Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20130301

The natural ice boulders weigh up to 50 pounds each. They sort of look like giant frosty basketballs. Look at the sky there. A winter phenomena at the lake shore. And before we go here, just in to us at cnn, an autopsy shows that a russian boy adopted by an American Family died by accident. Russian foreign officials accused the boys parents of abusing max helping to lead to his death but the District Attorney in this texas county where maxs family lives, they say the medical examiner found the boy had an internal laceration caused by some kind of blunt trauma to his stomach. The m. E. Found the bruising on the boy says it was selfinflicted. The big board, 14,079. There it goes from that high back in october of 2007. Were still waiting for that high to kick back in to 14,164. That does it for me. Have a wonderful weekend. Wolf blitzer starts right now. Hey, wolf. Brooke, thanks very much. Happening now, a lastminute meeting but no deal. Now 85 billion in drastic budget cuts that are about to kick in. A sinkhole swallows a man sleeping in his bed. Were going to hear an emotional interview with his brother who tried but failed to save him. Plus, basketball, diplomacy, and a very odd couple. Dennis rodman teaming up with north koreas leader kim jongun. Will that be a good thing . Ill speak live this hour with david stern. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Its a deal few thought would ever become a reality but in just a few hour it is will. Back in 2011, congress and the white house hung a sword over their heads to force them to get the nations fiscal house in order. They set up budget cuts so severe they would force action to prevent those cuts but both sides underestimated washingtons dysfunction and tonight, 85 billion will be slashed from the budgets across the board. Our chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin begins our coverage this hour. Its an ugly site. Whats the latest, jessica . Reporter wolf, president obama is here and at work but he has not yet signed the order that will trigger these spending cuts. When he does, it will be low key and behind closed doors. He says it will create a Ripple Effect that will be felt across the economy. Congressional leaders summoned to the white house for a lastminute meeting, left less than an hour later with no deal. Soon after, the president came to the Briefing Room to give his side of the story. None of this is necessary. Its happening because a choice that republicans in congress have made. Reporter at issue, mr. Obama wants to raise some money by closing tax loopholes. Republicans want no new taxes. Instead, replace these unpopular cuts with more targeted cuts. Both sides are dug in. Mr. Obama insists hes done everything he can to reach a deal. What more do you think i should do . Okay. I just want to clarify. You know, because if people have a suggestion, im happy to this is a room full of smart folks. Reporter some in his own party have suggested the president could use the power of his office to pressure both sides to move past their lines in the sand. Couldnt you just have them down here and refuse to let them leave the room until you have a deal . I am not a dictator. I cant have secret Service Block the doorway, right . I understand. And i i know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom thats been floating around washington, that i should somehow, you know, do a jeti mind meld with these folks and convince them to do whats right. Reporter the president also tried to paint a picture of the spending cuts impact. Border patrol agents, fbi agents, civilians who work at the pentagon all will suffer significant pay cuts and furloughs. Reporter the administration has come under fire for those warnings, including from new yorks billionaire mayor. Theres a lot of posturing, im going to lay off my employees unless you do something. Mayor bloomberg who thinks the effect of the spending cuts are being overstated . The notion that kids an army base may be impacted, thats an impact. Mayor bloomberg and others may not feel that cut. I suspect they wont. But that family will. Reporter still a balancing act for the president who is trying to keep public sentiment on his side over what could become a fiscal crisis. This is not going to be an apocalypse, as some people have said. Its just dumb. And its going to hurt. Reporter wolf, this sets up the next fight between the white house and congress, first over funding for the government to avoid a shutdown at the end of this month and then another potential debt ceiling fight in may. All sides are hopeful that the spending cuts battle will be resolved before either of those two is upon us but it does seem as though it could all roll in to one huge confrontation, wolf. But we did hear from the House Speaker saying that hes ready to see whats called a continuing resolution pass legislation that will keep the government opened beyond the end of this month. The president seemed to say exactly the same thing. So it looks there might be some details that need to be worked out. It looks like that crisis might be resolved. Reporter theres differences between what the speaker and the white house but there is hope that at least it could get done by the end of this month. It doesnt mean the spending cut fight or debt ceiling fight would be resolved and well have to wait and see if the Government Shutdown doesnt get sucked into this battle, too. Yeah, id be shocked if there was a Government Shutdown. The republicans lived through in the 90s and it didnt work out well for them. Id be shocked if they went down that road and the president went down that road. Then again, i didnt think this would happen either, this so called sequester. Jessica, thanks very much. No surprise the House Speaker john boehner has a very different take than the president. He says republicans already gave the president what he wanted and hes not getting any more tax increases. The American People know that washington has a spending problem and while there are smarter ways to cut spending than the process that were about to engage on, the house shouldnt have to pass a third bill before the senate does anything. The house has laid out a plan to avoid the sequester. I would hope that the senate would act. But lets make it clear that the president got his tax hikes on january 1st. This discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. Its about taking on the spending problem here in washington. I did lay out that the house is going to move a continuing resolution next week to fund the government past march 27th. And im hopeful that we wont have to deal with a Government Shutdown while were dealing with the sequester at the same time. The house will act next week and i hope the senate will follow suit. Thanks. A significant statement from the House Speaker. Lets dig a little deeper right now with our chief political analyst gloria borger, ali velshi. On that continuing resolution, john, it looks like they are posed both sides to work out a deal so at least there wont be a Government Shutdown at the end of the month. And well see, wolf, what happens. Its possible. Republicans could say they could even give the president a lillyway. Even the continuing resolution, wolf, is another example of bandaids and gimmicks. They havent passed a budget in 16 years. So this president and the Republican House has never passed a budget the way congress is supposed to pass the budget. You see the president using the bully pulpit today. Well see if the continuing resolution can make this all go away or whether it gives the government the money to go on looking forward and then we have the sequester, forced cuts, whatever you want to call the mess. Even if the republicans want to give the president flexibility on defense spending, theres no guarantee that the president wants that. Its raising a lot of questions, why wouldnt he want it . Well, one of the questions is, he doesnt want political ownership of the pain in this. Again, this has been largely political posturing and not anything serious in the past week. We both have covered the white house for a long time. The president has a bully pulpit. Hes using part of that by coming into the Briefing Room. You can use a bully pull bit to change a debate, change public opinion, and he was trying to change the facts or at least blur the facts. This gimmick, the sequester, they all share responsibility for it but it was his idea. He says its a republican idea that were going into these forced budget cuts. The president made a choice earlier in the week and only called this meeting today. He could have called it on monday, last week. They are all to blame in getting us here and again when youre governed by bandaid and gimmick, this is where you get. The question is, will they ever be able to find a Circuit Breaker to get back to a point where they satisfy pass a government that covers the government for a full year . Then they might get to other issues as well. But when you have these constant crises, its political dysfunction and Financial Markets and Everything Else, its uncertainty. It certainly is. Gloria, how did we wind up in this awful place right now . The dysfunction of washington, that seems like its all were covering, right . I think part of it was what the House Speaker was you can taing about in front of the white house which is that on january 18 they decided not to go over the fiscal cliff because the default position would have been too terrible, which was tax increases for everybody. So as part of that deal, they raised revenues. They let the tax cuts for the wealthy expire and they raised revenues. Republicans said, okay, we already gave it. We are not going to do that again and i think the white house underestimated republican resolve like they are going to turn around and close loopholes not in the context of tax reform seven weeks after theyle give in to the tax issue . There were even republicans encouraging other republicans, saying, go with what the president has to say because as long as we get the revenues off the table now it has to become about spending later. They were counting on the fact that this was about spending cuts and they didnt blink. Its remarkable that the market is going up amid all of this uncertainty in washington. Uncertainty is the new normal. Number two, Interest Rates are very, very low right now. So if youre trying to make money, thats your only option. The dow closed a point higher. Were not there yet but its remarkable. You and i were on tv and so were you when this all changed. When markets were down and all of a sudden you heard president obama say they are going to try and work out this socalled continuing resolution which as john says we use in america in place of budgets and all of a sudden the market went up and stayed up for the rest of the day. Because when you look at the continuing resolution issue, the question of keeping the government funded, both sides have selfinterests in wanting to keep the government because they look worse than they look right now. The default position now is there are budget cuts, there are cuts and its going to affect people but its not going to affect everyone equally. Right. So this is the kind of pain politically both sides can live with for a certain period of time. Heres what i worry about, ali, and tell me if you are, in a couple months theyve got to raise the debt ceiling otherwise the u. S. Can default on some of those loans or make major cuts. The sequester cuts are small to these are real problems. One thing we dont think about it is it costs the government 2 to borrow money for ten years. Thats gone up a fair amount in the last year. If this debt ceiling thing happens again, thats Interest Rates, thats your mortgage. That becomes very serious. That hits everybody in the country. And then theyll make a deal on that because well be here until 11 00 on the night before. Stand by. I want to continue this. Maybe we wont notice anything different when we all wake up tomorrow morning but in the come coming weeks and months, more and more americans will feel the impact of these budget cuts. Tom foreman is joining us with a closer look at whats in store. Walk us through, tom, what we can expect. Wolf, youre absolutely right. If you look at what happened today, on march 1st, the simple truth is the forced budget cuts went into effect. What does that mean for most of us . It doesnt mean anything to us right now. In the next few weeks, as we move through here, you may see nothing here, you may see nothing here but something is going on. That fire starts spreading through the government to all these different agencies. They are sending out notices to everybody saying, okay, its real now, we have people out of work, were going to have to cut programs back. Once thats built up to a certain point youre going to reach a point where down here finally you start really seeing it. Thats where the furloughs are going to kick in. All of these employees are going to advise about this, places Like National parks and airports. They are going to see some cut backs. How much you are going to see depends on who you are and where you go and what you do as to whether or notal this will really affect you and some people here may think its not about them. But, but, if we keep going to the end of the month, look at the other deadline. 27th, thats when funding for the government expires, wolf, and thats the next crisis that you were just talking about with john there, wolf. What happens after march . After march thats when this just grows and grows. As you move into april here, youd be talking about budget negotiations trying to go on. But as this is going on, you would be seeing throughout april more of these problems starting to show up for different people. Now, whether or not its enough to make a difference to a lot of people out there, thats hard to say. Again, they will grow and they will grow and once you get beyond that, once you get past april and Start Talking about the month of may, by this time youre going to see things like smaller unemployment checks for about two Million People who are on longterm unemployment right now. That number by september would grow to about four Million People. Its not a huge cut but this money is very important to these people and you would see more delays throughout the system. The truth is, this starts like a spark out there. Not that big but left unattended, if they cannot deal with these issues that youve just been discussing, then it will grow and it will grow and more of us will feel it. Wolf . Certainly will. These coming weeks are going to be critically important. Appreciate it very much, tom foreman. Other news including the basketball star, Dennis Rodman, praising a brutal regime north korea a friend for life. Whats going on . Im going to speak about sports diplomacy, the nba commissioner david stern. Hes standing by live. Well discuss. Also, drastic action to save a city on the brink. What michigan is now doing to try to save detroit. More than two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. And every day since, weve worked hard to keep it. Today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. Weve shared what weve learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. Bps also committed to america. We support nearly twohundredfifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. Plays a key role throughout our lives. One a day mens 50 is a complete multivitamin designed for mens Health Concerns as we age. It has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. One a day mens 50 . That your mouth is under attack, from food particles and bacteria. Try fixodent. It helps create a food seal defense for a clean mouth and kills bacteria for fresh breath. Fixodent, and forget it. Its seen around the world as a totally brutal regime that has stampbed its own citizens and threatening the United States with nuclear attacks. But there was praise, serious praise for north korea today during the eyepopping visit by the former nba star Dennis Rodman. He engaged in some extraordinary basketball diplomacy this week but calls the current leader, jim jongun, and im quoting him now, a friend for life. His grandfather and his father are great leaders and hes such a proud man. As a young kid, hes so awesome. Lets discuss with the nba commissioner david stern who is joining us now, mr. Commissioner, thank you for coming in. Pleasure. Did you know that Dennis Rodman was going to north korea in advance or did you learn about this, like all of us did, when we saw him pop up in pyongyang . We did not know and the color photo of dennis watching game a basketball game with kim jongun was as interesting and surprising to us as im sure it was to all of your viewers. So what do you think . What do you think about his decision to go there and meet with the new Young North Korean leader, go to a game with the Harlem Globetrotters, what do you make of this . Well, its interesting. A few years back we had a request from the Iranian National team. They would like to play in our summit league. And so what we did initially was to call the state department and say, what would you like us to do . And their response was, we will try to be helpful with that invitation. We consider it people to people. We understand that government is going to denounce but it would be okay and well try to expedite the visit and then indeed while the rhetoric was going, the Iranian National team played in utah with the authorization, if you would, of the governors office, you know, senator hatch and the state department. But we wouldnt do Something Like dennis is doing without checking with the state department. Although, i rush in to say that the new york fill harmonica has been there, recently schmidt, the ceo of google was there. This is not unprecedented. But to see if there are pigs flying by because anything is now possible. We checked yesterday with the organizers. This group in new york, vice, which is doing a documentary on this for our Sister Network hbo and they told us flatly they did not get any green light, check with the state department about this trip. But the notion of Dennis Rodman calling kim jongun and his father kim jongil awesome, what does that say . Does that hurt basketball, if you will . What does that do to the reputation, if anything, to the nba . Nothing at all. I think dennis may be a bit imprudent here and it doesnt reflect on his colleagues in the nba or the nba itself. If anything, it highlights what can be done if sports is properly used. When apartheid was coming to an end in south africa, theres some belief that it was hurried along so the South African team could participate in the olympics. We have a huge number of examples where sports would sometimes shut down the world so everyone can watch whatever their politics are, the olympics or the world cup or the like, being very successful. So i think it reaffirms the notion that sports is a leveller but i think there was a little bit of an imprudent action and statement here. It wouldnt be the first time Dennis Rodman do that. All of us who watched him play over the years saw that. Wolf, in 1990, we went to paris with the chicago bulls. The 16,000 fans, we knew immediately when the music started and the lights went down what the right introduction was coming and the Prime Minister leaned over to me during the game and said, can i ask you a favor . I said sure. He said, can i meet Dennis Rodman after the game in the locker room . Yes, sir, mr. Prime minister. Wolf, go figure. When i was there in north korea a couple years ago, i saw how obsessed they were with Michael Jordan, the former secretary of state Madeleine Albright brought to kim jongil a basketball signed by Michael Jordan. Its got a spot of reverence, if you will, in pyongyang right now. So heres the question. If Michael Jordan were to come to you, the commissioner of the nba, and say, what do you think, should i go to pyongyang . What would you say . Id say, just a minute. Id pick up the phone and say, secretary kerry, what do you think . Youd want to get the green light before you did that. Look, diplomacy with the chinese seems to have worked out pretty well. We had the Atlanta Hawks in the former soviet union in 1988. Pingpong diplomacy worked out. We had early discussions before the philharmonic went with young mr. Kim jonguns father about a possible visit by a team that had nba stars on it but, you know, im just not sure about the Nuclear Issue that someones being denounced at the u. N. While youre sending a delegation, i think there may be some issues but its a heck of a lot more fun to talk about than continuing resolutions, Government Shutdowns, sequestration, and old men behaving badly. Fair point. Commissioner, thanks very much for coming in. Hopefully were going to be speaking to Dennis Rodman in the coming days and well get his take on what he saw and the Harlem Globetrotters, the guys who were there as well. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. Looking forward to it. And coming up here in the situation room, despite the controversy, can Dennis Rodman sports diplomacy play a role in easing tensions between the United States and north korea . Well continue that later this hour. Ah. 4g, huh . Verizon 4g lte. 700 megahertz spectrum, endtoend, pure lte build. The most consistent speeds indoors or out. And, obviously, astonishing throughput. Obviously. You know how fast our home wifi is . Yeah. This is basically just as fast. Oh. And verizons got more fast lte coverage than all other networks combined. So its better. Yes. Oh, why didnt you just say that . Huh what is he doing . Did you know not all fiber is the same . Citrucel is different its the only fiber for regularity that wont cause excess gas. Its gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity. Look for citrucel today. Humans sometimes life trips us up. And sometimes we trip ourselves up. But thats okay. At Liberty Mutual insurance, we can untrip you as you go through your life with personalized policies and discounts when you need them most. Just call. And speak with a licensed representative about saving on your policy when you get married. Move into a new house. [ crash ] or add a car to your policy. Dont forget to ask about saving up to 10 when you combine your auto and Home Insurance with Liberty Mutual. Security, coverage, and savings all the things humans need to make our beautifully imperfect world a little less imperfect. Call. And lock in your rate for 12 months. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . Try capzasinhp. It penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. Capzasinhp. Take the pain out of arthritis. The state of michigan steps in to take over the finances of the city of detroit which is basically broke. Lisa sylvesters monitoring that and some of the other top stories in the situation room right now. Lisa, whats the latest . Wolf, you said it. Detroit is practically insolvent. So today michigans governor will appoint an emergency manager to run that city government. That person has yet to be named but will have the power to cut spending and throw out city contracts and well ask him in the next hour about it in the next hour in the situation room. Eight Police Officers are arrested for police brutality. They took a man in to custody, the man in the red shirt, but its what happens next that has people calling for justice. The suspect was handcuffed to the back of the police van while sitting outside it. The van then drove away dragging him along. That suspect later died in police custody. And on to other news. Okay. Take a look at this. Adidas has unveiled six uniforms. From left to right, you see the outfits are for cincinnati, kansas city, notre dame, bayrol, ucla, and louisville. The uniforms would be worn in postseason play. Im curious to see what our viewers think of that. They can always tweet us to give us their opinions. Tweet me at wolfblitzer. President obamas budget cut straj gee, were going to talk about that and much more in the strategy session. Thats coming up. My friends are all around me my friends, they do surround me i hope this never ends and well be the best of friends [ male announcer ] introducing the reimagined 2013 chevrolet traverse. All set . All set. With spacious seating for up to eight. Imagine that. Chevrolet. Find new roads. Get back to our top story right now, the forced budget cuts about to go into effect, the blame game over those 85 billion set to kick in later tonight. Lets get to our strategy session. Joining us, two cnn contributors, paul beg gal ma and former speechwriter david frum. Guys, thank you very much. Let me play a little clip. This is the president speaking earlier today. We just need the republicans in congress to get caught up with their own party and their country on this and if they did so, we could make a lot of progress. I do know that there are republicans in congress who privately at least say that they would rather close tax loopholes than let these cuts go through. I know that there are democrats who would rather do smart entitlement reform than to let these cuts go through. So there is a caucus of commonsense up on capitol hill, its just that its a silent group right now. Do you believe theres a caucus of commonsense up on capitol hill . I dont think theres any commonsense in either the white house or capitol hill on this measure. We released today, statics show american incomes shrink by 3. 5 in january because of the impact of the end of the payroll tax holiday. Now were going to have spending cuts. The idea that we need is to close loopholes, cut spending, that is a total lack of commonsense. The president has joined the same mistaken view as the sequester caucus in believing what we need now is more fiscal tightening. That is not what we need and it doesnt matter whether youre doing it through canceling the payroll tax holiday because its the wrong approach. They raised taxes for those making more than 400,000 in january. But they are not talking about raising rates anymore. They are talking about closing loopholes and the economy doesnt care. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar. Were taking money out of the economy at a time that the economy needs it, some dollars may be more powerful than other dollars but still we should be adding dollars to the economy, not taking them away. David is a truly smart person. Every socalled person who says we should follow what simpson and bowles said, republican senator, they did this bipartisan we wouldnt be in this mess right now if everyone had accepted their recommendations a couple of years ago. And at the heart of their recommendation is what david frum is talking about. They wanted shortterm stimulus, boosting Economic Activity in the short term and a longterm commit to a deficit reduction. The near term right now is terrible. And we have all the best private sector and Public Sector economists saying this is going to cost us 700,000 jobs or more, could cost us half a percent of gdp growth when were only growing 1 or 2 . It is folly. And i can understand why the president is so frustrated. Wait a minute. The president is not a victim here. Fiscal policy is more important today than economic policy. The president is not laying out an economic plan. Ice not laying out a plan for the growth of the american plan. Hes got ideas about how to fix the governments finances. The challenge now is to fix the countrys finances. In his state of the union address, the eight most important words in that speech, he said deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. And thats what david is saying. Thats right. If you look at what the president has proposed, its very different. The sequester is stupid, dumb, and arbitrary. Its not a its not a nobrainer. They need a grand bargain that will deal with tax reform in a serious, substantive way, at the same time deal with entitlement reform. Come up with a grand bargain, if you will and we can all move on. I think its a great thing to do in 2015. Its not a bad thing to do in 2013. Youre answering the wrong question. We have a patient here suffering both from arterial sclerosis and has been hit by a truck. Deal with the truck first. Look at italy. In italy they have gone through painful austerity, unemployment doubled and their debt did not go down. Austerity does not even reduce the debt because it crushes the economy. Hold on for a minute because i want to move on from a little lighter note from what the president had to say. In the middle of the president s political rhetoric, the very serious discussion about the forced spending cuts, there was also a little scifi moment. I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom thats been floating around washington that somehow, even though most people agree that im being reasonable, that most people agree im presenting a fair deal, the fact that they dont take it means that i should somehow, you know, do a jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do whats right. So the problem is if youre a star wars or star trek fan, you probably havent heard the exact term, the jedi mind meld. You might know what a Jedi Mind Trick is. Watch this clip from star wars. Identification. We dont need to see his identification. These arent the droids youre being looking for. These arent the droids were being looking for. He can go about his business. You can go about your business. For a mind meld, here is star trek. But again, not a jedi mind meld. Twitter didnt exactly go easy on the president for combining these two. Here are just a few of the scores of tweets that exploded right after he made those comments. Ill read some of them to you. Obama just confused star trek and star wars by saying jedi mind meld. I think its time to impeach. Heres another one, its as if a million nerds suddenly cried out in anger over president obama mistakenly us using the term jedi mind meld. The white house responded with a tweet of its own. Sending people to a new tweet address. Watch this. White house dot gave jedi mind meld for more information on the budget cuts. A lot of in other wornerds payi. It interferes with your tv. He knows both of these subjects but he got a little confused. A big fan of the shows. He always reminded me of mr. Spok, extremely logical. I think thats why today he is so frustrated. Hes mr. Spok . Our president is mr. Spok. Wow. You heard that . Hes all brains and all rationaland logical and dealing with people that are ir rigs nal. A former star trek star, gary ryan. All right, guys, thanks very much. A controversial pipeline. Guess what, its just coming out. Well have the latest for you when we come back. Not their shortterm agenda. [ woman ] if you have the nerve to believe that cookie cutters should be for cookies, not your investment strategy. If you believe in the sheer brilliance of a simple explanation. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do face time and think time make a difference. Join us. [ male announcer ] at edward jones, its how we make sense of investing. You know how painful heartburn can be. For fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. Only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up relieving the pain quickly. Try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. Its lots of things. All waking up. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. Cisco. Chances are, youre not made of money, so dont overpay for motorcycle insurance. Geico, see how much you could save. Shaq 1, pain 0. [ male announcer ] new icy hot advanced patch with 50 more medicine. Pain over. Weve been waiting for more than a year for the Obama Administration to make a decision on a key pipeline thats supposed to carry oil from canada through the United States, lots and lots of jobs at stake but there seems to be Movement Towards a final decision. Dan lothian is here getting some new information. Whats the latest . Thats right, wolf. As you know, the state department had been reviewing to find out whether or not this pipeline would have any kind of environmental impacts and this report that came out is just a draft report. So it doesnt come down one way or the other saying that this pipeline is detrimental or its okay. But whats interesting is that it does point out that there are some areas where there are these environmental impacts but they could be mitigated and one thing i think it was telling, there was a summary of impact where it said the analysis of potential impacts associated with construction and proposed projects suggests there would be no Significant Impacts along the proposed project route. Those who want this pipeline thats been controversial, its been hanging out there for over four years, they see this as good news. Again, this is very early in the process. No decision coming down but certainly nothing in this report that says that this pipeline will be detrimental to the area. A the lo of people have said to me in recent weeks they were anticipating this, this would certainly not put any more barriers in the way and that the president and the white house presumably are suggesting is leaning, now that hes been reelected, in favor of going ahead with the construction of the Keystone Pipeline. That seems to be what is going on but you tell me. Well, that does seem that thats the direction and certainly there will be a lot more pressure on the president if this report in the final analysis says that theres no harm that will come from the pipeline, then that puts a lot of political pressure on the president where he cant say, look, im not going to do this because there could be environmental impacts. The president rejected this in 2011 because he was concerned about the grasslands in nebraska is he said, come come up with a new route. Those that support it like it. Environmentalists dont like it at all. One reason the president did not make a decision before the election in 2012. Well see if he does right now. A lot is at stake one way or the other. Thank you for that Keystone Pipeline information. One minute hes sleeping in his bed. The next minute hes swallowed by the earth. A giant and apparently deadly sinkhole. Thats next. I tuned it all out. With unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters. My individual health profile. Not random statistics. They even reward me for addressing my health risks. So im doing fine. But shes still going to give me a heart attack. Were more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. [ male announcer ] a car has a rather small rearview mirror, so we can occasionally glance back at where weve been. It has an enormous windshield so we can look ahead to where we are going. Now is always the time to go forward. And reimagine all the possibilities that lie before us. An ally for real possibilities. Aarp. Find tools and guidance at aarp. Org possibilities. Aarp. Why not make the day unforgettable . With two times the points on travel, from taxis to trains. Youll be asking why not, a lot. Chase sapphire preferred. Theres more to enjoy. A florida home, an unthinkable nightmare. A man sleeping in his bed was literally swallowed, swallowed by the ground when a massive sinkhole opened right underneath him. His screams for help echoing through the house. Cnns John Zarrella is on the scene for us. John, whats the latest on this tragedy . Reporter when you look at the house, no one has any idea of the tragedy that took place. 24 hours at this time, family members were coming and going no idea that the ground was going to give way within hours. As you mentioned, a sinkhole literally opened up underneath there and swallowed jeff bush. His family members tried to get him when they heard an enormous noise. They could not rescue him or pull him out of the hole. Thats a Ground Penetrating cone. They are looking for safe areas, how far out does the sinkhole extend . They are trying and the men working that a few minutes ago are there in the background. They are all wearing safety harnesses because the concern, wolf, if is that that ground could collapse. That entire house could collapse into the sinkhole as it expands, if its still expanding, swallowing everything up. They are being very, very careful. This is a recovery operation now. It is no longer a rescue operation. The authorities fear for the worse for jeff bush and, again, they do not want anyone else to get hurt so they are taking their time before they go in and try top find jeffs body. Wolf . You know, we just got the recording of the 911 call that was made. Im going to play it, john, and then well discuss. Listen to this. We need an ambulance. Stuck underneath the house. The house fell through. Okay. What happened to the house . The bedroom floor collapsed and my brotherinlaw is in there and hes underneath the house. Okay. Hold on one second. Let me connect you, okay . Okay. All right. So there it is. You can see the shock and the pain in the voice. You know, this its almost unbelievable how this happened. How extraordinary is this . Because youve covered these sinkhole episodes in florida over the years. Reporter yeah. You know, florida has a limestone base under it and when you get Running Water in that limestone, over time it can begin to deteriorate the limestone and collapse that limestone base. But i can tell you listening to that 911 call, wolf, those people had no idea. Who knows how long this has been going on. But we did talk to jeffs brother jeremy and jeremy described exactly what he did to try and pull his brother out, to rescue his brother. Just these terrible attempts that he went through to try to get his brother out of there. Heard a loud crash, like a car coming through the house and i heard my brother screaming. So i ran back there and tried going inside his room but my old lady turned the light on and all i see is this big hole, a real big hole and all i seen was his mattress and that was it. Basically, that was all i seen. Reporter you tried jumping in after him . Yes, i jumped in the hole and was trying to dig him out but i couldnt find him. I thought i could hear him hollering for me to held him. Reporter it was desperation, wolf. Family members tell me that they do have a place to stay, someone in the community has offered them a place for the next couple of months but all their belongings are in that house and they cant get to them. Wolf . What a story. Thanks very much, John Zarrella. Well stay in close touch with you. More on Dennis Rodman. Can his controversial trip to north korea actually help . Thats next. Two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. And every day since, weve worked hard to keep it. Bp has paid over twentythree billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. Weve shared what weve learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. I want you to know, theres another commitment bp takes just as seriously our commitment to america. Bp supports nearly twohundredfifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. We hired three thousand people just last year. Bp invests more in america than in any other country. In fact, over the last five years, no other Energy Company has invested more in the us than bp. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. [ babies crying ] surprise your house was built on an ancient burial ground. 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After the two men watched members of the Harlem Globetrotters in pyongyang, he called kim jongun a friend for life. Honest and his father and grandfather are great leaders. Given reports that millions of north koreas might be starving and violations of nuclear treaties, rodmans words might be disguided. He does not represent the United States. But rodman there to air in vice on hbo, visiting china which is pingpong diplomacy, pays for a summit between the two countries. Cricket has been a dialogue between india and pakistan and just this week the american participation in the writes selling world cup in tehran was a topic during Nuclear Talks involving the u. S. And iran. Sport is a force that can bring people together. Rugby in south africa as depicted in invictus. Or perhaps most famously in the belt in rocky 4. If i can change and you can change, everybody can change. Sadly, despite what rocky says, maybe not everybody can change. President obama and House Speaker john boehner famously played golf together and yet they still could reach no grand bargain on the debt and today we get 85 billion in forced spending cuts. Maybe when the speaker and the president needed was Dennis Rodman in their foursome. So rodman also tweeted that he will be here in new york city on monday talking about his trip to north korea. He promises to set the record straight. He says, to tell what is true and not true about what you have heard and read. So that should be interesting. Wolf . John berman, thank you. And youre in the situation room. Happening now, president obama warns the pain will be real. Just hours before forced spending cuts hit americans all across the country. And the embattled ceo of the popular daily group site groupon makes a dramatic exit from the company he cofounded. Also, a show dog dies only just days after the Westminster Dog Show. Why a vet suspects poisoning and his owner suspects foul play. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. 85 billion of forced spending cuts about to kick in all across the country less than seven hours now all because republicans and democrats here in washington failed to come together once again to stop it from happening. A feisty president obama entered the white house Briefing Room and laid the blame at the feet of the gop. None of this is necessary. Its happening because a choice that republicans in congress have made. They have allowed these cuts to happen because they refused to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit. As recently as yesterday, they decided to protect special interests tax breaks for the welloff and the wellconnected and they think that thats apparently more important than protecting our military or middle class families from the pain of these cuts. Chances are youre going to eventually feel these cuts at least one way or another and our cnn reporters are covering every angle of the story. Lets get straight to capitol hill. Our chief Congressional Correspondent dana bash is standing by. Dana, what is the publics reaction . Is there a risk of a domino motion being set . Whats going on . Reporter theres always that risk but you know, wolf, the president said that he wants to stop careening from one crisis to another but thanks to what Congress Passed and the president signed into law, we are going to continue to do that and another drama is right around the corner. The House Speaker walked out of an unproductive meeting and focused on the next looming crisis, the end of this month, march 27th, when funding for the government runs out. Im hopeful that we wont have to deal with a threat of a Government Shutdown while were dealing with the sequester at the same time. The house will act next week and i hope the senate will follow suit. Howd it go . Reporter john boehner and House Republicans plan to pass a bill next week to keep the government funded through acc t september 30th, the end of the fiscal deal and along with that, dealing with cuts just for the military but giving the pentagon some leeway in its new budget. It is going to help update the categories which will reduce some of the damage. Reporter but that does not necessarily mean crisis averted. Why . Congressional democrats are skeptical about helping the military and not children. We need to have programs in there. Housing, education, health care, and we also need to look at transportation. Reporter senator Barbara Milkulski at work expressed frustration that congress is gone. Im here. Im ready to go. Im waiting for the photo op at the white house to come back here and give me instructions. Reporter speaking of Congress Speaking town, trying to put real live faces on forced spending cuts. Now that congress has left, somebodys going to be vacuuming and cleaning those floors and throwing out the garbage. They are going to have less pay. The janitor, the security guards. They just got a pay cut and theyve got to figure out how to manage that. Reporter but we he cchecked that and it turns out that the president was not necessarily right. Capitol police nor janitors will see salaries slashed, only limited overtime. The only effect so far is some entrances will close, a small inconvenience to lawmakers and their aides. Now, when it comes to the prospects of a Government Shutdown, the preside made it pretty clear today that he does knots want that to happen and wolf im told that se mocrs took that as a signal that they better figure out a way to bridge their very real differences over the budget in the next potential shutdown with republicans in the house. Whats the difference between giving the president some flexibility and how to deal with these spending cuts as opposed to the leeway that some republicans want to give them . Theres a nuance here that potentially could be important as far as a Government Shutdown. Reporter there is an important nuance. Ill try to do this without my weed whacker. We spent a lot of time on the phone with people who are experts on this. The bottom line is, when you talk about flexibility in budget terms, that is a signal that it would give the president the ability to moving things around and mostly democrats at this point say that they dont want to do because it gives up Congress Power of the purse and a lot of other reasons. The way that the republicans are writing this legislation is more about giving and, again, this is the controversy from their perspective, giving the pentagon the ability to deal with the shortfalls in the pentagon budget from the forced spending cuts and from other problems of the past three years of not having new spending bills pass because theyve been kicking the can down the road. So that is the big difference. Again, when you look at the bigger level difference, republicans want to deal with the military and democrats say, well, if were going to try to help the military, we want to try to help everybody else domestically. That is probably the philosophical issue well see play out over the next couple of weeks. Nobody wants to see the Government Shutdown but the devil is in the detail. The new defense secretary chuck hagel gave some strong warnings about these forced cuts. Our pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is covering this story. What did he say, chris . We found out that the navy is going to shut down an entire air wing in april. Its the primary fire power aboard aircraft carriers. The navy will also shut down three more air wings over the course of a year. Wars have been planted inside the tank. Few get to see. Welcome to the tank. Now its where military officials are making plans to cut 46 billion from their budget. Effectively immediately, air force flying hours will be cut back. If you stop training for a while and youre a combat pilot, then you lose your rating and eventually cant fly at all. Heres whats already happened. The pentagon warned its 800,000 civilian workers to expect furloughs and instituted a hiring freeze. It also curtailed building maintenance. The navy postponed the u. S. Harry trumans deployment to the persian gulf. Heres what happens next. The pentagon will cancel maintenance on 25 ships and nearly 500 aircraft. The army will cut training time for most soldiers. Down the road it could lead to a delay in sending troops to afghanistan. Well have to make a decision to send people already there or people that are not there already. And families will have to wait longer for veterans funerals at arlington. Furloughs will be fewer people to Schedule Services and dig graves. Now, not all civilians are going to be furloughed. If they are, they are going to get an official notice in two weeks and starting in april they will likely lose one day per week, lose one day of pay per week for about 22 weeks, wolf. Thats 20 of their salary. Thats significant. All right. Chris lawrence, thank you. Some of the Obama Administration are warning that these forced budget cuts could take a big toll on children. Our National Political correspondent jim acosta is in the situation room looking at this part of the story. Wolf, cabinet secretaries have been warning about how these cuts would hurt and now the nation is about to figure out whos right. When two cabinet secretaries visited this Elementary School just outside of the nations capital, there was music and even a reading of the dr. Seuss classic, green eggs and ham. I do not like green eggs and ham. All of it to stage home the point that it is the kids that will have to swallow some of the forced budget cuts. Dumb government at its finest. I guess im a little more blunt. To me its stupid government. Kathleen sebelius and arnie duncan were careful not to get any of the blame. Didnt this come from the white house . Actually, the idea was designed in such a way and really inserted in the bill by congress because they thought it was such a bad way to run government that it would never happen. Worried about how the cuts will affect programs for atrisk children, the head of the pta has a message for the politicians. I think they need to grow up. Act like our children would. Talk to one another. Maybe they need to come to the playground. Perhaps they might need fifth grader eric perez. Youre worried that it might hurt your school . It might hurt my school, my education, the teachers. Its not just cuts at schools. Across washington, reality is setting in for federal workers. I know i will get furloughed. Ive accepted that. The furloughs, as explained in this letter to Justice Department employees, you will be in a nonpay, nonduty status. Back at the school, arnie duncan tried to clarify his own comments about job cuts this week. These are teachers getting pink slips now. When he seemed to suggest that teachers were already being laid off. Thats not what i said. Thats not what i meant. You said now. You said they are being laid off now. They are getting slips now, notices now. Thats the misunderstanding. Mindy says perhaps its time for both sides to go back to school. If theres a conflict on the playground and two kids want the same basketball, they have to talk. They have to decide. They may not be friends. They may never be friends but they have to decide that one gets it for a little bit and then you get it later. What a concept. Sharing. Something like that. Negotiating. Negotiating. Compromise. For now there is no talk of compromise. Both sides are holding their ground and budget knifes are coming out and these cuts wont be saved by the bell. They wont be indeed. They are going to go into effect although the pain wont really be felt, im guessing for at least two or three or four weeks. Thats right. Thats when were going to find out whos been right. Theres been criticism of arnie duncan and various cabinet members and when the cuts start settling in and people start feeling them, perhaps we might have to revisit those conversations. Im sure they will. Thanks very much. You bet. Anderson cooper, by the way, will have more at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Republican senator john mccain will be his special guest. Hell talk about what its going to take to get out of this mess. When we come back, the governor of michigan announced his plans for an emergency takeover to pull detroit back from the brink of bankruptcy. The governor standing by to join us live. Thats next. Plus, a show dog dies days after the legendary Westminster Dog Show. Why the owner now suspects foul play. Come on, boy [ barks ] oh, heavenly day here we go. Chachacha dont you know that i love ya chachachachacha always thinking of ya all around the World Everybody singin along singin along fly me to the moon let me play among the stars let me see what spring [ birds chirping ] [ male announcer ] with the best lineup of vehicles ever, introducing the new chevrolet. Oh, heavenly day why just go from a to b when imagination can take you everywhere . All the clouds blew away chevrolet. Find new roads. Try align. Its the number one ge recommended probiotic that helps maintain digestive balance. Stay in the groove with align. The city of detroit is so broke the state of michigan is now taking over. The city is on the hook for more than 14 billion, including unfunded pensions, Health Care Costs for retirement government workers, among all sorts of other things. Michigans governor said today the state is ready to take over operations of detroit city government. If you go across the country and talk to people, there is probably no city thats more financially challenged in the entire United States. If you looked at the quality of services, the citizens, its ranked among the most. So we went from the top to the bottom over the last 50 or 60 years. And in that process, detroit has lost more than half of its population. Governor rick snyder is joining us now live. Governor, thanks very much for coming in. Happy to be with you, wolf. Its an awful situation in detroit thats going on right now. Walk us through whats going on, whats going to happen. This emergency manager whos going to effectively take charge of the city, what will this person do . Well, its actually an opportunity to bring more resources to bear. I dont view it as an alternative to city government. Its really to bring more tools to bear to say, bringing in an emergency manager allows us to work with the mayor, city council, all the people in the city and say, lets make faster decisions, better decisions, lets bring more tools to bear to start turning this around. Because people have worked on this for 50, 60 years, good people, but they were not successful in turning the direction of detroit around. Its time. The citizens of detroit deserve Better Services. The financial crisis needs to be resolved and weve used this tool successfully in other cities in michigan. Lets bring the emergency manager in as an opportunity and move forward. So theres a tenday appeals period im waiting to go through with the city and unless theres something dramatic, well move ahead with this process. Who has the final word, this new emergency manager or the mayor dave bing . If theres an emergency manager, the final word is with the emergency manager. But again, its important and i want to create a role for the mayor to be part of the solution. This is a situation thats difficult enough that you dont say its detroit versus michigan. Its detroit, michigan. And how can we really Work Together as a team to say after all these years, after all the fighting and conflict thats gone on in the city and these different issues, lets come together and solve problems and give a solution because thats what the citizens of detroit and citizens of michigan deserve and want. Some of the politicians, the folks in detroit arent very happy with this decision to name an emergency manager. Some are calling it undemocratic. The city council is considering filing a lawsuit against the state, meaning you as the governor. Whats your reaction to that snl. Thats unfortunate. Thats more fighting. Last april i did a consent agreement with the city saying heres a list of things that need to take place. A number of those items havent been done yet and a number of them they didnt start working on until september. So its not to blame them but we need better results. So the starting point for an emergency manager coming in are to take the 21 items that the city itselsaid, these are important things that need to be done, that we all agree are important things and they would work on them. So i view it as really trying to get in an alignment to get them done and done right and lets get our citizens Better Services and a better life. Heres what mayor dave bing told me here in the situation room last week. Listen to this. The state has not been as good to detroit as i think they should have been because we lose revenue sharing based on our population loss and so theres just a mere yesterday of things right now and most revolve around revenue. And we cant cut our way back out of this problem. I think weve cut as much as we can cut. Weve got to think about how we can raise revenue again. All right. So whats your response to the mayor . Again, the state is not the answer to the solution. Its not about bailing out the city. Its about getting the financial stability. We have issues in the state of michigan when i took office. We had a 1. 5 billion in deficit. We dealt with it. The city of detroit has longterm liabilities. Its time to bring the creditors together and say, lets hash through it, look at restructuring debt and do it in a way where the citizens can get Better Services, payment plans in place and we can move forward because the answer here is not continuing to watch detroit go downhill, its about growing the city of detroit because theres a lot of great things going on in the city beyond the challenges of the finances. Whats your timetable assuming you turn things around in detroit . Again, theres this tenday appeals period but assuming nothing changes dramatically, were going to move forward and i think youll see changes happening fairly quickly. This is going to be a longterm situation. It took 60 years to get into this situation so it doesnt happen overnight. I think youll see positive for the citizens in weeks to months. Good luck, governor. We hope that detroit makes a comeback. Its a great, great city. Its going through, as you point out, horrible times, not just in recent years but for a long, long time. These problems have been created over many decades and now youve got to deal with it and we hope everyone in detroit comes through and michigan as well. Governor, thanks very much for coming in. Thank you. And coming up here in the situation room, a well known republican says hes outraged at floridas republican senator marco rubio. Why he wants rubio and other politicians to think twice before coming to new york. Whats going on . Well tell you right here in the situation room. Cute. But dont you have any apps on your phone that can make your life easier . Who do you think i am, quicken loans . At quicken loans, well provide you with myql mobile. This amazingly useful app allows you to take pictures of your mortgage documents using an iphone or android smart phone. So you can easily send them to us. One more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. 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A determination from the medical examiner of chicago about the man who died after inwithing more than 400,000 in the lottery. There was no trace of cyanide found in his body but the medical examiner says he was killed by cyanide. It can evaporate quickly from the body. Hence, that explains no trace of it after all of these months. And its still winter on the shores of lake michigan. Ice boulders weighing up to 50 pounds have turned up along the national nag lake shore. One official says they are bigger this year than they normally are but they are certainly creating nice little pictures. It looks like a little fun for some people who want to have a little fun there in the snow, wolf. Build a nice snowman. Thats right. It looks like the dog is really interested. Its snow. Thats what happens. Thank you. The Actress Ashley Judd is now here in washington, once again fueling lots of speculation about a potential senate run in kentucky against Mitch Mcconnell. Whats going on . 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New yorkers arent suckers. Thats the warning that the congressman peter king has for some fellow politicians. Congressman king specifically called out a fellow republican, senator marco rubio of florida, in a very blunt email to his constituents. Hes outraged that senator rubio had fundraising meetings in new york that voted against the 60 million aid bill for Hurricane Sandy victims. Congressman king is joining us now. I think its more than 60 million. I think its 60 billion, just to be precise on that. Theres a lot of difference between a million and a billion. So what motivated you to issue this really blunt attack . Well, wolf, believe it or not, i didnt enjoy it. Ive met marco rubio, hes a nice guy and a real future for the Republican Party. But ive just had enough of politicians, especially congressman and senators, who vote against new york and make antinew york speeches and come into new york and raise money on wall street and the hamptons and in rubios case, hes from florida who has received tens of billions of dollars in hurricane aid and yet when i was constituents of mine who lost their homes, their jobs, the local governments were literally going broke and yet when our aid package come up and this aid package, by the way, put aside all of the nonsense. The bill came up for a vote in the house and went to the senate, drafted at the request of the republican leadership. We told them, you only put in there what you think is necessary. Governor cuomo, christie, bloomberg submitted what they thought was necessary. The final package was put together by the republicans on the Appropriations Committee and house leadership. So all of this talk about pork in nonsense. Senator rubio rejected it. Never came to inspect the damage or spoke with cuomo or christie, he just voted no. Thats bad enough. Then i understand hes in new york trying to raise money apparently for his president ial campaign. In my case, if i had voted against aid to louisiana after katrina, i wouldnt have thought about going to new orleans to raise money or vote against aid to florida after a hurricane, i wouldnt have thought about going to miami to raise money for myself. I think its time we in new york sent a signal weve had enough. Were not going to allow this to go on where politicians can attack new york, vote against new york. Were not looking for a bridge or tunnel or special projects. This is life and death we were talking about. Did you ever vote against any of those appropriations, victims of a i can ho, an earthquake or tornado elsewhere in the country . Wolf, i never thought about voting against it. Of course not. I dont know anyone in new york who did. Ive been in congress for 20 years. With katrina, within 11 days we voted for 64 billion for louisiana, mississippi after hurricane katrina. That was within 11 days we did that. In new york we had to wait for 100 days before 61 billion was voted, again, for the worst disaster weve ever had. I didnt vote against it, i dont know anyone in new york who did, a republican or democrat, never entered our minds and yet the majority of republicans voted against this aid package to new york and new jersey. This was Chris Christie, the hero of the conservatives last year when they asked him to campaign all over the country. Hes not much of a hero among some conservative circles, Chris Christie. He wasnt even invited to the cpac conference taking place in a couple of days in washington. What do you make of that . Thats a suicidal death wish. Cpac to me loses all credibility. You have a governor who is conservative, balanced a budget, taking on employee unions, pro life and yet 74 favorable rating in a democratic blue state. So heres a person whos shown that blue collar conservatism works, that it appeals to working men and women, it appeals to women. These are areas where weve been suffering. Chris christie is doing the job and because he fought for the aid which he was entitled to, the same aid every state has gotten, he wont be accepted. To me that writes off cpac as a serious force. Whats disturbing is, this now becomes the opening inning in the race for the presidency in 2016. Why do republicans allow cpac, somehow the door you have to go through to get yourself in the race is wrong. I think republicans should say they are not going to cpac. If you cant accept Chris Christie as a conservative, then youre really just asking for another election loss in 2016 and it makes us look crazy in the eyes of the American People. I guess youre not going to get an invitation to cpac yourself, congressman, any time soon. One headline jumped out at me. Peter king declares civil war against southern republicans. This is from the atlantic magazine, the wire that they had. What do you make of that headline . Well, my wife is in atlanta, georgia, so probably my inlaws will be mad at me about that. No. Other sections in the country in the Republican Party seem to have written off the northeast. They take us for granted and, listen, im not hear looking for sympathy. I dont want to go around like a thirdworld beggar but when we had this devastating storm, people i work with every day, all in this, all one Team Standing together and certainly one after the other voted against aid to new york and new jersey when our people were suffering. It was beyond me. I couldnt have imagined, for instance, back in 2005 even considering against aid to louisiana or mississippi. By the way, a number of members from those states voted with us. Florida, not so much. Theyve gotten tens and billions of dollars over the years. But, no, i think that weve taken on a we have a very puritanical green eye shade. Too judgmental. Im pro life, conservative, but i dont believe that i have a biblical knowledge of all the issues facing the country. These are issues that are not asserted to, that the budget has to be balanced in ten years, we have to do this in 9 1 2 years. We have to have x dollars. The idea is to make the government work the way Ronald Reagan did. Congressman peter king, thanks very much for coming in. Thank you, wolf. Weve invited senator rubio to come to the situation room this week as well. Hopefully in the next few days hell accept. Wed love to discuss this and a whole bunch of other issues, including his recent visit to israel. The Actress Ashley Judd was back in washington today, once again stirring fuel about how she may be a senate run in kentucky. Lets bring in erin mcpike. What did you hear . What did she say about a possible senate run . Well, no one asked her about a senate run directly but when it did come up she said, is there an elephant in the room . That was it. She was giving a speech at George Washington university on what . Well, it was a very rambling speech that went back and forth from her roots to her career path and her passion for Reproductive Health for women all around the country. Lets listen in. My triple great grandfather from kentucky who was pa civil war hero and suffered amputation and a prisoner of war three times, i would go anywhere but wrem men. I dont know why but im really scared of yemen. Ive heard that congo is the worst place to gl as a woman many but ive been there three times. My thought is that you should find your pig. What i mean is we all have to find the thing that makes us mad and the thing that gives us the fire in the belly and the passion and the stamina to stick with it. And at one point she also pointed out that she was one of the highest paid women in hollywood history. So of course when i asked a democratic official what he thought of this he said, i havent paid any attention to it. I know from people who are close to what is going on in kentucky, shes seriously considering running against Mitch Mcconnell, assuming he gets through a primary if hes challenged by a more conservative republican, gets the republican nomination. That could be quite a bruising battle. It could be just because she could raise so much money, bring in so many hollywood dollars that it could be a real nuisance for Mitch Mcconnell because hes going to raise so much money himself, too. Erin, thank you. Just ahead, john kerrys first big challenge as United States secretary of state. What to do when one country says something malicious about another friendly country . Stand by. Target is in sight. Yes, dad, i see him. Stand by. Stand by. Hi no. Hi. I understand youre looking for a hotel with a pool. With priceline express deals, you can save big and get exactly what you need. Do i have to bid . Use the stun gun. Hes giving you lip. No hes just asking a question. No bidding. Awesome. Get the grappling hook to. Dad, i. No . Ok. The secretary of state john kerry found himself in the thick of a middle east fight between two key allies, crimes against humanity, something carry calls in his word objectionable. Our Foreign Affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is traveling in turkey with the secretary. This is his First International trip. Reporter wolf, kerry is just halfway through his trip as secretary of state and its getting more intense. He stepped off the plane in turkey and ran head on into a diplomatic firestorm. Comments made by the turkish Prime Minister who he was scheduled to see in just a few hours. Translator just like zionism, it has become inevitable to be seen as a crime against humanity. Kerry raised the issue at his first stop, the foreign ministry. We found that objectionable. But that said, that said, turkey and israel are both vital allies of the United States and we want to see them Work Together in order to be able to go beyond the rhetoric and begin to take concrete steps to change this relationship. Reporter but in an awkward moment, standing next to kerry and the microphones, he defended his statement, in the 2010 gaza raid. Translator if israel is expecting to hear positive comments from turkey, they not only need to revise their attitude towards us but towards the people of the region. Reporter friday evening, kerry met with the Prime Minister in front of the cameras, no meant of the comment flap. U. S. Officials say they are concerned that the once extensive cooperation between israel and turkey has broken down. They call that deeply unfortunate. And they say its having a corrosive effect on relations with the United States. Wolf . Jill dougherty, thanks very much. When ceos are fired from major companies, they often get a few Million Dollars in cash or stock to soften the blow. Coming up, why groupons ceo will take homeless than 400. A new belt. Some nylons. And what girl wouldnt need new shoes . And with all the points ive been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. Things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your Citi Thankyou points to travel whenever you want. Visit citi. Com thankyoucards to apply. Humans. Even when we cross our ts and dot our is, we still run into problems. Namely, other humans. At Liberty Mutual insurance, we understand. Thats why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates wont go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where, if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. Call. 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Its founder, 32yearold andrew mason, summed up his philosophy in groupons ipo filing, quote, life is too short to be a boring company. The company touted itself as a way for people to save money and companies to boost sales. Theres never been such an effective way to get customers in the door. In one day, were often able to bring in thousands of new customers for a small business. And have a little fun along the way. This picture is posted on his Facebook Page saying he once spread a rumor in the office he owns 20 cats and the company has a Scholarship Foundation for children and parents who used groupon for a first date. He wrote this whole letter to shareholders about how we might do really crazy, stupid things along the way. They talked about how they have gorilla suits in the office and dancing classes. That colorful side may have suited groupon when it was a young startup. But masons quirky, irreverent side stooemz seems to have been too much to the companys board and shareholders. He says in his departure letter, quote, after 4 1 2 intense and wonderful years as ceo of groupon, dive decided that id like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding, i was fired today. The news wasnt surprising to those following the company. Hes has a series of missteps. In 2010, google offered to buy groupon for a reported 6 billion. Mason said no and instead took the company public. Since its ipo, its shock vl has plummeted. The company has had disappointing earnings reports. Has the field became crowded with others, investors have moved away. Not as hot as it used to be but beneficial for a lot of people. In his parting letter, he writes with, im okay with having failed at this part of the journey. If theres one piece of wisdom, have the courage to start with the customer. A lot of these ceos will leave a company with a golden parachute. But his severance is only 378. 76. He is still a millionaire several times over. He cashed out some shares before the ipo, netting more than 20 million and still has shares worth more than 200 million. So the big question is, will he surface someplace else . He says hes going to take off a little bit of time. Well see what happens. We shouldnt feel bad. The severance package is low but he still has 200 million. He still has 26 million or so in the bank from when he sold shares and second sell shares today and have a cool 200 million. And hes only 32 years old. Lisa, thank you. When we come back, the mysterious death of a show dog who only a week earlier appeared at the prestigious Westminster Dog Show. Why the owner suspects poison was involved. Rease in clinical depression. Drug and alcohol abuse is up. And those dealing with grief dont have access to the professional help they need. When you see these issues, do you want to walk away or step up . 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In the highly competitive world of dog shows, theres fingerpointing and questions raised about why a healthy prize dog would suddenly die. This was cruz at the premier canine competition of them all, new yorks Westminster Dog Show held in february. Days later, the dog died in colorado. A vet there determining rat poison was one possible cause of death. But his owner suspects something more sinister, that someone deliberately gave the dog poison that wouldnt kill him right away. Some deranged person theyre out there and they do horrible things all the time. And it was somebody that maybe they dont agree with people that raise and show dogs. Reporter lynnette blue has no proof. She doesnt believe the dog ingested rat poison on his own since he was closely watched. Her pet always flew coach. He stayed with his handler at the new yorker which says it doesnt use rat poison and offers spa packages to show dogs. Blue says she isnt rule out Animal Rights activists who protest the show. People for the ethical treatment of animals cause any suspicions hurled their way outrageous. Peta has long protested the dog show. Were against it because of what it does to these poor dogs and we think definitely all cosmetic surgeries on dogs for dog shows should be outlawed. In cruzs case, he had a procedure done on his vocal chords to quiet his bark and the dogs handler says a woman during the westminster sure called it cruel. But the Westminster Kennel Club downplays the likelihood of deliberate poison. They add, we have never, to our knowledge, had an incident at our show where a dog has become ill or was harmed as a result of being poisoned. Back in 1865, the New York Times reported that eight dogs were poisoned the morning before the westminster competition. The motive . Jealousy. What happened to cruz may never be known since the owner declined a necropsy. She didnt have further testing done because tests probably wouldnt have shown anything if the dog had been poisoned days before. The answers about what really happened will probably never be known. Mary snow, thank you. Happening now, all politics, no progress. 85 billion in forced budget cuts kicking in tonight. A key report on a massive and Controversial Oil pipeline in the United States. A sinkhole swallows a man sleeping in bed. Were standing by for a live News Conference on what happened. And high horse meat could soon be produced here in the United States. Were also investigating allegations of watereddown beer, putting bud to the test. Im wolf blitzer along with kate bolduan. Youre in the situation room. None of this is necessary. Its happening because a choice that republicans in congress have made. President obama speaking after an 11th hour meeting with congressional leaders about those 85 billion in forced budget cuts that take effect tonight. Lots of politics, no progress. The drastic spending reductions that were designed to be unthinkable are now about to become reality. Our chief White House Correspondent, Jessica Yellin, is joining us now. Whats going on . What are you hearing over there . Reporter wolf, the president still has not signed that order that will trigger the spending cuts but that will happen within the next six hours. Administration officials acknowledge there was no negotiating over any kind of a deal at this mornings meeting with congressional leaders. The two sides are just too far apart. Congressional leaders summoned to the white house for a lastminute meeting left less than an hour later with no deal. Soon after, the president came to the Briefing Room to give his side of the story. None of this is necessary. Its happening because a choice that republicans in congress have made. Reporter at issue, mr. Obama wants to raise some money by closing tax loopholes. Republicans want no new taxes. Instead, replace these unpopular cuts with more targeted cuts. Both sides are dug in. Mr. Obama insists hes done everything he can to reach a deal. What more do you think i should do . Okay. I just wanted to clarify. Because if people have a suggestion, im happy to this is a room full of smart folks. Reporter some in his own party have suggested the president could use the power of his office to pressure both sides to move past their lines in the sand. Couldnt you just have them down here and refuse to let them leave the room until you have a deal . Im not a dictator. Im the president. I cant have secret Service Block the doorway. Reporter suspect thisnt th leadership . I understand. I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom floating around washington that i should somehow do a jedi mindmeld with these folks and convince them to do whats right. Reporter the president also tried to paint a picture of the spending cuts impact. Border patrol agents, fbi agents, civilians who work at the pentagon all will suffer significant pay cuts and furloughs. Reporter the administration has come under fire for those warnings, including from new yorks billionaire mayor. Theres a lot of posturing. Im going to lay off my employees today unless you do something. Reporter what do you say to the people like mayor bloomberg who think that the effects of these spending cuts are being overstated by the administration . The notion that my school for my children on an army base might be disrupted because congress didnt act, thats an impact. Mayor bloomberg and others may not feel that impact. I suspect they wont. But that family will. Reporter zing. Still a careful balancing act for the president whos trying to keep public sentiment on his side over what could become a fiscal crisis. This is not going to be an apocalypse, as some people have said. Its just dumb. And its going to hurt. Reporter now, wolf, dont expect the president to spend the next few weeks crisscrossing the nation talking about these spending cuts or coming to the Briefing Room every day to wag his finger at congress. This will not be that kind of showdown with congress. Instead expect the president to move on and Start Talking about some of his other domestic priorities, including, for example, immigration reform, they dont want to lose sight of their broader agenda. Hes still got to sign that document implementing all this. He hasnt done it yet. But we assume it will be done within the next few hours . Reporter he has less than six hours. It should happen any minute now. We havent gotten an email yet. But before 11 59 tonight and i suspect well before then, which will trigger another part of his government to send a notice to congress and then the cuts begin. Let us know when you get word that that document is signed, jessica. Thanks very much. All sides have basically thrown up their hands, given up. Members of congress have gone home, leaving us to look ahead to the next crisis, kate. Its not pretty. One crisis after another. Dana bash has been following all of this on capitol hill. Dana, what are you hearing here . Where are we headed next . Reporter you talked about this crisis. The president said again today, something hes said many times, he wants to stop careening from one crisis to another. But the reality is that this budget process thats in effect is something that congress put in place and the president signed into law. So we are going to have another crisis very soon, washington drama, another one, is right around the corner. The House Speaker walked out of an unproductive white house meeting about spending cuts going into effect now and instead focused on the next looming crisis, the end of this month, march 27th, when funding for the government runs out. Im hopeful that we wont have to deal with the threat of a Government Shutdown while were dealing with the sequester at the same time. The house will act next week and i hope the senate will follow suit. How did it go . Reporter john boehner and House Republicans plan to pass a bill next week to keep the government funded through september 30th, the end of the fiscal year. And along with that, deal with some of the pain from forced cuts going into effect now, just for the military, by giving the pentagon some leeway in its new budget. It is going to help update the categories which will reduce some of the damage. Reporter but that does not necessarily mean crisis averted. Why . Congressional democrats are skeptical about helping the military and not other americans hit by spending cuts, like children in head start programs. We need to have programs in there that meet compelling human need housing, education, health care. And we also need to look at transportation. Reporter senator barbara mccullski expressed frustration that congress is gone. Im here. Im ready to go. Im waiting to come here to give me instructions. Reporter speaking of congress skipping town, the president took note of the empty capitol while trying to put real, live faces on spending cuts. Now that everybodys left, somebodys going to be vacuuming and cleaning the floors and taking out the garbage, theyre going to have less pay, the janitors, the security guards. They just got a pay cut. And they have to figure out how to manage that. Reporter but we checked on that. And it turns out the president was not exactly right. The Senate Sergeant at arms told cnn, Neither Capitol Police nor janitors will see salaries slashed, only limited overtime. The only announced effect so far at the capitol is some entrances will close, a small inconvenience to lawmakers and their aides. When it comes to the prospects for a Government Shutdown, the president was pretty optimistic that that is not going to happen. I was told here in congress, at least by senate democrats, that they took it as a sign that theyre going to have to try to find a way to bridge their differences over these budget priorities, which is no small thing with House Republicans. The president and speaker boehner, they did seem to agree within one point today, that neither of them wanted to see the government shut down. Goes without saying. But this is another situation, where the devil is in the details on how they get past that. Reporter absolutely, absolutely. The differences do seem more bridgeable than what were seeing with these floor spending cuts, which is a real philosophical divide. Its more about priorities and what you want to spend money on and how to do that. But there are philosophical differences. But theres more of a desire to fix it because its one thing to see 85 billion in spending cuts over the year. Its another thing to see most of the entire federal government shut down. Thats not going to happen this time. Both sides have determined the government will stay open. Wont be pretty but theres not going to be a Government Shutdown. The republicans certainly remember what happened in the mid 90s when there was. Newt gingrich was speaker. Didnt exactly work out. Reporter and democrats are also a little skeptical. Its historically a political jump ball whether or not it will hurt one party or the other. Another crisis well be watching. Dana bash, thanks so much. Were also tracking what could become a major winter storm dumping snow all the way from the west coast to the east, possibly bringing blizzard conditions. Karen mcginnis is tracking it for us. What should people be bracing for this time . Looks like at one of those late winter storm systems. And first we look at the u. S. Model. This one has an area of low pressure that is going to make its way across the tennessee valley, then moves towards the carolinas, still for charlotte and raleigh. Looking at primarily a rain event for tuesday. But look at what happens on wednesday. This area of low pressure moves out across the midatlantic and then we start to see that noreaster component. For the Northern Edge of this cold air spilling down across the northeast and new england, all along that i95 corridor, looks like snow, heavy snow. Boston, 34 inches of snow in february with these lateseason systems. Thats the u. S. Model. The european forecast is saying something a little different. Still forecasting a snow event, but you may remember this european model saw five days out what happened with superstorm sandy. So were looking at this one closely as well. Area of low pressure, lots of very cold air dives well to the south, moves across the carolinas, out ahead of it, rain. But then it moves across the midatlantic and continues to pull away from the midatlantic coast. So we have the potential for a heavy snow event across the midatlantic region. The i95 corridor through washington, d. C. , less of an event. But well continue to monitor those two models. Looks like a late winter storm event nonetheless. Karen, thanks so much. I thought we were going to make it out of the rest of this winter with no more pain. Got the boots, the shovel, are you ready . Always ready. We have to be ready. Were ready for any snow. Horse meat, guess what, made in the United States. Why one slaughterhouse may soon get a green light. And were standing by for a News Conference on that sinkhole that swallowed a man in florida sleeping in his bed. Business optimizers. How . By building custom Security Solutions that integrate video, access control, fire and intrusion protection. 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In two from canada to the gulf of mexico and create 5,000 construction jobs. But there are some major Environmental Concerns about whats called the Keystone Pipeline. And the state department has been studying those concerns for a year. Now its report is out saying, quote, the analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed project suggests that there would be no Significant Impacts to most resources along the proposed project route. Lets get some more now from cnn contributor van jones, a former special adviser on these kinds of issues to president obama. Van, thanks very much for coming in. The report suggests, at least the summary from the state department, that the pipeline wont be harmful. It sets the stage for potentially the president to approve this. Whats your reaction . This is a shockwave going through the Environmental Community right now, the scientific community. Its going to be a 45day period for people to respond to this. But this is a shocker. First of all, it shoves the president in the direction of approving a pipeline. If this thing a approved, youre talking about tar sand not oil, tar sand coming from canada across the United States. We already had a tar sand spill spent almost 1 billion trying to clean that mess up. Tar sand is the most corrosive, nasty fuel on the earth. Worse than that, though, this causes the president s Environmental Base to go nuts. He just gave this beautiful speech about climate and how were not going to let the earth get cooked. And the first thing that comes out of the state department is were going full speed ahead on tar sands. This is a big deal. Explain real quick tar sands and why thats such a concern. This is not normal oil. First of all, tar sands is about 20 dirtier when it comes to Climate Change and climate impacts. But its worse than that. Its very corrosive. They have spills all the time in canada. You might ask the question, why dont they just pipe it out of canada as opposed to piping it through the u. S. . Nobody in canada wants this stuff because theyve seen spill after spill after spill. Its corrosive, it leaks. When it hits the water, you dont know how to clean it up. Its not like normal oil. This is the dirtiest, most dangerous fuel theres a myth thats been perpetuated that the state department has bought into saying canadas going to develop it anyway, we may as well go ahead and do it ourselves. Clearly you have not been a fan of this project from the beginning. You have been very outspoken about it. But if the president comes out in support of the pipeline and you see the reports that say there would be no Significant Impact on the environment, would that convince you . Would you support the president . Well, i wouldnt and i tell you why. The only thing that the proponents of this pipeline agree on and the opponents agree on is that the pipeline is a big deal. It would dramatically slate tar sands development. Thats the only thing we both agree on. This report says, it wont sl e accelerate things at all. Thats not true. Youre going to have a 45day period. Youre going to see tremendous opposition from the Environmental Community. The state department has a chance to correct this over 45 days. Then theyve got to make another determination whether or not this is in the National Security of the u. S. I think, there again, theres a myth that says this oils going to come to the United States, give us a lot more oil here. Thats a myth. Its going through the United States to china. W we wont get a drop of it. Bad deal for america. A lot of people think its a very good deal for america, including the speaker of the house of representatives, among others. He just issued a statement, this is john boehner, todays report again makes clear there is no reason for this critical pipeline to be blocked one more day. After four years of needless delays, it is time for president obama to stand up for middle class jobs and Energy Security and approve the Keystone Pipeline. Thousands and thousands of wellpaid construction jobs. It would help the United States become more energy independent, if you will, less dependent on oil from the middle east, shall we say. Other people, a lot of people think your concerns are way, way overblown. There are two myths here. I think its important. At first they said theres going to be 100,000 to 500,000 jobs. Theres a lot of jobs to say no to. This report now says Something Like 3,900 temporary jobs. Thats interesting. Then they say this is going to help america with our energy independence. But it turns out the pipeline takes it through america, not to america. And then sends it to china. It doesnt necessarily have to go to china. It could stay right here in the United States. Theres no mandate that it has to go to china. They could sell it to distributors here in the United States. Why bring it down to the gulf of mexico they could also sell it overseas and it could be a huge net profit for the United States in terms of creating jobs by increasing exports, in this particular case, of oil. This is a foreign corporation. This is not an american company. This is a Canadian Foreign company thats going to take land from American Farmers and then send the dirtiest form of energy through america overseas. But heres the deal. This is now going to be gameon for the president. The president is going to have to maim a decision now. On the one hand, there are arguments proving to be inflated about job creation. His state Department Says less than 5,000 temporary jobs. But more importantly, what happens if youve got the obama pipeline, now its the obama pipeline. And it leaks . His legacy could be the worst oil disaster in American Farmland history. Hes got to make a tough choice. But that is a lot of ifs. I have a question about the president and his policies. You heard the president during his inauguration and he made a very big deal and a very strong statement about Climate Change during his speech. If he backs this pipeline, do you think this undermines his argument . That speech brought tears to my eyes. After he gave that speech after his inauguration, if the first thing he does is bringing a pipeline bringing tar sands through america, the first thing that pipeline runs over is the credibility of the president on his climate policy. What is the goforward strategy on climate now . Youve got you may have a situation. Its hard to tell. Has the Administration Made a decision theyre going to give the right rhetoric to the environmentalists but the desired results to big oil, big polluters . If so, this president is trying to straddle something that may prove a very difficult thing for him in 2014. The determining factor, the canadians are going to build that pipeline to the pacific, sell the oil to china and other customers out there. The u. S. Gets nothing out of it, gets no energy independence, gets no jobs, gets no money in the process. Youre willing to take that chance . Heres the thing. If they could do that now, they would do it. Heres whats not being reported on. The people in canada are up in arms. They have stopped development to the east. They have stopped development to the west. The tar sands either stay in the ground or come through america. Otherwise, they wouldnt spend more than 1 billion to bring it through and millions of dollars lobbying. This is key for tar stands development. And the climate scientists have said if we develop these tar sands, theres so much Carbon Pollution there, it will be game over for the climate. Its like lighting the fuse on a carbon bomb. Its very important that we take this serious one question, do you know how many Oil Pipelines that are throughout the United States right now, how many thousands of miles of Oil Pipelines there are this would just be an Additional Oil pipeline. Carrying tar sand. The most corrosive, acidic form. Arent there a lot of Oil Pipelines carrying the same kind of oil already in existence all over the United States . No, in fact, theres not. And the one that we had in michigan in kalamazoo leaked and we spent almost 1 billion in four years and we still havent cleaned it up. Thats a fact. You might be, van i know you support the president. You worked for the president. But in the coming weeks, maybe months, you might be deeply disappointed if he goes forward. Thats what i hear you saying. This is why you have president s. So you dont have bureaucrats doing dumb stuff. The obama tar sands pipeline should not be the legacy of the president who gave that speech. Strong comments. I suspect the president may make a different decision than van jones has in mind. Thats just my suspicion. Well see. Thanks, van. Well see, thank you. Statement after statement was popping into my email inbox as soon as that draft report came out that don lothian was talking about. Republicans very excited and saying, this is no longer a political football and it shouldnt be. They say its a nobrainer. It should go ahead. Clearly passions on either side. Still ahead, a sinkhole underneath this house. Were showing you right here. Swallowed a man sleeping in his bed. Were standing by for a News Conference from rescuers. Thats just ahead. You know how painful heartburn can be. For fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. Only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid from splashing up relieving the pain quickly. Try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. Okay why . 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Eating less is a beautiful thing. Concern over horse meattainted food is exploding right now in europe. But right now here in the United States, Animal Rights activists are outraged over worse that u. S. Officials may give the green light to horse Meat Processing at home. Cnns joe johnson reports. Reporter horse meattainted food caused an uproar in europe. Its not supposed to be sold for human consumption in the u. S. But thanks to congress and the federal department of agriculture, horse meat could soon be produced here for export. And the Humane Society says it could end up on the menu in america. There are certainly people who want us to eat horse meat and are trying to shove it down our throughoats literally. But if horse meat makes its way into the food chain, how will we know until after the fact . Reporter the Humane Society provided us with video of horses said to be on the way to the slaughterhouse in mexico and canada. Horses are not raised as food in the u. S. And theyre giving a lot of drugs that might be bad for humans to inject. For years, congress banned the usda from inspecting horse meat. But it lifted the ban in 2012. In 2012, a slaughterhouse in new mexico stopped slaughtering cows to prepare the processed horse meat but foundz itself tied up in bureaucratic red tape. The lawsuit says usda officials repeatedly made statements saying this issue is, quote, political and relied upon that as the reason they failed to act on getting requests to get inspections going. But now the Agriculture Department is apparently changing its tuning saying it has to get inspectors up to speed and in place. But otherwise, the department will have no choice but to go forward with inspections, which is why we urge congress to reinstate the ban. Of course, as a conversation topic, horse meat as food generates a lot of strong opinions. I think were killing enough animals that we can feed the nations other than killing the horses. I think it should be banned. We dont need more meat. I think were eating enough meat. We dont have to kill more. I live in europe. We eat horse meat a lot. I have to admit, the first time that somebody gave me a sandwich, im a dancer and i was on tour. And somebody said, here, have a sandwich. And i said, oh, my god, this is really, really delicious. Then they told me it was horse meat. And i promptly got rid of it. The owner of the plant in new mexico told me on the phone that hes lost a lot of money waiting for the Agriculture Department to act. He measures his losses in the millions. But if usda approves his application, he says he could be up and running in about two months. Joe johns, thanks very much. Theres about to be a News Conference down in florida on this sinkhole that literally swallowed a man as he was sleeping overnight. John zarrella is standing by for this News Conference. Reporter its just now getting under way. And were getting opening remarks here. We also expect to here from doug duvall, the sheriffs deputy what was the first on the scene here. You can hear it now. For that reason, were being very deliberate. And i understand that being deliberate is very painful to the folks who have experienced a loss today. They would like us to go in quickly. They would like us to locate mr. Bush. But as i told the family earlier, the only thing that would be worse than what theyre feeling now for their loss would be to experience additional human loss. And i cannot in good conscience have additional people on this site when im being told that its seriously unstable. So thats the dilemma. That dilemma is very painful for everyone. Were very frustrated. But were pursuing it as quickly as we can, as safely as we can. Now, in a minute im going to introduce our fire chief, ron rogers. He can give you more details. And then we also have representatives of the countys independent engineers who have been studying the site. Again, i will say, were doing everything we possibly can. Now, i know that you are all very interested in whats happening here. You have a job to do, i understand that. I would simply ask you to respect the feelings and the privacy of the families and the neighbors who are going through a terrible time. I spent some time with them before i came over here. And theyre very distraught. While youre getting your story and doing your job, please respect their privacy, respect the painful time that theyre going through. At this point, i will turn over the presentation to our fire chief, ron rogers. And he can answer some of your more detailed questions thank you all very much. Last niam is merrill, merrill. First name . Michael. Again, im county administrator for hillsboro county, and its mike merrill, merrill. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Im ron rojdz. Im the fire chief for hillsboro county fire and rescue. The information that we have in addition to what mr. Merrill shared with you, as he said, were still trying to define the scope of this cavern thats under the ground here. Were trying to determine what, if anything, we can do to try and get into the structure or determine whether we can even enter the structure or do anything with it. At this point, as the engineers will share with you in a few moments, this is a very complex situation. Its a very complex collapse. Its continuing to evolve. Meaning the ground is continuing to collapse. They cant give us any answers right now on when we can get in there and if we can get in there. I do want to share with you, we have the deputy here tonight that was the one that went in and rescued the brother who was attempting to rescue mr. Bush. I do want to bring up deputy duvall. My names Douglas Duvall with the Hillsborough County sheriffs department. I was the first one on the scene as far as the First Responders go. The basics of it, when i arrived, the family was outside. I entered the house. We really didnt know what was going on from our dispatch call. All we had was a 911 call that had the basic layout that somebody was trapped under a house. When i went into the house, the family was outside. Everybody was upset. I entered i went into the hallway and when i turned into the bedroom, the only thing that i saw was a hole. And the hole took the entire bedroom. I looked down and i saw mr. Bush, jeremy bush in the hole. And he was on the sides trying to get out. The deepest part of the hole, you could see the bed frame, the dresser, everything was sinking. I reached down around forearm level, got mr. Bush and pulled him out by his hand. I looked and saw no one else in the hole. We turned and left. I was melt by Hillsborough County fire. Came inside, we went back and he assessed it was a sinkhole and they closed the house off because of the safety of it. The sinkhole was still collapsing and it wasnt safe for anybody else to go in. Well do questions in a moment. Well take questions in a moment. I next want to bring up bill bracken, one of our structural specialists with our urban search and rescue team and hes going to give you some information on what they have found so far. Good evening. My name is bill bracken. Im with bracken engineering and im here on behalf of Hillsborough County fire and rescue. I was one of the responders last evening. I can basically brief you an last night and what we have done through the day today. Last evening when we got to the site, there was a hole in the ground and the entire bedroom floor was missing. It had fallen into the hole. There was nothing visible. Everything had been pulled down into the sand. Over the course of the next 90 minutes, that hole went from about 15 feet deep to about 25 feet deep. The hole did not change in diameter. It still remains at about 20 to 30 feet in diameter. What has happened over the course of the day is it is continuing to deepen. And anything that falls in there as items continue to fall in from the house, get pulled down in. The objective today was to determine what was safe, how far we could approach it. How close we could get to approach it. So as to determine what we could do to begin to extricate. What we discovered during the course of the testing that went on all day today, both through Ground Penetrating radar, Electrical Resistivity and penetrometer that there was a very large, fluid mass underneath this lot, making it unsafe for any type of equipment or vibration. Thats going to severely limit what were doing. At this point, were still trying to determine the extent and the nature of whats down there so we can best determine how to approach it and how to extricate. As far as describing what we have found and what is down there, im going to leave that to mr. Madrid who we brought in as a recognized sinkhole specialist in the field of sinkholes. Thank you, bill. My name is larry madrid. Im president of Madrid Engineering group. And weve investigated several thousand subsidance situations. This is unprecedented, though. The investigation so far to determine what is happening down below the ground, we have determined that it is a sinkhole that has caused this. Weve determined that there was an initial collapse, followed very shortly by another collapse. And we have noticed movement in the ground since then. As bill said, the hole has gotten deeper. Weve investigated around the building because we cant get into the building right now due to the potential for a sudden collapse. The reason there is a potential for sudden collapse is because we know that the side slopes of the hole is still very steep. And the soil is extremely soft based on the soundings that weve done in the front and the back of the house. This tells us that eventually the sinkhole will continue to grow as the sides begin to slough material will slough into the hole and the sides will begin to be a flatter slope. The soil cannot hold the slope that it has right now. So we do expect the sinkhole to continue to grow. The investigation will continue to find the limits and dlelineae the extent of the soft zone. We do know that at both the front and the back of the house, theres approximately 25 feet of surface sand that is in a soft condition or loose condition. Below that, from about 25 to 55 feet, perhaps as much as 60 feet, were finding a clay, silty sand that is in a very, very soft condition. Weve also measured the water pressure. And theres indications that there is movement continued based on the water pressure. Finally, limestone was encountered below a depth of 57 feet in the two borings. Were going to continue to investigate so that we can find the edge of this and allow equipment to be placed on the safe edge for additional investigations. Thank you. So there you see whats going on. John zarrella is on the scene for us. John, unprecedented sinkhole. Youve covered a lot of these over the years. This is huge and it seems to be growing. And thats why theyre so reluctant to get anywhere inside that house right now. Reporter yeah, thats exactly right, wolf. I think a couple of the key things they said during the press conference was that it is very unstable, that they dont know when or if they will be able to get into that house, that the cavern continues to grow. Its continuing to expand. It is getting deeper and deeper, started out at 15, 20 feet. Now its 25 feet deep. And they brought all of this equipment in to try and measure the surrounding area. As you heard him say, this engineer, that there is soft sand, that the edges of the sinkhole are very, very steep and that the soft sand cannot contain the steepness, which means that ultimately it will continue to expand out until it reaches the edges of that soft sand. Thats what theyre trying to determine, how far out will it go to where it is finally stable . But the news coming out here tonight that it is still a very unstable situation and that is why they are not sending anyone else in there. Theyre not going to try and go in there because they do not want to risk losing anyone elses life. And clearly this man, jeff bush, is feared dead at this point as they have said. But, john, for our viewers, remind us why this area is at risk of sinkholes. This is something that does happen in this area, this suburban area of tampa. Reporter well, not just there, all over florida, kate. Florida sits on several thousand feet of limestone. It can be very porous in places. When you get groundwater that is running through some of the porous limestone, what happens is over time, it can get eaten away and eaten away and then you end up with a cavern. And then you end up with a collapse. Its strictly geology. Its what florida is sitting on, the bedrock that floridas on is limestone. And this is what can happen. John zarrella following it for us. Bring us any updates as they come, thanks so much. You go to sleep at night, youre sleeping all of a sudden and his brother and other people, including a 2yearold were in the house at the time. Everyone was in danger. Clearly this one man, jeff bush, 37 years old, is feared dead. We should tell you the brother of this victim, jeff bush, that talked about his familys the brother of this man talked about his family and the nightmare and the emotion in a very emotional interview with cnns anderson cooper. That will be coming up. You can see the full interview on a. C. 360, 8 00 p. M. This evening. What a horrific day for that family. Well take a quick break. When we come back, a very, very different story. Watereddown budweiser. A lawsuit says it contains less alcohol than advertised. Were going to put the beer to the test ourselves. You know who you are. You can part a crowd, without saying a word. If you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. You stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. Well muddlers, muddle no more. Try zyrtec®. It gives you powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. Claritin® doesnt start working until hour three. Zyrtec®. Love the air. Its lots of things. All waking up. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. But at xerox weve embraced a new role. Working behind the scenes to provide companies with services. Like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. Reducing document costs by up to 30 . And processing 421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. Helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. Hows that for an encore . With xerox, youre ready for real business. Were following allegations that the maker of budweiser is watering down its beer, a cluster of lawsuits accusing anheuserbusch overstating the alcohol levels. Brian todd lab investigating. You have exclusive results. Tell our viewers. These results, these lawsuits against anheuserbusch have generated so much controversy that we decided to do our own independent testing of alcohol levels in anheuserbusch products. We did that. These are the results. And the question now is, do they move the needle in this legal action . An independent lab in san diego, white labs, tested four anheuserbusch beers for us. For budweiser, the label says its 5 alcohol by volume. The actual alcohol level in the bottle tested by white lab, 4. 94 . For bud light, the label says 4. 2 . Our report, 4. 14 . Bud light lime, 4. 2 . Ours came back at 4. 13 . And for bud ice, 5. 5 alcohol. Our tests showed 5. 35 . This report is representative of one can of each brew that was tested. It cannot be used to generalize all batches of this beer. Do those levels meet government standards . It appears they do. An official at the alcohol and tobacco tax and trade bureau which tests beers tells us the actual alcohol levels have to come within. 3 of whats on the label. And all those results are within that span. Are within that span. Ours was run through a sophisticated device to measure alcohol by volume in each sample. It is said to be accurate to within 0. 01 or 0. 02 of a percent. The alcohol content is significantly lower than whats displayed on the labels. The plaintiffs attorneys say they believe a typical bottle of bud has 4. 7 alcohol. As for our test the most accurate data will come from anheuserbusch. Reporter technology they say thats more sophisticated than what we used. For beer drinkers what do the results mean . I spoke with greg kitsock. When its 4. 2 on the label for a bud light lime, is it a big difference if it comes in at 4. 13 , which this does . Well, my answer would be it may be a big difference to some drinkers, but it shouldnt be. That is such a small amount of alcohol. What is it, enough to get a fly drunk . I dont think you could really detect the difference. Reporter anheuserbusch responded by saying, quote, the sample test results you provided are well within the variability of the all natural brewing process and in compliance with all alcohol labeling laws. The company again said to us today these lawsuits are groundless and the claims are false. I never knew they had a beer columnist. I learned that today. If i dont show up, you know where im at. Senior beer columnist. You can only aspire. Good stuff, great job. The governor of michigan announces plans for an emergency takeover of detroit. Well take a look at that. Some of the days other top stories. Were in san francisco. Googles backyard for the bing it on challenge. [fight bell ding, ding] whats your preferred Search Engine . Search engine, uhh, probably google. If we do a side by side blind test comparison, and you end up choosing google, you get an xbox. Ill bet you the xbox, you bet me your son. Well lets look up what you need. Okay, i would do the left. Yeah . What . i am a daddy bing wins it bing won. Bing did win. People prefer bing over google for the webs top searches. Dont believe it . Go to bingiton. Com and see what youre missing. To help protect your eye health as you age. Would you take it . Well, there is. [ male announcer ] its called ocuvite. A vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch lomb. As you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. Ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. Ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. Now thats a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. Help protect your eye health. The governor of michigan makes a major move concerning the future of the city of detroit. Kates got that and todays other top stories. This is a big story and you know i love detroit, wolf. Detroit is just about broke so today michigans governor took drastic action. He will appoint an emergency manager to run the city government. That manager will have the power to cut spending and throw out city contracts if necessary. And it was a pictureperfect liftoff, but there was some trouble today for the Spacex Dragon cargo capsule. Its carrying supplies to the space station. Three of the four thruster pods on the capsule, which are needed to get it to the space station, were not working for a time. But the problem has been fixed but it will delay docking with the station by about one day. And the f35 is back in the air. The pentagon has cleared the fighter jet to take to the skies once again. The f35s were grounded just last week after engineers discovered a crack in an engine component during a routine inspection. The jets were inspected, but no other cracks were found. At 400 billion, the f35 fleet is the pentagons most expensive weapons system it has ever had. A lot of controversy surrounding that plane. Coming up, well show you an awesome play you have to see to believe. Stop stop stop come back here humans we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. 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