0 happening now, south africa and the world prepare for the funeral of nelson mandela. we re there live with new information. plus, clinton honors mandela. the former president shares very personal stories about his friend and his hero. he says the south african leader s advice helped him get through one of his darkest hours. stand by for my one-on-one interview. plus, breaking news. a snow and ice emergency. a deadly winter storm is causing havoc on the roads and in the skies across america. we re tracking the danger as the deep freeze moves east and a new storm develops out west. and a big jump in jobs. does president obama deserve credit for improving the u.s. economy after a surprisingly strong employment report? i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. a ten-day mourning period is under way for one of the most influential leaders of our time. we re learning more about the final tributes to nelson mandela. stand by for that, and for my special conversation with the
mcconnell deal. he s got a tough race ahead of him, although we re told senator feinstein and lamar al lacks sander are the ones who put it in. it certainly does look bad. do you know if senator mcconnell has his fingerprints on putting this in that bill? well, senator mcconnell has been a long-time supporter of this project. now, this morning i had an interview with him and he didn t back off of it as well. he said it s rare that a spending bill actually saves you money. the argument being that if this wasn t authorized in this bill, it was going to shut down and they would have had to spend $160 million to reopen it. but what we heard last night from senator lamar alexander s office is that it was his idea. i know his source who spoke up in a meeting with senate republicans said we need this in a bill, he explained why and none of the rest of the senator republicans, like senator mike lee, had anything to say about that. right now there s a lot of
0 so now what happens? i think that what happens now is you continue to talk about the shortcomings, the faults and failures. we try to get this thing fixed. thing is a big concern that if americans cannot sign up for this by the end of the year, they should be granted some type of exemption. they should not be hit with a tax. the supreme court kind of made a faux pas with that decision in the first place. but the american people should not suffer because of the incompetence of the federal government and the obama administration. so we need to continue to hone in on that. and as i ve been reading, i think it s only about 51 to 52,000 people across the united states of america have actually signed up and gotten an insurance policy through the affordable care act exchange website. so that s not a success story. i literally have ten seconds left. are you going to run for the senate from the state of florida in the next opportunity that you have? well, as a southern man, they tell
mcconnell deal. he s got a tough race ahead of him, although we re told senator feinstein and lamar al lacks sander are the ones who put it in. it certainly does look bad. do you know if senator mcconnell has his fingerprints on putting this in that bill? well, senator mcconnell has been a long-time supporter of this project. now, this morning i had an interview with him and he didn t back off of it as well. he said it s rare that a spending bill actually saves you money. the argument being that if this wasn t authorized in this bill, it was going to shut down and they would have had to spend $160 million to reopen it. but what we heard last night from senator lamar alexander s office is that it was his idea. i know his source who spoke up in a meeting with senate republicans said we need this in a bill, he explained why and none of the rest of the senator republicans, like senator mike lee, had anything to say about that. right now there s a lot of
0 signed into law. and then also the medical device tax, that s another thing that everyone agrees with. we re talking about jobs and medical technology innovation, we should not have this medical device tax. but wait, wait, wait. stop. let me just stop you for a second. the whole idea of fairness. if we re all going to have the mandate, everyone is going to have the mandate, you re not going to gerrymander it so some people don t have it. the medical tax. sure. the medical device tax, whether you love it or hate it, that really was part of the law in the beginning. everybody had a chance to read it. now, republicans voted against the law. they didn t read it. i know they didn t. they could have had a chance to. the republicans voted against it. and now the democrats who suddenly want that, quote, fixed, or eliminated, are the ones who have medical device manufacturers in their districts. you know, so all of the sudden now some sort of want to gerrymander that out. under your