here's david kerley. >> reporter: tea party activists are mad. the president gave them more to be angry about. using a recess appointment. the president bypassed the senate where some of his nominees have been blocked for months. he put 15 people into key administration job. >> the republican party is going try to slow and block progress on all fronts. >> reporter: republicans are angry about craig becker, a union lawyer. worrying it will make unions -- >> the debate is an angry debate to begin with. >> reporter: with the midterm elections just seventh months way, is he giving up on bipartisan ship snmplts i think thai feeling confident. it signals that ahead there's more clash. >> reporter: a clash indeed. nastiness, spitting, name calling, bricks thrown through windows. fiery rhetoric. >> let's stop the sleazy chicago-style sausage making. >> you're fired. >> reporter: governing in the coming months is unlikely to get easier. >> we're unlikely to see much working together. >> reporter: the white house is defending the recess appointment. this p

>> david kerley. >>> they say sex else is. the rights to the domain name sex.com will be auctioned off in new york. >> bidding begins at $1 million. it was last sold in 2006 for $14 million. >> any number of people could be going after that domain name. >>> when we come back, it's time for march madness. >> we told you which teams had it in me. >>> now, for a look at morning road conditions. wet on the southern end of i-95 in the carolinas, georgia and florida today. snow on i-15 and 25 in the northern rockies, mostly in montana and much of wyoming. and flooded roads in the midwest. >> if you are flying today, it should be easy going. there are no weather-related airport delays to report this morning. >>> well, teachers and parents are taking a look at a troubling, new report on how poorly boys are doing in school. while gis e gaining much stronger math skills, boys are falling farther behind in reading. ron claiborne hamore details. >> reporter: this report is very good news for girls. but it describes what amounts to a crisi

>> david kerley on capitol hill. >>> let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent, jon karl. he's covered every twist and turn of this for more than a year now. so, it's fitting that he's hosting "this week" this morning. jon, what are we watching? is there a particular congressman you're keyed in on? >> absolutely. where things stand, we have our white board we've been using throughout this eded of course, the magic num but look at this. the yes votes, just four votes away from enough to lock this in. democrats that are either yes or leaning yes. so, not all of them are totally locked in. the no votes thawe'eing now, either voting no or leaning no, 214. just two away from defeating the bill. we're going into this debate just as tight as it can be, in terms of who we're watching, there's a small group of moderates that voted no the first time, who we're looking at. also those against the abortion. the anti-abortio democrats, who many of them right now are saying they're going to vote no. and nancy pelosi may need their votes. they may have to find a way please them before thi

here's david kerley. >> reporter: a remarkable scene. a remarkable statement. the speaker and democratic leader walking hand in hand to go vote on sunday with representative john lewis, who saturday was reminded of the old battles from his civil rights days. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! >> reporter: surrounded by angry protesters at the capitol, someone yelled the "n" word at lewis. and a few steps below, representative emanuel cleaver was spat on.

david kerley tracked them. >> reporter: a remarkable scene, a remarkable statement. the speaker and democratic leader walking hand in hand to go vote today, with john lewis, who yesterday, was reminded of old battles of his civil rights days. >> kill the bill! >> reporter: surrounded by angry protesters at the capitol, someone yelled the n-word at lewis. a few sts below, representative emanuel cleaver was spat on. watch as cleaver says, "you spit on me." cleaver declined to press charges. and inside, as openly gay representative barney frank walked the halls, a slur. >> i think republicans are making a great mistake in thinks they can benefit from these kind of thug tactics. >> reporter: actually, republicans today were trying to distance themselves. >> this is certainly not a reflection of the movement or the republican party when you have some idiots out there saying stupid things. >> reporter: protesters refused to believe the incidents took place. others say they should not taint the movement. >> that takes away from what we're trying to do here. >> they may call

david kerley joins us with more on that.eporter: jeremy and vinita, the epa is telling us these spot-on products are safe if used correctly. but the labels have been a mess with confusing information for consumers. last may the epa launched this investigation after a huge spike in reported illnesses and deaths, a 60% increase in 2008, with 600 deaths reported. what happened? the epa believes that the makers of these flea and tick products were very good at advertising them and their use skyrocketed. but some people used a large dog dose on a small dog, or a dog dose on a cat, which can be deadly. in some cases. the agency wants better labeling including a warning to keep cats away from dogs who have just been treated. there's a fear the cats could actually lick the dog's treated fur and get sick. since no products are being banned or taken off shelves, the industry is pleased and its reaction to changing the labels, according to the epa, has been very positive. vinita and jeremy? >> thanks to david kerley. >>> in the northea

david kerley, abc news, washington. >>> a moderate earthquake rocked eastern cuba over the weekend, followed by an almost equally strong aftershock. the earthquake measured 5.6. the aftershock, 4.8. both were centered in the city of guantanamo, near the u.s. naval base. the quake caused some building cracks but no major damage or injuries have been reported. >>> a spectacular sight in southern iceland when a volcano erupted for the first time in nearly 200 years. it spewed ash and lava from a crack along the slope there, rather than the summit. some flights were canceled and nearby villages evacuated for a short time but so far there's been no damage. scientists are concerned it could trigger a more dangerous eruption of another volcano nearby. >>> here at home that eruption you may be hearing is a big sigh of relief from fargo, north dakota. the red river is receding after cresting 19 feet above flood stage without doing any damage. residents and officials say they learned a lot about preparing for rising waters after last year's record flooding destroyed about 100 homes. >> wow. >>> here's