leader mitch mcconnell. senator, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> glad to be here, chris. >> chris: the word from the white house is in his "state of the union" speech, the president will focus on jobs at a time when republicans are talking mostly about the deficit and healthcare reform. in the latest fox news opinion dynamics poll, 45% say the economy and jobs should be the top priority. 17% say the deficit and government spending. 14% say healthcare. question: i know you think that they are all related, but can the president frame this as he is focussing on the future and you guys are stuck in the past? >> i don't think that will work for him. in fact, the issues are all related. the excessive government spending of the last two years is one of the reasons the private sector is not doing any better than it is. the president needs to pivot. he seems to be pivoting on virtually everything else. i don't put him down for that. he obviously saw what happened in the november election and is trying to go in

senator mcconnell, leader mcconnell, thank you very much as always. >>> up next, what does the revolt in egypt mean for u.s. foreign policy. and what will it mean for the rest of the region. we'll talk to former u.s. ambassador to israel. and "new york times" columnist tom friedman. plus, what is the political fallout of a you will of this? and the other big political news, the president's state of the union and the debates ahead with republicans over spending. our roundtable weighs in, mike murphy, harold ford, chuck todd and caddy kim. "meet the press" is brought to you by the new audi a8. ♪ >> woman: good night, gluttony-- a farewell long awaited. good night, expected. >> ( yawning ) >> good night, outdated. >> ( click ) >> ( whimpers ) >> good night, fluffy. and good night, stuffy. >> ( clinking ) >> ( chewing ) >> good night, old luxury and all of your wares. good night, bygones everywhere. >> ( engine revs ) >> good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning, unequaled inspiration. >> ( heartbeats ) for three hours a week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnos

in defense of his relationship with senator mcconnell -- mr. alexander: i ask the record be corrected. mr. durbin: let me just say quickly, the obvious question is what do we accomplish by staying here all night? every 15 minutes, every hour, the majority leader could ask for a live quorum and members could be asked to come vote, and if they don't, their voting record would reflect it. so the body would pay the price of putting the pressure, the confrontation that senator byrd speaks of. what the senators who are proposing this suggest is the person who wants to stop the senate should really have the burden of explaining why, of standing and defending his or her position. i don't think that's unreasonable. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: i want to correct the record on something that has been common to say on the other side of the aisle, and that is the abuse of the filibuster has been a response of filling the tree. here we have the last two years. we had

senator mcconnell said it was senator mcconnell said it was >> senator mcconnell had been here for many years. i mentioned this on the floor in debate in 1997 and 1995 when howard baker of tennessee and record byrd of west virginia were the republican leaders. i worked for an assistant and knew senator byrd. here's what went on then and could go on today. it gave us a chance to see what they really did to improve them, that hear from voices from all over the country, and then that legislation came to the floor during senator baker's day when he was the majority leader, he would not bring to the floor to support a ten didn't want to waste the senate's time, and he knew that with a 60 vote it brought consensus. people talk about the filibuster, but what we have is a requirement that most important bills get important votes, and if you're sitting with 53 democrats and 47 republicans, you don't have to have an advanced degree in mathematics to figure out that if you don't have some democrats and some republican, you don't get to 60. senator baker was saying back in the 80s, bring the bill t

but mitch mcconnell has the right to offer an amendment. if he does, if the republicans offer an amendment on the floor, then we will require them to vote on the individual protections in the bill that are very popular. and that even some of the new republican house members have said they support. so, in the end, their repeal bill is going to be so full of holes it looks like swiss cheese. let me give you some examples-- are republicans going to vote no on a provision to maintain the donut hole benefits so that seniors pay less for prescription drugs? are they going to vote against the ability of 21- to 26-year- olds to stay on their parents' they're new in the job market and often can't get it themselves. are they going to vote to repeal the mandatory... not the mandatory, but the free check- ups that seniors on medicare get which save billions of dollars in prevention. we all know early check-ups work. so i think, at the end of the day, their effort to repeal is not going to work at all. it shows something, bob. there are places we can wo

mcconnel 27 points leading the gails to a 23-71 win. zags have lost only two conference games at home in the last seven years. more bay area winners, usf now 5-1 after a win on the road. mike williams hit a shot. a three at the buzzer to win it there. stan clara living it up down in malibu over pepperdine. the easiest cal on a cruise bringing it home nice and easy over the beavers. jorge gutierrez had a little to do with it. mark sanders freezing the two hand dunk. and more of gutierrez who had a career high 96. and he will make sure that camp put it down. one cider there, sider there. stanford women always doing that school proud. ogumaque doing it all. she blocked it, stole it and blew it away. her sister chine 18 points, two rebounds. another routine win. >>> you know standards once so high, and tiger continues to play well. not great and doubt going to continue to follow him until he wins one. down at torrey pines today, about 238 yards away, soaring and laying it up there for the insuing birdie. his first of the year. then on 16 a

mcconnel 27 points leading the gails to a 23-71 win. zags have lost only two conference games at home in the last seven years. more bay area winners, usf now 5-1 after a win on the road. mike williams hit a shot. a three at the buzzer to win it there. stan clara living it up down in malibu over pepperdine. the easiest cal on a cruise bringing it home nice and easy over the beavers. jorge gutierrez had a little to do with it. mark sanders freezing the two hand dunk. and more of gutierrez who had a career high 96. and he will make sure that camp put it down. one cider there, sider there. stanford women always doing that school proud. ogumaque doing it all. she blocked it, stole it and blew it away. her sister chine 18 points, two rebounds. another routine win. >>> you know standards once so high, and tiger continues to play well. not great and doubt going to continue to follow him until he wins one. down at torrey pines today, about 238 yards away, soaring and laying it up there for the insuing birdie. his first of the year. then on 16 a

mitch mcconnell and some of the senate republicans held their own celebration. it was notable that michael steele was not on the podium. the next day you had mitch mcconnell, john boehner, and hailey bar bor who heads the republican governor's association all standing together claiming credit and talking about republican winds. the r.n.c. wasn't represented. they st weren't there. so it's been interesting. whether or not you think steele deserves credit for wins in 2010, there 45s been a noticeable effort to sort of block him out and not allow him the same credit some organizations are trying to claim. host: joe in new york calls us. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i just wanted to point out that a lot of what we hear in the mainstream media is all these new republicans, and i think a lot of that is simply becse they don't have a record because rublicans who have a record, whose record is known, who are noun what they've done to this country couldn't get electsed dog catcher for the most part or couldn't get elected president certainly. we

>> harry reid and mitch mcconnell, the real guys that are running congress are harry reid and mitch mcconnell. harry reid is the pocket veto. president will not veto anything in his first term because of harry reid. chris: when we return, by the spring, who's going to be on top, key question, the president or republicans in the house? ♪ let's go out to the dmv ♪ it's ok that we're number four hundred and three ♪ ♪ we'll find ourselves a comfy seat ♪ ♪ and watch some shows and stuff ♪ ♪ ♪ let's follow that lady with the laptop ♪ ♪ and watch day-time dramas at the bus stop ♪ [ male announcer ] now you can watch hit tv shows on your laptop and smartphone with at&t u-verse tv. now get up to $300 back in promotion cards. at&t. rethink possible. now get up to $300 back in promotion cards. shift your weight forward onto the left foot. take the right leg up, holding the inner arch of the foot... introducing instant action alerts, only from chase. left arm up... manage your account and help avoid overdrafts with a click of a button. just reply to the alert with how much you wan

i think he's a class act. >> it's got to end up in the gutter with you, woman. >> mickey mcconnell. >> best player. >> help me. >> i got your back. ,,,,,,,, [ male announcer ] myron needed an mba to turn his technology into a business. so he chose a university where the faculty average over 14 years of experience in their fields... into n and accelerate the path between ideas...and actions. my name is myron sullivan, i'm developing a robotic system to clean up oil spills, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] imagine what a business degree can do for you.

>> harry reid and mitch mcconnell, the real guys that are running congress are harry reid and mitch mcconnell. harry reid is the pocket veto. president will not veto anything in his first term because of harry reid. chris: when we return, by the spring, who's going to be on top, key question, the president or republicans in the house? [ female announcer ] to do well, kids need to eat well. and eating well means getting enough whole grain and calcium. and general mills big g kid cereals can help. did you know it's the only leading line of kid cereals with at least 8 grams of whole grain and a good source of calcium? cereals they already love, like lucky charms and cinnamon toast crunch. give your kids more of what they need to be their best. grow up strong, with big g kid cereals. ♪ chris: welcome back. this week's a new era in washington with republicans in charge of the house and a stronger republican presence in the senate which brings us to the big question this week. by spring, the end of this season, who will have the upper hand, president obama or the republicans running capitol hill?

i've had a number of meetings with senator mcconnell. the two leaders of the rules committee, shimmer and alexander are working through some of this we've made great progress. i repeat the next 24, 48 hours we cannot away of completing this work. we're going to the steering committee meeting tomorrow to take care of the democratic side of the committee edition since attractions that we've had. so i think we're doing pretty well. thanks, everybody. >> do you solemnly swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic? >> president obama walking along the white house colonnade earlier today in the president getting ready now for a state of the union address. the white house says he'll call for a five-year freeze on all discretionary government and income except for national security. our live coverage of the address begins at eight eastern on c-span and 8:30 eastern on c-span 2. >> i hope so anyway. [inaudible] >> maybe we can arrange that. >> a number of senators debated a resolutio

guest: this will be a real test for john boehner and mitch mcconnell. there are many tea party conservatives in the house who are not about to vote to raise the debt ceiling grid it would be a complete contradiction. what that means is that one of these government shutdown confrontations, which many of those folks would like to have, is the lesson of when that happened between bill clinton and republicans on capitol hill. it backfired and the country thought it was irresponsible. they let the government shut down because you would not pass the spending bill. i think there will have to beat a compromise. -- be a compromise. there will have to be some government control and a demonstration that they have a plan. host: this past friday, the president traveled to capitol hill. families usa gathered and the president spoke to the organization about his health care bill. he said that he will work with members of congress to change parts of health care but will not repeal health care. here is more from president obama. >> i am willing to work with anyone, repu

. >> umm -- >> mickey mcconnell. he is the best player in that conference. as long as he doesn't play any gyms with low ceilings, look how high he shoots it. a 6-point lead over the first half. second half he can do more than that. mcconnell led all scorers with 19. they beat the gaels, they are 15-2 over in the pac-10. stanford knocked off washington. cal beat washington 88-81 in ot. freshman alan crab had a career high 13 points. >>> they are mourning the loss of michael lucky smith. he is a long-time boys and girls aau coach in marin county. he was the first player drafted out to have the university of hawaii and played for the milwaukee bucks. he leaves behind 6 children. his son coaches in the wnba. his friends remember him fondly. >> he was quite a basketball player and quite a young man for this community and a great coach and he knows the game and it's just one of those things that it's about life and it's about death and moving on, but he had a great impact on my life. >> yeah, a tough loss, we lost the lincoln coach earlier, and now lucky. >> lucky

with results michael really close to told mcconnell revealing he told the girl he told me. this is a lot see a real show releases all the transcripts of tools between air traffic controllers and the pilots of the polish president lech kaczynski is ill fated plane that crashed in april the move comes all the rules all blame distractions for the crunch . russia was a co-sponsor of the middle east peace process and will continue its efforts to settle the conflict president dmitry medvedev made the comment to the music with the king of jordan as he wraps up his pool region. superpowers in two weeks the chinese president meets and you have counted bomb iraq obama and anxieties we've washington over it region told growing influence on the global stage. we now it's who are mysterious but exclusive address from the soviet era it's the only home a building that's close to the kremlin. from its heavens and their own usual tale that's next. buildings that sprang up in one thousand nine hundred thirty two in the heart of moscow just across from the kremlin imposing even by today's stan

republican leader mitch mcconnell connell said he welcomes the president's attention to the issue. >> i'm all for the president changing his tune, but unless he has a time machine he can't change his record. and if we're going to make any real progress in the areas of spending, debt, and reining in government, the president will have to acknowledge that the policies of the past two years are not only largely to blame for the situation we find ourselves in but that unless we do something to reverse their ill effects, the road to recovery and prosperity will be a bumpy one. >> reporter: majority leader harry reid said upcoming debates over deficits raising the debt limit and health care should be based on facts not empty rhetoric. >> the american people voted in november for a divided legislative branch of government, a democratic senate, a republican house. they didn't elect houses led by competing political parties because they want us to compete. they did so because they want us to cooperate. we cannot cooperate without an honest debate. we cannot have an honest debate if we insist t

i know mitch mcconnell, see. i've been watching him for about 30 years. that man will say anything to get his agenda passed. anything. now, i'm from kentucky. been there all my life. i'm over 50. o what we have to do is quit lying and telling the truth. there isn't such thing as obama there isn't such thing as obama care.

mcconnell: mr. president? the vice president: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i rise to congratulate the senator from maryland for becoming the longest female senator in united states history. she passes senator margaret chase smith. as was indicated she's also only the second woman to be elected to both the senate and the house. when first elected to the senate in 1986 barbara was only the 16th woman to ever serve. today there are more female senators than that in the 112th congress alone. barbara has served as a role model and a mentor to many of them and i know they're grateful for it. she's been a champion of the space program, science research, welfare reform, major transportation, homeland security and environmental issues in maryland. i think barbara would be the first to tell you that becoming the longest serving female senator wasn't easy. like all streaks, including that of another marylander, kal ri ripkin, there are a lot of bumps in the road. she's made it through it all and we're

but to talk about mcconnell versus boehner. mcconnell, reid. you know, you're looking at in excess, the senate, the senate versus the house. and so much of what in the past, certainly the lame duck, but much of the past congress, it's sort of whatever you get through the senate. you know, the house has to take, you know, more or less if they're going to do anything. so if you can get it through mcconnell, being the minority leader in the house, in the senate, okay. but those are legitimate. but my point is that the answers change depending on what's going on, you know, with elections, what's going on politically, going on between the two sides. you can't look in the constitution for the right answer, or what is right, you know, december of last year it may not be right december of this year. you know, sort of another question is, or maybe a bonus question, it's a day after the election. who do you call? you've got a lame-duck session that is staring you in the face. who do you call? the heads of two bodies, pelosi and reid. yeah, that's fine. o

mickey mcconnell. biggest shot of his life. 73-71. desperation and that's it. as pam said for, the first time in 16 years, gaels win, they are 18-3, 6-0 in the conference, usf is 5-1 as they win. santa clara won tonight. cal wins and oregon dumps stanford for the first time in 25 years. as always, best team in the bay area, pam, i know it's supposed to be cool, but looks like she enjoys it. genet puts stanford up by 29 points. peterson going back, one of the top four teams in america and they roll tonight 91-56. they are 17-2, 8-2 in the pac 10. the former laker coast, is now the coach at oregon. tennessee, jeff fisher was the longest coach in the nfl till today. after 16 years he and the titans part ways. a little surprise because the word had been it was young or fisher to go. they had a power struggle there. young the quarterback was let go, but today there goes fisher as well. andy reid coached for 12 seasons in philadelphia, he is the longest tenured coach. the latest out of the pro bowl. nommy is a victim of a sprained ankle, he will not play sunday. pepp

senator reid and senator mcconnell, when they were whips, tried deal with this. we had three bipartisan breakfasts on this working with the white house two years ago. senator lieberman and senator collins, who are the committee chairs, have tried to deal with this and we have all failed so far. but senator schumer and i will be introducing a bill and will have the support of the leaders, senators mcconnell and reid, and -- and it will have the active involvement of senator lieberman and senator collins and what we hope to do is two things, one is reduce the number -- senator harkin spoke about this a little earlier, he's a chairman, he's been a ranking member and a chairman. he's basically saying, we don't need to spend our time here. -- here having senate confirmation of hundreds of boards and commission members and the p.r. official for some department. we ought to focus our attention on jobs and debt and terror and the issues that affect the american people. and perhaps we can deal with that. and the second thing we should do is to end this practice of -- of -

is he going to be able to roll investment at a time when mitch mcconnell, senator mitch mcconnell said investment is latin for more spending. >> they're going to have to work out the details. much of the speeches are worked out in the long run. this speech began 60 days ago, and to quote, paraphrase a commercial, when he took a licking, he started clicking. and along the way, he's step by step proceeded to build the idea that he is governing differently and he's succeeding at it. >> and jake tapper, in some ways, the president going back to the future here, going back to themes that he was sounding even before he became president as a senator. >> reporter: that's right. he first versed on the national scene in the 2004 democratic national convention by posing, receiving himself as a unifier, somebody who would bring both countries -- well, saying that there aren't two countries, we're all one united states of america. and that is the theme he's returned to since the so-called shellacking of the mid-term elections and more so since the tucson tragedy. one other point i wanted to make, w

and often times it takes senator mcconnell 24 hours to get back to him. so before an agreement such a simple routine as that. so i mean, so again, in light of what i've outlined some of the stuff i'm about to talk about, i think there needs to be some changes. in what was the result of this unprecedented obstructionism. oftentimes the nominees that were blocked, that we had to file a cloture on eventually confirmed, save 95 to one. to do with the legislation that was being hauled up, oftentimes been passed in the invite 86 to six or something like that, which gets me to the first point that i want to try and make. and this is something that ross and i talked about before as a matter of fact. and that is that, you know, the importance in the power that the calendar has on the ability of the majority leader to schedule legislation. it's one thing for my friends and loved for instance to argue, why don't you just, you know, make a filibuster any particular nominee despite the fact we have 50 or 60 nominees pending. or why don't you make a filibuster piece of

we are blessed to have speaker john boehner and senator mitch mcconnell as our leaders. we will work with them. we appreciate them. as chairman of the party, is part of my job to support them as well >>. >> you don't have a ton of experience doing something like this record. are you prepared for this? >> wisconsin is a targeted state and i have talked to many of you here. we are not unused to dealing with lots of press in a state that barack obama visits every other month. i have talked to a lot of you already about some of the things we have done at the rnc. i am prepared for this but with god's help, anything is possible. >> [inaudible] >> that is the job of the republican national chairman. we will deal with that tomorrow morning. i just grabs the gavel to run the next election. we will bring a team together. we will take the executive committee of the rnc and we will be the transition team of this rnc. we will build unity on this committee and everyone will have a say. we will do this together and we will bring real leadership back in the building and get this train

receipt leader mcconnell thanks for take the time. david broder the dean, wrote right after the election that you are, you now hold as much sway as the president of the united states because for things to be done they have to be done through you. do you feel different than you did on november 1st? >> well, i think divided government presents some opportunity to do some important things. just to give you a few examples, reagan and tip o'neill, social security in '83. reagan and a democratic house, tax reform in '86. clinton and a republican congress, welfare reform and balanced budgets. what i hope is that we can come together and do some important things for the american people. the tax deal in december i thought was a good indication that maybe we could do some business. the president's indicated he is interested in lowering the corporate tax rate. i and most of my members think that's a good idea because we're certainly increasingly having real difficulties competing with overseas companies. so we'll see. i personally think it is a

mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, first i'd like to take a moment to welcome back all of my colleagues and particularly the 13 new republican senators who we efficientlily swore -- who we officially swore in just a few minutes ago. americans looking for creative, principled leaders. aim confident this impressive class of new republicans will not disappoint. i'd also like to welcome my good friend, the majority leader. at a time when some think the two parties cannot even agree on the weather, senator rierd l. reid and i get along just fine. i look forward to working with him again throughout this congress. the biggest changes today are of course happening across the dome and i'd like to welcome the many new republican members of congress who come to washington to change the way things are done around here n this they'll be led by very talented and determined ohioan whom i now have the great honor of referring to as "sp

host: the power of mitch mcconnell opposed to harry reid. guest: mitch mcconnell had extraordinarily amount of leverage partly because of the approach that was used, to pull his minority together in an almost hysterically unprecedented fashion, to use the leverage of 40 plus. it really be deviled harry reid a lot. it is somewhat of a different role for mitch mcconnell because the house is controlled by republicans. i think we will see a different strategy. ford matched mcconnell, who made his now famous comment in a speech at the heritage foundation, that the number one political goal was to make barack " -- was to make barack obama a one-term president, means his role becomes a differnet one. host: you have been very patient. you are on the air. tracy, are you with us? caller: i have a couple of comments. thank you so much. host: you have to turn that volume down. deborah is in dallas. caller: in counterpoint of the gentleman who does not like c- span, i wrote would like to say that i start every day with you there because i do not like bei

i know mitch mcconnell, see. i've been watching him for about 30 years. that man will say anything to get his agenda passed. anything. now, i'm from kentucky. been there all my life. i'm over 50. o what we have to do is quit lying and telling the truth. there isn't such thing as obama care. it's health care for american people. when mr. obama was disrespected at the last time of the union when the man said he was lying, he isn't lying. he isn't giving health care to no illegals. host: well, that point of true also goes to issue of democrats and republicans sitting together side by side, which is something that seems to be gaining steam. to that point and to his point about everyone lying, john. caller: h guest: well, let me address the first thing first. i've been to several states of the union and over the last 20 years, it's kind of devolved into a competition about who can stand up or sit do you know the first and really taken away from the discussion of the president's giving. and i think that one of the best things about having the members interspers

with mitch mcconnell this sunday morning at 9:00. >>> 6:42 now. more on san jose's new police chief coming up. hear from the police officer's associations in a live report. >>> tv viewers in one country are told they are walking or watching its air force in action, but were they watching a tom cruise flick? >>> oakland police are turning to teens to help fight crime. see how they want kids to use a tool they are very familiar with. >>> and a live look at a very foggy san jose as you get ready g.is fridamog.rnmoin s rn iit6:42. we are back in a minute. [ male announcer ] myron needed an mba to turn his technology into a business. so he chose a university where the faculty average over 14 years of experience in their fields to help him turn a thesis into a business plan and accelerate the path between ideas... and actions. my name is myron sullivan, i'm developing a robotic system to clean oil spills, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] learn more about the school of business at phoenix.edu. >>> welcome back at 6:45 now. oakland teenagers have a

or mitch mcconnell. that is how it would shake out. we have had these problems over the years where high-profile exhibits cannot -- cannot -- came up with any number of barriers between the funding and the practitioners. you will have greater government control over content. the issue that i wanted to address, sandy, you talked about being connected to the diversity. ron, you talked about the current toxic atmosphere. you'll mentioned -- several of you have mentioned that quality journalism is happening in this country. there is no question about that. the global post and in international areas, there is quality journalism. the question to me is not whether there can be quality journalism, but how as the news media becomes increasingly atomized around the country, how can anyone get a comprehensive view of the world? it used to be that we could pick up the chronicle and hope to find at least as close to a comprehensive review as possible. no longer. they will have a couple of stories per day plus a lot of opinion pieces and a map telli

leader mcconnell, thank you for taking the time. david broder, the dean, wrote right after the election that you are -- you now hold as much sway as the president of the united states because for things to be done, they have to be done through you. do you feel different than you did on november 1? >> well, i think divided government presents some opportunity to do some important things, just to give you a few examples, reagan and tip o'neill, social security in 1983. reagan and a democratic house, tax reform in 1986. clinton and a republican congress welfare reform and balanced budgets. what i hope is that we can come together and do some important things for the american people. now the tax deal in december i thought was a good indication that maybe we could do some business. the president indicated he's interested in lowering the corporate tax rate. most of my members think that's a good idea because we're certainly increasingly having real difficulties competing with overseas companies. so we'll see. i personally think it's a gre

he is their warrior now going against john boehner and mitch mcconnell. his base problems for the next few months at least are gone. they now have someone they hate more than the president. >> that's because the aclu put out a press release bashing the president for making fun of tsa patdowns. just saying. [laughter] >> mark is right. if it was a republican president in the same situation there was nothing in the speech for his base. he's their warrior. this is the beginning of reelection cycle and it's the base thinking about the reelection cycle long before a lot of other voters in the country. >> the face of the white house. >> that's very, very true. they are going to stand by him. they are going to -- it's not knuckle under but work hard to get him reelectricked. that's the most -- reelected. it's the most important priority regardless of what kind of policies he is pushing for in the next three or four months. >> charlie. >> rose: yes, john. >> let's always try to keep in mind the difference between the what the white house want -- what robert gibbs

. >> reporter: in turn, republican leader mitch mcconnell insisted the public wants more debate, not less. >> and the response they're now getting from some on the other side, instead, is a proposal to change the senate rules so they can continue do exactly what they want with even fewer members than before. >> reporter: that momentary clash foreshadowed bigger fights to come from repeal of health care reform to spending cuts as the 112th congress gets down to work. >> lehrer: and for more on the launch of a new congress, here now are historian michael beschloss and norman ornstein of the american enterprise institute. >> what kind of opening day if boehner have? >> it was a terrific day for john boehner, and a day very didn't from, say, when nancy pelosi first came in four years ago, or when newt gingrich came in triumph antd in 1995. those were victory dances, historic change. this was low key, and speaker boehner appealing to something higher. how long that lasts, however, beyond this first day is a different issue. >> how would you describe the expectation about him? >> i think a

mitch mcconnell is here and two of my best buds, richard from north carolina, zachary chandra liss along with my buddy lauthan. thank you, gentlemen, for being here. i appreciate it. i'm honored and humbled to represent a great, hard-working community in congress, the people of ohio's 8th congressional district continue to afford me the privilege to serve, for which i am deeply grateful. we gather here today at a time of great challenges. nearly one in 10 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. hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th congress. no longer can we fall short. no longer can we kick the can down the road. the people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin to carry our their instructions. in the catholic faith, we enter into a season of service by having ashes marked on our heads. the ashes remind us that life in all of its forms is very fragile. our time on this earth, fleeting. but as the a

although republican senator mitch mcconnell insists there will away vote. >>> arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords recovery is progressing so well she's expected to be transferred to a houston rehabilitation center as early as friday. in another significant milestone, a hospital spokeswoman says giffords was able to stand on her feet with assistance from medical staff yesterday, and look out the window at the mountains outside her hospital room. a federal grand jury has indictindict ed jared loughner for attempting to kill giffords and two of her aides. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in new jersey, surveillance shows the violent robbery and beating of an unsuspecting video clerk. the suspect attacked the man, ran behind the counter and smashed the cash register. he got away with hundreds of dollars and left the victim with a broken nose. police are looking for the suspect. >>> in rhode island, firefighters came to the rescue of a dog in distress after it fell through an icy pond. rescuers used a pole with the loop to secure the animal. then pull

mcconnell, three of his game-high 32. st. mary's, too little, too late. the backbreaker from deep. 85-70 loss for st. mary's. to the wac. san jose state hosting fresno state. the alley-oop. the two-hand slam there san jose up 18. the map who makes the spartans move, oliver, had 18 in the first half. second half. more oliver. turn-around j. the victory. >> take a brief time-out. tiger woods feeling the pain in san diego. details of his day on the links i have fallen in love with making bird houses. caw caw! [ director ]what is that? that's a horrible crow. here are some things that i'll make as little portals. honestly, i'd love to do this for the rest of my life so i've got to take care of my heart. for me, cheerios is a good place to start. [ male announcer ] got something you'll love to keep doing? take care of your heart. you can start with cheerios. the natural whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. brrrbb... makes you feel ageless. [ male announcer ] it's time. love your heart so you can do what you love. cheerios. [ bob ] squak. [ female annou