congressional correspondent nancy cordes has more now on washington's second thoughts on the rise of angry rhetoric, good evening. >> reporter: a rather extraordinary display of soul-searching is going on here on capitol hill as members of congress discuss openly whether they're often heated discourse could be contributing to a culture of violence. >> it's been a much angrier, confrontational and environment over the last two or three years. >> they say i'm right and you're evil. both sides are guilty of this. >> reporter: there is no shortage of recent examples. nevada republican sharron angle spoke of taking up arms against the government. >> people are really looking toward those second amendment remedies. >> reporter: florida democrat alan grayson likened his opponent to the taliban. >> the taliban dan webster. >> reporter: and west virginia senator joe manchin fired a rifle at legislation he didn't like. >> isn't it kind of extreme to be firing a gun when you are talking about anyone's agenda. >> in west virginia, if you don't know how to shoot a gun and handle a gun, you probab

congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill tonight. y, there is no chance this repeal will succeed. it's a largely symbolic measure, so what's the point? >> reporter: well, katie, republicans will contend that this was absolutely not for show, that it was just the first step in their long-term effort to wipe this health care law off the books. >> on this vote, the yeas are 245, the nos are 189. >> reporter: the party line vote capped a vigorous debate. >> obama-care, as we know, is the crown jewel of socialism. >> reporter: which republicans vilified the health care law, and democrats exalted it. >> when you order every american to buy health insurance, whether they want it or need it or not, that's a government takeover of health care. >> really? who's taking over what health care plan? we're offering people tax incentives, small businesses tax incentives to go buy private insurance plans. >> reporter: a tentative agreement to tone down the rhetoric was shattered when one democrat likened republican claims about the law to nazi propaga

well, it's the day after, and congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill, and, nancy, what are members saying about it? was this just a one-night stand for most of them? >> reporter: well, katie, some members said they thought it was silly, but most of them seemed to think it was a refreshing change from business as usual. ( applause ) last night's bipartisan pairings drew praise from the leaders of both parties only because they were a change of pace from decades of this... >> i am, frankly, very tired of this jumping up and down and democrats jump up, the republicans don't. >> reporter: it didn't take long for members who came together last night to retreat to their battle station. >> does the gentleman have a parliamentary inquiry? >> i asked... i didn't make a parliamentary inquiry, i asked... >> then the gentleman is no longer recognized. >> reporter: the budget is emerging as the biggest fault line. >> we need to get our official house in order. >> reporter: when republicans proposed a constitutional amendment to require balanced budgets today, democrats pounced

nancy cordes is our congressional correspondent, and, nancy, on this very somber day there was just one order of business. >> reporter: exactly, katie, and that was to pass this resolution in honor of congresswoman giffords and the other victims. more than 100 members stepped forward to speak in an outpouring of an emotion that lasted all day. >> our hearts are broken, but our spirit is not. this is a time for the house to lock arms in prayer for the fallen and the wounded and resolve to carry on a dialogue of democracy. >> reporter: dozens of democrats and republicans noted giffords' rare ability to rise above partisan politics. >> if there is a sweeter, a kinder, a more gentle member of the house, i know not their name. >> we don't know why god saw this to be necessary. >> and i'm having a hard time processing what it actually occurred. >> reporter: many paid tribute to giffords' fallen staffer, gabe zimmerman. >> gabe zimmerman died doing what he loved-- serving the people of arizona. >> reporter: and inevitably, the national debate over political rhetoric spilled on to the house flo

>> couric: nancy cordes. nancy, thank you very much. in an earlier life, senior political correspondent jeff greenfield was a political speech writer. he has some thoughts now on the challenge the president is facing tonight. >> reporter: the president tonight will find himself in the same position as every recent president. he'll be the fifth consecutive chief executive to look out on a congress where the other party controls at least one house. so what to say? he could begin on a light touch. >> i look out at you i know how some of you must have felt in 1992. ( laughs ) >> reporter: and expect him to embrace bipartisanship, that's more or less required. >> our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on as long as we're willing to cross that aisle when there's work to be done. >> reporter: but the real question is how does president obama intend to deal with a republican house on policy and politics? sometimes a president's position is hopeless. here's richard nixon in 1974 telling a heavily democratic congress to forge

>> couric: nancy cordes, nancy thanks very much. with the power shift on capitol hill and a presidential election next year, changes are coming at the white house as well. they started today when press secretary robert gibbs confirmed he is stepping down. so let's go to chip reid. chip, gibbs has been with the president since he began his run for the white house so why now and where is he going? >> reporter: gibbs says after two years of working 24/7 he needs a break. where is he going? not far. aside from spending some time with his family... >> there's a little boy who probably needs a ride to school every now and then. >> reporter: ...robert gibbs will hit the lucrative speaking circuits, but won't be gone for long. the president has asked him to stay on as a top advisor to his re-election campaign. gibbs is one of more than a half dozen senior white house officials expected to leave soon in what he described as a major retooling. >> i think the president believes that's important, that having additional voices, having different

congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill tonight. nancy, in the battle over both issues, the democrats got some new ammunition today. >> reporter: they sure did, katie. it came from the non-partisan congressional budget office which said that repealing the health care law would actually increase the debt by more than $200 billion. democrats were quick to charge the new majority with hypocrisy. >> they are breaking their first promise in their first week. >> reporter: republicans countered that the health care law drafted by democrats was filled with fiscal gimmicks and released their own report estimating the that law would actually cost the country $2.6 trillion. >> i don't think anybody in this town believes that repealing obamacare is going to increase the deficit. >> reporter: to prove they're serious about flashy spending, republicans called up their first piece of legislation today: a 5% cut in congressional budgets which passed overwhelmingly. >> we are asking ourselves to take the first step here and save at least $35 million.

nancy cordes reporting the very latest from capitol hill. thanks so much, nancy. >> one of the victims was the chief federal district judge of arizona, john roll. ironically, he had received death threats himself just two years earlier. joining us now is jan crawford, our chief legal correspondent. jan, what do we know about judge roll? >> katie, judge roll was widely respected and had been the chief judge of the federal court in arizona for the past five years. he was appointed by a george h.w. bush when he was president, but he was a moderate. now he also lived through fallout for making some unpopular rulings. it was just two years ago that he received multiple death threats, and he was temporarily assigned a security detail after he had ruled that a group of illegal immigrants could go forward with their lawsuit against an arizona rancher. at the time, he told the "arizona republic," "i am a very strong believer that there is nothing wrong with criticizing a judicial decision, but when it comes to threats, that is an entirely different ma

congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill tonight. nancy, i understand the first order of business for the republicans will be trying to repeal health care reform. but that's not likely to succeed. >> reporter: it isn't, katie. but republicans campaigned first and foremost against the president's health care plan and so they're making one of their first orders of business voting to repeal it. they just announced today that they're scheduling a vote for wednesday of next week, january 12, right out of the gate. and here's what else they've told us they want to focus on right from the start. they want to vote to cut congressional budgets by 5%. and they want to hold hearings on the impact of regulation on job creation which is another way of saying they want to look into why president obama's policies didn't create more jobs. now, this vote to repeal health care is going to be largely symbolic because the senate, which is still controlled by democrats, is not going to take it up. and, in fact, democrats are already hitting republicans fo

nancy cordes on capitol hill. nancy, thanks very much.ow we head down under where much of australia is deep underwater tonight. an area the size of france and germany combined. weeks of heavy rain have left parts of queensland cut off from the rest of the country. at least ten people are dead and the waters are still rising. tim collits of australia's network 10 is on the scene. >> reporter: for the people across the sprawling northeastern corner of australia, the water just keeps coming. the town of rockhampton, population 70,000, is the latest casualty. rising tides from the local fitzroy river have submerged homes, streets, and the runway at the local airport. authorities are busy evacuating remaining residents with waters expected to surround and flood nearly half the town by tomorrow. >> all we can do is follow the directions and get people out who are prepared too get out and wish the people who want to stay here the very best of luck. >> reporter: more heavy rain bands forecast over the next 24 hours is expected to make a bad situa

congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill tonight. nancy, it's being widely speculated that joe lieberman won't run for reelection. do we know why? >> reporter: well it may be, katie, that he's ready for something new. he will have served in the senate for 24 years. or it may be that he's looking at the political landscape in connecticut in 2012 and realizing that it doesn't look very friendly. you know, back in 2006, he lost his democratic primary but was able to win as an independent. now, six years later, he's likely to be facing a challenge from the right and from the left and he didn't endear himself to many democratic voters when he campaigned not for the democrat, barack obama, in the presidential election, but for his old friend, republican john mccain. >> couric: and, nancy, what does this and kent conrad's announcement mean for the makeup of the senate? >> reporter: democrats are pretty confident they'll be able to capture the seat in connecticut. that's a blue seat. but they're more troubled about kent conrad's seat in north

nancy cordes, cbs news, capitol hill. >> meanwhile, coming up a little later on "the early show," theedy in tucson. the very latest on the investigation into the shooting of representative gabrielle giffords. also an interview with one of the surgeons who operated on giffords. he will provide an update on her condition. and more on suspected shooter jared lee loughner. we'll hear from one of his college professors who said his behavior raised red flags. that and more coming up this morning on "the early show." for now, though, that will do it for this monday morning edition of the "cbs morning news." i'm terrell brown. take care, everybody. have a great day. ,,,,,,,,

hopefully, that might happen. >> schieffer: nancy cordes, you're on capitol hill this morning. this is your beat. you spent most of yesterday talking to members. what sort of reaction are you getting from people up there? >> well, of course, there's the sadness about what has happened to congresswoman giffords and all the other people who were there with her that day. you know, going out into the community and meeting with constituents is the lifeblood of members of the house of representatives. they hold hundreds of events like this. this is how they get to know their constituents. this is how they get re-elected, so it's not really an option for members of congress to barricade themselves in their offices and retreat from public life. this is what they are about. it does make members afraid. you know, many people don't realize that almost all of the members of the house of representatives don't have any security, except for the leaders at the very top. it would be just prohibitively expensive to give these 435 members security around the clock. they are in a sense taking thei

ben tracy, nancy cordes and bob orr will have the latest from the attack and on the accused gunman shortly. then it will be on to the life lessons that one school is teaching its young people, one lesson in particular. tracy smith will be reporting our cover story. >> reporter: this middle school in lincoln nebraska like most middle schools has its share of bullies. but here they're studying what makes them tick and what makes them explode. >> revenge. >> reporter: that's all that matters. >> yeah. if they really really really make me mad. >> reporter: bullying up close and personal later on sunday morning. snarlz the photographer we have to show you this morning is a master at handling his subjects and a genuine hot shot himself. with rita braver this morning we'll be browsing his photo album. >> reporter: he has photographed some of the most famous people in the world. in some of the most surprising poses. who suggested that george clooney do this some. >> it's funny because i asked him to do that. he said no. i don't do that kind of thing. he said but i do this. he just did it. >> repor

nancy cordes, cbs morning news, capitol hill. >>> william daily is a long-time business manager with ties to the business kmernt. he served add commerce secretary during the clinton administration. he's the brother of retiring mayor richard daley. >>> federal officials say there is no terror link to the two incindery packages send sent to government buildings in maryland. those buildings were sent to separate locations on thursday. they ignited when opened releasing a sulphur-like smell. two state employees were slightly burned. one package was addressed the maryland's governor and had a note complaining about highway signs. >> in los angeles investigators are trying to identify the suspects. at least ten women mentally and fizzlicly disabled were attacked at what appears to be a residential care facility. eight suspects were caught on tape. >> this was really shocking because we're supposed to defend the defenseness and these people are truly defenseless. they cannot fight off an attacker. they don't have the ability to consent to this kind of activity. >> it is unclear when the ass

congressional correspondent nancy cordes reports five republican senators today attended the first-ever meeting of the senate tea party caucus. >> thank you for sending me some help. >> reporter: conservative crusader jim demint and the freshmen senators he helped to elect, planted their tea party flag today. the tea party caucus claimed credit today for the g.o.p.'s new hard line on spending. >> we will do everything we can to cut wasteful government spending. >> reporter: they even see their influence in the president's state of the union address. >> if a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, i will veto it. >> did that come from his side of the party or did that come from the tea party? >> reporter: their assertiveness has caused heartburn for g.o.p. leaders like when congresswoman michele bachmann insisted on delivering a separate tea party response to the state of the union. and when tea party enthusiast, sarah palin, invoked a vulgar acronym, to describe the president's speech. >> his theme was the "w-t-f," you know, winning the future. and i thought, okay, that acronym, spo

our congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on capitol hill. nancy, people are having a lot of fun with this idea today, but the reason behind it is very serious. >> reporter: that's right, katie. this is something that was proposed right after the tucson tragedy by senator mark udall of colorado. he said why not in a show of civility, a show of respect we take a break from this tradition of one party sitting on one side and standing up and cheering and clapping while the other side kind of sits glumly on its hands and let's mix it up. let's sit with each other. there's no reason that we can't be friends and show respect to one another even though we disagree fundamentally on so many things. >> couric: and so there are some interesting couplings tonight. i understand some are coming in trios, if you will, nancy. >> reporter: that's right, katie. you've got, for example, congressman joe wilson of south carolina. you might recall he was the one who shouted "you lie" at the president back in 2009. he's going to be sitting with two democrats tonight

nancy cordes is in washington this morning for us. good morning to you, nancy. >> good morning, chris. >> how are things going to be different on capital now with these debates that take place in the wake of the tragedy in tucson? >> i think you will see some changes, at least at first, chris. the rhetoric has already been a little softer and a little measured and a movement you heard to have republicans and democrats sit among each other at the president's state of the union address instead of having one party on the left and one party on the right. you even heard republicans praising the president's speech in tucson saying he struck the note on both sides there. >> the first order of real business repealing health care. how tame a debate can people expect with two sides that are just so bitterly divided? >> this will be a test of their new resolve. almost no issue divides them like healer. the press releases are flying in advance of this debate. the democrats have launched new ads attacking republicans for trying to repeal the bill.

cbs news congressional correspondent nancy cordes on capitol hill with the latest. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. republicans are starting their first full day in power with a symbolic move. they're having the entire constitution read aloud on the house floor. they say that document will be the basis for all their legislation. >> god bless you, speaker boehner. >> reporter: with a swing of the gavel, republicans took control of the house of representatives. turning house minority leader john boehner into the speaker of the house. the new speaker made it clear that with a change in power comes a change in agenda. >> we gather here today at a time of great challenges. and nearly one in ten of our neighbors is out of work. health care costs are still rising for american families. our spending has caught up with us and our debt soon will eclipse the entire size of our national economy. the people voted to end business as usual and today we begin to carry out their instructions. >> reporter: starting with a vote planned for today to reduce congressional b

nancy cordes has more from capitol hill. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. yes, members on capitol hill are still stunned, congresswoman giffords is well liked here as was her staffer gabe zimmerman and now some are questioning whether the increasingly angry tone in politics could have contributed to a culture of violence. members of congress took their soul searching public. >> it has been an angrier confrontational environment over the last two or three years. >> much of it originates here in washington, d.c. and we export it around the country. >> look no further than campaign ads. >> dead aim at the cap and trade bill. >> filled with images and rhetoric that would once have been considered off limits. >> gather your armies. >> reporter: congresswoman giffords complained when crosshairs were placed on her district and 19 others on a sarah palin website. >> they have to realize there are consequences to that action. >> palin expressed condolences to the victims on facebook but not addressed the controversy, a top palin aide did grant one interview to tammy

cbs news congressional correspondent nancy cordes is in washington this morning with the latest for us on what's a busy day. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: it is chris. you can almost feel the power dynamic shifting here in washington as republicans prepare to take a 49-seat majority in the house. with a one-time janitor now becoming the third in line for the presidency. john boner erboehner takes control to cripple the reform law, revamp the financial reform law and launch investigations into the administration's spending habits. >> boehner and his house republicans want to erase every trace of barack obama having been president and all of obama's policies. >> reporter: in a recent "60 minutes" interview boehner admitted there's not much he and the president agree on. >> i think he is engaging certainly smart, brilliant. but, you know, we come from different backgrounds. >> reporter: democrat nancy pelosi who today will give back the gavel boehner handed her in 2007 tried to put the best spin on the gop's new 49-seat majority. >> i wish them success. i look forward to working with

cbs news congressional correspondent nancy cordes has more now on that part of the story. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. this is the first time in more than 30 years that a member oft congress has been shot and now many members of congress are taking a look at their own safety, seeing if there's something that they can do differently. even as members and staffers gathered to honor the victims, security was being visibly tightened on capitol hill and the senate sergeant at arms was warning members to take all threats seriously. is it time to start talking about giving every member a security detail? >> well, i'm never against conversation but i do not think that's wise, prudent or affordable. >> reporter: jason chavitz and others plan to carry guns in their home districts. >> i have carried a gun before coming to congress and since then and i'll continue to. for me, it is a personal security issue. i feel comfortable with it. >> well, that would not be my choice. >> reporter: congresswoman schultz's office had threats. the suspect is in jail. >> we're

cbs news correspondent nancy cordes in the nation's capital with more. one is safe in this respect, are they, nancy? >> they are not. this community was not fun for anyone with snow coming down at 2 inches an hour for a while yesterday evening. people were abandoning their cars on the side of the road. 30-minute commutes were taking three hours, especially for folks heading from d.c. over the bridges into californvirginia. runways closed at dulles national airport. 3,000 people lost power and government workers sent home early. this morning the roads are looking pretty clear but the snow has frozen on the sidewalks and part of the reason that d.c. public schools are closed today. this is already been a bitterly cold winter in washington, d.c. standards and this storm was just another one. >> nancy cordes in washington, thanks. >>> it may not be the last of the storms for washington and the rest of the one. marysol castro joins us to explain what is happening this winter. because it's not just that it seems sort of out of control and out of the norm, it r

>> cbs news nancy cordes for us in washington thank you. we will update that story again tomorrow. >> and the day after that as well i believe. >>> we want to get you a check of the other headlines this morning. jeff glor is standing byty news desk. >> good wednesday morning to every at home. we begin here with incredible video. a gas explosion in philadelphia. the blast yesterday sent flames into the air and killed one man. our philadelphia station wyw has more on this story. ann marie, good morning. >> we are told the building glel destroyed is a chiropractor's office. even though the fire has been out for some time now, the debris is still smoldering. repair crews were already in the neighborhood investigating a gas and water main leak. when the 50-foot fireball shot into the sky. the force of the explosion set off car alarms and shook neighborhood houses setting at least two on nirfire. >> the corner store went up in a matter of second. >> one utility worker killed and five others including a firefighter were injured and more than 40 pe

cbs news congressional correspondent nancy cordes with the fz+ (r&s this morning. nancy?> reporter: chris, good morning. the house of representatives will consider the resolution. any member of the house to wish to do k go to the house floor to express their sorrow, their outrage. whatever they want. at the same time, books of condolence and well wishes have been set out here in the capitol complex for anyone to come by and sign a. hour ago we saw the minority leader nancy pelosi to sign the books and yesterday she went to congress giffords' office to pay respects and traveling with the president tonight for the memorial service. as you mentioned we are hearing today for the first time directly from sarah palin who as you know has been facing criticism for the cross hairs the campaign website used last year to depict congresswoman giffords' district and 19 other democratic districts and something giffords herself complained about but sarah palin today called the criticism quote blood libel. take a listen to some of that statement. >> acts of monstrous criminality stand on