. >> reporter: that question was posed to the secretary of transportation, ray lahood when he was asked if the administration is trying to scare people about the sequestration. he quickly dismissed all of that and in his warning about transportation specifically was clear. according to ray lahood, this is the countdown to massive automatic cuts go on, it can make it difficult, if not impossible for air travelers to take to the skies at the end of next week with one week until sequestration, the secretary of transportation ray lahood is issuing a grim warning on the effects of automatic budget cuts on the nation's airways. >> a lot of people use airports and this is goings to have a real impact. >> reporter: if congress can not agree to stop $85 billion in automatic cuts by next week, lahood warns cancelled and delayed flights, long lines and angry passengers will dominate the nation's airport and lahood said members of congress will take the blame. >> your phones are going to ring off of the hook when people are delayed at airports and their flights are delayed and that is 90 minutes or

to the table, offer a proposal so we don't have the calamity in the air service in america. >> ray lahoodcourse republican. speaker boehner's office responded quickly, saying today, secretary lahood alleviating the impact of president obama's sequester requires the republicans stepping forward ideas. he should check out hr-5652, the replacement act. we can look at the h.r. 6684, spending reduction act of 2012, sponsored by the majority leader cantor, a republican. filled to the brim with cracker jack republican ideas. >> someone hasn't given us a proposal is president obama. he has given us vague ideas but no proposal. the president said the tiny spending cuts will have a strong effect on unemployment and the economic growth. how about $600 billion in tax increases he demanded in the fiscal cliff and passed? that will have a much bigger impact harmfully on the economy than the spending cu cuts. >> bret: juan, one more thing. $85 billion is the total cost. didn't we pass the hurricane sandy relief with $60 billion? put it in perspective. like the numbers. >> no, look, if you -- remember, t

and one question came up to ray lahood, so mr. secretary, you are the first cabinet secretary to come out higher why is it they sent you out. >> i would describe my appearance here with one word. republican. they are hoping maybe i can influence some of the people in my own party. >> bill: guess what. it doesn't look like he did. you would think maybe they would listen, republicans would listen to another republican ray lahood served in the congress representing one of the congressional districts in illinois. a good man. did fell on deaf ears. on the pecht gone the cuts are equally severe. leon panetta saying this is going to harm our military readiness in terms of ships and planes and training of men and women for combat. we are going to be really hurting, and the pentagon, again, not that you can't cut in the pentagon. we should cut the pentagon. but these across the board cuts aren't the way to go t i would love to hear your take. two things, denial. there is not going to be so bad. no. i don't mean on. we can cut 13% 90% in th

>> shame on ray lahood. listen, i understand, but i think there's a bob woodward piece in "the post" this morning that gives the tick-tock about who really -- the idea for sequestration it was. we now know whose it was. it came from the white house and the president's aides. despite that -- >> congress went for it. >> the president said during the campaign, won't happen. i said during the campaign and so did others say we got to stop this from happening. the president has now said it was congress's fault. we know the president wasn't telling the truth about that. >> 15 of your colleagues, i want to switch to chuck hagel, nominated to be defense secretary, 15 of your colleagues including jim imhoff, sent a letter to the president saying withdraw this name, many reasons why he should not be secretary of defense. why didn't you sign that letter? >> because i did not believe that chuck hagel who is a friend of mine, is qualified to be secretary of defense. but i do believe that elections have consequences. unfor

>> shame on ray lahood. no, listen, i understand.here's a bob woodward piece in "the post" this morning about who the idea for sequestration was, and we know who now it was. came from the white house and the president's aides. despite that, the president said -- >> congress went for it. >> the president said during his campaign, won't happen. i said during the campaign, and so did others, we have to stop this from happening. the president has now said it's congress' fault. we know the president wasn't telling the truth from that. >> 15 of your colleagues, i want to switch to chuck hagel, nominated to be defense secretary. 15 of your colleagues, including jim inhofe, sent a letter to the president saying, withdrawal his name. why did you not sign that letter? >> because i don't believe chuck hagel, who is a friend of mine, is qualified to be secretary of defense. but i do believe elections have consequences, unfortunately, and the president of the united states was re-elected. i believe when questions are answered, and i believe they

ray lahood says, yes. he is making waves on his way out the door.listen to what he said. >> for all the talk within the republican party about helping small businesses, there are a lot of small businesses that are in the road construction business, the bridge construction business that would benefit from a bold infrastructure bill, a bold transportation bill, a five-year bill with some very bold ways to fund it. and i don't think you'd be turning off people in america, because they know that america's one big pothole right now. melissa: what? how is this possible given the billions in taxpayer stimulus money, remember that? shovel-ready? all that nonsense? it was supposed to go towards transportation project. i'm not crazy, right? you remember that. our money power panel is here to react. james freeman is from "the wall street journal," blake -- [inaudible] is president of american loss management and stephen hayes from the weekly standard as well. i mean, i'm at a loss, james. i thought -- i wanted to sort of reach through the radio there and sort

i had to chance to meet with ray lahood today. you'll hear what he had to say about california's controversial high speed rail project coming up at 6:30 or so. then i'll have more later on in the hour, back to you. >> grou you mentioned ray lahood to talk to cabinet members about issues that affect us here in the bay in÷ how did that go? >> it went well. i had the chance to meet with arnie duncanful we talked about issues affecting young people that we have a diverse population, many lang wajz spoken in our schools. we talked about gun controls and a chance to meet with administrator of the small business administration and talked about job creation and what can be done. she was in walnut creek so we had an opportunity to do that as well well. have great conversations today z i'll share them with you as the evening progress autos dan, we'll see/xh%v you later on in e newscast. you can see the interview conducted with the president today just go to our web site abc 7 news com. >> some well known high tech billionaires handed out $3

>> it's ray lahood laying out all these horrible things he says will affect the flying public.'ve got the pentagon saying there will be furloughing people and also now pulled back on sending a ship to the persian gulf. republicans suggesting wait a second, that is gamesmanship here and posturing, so you've got ray lahood saying no, this will be real, and rand paul saying the president is exaggerating. >> the idea that we're just doing this to create some kind of a horrific scare tactic is nonsense. >> i would say balder dash. it's untrue, unfair, dishonest, disingenuous. the president is making stuff up. >> you can see how far apart they are and that's why there is many in washington who think we're likely to have the automatic cuts kick in on march 1 and if there is a big impact, all of a sudden both sides will finally come back to the table. >> shepard: balderdash even. give them balderdash. give all of them our best. thanks so much. >>> the pentagon is grounded the entire fleet, all of its f-35 fighter jets. the single most expensive weapons program our military has. militar

we've had ray lahood tell us our travel plans will be in disarray. had arne duncan warn us the teachers will be laid off, the education of our children badly undermined. but, robert, isn't this the republican rampage against government, not through the ballot box because, of course, they lost the presidential election, but through the excuse of the sequester? >> look, i think in some ways it is. there are certainly programs that you enumerated there that they would be happy to watch any federal funding squeezed off of. i do think if you again look at their rhetoric from last fall around what's going to happen to military readiness and national security, they were holding their hands up and waving them furiously just a few months ago that we couldn't possibly let this happen to now going to a mere shoulder shrug of bring it on. i think they go into this, martin, with a huge disadvantage, as you showed with the polling. i think they've got very bad cards, and they seem intent on sitting at the card table and playing each and every one of them. >> it is

no compromise when it comes to safety. >> that is transportation secretary ray lahood taking questionss introduced by jay carney and the press asking a lot of serious questions about what the murfurloughs would mea for regular movement around the country talking specifically about airports. the secretary saying they have been in touch with airlines and the unions talking with everybody at the same time so that they have all the information that they need. however, he did concede that it's impossible to keep the same schedules with less people but have, however, is guaranteeing that all safety standards will remain the same. we're back with much more right here on msnbc after this. ein ba, with simple, real ingredients, like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark-chocolate flavor, plus 10 grams of protein, so it's energy straight from nature to you. nature valley protein bars. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for m

i mean, transportation secretary ray lahood? why? because his name's got a car part in it? that's a low standard. [ laughter ] what is next? secretary of the treasury penny mcnickel? now he wants the new defense secretary to be former republican senator chuck hagel. thankfully, today 15 republican senators demanded the withdrawal of hagel's nomination and it's no wonder. senate republicans have found all sorts of shady associations in hagel's past. for instance, he was once a senate republican. [laughter] and now, according to conservative news anger-gregator breitbart.com, hagel may have taken money from an organization called "friends of hamas." friends of hamas! that's serious! being friends with a muslim terrorist is a big commitment. you've got to be a groomsman in all four of their weddings. i mean, the suicide vest rentals alone! [laughter] folks, this bombshell lit up the conserv-osphere. >> let me bring up one piece of information that ben shapiro at breitbart put out today, which is one of the foreign funders behind senator hagel that he has not yet disclosed form

in a letter from secretary ray lahood, he says the cuts will fewer air-traffic controllers, lager airport lines, and extensive delays in travel.ir the faa budget cuts could result a hiring freeze immediately of a furlough of thousands agency workers. it's that time of year when ambitious college kids go looking for internships. you would be surprised how much them.ompanies are paying that's in the next hour. headquartersberg new york, linda bell reporting for abc 7 news. back to you. >> thank you. 4:39, 37 degrees on this friday. from the hardwood to capitol hill. what is bringing a lakers star >> good morning, washington. tgif. it's friday, february 15. it's 48 degrees. chill factor at of the the wind out today at 7 miles an hour. 27 in manassas, 36 in winchester, frederick, 30 in gaithersburg this morning. we have two systems we will be watching the next couple days affect us today and this week and. the first is a weak cold front be approaching to rain and a wintry mix afternoon into the evening. the first is an area of low pressure that will be .eveloping that could potentially get ad

they also talk about ray lahood has been out making the rounds at making pretty scary predictions aboutt would have been in the sector, for example. he talks about 90 minute delays travelers would see, and even scarier than that he talks about repairs on runway vehicles, that wouldn't happen for would have to wait for at to happen. he makes it seem we would all be in danger if we wanted to fly. >> flights to major cities like new york, chicago and san francisco and others experienced delays up to 90 minutes during peak hours. because we have fewer controllers on staff. preventative maintenance and quick repair of runway equipment may not be possible which could lead to more delays. and once airlines see the potential impact of these furloughs, we expect they will change their schedules and cancel flights. melissa: so, governor, that is quite a threat. your flight will be canceled, they won't have as many controllers in the sky. do you believe that? >> no, don't believe any of it. the faa alone has $500 billion of outside consulting contracts. they already had established they would have

today, transportation secretary ray lahood addressed the gravity of the situation. >> "we'll see what the reaction of the public is, what i'm trying to do is wake up members of the congress on the republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table so that we don't have to have this kind of calamity in air service in america." t >> officials continue to say that they are open to a short term deal that would head off the budget cuts. >> a man wrongfully convicted in a violent assault and shooting in oakland. and given a life sentence. but tonight. ronald ross is a free man for the first time in nearly seven years. ross took his first steps of freedom late this afternoon. after his conviction was dismissed. kron 4's dan kerman was there to capture his first reaction to being a free man. >> i just hope they do a better job on investigating, and look real carefully ....who may be wrongfully accused and help the children ... >> reporter: ross wants to reunite his family and take a vacation... >> about 50 people gathered in downtown palo alto tonight. for a candle light vigil ag

a dire warning from ray lahood and we'll look behind the politics for some bottom line answers just ahead. >> heather: and they are urging federal officials to take action republican and democratic state leaders weighing in the national meeting of the national governor's association, warning congress that the latest stalemate threatens economic progress in their stated. republican governor from oklahoma, he says the gridlock is taking a toll on families and democratic governor from vermont he says the nation, quote, cannot afford to put at risk jobs in the recovery. >> one of the most contentious battles n years could be over on sunday. the senate is expected to vote on the chuck hagel nomination. it's been a rough ride for the former republican senator. his fellow republicans oppose him on his positions on israel, iran and iraq and viewing him as disloyal in the nebraska senate race. >> heather: ominous developments out of iran. tehran has announced locations for 16 more nuclear power plants days before talks with world powers over it's atomic program. the revolutionary guard most powerf

ray lahood is leaving his post soon, but not before he warns the country budget cuts will kick in friday, and might affect air travel. tom fitzgerald has more. >> reporter: with one week until sequestration, secretary of transportation ray lahood, showing a grim warning on the effects of automatic budget cuts on the nation's airways. a lot of people use airports, and this is going to have a real impact. if congress cannot agree to stop $85 billion in automatic cuts by next week, lahood warns canceled and delayed flights, long lines and angry passengers will dominate the nation's airports, and he says members of congress will take the blame. >> your phones will start ringing off the hook when these people start being delayed at airports 90 minutes or their flights are canceled. >> reporter: dot itself faces a $1 billion cut with 600 million coming from the faa. 74,000 employees and air traffic controllers face furloughs. faa says if it has to cut staff, it will limit the number of planes that will fly. >> at the major international airports, average wait times to clear customs will increa

ray lahood says the faa may have to furlough air traffic controllers.an long flight delays. the faa is looking at about $600 million in possible cut. the sequestration could cost metro millions of dollars as well. the transit agency tells news 4 that federal employees make up about 40% of rush hour ridership they're forced to take a one day a week furlough. metro's revenue could plummet. federal funding for metro's capital improvement program would be slashed. the money is used for safety improvements and modernization. >>> president obama is hoping governors help him get a deal done. he's meeting with state leaders from both parties today at the white house. hear in washington for the annual meeting. the president did not mention the ongoing budget battle during a dinner last night with most of the governors but he did tell them we've got more woork work to do. >>> martin o'malley and virginia's republican governor bob mcdonnell agree that the sequestration could be crippling to their state's economies. both men made their case yesterday on face the na

listen to what ray lahood pitched this infrastructure plan. >> i don't think you would be turning off people in america because they know america is one big pothole right now. >> dave: there are a lot of potholes? >> i agree. what happened with the last infrastructure spending in the surplus spend. guess how much highways got? a big, fat zero. in new jersey it was sent on highway ramps to nowhere. >> dave: there are road to nowheres in new hampshire. >> that one ended up in a concrete wall. the scan village, population less than 200, they got a $15 million airport. why not newark or las vegas. it's a big pork barrel project where the states spend the money and they get to a monopoly on this money. >> dave: i am thinking of the big dig in boston and terribly corrupt. scheduled for $2 billion and ended up costing $15 billion. new york has a second avenue subway system they have been building for 40 years. do we need more of this? >> we don't necessarily need more of this. going a back to steve's point, public private partnership, it takes a certain amount of money and spending from the

transportation secretary ray lahood. >> today's fat tuesday, the last day to eat drink, and be married before lent tomorrow. >> there will be several celebrations in the d.c. area. the washington national cathedral will hold its annual mardi gras pancake race this afternoon. always a good time. students will racvece in front of the cathedral while flipping pancakes. >> if you are looking for something more festive than that take a look at arlington. this is the annual clarendon mardi gras parade. there's a block party at 5:00 p.m. at the by neayou bakery. several streets will be closed. we have a complete list at wjla.com. >> the cleanup continues from the blizzard in the northeast. massachusetts governor deval patrick had a chance to put that some of the areas hardest-hit. parts of new england were blanketed with nearly 3 feet of snow. he's asking residents to be patient as the crews worked around the clock to remove snow and restore power. the storm is blamed for 15 deaths in the u.s. and canada. >> amtrak says its back on a normal schedule this morning. crews worked around the clock

here is ray lahood. >> it will ripple across the country.s mean preventative maintenance and quick repair of runway equipment may not be possible which could lead to more delays. >> what you heard was a hundred small airport towers could be shut down. control towers because of lack of funding. you will see 90-minute delays. furloughs every week. visitors centers, rest rooms, garbage cans won't be serviced as efficiently as they are now. again, they are trying to build a ground swell of outrage against what will happen. put pressure on republicans. republicans so far standing their ground. >> har wood, thank you very much. john harwood reporting from washington. another big story today, focussing on washington. and boeing's trip to the nation's capitol to meet with the faa. shares of boeing up about 61 cents at 76.63. and those shares, since first sign after battery problem on january 16, the stock has pretty much recovered, as you see by that chart of about the fast month or so. phil lebeau live on the beat in chicago. phil? >> tyler, that m

. >> ray lahood, outgoing transportation secretary, warning that if sequestration goes through that it will affect air travel, our air controllers, tsa agents. there may be long mind at the airport. what are some of the other things? >> most of the country would ignore that. it will affect several employees and there will be some hardship, but some of the effects are exaggerated. a lot of people do travel and when those long lines happen, that will bring the political belt. >> the obvious answer to any of this is to allow the shift of funds internally from one department to another. that is the reason why you would get all of these. it is a trivial amount of money, but it is because you can shift it around that it will hurt these services. it's a very obvious answer and it is to say within any department did secretary can shift the money around so you have important stuff like air travel, meat inspection, stuff like the gsa guys who hang out in hot tubs and have conferences. it's not hard to find the money in any department you can cut that is not an emergency. no one will agree, espec

>> shame on ray lahood. no. listen. i understand.at gives the tick-tock about who really -- the idea for sequestration was. and we know whose now it was. it came from the white house and the president's aides. >> 19 past the hour. joining us now from washington, the secretary of transportation, ray lahood. also with us, assistant editor and columnist for the "financial time times", jillian tett. mr. secretary, how seriously should we take how we're going to feel these cuts if they go into effect? >> well, look at when it comes to transportation, we have to cut a billion dollars. $600 million from faa. that's why we announced there will be a slowdown and delays from flights. we'll have to furlough air traffic controllers which is the largest number of people at the faa. we're not doing this because we like it, we are doing it because we are required do it. it is in the law so we're sending up a warning flare, not to scare anybody but just so that people understand there are consequences to this sequester and it can all be avoided if p

let's hear from transportation secretary, outgoing transportation secretary ray lahood. he was explaining today why this is so important. here it is. >> i would describe my presence here is one word -- republican. they're hoping that maybe i can influence some of the people in my own party. >> david, is there a chance some republicans can talk sense to the rest of this party, or is this going to happen? >> i think we have to consider the possibility, ed, that the republicans out in the field and the republicans on capitol hill belong to two different parties. some of the polls are showing a majority of republicans are opposed to what the leadership is doing on the hill. and of course that's trying to deal with the tea party people who are at the core of this. >> you know, some republicans say the sequester cuts won't be so bad. i mean rand paul is out there saying it's the least thing that we can do. steve, is he right or wrong? >> you'll be surprised to know that i think rand paul is wrong. i think this notion that the sequester cuts will be meaningless, look no further

today we heard from the president and ray lahood, the cabinet's lone republican. >> what i'm trying to do is to wake up members of the congress on the republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table, offer a proposal so that we don't have to have this kind of calamity in air service in america. >> lahood said air traffic and safety would be drupted. defense secretary le onpennetta said the nation would billion less safe. republicans say it's overblown. how much does the public really care, john? >> well, it's a big deal. but it's not as dramatic as a government shutdown where everybody can see that the washington monument's closed. you left out one, the interior department said that visitors to national parks will find locked restrooms in many places. talk about the hammer coming down. look, it's one of those things that the effects will build over time. airline waits will get longer. and this is one of the things that people who want a long-term budget deal including the president including some republicans want top happen because the public which favors spending cuts

transportation secretary ray lahood says if next week's automatic spending cuts go through, he will be forced to cut air traffic controllers. >> flights to major cities like new york, chicago and san francisco and others could experience delays of up to 90 minutes during peak hours. >> reporter: republicans accuse the white house of using scare tactics to force them into a budget deal. president obama called mitch mcconnell and john boehner thursday. he told al sharpton's radio listeners the gop appears willing to let the cuts go through. >> their basic view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations and they would prefer to see these kinds of cuts. >> reporter: democrats say if the cuts go through, dozens of federal agencies will have to trim workers affecting everyone from food inspectors to fbi agents. but republicans believe the cuts are being blown out of proportion. house majority leader eric cantor said in a statement, president obama has said that unless he gets a second tax hike, he will be forced to let criminals loose on the str

transportation secretary ray lahood said travelers could face new delays of 90 minutes at major airports in chicago, new york and san francisco. moe 00th 1an air control towers at smaller airports could be closed, lahood said. airlines likely would cancel flights. and congress, he said, would hear of the fallout. >> it's not only the impact on the passengers, it's the impact that it has on airports, control towers, people who work there, airports. and their phones are going to start ringing. why does this have to happen? nobody likes a delay. nobody likes waiting in line. none of us do. if we can't get our hamburger within five minutes, if we can't get on the plane within 30, 40, 50 minutes after going through, you know what happens. they start calling their member of congress. >> suarez: more now on these latest warnings, the republican response and the timing of these possible cuts. lisa rein is following this for the "washington post" and she joins me now. lisa, in recent days senior members of the obama administration have laid out an exacting detail all the terrible consequences tha

transportation secretary ray lahood. please share this announcement. >> hello san francisco. i am delighted to be here to celebrate with all of you three very important champions for this project. senator feinstein who doesn't often call me, but when she does i pay attention, and four years ago when i went to see her about a number of issues this project was number one on her list. we need to get it done. we need to get a full funding grant agreement. she has been a champion for this project from the beginning going back -- i am sure she will tell you, i don't know how far. speaker pelosi, a champion for this project. [applause] speaker pelosi doesn't call me very often, but when she does it's always important. four years ago when i took this job i went to see the speaker. this was number one on her list. how do we get this project done? jackie spear a strong advocate for this project. you have three great champions, and i will also tell you that in working with senator boxer on the transportation bill this project was always at the top of her list. [applause] so i am delight