karen travers has the details. >> reporter: kick the can. it's washington's famous game with another deadline looming for those massive automatic spending cuts. president obama said if congress can't get a deal done by march 1st -- >> they should pass a smaller package that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months. >> reporter: but congress has done that once. in order to avid the fiscal cliff at new years, lawmakers agreed to push it out for two months. new that deadline is three and a half weeks away. there's no indication that lawmakers are close to an agreement. >> when washington is the biggest obstacle, we have a problem. >> reporter: there have been positive signs. for the first time since president obama took office, the federal deficit will drop below $1 trillion. last friday the down jones closed above 14,000 for the first time in five years. january brought modest job growth and drug dripping gains. for 10 scek tough months -- consecutive months housing prices have gone up. >> we sold 43

here's karen travers. >> reporter: the topic was probably unavoidable. today, president obama had a brief meeting, no more than ten minutes, with congressional leaders, about how to avoid the massive spending cuts. they'll sit down on friday at the white house. progress? not so much. the meeting is scheduled right at the deadline for the $85 billion in cuts. unlike, say, the fiscal cliff, or a potential government shutdown, there's little urgency in washington right now. but there is a lot of finger-pointing. >> the sequester was the president's idea. the sequester did not envision any additional tax increases. >> house republicans have declared that the entire strategy is to sit on the sidelines, stop working with us to pass something. >> reporter: the cuts will mean furloughs for civilian defense department workers across the nation. a 20% reduction in pay. >> hard-working people that have everything they've got. so, we're all kind of on the line now. >> reporter: most of the cuts will be felt immediately, which may give lawmakers wigger room to negoti

karen travers, abc news. >> it's happening in great city. let's hope it's great game. >>>

here's karen travers from washington. >> reporter: president obama isn't setting any expectations for his state of the union address tonight. in his annual address he is expected to outline an agenda that drives the country. to do that the president will call for new programs, new spending as a way to stimulate growth and republicans are already firing back. earlier today a feisty house speaker john boehner told reporters off camera that the president doesn't have the guts to make tough choices about the deficit because he won't take on the liberals in the democratic party. >> another litany of left wing proposals with plenty of meat for the base. >> reporter: he will discuss spending cuts, but it will be gun control that will likely sparkt emotional moments. attending as a special guest of the first lady, the parents of the chicago team who was gunned down just days after she evidence at the inauguration and nearly three dozen people personally affected by gun violence. the president is expected to announce anyone one year -- that one year from tonight, 33,000 troops will be home fro

karen travers reports on a new study which confirms our frustrations but explains why it could be a good thing. >> reporter: forget bacon and eggs sizzling on a griddle. for millions of americans, this is the sound of morning. every year the average american spends about one week in traffic. a given week that's about 38 hours. >> it's more than the average person spppeds at their job. >> reporter: a new study said all this sitting in traffic is coming at a huge cost, $121 billion in wasted time and wasted fuel. for the average american it means $818 lost just sitting in traffic. the texas a&m institute funded by road builders came up with the planning time index. that's a mathematical way of looking at how much extra team you need to add to your time to account for your city's miserable traffic. >> people are becoming captive in their cars. it's hard to plan and calculate how that will affect their daily lives. >> reporter: taking the number one spot, washington, d.c. commuters needed almost three hours for a trip that should only take 30 minutes. rounding out the top five no surprise th

karen travers, abc2 news, washington. >>> john kerry received a warm reception for his first major speech as secretary of state. the speech focused on the president's foreign policy. kerry made the case for providing aid to other countries and spoke at the university of virginia. >>> well, jesse jackson, jr.'s political career has derailed further. he pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. >> jk son entered a plea in federal court. prosecutors said he used the money for gifts including two hats belonging to emergency mrnlings a rolex watch and furniture. >> there is reason for optimism. a man that talented, a man that devoted to public service, a man who's done so much for so many, there will be another chap trp of jesse jackson. >> jackson is facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. he will be sentenced june 28th. >> you may have to start leaving for the airport even earlier. why we may see longer lines starts as sun as next month. >>> two major office supply chains are joining sources. we'll tell you about the deal between office depot and office max. >>> a cold windy

karen travers. >>> heart disease remains the leading cause of death in women but something many of us don't know b tonight we're taking your calls about your heart health. >> robbin roberts made her emotional return to tv but we'll talk to two ladies, a local mother and her daughter who have taken the same journey as rb bin. >> you could be a millionaire and not know it. the mt. airy store where the winning lottery ticket was sold. >>> february is american heart month. we're working to raise awareness and keep your heart healthy. abc2 partnered with the university of maryland. today we're joined by dr. brad taylor who's focused on surgery at the university of maryland medical center. so you get that diagnosis. there is some type of heart disease in the family, either adult or child, and you have to have surgery. how has surgery changed over the years regarding evolving technology? >> cardiac surgery has become much more patient friendly. it's clearly a lot safer to undergo than 10 years ago. the way we conduct cardiac surgery is much less invasive. 10 years ago the risk of having some

the showdown is all in the family, as abc's karen travers reports. >> reporter: the super baugh.. even the bro bowl. whatever you call it, it's a super bowl first. on one sideline, the baltimore ravens. led by head coach john harbaugh. on the other, the san francisco 49ers, led by head coach jim harbaugh. two brothers, squaring off for football's biggest prize. >> the team that we're going play is a great football team. they're extremely well coached. >> doesn't matter who the coach is. what -- what relationship you have with someone on the opposite side. you're trying to beat them, so -- that will be my approach. >> reporter: john, good-natured and confident. jim, emotional and intense. they're just 15 months apart. growing up, they were close, but competitive. their love of football ingrained in them at a young age. the parents say football talk has been off limited this week. no predictions, no xs and os. despite their nerves, jack and jackie harbaugh are relishing the leadup to the biggest game in their family's long sports history. >> this is a fantastic, fantastic story. an

our thanks to karen travers.ng about the money, president obama has not released a lot of details about this, but there is one liberal think tank estimates it's going to cost about $100 billion over the next decade to get this done. >> big price tag. >> so that's a lot of money. staying on the value of making this happen, preschool teachers don't have a lot of requirements, and a lot of them make minimum wage. so to -- it's just a hard compromise to come up with to get this done. >> you would think if you look at america's educational rankings compared to other countries around the world, and we're slipping, particularly in math and science areas, it's -- i understand the cause factor. we're in a tight budget spot, but is there a downside to kids getting into school earlier in terms of long-term benefits? >> i don't understand. >> we've got to find the money for certain things. >>> still to come, what's a toy these days without all the bells and whistles? >> our giz whiz makes a stop at the toy fair here in new y

karen travers reports from washington. >> reporter: congress has a major deadline looming on friday. and president obama says it's time to put politics aside. >> at some point, we have to do some governing. >> reporter: if lawmakers don't come up with an alternative plan, $85 billion in automatic budget cuts go into effect. president obama asked governors to put pressure on the state legislators in washington. >> congress should not allow the sequester cuts to go through. and hurt our economy. slow our recovery. there has to be a better way. >> now is the time to cut spending. it can be done without jeopardizing the economy. >> reporter: lawmakers can't seem to agree on much these days. except that the cuts are basically inevitable. expect the obama administration to keep up its steady drumbeat on the dire consequences. >> disruptive and destructive to our security and economy. >> reporter: the white house says there will be cuts to education programs, fewer federal meat inspectors. and travel disruption because of furloughs of airport workers. >> it's already a two-hour wait. it's s

with more now, here's abc's karen travers. >> reporter: good morning.oming out swinging. no surprise. the report that they commissioned said the legendary football coach did not cover up the sexual abuse allegations. a year after he passed away, joe paterno's family is fighting to clear his name. >> if he knew what he knew, if he knew in 2001 what he then learned in 2011, yes, he would do more. anyone would. but we didn't have that benefit. >> reporter: paterno was fired during a late-night phone call after more than 45 years as the penn state head football coach. the university said he covered up the allegations of sexual abuse against his long-time assistant and former player jerry sandusky. in an exclusive interview with abc's katie couric, the wife of the legendary coach recalled her reaction when she heard the charges against sandusky. >> horror, disbelief. it's still hard to accept. >> reporter: penn state tapped former fbi director louie freeh to investigate who knew what and when about sandusky's dealings with young boys. his report said joe pat

abc's karen travers has the latest from washington. rter: good morning, rob. good morning, diana. deja vu all over again. another deadline and president obama is telling congress if you can't get something big done, just get something done. kick the can. it's now washington's favorite game. with yet another major deadline looming for the massive automatic spending cuts, president obama said if congress can't get a big deal together by march 1 -- >> they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months. >> reporter: but congress has already done that once. in order to avoid the fiscal cliff at new year's, lawmakers agreed to push off the automatic spending cuts for two months. now that's just 3 1/2 weeks away and there's no indication lawmakers are close to an agreement. >> when washington is the biggest obstacle to economic growth, we have a problem. >> reporter: and there have been some positive signs. new cbo estimates out

abc's karen travers reports from washington. >> reporter: congress has a major deadline looming on fridaybama said it's time to put politics aside. >> at some point we've got to do some governing. >> reporter: if lawmakers don't come up with an alternative plan, $85 billion in automatic budget cuts will go into effect. the president asked governors to put pressure on their state representatives in washington. >> congress should not allow these arbitrary sequester cuts to go through and hurt our economy, slow our recovery. there's got to be a better way. >> now is the time to cut spending. it can be done without jeopardizing the economy and jeopardizing critical services. >> reporter: lawmakers can't seem to agree on much these days, except that the cuts are basically inevitable. expect the obama administration to keep up its steady drumbeat on the dire consequences. >> disruptive and destructive to our nation's security and economy. >> reporter: the white house says there will be cuts to education programs, fewer federal meat inspectors, and travel disruptions because of furloughs of airp

abc's karen travers has the story. >> reporter: she's an icon of the civil rights movement.rmanent presence in the nation's capital. >> rosa parks held no elected office. she possessed no fortune. lived her life far from the formal seats of power. and yet today she takes her rightful place among those who have shaped this nation's course. >> reporter: they may not be able to agree on policy, but president obama and congressional leaders came together to honor a woman who changed history. in 1955, in montgomery, alabama, parks refused to give up her seat on a crowded segregated bus to a white man. she was arrested and her act of defiance sparked a bus boycott that lasted more than a year. president obama said that single, simple act also launched the civil rights movement. >> it's because of these men and women that i stand here today. >> reporter: the statue unveiling was a homecoming of sorts for parks, who worked as an aide to congressman john c conyers for nearly two decades in detroit. >> soon, mr. conyers found out people were visiting the office to see rosa parks, and

abc's karen travers reports from washington. >> reporter: the clock is ticking.cuts could go into effect. the pentagon says if that happens, the vast majority of its 800,000 civilian workers will have to be furloughed. >> frankly, this is one of the least -- or most distasteful tasks i have faced in my four years in this job. >> reporter: those employees would lose one day of work each week for up to 22 weeks. that means a loss of about 20% of their pay. military personnel would be exempted from the furloughs, but pentagon officials warn that even though it's the civilian workforce that there take the district hit in their walts -- >> the associated furloughs will impact our war fighters, our veterans and our family members in untold ways. >> reporter: lawmakers voted to delay the automatic spending cuts by two months as part of that last-minute deal at new year's to avoid the fiscal cliff. but that just set up another deadline. if congress doesn't act by march 1st, $85 billion in spending cuts go into effect all at once. in addition to the pentagon cuts, it woul