my name off the list. bill: if you were on that ticket, would you be a good match with him? you're a tea party

connections and fiscal responsibility, et cetera? >> well, look i've been down that road before in 2008 with john mccain. i was honored to be considered and vetted as part of that process but i'm going to go down that road this time. i'm not going to consider that. i've taken my name off the list. i think i can help mitt romney in other ways as a volunteer and serve his campaign as volunteer. i'm happy to do that. he will have a lot of great choices. bill: i will take that as a no on both counts. we'll see whether or not that holds up in the end. senator rubio, what do you make of all the talk with him? >> i think he will be on everybody's list. all the pundits list. people follow this for good reason. he is very capable individual. a very gifted individual. he has a compelling american story. incredible on policy comes from a big state with lots of electoral votes in the swing state of florida and for all those reasons and more he of course will be on everybody's list of potential vp candidates and one of the leading candidates. bill: why would his team announce a major foreign policy speech? is there something more than

you think? >> he is sitting united states senator. he has been active on policy issues including foreign policy over last months and years. so i don't think unusual viewed as leader, up-and-comer on foreign policy issues to give a foreign policy speech. i wouldn't make more out of that on the face of it. bill: okay. what do you see with mitt romney's strategy right now? seems like he is test running a lot of people. he is on stage in pennsylvania with marco rubio. he is with rob portman, senator out of ohio. nikki haley, governor of south carolina. what is the strategy there? >> a natural part of the process when you go to big states important to the election and campaign with governors or senators or others who people are speculating might be vp, that sets off these kind of rumors or discussions but also natural to go campaign with people in their home states or invite them to come on the campaign trail. plus it gives mitt the opportunity to get better acquainted with these individuals and potentially considering one of them have one of them be his vp he

wants to know them by reputation not just on paper but by spending time with them. i don't think that is part of the formal process but has an informal benefit i described. bill: it is interesting strategy. i don't know a lot of political observers really taken note the way he has gone about it past several weeks. somewhat may who do you think is the white pick? >> i don't think it is time to talk about specific individuals or a short list. let's look at some of the factors. number one variable, be ready to be president. that is number one. number two, make sure you compliment and bring strengths to the ticket. obviously people mentioning here and others would do that. number three, bonus, icing on the cake bring something politically to the table in terms of a big state, a swing state, some other consideration that would be helpful to win the election. those aren't the only variables but three that matter. bill: you want to name names? >> look there is million, not a million but marco rubio. rob portman. brian sandoval.

bobby jindal. nikki haley. bob mcdonnell. many others. list goes on and on. paul ryan. may be people in the private sector. may be people in the military. i'm sure the list will initially not be three or four but perhaps dozens. we'll have to wait and see. bill: not tim pawlenty? >> i'm trying to take my name off the list. if you have it there in "america's newsroom" on fox, scratch it off, will you? bill: thank you, governor tim pawlenty out of minnesota. martha. martha: dire new warnings from the speaker of the house. >> america can't live for four more years with barack obama's as president. his policies will turn america in a direction that we may never recover from. martha: that is just the beginning of it. our exclusive with speaker boehner just minutes away. what he fears for our country and the economy. bill: moments away, new testimony from john edwards trial getting underway for

day two. his former aide expected back on the witness stand today. >> tracking his cell phone use because she had known about previous affairs. she tracked his cell phone use. so he started using my cell phone to make and receive phone calls from rial.

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martha: john edwards just arriving moments ago. hear is the video tape. that is his daughter kate who has played an increasingly larger role in this trial. the former presidential candidate accused using donor money during his campaign to cover the cost of his mistress's pregnancy and some of her housing costs as well during the 2008 campaign. boy, what a huge fall from grace we have seen in this story for john edwards. we expect we're going to hear again today from his

former aide who falsely claimed at one point he was the father of the baby in an effort to cover all this up for john edwards. jonathan serrie live at u.s. district court in greensboro, north carolina, with problems andrew young may pose for the prosecution here. good morning, jonathan. >> reporter: good morning, martha. the main issue is credibility. andrew young was the guy who initially claimed he was the father of john edwards' illegitimate child before edwards claim clean. young was the logistics person who handled one million dollars of donor money to hide edwards' mistress, edward's lawyers say he used most of the money to build his own upscale house in chapel hill. >> andrew young will present some problems for the government, you know. the defense made a great, took a great position in opening statements by saying follow the money. much of this alleged million dollars in fact went to mr. young and to his family. >> reporter: and yesterday

the judge revealed in court that andrew young had tried to contact several of the other witnesses in this trial just within the past couple of weeks. so while he is the key witness for the prosecution, he also comes with a lot of bag an and some potential headaches for prosecutors, martha. martha: he certainly does. so what about the prosecution side of this? what would they need to prove in this case in order to win the trial do you think, jonathan? >> reporter: yeah, in order to win the trial they need to convince jurors this money, nearly a million dollars from two wealthy donors, was used not just to protect edwards' wife elizabeth from finding out about the affair but it was really intended to alter of results of the election, to affect the results of the election by protecting john edwards family man image among voters. yesterday andrew young recalled a meeting with one of those donors which rachel mellon apparently told john

edwards i will do everything i can to help you become president. but again the defense is trying to poke holes in andrew young's credibility. martha: boy, from a vice-presidential candidate and somebody who could have been in that spot to walking down steps of the courtroom it has been quite a road for john edwards. jonathan serrie on the scene there. thank you very much, jonathan. bill: you're precisely right. we'll follow that throughout the day, and we'll follow this. cell phone walking and talking. not a very good idea and we've got the proof. watch here now, and watch very closely. yeah. where did she go? we've got more of that dramatic video in a moment. we'll let you know how that all turned out when you're walking down the street. martha: that's a warning. later today president obama will be speaking and his comments could be aimed a at a very specific voting bloc out there, folks, as he tries very hard to get back that youth vote. we'll tell you what he is saying.

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call on congress to keep the cost of student loans from soaring for millions of college kids. me while you have the republican frontrunner, mitt romney, he is holding a conference call how he claims president obama's economic policies have quote failed young adults. so you have the battle for the youth vote going on today in a big way. joined by bob beckel, former democratic campaign manager. andrea tanteros, daily news columnist. both are cohe hosts of the spectacular "the five.". >> good morning. martha: you know what the criticism is. the president is going to north carolina, denver and one other -- >> iowa. martha: thank you, university of iowa. very, very, those are not, those states don't happen by accident. they're all swing states of course. some are saying he is basically pandering to the youth vote in his role as president. >> i suppose you could make that argument. look he is doing initiative aimed at group voted for him two to one the last time and indications they're not voting that big for him and may not turn out in large

numbers as they did. he needs to make initiatives this student loan is probably biggest issue for college students and their parents. the interesting thing is, mitt romney has now gone along, me too. i'm for that. we ought to keep the student loan rates the way they are. the problem of course, mitt romney is sort of, shackled with the republican congress that needs to do this. congress says they will probably try to get it done, maybe on this one but there will be a lot of others that won't happen that way. martha: andrea, looks like we just in so many areas continue to find ways to sort of prolong the period until the pain starts. >> uh-huh. martha: what do you make of this and how do you read the president's visit to these three college campuses? >> this is just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. think about this. the president came out in the fall with his student loan forgiveness act which would help students be able to lower rates a little bit for their student loans. after 20 years, martha they don't have to pay these loans back. to your point, yes

eventually this could all be shifted on federal balance sheet and taxpayer gets stuck with it the bill. this is political pandering. i think what is mitt romney supposed to say? i don't want higher interest rates for students but own way these students will ever pay back the loans is with jobs. and i mean, real jobs. not baristas and not lower paying jobs. underemployment rate as we saw yesterday, i mean in double dedge its. so these students can't find work. martha, what is your incentive if you're a university to lower skyrocketing tuition rates? no one is keeping them in check. martha: look at numbers. i found these really stunning and you can see why the president is going after this group when you look at these. outstanding student loans under 30 years, 40% of the population has outstanding student loans. martha:. >> yeah. martha: americans 60 years and older, owe 30 six billion collectively in student loans that will be a favorable thing for them as well. look at the other thing

which is what mitt romney will stop into. he has a 9:45 conference call this morning on the economy. jobless or unemployed recent college graduates, 50%, bob. so you can see, you know how they're battling both sides of this issue. more jobs or lower fees on your student loans. >> first of all it is not a small issue here. it is a question of doubling student loan rates if this doesn't get approved by this summer. martha: right. >> but the point is, romney, if you calling obama pandering romney is doing exactly the same thing, he won't have kids left behind. >> what is he supposed to say, bob? i want higher rates? >> obama is he going to say yes that is favorable like that? will he get republican congress to go alongwith it? that is the question here. he can't be a me too. you have to make a distinction if you want-to-be president of the united states with a sitting president. he is not making distinction here? >> i agree. but i think on this one he is boxed in. the on mortgage meltdown was availability of easy credit.

that's what we're seeing in higher education. obama is giving it out. higher education loans. and these students, martha --. martha: all comes home to roost down the road and no one seems to take responsibility for it up front or anytime soon. i want to ask one more question. president as part of the reaching out to the young folks is appearance on jimmy fall lon as well. some discussion about mitt romney. he has been offered to come on "saturday night live.". dana perino, president bush always felt that was somewhat unpresidential in his opinion to go on these kind of shows. he opted not to do it. should mitt romney, do you think, started with andrea, go on "saturday night live" and would it help him with the young folks? >> i think it could help mitt romney because the narrative is that he is stiff and he's phony and somehow doesn't have a sense of humor. i think he does. i think if he can do it well, and really let his hair down and really be the real mitt romney and have some fun with it i think it could help someone like

mitt romney. i think he should praise. martha: the operative phrase for mitt romney. >> that awfully big roll of the dice, whether you like it or not he is a little stiff and not all that funny. the fact if you don't pull it off it will have bad consequences. what he ought to do is take the position a, that martha, say on all these initiatives i just think it is time to draw the line but he is not doing it. >> bob, not everybody can have your sense of humor. >> i understand that. certain parts of my sense of humor. let's be honest. some of my sense of humor people don't take very well to. martha: we think most of it i was funny, bob. >> not although. martha: see you at 5:00. >> see you then. martha: look how series the student loan debt situation has really become. 37 million borrowers now holdout standing debt. over the last 10 years the average debt for someone who attended public college is $2200 to pay back. for someone who attended private college, that number goes up to more than $5500.

in the end, bill you need to have a good job to pay off the debt. that becomes the bottom line. bill: breaking news on the economy now. this a sign of a struggling economy. home prices dropping in february in most major u.s. cities for a sixth straight month. a sign that modest sales gains have not been enough to boost prices that index measures 16, measures about 20 different american cities. in 16 of the 20 you had drops. biggest drops in atlanta, chicago and the city of cleveland ohio. now this freak accident leading to a dramatic rescue. cameras rolling, teenager on her cell phone falls through a sidewalk. happened in the country of china. underneath that sidewalk was a to foot sinkhole. that is where she went. a cab driver saw it, jumped in to help. erosion was so bads walls crumbled as they tried to get her out with a ladder. eventually firefighters arrived and used the ladder

to help the her come back to the surface. no serious injuries. whether she was on a cell phone or not doesn't matter. because the sidewalk --. martha: how do you --. bill: how do you do that? martha: just general awareness issue. saw the guy with grizzly bear coming around the corner who was on his cell phone, didn't notice there was a grizzly bear in front of him. he was startled. bill: that is amazing thing. martha: square box, strange, don't you think the way it crumbled? all right, this is coming up, folks. crews responding to an emergency got the scare of their lives. watch this. [explosion] martha: wow!. check that out. we'll tell you what caused that blast and how those firefighters are doing today. bill: one of the most powerful members of congress, we sit down and talk with house speaker john boehner in a matter of moments and you will hear him answer the following question here. you suggested that there are

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martha: a camera captures an electrical explosion as it insures a pair of california firefighters. watch. two other blasts at the same electrical vault in yorba linda. luckily they were wearing helmets and other protective gear. doctors treating them at hospital said they only suffered minor injures. it cut out power to 5,000 folks, voters heading to the polls today. primary day for them. new york and pennsylvania among the five. as that happens we sit down with one of the most powerful members of congress,

speaker of the house john boehner. we talk about campaign 2012, mitt romney and where he feels our country is headed if president obama wins a second term. speaker boehner. good morning to you. >> bill, good morning. bill: terrific to be back with you. for a man titled as speaker you don't speak often in this forum. good to have you back. good morning to you. last week you called this election the most important of your lifetime. you. why? >> i've been around a while. listen, i think the president's economic policies have failed. i have argued they actually made things worse. and as a result the problem, the president, has turned to the politics of envy and division. now this is not, this is not, in my opinion the right way to run for re-election. republicans have a plan to get america going again, get american people back to work and, and that's why i believe that this election is so important. america, america can't live for four more years with

barack obama as president. his policies will turn america in a direction that we may never recover from. the size, scope of government, the debt that happenings over our economy, it's, when the president and i would have disent grews in our discussions last summer there would be times when it was pretty clear we were miles apart. he would look over at me and say, john, that's what elections are for. i look at the president, yes, mr. president, that is what elections are for. bill: those statements are dire. the inference that you're making is that four more years of barack obama is, sending america down a deep, dark hole? >> it is sending america down a path that will look a lot like what we see in europe. a big social welfare state. high unemployment. slow economic growth, and a government that is overly

large. the you know, if you have a government that can give you everything that you want, you have a government big enough to take everything that you have. bill: well, republicans keep the house? >> i believe that we will but we've got a real challenge. we have 50 of our members in tough races. 89 freshman running for their first re-election. bill: a lot. >> and we have 32 districts that are in states where there is no presidential campaign going to be run, no big senate race and we call these orphan districts. you take 18 of them, california, illinois and new york. where we are not likely to do well at the top of the ticket and, those districts are frankly pretty vulnerable. bill: i did not hear you say i can guaranty we can keep the house. >> i did not say that, no. bill: are you hedging a little bit on this? lack of confidence? >> no i say there is two in

three chance we win control of the house again but there is a one in three chance we could lose. i being, myself, frank. we have a got a big challenge and we have work to do. bill: how is mitt romney doing, do you think? >> i think he is doing fine after coming through what clearly was a pretty bruising primary. for his numbers to be in close proximity to the president, i think is a very good sign. bill: how do you size him up politically? what are his strengths and weaknesses as you sit hear some six 1/2 months away? >> listen, mitt romney has a great story to tell. his success story is an american success story. and i would go out there and talk about his story and how, what he wants to do is make those opportunities available to every american but to do that, we've got to rein in the size and scope, and reach of washington, d.c.. bill: are you suggesting that is what he should do or he is that because he has

not done that enough to this point? >> he has certainly done an awful lot of that, but i think his economic background, his background in creating jobs and creating investment that would help create more jobs is exactly the right message that the voters want to hear in this november. the election will be a referendum on the president's economic policies, pure and simple. the election will try to make everything other than his economic policies but, american people vote with their wallets. bill: there is the campaign in a nutshell. next hour, more of my interview with house speaker john boehner. one of the president's top advisors there are good republicans and there are bad republicans. i ask the speaker which one is he, are you in the good category or bad category. martha: what did he say? bill: you have to wait. 45 minutes away. very interesting to see the level of the campaign and how it is growing in intensity right now speaking with him. it hits home. off we go. martha: part two couple

coming up in the next hour. meantime teary testimony from jennifer hudson. the oscar winner taking the stand and remembering the murders of her mother, brother and nephew. bill: wow! also watch here. now, we were on the edge of our seats trying to see how this thing ended. a drag racer walks away from a crash that could have easily taken her life and she is here live in our studio next. ♪ are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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bill: nine minutes now before the hour some headlines. prosecutors in the jennifer hudson family murder trial

plan to lay out more evidence against william balfour, that is her former brother accused murdering her mother, brother and nephew. hudson broke down on the stand. she tried to make distance between her and her suspect. joran van der sloot serving 28 years for murder in peru. residents in northeastern ohio after a major windstorm a tree in cleveland heights falling on this newly remodeled home. it damaged the roof and fell into a bedroom. nasty weather rolling through. nine minutes before the hour. here's martha. martha: thanks, bill. well a young race car driver is lucky to be alive today after a crash at a tennessee drag strip. and so is the cameraman really who recorded it. she lost control of her chevy camaro. look at that. that is hard to look at that. she is sitting next to me. flew over a fence right into the camera. cameraman is a quick mover.

lucky for him, he had seconds to react. he jumped onto the track over the wall and onto the track to get out of the way of that collision that was headed right at him. drag racer, lizzie musi. joins us here in "america's newsroom.". howe are you? >> hi. martha: you're 21 years old? i'm 21. martha: does this scare the bejesus out of you? >> no. i've been around a while. i've seen a lot through my life in races and stuff. i know that stuff will happen. i thank god for all the safety equipment you put in those cars and just everything works. we were trying to qualify. that was my biggest thing, you know. and it was a pretty tight field. we kind of put a little more power to the car. with a car, and it kind of hyped up the front end. it was going for a run that fast. i kind of felt it going to the right and i wanted to like lift it so, when you're in the moment in that car, it is just, unreal.

it's like, something you will never ever feel in your life. like something outside and inside of the car. you know, i'm feel the lift and happens in the blink of an eye. made a hard left on me. got away from me, you know. martha: your dad, pat, is a legend in this sport. he was, he said he was right down at the line. >> yes. martha: in this race. what did he say to you? did you jump right out of the car? are you okay? did you have a moment you wondered if you were still alive? >> it was a pretty shocking thing when the car came to a stop. i was, it kind of bummed out pause i really wanted to continue racing again. it put a pause to me. i just want to continue racing. i got out car quick. i'm glad, actually the camera guy, he came running over to me. first thing he said, are you okay, dude? i'm like, oh my foodness. you almost hit me. i'm like oh my goodness. martha: when you saw the video how close your car

came to the camera? >> that was pretty crazy. martha: what did you your dad say to you? when you got out of the car, what did he say to you? >> i'm glad your okay and he gave me a hug. martha: there is you as a little girl in that picture with your dad. did you ever want to do anything but this in your life? what are your plans? what are your dreams and hopes for future? >> continue racing. i've been around so long. i worked at the shop 24/7. i told my dad i will do anything to race a car like him. i worked so hard at the shop. i want to do hand-on stuff. work on engines. martha: do you have brothers? did your family have any reservations about you getting into this? >> no, not really. martha: everybody is okay with it? >> yeah. pretty much everyone is supportive. i thank everyone for being supportive. i have a lot of people going on my facebook, pretty like, i don't know, really overwhelming. i really appreciate everyone's help and support. they did an amazing job coming to me right away and

making sure i was okay. and john reese, the car owner, i'm driving for him. i appreciate everything for giving me this opportunity. martha: you're an impressive young lady. you will go places. it is great to meet you. thank you very much for coming in. >> thank you guys for having me on here. martha: you stay safe and stay at it. we wish you well. great to have you with us. thanks for being with us. >> thanks, guys. martha: wow! that is inspiring. bill: i'm telling you. take a look at the markets right now. buy some stock in this, folks. the dow is on the move, just shy of 13,000. up 66 points in trading right now. a little later today a small company in california reports earnings. it's called apple. we'll keep an eye on the markets and see what kind of effect. lizzy stay off the turnpike in new jersey. she could probably deal with those drivers, right, martha? martha: we'll have more from lizzy coming up.

everybody wants to know where this little girl is. she disappeared from her home in the middle of the night. police in tucson have new information on this they will tell us about that shortly. bill: it closing time for newt gingrich? he has more on the line today than you will know. and we will tell you why.

martha: so democrats vow to force a vote in the senate to shoot down arizona's controversial immigration law if the supreme court ruling does not go their way. arguments at the high court set to begin tomorrow on that controversial arizona immigration law. brand new hour starting right now in "america's newsroom," i'm

martha maccallum, and you are -- bill: i'm bill hemmer, still. [laughter] the announcement from democrats expected to come during a senate hearing that's set to get under way any moment, live shot from the hill. martha: yep. charles schumer entering the room and arizona, of course, is at the epicenter of this battle. the state's governor, jan brewer, joins me now on the phone. good morning, governor. glad to have you with us this morning. >> good morning, martha, glad to be with you. martha: we're watching a live shot, and basically democrats are saying regardless of what happens in the supreme court with your law, even if it is upheld, they're going to force legislation that would try to overturn it. >> well, i don't think they probably have the votes to do that. you know, it's just all, i believe, a political stunt that they're performing today at the senate hearing. it's unfortunate because, of course, they've had two years to address this issue, and they haven't done anything. so now they wait until the day

before the supreme court hears it? it's, um, you know, it's crazy. martha: you say it's political, and you may be right about that. when you look at the votes on this and the influence on the election potentially, this may be an effort to court the latino vote, and i wonder what you think about that in terms of, you know, your long-term goals for your state. >> well, you know, i, first of all, i believe that it is a political move because they are courting the latino vote, but i think that when you look at statistics, 65% of the american people aagree with senate bill 1070, and they believe in the rule of law. and what's taking place today at the senate, of course, is their privilege, but i believe the timing is of pure evidence that it is a political stunt, political theater of grandstanding on an issue to influence the election. martha: you know, i wonder what

your take is on the latino vote in your state. you know, i mean, because i don't think it's fair to take any group and treat them as a voting bloc and to assume that they share the same feelings about the way they look at this law. >> oh, i agree with you totally. you know, we have a lot of hispanics that agree with us also and philosophically they agree with us as republicans. but the bottom line is that i have a responsibility to uphold the law, and all we really want to do is to of course, um, work with the federal government to help them enforce their law and use our resources. and they pushed back. it goes very deep, martha. it goes very, very deep. martha: indeed, it does. golf brewer, i know you're watching this very closely as the supreme court arguments get under way as well. thank you very much. it's good to have you with us today. >> thank you, martha. martha: i'd like to bring in tucker carlson now, editor of

the daily caller and a fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> thanks, martha. martha: you know, you heard our conversation with governor brewer moments ago, she's saying that she believes this is very politically motivated, and she wonders where all of these folks were when she's been yelling and screaming about this issue for a long time from arizona. >> well, i don't know that anyone in washington anyway is even pretending this vote is about policy. there's no hope of this getting through a divided senate or a republican-controlled house. it's not going to pass. this really is campaign 2012 unfolding in a legislative body where, by the way, it should not be unfolding. here are the dynamics very quickly. there are fewer undecided voters in this election than anywhere in american history, less than 10% of people who haven't made up their mind. so in order to get reelected, the president has to get virtually everybody who voted for him last time, and this is an attempt to do it, to scare

hispanic voters to, in effect, whip up racial tension in an effort to get that voting bloc out in november. there's really no other way to read this and, again, i don't know anybody who's pretending otherwise. martha: when you look at the hispanic electorate, what's your take on the issue that i brought up with the governor in terms of voting as a bloc and whether or not the discussion that's gone on in this country since the last election has had any impact on hispanic voters in this nation and whether or not, you know, some of them don't line up more with the way the governor's speaking? >> well, of course, it's not at all a monolithic voting bloc. hispanic is a very broad term, and there's a lot of debate about how accurate that term is, a whole lot of debate about that. but the bottom line is that people who identify as hispanic are one of the fastest-growing groups in the united states, of course. the demographics are changing dramatically, and those changes favor democrats overall. and, two, they're not for this law. there are some exceptions, of course, many exceptions, but in the main this will help -- this is the calculation of the democratic side -- this will

help get self-identified hispanics out to vote for president obama. if you think about the policy behind immaterial, does the white house really want to say, no, the state of arizona doesn't have the right to enforce laws? no. this is not about policy. this is not about principle. this is purely about politics. listen to the spanish-language radio ads. most reporters don't speak spanish, but we're going to see stories on this, the ones that the democrats put up on spanish-language television and particularly radio will reference this vote. martha: tucker, thank you. huge issue, and an area where some would say the gop has a lot of work to do, and we're going to watch the vote as it plays out. tucker, thanks, we'll see you soon. thanks, martha. bill: it is primary day for voters in five different states, and there are questions about how long newt gingrich will hang in there. right now he's hanging on to hope that romney, mitt romney, will not have enough delegates before the republican convention. more than 200 delegates at stake today as voters head to the primary in states like pennsylvania and new york, two

of the big ones. right now romney at 697 on the delegate meter, he needs 1,134 to officially claim the nomination. bob cusack is managing editor of the hill, good good morning to . >> i think romney's going to do very well, and i think we're finally going to get the core nation of mitt romney. recently the story about awz rick santorum bowing out, this is going to be the nail in the coffin. it is basically over now, but today i think it's going to be official, and then you've got to watch whether, what newt gingrich does next. bill: he won't get to the magic number, right? 1,144. >> right, he won't get to the magic number, but he is on track, we're not going to have a brokered convention -- bill: does he then make a big speech tonight, does he wait on that a couple days? >> oh, no, i think he gives a speech tonight, has free tv to take some swings at president obama. he needs to do that, he doesn't have the bully pulpit, so

definitely he gives a speech tonight. bill: what does newt gingrich then do? because he is pinning his hopes on the first state, the state of delaware. >> yeah. he's got to come up big in delaware. i just don't see it happening, bill. he's had a very good campaign outside the box campaign, a lot of ideas, but he's come up short. the campaign's had nine lives, but now i think he's got to be thinking about what his role at the convention is. this is a tricky situation because, remember, he called mitt romney a liar, attacked his record, but republicans are saying this is the time for reconciliation, and newt gingrich should be part of that. bill: he's admitted in public he's already talked to mitt romney one-on-one a few weeks back, so it's quite possible that some of those details have been worked out already, have they not? >> i think so. because i think he could be a very effective surrogate for romney. bill: you do? >> but it has to happen, he's got to get out. bill: all right, bob, thank you. bob cusack from the hill. the economy is easily issue number one in the election, and

john boehner, in our exclusive interview, says it is all about -- this election is all about the president's current policies. >> clearly, the policies coming out of washington have every employer and every investor scared to death. because they don't know what's next. and as someone who ran a small business, when i saw that kind of uncertainty, i sat on my money. i sat on my hands waiting for the picture to clear. and i think a lot of business people around the country are looking to november hoping that the picture will become clearer so that they know and understand the path forward. bill: all right. the rest of that interview in a couple moments, the speaker responding to comments by david axlerod that republicans are engaged in a, quote, reign of terror. we'll get him to react to that. one thing he makes quite clear, as he says himself, he's been around politics for a long time. there are six and a half months before the election. martha: a very, very long time. bill: that's a very long time where any one of a number of things could take place either

here or overseas. so keep an eye -- martha: yeah, tucker was saying only 10% are undecided, but you have such a long time for people to assess these candidates and a lot of history that could happen between now and then, and we don't know what that would hold. stay tunessed right here in "america's newsroom." and it was one of the biggest campaign promises that the president made, and it had to do with transparency. >> i will also hold myself as president to a new standard of openness. martha: we'll see. a top republican senator is warning that the white house should not break that promise. senator charles grassley is here to explain what he wants to know about the white house investigation into the secret service scandal. bill: we will talk to him live, and breaking developments in the case of a missouri mother missing for a year now. police have made an arrest. we'll see what the connection is here with the details in a moment. martha: and, you know, they say no good deed goes unpunished, right?

a woman donated a kidney to help save her boss' life, and you won't believe what happened next! >> i immediately told her that she could have one of mine just because it's a part of who i am, i would do it for a lot of people. so i was more than happy and honored to do this for her. again, i'll stress, i did not do this for job security. i thought that i had a job there based on merit and hard work. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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bill: fox news alert, take you down to washington. america's top teacher being honored at the white house, rebecca milwaukee is her name out of burbank, california. just heard the applause ripple across the room there. test scores aside, you know you're doing something right when the leader of the free world's giving you a strong pat on the back. president obama talking about the naming of the national teacher, and you can watch it all streaming live on our web site at foxnews.com, and congratulations. that's a cool moment, huh? martha: congratulations to her. great work. congratulations. what an honor.

all right. so a top-ranking republican would like some answers from the white house. senator grassley wants the details on an internal investigation that the white house officials say clears their staff of any wrongdoing in the secret service prostitution scandal. so the senator says that the president, a ways back, promised transparency. >> transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the american people about how decisions are made. it means recognizing that government does not have all the answers. martha: well, the president's been challenged on that transparency issue now a number of times. i'm glad to be joined now by senator charles grassley, he's the ranking member on the senate judiciary committee. good morning, sir, good to have you with us. >> good morning. martha: what was your reaction? jay carney came out at the white house press briefing and said, you know, we've done our

investigation over the weekend, we have cleared white house staff and administration staff of any potential wrongdoing related to this whole colombia prostitution mess. >> well, first of all, until i sent my letter there was never any indication that within the white house personnel there was any concern of this like there was in the secret service. and so i sent the letter friday, they had saturday and sunday if they worked on the weekend, maybe they had a chance to talk to everybody. but it seems to me they came to that conclusion very quickly. i think it's the extent to which they make the conclusions and how they conducted their investigation public would help a lot with the credibility of it. but i come from the standpoint that since there's a secret service, a few military people, the advance people at the white house as well as the communication people that there's so much interaction that we ought to be satisfied that it's just not a case of a few military people and a few secret service people that may have

been doing something wrong. and when it comes to our national security and it comes to the protection of the president, that we need to have certain answers of all these questions. martha: and i know that you're concerned that the speedy disposal of this issue may mean that it wasn't done thoroughly. and you asked 14 questions in your letter, some of them are very basic questions that you want the white house to answer including how many total hours were spent on the weekend review, how many additional white house staff arrived with the president, how many white house advance staff had overnight guests, how many white house staff had overnight guests. and as you say, often these trips are comingled between white house staff and advance folks and communication folks and the secret service. do you know, basically, how many were on the trip and all those details? >> i don't have that information yet, and that's what needs to be made public, and we need to know whether or not there's other people involved that maybe we haven't even thought of and how far outside of this small group

of people this investigation entailed. because i think it's very important that we have this information out, because the security of the president is of utmost importance and one of the main responsibilities of the people involved in any foreign travel or even any domestic travel. martha: are you suggesting that they're covering something up? >> i have no basis for that now, but the extent to which they are very transparent as the president promised he would be is going to alleviate any concern about these questions we have. but i want -- everybody knows in this country these are legitimate concerns because these people keel with the national -- deal with the national security and the protection of the president. martha: i know that you also have concerns about the fact that the white house did their own investigation. is that part of what you're asking for? would you like an inspector, you know, an outside entity to be the folks that are involved in this? >> yeah. at least outside the white

house, pretty much like i asked director sullivan when he first briefed me a week ago today about this issue, i kind of checked the benchmark that i use about whether or not you're going to get a thorough investigation is the inspector general. in this case, the inspector general in homeland security, are they going to be involved. and he assured me that they were already involved which was very satisfying to me at that time. martha: right. >> now, a week later, we kind of have questions about how much is an independent investigation on its own. i think it's very important to have that for the secret service as well as for the white house. martha: all right. well, we'll follow it, we'll stay on top of it and let us know if you get anywhere. thank you very much, senator. always good to have you with us. >> thank you, martha. bill: david axlerod says republicans are engaged in a reign of terror, and he says there are good republicans and bad republicans working now in washington. we'll ask john boehner, house speaker, about that in our

"america's newsroom" exchoosive. martha: and she donated a kidney to try to save her boss' life, that's pretty dramatic, right? when she took a few days off to recover, there was an issue at work, and now there's a lawsuit -- bill: a big one. martha: bill? we'll see what happens. >> i loved my job. i would have been there until i retired. i loved it. i loved going to work. i never had a bad day there. and so having it taken away from me like that really for no reason was a very hard experience.

bill: she gave the gift of life, then says she was fired for it. a long island, new york, woman suing her former employer claiming she donated a kidney to save her boss' life, but when

she called out sick a few times after her surgery, she was transferred to a different office and eventually she was canned for it. >> i was transferred against my wishes to another location. i would have been very -- i loved my job. i did not want to leave there, and i was devastated when they transferred me. so, um, you know, when i got to the new location, it wasn't like anyone called to check up on me and say is everything working out okay there, and the reason they transferred me was they said the situation was too personal. even though i wanted to keep it private. bill: now she's suing, and mark eiglarsh is here. how you doing, mark? good morning to you. >> i'm wonderful, bill. bill: she's talking to neil yesterday on "your world," does she have a case, mark? >> well, it depends upon the facts. let's first start with the law. it is clear both under new york city, new york state and federal law, the americans with disability act established in 1990, that an employer cannot

discriminate against their employees who have disabilities. the question is, did they make reasonable accommodations for her, and that depends upon the facts. she's going to say it was not reasonable. they groomed me, my employer did, to take my kidney and then harassed me and got rid of me, and they're going to say, well, she wasn't performing her job properly -- bill: on the surface it sounds rather harsh, you're right. when you say "reasonable," what's reasonable? does she have to have a certain amount of time off before she's required to come back? was there a number of sick days she could have accrued? how do you define that? >> well, there's no law book that looks up, okay, kidney surgery and, oh, well, complications gets an extra couple of weeks. it's what's reasonable. if she went back to work immediately and they expected her at 100%, that's unreasonable. she's going to argue four weeks would otherwise be reasonable, but i had complications, and i couldn't work the same way. they're going to say you were

looking for preferential treatment. you were loafing off and not doing what you were supposed to. bill: that's brutal. now, what she says is she was transferred -- she works for a car company. she was transferred to another dealership that was miles away from her home. but this is how i understand it. she did not physically give her kidney to her boss, but she did donate a kidney to another recipient that enabled her boss to move up the list. she possibly safed her boss' life, did she not? how does that enter into this? >> right. i don't think those facts are in dispute. talk about no good deed going unpunished, i'm reluctant to give my employer the final doughnut, you know? here she gave from the bottom of her heart her kidney, and as a direct result she would argue, she was fired for it, that her employer had ha in mind when they asked her back to the company. bill: just one thing, just a general question in all this, so she's looking for wrongful termination, i would think, right? that's the phrase that the lawyers use.

>> sure. bill: is that an easy thing to prove, mark, or not? >> well, it really just depends upon the facts. i keep coming back to it. if they can show that there was no problem with her employ, she was doing well, she was working no problems, she goes away, she comes back, she's doing okay but then, you know what? the boss is arguing with her, her job performance starts to decline, it really just depends on what happened in the workplace, and we're not privy to those facts. bill: mark, thank you for sorting that out. >> thanks, bill, if you need my kidney, let me know. bill: keep your kidney, i'll take your doughnut. martha: i know. [laughter] bill: see you soon, mark. martha: he doesn't want to give his employer the last doughnut. all right, so the police chief in charge of investigating trayvon martin's killing has resigned over mounting public pressure, but today he is still on the job. we're going to tell you why. bill: also, the last part of my interview with john boehner, his take on the recent washington scandals involving secret service and the gsa.

>> this is outrageous. and as someone who filled out their tax form and wrote checks last sunday, it irritates me to no end, and i'm sure taxpayers around the country look up at the abuse of their money and just another example of washington being out of control. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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martha: well, her family understandably says that they will never give up looking for her.

6-year-old isabelle seles disappeared from her tucson home over the weekend. her parents saying they last saw the first grader sleeping in her bedroom on friday night. police say that a window was open, the screen pushed aside. police, joined by volunteers, have been fanning across the neighborhood in an area landfill now. they are looking, looking for any clue that they can find. they've got more than 100 leads right now in this case. a reward is being offered. >> i can't at this point tell you, however, that a reward has been posted through ada crime. it is from anonymous donor source, and more information can be obtained from ada crime tomorrow during business hours. martha: the amount of the award has not been disclosed. the police in tucson say they will search that landfill again today and, hopefully, they don't find anything. bill: it's in the early stages. yeah, it sounds a lot like the elizabeth smart case, but we'll

see how the facts play out now in the story. house speaker john boehner says there are two things that will decide this election in november; the president's policies and the economy. in part two of my interview, speaker boehner goes on record over the recent scandals in washington and the strong words from one of the president's top advisers. daviddavid axlerod said over the weekend that republicans have engaged, on the house side, in a reign of terror. [laughter] now, he's suggesting that house members are, they're walking in lockstep as a party to stymy the president and make sure he gets no progress between now and election time. what do you think of those comments by -- >> well, i think that it's just outrageous talk. they're trying to make this election, as i said earlier, about anything other than the president's failed economic policies. and so they're going to look for every bogeyman known to man. listen, if republicans were walking in lockstep, my job

would be a whole lot easier. bill: so he suggested that a there are good republicans and, perhaps, bad republicans -- >> i wonder what category i fall in. bill: which one are you? >> i don't know. listen, what i and my team are trying to do every day was do the right thing. my parents taught me and i taught my kids the same lesson. you do the right things every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen. and i'm proud of our team. we've got the most committed team of republicans we've had in the 21 years that i've been there. trying to be responsible stewards for the american people. you know, our positions in government are ones of trust, and in rebuilding that trust between the american people and their elected representatives is an important component in our system of government. and if we're going to succeed, we've got to rebuild that trust and show the american people that we're wore hawaii of -- worthy of that trust and we do the right thing every day.

bill: can congress get everything done? is congress finished right now? is it all election mode? >> listen, we've passed almost 35 bills that would help improve our economy, they're sitting in the united states senate -- bill: what's harry reid say to you about that? >> i've heard every excuse known to man, but they don't seem to move any of these bills. and at some point they've got to take some responsibility. the fact that they haven't passed a budget in over a thousand days, it just -- most americans are scratching their heads. at a time when we have this fiscal nightmare, the most basic responsibility is to do a budget. but do you know why they don't want to do a budget? because they don't want to show people how to address america's big problems. they're afraid, they're afraid that come election day that someone will hold them responsible. you can't continue to kick the can down the road and act like the problem doesn't exist.

totally irresponsible. bill: this scandal is growing by the day involving the gsa. how do you see that, and where does that issue go? >> you know, this is outrageous. and as someone who filled out their tax form and wrote checks last sunday, it irritates me to no end. and i'm sure taxpayers around the country look up at the abuse of their money and just another example of washington being out of control. bill: where does it end, do you think? >> we need to get to the bottom of it. there are a number of investigations going on by the ig and committees in congress. we need to get to the bottom of it, understand how pervasive it is, hold those responsible, make sure that they're held accountable and put controls in place so it doesn't happen again. bill: the secret service issue that has come up, what is your view about where that is headed, and do you think national security was put in jeopardy

here? >> well, i don't know that we -- we clearly don't have all of the answers, but we're seeing secret service agents decide to retire awfully quickly. again, there are a number of investigations going on. we need to get to the bottom of them. their job to provide security for the president of the united states. and one of the questions that we're going to want to know is was that jeopardized. bill: as that investigation continues, you can hear every day in the white house briefing room as the questions continue to trickle in every day, and we'll see where that leads, but these are big issues on the table, and you can tell as a country we have reached a point real soon here now where we have to make a decision. is it going to go this way, or is it going to go that way? speaker boehner, clearly, trying to raise a lot of money as he moves throughout the country -- martha: he makes a good point. i don't know how you show up for work every day having not done the number one biggest thing in your job description which is to

put forth a budget. so great interview, very interesting. thanks, bill. all right, well, the sanford police chief is involved in the trayvon martin case, of course, and he has tried now to resign as a result. but he's failed to resign. we're going to tell you what's going on there. plus, 1400 children every day die from malaria. that is more than a half a million every single year. i will take you on a trip to africa as we prepare to mark world malaria day. >> we got to meet some women who are here for their care, and they were lovely and gracious in allowing us to come here and see what they're doing. they're doing great work. it's important people get tested so that they have the diagnose know says, so that they know and they can get the medication and start the treatment.

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martha: so now we have a special segment in order to wring your attention to a -- bring your attention to a very important issue. tomorrow is world malaria day.

every single day 1400 children die from malaria. that is a child gone every minute of every single day. now, the good news is that since president bush started the president's malaria initiative back in 2005, the number of these cases has dropped significantly. it is down 33% since the global effort began back in 2000, and president obama has kept all of this going as well. that is the pmi head admiral who you see to the left of me there in that picture. i recently spent some time with him in ghana. malaria no more supports a three-pronged effort of insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets and improved treatment and early diagnosis. and i got to see this program up close on a recent trip to ghana. here's a look at some of what i saw. we came here this morning to help distribute masks, and we were part of an amazing

ceremony. mothers and some of the chiefs and lots of the kids, and we played with them, and we helped to hang some nets in some homes in this village and educate people about how to use them to make sure that they're hung correctly. so we hope that it'll have a lasting impact here. it's a wonderful village. we had a wonderful -- they welcomed us with open arms. great, great day. we were looking at the mosquitoes as they were breeding, and then they'll be tested here to figure out if they're resistant to the supplies they're testing here. amazing. we just encountered the most dangerous animal in africa. we are here to see a clinic where women are getting prenatal care. so they come for one, two or, hopefully, three treatments before they have their babies so they can be protected from malaria. they're also given nets so after the baby's born, the baby can be

protected, the family can be protected. there's also a lab here that is testing for malaria as well, and for tb as well that we got to see. we got to meet some women who were here for their care, and they were lovely and gracious to allow us to come here and see what they were doing. they're doing great work. it's important people get tested so that they have the diagnose , so they know and get the medication. that was my son reid next to me, and he had an extraordinary experience seeing all this, very important to see this kind of work firsthand, and i'm joined now, very glad to be joined by the ceo of ma area ya no more -- malaria no more and policy fellow at the one campaign. and, gentlemen, welcome. it's great to see you here. david and i were on the trip together. tell folks at home sort of the big message here in why this work is so important, and why should the united states spend any money to send to this foreign country for this cause? >> well, i think you hit the

nail right on the head when you talked about a child dying every minute. and the tragedy is that every single one of those deaths is preventable. a simple bed net stops a mosquito biting and transmitting malaria, and the money that the united states is spending is tiny compared to the overall spend of the government. it's one dime out of every $400 that the government spends we spend on the president's malaria initiative. and for that dime we see dividends across the world; strengthened economies, goodwill for america in countries around the globe. so that's really the message of world malaria day. this fight is winnable, we can win it, we have the tools, we have the knowledge, and we just need the will. martha: and, michael, you were in on this early on in the formative part of the president's malaria initiative, and president bush was so passionate about this. he and his family are revered in africa because of the work that they did there. why, you know, why does it make sense in terms of national security issues and also because it's just, as he would say, it is what we do as americans?

>> well, there is a humanitarian imperative here. we are a unique country, a country with a creed. and this kind of effort makes our creed evident to the world. but there is also an interest here. we've seen how america can be hurt when there are despair and hopelessness in other parts of the world. that's true with terrorism, it's true with pandemic disease, drug trafficking. and we benefit when hope advances in other places. i've been across africa. i've seen how particularly efforts on malaria and aids have created a positive image for america. people remember when you help to save their children. martha: yeah. and all these areas are vulnerable, of course, to the seeds of terrorism and other entities that would love to sort of move into that vacuum when the economy is so, it's so vulnerable. so how does, you know, just being healthy and not having malaria, how is that a basic building block here, david? >> well, about 25% of school

absences in sub-saharan africa are traceable to malaria. when kids are healthy, they can learn, they can go to school. when parents are healthy, they can go to the market, they can go to the fields. it build, as a society, the malaria control programs build an economy and society. we've seen companies, you and i saw companies in a region of ghana where they're investing in malaria prevention programs not just as a measure of goodwill, but as an economic driver. they're reducing lost workdays, they're building society, and you've seen school attendance skyrocket, you've seen lost workdays plummet. that's the sort of thing which if replicated across after, could have an extraordinarily effect on building viable trading partners for america and helping create american jobs. martha: michael, you wrote a piece on your visit to zambia that was fascinating, and i encourage everybody to go online and check it out, but you talked about china. china is spending ten to one the dollars we are investing in africa. talk to us about that.

>> well, it's true. you see it all over africa. china is competing for resources, it's a very self-interested sort of mercantile approach, but if you go to the u.s. embassy in zambia, much of what they do is aids and malaria, and it's an interesting strategy. i think it's a pretty successful one. the last presidential election in zambia was in many ways a rejection of chinese influence. the president was, the new president of zambia was elected on kind of an anti-chinese platform, and his first act was to have a party where he honored peace corps and usaid for their work. this is exactly what america can do in the world, and i think it's a comparative advantage we bring in this struggle. martha: great points, everybody. and the address for malaria no more is on the bottom of your screen, ma malaria no more.org. quickly, david, what can people do to help? >> people need to express themselves in their communities, to their elected leaders, and if they want to know more about what's going on, just come to

our web site as you pointed out, malaria no more.org, and thank you. this is so important. martha: thank you very much, david and michael, thank you for the work that you've done in this area and to keep this conversation going. we ask everybody to do what you can to help. thank you very much, gentlemen. great to have you here today. bill: job well done. great job to you, too, martha. that would be an awesome experience, especially with your son reid. well done. all right, jenna lee's coming up next on "happening now," what you working on, jenna? good morning to you. jenna: voters head to the polls in several primary states today. karl rove is here with his advice for mitt romney at the top of the hour. plus, hundreds of thousands of us could lose internet service this summer. we're going to tell you why and what you can do. and solved, the mystery of the brain freeze. why it happens and why that discovery, bill, could lead to some dramatic new treatments for headaches. bill: how about that? i'm a victim. you know what we call that at the hemmer house? jenna: what? bill: call that an uncle billy.

jenna: why? bill: because my brain freezes like it is right now. when it gets too cold. jenna, thank you. we'll see you in 11 minutes. new exploration turning plans science fiction into some real cash. unearthing precious metals far from earth. this is a mining expedition that is said to be out of this world. ♪ working in a coal mine, going down, down, down. ♪ working in a coal mine [ horn honks ]

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martha: new fallout to tell you about from the trayvon martin case. the police chief who was criticized by many is being forced to stay on the job. yesterday sanford chief bill lee

offered his resignation, you may remember he sort of stepped aside for a while at the beginning of all of this, but the furious town commissioners said they will not accept that resignation. >> i'm physically sick that people that i've been living in this community with for 52 years and had the utmost respect for genuinely liked and thought that were friends would turn on me so viciously. i am absolutely disgusted. martha: wow. there is a lot of heat and tension, obviously, surrounding this case everywhere, and how about right in the heart of where it happened. george zimmerman admitted that he shot trayvon martin, but sanford police diss did not -- did not arrest him at the scene because of the state's stand your ground law. a special prosecutor later charged zimmerman with second-degree murder, he is currently out on bail. more to come. bill: i quit, no, you don't. back here on earth now, america's coal business booming these days overseas, that is. dan springer live in seattle on this.

why the surge in coal exports, dan? >> reporter: hey, bill. less coal being used in the u.s. and a big increase in the demand in asia and in india. last year coal exports totaled 907 million -- 107 million tons, more than double what was shipped just five years ago. biggest customer? china. exports are way up to japan in the wake of the tsunami and nuclear disaster. the has the world's largest coal reserves. >> we are in the position of selling something made in america, keeping the jobs here, keeping the revenue here. >> reporter: and the coal industry employs 135,000 people directly and a lot more if coal export terminals are allowed to expand. bill: this is not without controversy, as you know. some say the exports are dirty exports. what do you hear on that, dan? >> reporter: well, that's right. environmentalists are really fighting it arguing that coal burned anywhere is a threat to

the whole planet. the biggest battle is in washington near the canadian border where there is a plan to ship 48 million tons of coal a year. green groups are trying to block the expansion arguing coal dust will hurt humans and fish. locals don't want all the extra train traffic, all the coal will come from wyoming and montana by rail, but mainly they worry about china's appetite for coal. >> we're not just encouraging them to use coal now, we're encouraging them to lock in coal consumption for 30, 40, 50 years when they build new coal-fired power plants. >> reporter: and the export boom comes as both washington and oregon are phasing out their only coal plants. bill? bill: interesting stuff. dan springer live on that in seattle today. martha: there's a new scandallal hitting the nfl and the new orleans saints. a general manager accused of eavesdropping on the coaches of opposing teams during the game. why this has drawn the attention of the feds. we'll be right back. this is delicious okay...

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martha: looking to outer space for key supplies and possibly precious metals. bruce willis and ben affleck did it to save the world in armageddon, right? a company is unveiling plans to mine asteroids. any space rocks coming close to earth's atmosphere they hope to find supplies for interplanetary travel and. why wouldn't there be money those rocks? bill: good luck for that. have a great day. catch you tomorrow. martha: we'll see you tomorrow. happening now starting right now. >> primaries in five states today and mitt romney getting very close to clinching the nomination. bill kristol will be along to offer republican candidates advice. he says, act like a president. karl rove weighs in. jenna: from paying bills to watching youtube videos most of us rely on internet to some