so smith and genier turned to one of their regular informants, yet another stitch named alex white. they offered him $130 to say that he bought drugs at mrs. johnston's neal street home and to corroborate their false warrant application. it wouldn't bring mrs. johnston back, but at least no one would learn that they gambled everything on a weak lead from a bad snitch and that the of informant and the warrant didn't even exist. i start with this story not only that it's true, and not only because it triggered a congressional investigation, which it did, but because it's parddicmatic. it begins with the police letting a known criminal defender walk, and this is the heart the snitching deal. it is precisely in this way that many criminal informants are able to avoid liability for their crimes by providing information, and as it was in this story, all too often this information is inaccurate. the atlanta police used their informant power, both to rely on an unreliable snitch and to invent an informant to get a warrant. because they knew with near certainty, that their decision to do so

alex with more. >> the race question is not always easy to answer. >> spanish. >> blanca. white. >> maria and her friend are from columbia, and like many who come to dc from spanish speaking countries, filling out the government census form may be a bit baffling. when it's time to move through question nine, which asks which race you belong to, the women say none of the choices fit. she says the race question is highly likely to confuse people. >> this section of columbia heights largely hispanic, when it comes to filling out question number nine, some find it unclear and others feel left out. >> henry was born in dc and proud of his hispanic heritage. >> i wouldn't feel comfortable putting white, because both my parents are hispanic and culturally, you feel strong about your culture. >> robert is a director of the u.s. census bureau. 13million forms were mailed out last week. >> can't wait to see how effective that outreach to the hispanic community is. >> he offers an approach through the census form if you become stumped. >> we have a space at the end where you can write in t

alex. >> i think so, and the white house has had a year to sell this and this is where we are today, brianh trouble this bill is in. >> well, inat the same time, once this bill gets impleme implement implemented, i think that people will be looking at their bottom line every month and see their premiums will go down and they'll see that those pre-existing conditions will no longer prohibit them and it will be a much better scenario e we don't have time to discuss it, but i want to throw it up quickly, the fourth graphic where he talks about the president's job approval ratings, can we throw that up right now. it shows that right now, 47.8% disapprove of the president and 47.3 percent approve. so, pretty much split right down the middle, that's where we are as we enter this critical debate. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you, brian. >> brian: president obama can scheduled to meet with the members of the house democratic caucus at the capital at 3 p.m. eastern time. wendell goler is live at the white house with a preview what's likely to happen, hello, wendell. >> brian, we're told

white house for us. mike, good morning again. >> morning, alex. >> i'm looking through what you just sent to all of us herenbc news about all the details of this, house rules committee and giving us the primer about that. what's going on? at the end of this meeting, what's it mean? >> first of all, shout out to shawna thomas and luke russert. n any way, bart stupak is the leader in the democratic caucus. he's among seven or eight who said they'll vote against the health care legislation, against their leadership, against the president because they feel that the current language in the senate bill they'll take up does not fully do enough to restrict federal funding of the abortion procedure. he had a press conference scheduled for 11:00. he called off his press conference at the last minute. there's all kind of behind-the-scenes wrangling as house democrats try to get to the number of 216, the current majority of the house. when and if that vote comes up tomorrow, i'm telling you, everybody is on pins and needles. it is hand-to-hand political combat up there and it is getting very personal. you mentioned th

white with the puck at the blue line beats nicholas hegaman here. this is kind of -- what the back hand beats him. 4-0 at the first. second, same score, alex ovechkin shoots and scores, league-lead 46-th of the season. spinning and somehow into the net. take another look. this is silly, craig. nobody could stop t caps fall 5-3, second floss a row. >> one of those games you do for and good for us at this point, you know, trying to work on our first periods a bit and probably a good wakeup call. >> we have been in this position before, where we have been a des splat hockey team. three years ago we needed to make a push and win every game during the playoffs, not the same situation and when you play desperate hockey. >> we didn't have that step. i don't know how to describe it other than you know your team, know your kids. we were on four cylinders instead of eight today. >> caps will go for win number 50 against ottawa. >>> talking baseball now, rookie ian desmond will start at shortstop for the nationals on opening day. desmond made the decision ease if i for jim wriggleman. spat bathing .278, 2-3 with two rbis in a 9-3 win against the brav

education secretary talking about white too much testing is causing the death of the american school system. "washington journal" continues. host: we're joined now by alex wayne from congressional quarterly. he is a staff writer who covers health care extensively. we will look at the procedure as well as the policy. thanks for being with us. guest: sure thing. host: we are at wednesday , at-- the get a sense of when the vote might come down? guest: democratic leaders have told us every day that they will have the bill and cost estimate ready any day, yet it has not yet appeared. today is the last day they can release the bill and still have a vote before the president leaves for an international trip. host: house speaker nancy pelosi has said the bill will be posted for 72 hours before people vote. host: guestguest: that is rights now recanted on that. host: let's take a look at your piece today from the online news. last night you write that a burst of activity is likely in the next day or two as leaders released the final language of the bill, and the cost estimate. is this a hurry up and wait situation? is the action all dependent on the cbo numbers