admitted that these cuts were a really bad idea. the president failed to mention was that the sequester was his idea, proposed by his administration during the debt limit negotiations. >> president obama made no mention of sequester in his saturday address, pointing out instead that progress has already been made in deficit reduction. >> over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, which puts us more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances. now we need to finish the job. >> in the midst of all this, congress taking next week off for president's day. arthel? >> arthel: i'm chuckling. steve, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> new reports say that murders thankfully are now plummeting in the notorious mexican city of juarez. clearly that is good news from a safety standpoint.