susan mcginnis is in washington

>> all right, susan mcginnis in washington for us. thank you, susan. >>> so, which of the republican contenders is likely to face mr. obama in next year's election? a new cbs news/"new york times" poll out this morning shows that right now, most republicans favor, nobody. yep. republican voters were asked if they feel enthusiastic about any potential candidate. more than half said no one. mitt romney got the most support with 9%. followed by mike huckabee, donald trump, newt gingrich, and sarah palin with 4%. >>> two air traffic controllers caught sleeping on the job are out of work this morning. they were fired by the faa as part of an aggressive new campaign to resolve safety concerns. one worked in miami and was found sleeping early saturday morning. the other was in knoxville, tennessee. that controller was discovered asleep in mid february. the faa also says from now on, air traffic control supervisors will monitor planes carrying the first lady or the vice president, as they already do for the president. michelle obama's 737 had

susan mcginnis joins us live from washington. good morning, susan. how did this happen. >> good morning, betty. this is apparently not an uncommon event. it was not a near miss or even a close call, but when the first lady is on board, it's going to get a lot of attention and it is yet another embarrassment for the faa. the first lady and jill biden, wife of the vice president were returning to washington on monday, after a joint appearance in new york. air traffic tapes showed their plane, a military version of the boeing 737 got too close to a larger cargo plane flying just ahead as both aircraft prepared to land at andrews air force base. >> executive one foxtrot, contact approach 119.3. >> reporter: an apparent mistake by an air traffic controller allowed mrs. obama's plane to get within three miles of the 200-ton cargo jet. once the cargo plane landed controllers at andrews had a bigger problem. it became obvious the aircraft wouldn't be able to exit to allow the first lady's jet to land. controllers radioed for help. >> can we slow down executi

susan mcginnis is in washington this morning with more on this. susan, good morning to you. >> good morning. the head of the faa and the chief of the air traffic controllers are starting a seven-city training tour today. this is to reinforce the message that sleeping on the job is not acceptable and to explain the faa's new regulations. the new rules start with an order to get more rest. instead of the mandatory eight hours off between shifts, the rules now require nine hours off. the rules also ban controllers from swapping in to a midnight shift after a day off, a scheduling trick often used by controllers to get a three-day weekend. >> more rest time, more managers on duty and making sure that the controllers are not looking out for their own schedule rather than the safety schedule that we think needs to be put in place. >> reporter: the new rules come after another air traffic controller was caught sleeping on the job, this time in miami early saturday morning. according to the faa, the controller did not miss any calls from aircraft and there

susan mcginnis is in washington with more on this. good morning, susan. >> good morning, betty. yeah, the president wants this new task force to look into the reasons behind the spike in gas prices, to see if they go beyond the fundamental reasons, like supplies and inflation, and whether any manipulation, fraud or speculation is happening in the oil markets. president obama wants to get to the bottom of the nation's high gas prices. >> we're going to make sure that nobody's taking advantage of american consumers. >> reporter: he's ordered a justice department task force to look in to whether fraud or manipulation in oil markets could be driving up the cost of crude. >> it is disgusting. >> reporter: drivers are sick of the rising prices. the national average now stands at $3.84 a gallon. that's nearly 30 cents higher than last month, and almost a dollar higher than a year ago. >> it's ridiculous. you know, i'm on a fixed income and i can't afford it. >> reporter: while there are plenty of reasons gas prices are so high, attorney general eric holder says the goal of investigator

susan mcginnis is in washington with more on this. susan, so what's at issue now? >> good morning, betty. well, there still are critics out there that are calling this long form birth certificate a fake so the issue is not going away just yet. the president showed clear frustration at the distraction this has really been from more important issues. but he was also able to joke about it. >> my name is barack obama. i was born in hawaii. >> reporter: the president poked fun at the issue at a new york fund-raiser last night. >> no one checked my i.d. on the way in. but just in case -- >> reporter: but it was no joking matter when he told white house reporters wednesday it was time to end the birther debate once and for all. >> we do not have time for this kind of silliness. we're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by side shows and carnival barkers. >> reporter: the white house released the long form of the president's birth certificate. it includes more details than the short form released three years ago, but shows nothing about the pres

susan mcginnis on captiol hill. thank the clock is ticking. >> reporter: yeah, it sure is. there is absolutely no deal at this hour. congressal leaders are still talking right now and they are promising to work through the night to try to resolve their differences. the president has said he wants an answer by morning. president obama turned up the heat again thursday evening. congressal leaders were called to the white house but emerged without a budget deal. >> we made some progress today. those differences have been narrowed and so once again the staff is going to be working tonight around the clock. >> all those in favor ... >> house republicans passed a bill that would keep the government running for another week. but the white house threatened to veto it. >> senator reid, mr. president, what part of broke do you not understand? >> reporter: it's become the blame game. >> this is not the appropriate vehicle to have ideological or political agenda items debated and voted on. >> reporter: funding for planned parenthood. defense secretary robert gates told soldiers in iraq

>> all right, susan mcginnis in washington for us, thank you, susan. >>> the pentagon has cleared army general stanley mcchrystal of any wrongdoing. this stemming from a rolling stone magazine article that cost him his job as top commander in afghanistan last year. the pentagon said it could not confirm that mcchrystal's staff made disparaging remarks about president oh bbama's national security team and vice president biden. rolling stone said the story is accurate. >>> a key operation is under way to stabilize japan's damaged nuclear power plant. workers are now pumping out high highly radioactive water from the basement of building of the reactor number two. removing 25 tons of contaminated water will give workers more room to repair the broken cooling systems that were knocked out by last month's tsunami. >>> just ahead on "the morning news," yet another air traffic controller incident compromising air safety. plus, the murder of a young woman in canada that may have been caught on a web camera. this is the "cbs morning news." we all want a world with fewer chemicals. we all want t