ray lahood will be with us shortly.he president is speaking to the business roundtable. >>> late latest economic report today, new home sales hit basement in january. >>> a day ahead of the big white house health care summit. outrage, congress investigates. we will be talking with senator dianne feinstein who is leading the charge against the sky high rocketing premiums. orrin hatches who message to the president on health care is start over. >>> good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. and the president is speaking to the business roundtable. let's go right to his speech. >> in which a continued erosion of america's manufacturing base hollowed out many communities around the country and put too many good jobs out of reach. no wonder then that people are frustrated. they are frustrated with government and they are frustrated with businesses. they are angry at a financial sector that took exorbitant risks by some and pursue of short-terp profits and they are angry at a government that failed to kapp catch the problem

lahood in testimony there.tional highway traffic safety administration's role in the recall. we'll continue to listen in to mr. lahood and certainly bring you akio toyoda when he starts his testimony. >>> and despite all the uproar over bailouts and bonuses, 2009, turned out to be a banner year for wall street employees. according to the new york state controller bonuses on wall street rose 17% last year with the average bonus about $124,000. but was an even bigger payday at goalman sachs, jpmorgan and three that got the biggest bailouts. bonuses rose to an average of $340,000. still, wall street did not break the record for bonuses set in 2007 before the recession hit. joining us to talk about it is a man who is leading off the charts, some say, journalist matt taibbi who writes about wall street's bailouts and bonuses. so people are at home saying, okay, they're talking about bonuses. we've had the outrage. we've had the obama administration saying they would get involved and yet again a lot of money going to

transportation secretary roy lahood says you should stop driving them immediately. joe brown reports on the announcement. >> reporter: toyota's troubles just got worse. the transportation secretary says toyota's plans for fixing sticky gas pedals may not be enough to stop the sudden acceleration in its vehicles. testifying here at the capital, transportation secretary ray lahood delivered an urgent message to drivers. stop driving now. >> my advice is if anyone owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, tyke take it to the toyota dealers because they believe they have the fix for it. we need to fix the problem so people don't have to werery about disengaging it. >> reporter: lahood says they are investigating to see if toyota's electronics systems are safe. more than 2 million vehicles have been recalled in the u.s. alone. there's another headache around the bend. drivers of the popular prius are now reporting problems with their brakes. lahood says he's calling toyota's president personally to talk about his concerns. joel brown, cbs news, washington. . >> accord

my second and only other question, second tarry lahood talked -- secretary lahood talked about want tothe transparency of worldwide sales and problems. will you agree, mr. toyoda, to be the company that lead by providing the u.s. with full transparency of your worldwide observations and help set a model for all the major companies here in the u.s.? [translation in progress] >> to that question i purely say yes. in the past case of recall, or problems have solutions, in making decisions we base our decision on two issues. whether or not the regulations and sketches for different parts of the world are complied with. in that sense going forward we intend to exchange and share information more timely throughout the world and we are now heading up the system for that purpose. for that specific purpose we are going to establish the special committee on global quality which i personally will be heading, and that first meeting of that will be held on march 2. and for that purpose we are now picking up the structure where the united states and other parts of the world will be represented in th

that is ray lahood testifying now. the president of toyota is going to testify, and brianna is on it, so we will tell you what we know. ♪ [ speaking native language ] [ male announcer ] doctors have been saying it forever. let's take a look. [ male announcer ] but they've never actually been able to do it like this. let's take a look. [ male announcer ] v-scan from ge healthcare. a pocket sized imaging device that will help change the way doctors see patients. that's better health for more people. ♪ i watched what i ate. i worked out. personally, i thought i was invincible. once it happened, i realized it's a different story. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i was the guy who was doing everything right. i was wrong. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. [ male announcer ] learn more about protecting your heart

phil brown reports lahood now said he misspoke when he advised owners to stop driving their recalled vehicles. >> reporter: the nation's transportation chief spoke directly to owners of recalled toyotas with language that might have been stronger than intended. >> my advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it. take it to a toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it. >> reporter: ray lahood's comments added fuel to the fire just as dealers are beginning to replace gas pedals in recalled models. >> i'm sure his statement did not help one little bit in terms of the paronoia that is out there with reference to this issue. >> reporter: shortly after making his remarks here on capitol hill lahood came out and faced the cameras, but this time he softened the message. >> what i said in there was obviously a misstatement. what i meant to say, what i thought i said was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it. >> reporter: toyota thanked lahood for the clarification and repeated its own message

. >> tom: susie, ray lahood told lawmakers in the morning that toyota owners should stop driving those cars. they were recalled due to sticky gas pedals. >> susie: but tom, lahood later back-pedaled on the advice. >> what i said in there was obviously a misstatement, what i meant to say, or what i thought to say was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it. >> susie: toyota says it appreciates the fact that lahood clarified his remarks, and the automaker repeated its advice to owners to take problem cars back to dealerships. so what do consumer advocates say about the recall controversy? we turned to one of the leading auto safety advocates, joan claybrook, former head of the national highway traffic safety administration. darren gersh began by asking her what drivers really to know about the recall. >> what they should know is what to do if this happens, if something goes wrong. and the most important thing to know is you put it into neutral and you do not turn the engine off if you do not have to, because when you turn the

now take a look at what happened to toyota's stock today after lahood's misstatement. shares fell more than 6% before he clarified it. meanwhile, as toyota struggles to repair millions of cars and its reputation, anthony mason tells us its competitors see an opening. >> reporter: toyota's troubles could be just what detroit's been waiting for: a turning point. for years, american automakers have been eating the japanese now, as toyotas are being pulled off the road and into the shop, g.m., ford, and chrysler may have a chance to turn the sales race around. >> the detroit big three absolutely have an opportunity to gain some market share here. >> reporter: toyota's u.s. sales not only slid to a ten-year low last month, a new survey by kelly blue book finds more than 20% of those who said they were considering a toyota prior to recall now say they're no longer considering the brand for their next vehicle. kelly also dropped the book value of the recalled cars by between $300 and $500 a piece. industry analyst rebecca lynnland believes the brand is not irreparably damaged

secretary lahood has been kind enough to join us from our washington, d.c., newsroom. mr. secretary, we do appreciate your time. a lot of americans don't believe the fix. a lot of them never believed it was floor mats. how do they believe now that this is over? what will be their assurance? >> the fact that we're paying a lot of attention to this, brian. our safety people are working night and day to make sure that these toyota customers that are driving these cars will drive safe cars. we listed on our website dot.gov all the cars recalled. we encourage people to take these cars back to their toyota dealer and get them fixed. safety is our number one priority. we are going to make sure these recalled automobiles are the safest the toyota drivers can drive. >> and we realize you're not toyota, you're the federal government, regulators, folks in charge of safety where u.s. drivers are concerned. toyota says they are definitely sure it's not the electronics. do you believe them? does that company at this point still have credibility with you considering the history? >> we ar

we'll put our own questions to transportation secretary ray lahood >> ifill: an economic update as the senate passes a jobs bill. >> warner: judy woodruff takes the pulse of the millennial generation-- those from 18 to 29. >> when i get out of med school my goal is to be absorbed the world and brick aid to people who are you should served and underprivileged and eventually bring it back to america. >> ifill: jeffrey brown gets the story of joseph pulitzer-- the media baron who helped shape the news business from biographer james mcgrath morris. >> the very idea of purchasing news, the way it's written, the style it's written, the basis of a story being part of news are all gifts that pulitzer gave to us and changed america. >> warner: and a show of lights over the night skies of vancouver during the olympics. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> every business day, bank of america lends nearly $3 billion to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses in every corner of the economy. ameri

then afterwards while talking to reporters lahood reversed course. >> what i said in there was obviously a misstatement. what i meant to say, what i thought i said was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it. >> toyota thanked lahood for the clarification and the part needed to fix the sticky throttle has already started to arrive at dealerships. >>> our scott broom spent the day with customers at one dealership trying to get their toyotas fixed and joins us live via skype. >> reporter: well, you talk about those parts being out. they are here at darr cars toyota in silver spring and guess what? the fixes started today just about three hours ago, the first customer left with a fixed recalled vehicle. so the hype is over. the recall fixes are underway. >> today is the day. >> reporter: tammy darvish a car dealer turned crisis manager. in the shops out back technicians bee began removing the potentially -- bee began removing the potentially sticky gas pedals affected by the recall. >> it's not that difficult. we do have to put t

transportation secretary ray lahood was in kansas city, missouri today. nevertheless, polls show many americans just don't think it's working. >> the bill still generates some controversy.... >> brown: the president today blamed negative perceptions, in part, on republicans. he ridiculed many in the g.o.p. for dismissing the effectiveness of the stimulus, even as they claim credit for its largesse. >> there are those-- let's face it-- across the aisle who have tried to score political points by attacking what we did, even as many of them show up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects in their districts. ( laughter ) >> reporter: at the same time, mr. obama acknowledged many americans don't see any improvement, as unemployment hovers near double digits. >> despite the extraordinary work that has been done through the recovery act, millions of americans are still without jobs. millions more are struggling to make ends meet. so it doesn't yet feel like much of a recovery.

. >> shepard: the committee took transportation secretary ray lahood to the woodshed. congressmen were saying they acted too slowly. secretary lahood is saying they're doing all they can but the buck stops with him. >> i'm taking responsibility for this. as i said, safety is number one and i'm going to be accountable. we're not going to compromise when it comes to safety. not on my watch. we just aren't. we're going to hold toyota's feet to the fire and get all this information, we're going to make sure what we looked at before was correct and if there's new information, then we'll put it out there. >> shepard: away we go. brian wilson up there in the hall again. brian, did the president of toyota strike the right tone here? >> you know, americans like to hear someone say they're sorry and indeed that's what we heard today from akio toyoda. he said he was sorry. he went further saying this was a personal issue for him. take a listen. >> for me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though i am as well. i, more than anyone, wish for toyota's car to be safe and for our cus

secretary lahood said absolutely not. brian? >> kelly o'donnell in washington. thanks. one more word from the automotive world here tonight. the vehicle that came to fame after the fick iraq war the hummer is headed for the scrap heap of history tonight after gm's sale of the brand to a inese company fell through. just a couple of years ago hummer was one of gm's most profitable lines, but chinese regulators nixed the plan for the $150 million acquisition. >>> toyota executives weren't the only ones under fire on the hill today. the health insurance company wellpoint was in the hot seat over its recent decision to hike premiums for some policy holders by a lot. our story tonight from nbc's lisa myers. >> reporter: three californians, all relatively healthy, recently were notified their health insurance premiums are going up as much as 39% this year. >> there's reasonable and then there's outrageous. >> reporter: for jeremy arnold it's the second huge increase. >> my premiums are poised to rise to a level a whopping 74% higher than barely over a year ago. >> reporter: to

"we're not finished with toyota" said lahood.oanalysts estimate recalling and repairing millions of cars will cost toyota at least $900 million, with lost sales amounting to some $155 million a week. >> i'll have someone give you a call back. >> reporter: toyota said it first received a complaint of sticking gas pedals back in 2007 but determined its cars were not at fault. >> the first line of defense, the consumer was wrong, they stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, it's their fault. >> reporter: yet federal data showed toyota accelerator complaints totaled nearly 600 last year, a fact excluded from sales pitches to some customers. >> in the economic downturn they sacrificed quality and now that has come back to bite them. >> reporter: as worrisome are the increasing reports of runaway acceleration in toyota models not currently on the recall list, including fatal accidents involving a sienna and this lexus last august that killed four. >> we're in trouble. we can't... there's no brakes. hold on. pray. pray. shoot.

and of course, toyota is getting an earful from transportation secretary ray lahood today. let's check in with cnbc's courtney reagan. she joins us live with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines. good morning, courtney. >> hi, good morning, barbara. right now stocks are mostly lower here, about a little less than halfway through the trading day. that's after the markets moved higher for the second straight trading day. markets overnight in europe also positive. things looking pretty good around the world. today we did get the first of three reports for the week of the labor market. there was a loss, but it was less than expected. and aig is set to pay another round of bonuses today worth about $100 million. this ces a year after the company made similar payments, sparking a firestorm of criticisms from the congress and the public. the retention bonuses will be paid to current and former workers. they recently agreed to take a 10 to 20% cut in their bonuses if they could get them a month early. like you mentioned, barbara, transportation secretary ray la

ray lahood and team obama seems to be piling on. is it because the u.s. government owns government motors, gm, which is a toyota competitor? is that behind this? well, i've no evidence that it's behind it but certainly there is a conflict here, at least the appearance of a conflict. the government has a horse in this race. taxpayers were coerced by the government to have a 60% share in gm, so the administration is really vested in its success. so the ability to help shine a light on this negative period for toyota could be nomotivatin them, but there's no evidence of that. >> shining the line, there's no question you've got to do that. it's a safety issue. but once the speck, the rhetoric coming out of ray lahood, the transportation secretary, jie, whiz, dan, if i didn't know better, i'd say they were conducting a war on toyota and i would say it's an industrial poll toy is slam an international car maker who has 170,000 jobs in the united states, slam them because they're against general motors. that's if i didn't know anything. it doesn't sound like we,

lahood seño que es importante que quienes hayan tenido problemas con sus vehiculos, que los lleven alos concesionarios para que sean reparados... mas de dos millones trescientos mil vehiculos en las carreteras deberan ser reparados por que los pedales del acelerador se pueden atorar durante la marcha.. toyota tam enviara pagos de 75 mil dolares a los concesionarios para ayudarlos a ganar nuevamente la confianza de los clientes.. la propuesta que se opone a aut realizacion de matrimonios entre homosexuales en washington fue presentada hoy en el congreso por un senador de utah... el republicano bob bennett busca prohibir que se les nieguen licensias de casamiento hasta que se lleve a cabo un referendo al respecto... la medida aprobada por el concejo municipal de la ciudad esta en periodo de evaluacion por el congreso y podria entrar en efecto el proximo mes.. la alcaldesa de baltimore se despidio hoy de sus trabajadores, recalcando los logros alcanzados... sheila dixon dejara el cargo mañana tras haber renunciado al verse involucrada en un escandalo dedicados a los pobres, y otras aleg

transportation secretary ray lahood says he wants to talk to toyota directly. now, this comes as problems pop up with the prius. after last week's mass recall for pedal problems. the mass recall he said had to do with the ak sell raltor. the prius problem appears to be linked to the brakes. toyota shares are down another 3.3%. phil lebeau is live at hq with the latest and the significance of mr. lahood's request for a personal meeting. >> he wants to meet with the chairman and ceo of toyota. he is somebody who rarely talks publicly but now you have ray lahood two days in a row coming out and has made very strong comments about his concern regarding the safety of toyota, the comments today saying i want to meet directly with the head of toyota show him just how serious this is and how concerned the united states is. the prius issue is one that has popped up in part because japan's transportation ministry overnight ordered the company to look into complaints about the prius brakes. here in the united states there have been 102 complaints regarding the prius. now,

secreta ray lahood aclaro hoy que se equivoco al sugerir que los conductores de vehiculos toyotas deafectados, dejaran de conducirlos... lahood señalo que es importante que quienes hayan tenido problemas con sus vehiculos, que los lleven a los concesionarios ""para que sean reparados... mas de dos millones tscientos mil vehiculos en las carreteras deberan ser reparados por que los pedales del acelerador se pueden atorar durante la marcha.. toyota tambien enviara pagos de 75 mil dolares a los concesionarios "" para ayudarlos a ganar nuevamente la confianza de los clientes.. enviar mensajes de texto mient convertido en una practica muy comun, y a la vez riesgos por las consecuencias de accidentes que acarrea.. por lo que una universidad del pais esta desarrollando un programa computarizado que detectaria si un vehiculo esta en movimiento.. si al poner la clave uno se equivoca, entonces el teclado quedaria bloqueado por tres minutos hasta que se detecte que el vehiculo ya no esta en movimiento.. cielo nublado sobre la region a esta " """""""""""""""s lo que esta marcando el termomet

lahood said nhtsa is investigating whether the problem is really toyota's electronic throttle control systems, something the company denies. and the popular prius hybrid came under the spotlight today. it was not involved in the gas pedal problem, but toyota reported more than 100 complaints of brake issues on the cars in both the u.s. and japan. in the meantime, the auto maker has offered to pay dealers up to $75,000 apiece for working extra hours to cover the recall. for the record, toyota is one of the "newshour's" underwriters. insurance giant a.i.g. has paid another $100 million in bonuses to employees in its financial products division. that unit ran the trading which nearly sank the company and led to a government bailout totaling $180 billion. reports today said most of the employees agreed to take smaller bonuses than they were due, under their contracts, which were agreed to before the government bailout. wall street stumbled after two days of triple-digit gains. the rally stalled in part because growth in the service sector was weaker than expected in january. the dow jones

ray lahood created a stir today when he said owners of recalled toyotas should, in essence, leave them in park. >> my advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it. >> reporter: but a few hours later, lahood was back, amending his advice. >> what i said in there was obviously a misstatement. what i meant to say, what i thought i said was, if you own one of these cars, or if you are in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it. >> either way, toyota's stock took a beating, down 6% today. >>> and here we go again on that issue that causes taxpayer blood to boil. insurance giant aig, which owes the government billions of dollars, announced another round of bonuses for some of the very people who got the company into trouble. $100 million in bonuses. so, we asked david muir to take it on again, and david's here. >> reporter: blood boiling on capitol hill today, as well. one republic congressman says the obama administration's handling of aig resembles the keystone cops. the president

lahood says the automaker was slow to realize the safety problems that led the recalls. as diane eastabrook reports, while toyota has a fix for sticking gas pedals, it may have to fix its reputation as well. >> reporter: it's business as usual in the service department of elmhurst toyota. oil changes and routine repairs are on the day's schedule. but by next week, dealer kurt schiele expects his mechanics will be working 24-7 to fix as many as a thousand gas pedals on recalled toyota vehicles. >> we're making sure that we're staffed correctly and just putting a real good process together so we can handle the customers on a timely basis. >> reporter: repairing the accelerators on thousands of toyota vehicles will be a time- consuming task for dealers and plants, but experts say repairing potential damage to the toyota brand could be a bit trickier. this morning toyota publicly apologized to consumers for the recall in a letter appearing in major newspapers across the u.s. but the apology comes a week after the recall and efforts to find a solution to the sticky accelerato

i asked transportation secretary ray lahood about it this week on the newshour.he thousands of documents which have surfaced, the investigation we saw today, the testimony we've seen, do you believe that toyota misled the public? >> i think that they were safety deaf. i think they should have been listening. i think toyota in tokyo -- and tokyo should have been list tong their north american people -- have been listening to their north american people who they hire. very professional people. gwen: welcome to "washington week," david. how much should the government known and how much did the government know about toyota's problem? >> well, since 2004, there are eight separate investigations into sudden acceleration claims at toyota. and the only thing the government did was to force the recall of 55,000 floor mats in 2007. very little. very inexpensive and toyota bragged about the fact that they saved $100 million plus by only having to recall these 55,000 floor mats. then we had this awful accident in august of 2009 of a california highway patrol officer that kil

we just heard from secretary lahood prior to your testimony.d he talked about the fact that nhtsa sent a team to tokyo to meet with the top leadership of toyota to bring to their attention as forcefully as they could the fact that there was a problem and that it needed to be attended to. that meeting was prior to your testimony just now that you only learned about this problem in december of last year. were you not aware of the fact that nhtsa had sent a team to tokyo headquarters? [ speaking japanese ] >> translator: on that specific point, that was a matter handled by the division in charge of quality assurance. and certain person in that division, i understand, received the visit from nhtsa representatives and had discussion with them. i know that. however, i do not know the specific content of the discussion nor the timing of that meeting. >> well, there seems to beod@@s) we know that the company was made aware by officials of nhtsa, who flew to tokyo for this express purpose. us in your testimony you didn't know about it. you were aware of

transportation secretary ray lahood was on the spot.ow he oversees the nhtsa, and he sounded pretty fierce when he was defending his agency. >> we've been a lap dog for nobody. we've been a lap dog for the people who drive cars and want to do them safety. that's who we've been a lap dog for. >> part of what he is responding to is there has been some criticism because when the nhtsa was asking toyota questions, what's going on with the gas pedal problem, sometimes who they were asking were people that they used to work with, people who had gone over to toyota from the nhtsa, and it kind of raises the question that maybe not intentionally, but, you know, since we're all human if you're asking someone who you worked with for a long time you trust them and take their word for it so maybe there was unintentional bias there. if you drive a toyota that has been recalled it's not safe. do not ignore the problem. take it to a dealer and get it picked. a lot of times with recalls, people say i haven't had a problem. this isn't the kind of thing y

you mention the secretary of transportation, ray lahood.he comes out and says to the nation, don't drive your toyota, and then a couple hours later, oops, i did not mean that, you can drive your toyota. look, you were the head of nitza, and we had these investigations. should we drive their toyota or not? >> they could drive the car, but if they have a concern about it as the secretary said very appropriately, they should take it to the dealer. the dealers are getting parts, and if anybody thinks their car is dangerous, take it in there. if anybody experienced any hint that they have a problem with the accelerator or breaking, they should take them in immediately. if they have not, they should be aware of the problem, the potential for the problem, and if it occurs put it in neutral, immediately, so -- this is with acceleration, so the vehicle engine does not race, and then bring the car to a stop and get it to a dealer -- call the dealer and have it towed to the dealer. >> thank you, and we appreciate your insight. time worked out perfectl

the secretary of transportation, the guy named ray lahood gave his account of how the government handledy the administrator was not going to testify. >> you'll see that david strickland is to the right of the screen and he is over the transportation secretary's left shoulder, so, he's in the room, he's just not testifying today. we've been told it's because he's only been on the job for about six weeks or so, so, let's get to that exchange now, between representative burton and the transportation secretary, ray lahood. >> mr. strickland's been on the job 40 days. i've been on the job about 13 months. i'm not going to have our m administrat administrator, who has been on the job 40 days appear. look, i'm taking responsibility for this. >> yeah, and also, i'm a little bit drunk. yeah! toyota. >> jimmy: that's -- striking similarity. akio toyoda, the president of the company, came in from japan to testify. this is a big deal, because this guy, toyoda, with a d, is a notoriously private person. there aren't any photos of his family in public. he rarely checks his facebook account. he came to

>> if you own one of the toyota's affected in the company's recall, transportation secretary ray lahood is saying that you should stop driving it until it is fixed. he gave testimony today before a house committee. the recall affects millions of vehicles with the potential for sticking gas pedals. the automaker has also been hit with more than 100 complaints in the u.s. and japan about brake problem with the popular prius. in response, honda is raising its sales outlook. they saw a number is rising 2%. an executive vice president said that honda is earnings rose 2%, and at the same time, it is a word about the problem that this could have on japanese cars in general. a warning for mobile phone users. cyber crooks are offering applications for smart phones and instead of giving you access to banks, draw your data from your phone. google had to remove the -a cern number of applications because of the suspicious activity. >> things are looking good as far as the road to go. we had a few inches of snow, but things are clearing out. high pressure start to build in. right now, just a few thin

now, secretary lahood. in his testimony, he was forced to clarify remarks he made about a recall for toyota cars and trucks. later, he said that honor should take their cars in for repairs. >> we have is our guest cabinet secretary ray lahood from the department of transportation. welcome, mr. secretary. welcome to the subcommittee. we're very happy to have you back again. i want to thank you for coming before us to explain the president's 2011 budget request for the department of transportation. your entire leadership is in place. during this time, the department has taken a number of steps to transform and modernize the transportation system, and in particular, the recovery act provided you with an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure and transformative initiatives and new jobs. however this transformation has been hindered by complications that we traced last year, aviation authorizations, and the continued insolvency of the highway trust fund. with a purse step in developing the reauthorization in thei

. >> bret: also in the buffet line is ray lahood who sent toyota's stock tumbling today. here is what he said to a house committee when asked what he would say to owners of cars affect bade massive recall. >> my advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it. take it to toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it. >> lahood later called that a misstatement about stopping driving it. toyota says it has figured out how to fix the problem with gas pedals that can get stuck. a member of the president's advisory council on faith-base and neighborhood partnerships is standing by an earlier statement that pope benedict is "hurting people in the name of jesus." harry knocks returning to the pope's assertion that condom use aggravates the spread of hiv in africa, one a position supported by researcher edward green. knocks says green is also incorrect. you may not recognize american history if some changes to school policy are approved in one state. can medicare survive without some big changes? our series one nation under debt continues. 

we just heard from secretary lahood prior to your testimony.talked about the fact that nhtsa sent a team to tokyo to meet with the top leadership of toyota to bring to their attention as forcefully as they could the fact that there was a problem and that it needed to be attended to. that meeting was prior to your testimony just now that you only learned about this problem in december of last year. were you not aware of the fact that nhtsa had sent a team to tokyo headquarters? [ speaking japanese ] >> translator: on that specific point, that was a matter handled by the division in charge of quality assurance. and certain person in that division, i understand, received the visit from nhtsa representatives and had discussion with them. i know that. however, i do not know the specific content of the discussion nor the timing of that meeting. >> well, there seems to be some discrepancy. again, we're trying to get at what did we know and when did we know it to sort of gauge the company's -- the quality of the company's response to the serious proble

secretary lahood demanding to talk to toyota to keep the pressure on as if toyota needed reminding. it's stocks plummeted, sales careening, dealers are screaming and many are wondering, never mind if they survive the crisis, will she survive at all? jeff flock is gauging the situation from chicago. >> when i heard that i thought is that i don't overstated but t think it is. we haven't seen the bottom of the barrel and the least of the worries were today and the secretary's statements which he said he misspoke about. listen to what he said this morning that set off a firestorm across the country. take a listen. >> my advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take to a toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix. >> stop driving it? should i pull over? that's not what he meant and he's a standup guy, a old republican congressman from illinois and said i misspoke but obviously it's a serious problem. the reason i don't think -- well i should point out the stock immediately went into the tank. we have the final stock board, below $72 after his statement

ray lahood is criticizing toyota for moving too slowly with their safety measures. the parts to fix this are moving out right now. >> the death of morgan harrington has been confirmed to be a homicide. she disappeared in october after attending a metallica concert. >> the doctor at the center of the investigation into the death of michael jackson may be facing charges. he may be charged with involuntary manslaughter today. dr. murray is planning to turn himself in. michael jackson died in june after he was given a sedative to help them sleep. -- to help him sleep. >> involuntary manslaughter requires -- >> there will be a complaint in court, rather than going to the grand jury. he said he gave him an anesthetic before he died, but he does not say there is anything -- he says there is nothing there that should have been able to kill him. >> next, we continue to follow the conditions across the metropolitan region. the winter storm watch has been cancelled. we will have the latest school closings and the latest delays. >> you may find that traffic is running a little

under ray lahood, it's been much tougher.e really pushed the company to do the right thing and to do these recalls. i'm more concerned about the initial recall, the one in november, dealing with the so-called floor mat recall because there the accelerator sticks, not just sticks, but it smashes to the floor in some cases. and even in vehicles without the floor mat. and so there's a real concern that there's an electronic problem here, and i think that's why, in the repair of those vehicles -- and there are 5 million of them -- that toyota is putting a brake override system, software change into the vehicle so that, if there's a conflict between the accelerating and the braking, that the braking will stop the vehicle. >> and, joan, now we bring in the prius issue, which is on a much smaller scale, but certainly there are american drivers of the prius who bought this car before january of this year, who are very concerned this morning about whether they should get in this car and drive it for a different reason, for a braking r

today transportation secretary ray lahood vigorously defended his agency's handling of the situation, saying toyota was too slow in addressing the safety problems, and that it took pressure from the government to get the auto maker to take action. a statement from lahood reads, quote -- hi went even further in an interview with the associated press. he says official from his department went to japan to remined toy the outa of their testify obligations, and -- now in an interview with the a.p., lahood said, quote, officials in the north american safety office were, as he put it, safety deaf about the problems and if his department hadn't pushed the company, quote, i don't know that the recall would be taking place. we contacted the north american headquarters for a responsible, and they sent us a statement saying nothing is more important -- also this quote. but clearly some heavy fallout, some extraordinary finger-pointing at levels we have not seen in a long, long time. >> brian, this isn't the end of this story, by any means, is it? >> absolutely not. as a matter of fact in his stat

lay lahood said toyota was a little, "safety deaf" and officials needed to wake them up. the government has considered civil penalties against the car maker. the executive vice president said repair parts are on the way to dealers right now. >>> it appears the safety concerns are beginning to affect toyota sales. sales were down 8. 7% in january compared to a year ago. ford sales are up 35%. jn motors reports sales gained of more than 23%. the company says its chevy, buick, gmc and cadillac brands have seen retail increases four months in a row. >>> so, are we going to need the suv on the roads? >> by tomorrow morning it will be pretty much out of here. once again, it's a pretty snow out there. snow haters will say enough with the pretty snow, i want it out of here. here we are in february. our temperature outside, 33. above freezing. what a difference from the saturday snow. look at the temperatures around the east. saturday we had that very, very dry air in on us. now we've got a wet snow clinging to everything. that means it's slippery but moving right along. the patte

. >> transportation secretary ray lahood announced a new probe of this electronic system that links the gas pedal through a tiny computer to the throttle. >>> when barbara walters gets that interview with someone involved in a scandal, it's one you have to see. americans will hear the dark details to governor mark sanford's marriage to his wif jenny. >> mark refused to promise to be faithful when he took his vows. did that bother you? >> i thought long and hard given that today. it bothered me to some extent, but you know, i questioned it, but i got past it. you know, along with other doubts that i had. >> you can hear much more of the interview with barbara walters and jenny sanford tonight at 10:00 on abc 2. >>> last night was hectic out there in the parking lot. >> $18.24. >> people all across the area trying to fill the fridge before the big snow this weekend. check in with justin to see how everything's going right now. >> important to keep in mind that as the storm begins, it's going to start getting heavy pretty fast. we're also marginal with temperatures. the really cold stuff d

>> lahood later clarified people should drive recalled cars to the dealership immediately. toyota's stock fell 4% after that comment. president obama says north korea will not be on the list of countrys that sponsor terrorism. he says the regime does not meet the criteria. over the summer, secretary of state hillary clinton raised the possibility of putting the north back on the list after it conducted several nuclear missile tests. the bush administration had removed it in 2008 to keep a nuclear deal from collapsing. too close to call. both illinois primaries for governor are so close, absentee ballots could decide them now. only about 300 votes separate the top two republicans, bill brady and kirk dillard. the gap is wider among the democrats, though. the governor leads by 8100 votes. the fate of 10 americans detained in haiti could be decided today. authorities will decide whether to file charges against the baptist missionaries accused of trying to take 33 haitian children into the dominican republic without proper documents. secretary of state hillary clinton says the

toyota stock dropped almost 6% yesterday and lahood was forced to backtrack. >> what i meant to say,t i thought i said was if you own one of these cars or if you are in doubt, take it to the dealer and they are gonna fix it. >> as bad as the situation may be for toyota, i think there's a real opportunity here for american car manufacturers. let me bring in democratic congressman gary parties of michigan. it would seem to me that if i were a car dealer anywhere in america, i might take out a pretty aggressive commercial, congressman, saying, you know, you should have been buying american all along. or is that over the top for these politically correct times. what do you think? >> i think it is very important for american car buyers to know that our domestic auto industry are making some great cars. you know, jd power consistently ranks both chrysler and general motors and ford at the very top when it comes to customer satisfaction. the insurance institute of highway safety has ranked all of the big three cars at the top of the list when it comes to highway safety. and you've got the m

department of transportation secretary ray lahood echoing those feelings to the ambassador of japan. they are getting it on all fronts. if you are a competitor for toyota you're loving this for once the teacher's pet, the a-student is getting reprima reprimanded. >> who are the winners? >> if you look at hyundai, they've been nipping at toyota's heels. they benchmarked themselves and gave them ten years to match or exceed toyota's quality. this is a huge opening because their momentum has been great. in the united states, ford is at the advent of the big three hybrid technology. if you are a dealership in the market for a new hybrid they can cast aspersions on the toyota vehicles. it's a 40-minute fix at the dealership for the recall, you're going to run into these issues. i think that power of negative pr, word of mouth, is extremely deleterious. >> in coming back to toyota, do you think it's done enough to meet the public safety concerns? >> this is a learning experience for toyota. this has never happened to toyota on this scale in the way that it really just hit them in a way the

in the midst of the recall transportation secretary ray lahood saying at one point today people concerned about their toyotas should stop driving them but then quickly backtracked on that. tonight more questions for toyota specifically complaints about the brakes on the popular prius hybrid. >>> metro is taking a closer look at how it spreads the word after an accident. that decision comes after a maintenance vehicle skidded on icy tracks over the weekend hitting another rail truck. nobody hurt but metro's own safety office apparently didn't know about the accident for more than 30 hours. >>> this weekend's winter weather pushing back plans to close chain bridge again. that bridge was supposed to be closed last weekend so crews could pour new concrete. the work was pushed back to this weekend because it snowed last weekend. now the dc department of transportation is postponing it again to next weekend. too bad we can't postpone the evening rush. let's take a look at the traffic. >> talk about traffic. wednesday evening's commute off to a pretty good start and continued to look fantastic o

toyota's troubles are far from over, transportation secretary ray lahood accused the auto maker of draggingt. and now there are a growing number of people complaining about the problem with the prius not recalled. apple cofounder is one of them he believes there is a software problem with his car. toyota took a tumble in the show rooms. u.s. rivals picked up the slack. ford sales surged but chrysler sales fell 8% >> chef well, your boss may not be happy with all the time you spend on social networking sites at the office. a new survey from a security firm finds spam and malicious infections coming from myspace surged last year. social sites could cause a security breech. >> the recession had americans reaching for top shelf booze less often. americans drank more liquor last year than in 2008 but returned to cheaper brands we also drank more at home spending less in bars and restaurants. coming up on good morning america, which credit card offer has the best rewards program. we will tell you how to get the most bang for your buck after your local news. that is your money scope report i am je

. >> reporter: ray lahood promised to continue reviewing toyota electronic system and whether it hasdden accelerations. his pledge to congress, to work 24/7 until all toyotas are safe. whit johnson, cbs news, washington. >>> on the cbs "moneywatch," stocks in asia edged down this morning. and emily smith is here in new york with that and more. emily, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the continuing debt problems of greece through a sdar into most asian markets. p nikkei lost almost 1%, while the hang seng closed down a fraction. wall street reversed a two day slide where the dow gained 9 # points. the nasdaq was up 3 # # 2. vip toss will get a look at the latest unemployment numbers. >>> there's yet another auto recall, this time for chrysler. the dough is asking the owners of more than 355,000 of its minivans to take them to deal ners a few months to replace crash sensors that help to control the air bags. the company says the sensors can crack and fail. >>> the hummer is now history. gm says it's shut do you think the brand after a deal to sell to a chinese company fell lieu

. >> today, ray lahood warned owners to take the vehicles in for repairs as quickly as you can. questions are being raised now about the brakes on the toyota prius hybrid. there have been eight complaints about the brakes in this country. 77 complaints in japan. the automaker says that problem has yet to cause any accidents. >>> gay marriage in d.c.? another utah lawmaker says not so fast. this time, it's senator bob bennett, he's introduced a bill that would force d.c. to put same-sex marriage on the ballot, before allowing any gay couples to wed. this bill is similar to one introduced in the house. the d.c. council approved gay marriage in december. >>> prosecutors are asking a judge to officially close the case of that deadly shooting at the u.s. holocaust museum. the suspect james von brunn died last month at the age of 89. prosecutors said he opened fire as he entered that museum last june, killing stephen johns. >>> under arrest, 27-year-old michael gordon of brandy wine. investigators said the trouble went down at a shop. they said he exposed himself to two female shopper