they told congress it's time to repeal the don't ask, don't tell policy. martha raddatz reports. >> reporter: it was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. the highest-ranking military officer in the nation. who said what no one in his position has ever said before. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> reporter: admiral mullen's statement ran into stiff opposition from republican senators. >> persons who demonstrate an propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards of morale. >> reporter: senator john mccain who just a few years ago said, the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says we ought to change the policy, we ought to consider seriously changing it, said something quite different. >> at this moment, immense ha

intelligence officials telling congress that they expect terrorists to try to attack the u.s. over the next three to six months. the answer came in response to a question from the intelligence committee chair, dianne feinstein. every member of the panel agreed with the national intelligence director's answer. >> what is the likelihood of another terrorist attempted attack on the u.s. homeland in the next three to six months? high or low? director blair? >> an attempted attack, the priority is certain, i would say. >> mr. pennetta? >> i would agree with that. >> reporter: dennis blair in his annual threat assessment said individual attackers are becoming harder to identify and stop. republicans on the panel used the hearing to accuse the obama administration of putting the rights of suspected terrorists ahead of the nation's security. they pointed to the administration's decision to try suspected terrorists in civilian court. sources say one suspected terrorist, the accused christmas day bomber, is again cooperating with authorities and now providing fresh, actionable intellige

tracie potts has our report. >> reporter: defense secretary robert gates tells congress he's preparingt ask don't tell. >> we've received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly. >> reporter: he's ordered a year-long look at how to keep courses strong if congress repeals the law and allows gays to serve openly. more than 13,000 gay members have left the military. >> this is my life. this is my job that they're talking about. they're going to fire me just because i stayed true to the west point honor code. >> reporter: gay rights advocates claim attitudes have changed. >> the young service members between 18 and 32 have no problem with serving with gays whatsoever. so it's very much a generational thing. >> reporter: the joint chiefs chairman says he served with gays since the '60s. >> we have in place a policy whichorces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> reporter: but republicans worry allowing gay soldiers openly in barracks and fox holes on the front lines could threaten security. >> persons who

tell congress to pass the clean energy and american power act, now. >>> all right. welcome back.'s take a look at the radar right now. and you can see what's headed our way. the bottom of the screen. starting to get a little bit of color on the radar. the monster that's soon going to be upon us it makes its way to washington. we're going to see 16 to 24 inches of snow in the dc area. it all starts at noon. and from this picture, the tip of the iceberg. >> oh, yeah. >> when you see the giant science of the storm. >> yeah, that's nothing. light snow falling in in there. the leading edge. but yeah, the bulk of it is not even on this screen. we'll get more later on. and it will intensify intensely tonight. intensify intensely. i didn't mean to say that. >> just adds to the emergency. >> we want to let you know, you need to get your car off the road if you park on a snow emergency route. a full emergency is in if he can. cars parked on any emergency routes are going to be towed now. so get them out of the way. same thing in dc where the snow emergency gets into effect at 9:30 this mor

on the newshour tonight, joint chiefs chair mullen tells congress lifting the ban is the right thing to do. margaret warner reports. >> lehrer: then, a debate over the president's proposals to pull the plug on human space flight; >> ifill: an update from haiti on some of the earthquake's youngest victims; plus a tom bearden report on how haitian orphans are adapting to life with their adoptive parents in colorado. >> he's gone through an earthquake. he's on basically planet mars. he's ready to smile at any moment. it's amazing. >> lehrer: and paul solman talks to the c.e.o. of the bank of new york. >> no bank should be too big to fail. that is my view, and that is our industry's view. capitalism works. darwinism works. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: pacific life. bank of america this is the power of human energy. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and

. >> reporter: rhonda smith is one of those unexplained incidents, telling congress her runaway toyota lexus didn't have a stuck gas pedal or floor mat. >> i put it in all available gears including neutral. but then i put it in reverse and placed both feet on the break and i was going to have to put the car to the upcoming guardrail in order to prevent killing anyone else. >> reporter: this noisy electronics lab at the university of maryland's clark school of engineering is where professor mike peck specializes in laboratory controlled interference testing. he believes toyota still doesn't know what's causing the problems. most likely it's electronics. and that, he says, is a worse case scenario. for a car company losing sales. >> i think the evidence is pointing that way. i think the evidence is pointing that way, absolutely. >> reporter: so any fix is not a fix? >> so they're in a little bit of a quandary. if they announce that the electronics is a problem, they're going to probably be in a lot of trouble because nobody is going to want to drive the car. so i think at this stage they

we need to put all these people in congress out if it takes pitch forks and fire, we need to do it. and we need to repeal don't ask, don't tell thank you for c-span. host: we will be able to talk more politics in our next segment. two guests will join us. one covers the white house and one covers congress. christina bell toni from talking points memo and susan ferrechio of the "washington examiner" will be our guest. first of all, we want to talk a little bits about our news makers program with republican tom price of georgia. join us at two times tomorrow. one will be at 10:00, right after this program. the other is at 6:00 in the evening. he serves as the republican study chairman. in this clip you're going see, representative price talks with two reporters specifically on what republicans did on healthcare when they were in charge and what they may do if they win back the majority in this year's elections. >> why, when republicans were in charge, was there not a greater effort made to advance these things if, in fact, they would work? and then to also ask, if the people were to put your party back in control of congress or

try telling that to angry members of congress. >> a.i.g. wouldn't even exist except for the taxpayers' help. >> reporter: but senator grassley saves much of his ire for the obama administration. >> a.i.g. has taxpayers over the barrel. it seems to me the obama administration has been outmaneuvered. >> reporter: treasury secretary tim geithner agreed today the bonuses are outrageous, but that didn't satisfy texas republican kevin brady. >> the administration's handling of a.i.g. is... resembles the keystone cops. it would be funny if it wasn't leaving taxpayers crying. >> reporter: the administration's so-called pay czar says that while the bonuses are highly objectionable, there's nothing he can do to stop them. >> they've got a legally binding contract that they entered into two or three years ago. they're entitled to that money under the law. >> reporter: the white house says the president is frustrated and angry over the bonuses but aside from trying to shame a.i.g. employees into giving some of the moneyback, they say there's little eve

tell congress to pass the clean energy and american power act, now.t. >>> just had a baby. not having a baby. >> but acts like a baby. >> having a baby. >> having a baby sooner. >> something in the water. >> and dad. >> look what julie started. >> erica shil here with a little preview of tomorrow. >> we like it call it it the big show on saturdays coming to you right here live from miami. among the things we have lined up for you, wouldinona judd, da marino will teach me how to properly throw a football, how to put the super bowl on behind the scenes and also a little prediction action from all of our nfl analysts. >> and the day after, the big game. don't miss the super bowl on sunday here on cbs. but right now, we leave you with ju justin bieber once again singing "never let you go." ♪ ♪ >>> hello, everybody. it is howard bernstein with you. the snow is getting closer. it is snowing in culpeper, lawyer luray also. i believe we have a live picture from luray, no, that will be coming up on 9 news now at 9:00. show you the doppler here. getting close t

congress? >> right now it seems doubtful. there is a lot of opposition to it. it will depend on what constituents tellcongress is willing to go. >> thank you so much. >>> the u.s. military would not be the first to allow openly gay soldiers to serve. more than half of the 28 nato countries allow gay in the mi milita military. >> in some countries like iran, not much information about gay serving in the military, and that's because mahmoud ahmadinejad does not recognize homosexually. >> what it's costing you to keep the plan in place. >>> the feds can tackle any super bowl terror threat. january net napolitano took a tour in preparation for the showdown. >> we are, as was mentioned, working hand and hand to insure that super bowl xliv goes off smoothly and safely. >> 1,000 federal state and local law enforcement personnel will be on hand for the massive security situation. >>> there are also new developments this morning. the case of ten americans arrested in haiti. the government says they were trying to take 33 children out of the country without permission. haiti's prime minister, who called them ki

i will tell you, i would love for congress itself to show discipline on both sides of the aisle. i think one thing that you have to we knowledge, paul, because you study this stuff and take it pretty seriously, is that the earmarks problem is not unique to one party and you end up getting a lot of pushback when you start going after specific projects of any one of you in your districts, because wasteful spending is usually spent somehow outside of your district. have you noticed that? the spending in your district tends to seem pretty sensible. so i love to see more restraint within congress. i would like to work on the earmarks reforms that i mentioned in terms of putting earmarks online, because i think sunshine is the best disinfectant. but i am willing to have a serious conversation of the line-item veto issue. >> we have a version we think is constitutional. >> let me take a look at it. >> i would simply say that automatic stabilizer spending is mandatory spending. the discretionary spending, the bills that congress signs that you sign into law, that has increased 84%. >> we

tell congress to pass the clean energy and american power act, now. >>> of course, what wld our supereans, without a little food. yeah, shad. that's what i'm talking about. emeril lagasse is already there at super bowl central. he's in miami. going to be seeing him soon. he left me in good hands. three chefs from your super restaurants here in new orleans. davis. you're from the flag ship. >> i am. >> we have josh lasky. nola, got to love that. spencer mench from emeril's delmonico. i have to start with the boss. >> absolutely. >> in miami. tell us your super bowl story there. em, i know this is a long time coming for you, too. >> robin, i got to tell you i'm surrounded by the who dat nation here in miami. and i have to tell you something. they're up there in the balcony screaming. they're saying you can't burn this flag, robin. it's unbelievable. >> it is unbelievable. and didn't you cook a little something for the new quarterback, drew brees, when he came to town? >> wel you know, when drew brees was being recruited by micky lomas and coach payton, they came to emeril's. i said no p

. >>> secretary of defense robert gates is on capitol hill as well, he's telling congress how the pentagonlans to handle the president's goal of repealing the military's don't ask don't tell policy. whatta could mean for gay servicemen and women. a hearing on the issue, set to begin in just a few minutes. we'll bring you developments as they happen, straightal settt as they happen, straightal settt ahead. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. jane: top of the hour, happening now, we're waiting to hear from defense secretary robert gates on the policy known as don't ask, don't tell. we're going to be looking at a senate hearing, and this is the first steps toward lifting the ban on gays serving in uniform. hi, everybody, i'm jane skinner. jon: and i'm jon scott. secretary gates expected to launch a year-long study. the review is to be co-chaired by a pentagon official and a uniformed officer. it will look into the impact of lifting the ban, what that would do to the troops in the field. also the secreta

tell congress to pass the clean energy and american power act, now. >>> 7:46.thanks for joining us for this special edition of 9 news now. howard bernstein joins us with the latest. >> got a call from frank up in percentelville, and 48 mile-per- hour wind gusts. he had he had four inches of snow before the wind and he has no idea how he will measure accurately now. 7 inches from aaron up in germantown. and you see how it's starting to blowout side. we're seeing the wind start to crank up. blizzard warnings go into effect at 10:00. i have a feeling the weather service might expand the counties under the warnings j. because of the reports -- just because of the reports coming in. >> and we're talking about perhaps more people losing power. people who lost power and got it back fear losing it again. >> dead on. with the dangerous coastal storm number two, it looks like the folks in the left lane aren't moving at all on deke street. weather headlines, prepare to lose power. we talked about this yesterday. topper talked about this yesterday and i agree. we've seen g

right out there on the table, the director of national intelligence, dennis blair, yesterday, telling congress have the authority to target and kill american citizens abroad if they are involved in terrorists activities if they threaten americans. let's get to what admiral blair has to say. >> we take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community, if that direct action -- we think that direct action will involve killing an american, we get specific permission to do that. the reason i went this far in open session, i don't want other americans watching to think that we are careless about endangering -- we are not careless about endangering lives at all, but we are especially not careless about endangering americans. >> he went on to say what they are not doing is targeting americans for free speech, targeting them specifically if they threaten other americans, if they threaten the united states. who might be topping the list right now? it's not publicly acknowledged, but privately many administration officials say they are looking to deal with anwar maliki. nobody is saying the

intelligence officials tell congress yes. good morning, it's february 3rd, 2010.. let's get to the rundown. let's start this morning with new information from the administration on umar farouk abdulmutallab. a small group of us got a briefing last night at the white house, a briefing that came after national intelligence director dennis blair, in testimony before congress yesterday, revealed earlier in the day that abdulmutallab is actively cooperating with investigators and has been since last thursday, providing fresh intelligence on a number of investigations. a lot of them having to do with yemen. we've learned that abdulmutallab's family has been an asset in the investigation. on new year's day, fbi agents flew to nigeria. and on january 17th, they returned with members of abdulmutallab's family, who the white house says helped persuade the suspect to talk. the latest information may help the white house make the political case against republican critics, who have attacked the administration over the decision to read abdulmutallab his miranda rights. >> and c

if congress repealed the don't ask, don't tell policy. this is an hour and a half. >> the committee is not going to receive testimony from our senior leadership of the department of defense as we begin the task of addressing the don't ask, don't tell policy on gays in the military. i believe that ending the policy would improve our militaries capability and reflect our commitment to equal opportunity. i do not find the arguments that were used to justify don't ask, don't tell convincing when it took effect in 1993, and less so now. i agree with what president obama said in his state of union address that we should repeal this discriminatory policy. in the latest gallup poll, the american public overwhelmingly supports a allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. 69 percent of americans are recorded as supporting their rights to serve, and many in fact are serving. as former chairman of the joint chiefs general john shalikashvili said he supports in the policy. a majority of troops already believe that they serve alongside

well, his leadership is important of how this gets done. >> is the repeal of don't ask don't tell by congress out of this question for this year? >> well, what is more likely than repeal i'm guessing, but we have to await the testimony that we will have as a moratorium is, i think, probably more likely prospect, because of the study which the secretary announced today, but i don't want to preclude anything or predict anything. i don't know. i mean, people have to be heard from. >> senator, i hope that -- >> with the authorization bill, and the vehicle -- >> well, perfectly appropriate vehicle if the congress wants to act. >> and what about -- >> well, you can do it either way. it is perfectly well either way to put it in a authorization bill to change it to "don't ask, don't tell" and if my memory is right and may not be, but that is where the policy was put into place to begin with, so it is certainly appropriate to repeal it or do a moratorium or any number of thin things. >> i hope there is no delay. i just hope to serve and i hope i don't have to be fired in the time of this. >> well, we

>> he certainly did and blair is telling congress that the multiple attacks we've seen over the last year from really these off shot terrorist groups makes harder to attack them if there's one central enemy. we may be shooting behind the rabbit here and it's moving faster than we thought. here's part of the testimony. >> solved with the recent rash of attacks last year both successful and unsuccessful, identifying individual terrorists, small groups with short histories using simple attack methods, is a much more difficult task. >> blair cited terror suspects like the christmas day bomber umar farouk abdulmutallab and also army major nadal hasan charged in the fort hood shootings. they wouldn't call them al-qaida members but warned inspired attackers that are outside the usually complex maneuver that the u.s. has trained against. authorities say abdulmutallab used a simple bomb while hasan used a gun in a base where he worked as a soldier making all their work a little bit harder, steve. >> caroline, he also talked a little bit about these living abroad. he talked about how the unite

. >> reporter: for another, "don't ask, don't tell" is a law enacted by congress. >> i'm happy to sayt we still have a congress of the united states that would have to pass a law to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." >> reporter: right now, with the military fighting two wars, there are not enough votes to repeal. >> the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk. >> reporter: until the law is changed, gates says he will try to make enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" more lenient. katie? >> couric: david martin reporting from the pentagon tonight. meanwhile, it was just about a year ago when 50 people were4-ae crashed near buffalo, new york. today, investigators from the n.t.s.b. pinned most of the blame on the two pilots and insufficient training. soon after that crash, federal regulators promised to put tough new rules in place, but as nancy cordes tells us, little has been done. >> reporter: investigators said today that continental connection flight 3407 was brought down

book where we talk about ben bernanke and chris cox and i went up to september 18 to meet with congress and tell them we're going to need, and the difficulty we had as warren said much better than i could, the arteries of the financial system were freezing up. and so i knew with a certainty that business was going to turn down, because when you have companies that it is uncertain whether they will be open to raise the short-term funding, most cfos will go to the ceos as a boss, i may not be able to have all the funding you would like for the next 30 days, so what it does a prudent company do? they start cutting back. but congress hadn't seen this yet. and so they hadn't seen it yet in their district, so i knew with a certainty it was going to get worse. i'm not sure i knew it was going to be 10% unemployment, but i knew it was going to be bad. and so then when -- and i knew if they didn't do something and it collapsed, then businesses will be able to fund themselves, when be able to pay for the inventories and pay suppliers and would let employees go and i would ripple through the economy, and w

scene in the book where we talk about ben bernanke and chris cox on september 18th to meet with congress and tell them we are going to need these authorities, and the difficulty we had at that time was as warden said better than i could the arteries of the financial system were freezing up and so i knew with certainty business was going to turn down because when you have companies that it is uncertain whether they will be able to raise their short-term funding most cfo's are going to go to the ceo and say i may not be able to have all of the funding you would like the next 30 days so what is a prudent company do? the start cutting back but congress hadn't seen this yet and so they hadn't seen it yet in their district, so i knew with certainty it was going to get worse. i'm not sure i knew it was going to be 10% unemployment but i knew it was going to be bad so then -- i knew if they didn't do something in the collapsed then the businesses wouldn't be able to find themselves, wouldn't be able to pay for the inventory and pay suppliers and what the employees go and that would ripple through the eco

. >> sean: so anointed one sends his budget to congress but tells a different story. >> i have never been more hopeful about america's future. >> sean: sorry mr. president, [ inaudible ] is card checking your future while the -- is the san francisco speaker accusing her airline privileges again? all that plus dick morris on all that plus dick morris on our great, great american this is the card that bought the saw... that cut the lumber... that built the extra space i needed to store more produce... that she sold to me to make my menu more organic. introducing ink from chase. the card that helped make it all happen because it's accepted in twice as many places worldwide as american express. with reward points worth 25% more when redeemed for air travel. make your mark with ink. go to chase.com/ink. chase what matters. sir? finding everything okay? i work for a different insurance company. my auto policy's just getting a little too expensive. with progressive, you get the "name your price" option, so we build a policy to fit your budget. wow! the price gun. ♪ ah! wish we had this. we'

i must tell you, at that time, the public was against it, the congress was against it, the joint chiefs. times have changed, and i would have to tell you, i think everybody in that room, the vast majority of people in that room, including colin powell, then head of the joint chiefs, certainly i would, would now view, let's get rid of don't ask, don't tell. let's get moved to letting gays serve openly. i very much believe that. i'm biased on the subject now. >> let's talk about the politics of this. i want to show our viewers something that senator john mccain said today after secretary gates and admiral mullen made their comments. let's play that. >> i'm happy to say that we still have a congress of the united states that would have to pass a law to repeal don't ask, don't tell, despite your efforts to repeal it, in my respects, by fiat. >> he says, at this point, with two wars going on, it's not the right time for that. a lot of liberal groups pointed to something else that the senator said back in 2006. i want to play that for our viewers as well. >> the day that the leadership of the

the congress cannot tell new jersey or texas or utah an or maine or florida how to run their court systemse states can reform themselves from within like texas and mississippi did. they used to be the most desirable places for plaintiffs lawyers to go and they're now least desirable. the change comes from within or we trample the rights of the states. >> glenn: good. government should make healthcare universally accessible. is healthcare not universally accessible? is it not accessible? james, can you walk into a hospital without even identification? james, will they help you out? >> absolutely. >> glenn: yeah. it doesn't matter. i'm having a really, really expensive involved ha heart condition and they will take care of you. >> we don't have right to refuse. we have to. >> glenn: are you in the industry? >> nurse. >> glenn: the last one is private enterprise fails to deliver healthcare to all. government should fix the problem. okay. government is the problem. and here is the next category. taxes, spending and the debt. there should be no limits placed on the ability of government to rais

circuit wrote a very powerful opinion saying it is time for congress to tell us as opposed to making he district judge's fabricate the rules were fashioned rules on a case by case basis so to me there is a real lot opportunity but obligation on the part of congress to put together a set of legal rules and legal framework that is going to sustain us for the next ten, 20, 30 years. >> [inaudible] -- the questions you raised about the 9/11 trial and whether guantanamo should stay open, things like that. >> the bush administration looked the possibility of closing guantanamo. it is very hard. there are a significant number of people there who are dangerous who still regard themselves as at war with the united states and the west. some of them perhaps can be sent to home countries that you can be confident will make sure they are incapacitated. sometimes a with a face a legal objections to going back and they can't go back. our position was, and i believe to be true, you don't want to bring them into the united states. once you bring them to the united states soil they will have a series o

the disclosure was not there at the proper time to tell the american people and tell this congress whatinexcusable and it makes me doubt, it makes me voucher commitment to the american people. it makes me doubt mr. paulson's commitment to the american people and the commitment to goldman sachs trunked the responsibility that our officials had to the american people. >> congressman i respect your opinion. i know you hold this opinion strongly but i completely disagree. the american taxpayer would not have been better off if the government had made it possible for bear stearns to get more money. the american taxpayer would not have been better off if we have led aig the folk. none of us did anything out of any concern-- >> there's a difference between giving them 100 cents on the dollar and letting them default. you are creating new facilities every week to help folks. we were letting people go to the discount window that never had an opportunity to do that. we were changing the rules day by day and we have the banks in a position where we could exercise a lot of leverage and you chose no

congress do the bill, right? >> right. i think of this exercise every year as increasingly an exercise in futility. >> greta: why? >> it tells us what the president's priorities are for the year maybe how they've changed direction on a couple of things where. then he turn it over to congress at congress figures what they want to spend the money on. for the last couple of years they haven't even passed a budget. i think this is a little instructive might be more hype than reality. >> greta: explain to the viewers they haven't passed the budget in the past couple of years? >> they are not able to get things done on a day-to-day pass so they continue pass continuing resolutions getting things done. we have two wars we need to fund. we have a lot of entitlement spending, some social security and medicaid. we have just the everyday running of the government. it is extremely expensive. we have to protect ourselves from terrorists. we have conversations about where are you going to cut in the budget? tough decisions to be made. i laud president obama for trying to find some it is 20 billion dollars, a drop in the bucket. >> greta:

circuit wrote a very powerful opinion saying it is time for the congress to tell us what role is as opposedto making the district judges fabricate rules or fashion the rules on a case by case basis. so to me there is a blog opportunity but obligation on the part of congress to put together a set of legal rules and legal framework that is going to sustain for the next ten, 20, 30 years. >> a follow-up to the question raised about the 9/11 trial for other quote, should stay open, questions like that. what are your thoughts on that? >> will the bush at ministration looked at the possibility of closing guantanamo. it is very hard life. there are a significant number of people there who are dangerous and still regard themselves as at war with the united states in the west. some of them perhaps can be sent to home countries you can be confident will make sure the are incapacitated. sometimes aware for the raise legal objections to going back and you can't send them back. our position was and i believe it to be true you don't want to bring them into the united states. once to bring them to the uni

staff, and literally every military leader i know, and they testified before congress that they felt that the don't ask don't tellolicy was the most appropriate way to conduct ourselves in the military. i understand the opposition to it, and i've had these debates and discussions, but the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, senator, we ought to change the policy, then i think we ought to consider seriously changing, because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to. >> that was john mccain speaking in 2006, felling "hardball" that the day the leadership of the military says that don't ask don't tell should be changed, on that day he'd consider changing the policy. that day was today. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. no matter how i look at this issue, i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. for me, personally, it comes down to integrity. theirs as ind

>>less than a week after president obama called on congress to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. the defense secretary also said he supports a change. but only after a panel spends a year studying the impact on u.s. troops. >> the question before us is not weather the military prepares to make this change but how we best prepare it. >> that statement irritateed senator mccain that reminded secretary gates that congress will ultimately decide the fate of the law. >> at this moment, immense hardship for armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. >> however, michigan senator levin said more than 13,000 troops have been discharged since the law enacted in 1993. >> i do not find the arguments that were used to justify, "don't ask, don't tell" convincing when it took effect in 1993. and there areless so now. >> the tense hearing came minutes after both witnesses testified for about three hours about the defense department's budget. $700 billion budget request including 159 billion for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> the debate surroun

president obama promise to repeal don't ask, don't tell, and gay activists have been urging him to keep the promise. congress will have to agree on this, and there are plenty of people who will sense yet another opportunity to frustrate president obama's ambition. >> another line coming out of the white house saying president obama still intends to meet the dalai lama. this has already in. in china. officials in beijing warned that the tibetan spiritual leader's visit could damage trust and cooperation. china is also unhappy about a deal to sell american arms to taiwan. we have this. >> hot on the heels of sensitive taiwan arms sales, another pitfall. dalai lama and to that. with china and the united states testing each other's strength. it is thought that president obama may soon have an meeting with the exiled tibetan leader. if china makes no secret that that would not go unanswered. >> the american leader is still seeking relationships with the head of this pseudo-government. this behavior is totally against the universally recognized practice and it will seriously undermine the political foundation thes

but if all of the citizens want a single payer system, that would seem to tell the congress what to do for your comments. medicare is an incredibly important program which clearly needs to be strengthened, and it has worked well for folks over 65. but medicare actuaries, the folks who government care, are saying that it will be bankrupt in years. it is a great program, but it turns out that we will have to work to shore it up so that the guarantee we have given to people that after 65 you will have this can continue to be fulfilled. that is actually a bad model with which to proceed. one thing i will point out is that the netherlands, which is really a very small country, probably fewer people in the netherlands then in my home state of louisiana -- they said they were going to reform health care, it looked around europe, and they decided not to go to a single payer system, because you look at other single payer systems, and this is not sustainable in the long term. they began on a process which they said at the outset would take 10 to 15 years but they said it would change something a

he is telling the congress what we are up against. we are not in the past, like he said.he future. and we are not -- not uneducated people. just small people living our lives and try to do the best we can. we can hold on, we can survive. we just need our congress and senate, the people who are supposed to be leading the nation, to give us what they promised us. most of us struggling, hoping when it these days we may make a hundred thousand dollars a year. host: of giving us what they promise -- what are you thinking about? what was the promise? caller: it started with george washington right on up to date. we know our history. i just wonder if our congress and senate does. host: sliwa calling from shelby, texas. fred, democrat from boley, maryland. ç-- bowie, maryland. caller: i have a problem with the democrat and republican party. when the president has to stand up and teach the parties are history, it is a shame. they don't know what to do in this country about anything. it is very clear under president bush administration, we are now facing one of the largest deficit

>> well, don't ask, tonight tell is the clinton compromise policy which is actually incompatible with the law that was passed by congressmost universal misunderstanding about that. i'd like to see us do away with this don't ask, don't tell, and simply enforce the law that was passed by congress. >> what i hear you saying is that you believe that gays and lesbians should not serve their country in the uniform whatsoever. >> that's absolutely right. >> not only are you opposed to repealing don't ask, don't tell, you would prohibit all gays and lesbians from serving their country? >> that's exactly right. and that would -- >> right now we're fighting two wars and we need every qualified trooper to be out there. >> the percentage of people, the number who had refused to serve in the military if they're forced to serve with open homosexuals would dwarf the number of homosexuals who would actually volunteer. >> there's no basis in fact for that assess. >> there is a "military times" poll showing 10% of those currently serving military would not reenlist. >> that's a poll of the readers of "the military times." >> let him fini

. >> is the repeal of don't ask don't tell by congress out of this question for this year? >> well, what is more likely than repeal i'm guessing, but we have to await the testimony that we will have as a moratorium is, i think, probably more likely prospect, because of the study which the secretary announced today, but i don't want to preclude anything or predict anything. i don't know. i mean, people have to be heard from. >> senator, i hope that -- >> with the authorization bill, and the vehicle -- >> well, perfectly appropriate vehicle if the congress wants to act. >> and what about -- >> well, you can do it either way. it is perfectly well either way to put it in a authorization bill to change it to "don't ask, don't tell" and if my memory is right and may not be, but that is where the policy was put into place to begin with, so it is certainly appropriate to repeal it or do a moratorium or any number of thin things. >> i hope there is no delay. i just hope to serve and i hope i don't have to be fired in the time of this. >> well, we follow your career and admire it. >>

joining us to discuss the "don't ask, don't tell" poll circumstances two members of the congress, thencan hunter jr. he's a reserve marine, freshman congressman from california, holding the seat vacated by his father, the 14-term congressman duncan l. hunter. he opposes lifting the ban on gays serving openly in the military. also joining us, democratic senator cirsen gillibrand of new york states. she supports lifting the ban. thanks to both of you for coming in. congressman hunter, why is it okay for the militaries in canada, britain, france, most of the nato allies, israel, to allow gays to serve openly without any serious problems there, but not okay to allow gays to serve openly in the u.s. military? >> the main reason is britain, france or canada, we're not them. their military is much smaller, much more specialized. we have a larger military. and i think that it would be detrimental to our entire force, our cohesiveness if we allowed homosexuals to serve openly. but the main answer is, they aren't us, we aren't them. we're the world's major military. its major police force doing

congress. so here we are and it's watergate. and you could tellf i'm wrong, but to me it's the unprecedented curve of presidential power in the history of our country by congress. >> guest: i think that's right. >> host: and hear president for all these years have pushed the envelope as far as foreign policy, domestic policy, on over the edge and whatever theory they wanted to create. and it is a two bit burglary for a political information. that curbs the president's foreign policy. i mean, don't you just find that, how do you get from their to there? >> guest: it is an amazing thing, because first of all, nixon -- it's good to talk about him because the constitution doesn't guarantee that that people won't be elected or that bad decisions won't get me. the constitution helps channels the decision-making process but we still, can't guarantee perfection. and so nixon comes to office. the problem with nixon is that he justified these things and wiretapping, his political enemies breaking two bit burglary in the water gate villages down the street.

congress. i can't tell you how indebted i am to this great institution. i have done research for all of my work here. in fact, the first piece of serious history that i ever atelled was researched here back in the 1960's when my wife, rosalee and i happened on to some photographs of the johnstown flood that had just been donated to the library. and i saw those photographs, and i had grown up in that part of pennsylvania, and i had never understood what the flood was about, but in the photographs, i saw the level of destruction that had happened, and i wanted to know more so i took a book ought of the -- out of the library, and i found is quite unsatisfactory, and i took another book out of the library, and it was even less acceptable it seemed to me because for one thing, neither of the authors understood the geography of western pennsylvania, which i at least did know, and so taking a cue from thornton wilder, who had been a fellow at yale college when i was an undergraduate, who said that he in writing his plays and novels imagined a story that he wante

that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, providing congress repeels the current ban. gates is telling a senate committee today how he would go about edgnding the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change but how we best prepare for it. we received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly. however, we can also take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the congress. >> the secretary is ordering the pentagon to complete its review of don't ask, don't tell by the end of this year. joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen supports ending the ban on gay service members. he told the armed services committee it would be the right thing to do. don't ask, don't tell has become the focus of conversation since the president mentioned it in our state of the union address so our joe carter asked and you told him about how you feel about gays serving openly in the military. >> reporter: i'm joe carter and this is hln's "views from the street." we're talking to people

president obama pledged congress to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.he chairman of the joint chiefs apparently goes along with that. michael mullen supports allowing gay service people to serve openly in the military. how easy will it be to eliminate the current rule. what would it mean for the military. let's turn to two real soldiers to iraq war veterans. i'll call you by both your names so we don't get confused. john solts, you, sir, give me a real-life example of what it's like to serve with gay service men and women and how it works. what's it like and how does it work effectively? >> the way it works right now is, you come home from the war, and like i was, i was on vacation with a couple of my friends. we were traveling around. and they said, by the way, you know that other officer that was with us, he was gay. i said really? i had no idea. it was completely irrelevant on the battlefield, trying to figure out your mission. and, you know, i was just shocked on tuesday when i listened to mullen live when he said in the room, i've served with gays

circuit wrote a very powerful opinion saying it is time for the congress to tell us what role is as opposedistrict judges fabricate rules or fashion the rules on a case by case basis. so to me there is a blog opportunity but obligation on the part of congress to put together a set of legal rules and legal framework that is going to sustain for the next ten, 20, 30 years. >> a follow-up to the question raised about the 9/11 trial for other quote, should stay open, questions like that. what are your thoughts on that? >> will the bush at ministration looked at the possibility of closing guantanamo. it is very hard life. there are a significant number of people there who are dangerous and still regard themselves as at war with the united states in the west. some of them perhaps can be sent to home countries you can be confident will make sure the are incapacitated. sometimes aware for the raise legal objections to going back and you can't send them back. our position was and i believe it to be true you don't want to bring them into the united states. once to bring them to the united states soil