congressman elijah cummings.e visiting his home state today to talk jobs and the economy. we'll talk about that in a minute. first, elijah, i think back to when we were in congress, on the same committee, we did a lot of good things together. democrats, republicans working together. when mika and i go out, a lot of people are asking why isn't that happening anymore. are you hopeful we can have more bipartisanship moving forward on the jobs bill? or are we going to have another year of fighting like last year? >> i'm cautiously hopeful. but i can tell you it will be difficult. i do applaud the president for coming to my district last friday, and talking to the republican caucus. i thought that was phenomenal. and i thought it was a good exchange, and hopefully it will -- i thought it would be the beginning of some good dialog, but then immediately after he left, i understand they put out a pretty scathing press release that, you know, was complaining about the president. i thought it was good he did that. but hope

congressman elijah cummings lives near it. congressman dutch ruppersberger is alive because of it. >> my situation was, it's just war star -- stories. i had an out-of-body experience. i said, the lord wouldn't have me, the devil wouldn't take me. and i had severe head injuries or i wouldn't be in politics. >> now asking for a $2.4 million federal appropriation. money that could mean the difference between life and death. >> if you think about what you're willing to spend money, on what you're willing to spend money, pretty much everybody checks the box of living if they're really badly hurt. or if they get really sick. this other stuff would be nice. but i want to live if i get real sick. so if you're not going to put your money into something like this, what are you going to spend it on? >> reporter: the medical center expects to break ground here in the spring. and open the building in 2013. reporting from shock trauma, i'm pat warren. back to you on television hill. >> and the total cost of the new addition is $160 million.

the lawmakers include maryland democrats elijah cummings and chris collins and eleanor holmes norton. >>> and chrysler is dealing with problems of their own. they found a defect with crash sensors that control the airbags on more than 350,000 minivans. the sensors can crack and fail. in 2005 and 06 grand caravan models. this is not a recall according to chrysler but they say you need to contact your dealer to have the sensors replaced. >>> more details this morning about a tragic incident in orlando. one of the whales at sea world -- or one of the killer whales at sea world grabbed a veteran trainer and dragged her under water, killing her. recorder right before the accident but they knew from the start that something was wrong. the podle family took this video after the lunch with shamu show ended at 2:00. they were there celebrating their son's birthday. the video shows the trainer dawn bradow in the tank with the killer whale. they both seemed playful during the show but then they saw the whale drag the girl under the water by her tony tail. this was the last shot before turning of

. >> that's the key problem from elijah cummings are those cars safe? not. >> that is the real issue, that certainly for people who own a toyota, have someone in the family that does, that's what breaks through to the consumer. there's a lot more being talked about here going forward. how will the u.s. government do more to oversee things? there have been allegations that perhaps the agency responsible has been too cozy. ray lahood says he won't tolerate that and emphatically again and again said on his watch, he would not prove anything than safety to be the top priority. he is trying to put forward an idea he will get to the bottom of this. with some controversy today about the fact that the ntsa administrator isn't testifying. lahood says he can speak important the government. >> okay. kelly o'donnell. we will be talking to ray lahood straight from the hearing. works his way across the capital to our cameras. we will have our own followup questions for ray lahood. president obama's 2012 real ex-strategy. [ female announcer ] the latest athletic fabri

joining us now, elijah cummings of maryland, member of the congressional black caucus and task forcereform. thank you so much, congressman. don't know if you heard all that congressman pence said, but i suspect you have a different point of view. >> i do. what my colleague said is upsetting to me. i listened to it. the president is bend iing over backwards to reach out a hand to the republicans. congressman pence, i guess he's reading from his talking points. ou

and elijah cummings is here this week. before we start talking about unemployment, there's a big storm coming this weekend and you have an event that is going to be postponed. >> we were going to have our foreclosure prevention tomorrow, and because of the snow we are not going to be able to do it. we have rescheduled for wood lawn high school starting the 20th of this month. we will be getting out the announcements. >> people definitely need that kind of help and people need jobs. and the president said he wants to get the job package moving. how do you begin to make that happen? >> the house has passed a jobs package and the senate leader, harry reed and the leadership, announced yesterday that they will be introducing a job package come this week. >> right. >> and our package is one where that sort of coincides with the president's. we are reducing taxes for those businesses that create new jobs, because you want to incentiveize small businesses because the majority of new jobs come from small businesses to not only cre

this is where congressman elijah cummings from maryland will be sitting.ts to know what toyota knew, what they knew it and mr. cummings is in, i guess, tv parlance what you would say, pretty good for a sound bite. he tends to really engage witnesses so we're wondering if he's going to do that as well. then over here you have congressman john mika, a republican from florida. in the last hearing it was treasury secretary tim geithner who was up and he actually accused him of having lame excuses. this is a contact sport in general, a congressional hearing. but this is going to be the type of questioning mr. toyoda is not used to getting. >> certainly a culture clash. this is not something a japanese executive would ever face on their home territory. we understand mr. toyoda will get a little special treatment as he heads to the hearing. >> yeah, i'll take you outside the hearing room so you can see the media is already lining up. the special treatment he's going to get if it's unlocked -- that's horrible. that's just what you don't want on television. can we