dr. jill biden, the vice president's wife. dana bash, our chief congressional correspondent, is there. tell us what it's like in the room right now. >> as you said, there is definitely a warm welcome. i'm sitting right over where the republican side is. and not only are the republicans clapping for michelle obama. i can see several of the republican lawmakerses with their cell phones out taking photographs. and they're smiling and clapping. she's definitely somebody who has bipartisan adoration. that's a fair thing to say. >> mr. speaker, the president's cabinet. >> the cabinet is coming in right now. they just announced them. there is the newly minted secretary of state, former democratic senator of massachusetts, john kerry, now secretary of state, followed by the secretary of defense, leon panet panetta, the attorney general eric holder. all the cabinet will be there this evening except for one member. there's always one member who is designated to be in the bunker should the worst happen. and that member this evening is the departing energy secretary steven chu. so if the worst hap

dr. jill biden being escorted to the box where she will sit and watch this address. we're told that the president will use this speech tonight to shift heavily to the economy, shifting the emphasis away from the broad social agenda of his second inaugural address, to focus on manufacturing and infrastructure, other investments and research and education. the house speaker today called that more spending, charged that on the issue of tackling the deficit and debt, quote, i don't think he has the guts to do it. he doesn't have the courage to take on the liberal side of his own party, and never has. as you see, the cabinet, i believe, those are coming into the house chamber. and basically, this is the mood. that's the mood up on capitol hill. the house speaker capturing some of that today at this breakfast. one report this week said this speech will be less a presidential olive branch than a congressional cattle prod. white house house secretary jay carney pushed back from the aggressive moniker on special report, finding out who is characterizing it more accurately. we

dr. jill biden for their dedication in serving our military families as well as they have served us. thank you. defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone. we must all do our part to make sure our god-given rights are protected here at home. that includes one of the most fundamental rights of a democracy, the right to vote. when any american, no matter where they live or what their party are denied that right, because they cannot afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. so tonight i am announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in america, and it definitely needs improvement. i am asking to long-time experts in the field who by the way recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for governor romney's campaign to lead it. we can fix this, and we will. the american people demand it, and so does our democracy. of course, what i have said tonight matters little if we do not come together to protect our most russia's resource -- our more host -- our most precio

dr. jill biden the wife of vice president is a teacher from sandy hook elementary school. kate lynn i believe is her name from newtown connecticut. and that reminds us of the theme of much of not only the president's remarks tonight but the guests tonight, mark. in the chamber. at least a couple of dozen of members of congress have invited either victims of gun violence or... >> or surviving family members including with the first lady. >> woodruff: we just saw michelle obama, the first lady, talking with one of those special guests. and again i'm reminded that's the mother of the 15-year-old teenager, young woman. she performed at the president's inauguration from chicago. she went home to chicago and then was gunned down in a shooting that was said to be just a mile or so from the president's house. >> that's right. and two people were arrested yesterday. >> woodruff: and one of the points the white house has been making is that gun violence is not something distant. it touches many many families in this country. that's one of the points. >> that's a realm where i think

dr. jill biden the wife of vice president is a tacher from sandy hook elementary school. kate lynn i believe is her name from newtown connecticut. and that reminds us of the theme of much of not only the president's remarks tonight but the guests tonight, mark. in the chamber. at least a couple of dozen of members of congress have invited either victims of gun violence or... >> or surviving family members including with the first lady. >> woodruff: we just saw michelle obama, the first lady, talking with one of those special guests. and again i'm reminded that's the mother of the 15-year-old teenager, young woman. she performed at the president's inauguration from chicago. she went home to chicago and then was gunned down in a shooting that was said to be just a mile or so from the president's house. >> that's right. and two people were arrested yesterday. >> woodruff: and one of the points the white house has been making is that gun violence is not something distant. it touches many manyamils in this country. that's one of the points. >> that's a realm where i think ther

dr. jill biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they have served us. thank you, honey. thank you, jill. defending our freedom though is not just the job of our military alone. we must all do our part to make sure our god-given rights are protected here at home. that includes one of the most fundamental rights of a democracy, the right to vote. ( applause ) when any american, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right because they can't afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. so tonight i'm announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in america. and it definitely needs improvement. i'm asking two long-time experts in the field who, by the way, recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for governor romney's campaign to lead it. we can fix this. and we will. the american people demand it and so does our democracy. ( applause ) of course what i've said tonight matters little if we don't come together to protect our most precio

dr. jill biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they have served us. (applause) thank you, honey. thank you jill. (applause) defending our freedom, though is not just the job of our military alone. we must all do our part to make sure our god-given rights are protected here at home. that includes one of the most fundamental rights of a democracy: the right to vote. (applause) (cheers and applause) when any american no matter where they live or what their party are denied that right hrouz they can't afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot we are betraying our ideals. (applause) so tonight i'm announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in america and it definitely needs improvement. i'm asking two long-time experts in the field who, by the way recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for governor romney's campaign to lead it. we can fix this and we will. the american people demand it and so does our democracy. (applause) of course, what i've said tonight matters it will until w

dr. jill biden is on the balcony with two shots and they're going to be acts and didn't need to reload againopposed to an ar-15, it's an absurd comment which i think exemplifies a lot of approach he's taken on the issue. >> megyn: the other people, even the washington times steve is pointing out today. you fire two shots, the warning shots and then you're effectively dead if your attacker comes up and the bullets are gone and not like a semi automatic weapon. >> yeah, right. that's the fundamental problem with what he said. you fire the two shots and then you have to reload. i think this is, you know, this is part of the-- if you take a step back and look at the big picture here, this is what happens when you have people who aren't, you know, largely who aren't familiar with guns or as familiar with guns as many sort of gun rights advocates and pro second amendment representatives try to make laws to govern things that they don't know much about. i mean, i think that's the fundamental problem, that's part of the reason there's such a disconnect in this national debate over what's going it ha

dr. jill biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they have served us. thank you, honey, thank you, jill. [applause] president obama: defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone. we must all do our part to make sure our god-given rights are protected here at home. that includes one of the most fundamental rights of a democracy, the right to vote. [applause] president obama: when any american no matter where they live, or what their party, are denied that right, because they can't afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot? we are betraying our ideals. [applause] president obama: so, tonight i'm announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in america, and it definitely needs improvement. i'm asking two long-time experts in the field, who, by the way, recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for governor romney's campaign to lead it. we can fix this. and we will. the american people demand it and so does our democracy. [applause] president obama: of course

dr. jill biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they serve us. thank youu, honey. thank you, jill. but defending our freedom is not the job of our military alone. we must all do our part to make sure our god-given rights are protected here at home. that includes our most fundamental right as citizens -- the right to vote. when any americans -- no matter where they live or what their party -- are denied that right simply because they can't wait for five, six, seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. that's why, tonight, i'm announcing a non-partisan commission to improve the voting experience in america. and i'm asking two long-time experts in the field, who've recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for governor romney's campaign, to lead it. we can fix this, and we will. the american people demand it. and so does our democracy. of course, what i've said tonight matters little if we don't come together to protect our most precious resource -- our children. it has been two months since newtown. i know th

dr. jill biden on that issue. she made a great big issue.he is on the road down to mississippi on her "let's move" campaign to get kids to exercise and eat better. childhood obesity has been her second great passion. we have seen her pop up almost everywhere. she was on jimmy fallon doing a little dance number, ladies dance or whatever they call it. >> mom dance. it was good. it was fun to watch. >> jimmy fallon the other night. she was in the white house kitchen the other day promoting -- this is the third anniversary of her "let's move" campaign. and kicking that off with big bird in the white house kitchen. >> hi. we are here in the white house kitchen looking for a healthy snack. big bird: i bet you could get anything you want in this kitchen. michelle i like to reach for juicy snacks and crunchy vegetables. >> then with robin roberts who is back now at gma. robert robin roberts said that she, coming out of her cancer -- can cancer treatment was going to wear a wig with bangs until she saw michelle obama debuting her bangs. >> you know,

dr. jill biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they serve us. [applause] but defending our freedom is not the job of our military alone. we must all do our part to make sure our god-given rights are protected here at home. that includes our most fundamental right as citizens -- the right to vote. [applause] when any americans -- no matter where they live or what their party -- are denied that right simply because they can't wait for five, six, seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. [applause] that's why, tonight, i'm announcing a non-partisan commission to improve the voting experience in america. and i'm asking two long-time experts in the field, who've recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for governor romney's campaign, to lead it. we can fix this, and we will. the american people demand it. and so does our democracy. [applause] of course, what i've said tonight matters little if we don't come together to protect our most precious resource -- our children. it has been two months since newtown. i

dr. jill biden in speaking today to the national governor's association in the state dining room. mrs.ma is going to ask that the governors work with her to help make it easier for returning veterans to transfer into civilian life. she wants states to pass laws or enact proposals that will help them get professional credentials or licenses without having to relearn or go through the motions of relearning the skill sets they already know. and that way they will be licensed for credentialed for civilian life. president obama discussed the collection of bipartisan governors from across the country last night. he asked for smart, common sense solutions to the challenges ahead in creating jobs, educating our children and rebuilding our infrastructure. >>> on a side note, pope benedict xvi retires thursday. he's made a change to make it possible for the papal conclave to start working on finding his successor. normally they would have to wait 15 days. this change in the law by the pope means the conclave can begin before march 15th. we're back after the break. compelling true stories. >> jac

dr. jill biden. [applause] >> hello. thank you. [applause] thank you very much.thank you, david, for that kind introduction. and thank you all for coming this morning. it was great to see you all last night, and wasn't audra mcdonald incredible? [applause] so we're delighted to have you here at the white house again this morning. and the last time we were together michelle and i talked to you about one of our top priorities of our initiative, joining forces, which i'm sure you all know about which is our way to honor and support our troops, veterans and military families. and we talked about one of the top concerns that we hear about from military spouses wherever we go, and that's profession alliancing. so i'm sure you remember -- professional licensing, so i'm sure many of you remember this from last year who were here. and our nation's military spouses move ten times more than their civilian counterparts. and 35% of those spouses have jobs that require a professional license. so there are teachers, nurses, social workers. and we heard from a teacher, this is j