the general motors' ceo gives her side of the story to congress today after a meeting with victims' families last night. did gm withhold information, or did the oversight fail? ryan-omics, the 2015 of the paul ryan budget will be released this hour. and the plane truth. now we know exactly what was said in that cockpit before malaysian airlines flight 370 disappeared, as a troubling new report raises questions about search coordination. good morning, i'm chris jansing, and we begin today on capitol hill and what will likely be a day of high drama and emotion surrounding general motors ignition switch recall. we're waiting to hear from family members who lost loved ones in car crashes linked to those ignition switch problems, that led to at least a dozen deaths and more injuries. family members met privately with ceo mary barra.

the detroit free press says she wept as she apologized to them face to face. the acting administrator of the national highway safety administration, david friedman, is expected to face a grilling before the energy and commerce committee. barra will have to explain why gm didn't address the ignition switch defects, despite knowing about it a decade ago. here's one of the lawmakers who will question her today. >> something terrible went wrong within this company, people either not communicating with each other, not looking at hafrd data, but i have to tell you, same thing is going to be asked of nhtsa, the company that made the cars and tasked with protecting the public both messed up pretty bad here. >> let's take a live look. they are getting ready to hold this press conference. by the way, richard blumenthal is attending with the family members, so we'll be talking to him later on this hour.

now to the massive surge in health care enrollment. that's the headline after a much better than expected response to the open enrollment period that ended at midnight. signups expected to go beyond the initial goal of 7 million. the website saw its biggest enrollment number since the october rollout. still, critics aren't backing off. speaker john boehner again calling for a repeal. here's part of a statement that he released. the president's health care law continues to wreak havoc on american families, small businesses, and our economy, and as i've said many times, the problem was never just about the website, it's the whole law. i want to bring in our company, irin carmon, nicolas compasore. good to see both of you. gosh, a month ago, would anybody say 7 million? the question was, would it reach 6 million. the white house has to be breathing a sigh of relief, but does this change the political equation? >> look, it proves there is a

demand for subsidized health care, there was a need for some kind of program. it's a good talking point. it's a certain kind of success, but there have been so many failures and bugs along the way, it doesn't settle the politics of this one bit at all. the success of the program itself is going to unfold over the next four or five or six years as we see if people stay with the program, stay in the plans. the politics is going to be all about the glitches, the website, and the president's famous, you know, phrase, you could keep a plan if you want to. so it doesn't really change what's going to happen in 2014 around this. >> on the republican side, although you could argue at least on the democratic side now they can say just what you said, nick, which is there was a demand. in fact, at some of these centers where they helped you sign up yesterday, there were long lines and vice president joe biden went to one in d.c. let me play that. >> as long as you're in line here, kind of like voting, you know, once you're in line, vote gets counted no matter how long it takes you, so i just wanted to come by and say you're doing

the right thing, you're doing the right thing. >> i guess the other argument you could also make, irin, is this final push, even though we know the rollout wasn't great, the final push by the president, vice president, administration, and celebrities seems to have worked. >> turns out applying for health insurance looks like final exams. people need to get a fire lit under their behind to get it together, that is even with the white house having extended the deadline past, you know, if you had trouble signing up because of the website glitches. i think it's fair to say the white house could not have done more in the last couple of weeks to be in absolutely every platform, to be anywhere where people might be interested in hearing a message about health care reform. so, you know, as nick says, the actual result of it, whether people pay premiums, whether they are actually able to obtain care, those remain open questions, but if you think about what the republicans' initial criticism of the law was, which is nobody wants it, that has certainly not proven to be the case. >> in fact, we've seen a change

in public opinion at least a little bit. this is the latest washington post/abc news poll, the question overall do you support or oppose the health care law, it's gone up. the support from november to march from 40% to 49%, and you wonder as it starts to kick in, if it will go up even more. >> it's fascinating, the popularity of the bill is about half and half, but the popularity has been going up. people have been spending tens of millions attacking people successfully, right, for backing this program in the first place and their numbers have gone down, so it's not clear exactly why, you know, i can't make any sense out of the opinion polls on this one. >> we're going to talk more in just a minute, but i want to switch gears just a little bit, because we're talking about the federal system here, and, of course, not everyone is on that. some states have their own exchanges. maryland has had so many problems with theirs that today officials could vote to completely replace it with a system that they are using in kentucky. now zeke emanuel described

connecticut's exchange as the best one out there. >> the best one is in connecticut. i was up there last week, and the guy who runs it, former insurance company executive, he's got three big boards with the data of how many people are on now this minute, where are they having problems so that they can go and address them, what's the total enrollment. they have a really dynamic team. >> joining me now, the head of that team, kevin counihan. good to see you, good morning. >> good morning. >> so big shout out there from zeke emanuel, and, obviously, other states are looking at what connecticut has done. can you kind of summarize what you're doing that maybe other states haven't picked up on? >> well, i feel we're in no position to, you know, judge any other states. everyone's working hard to make this work and it's highly, highly complex, but i think a couple things worked for us. one, we tried to simplify the enrollment process as much as possible. two is we standardized plan

designs to make it easier for folks to compare plans, and, three, we had a fairly effective marketing outreach campaign that focused on real connecticut residents saving money. >> part is the marketing, and we were just talking about that with the president and his surrogates, and, obviously, you have to have the technical side down. >> you do. the technical side is the basics, and, frankly, the technical side is what people assume. when you go to an atm, no one expects that to either shut down or partially work, so you have to do everything you can to make sure it's stable and consistent. >> so i guess the question is, what's next, and you were also part of the rollout of massachusetts, which, obviously, informed you as you went over to connecticut, so what are the things you know, we're up, we're running, it may in the end be 8 million-plus, at least in this initial period, who end up with new health care. what are the things to watch out for if you're somebody who's newly insured? >> well, i think, one, it's one

thing to be covered, it's a second to know how to use the insurance. i think understanding simple terms to people like us, like co-pay, deductible, coinsurance, those things are not necessarily things a lot of people know, particularly new to insurance, so those terms have to be better understood. two is, how to use a doctor, how to zrekt select a doctor. we're developing programs to help people how to understand how to pick a physician and how to use one. the third would be how to use the emergency room. 46% of e.r. usage in our state is not urgent, so there's an opportunity there for people to be more efficient. >> and to save a lot of money, obviously, which is why it's called the affordable care act. let me ask you finally, because some of the concerns have involved whether insurance companies can handle this influx and whether or not, frankly, especially in certain parts of the country, are there enough doctors, nurses, medical professionals, to handle all these new people insured and going to be coming in. how big of a concern is that for

you as you look at the big picture? >> well, i think on the short term those are going to be bumps, and it's natural when you have such a major social program such as the aca that there are going to be short-term glitches. i think we are going to see bumps with respect to access and wait times and appointments, but i also think there's going to be opportunities for minute clinics, for nurses, lpns and rns to do more primary care, so i think there's a means within the system to actually accommodate these new pictures. >> kevin counihan, thanks for taking the time to share your experience and talk with us. i think the last thing he said gives you an idea of what a new opening will be, perhaps, on the republican side, which is there are going to be glitches, people who think they are insured and go to their doctors and there's been a disconnect with their insurance company. there are people who have to wait maybe to get in to see a doctor. more ammunition on the republican side?

>> so much scrutiny on the health insurance system, we tend to forget what we had before was a profoundly flawed system in which people would end up paying more, whether it's through subsidizing the care of others in emergency rooms or having issues with being inside your network or outside your network, so at this point, things that may have always been issues with our insurance system are now suddenly going to be blamed on obamacare. the reality is, you know, it's going to be a long-term process, a big part of this is the preventive care provisions, you know, of which the most famous is contraception, but certainly not limited to that. >> that's one of the things you don't see, obviously, people who don't get sick. that's not something quantifiable if people are suddenly able to go in and do things that involve preventive care, how do you put a number on, okay, this person didn't end up in the hospital. >> look, i'm blessed to have employer health care. i always joke it's now time for the uninsured to find out just how exasperating and annoying

health insurance really is. it's bureaucratic and difficult and glitch-prone, even if you have it. and so to some extent, we're seeing just the wide world of insurance expanded to lots more people, right? >> we're going to talk more, irin and nick are going to stay with us. we're waiting for the unveiling, as we said, of paul ryan's budget. we'll see you shortly. meantime, let's check the news feed this morning. the governor of washington asking president obama to declare a major disaster in his state so victims of that deadly mudslide can get quick access to federal relief funds. the death toll is now 24, with 22 still listed as missing, that down from 30. so members of the seattle seahawks stopped by yesterday to sign autographs and help serve dinner, a welcome distraction from families still going through so much. the u.s. is considering the release of convicted spy jonathan pollard to try to salvage peace talks. pollard was arrested in 1985, after passing secret documents to israel.

he could be payrolled in the -- paroled in the middle of the month. john kerry met with benjamin netanyahu to try to mediate a dispute between the release of palestinian prisoners. the west is closely watching russian troop movements along the ukrainian border. russia said yesterday it was pulling back some of its troops, although officials in washington say they have no confirmation of that. white house press secretary said if it is true, it would be a positive sign. primary day in washington, d.c. with eight candidates running on the democratic side for mayor. the primary winner has gone on to become mayor in every modern election. incumbent mayor vincent gray is considered vulnerable after a major donor pled guilty last month to spending $700,000 on an illegal get out the vote drive during the last election. he denies any knowledge of it. coming up, we're watching that news conference with

lawmakers and family members of people who died in crashes caused by gm's faulty ignition switches. we'll talk to senator richard blummen that. he's there and is going to be pushing his bill to get tough on gm and make sure things like this don't happen again. he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. but he's got such sensitive skin that you worry about what you use in the laundry. my tide, downy, and bounce all come in free & gentle. so we get a cleaner, softer blankie. uh oh. [ female announcer ] tide, downy, and bounce free & gentle.

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some breaking news. we have just gotten word that president obama will make a statement on the affordable care act at 4:15 eastern time today. now we know the white house is expected to exceed its goal of getting 7 million people signed up, so maybe we'll have an updated number and his analysis at 4:15. we'll have that for you here. meantime, democrats are ready to go to war on two fronts over voting rights. first, they are putting pressure on house gop leaders to pass a new voting rights bill, even as they continue negotiations with

eric cantor, the one who will decide if it gets a vote, essentially. second, they are trying to take back the message. since the start of 2013, nine states have passed laws making it harder to vote and democrats want to paint republicans as the party trying to suppress the vote. i want to bring in msnbc reporter zachary roth. you've been reporting on this, something like 200 articles over the last several years. let's start with the negotiations on this voting rights bill. democrats have been talking with eric cantor, but is it going to go anywhere? >> it remains to be seen. two points to make on this, i think, are important. one, just the distance the republican party has traveled towards the extreme, just in the last eight years. in 2006 you had a republican house, a republican senate, both overwhelmingly approve the reauthorization of the voting rights act. president bush signed it, then eight years later, jim sensenbrenner, the republican leader on this, even though he said he doesn't support voter i.d., so him and a handful of

republican cosponsors. cantor is still being kind of cagey, so it really sort of shows how republicans have given up even pretending to appeal to african-american voters. >> and we mention those nine states that have new voter laws, and i know you were on the conference call with the dnc yesterday where they were trying to use the stricter voting laws to bring motivation to people to go to the polls. "this is an attempt by the republican party to shrink the electorate because they know that when the electorate is large, they lose. when the electorate is smaller, they win. it is crass, it is purely political, it is undemocratic." so, the question becomes, nothing can really change between now and the midterms, but the long-term belief is that it could make a huge difference, right? >> that's right, even in the shorter term, maybe in the midterms, maybe democrats aren't going to win back the house, but if they can motivate their base to get out in a way we haven't seen the democratic base

turnout, maybe they can use that to stem the losses or hold on to the senate. in terms of the long term, yeah, you're seeing democrats frame this message in a very clear partisan way, this is what republicans want to do to shrink the electorate. we, on the other hand, as democrats want to expand the electorate with these laws we're supporting that make voting easier, online registration, same day registration, that kind of stuff, so you have a clear difference between the waters. >> i guess to your point about the midterms, we know that two-thirds of, rather, young voters abandoned midterms twice as much as seniors do, so this might be something that gets them interested and hispanics vote at two-thirds the rate of whites and unmarried women. those are the targets for this message, right? >> that's right. increasingly, you're seeing voter suppression attempts by republicans targeting hispanics, where you have to show documentation you're a citizen when you register to vote. you already have to sign something when you register

saying on penalty of perjury, i am a citizen. that's not good enough for republicans. they want to make it more difficult to register and that targets hispanics more than anyone actually. >> there is one thing working in the democrats' favor, obamacare is helping people register. >> that's right. under the national voter registration act, which passed in 1993, any time you have a public assistance law or program, you have to offer people the chance to register to vote. as we saw today, you're going to have 7 million people already signed up for obamacare. that number's going to rise even further. voting rights groups estimate when you give all those people a chance between 5% and 10% of them will take you up on that and register to vote, so you could already have had something like between 500,000 and 1 million new voters already, and that number's only going to get higher, maybe up to 6 million or 7 million when said and done. >> zachary roth, great writing, as i said, people can find continuing coverage on

msnbc.com. thank you so much. >> thank you. we have other breaking news. let's show the picture here, roslyn heights, new york, just getting basic details in, but, obviously, you can see a coach bus and a truck collided. still don't know details about injuries or possible fatalities, but we are keeping an eye on the scene there and will be right back. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] look for valuable savings on boost in your sunday paper.

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search and recovery operation is probably the most challenging one i have ever seen. >> that comes as a new report this morning is out about poor coordination and how it hampered the search effort last week. in addition, malaysian authorities today released a full transcript of the final words from the cockpit. they said, "good night malaysian 370." this is a standard call, it had been reported for a long time it was said "all right, good night." now let's take you to that press conference. these are members of the families of the 12 people who were killed when there was that faulty ignition switch in general motors. speaking right now, someone who was in an accident as a result of that. let's listen. >> slightly enlarged, if my knee hit the bottom, it would immediately shut down, so with the key chain of just a single ignition key and one house key, the situation happened for the third time. somehow, i somehow escaped a four-car pileup. at that point in my life, i was

diagnosed with a heart disease and had a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted in me. doctors informed me any form of stress or anxiety was caused to setting off the device. this led my mother and i to decide this car was a death trap. driving this car was like playing a game of russian roulette with my safety and that of my friends. i can't even begin to explain the fear and confusion that runs through you that moment when you have no control over your car. i cannot comprehend the loss these families behind me are going through. my hope is that the horror stops right now. i don't want anymore drivers to be mourned by family and friends because an auto maker hit a deadly problem. drivers like me were kept in the dark. i would like to close this by quoting my mother's letter to general motors from years ago. she said, this is a safety recall issue if there ever was one. i should not have to list to you the safety problems that may

happen, such as accidents or death, as i firmly believe this car needs to be recalled, re-examined, revised, and recrafted. thank you. >> at that press conference, senator richard blumenthal, coming up, he'll be here with more on the gm controversy and what he's proposing that congress do about it. we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. (agent) i understand. (dad) we've never sold a house before. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. (dad) so if we sell, do you think we can swing it? (agent) i have the numbers right here

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there's an acceptable loss of life. >> this is the live press conference in advance of what is expected to be a particularly grueling hearing today when the general motors ceo, the new one, mary barra, faces a grilling from lawmakers. here's what everyone wants to know, why gm sat on its hands for so long over a deadly ignition switch recall. 31 crashes tied to it. let's bring in richard blumenthal, democrat from connecticut, he met with the family members and is the sponsor of a bill designed to

provide a better warning system for auto defects. good to have you on the program. >> good to be with you. >> we've been listening to this press conference, it's hard to imagine what it's been like for these families. what questions do you want to hear mary barra answer so that these families can have some of the answers they deserve? >> well, first of all, i want gm to warn people who are still driving these cars, the particular models that have these faulty and defective ignition switches, because they are at risk behind the wheel. second, a compensation fund for these victims. of course, money will never restore their loved ones and their grief and anguish is very palpable, as you've seen from the excellent report that you've been doing. but third, change the law, and gm ought to be a partner in helping to change the law to provide for mandatory reports whenever a company like gm detects a problem that can put

its drivers at risk. the national highway traffic safety administration, the government watch dog, should be alerted and that information should be made public on a database that's easily acceptable and accessible, and that's what my bill would do, and i'm asking gm to be a partner in this effort. >> this is the bill you introduced with senator marquis. let me ask you a very blunt question, which is that gm, and, in fact, the car industry in general, which is believed and pushed as undergoing a renaissance, has such a huge footprint. obviously, in washington, but everywhere around the country, you don't just have to look at the manufacturing plants, but the dealerships that are everywhere and virtually every congressional district in the country. are you sensing there's an appetite to get tough on the car companies, as well as nhtsa? >> i think there is an appetite for safety, which has been neglected by gm. now hopefully there is a

renaissance, not just in bottom lines, but also in a desire for safety on the part of gm, and i'm hopeful that mary barra will make that commitment that is so important. i want to know from gm why it made that business decision to conceal this defect again and again and again, year after year. >> is there any doubt in your mind about the answer to that? >> there's no doubt about the answer. the question is, what to do about it, and that's why the fund and the new bill and the warnings are so important. as remedies that gm can do on its own if it wants to do the right thing. >> from the outside looking in, maybe the more puzzling question, obviously, they made this decision because they would save a lot of money, but the national highway traffic safety administration, which you point out, also would be affected by this bill, we know they got indications of a problem, both in 2007 and again in 2010, but took no action. it's a little more difficult to

understand the why in that case. what do you think happened? >> i think the regulators and the watch dogs were less careful, vigilant, and aggressive than they should have been. that happens to be, unfortunately, a pattern here. i noted it when i was attorney general of the state of connecticut as an enforcer there. safety has to be much more aggressively enforced by nhtsa, the national highway traffic safety administration, all the watch dogs, and part of the effect and purpose of the bill i introduced is to make that agency more accountable. >> legally, given your background, senator, is there possible criminal liability here? >> very definitely. that's why there's a criminal investigation under way. my point to gm is, you shouldn't wait for a criminal prosecution. you should do the right thing even in advance of the end of

that justice department investigation before there's a possible, and i emphasize possible, prosecution that will lead to convictions, because at the end of the day, what's most important is to do the right thing for these loved ones and there are probably others besides the 12 that have been identified already. warn your customers that they are behind the wheel of a potentially dangerous vehicle, and aid us, support us, enlist the car industry in putting safety first, putting safety above profits, and correcting the missteps and mishaps that you've committed in the past, even before there's a criminal prosecution. >> senator blumenthal, thank you so much. we do appreciate you stepping away from the news conference to bring us up to date on that bill. >> thank you. meantime, we are just now getting the details of paul ryan's 2015 budget. couple of highlights, or lowlights, the plan repeals the president's health care law, including all subsidies that go

with it and the medicaid expansion, it slashes snap, the food stamp program. it also cuts subsidies to pbs, along with the national endowment for the arts and humanities, saying funding these programs goes beyond the core mission of the federal government. to talk about the politics of the budget, i want to bring back irin carmon and nicholas confessore. thank you, guys, for sticking around. so at some point are the republicans going to stop saying repeal obamacare? because, obviously, we heard it at the top of the show, we heard it in a statement from john boehner, and it's the centerpiece again of this budget proposal. >> why stop? it's working well for them. >> is it working well for them, though, at this point beyond the base, i guess is the question. and what are the chances that obamacare gets repealed at this point? >> listen, if you can win back the senate and win the

presidency in 2016, it's a reasonable goal, i can imagine it. look, obamacare is a core issue for the party right now. makes their base fired up, it's what they are all about, so why wouldn't that be in their budget? >> irin is skeptical. >> i think there's a real big difference between inveighing against an abstract threat obamacare and taking something away from people that they already signed up for, that they already have. repealing the medicaid expansion, which is already benefitting millions of people, taking away the subsidies and abolishing the insurance exchanges. i mean, these may be abstract goals, but once people have the health insurance in their hands, they have the card, they are going to the doctor for the first time, and then, you know, they want to roll that back, i think there's a profound political difference, as well. >> it's the same point, race against time. if they can't get that project done the next couple years, they can't get it done ever, i think. >> this is, obviously, one part. it is a budget, but it's a political document.

paul ryan's budget proposal is not going to become the law of the land, as we know. it's laying out a political statement from that part of the party. representative steve israel said this to politico today. we could make this a referendum about whose side you are on and remind people that republicans have consistently chosen special interests over the middle class. we can win big on the contrast, so does the paul ryan budget, and these kind of proposals, and you know what we're going to hear, they are trying to kill big bird, which is something that we heard the last time around when they decided that they should cut funding to pbs. does that become, essentially, the democrats obamacare? >> well, it's not just a political document, it's a moral document. it's a statement of values, and even if this is something that can barely pass the house at this stage, it's still coming out and saying, guess what our biggest priority right now is taking away food stamps from hungry people. our biggest priority is taking away health insurance from people who already have it or need it.

so i think at that point, you know, you saw kind of a referendum on this in 2012 where paul ryan as a running mate actually the budget that he proposed was so draconian, it ended up cementing that 47% image that mitt romney had. >> we went back, i shouldn't say we, i'm going to give credit to mark murray, who puts out our first read every morning, to the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, reductions to health care and medicare is the worst policy a candidate can have. so you also wonder if there's risk. >> there's been this beltway consensus to cut social security and it's consistently been an unpopular policy among actual voters. >> even when you talk about, you know, grandfathering it in and some of the changes they are talking about in terms of medicare, for example, would kick in in 2024. >> right. >> but it still allows them to run on an issue of they are going to take money away from seniors, health care away from

seniors. i would also add, once again, this budget has a so-called conscience clause, which says people don't have to pay for medical care they object to. this, of course, refers to the contraceptive coverage in the affordable care act, but as we heard at the supreme court last week, could include any kind of medical care a for-profit employer asks for. >> we're in the middle of this, definitely not heading towards the end. nicolas, irin, great to see both of you, thank you. in april fools jokes, spring weather arriving, but with it, spring allergies. annual list of where allergies are the worst, i say new york city, but i'm not right, apparently, number five is jackson, mississippi. oklahoma city fourth, followed by baton rouge, louisiana, memphis is the runner up, and the worst city for spring allergies, louisville, kentucky, up from number five last year.

we want to bring you this breaking news once again. we just got this word a short time ago that president obama will make a statement on the affordable care act act 4:15 eastern time. we know the white house is expected to exceed its original goal of getting 7 million people to sign up, so we expect maybe updated numbers and, of course, coverage throughout the day here on msnbc. now don't check your calendar, it is, indeed, 2014, but critics are saying that republican women at a gathering to mark the end of women's history month are a throwback. this panel on women sponsored by the conservative heritage foundation had panelists suggesting that if women want to thrive in this world, we need to revive marriage as the norm. >> i regard feminism as having been very badly misguided on most of the important things for human happiness. those things are, love, sex, family, career, community, all those things feminism went off

on in bad directions. >> at the same time, "more" magazine has an article on how women can get ahead. i want to bring in "more's" editor in chief and owner of the professional women's network, 85 broads, after becoming one of the more successful women on wall street. good to see both of you. >> good to see you. >> first, thoughts on what you just heard? >> feminism, oh, my goodness, i think it's helped me in my career. i have a husband, i have a life. it's not throwing me back and putting impediments to me. i'm very happy. >> do you think if you didn't have a husband, you wouldn't be successful? >> of course not. that was a side car issue. i was going to be successful because that was what i wanted to do. how about you, sally? >> i hope i would have been, but a great husband does make it easier to be successful, that's for sure. >> there you go. let's talk about this article, because it is interesting and speaks to, even though we have come a long way, there are still

ways in which we haven't and one is to command a room. what's that mean to you, sally? >> well, it's almost about owning a room, having the confidence to put forth your points of view, to do so in a way you can be heard, rather than hanging back and hoping because your work is good that you will get credit for it. >> when i started in this business, i was told all the time people will not take women seriously, so when i was coming up, people who wanted to get into television were weather girls and they were co-anchors, but they didn't do the hard news stories. >> yes. >> so hopefully we've come a long way. >> we have. >> i want to give you a couple of examples of women in the political sphere who have been very successful, but in very different ways. take a look. >> women don't let them use you, unless you choose to be their political pawn or just their piece of accessory on their arm.

honey, that's not liberation. that's subdy gags, and this sisterhood fights against that. >> you're going to be a participant, not just in making your own future, but in making the kind of society that fulfills our best selves and our values. thank you, all, so very much. >> let's put the politics aside, because they are about this far apart on the political spectrum, but when they walk into a room, it goes crazy. when they finish talking, it goes crazy. are there things they have in common that are instructive to other women? >> they speak such different languages, you know, hillary just has that -- she has gravitas, you can feel the center of the room come right to her and it's that seriousness of purpose and the way she speaks and it's slow and palin has that kind of energy rock star kind of thing. it's a very different kind of thing, but different kind of command. both do a good job, but in very, very different ways, in my

opinion. >> but they both have confidence and believe in what they are talking about, know what they are talking about. we might not agree with all of it, but they have the level of confidence that makes you want to lean forward to hear what they are going to say. >> as i was reading the article, one of the most interesting parts is how men perceive how women will deal with things, and sometimes, at least in one case that you talked about, a male boss would not explain to a woman why he thought she wasn't getting ahead because he thought he might get into a lawsuit. and i want to bring this to today, mary barra, head of gm, is going to have to go, in fact, in front of a congressional committee. they are going to be really, really tough on her, and last night when she met with the families, she wept. and this is one thing that men say about women, that they get put in a tough situation and they start crying. >> yeah, but there was somebody at the yankees who wept also at various moments and that made it

okay. >> you would never have someone say, i won't hire a man because he might break into tears at a critical moment, they say that about women. >> i don't know, chris, i think we are finally getting over that somewhat. the real question for me of mary barra, who is the guy who left her with this problem, frankly. we have our first woman running a major steel and wheel production company, and look what she has to handle. somebody else left her with this. where was the guy who was at the wheel before? >> well, if you're looking at the comparison between gravitas, certainly, on hillary clinton's side, she's going to have to have some of that today, as well as, i think, empathetic feeling, don't you think? what's -- what would you be watching for? >> i think that's true for both genders, and i agree this is something that happened under the watch of the prior ceo, but they should ask her tough questions. they absolutely should be, because this is a national issue and a challenge that she's

facing. in terms of the cry, my advice to women still is don't cry in the office. get yourself to the bathroom, because we do have those biases. john boehner cries all day long and you never hear about it, but you will if a woman cries. >> john boehner, i will agree. >> he's a crier. >> did take heat for that. you must have had to deal with this along the way. are there things you learned or bad experiences you've had that you could kind of punch yourself because you didn't maybe command a room the way you should have? >> well, for me it was early in my career. i remember being a research analyst and having the right call, having the right research, and nobody knew it, and a senior research analyst said to me, you might as well as not done the work, might as well as stayed home. >> because you were afraid to speak up? >> i was shaking at the microphone and got off quickly. you might as well go home. okay, i've got to get over this pretty quickly or the work is

for nothing. >> i had one time, couldn't quiet this huge room down, they were talking, chattering over each other, i'm going to sing and i'm a terrible singer. and they actually stopped. i find that humor sometimes actually will break through that kind of thing. >> humor helps a lot. if i could bring this full circle, they brought up feminism at that heritage foundation gathering, and whether or not it has had a positive impact. how far have we come in the post gloria steinem era? the number of ceos of fortune 500 companies, 23 of the fortune 500 ceos are women. that's less than 5%. >> we haven't come far enough. partly that's why i bought and engaged in a professional women's network. women in management have been stagnant the last ten years and gone backwards.

>> so interesting to see mary barra today. >> we're rooting for her. >> we're all going to be talking about this tomorrow night, there's going to be a panel. >> very good panel. join us. chris is there. >> i'll be there. thank you. we'll be right back. takes you the expedia app helps you save with mobile-exclusive deals download the expedia app text expedia to 75309 expedia, find yours

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to politics now on this april fools day. now vice president joe biden might come across as a prankster, but he says it's his wife you have to look out for on april 1st. >> what i worry about when i wake up on april fools day is what in the hell is jill going to do this time. where the hell is jill, and i open up the baggage compartment on top above, you know, and she jumps out of the compartment. this is the second lady of the united states of america jumping out of the overhead baggage compartment. >> how'd she get in there? that's what i want to know. and the world champion boston

red sox will visit president obama at the white house this hour. if rumors hold, it could be quite the patriotic affair. jonny gomes, one of the sox stars, purchased blazers, check them out, one for each of his teammates in advance of the traditional white house visit, and according to the tweet from the official boston red sox account, there could be one of these custom blazers bestowed upon the president. color, stars and stripes, size, 40 long, so i suppose the question becomes, will he actually try it on? we will watch for that. that's going to wrap up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. next on "news nation" with tamron hall, the latest on the gm deadly ignition problems, plus a homeless woman arrested after leaving her kids in a car while she went on a job interview. see you back here tomorrow. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days.

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developing now, general motors' new ceo mary barra is preparing to face tough questions over gm's handling of a safety defect that gm itself blames for 12 deaths and 31 crashes. barra is set to testify at a house subcommittee hearing that begins in a couple of hours. in her prepared testimony today, she will say, quote, i cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in that program, but i can tell you that we will find out. barra had an emotional meeting last night with 22 family members who have lost loved ones in accidents tied to the ignition switches. family members will be at this afternoon's hearing. meantime, crash victims and other family members just held a news conference on capitol hill. among those speaking, the mother of amber marie rose, the first known victim of a chevy cobalt defect. >>