intentions and we'll hear from senator dick durbin just back from ukraine and republican senator kelly ayotte who is there now. plus, our panel of experts on those stories and the other news of the week. 60 years of news because this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs >> schieffer: good morning again, there is actually some new information this morning on the search for that missing malaysian plane, new satellite images, these from the french that show objects in the same general vicinity as the earlier satellite images. the search is now focused on an area about the size of texas, some 1500 miles off the coast of perth, australia. our holly williams is in perth this morning. >> good morning, bob. there is now a massive search taking place in waters of the southern indian ocean what might be the wreckage of the airline which has been missing more than two weeks. yesterday the chinese government reel leased a blurry satellite image showing something around 70 feet by 40 feet floating in the sea off australia's west coast. that is just 80 miles from where australian satellite, on

co-sponsor kelly ayotte says the bill will create zero toll lance and make commanders take full accountability for their units. later this morning, the bill's author will talk about the reforms here on "morning joe". >>> a new poll shows deepening political toll of the george washington bridge scandal for chris christie. his approval ratings has evaporated by 20 points. while 54% still call him a strong leader, that's his lowest score since taking office. there are also reverberations if iowa where christie's potential presidential bid would begin. a poll shows 57% of iowans disapprove of how he's hammndle the scandal. today it will be determined whether former staffers have as to hand over documents under subpoena. in a "new york times" piece, it claims christie wielded port authority for his own gain. the paper reports pieces of the september 11th wreckage were used as politically motivated gifts to 20 new jersey mayors whose endorsements he wanted to secure. quote, the authority became a means to reward or higher friends, punish adversaries and a bank to be used mr. christie south to avoid

kelly ayotte and i have found things on the national security agenda along with making sure that parentsautistic kids in the military get benefits they need. we found common ground. in the sexual assault bill, 17 out of 20 women wanted reform. i have great hope for all to sidelines. >> gisele ruiz started her career 20 years ago as a management trainee at walmart. her story is about opportunity. >> i learned about walmart while i was going to college at santa clara university. i learned about the story. what brought me to walmart was the company's values. why i have stayed with walmart over the years -- walmart has afforded me opportunities to do the things that i love. i do love retail in-store operations. it has afforded me opportunities to do things that stretched me and grew me. in that case, i have been able to take on real estate and worked in human resources. i have worked in different functional areas of the company. my story is not unique. there are hundreds of other stories. you come to work for walmart and you find wonderful opportunities that are absolutely real. they are doa

call on senator kelly ayotte. >> thank you. received the wrong #protected the president's priorities because there was an increase in defense -- nondefense spending versus defense spending with regard to 14 -- 14 to 15, that is not correct. it is there a verse. there is a one percent reduction for defense and to 3.4 reduction for non-defense. to the sick just -- the extent i suggested their priorities were anyrsed and encourage and impression that was given by that. >> let me begin by joining my colleagues and thanking you, mr. secretary, general dempsey, and mr. hale for your extraordinary service and your focus on this -- the strategic priorities which i believe are the right ones for this nation. on example, for the need additional submarines at the rate of two per year in production, for the focus on air superiority and the joint strike fighter, and the concentration of the needs to keep the national guard and reservists strong. man whoo focus on one happens to be a resident of connecticut. who enlisted in the u.s. marine t

kelly ayotte in 2010 barely got out of her primary.ablishment candidate, the moderate then she got this last-minute sarah palin endorsement and beat back these conservative challengers. he's got bob smith, former new york senator from new hampshire, very conservative candidate, who by the way is the last guy to try to run for the senate in another state like scott brown did. he's in this primary. the primary is not a fore gone conclusion for scott brown. >> no, it's not. bob smith did crazy before crazy was in vogue, you know, back -- >> right. he was marginalized in the senate. today he might be celebrated. >> no, no, he would definitely be in the mainstream right now. >> right. >> but theoretically. but that's a big name. there are probably a lot of new hampshire republicans who would just like to have anybody other than bob smith there. i don't think the primary is his primary challenge. i think that the, you know, new hampshire is not the same live free or die conservative state that it used to be. a lot of bedroom community for ma

kelly ayotte says the afghan people need to be told. she did warn that american forces would not stay on after the withdrawal if president karzai delays signing a security pact. >> it's time for us to be clear about what the united states of america's commitment will be as a follow-up to 2014 and beyond to the people of afghanistan. now, that support is contingent on the president signing the bilateral security agreement. >> now, australia's prime minister says there are new and credible leads in the search for the missing malkin flight. they have detected debris in the southern indian ocean. it's not clear what those objects are, but the area they were seen is is the focus of the focus. france says it too has satellite images showing potential objects of interest floating within the search area about 25 kilometers southwest of perth. >> over the last 24 hours, there have been three significant developments. new satellite imagery, new chinese satellite imagery does seem to suggest at least one large object down there consistent with the

she picked a number of candidates fisher nebraska, kelly ayotte in new hampshire. ted cruz she backed him in 2012. she wants to play that roll roll -- role again in 2016. sway them towards rand paul or ted cruze. the speech was dripping with is that correct and sarcasm. it doesn't seem like she herself has any political ambitions of her own. >> what do you think is the state of the republican party? >> well, if you are talking republican party in terms of the 2014 midterm elections, i think they are looking pretty good. certainly going to keep the house. have a lot of senate seats where they look like they may take them back from democrats. 2016 is still an unknown for the republican party. look at sarah palin, she can fire up a crowd like nobody else, probably on either side of the aisle. does that translate into a presidential campaign? probably not. so who feels that void? who on the republican party can rally the what party and compete against somebody is like hillary clinton who if she ones will suck up a lot of oxygen. >> this is a party that can be in a lot

that meeting, they had a press con fres with some very strong langs was used including some from kelly ayott and a member of the armed services committee who said when she returns to washington, she will be carrying a message that the united states should beef up its support for the ukrainian armed forces. >> we can provide military assistance, not only humanitarian assistance, but assistance that can involve small arms, communications, equipment, basic fuel issues that we need uniform issues, things that the ukrainian military will need as it rebuilds the damage that was done by president yanukovych. >> this also comes on a day when the four-star u.s. general, f l phillip breed love has been making some statements about what nato is seeing with russian forces along the ukrainian border. nato believes the size and scale and readiness of the russian army on that border is so significant that if it wanted to, it could roll through mainland ukraine all the way out to the western border where there is already a russian base in a pro-ethnic russian community there in a place called transnester. a

a bill introduced by republican senator kelly ayotte, and democratic senator mark warner.a glimmer of hope in washington where it's difficult to find bipartisanship. but when it comes to the future this debunks the idea from nancy pelosi that the cupboard is dry and puts republicans' backs against the wall when they don't want to pay for what the vote for. >> i think these reports are put on a big shelf, probably a very high shelf, and nothing comes of it. >> this is how the government creates jobs, neil. they have someone writing these reports and then people report on the reports, and so they're clearly not used in terms of being -- the ones irrelevant. for example, the peacekeeping process in kosovo is still produced every year by the state department. that is something that is no longer relevant. i'm not sure what the cat and dog fur, who is in charge of that. i think we can probably cut back on reports in that aspect and also cut back on federal employees and their pensions as well. >> you know, it is interesting, one thing to sort of cut down on these reports, but to

this morning, you had democrat dirk durbin and kelly ayotte saying we should be sending small arms tohe ukraine. that's a step past where i think most senators are, most republicans are in the house as well. so it's unclear as to what's going to happen, whether or not they're going to strip out these imf provision that's in the senate bill and agree with what the house wants to do, which is essentially an aid package of $1 billion. again, this was something that was considered before we've heard what's happened lately on the ground there and this idea that this is a real slippery slope in terms of what russia's intentions are. >> obviously the trip is now very much overshadowed by events in ukraine and russia. but i think one of the highlights of the trip or one of the -- i think most anticipated moments -- >> the pope. >> the president's meeting with the pope. >> yes, this is going to be great. i'm hoping they're going to get some selfies out of it. so we'll see. >> that's a good challenge to issue. we want to see a selfie, man. >> that's right. the pope and president obama very much

republican senator kelly ayotte said the white house is trying to protect vulnerable democrats not consumers. >> if you look at the timing of it, it's designed to delay until right after the 2014 elections, and we already know what happened when people started to receive cancellation notices last time. >> reporter: news of the extension comes just three weeks before another critical obamacare deadline march 31st, the last day to sign up through an insurance exchange. last month, the vice president warned that enrollment goals may not be met. >> initially we talked about why the end of this period having 7 million people lined up. we may not get to seven, but we're going to get to five or six, and that's a hell of a start. >> reporter: now congressional republicans, of course have been trying to repeal obamacare. they've done it, like, nearly 50 times, tried to. the irony, of course, for all into the water. >> they realized there was another child still stuck signed the vehicle. >> the kids are screaming there's a baby there's a baby. i get back to the van and by this time a cup p lifeguards

just by way of example, things that members of congress can do , in november, senator kelly ayotte and i wrote a letter to chuck hagel. we said that the safety of u.s. citizens, military and civilian personnel, should be paramount. even the recent state of ied attacks just over the last several weeks, i can appreciate how hard a task this is. even as we draw down the military presence, we must take greater precautions. the letter that senator ayotte and i sent called for a plan for a continued civilian mission and oversight of u.s. assistance programs that makes clear that america will stand with the afghan look to prevent afghanistan from reverting to the type of oppressive, violent taliban rule that served as a fertile breeding ground for al qaeda. this engagement, our letter continues, should continue training for the afghan national security forces and maintain investments in vital centers such as education and health. i'm not reading the whole letter, but giving a sense of some of the priorities we outlined. that is kind of the broad perspective i have on the way forward, even as

bob schieffer will interview mitt romney, kelly ayotte and dick durbin democrat of illinois. >>> man was arrested after he allegedly rammed his car through the front of a base in florida. he ran from his car forcing the base to go on lockdown last night. he was captured a short time later. police did not say why he crashed through the gate. >>> arson investigators will resume their investigation today to determine the cause of a fire that killed four people at a new jersey hotel. eight others were injured. some of the 40 staying at the hotel have lost their homes to superstorm sandy. >>> the affordable care act also known as obamacare became law four years ago. the deadline to sign up is march 31st, just nine days away. the original goal was to have 7 million americans on the role by then. john dickerson joins us from the washington bureau with a look at where we stand. good morning. >> good morning, anthony. >> first of all, what are we going to know on the 31st? >> we're going to know from the administration -- we'll have to third quarter word for it -- how many people have envol.

we will hear from republicans, tom coburn and kelly ayotte. as well as patty murray. this is about 40 minutes. >> something significant happened. i am from oklahoma. david green and his wife started a group called hobby lobby by making picture frames in their garage. with the profits they made, it was his faith and practice in his day-to-day decisions that led him and his family to build a successful nationwide company. over the years, the business has grown. 602 stores now with plans to expand. they have an annual revenue of upwards of $2.5 billion. david has had success despite the countercultural way. all of the retail stores closed at 8 p.m. each night and all day on sunday so will use spend time with their families. by thes is appreciated some 16,000 employees who are paid above the minimum wage. benefitbby generous plan includes an on-site clinic and eligibility to enroll in medical, dental, and prescription drug lands tom and long-term disability and long-term insurance in a 401(k) plan. this is something that they have done long before obamacare came along. at

. >>> and senator kelly ayotte is set to campaign with minority senate leader mitch mcconnell in kentuckymcconnell is facing a tough reelection challenge there. >>> here we go. let's get this out of the way. what did you come here to plug? >> first of all, i think it's fair to say that i wouldn't be with you here today if i didn't have something to plug. have you heard of the affordable care act? >> yeah, heard about that. that's the thing that doesn't work? >> that, as many of you know by now, president obama made an apersons on the spoof talk show with zach, the show is "between two ferns". it went viral. trying to convince young americans to enroll in the nation's health care plan before the deadline of march 31st. those who miss the deadline will face a penalty. but do you even know how much? let me bring in the president of enroll america, a nonpartisan group with the aim of signing up people for the nation's new health care law. hello. you tell me, are there numbers you can point to to suggest that the white house is going to hit their stated goal of having 40% of the enrollees be t

how his reclaim america has spent for tom cotton in arkansas running for senate and for senator kelly ayotte in new hampshire. bobby jindal already been to new york city this year four times to raise money. >> now you have semi prepared on your list. what do you mean and who is in that category? >> semi prepared is people who are gearing up but haven't built as much of a structure as marco rubio has. these are probably the most visible on tv, senator rand paul of kentucky and senator ted cruz of texas. rand paul has worked in iowa before and he has a great message, he's trying to reach beyond the republican base, aiming at mill ennialmillennialo surf off his dad, ron paul. and ted cruz of texas has visited the early states a good bit but doesn't have as much of a formal structure as rubio. >> and finally least prepared and maybe most talked about topping this list is jeb bush. >> and jeb bush can afford to wait. by just making a few calls, as he's done, by sending the signals that he clearly is tallahassee based on joe's reporting, he can get people who would support him to wait. as one pers

wo legislatures in the ukraine dick durbin was one but the next one talks about kelly i got -- kelly ayotteenator ayotte talking about aid to russia, 18 ukraine. here are some of her thoughts from the sunday shows yesterday. [video clip] >> i appreciate what the president did with sanctions. i think we need to do more with sanctions, including sanctioning the entire financial sectors of the russian economy, as well as looking at the energy sectors. the russian economy is a one trick pony. their total focus is on national -- on natural gas and oil. i think we could have a significant impact on putin and that he would get the message. in addition i think for the military assistance -- president yanukovych, essentially he gutted the ukrainian military. i think we can provide more assistance to them in that regard. >> do you think the united states would actually be willing to do that? we sent them military meals for their troops. should we do more? what kind of military aid do you think we ought to send? more innk we can do terms of communications equipment we can help them with, technical ass

cosponsor kelly ayotte commanders take full responsibility for their units before passed in the housemember of the armed services committee and author of that bill, senator claire mccaskill. great to have you back on the show, senator. >> thanks, guys. >> >> congratulations on getting at least through one portion. tell us exactly how -- because there is concern, of course, if you don't take it completely out of the chain of command that there won't be proper accountability. how is this going to work to protect men and women from this issue? >> well, we have now passed with this passage yesterday, 35 major sweeping reforms as it relates to sexual assault in the military. we have now created the most victim friendly organization in the world. i mean, victims have their own lawyers and they have their own power. commanders have been stripped of much of their power. but there was an honest policy difference as to whether or not taking commanders completely out was going to help victims or hurt victims. when you look at the facts, when you get away from some of the arguments that are based

the senate unanimously passed a wide-reaching measure authored by senators claire mccaskill and kelly ayotte. >> if you've commit sexual assault, you need to be held accountable for your actions. >> but the bill provides less protection for military assault victims than many wanted and still may not make it through the house. >> i frankly think the agreement that was struck in the house, in the defense authorization bill strikes the correct balance. and so i don't, frankly, see any reason at this point for any further action to be taken. >> there's no indication that general sinclair is totally off the hook. he pleaded guilty to several other charges. no matter the sentence, the victims will claim that the military justice system has failed them again. natalie. >> jim, thank you. >>> palestinian leader mahmoud abbas will be at the white house today for a critical meeting with president obama. on the agenda, the progress in the palestinian peace negotiations. the obama administration is backing off that april 29th deadline for a deal. instead, it is looking to build the framework for negotiat