they are injuries that must be taken care of. >> holman: chiarelli said the army still is working to improve training and health care, and to educate soldiers on the abuse of prescription drugs. in u.s. economic news, home building stayed near record lows last year and starts on new construction fell in december. that news did little to help wall street. instead, stocks fell as major financial and technology companies reported drops in earnings. the dow jones industrial average lost 12 points to close at 11,825. the nasdaq fell 40 points to close at 2,725. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: republicans fulfilled a campaign promise today when the house voted 254 to 189 to repeal president obama's health care reform law. the bill stands little chance of becoming law, but that did nothing to tamp down the debate. "newshour" correspondent betty ann bowser has our story. >> h.r.-2, a bill to repeal the job-killing health care law. >> reporter: that quick announcement the house launched into hours of debate on health care repeal with republicans staunch

they were huge to say stories out there. >> general chiarelli, high, cnn. i was wondering if he could share your own personal reaction and level of frustration as the numbers came clear over the course of the year and also identify any particular installation, maybe fort hood for instance has taken particular steps to combat suicide. >> we do this over time. it's going to post more than any other posts. that's how we keep track. ford had with our highest those this year we immediately go back and say wait a second the events of 2009. is there a link to that of what occurred and i could say the 21 suicides we had fort hood. we only know one individual who is even remotely associated with that horrific event. that was an individual who is being seen in the emergency room for something totally different at the time people were being brought into the emergency room. so we watching for it very carefully. we were in every single case trying to see if there is any connection between those two events or the event of the individual suicide of what happened in novemb

same time i was at old miss and i remember i was at the cotton bowl and there were two guys plan to chiarelli flowers was a fullback for old meskill and can't loveless worked for one of the banks that have also given loans and i was asking them about pl and they said we aren't going to say anything bad about pla. we left heel. [laughter] but to david, the former congressman, i asked david and he says rino p. yell. david called peel bleak for me to see if he would talk to me and he basically said no way in hell i'm going to talk to that guy. [laughter] i have a hard time getting a picture of him. tim came through 20-years-old. you can see a picture of him in the book. he is a real mystery man. yes, sir. >> was it a 250,000-dollar fine? >> to under 50,000. >> i thought it was a much larger fine. >> well, maybe judge biggers is converting things with mercy and finding 250,000. he got five years for the first sentence and then when he pleaded guilty in the second case involving the judge in jackson he got an additional 2.5 coming in by this trying to calculate how much more time dick scruggs is l

now, army vice chief of staff peter chiarelli and other officials briefed reporters on efforts to addressroblem at the pentagon. this is about 50 minutes. >> think you all for being here today. i am joined by the chief of the army reserve and major-general ray carpenter, the acting director of the army national guard. i would like to make a brief opening statement and then we will field any questions might have. in calendar year 2010 the army had 343 suicides. soldiers, the part of the army civilians, and family members. 69 more than in calendar year 2009. we achieved a modest success in reducing the number of suicides of soldiers serving on active duty. however, we saw a significant increase in the number of suicides of soldiers not serving on active duty, to include a doubling in the army national guard. the total number in any year, at least for the last 18 years has run between 700 -- 725 and 750,000 total folks. when i say active component, i also include members of the army reserve and the army national guard who were mobilized during that year. our challenge and your head is to kee