situation room". >> the pentagon's top brass sounding alarm bells over automatic spending cuts now only weeks away. the defense budget will take a significant hit, $46 billion slashed, unless the president and the congress reach some sort of last minute deal. that could affect america's security and hundreds of thousands of jobs. let's go to the pentagon, our correspondent, chris lawrence, is standing by there. very worried over there at the pentagon, aren't they? >> reporter: are, wolf, and you're already starting to see some of the effects of the possible sequestration, the u.s. navy, cancelling the deployment of some other ships, cancelling some maintenance and pushing back some of the civilian contracts that they had signed. they say this is really just the tip of the iceberg, and down the road you could see a reduction in personnel. you could see training dramatically cut back in a lot of areas. >> chris, if these cuts do go into effect, they will be immediately felt or will be felt in the month his to come? >> reporter: this is going to be the toughest year, because critics will say look, once you get into year three, four and five, then the military will be able to dig in, cancel maybe some of the big contracts so that they can spread out the hurt a little more. the issue here is that pay and benefits take up about a third of the budget. you can't touch that with sequestration. also off limits are the wounded warrior program. they're not going to affect afghanistan that much. so to pull to make the cuts is smaller. and in a limited amount of time, you know, nine months left in a year, six months left in the fiscal year, they're going to have a very tough time making some hard decisions. >> and i know that leon panetta, the former defense secretary, shall we say, he is very, very concerned. but the army chief was pretty outraged, as well. >> reporter: and wolf, he is specifically drilling down on the training. he is saying that this is going to leave soldiers unprepared. take a listen. >> if we do not have the resources to train and equip the force, our soldiers, our young men and women are the ones who will pay the price. potentially with their lives. it is our responsibility, the department of defense and congress, to ensure that we never send soldiers into harm's way that are not trained, equipped, well-led, and ready for any contingency, to include war. >> reporter: now, he is right in one respect, but you're not going to see cuts to the troops already deployed to afghanistan. there is not really going to be much of an effect for those about to go and who have already been trained. it could cascade, say a year from now. that is when you may start to feel testifyihe effect. but it is not like the troops about to deploy are all of a sudden going to be unprepared. that is not going to happen. >> chris lawrence at the pentagon. we'll be watching this together with you. let's dig a little deeper about the proposed spending cuts and politics involved, joining us, our chief correspondent, dana bash, and ron brownstein, the editorial director of "the national journal." mitch mcconnell in the senate, who spoke about the proposed cuts. listen to this. >> their whole goal here is not to solve the problem. it is to have a show boat that is designed to fail. call it a day and wait for someone else to pick up the pieces. well, my message this morning is really quite simple. there wouldn't be any easy off ramps on this one. the days of 11th hour negotiations are over. washington democrats have gotten used to republicans bailing them out of their own lack of responsibility. but those days have passed. >> all right, so dana, they're eyeball to eyeball right now. and it potentially looks very ugly. >> reporter: absolutely, you know, the bottom line is what you're seeing now are the residual effects of the house speaker, he felt like he got burned. and his failed attempts over and over to cut deals with president obama over the past couple of years. and so what you're seeing are republicans, particularly in the house, throwing their hands up, saying you know, we already passed a bill a couple of times to replace the sequester, it is now in the hands of democrats, which is true. democrats in the senate know that the ball is in their court. but the sort of rub now is how to replace the sequester, and it really falls on the same philosophical divide. republicans are saying no, it won't be done with raising taxes and democrats are saying yeah, we do want to raise taxes in addition to cutting spending in order to replace the draconian cuts. >> the automatic spending cuts that go into effect. ron, i want you to listen to what the president said in his state-of-the-union address this week. >> these sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize the military readiness, and devastate areas like education, and medical research. they would certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. and that is why democrats, republicans, business leaders and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in washington as the sequester, are a really bad idea. >> you know, as dana pointed out there is something circular about this whole debate. the sequester was created to overcome the inability, putting more pressure on the two sides to overcome their inability to reach the deal on the underlying challenge. it was never actually meant to go into effect. but even this gillotine at the end of the month has been unable to get them to include spending cuts, revenue, we're sort of back in the position we were in the time of 2011, and the debt ceiling. the sequester, it really aims at the wrong side of the problem. the long-term challenge is entitlements, the sequester is fundamentally about discretionary spending, from a fiscal hawk point of view it doesn't get to the issue. >> what you say, ron, revenue, additional tax increases? >> from a -- tactical point of view, the democrats are putting themselves in the position by not getting everything they want. asking the republicans to come back and asking for a second tax increase is asking for a lot, politically. >> what about that dana? >> absolutely, the moment the deal was struck on new year's eve or new year's day, kind of a blur, republicans came out and said if the democrats think they will get anymore tax increases they're living on mars. it is not going to happen. it is it, we're done, not going to happen. you're exactly right, we're done. what is so fascinating, making people frustrated with washington right now is exactly what you said, ron, the whole point of the sequester was to cut in places that hurt, because they did that to force congress to do what was hard and to have more understandable cuts, and to have cuts that washington could live with. and even that, they can't do. so it is really mind-blowing that they haven't been able to come up with this. they kicked the can down the road and put themselves in the box where people are really going to get hurt, it is mind-blowing. >> what are the chances? you know the grand bargain, that they say, comprehensive tax reform coupled with comprehensive entitlement reform, social security, medicare, medicaid, do that whole, huge package. once again is that out of the realm of possibility? >> it is not out of the realm of possibility. but doesn't seem to be a high probability right now. i believe the real moment for that, the opportunity was when the bush cuts expired and you possibly could have gotten the republicans to go higher on revenue at that point if the democrats at that point were willing to include major restraints on the growth and entitlements. and the president in his speech in the state of the union made the case for that, arguing from the left, unless we control entitlements over time we'll eventually squeeze out the growth for the future. it is very difficult as we've seen in the last two years to get over the political hurdles. >> and one final question for you, dana, taking a look at the republicans on the hill and the democrats on the hill, are they pretty much united within their own parties? or are there splinter factions out there? >> oh, there are definitely splinter factions out there in both parties. and if you want to focus on just republicans, there are a number of republicans who throw up their hands in the house and say, if the sequester goes through, oh well, because they want to do the really tough cutting of the federal government, of federal spend in. and so that is one of the challenges that the republican leadership has and does right now when you get to the end of the day. i think the whole idea of a deal at the 11th hour, if you believe speaker boehner, it is not going to happen. the clip you played from mitch mcconnell, the off ramp, see how it plays in the house, the way the founders said it would originally happen. we may bump up against march 1st, and they're not done. >> real quick, when we talk about the budget, climate, any issues we face, the republicans controlling the house, the democrats, obama has been president for four years. none of us are going away. we're either going to find ways to overcome our differences on the questions or we'll be stuck until the next presidential election. >> thank you very much, ron bronstein's dana bash, other news in syria right now. both sides in the ongoing war are claiming victories. but the people are still falling victim to huge amounts of violence. in one area, residents are returning after fleeing the relentless attacks. and the scars are war are easily found inside syria. >> reporter: a game of soccer in the rubble of a civil war. after months of heavy fighting, people are returning to the district in homs. slowly, and cautiously. you know, there are not many places in the world where you can feel how fierce and intense fighting was when you go there after the fact. but this is one of those places. the government says it is in complete control of the area. but you can clearly see just how fierce the fighting here was. during our visit we couldn't find a single house left unscathed. this was one of the first places to fall into opposition hands in the uprising against president bashar al-assad. it began with peaceful protests, but what happened was some of the worst fighting, including artillery fighting and air raids, fierce urban combat that caused thousands of casualties. now the battle is over, and some shops have reopened. business is okay, he says, but compared to when we returned two months ago it has really improved because more and more people are coming back. we had a government escort with us, as we toured, clearly making it difficult for people to speak openly with us. the regime troops have driven many out of the area of homs, but just a few blocks from the utter destruction you would never know there had been an armed conflict, the streets are full of life, mainly loyal to the regime. we got a chance to speak to the government of homs, a man respected, even by many opponents of the government. he says he believes the turmoil here is almost over. if the support of terrorism is stopped in the media and on the battlefield, i am convinced, god willing, homs will go back to what it used to be within four months, he told us. the governor says he is trying to reach out to opposition fighters not linked with the islamist groups, even offering amnesty for those who surrender. rebels still control some places, the government estimates about 7,000 are holed up in neighborhoods, especially in the old city. the fighting continues there as fierce as ever, says one opposition activist we managed to reach on skype. there are hundreds of thousands living in tents and hundreds of thousands living under siege, he says, there are tanks and rockets fired on a daily basis, this is what the regime and supporters want. for many months, homs was the center of the uprising against the assad regime. but what remains is a city divided between those who want to forget the civil war and those still entrenched, fighting on, and this place, a signal to what may happen if the war is not brought to an end. the pope shocks the world, announces he resigns. the first pontiff to step down in some 600 years. we have new details of why he is making this dramatic move and what is next for the catholic church. writing the next chapter for the rx and lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. i have to know the weather patterns. i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. so i can get three times the coverage. 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[ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. . pope benedict xvi stunned every this week by announcing he is resigning at the end of this month. we expect the cardinals to gather in mid-to late march to elect a new pope. our brian todd has a closer look now at who will run things in the meantime, and at the politics of picking the pope's successor. >> reporter: it is politics in overdrive, with the pope leaving february 28th, who will be in power at the vatican until a new pope is elected. there is a position, a right-hand man to the pope, who deals with finances and the managing tasks. it was portrayed as a master power broker. in real life, the title was held by the cardinal who also holds the powerful position of secretary of state, who in the vatican is like a prime minister. but experts say don't get the idea that bertoni is the stuff of movie legend. >> despite the job title and movies, he is not the best organizer? >> no, the joke in rome is he couldn't organize a one-man band, the number one criticism is they couldn't make the job run on time. >> reporter: the correspondent for the national catholic reporter newspaper says that bartoni was damaged in the so-called scandal. when the pope's butler leaked documents. despite his expertise, they say he has no shot at becoming pope, and is a rival of the cardinal who heads the college of cardials which elects the new pope. are we looking at a power struggle? >> i don't think so, because the interim is a very short period. you don't have to have the funeral, the mourning period, so they can go right into the general congregation, and then the conclave, very shortly after the pope resigns. >> reporter: another issue, why would the pope resign just as the easter season begins, the most important part of the pope? the vatican is keeping secrets on his health, but insist he is not sick. >> the common phrase is the pope is well until he is dead. >> reporter: brian todd, cnn, washington. >> we'll have much more on the shocking resignation of pope benedict. i'll speak to the man who introduced me to the holy father here in washington, d.c. carnival's latest cruise nightmare. triumph is not the first ship to sail into crisis. former passengers from other carnival ships also have some harrowing stories to tell. she knows you like no one else. and you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. itself in crisis mode this week after its ship "triumph" found itself lost in the gulf of mexico, leaving passengers with few toilets and long lines for food. carnival was forced to have the ship towed to alabama. cnn's sandra endo has more. >> reporter: how many times can carnival say it is sorry? the company's ceo apologized many times to the stranded passengers. >> we're obviously very, very sorry about what has taken place. >> reporter: and the 2000 incident. a year ago, power was knocked off the coast. in 2012, 32 people were killed when carnival's ship crashed. they said they did not deliver on the promise to provide a great vacation. >> we try very hard to do that all the time. so obviously, in this particular case we did not deliver on that promise. >> reporter: and some relatives of passengers are making a vow of their own. >> i promise you none of my family members on there will probably never, ever take another cruise. >> reporter: the triumph experienced an electrical problem with an alternator a week ago. and a propulsion problem, as well. but carnival said the problems were fixed, and had nothing to do with the engine fire. despite all the recent troubles, the maritime experts say it had nothing to do with the line. >> unfortunately, it is a bad coincidence for them that it happened on two of the ships in this market. i have no reason to believe that carnival is in any way not a first class operator. >> sandra endo reporting for us. senator marco rubio caused a little bit of a stir with the sip scene around the world. but how did he go from an intern to being a huge republican star? we'll go to his hometown, coming up. reach a person, not a prompt whenever you call chase sapphire. why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants, with chase sapphire preferred. 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[ speaking in a foreign language ] >> in this country, in this country you're going to be able the accomplish all the things we never could. >> reporter: rubio's personal story has been a big part of his political narrative. and the source of his biggest controversy to date. a son of cuban immigrants, rubio long suggested his parents fled the rule of count to, but they actually came to the u.s. two years prior. >> do i wish i had known those dates earlier? absolutely, but does it change anything? no. >> reporter: his roots are a perfect combination for a party in search of a makeover, and desperate to attract more latinos. so it is fitting he responded to the president in both english and spanish. >> [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> add to that, he took a leading role in the push on immigration reform. it leaves many folks asking the next question, what is next for marco rubio. i tell you, spending time in miami, his hometown supporters are not setting the expectations very low. we already saw a man on the street in west miami, holding a rubio 2016 sign. it is never too early to start. >> and there will be a lot more of them. he has a huge future ahead of them. thank you very much. a police officer and hero, taking multiple shots to the head and body. he survived, up necessary, one of the president's guests at the state of the union last week, speaking with chris cuomo about his shootout with a mass killer. 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>> i yelled stop, i saw his pistol come up. we both shot pretty much about the same time. 30, 40 yards away, maybe. i missed, and he hit me directly in the chin. and it went down my throat and ripped apart my voice box. >> reporter: there is a story to tell, murphy, confronting the shadowy figure, who runs right at him. when murphy is hit, the shooter closes in. nine people were already hit, six died, in a desperate act of terrorism. now, lieutenant murphy was in the shooter's sights. >> that is when the shots hit me in the back of the leg, hit the vest a couple of times. then he shot me directly my the back of the head, in the skull, that one stopped me in my tracks for a second. >> reporter: that should have killed murphy, but it was just the beginning. >> he just continued to shoot probably six to eight feet away. and then all of a sudden the guy very quietly -- there was no sound. there was nothing. and that was the first time that i thought i might be going out. i just felt warm. and my eyes got heavy. and i thought i could stay here. >> reporter: in a life or death situation, the officer makes an amazing decision. instead of curling up to protect himself, he keeps moving to distract the gunman, a heroic move that came at great cost. >> nobody gets shot this many times. was that going through your head at all? like i can't believe how many times i've been shot? >> absolutely, funny you say that. kind of silly to laugh about it. but there was a point where i just thought, jesus, are you not done? i mean, how many times can you shoot someone. >> reporter: even when help came, murphy waived off his other officers, telling them to help others. >> i never heard of anybody who took 15 rounds before, you probably never heard of anyone who took 15 rounds. >> no. >> reporter: so why you? did you ask why was i chosen to survive? >> it was probably one of the first questions i asked, even in intensive care, was why me? i -- probably could not have lived with myself if it was one of the officers who i work with. >> reporter: part of why may have been answered when he received an invitation to be a guest of the president at the state of the union. >> when people see you at the state of the union, what do you think you will symbolize? >> i hope perseverence, and commitment to doubt. >> reporter: he hopes there will be restrictions on guns. >> from a society's point of view, there needs to be a recognition that this is a problem. does it necessarily mean they need restriction? i don't know, my shooter would have passed any background check, bought his weapon legally. does that mean we give up? i think what is being done is the correct thing. >> reporter: for all he has lived through, there is one thing that lieutenant brian murphy is not sure he can live with. he doesn't like to be called that word. >> if you want to call me, a stubborn man of the year, i'll take it. but hero i still have a hard time with. >> reporter: you have to get used to it, because you're going to get some practice. because you are exactly what we want to hold out to people, what heroic behavior is all about. if not you, who? >> i appreciate you saying that. >> reporter: i never have been so happy to shake a hand from brooklyn. >> thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> great report from chris cuomo, we do consider him a hero. and he is the man who introduced pope benedict xvi to me. up next, my interview with bishop the all-new cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. ♪ for a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the all-new cadillac ats. 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tim had written and asked for an opportunity to meet the pope. and all of them said they didn't think it was possible. and so i had the ten guests to invite. and of course, i was friendly with tim. so he lucked out that day. >> he certainly did. and he was like a little boy the there. i'll never forget. a little choir boy standing in front of pope benedict xvi. didn't open his mouth. first time in my life, i saw tim russert was afraid to open his mouth and say anything to pope benedict xvi. so let's talk about this morning. you wake up, you heard the stunning news. what did you think? >> well, i got a tap on my door by my secretary. and he said bishop, the pope has resigned. and i thought i was dreaming. and he said it is all over the news. i got up, turned on cnn. of course, it was all over the news, the story, i was stunned like the rest of the world. i don't think anybody expected the announcement today. in fact, i was talking with ind even an expectation that this would happen. so, it really was a shocking announce ma announce: >> you had a meeting scheduled with the pope? >> yeah, i was invited to a private audience on march the 6th, of, you know the coming year, i was going to be in rome for a meeting of the board of trustees for saint john's university, and i was going to have a private meeting and now that has all changed. >> walk us through the process and your understanding, what happens, he steps down at the end of the month, there will be a period that there's no pope, what happens before a new pope is elect eelected? >> it's unusual, it has not happened for almost 700 years, the last time the pope resigned, one of the gregorys -- the pope has always died in office. so we had a period of mourning and mass and then the cardinals would gather from all over the world. so, you had a period of time that was just part and parcel of the process. we don't have that situation here. the pope has not died. the pope has resigned. has left the office. and so, there probably will not be a long period, what they call an empty chair. there won't be a long period before the conclave is summoned and the cardinals make their vote. >> pope ben dictate xvi is 85 years old, he was 75 years old when he became pope, do you think it would be wise to select someone younger? >> it's interesting, in our lifetime, pope paul the vi was in his 80s and pope john paul ii was 85. it depends. it depends. what the cardinals are looking for, what the cardinals are seeking in someone to take pope benedict's place, in my mind, we watched pope john paul become a grandfather. pope benedict walked out on the world stage as a grandfather, it was a interesting and different experience of his fatherly qualities, as you know, from having met him, the gentle kind way that he had. but, you know, i think that depends on what the college of cardinals is looking for. pope benedict was a teacher and he spent his time teaching and he taught well and with great clarity. so, it is a matter of preference of the college of cardinals and as we believe in the church the working of the holy spirit. >> we will stay in close touch with you, bishop. thank you so much, and thank you for everything that you have done. thanks for inviting me to catholic university, i appreciate it and thank you for coming here to the situation room. >> it was great to be with you, wolf, you take care. god bless. >> a guy with a unique haircut gets an invitation to sit with the first lady at the state of the union. you will find out what happened. ♪ we, we chocolate cross over. ♪ yeah, we chocolate cross over. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing fiber one 80 calorie chocolate cereal. ♪ chocolate. is moving backward. 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[ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. then you're going to love this. right now they're only $14.95! wow-a grt deal just got a whole lot better. hurry. $14.95 won't last. >> if you look at the rules for the husband of representatives, there are specific lines about how you can and not dress, you cannot wear hats for example, traditionally male members are supposed to wear a coat and a tie. but there are not rules for hairstyles. as seen is reported. >> his mohawk blasts her bangs out of the world. remember mohawk guy, the mars rover flight director, he gave a high five. and ever since at least his hair has been high. leaning forward, so we can see the top. >> sure. >> he is definitely no show-off, though he will show all sides. this is the state of the union look. since landing, he has changed the mohawk to show accomplishments with mars. these symbols are morse codes for the jet propulsion laboratory on. when they called to tell him that he was invited to the state of the union. >> i told them that i needed a minute to win. >> it has been a whirl wind from being mentioned by the president in connection with the mars remover team. >> i understand there's a special mohawk guy working on the team. >> fans have painted him, used a look alike to create a music video to the tune of "sexy and i know it." ♪ >> he thinks it's all great though he gets shy about the marriage proposals and fan love. one tweet, i would let that mohawk land his remover on my red planet any time. >> his hairstyle, by the way, is not some do-it-yourself mohawk. it's done by a salon. >> don't worry i'm not going to ask how much it costs. >> that is all right. >> how much does it cost? >> of all the tributes flowing around the internet this is one of his favorite. >> you'll never get a good job with a haircut like that, but you may get to the state of the union. cnn ♪ >> nice haircut. remember, you can follow what is going on here in the situation room on twr.