ceremonies officially get under way at noon. the reality is this new congress has a whole lot of old problems still to tackle and a couple old members still sticking around, too. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash knows them all, would like to say. has spoken to them all. i want to find out about the new freshman class. we have 97 news members total, 13 new senatorses, 84 new representatives. this freshman classes far more diversion than we have ever had. >> reporter: far more diversion. in fact when you're talking about the how democratic caucus, for the first time the majority is not white men. the majority is made up of minorities, of women, and as the democratic leader set just a short while ago, lbgt, so there's certainly a different makeup when it comes to the faces of members of congress that were just a few years ago. it definitely will be a new day when it comes to that. when it comes to the actual balance of power, of course nothing is changing. the house as in republican hands, the nat is still in democratic hands. however, there are more democrats in the senate and there are more democrats in the house. and let's throw out those numbers. since two months since the election, people might have forgotten just how much more seats the democrats gained and what the republicans lost in both houses. break it down for me. >> that's right in the senate -- forgive me. i'm in the corridor where these new members are walking back and forth between the capitol and offices back here, so that's why i'm looking to the side every so often, but you see it on the screen, 55 democrats in the senate. that's up a handful from what they had before, four from what they had before. that is going to help. as you well know, ashleigh, every single vote in the senate matters. every senator's vote is critical, because they can use the rules to stop things, to change things in a pretty remarkable way. when it comes to the house, 201 democrats, which is a pretty significant gain. not enough to get them the majority, but a lot more than they had the last time around. with regard to the house rules, it won't matter as much, gall there is a very iron fist that the majority gets to use in the house, whether it is majority of democrats or majority of republicans, it's just the way the rules go, but it certainly will change the dynamic. >> and what about the tea party dynamic? certainly some losses suffered with some tea party favorite. you know, i'm not so sure the answer to that is yes. yes, there were some most outspoken, some of the most visible, those who like to do a lot of television interviews were defeated, but there are still a number of republicans elected in 2010. i talked to several of them in the hallways, even this morning who are pretty active and determined to stick to the principles, stick to the principles of cutting spending, reduci the deficit and doing it at a cost. you definitely will see that play out with regard to how the house speaker, how john boehner continues to process things in the house and keep the pressure on him to not negotiate with democrats as much. well, and democrats may have gained members, but control is control, as you mentioned artfully right at the beginning of this segment. is there going to be more leverage for democrats in the upcoming debt ceiling spending talks? three more fiscal cliff-ish things we need to deal with? >> reporter: well, republicans certainly feel they have the leverage in the debt ceiling talks, because they -- many of them think there is no problem reaches the debt limit and putting the country in jeopardy like that in order to stick to principle, in order to say we're just not going to do that until we cut spending. the only reason why we are reaching the debt ceiling is because there has been too much federal spending. so i don't think there's going to be a lot of backtracking on that. but you also have on the other side democrats who say that, you know, they're still going to push for what they believe is right, and they're not going to let republicans push them into something they don't want to do, like we saw about a year and a half ago when we had the big debt ceiling fight. it led us to have the mandatory spending cuts. so it is a cycle and it is anybody's guess at each step of the way who will really have the upper hand politically. keep your eyes out for those arriving new members, dana. thanks very much for your work today as in every day. also dana let me in on something last night, a very special moment that's going to play out in about 30 minutes. this man, illinois republican mark kirk suffered a stroke last year, and he was paralyzed, half his body was paralyzed, but today that ain't going to stop him. that senator has resolved to climb every one of those stairs on the capitol, and that's how he wants to mark his dramatic return to the senate. we're very excited about this moment. i think a lot of people on capitol hill thrilled for the senator he's going to be able to do this. we're going to bring you that moment live when it happens at 11:30, and early congratulations to him. i want to move on to what i suppose you could say is a routine drop-off at a school, but it wasn't. it just really wasn't. for the first time since a gunman killed 20 of their friends and 6 adults, the little kids at sandy hook elementary are going back to class. no question it will be heart-wrenching for the parents, for the teachers, and for the kids it will be an adjustment. they're in a new space, a nearby middle school that's been transformed to look just like their familiar and beloved sandy hook elementary. in fact the movers took photos of the old school and arranged everything in the new classrooms to look just like the old schools. our deb feyerick is not far away in monroe, connecticut, the old chockhill middle school. this must be a very tough day, but at the same time for the folks of newtown, it must feel like they're returning to some kind of normalcy. >> reporter: yeah, no question about it. it was a telephone day. you know almost the toughest thing about it, the fear of going back, wondering what it would be like. we spoke to one mom. she said that school started on time, quote, it's an amazing day. she describes volunteers and counselors, therapy dogs in the halls, if a child feels anxious, they can go up to the dogs, give them a big hug, so they're trying to create a supportive environment so the children know they're safe, they have people watching them, and anyone who needs help getting to a new class, that help is there. so it's really kind of an extraordinary thing that's happening in that school. the moms said that the teachers involved in this, not just those from sandy hook, but those here from monroe, that all of them deserve so much credit. they worked through the holidays to try to put the school together. they had to take a school that was for teenagers and turn it into a school k through -- and that included platforms in the urinals for the little boys, and guardrails on the bannisters. the mom tells us that the kids and the parents, they are doing great. so in fact, the fear of going back was overrided by the experience, but remember, ashleigh, a lot of people during the day when they're busy, and they have this stuff going on, it doesn't seem as ominous, later at night when the kids are tired and quiet down, that's when they feel the anxiety and fear. right now we can tell you in that school, it is going really well. deb. >> the insight that you and i know about, and most of the media covering this day, usually we set up your live shots with whatever the significant backdrop, and today you're not near that school. there's a reason you're not near that school. >> reporter: that's exactly right. that's a great point. we are about two miles from the school. the reason for that is one of the things, as you mentioned, they want to get back to what appears to be normal, the rhythm, routine. to have dozens of media trucks outside the school that would have been extremely disruptive. they're checking all the cars going in. it's not only a security measure, but also to make sure that anybody who gets near that school is a parent or volunteer or somebody who belongs there. one little boy i spoke to said he's not afraid of monster, what he's afraid of somebody who is cometic that shouldn't be there. they want to make sure the kids know you're okay. >> well, thanks for bringing us the story, deb, ant jaently as well. i know that town is still hurting and will be for a long time. back in a moment. people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. when the new congress is sworn in, it is a brand-new start, but there's a lot of old baggage that comes with it. the first piece of unfinished business is a aid package for the victims of sandy. our cnn's contributor john avalon and margaret hoover are with me. first my question is, is there any reason to think this new batch is going to be any different than the old batch? >> yes, there is. >> i'm so glad. >> this is a historically diverse house of representatives, unprecedented numbers of women, six openly gale members of the house of representatives two females vets who have been in battle, combat vets from the iraq war and afghanistan. just an extraordinary amount of diversity. the problem from a republicans' perspective is all that have diversity is on the democrat ecside. so the house looks different. what you're hearing is a lot of them came to washington this time, because they were told they want a congress that can work together. they were elected among historically low approval ratings in the house of representatives and they know their job is to get something done. there's a new coalition of democrats, maybe 55 of them, 14 blue dogs left so hopefully democrats who aren't super-liberal who also want to compromise. first breaking news out of the capitol with dana bash, who was watching side to side for an important people to walk by. you asked a very important question. what was it? >> reporter: that's right, the house speaker just came out of the former chamber after gaveling the last congress closed. i asked if he thinks he will lose some of hess members. he shrugged his shoulder and said, yeah, possibly, but he said he thinks he will be final, reelected speaker. the other thing i asked about is whether or not it is true that he told his colleagues that he's done negotiating hess deals, that he from now on will run the house in what's called regular order, meaning bring legislation, bring it up, put it through the committee process, have votes and when the senate does the same thing, put it into a conference committee, just the way it's supposed to be done. he said, regular order is always best. i'm always happy to talk to the president, but that's certainly what he plans to do, and probably going through the reason for that, saying these negotiation that he as done with the president, both over the past weeks, and then of course a year and a half ago on the debt ceiling deal that got us into the fiscal cliff, those didn't go well. they ended up not seeing any fruit. that's the reason -- very interesting conversation just between here and down there, which is where his office is. >> it sounds troubling to the layperson, i'm done negotiating, but let me get in -- >> done negotiating, regular order is the new order. give me your thoughts. >> well, look, i think the question is what the learning curve is inside the conference, because those negotiations. john boehner is a deal maker at the end of the day of the old school. the negotiation had president obama, whether it's the debt ceilings from august 2011 or the most recent round, they didn't come to any fruition, because john boehner's negotiating position was undercut bit the far right wing of his caucus. when the dust clears, when those folks realized they ended up with a worse deal than think might have been done if they voted for plan b or backed the grand bargain in august 2011, whether that learn curve adjusts their strategy going forward. at the end of the day we do need members of congress to work together, but at the end of the day, the great hope is they've learned the lessons that made it a do-nothing congress of historic proportions and they will be more willing to work together across the aisle. >> margaret hoover, your husband is a have i smart man and said smart things just there, but it made me wonder if he also wrote a smart book about wing nuts. does that mean john byner -- i'm not sure, john, what you're saying. >> what we're getting towards is in march we'll have a debt ceiling crisis, and taxes are now -- not that they're off the table, but the republican house feels they got rolled on the spending. there were not deals made in this, anders quinn bowles and allen simpson -- it is my hope that the next congress can work together to get meaningful spending and entitlement reform passed through. there are moderate democrats back at the table, at least they say they're moderate and willing to negotiate. frankly it was democrats that carried the senate bill vote the other night, so hopefully it's not maybe that rad cat tea party caucus that we'll depend on, though frankly they're the ones pulling the conversation toward spending reform. i wouldn't call them wing nuts. >> dana, you have something to add to that? >> reporter: first of all, i think that she just made an excellent point talking about wing nuts. there are certainly people who are sticking to their guns and they are not going to vote for anything that defies their principles. that is a big part of what has made legislating and xrm so hard, but the one thing i wanted to make sure our viewers know, when i talked about the fact that the speaker suggested he's done compromising, those were my words, no, sir hid words. he was very specification in answering my questions when i said are you going to put things through regular order, he said yes, regular order is the betts way. he said he's always willing to talk to the president, that was a quote, but the done negotiating, that was my term. >> i am so glad you clarified that. regular order i would have assumed the way things normally work anyway. dana bash, great work. thank you for keeping your eyes out. she never misses a beat. and margaret hoover and john avlon, thank you. neither of you a wing nut. right back after this. so yesterday the market simply surged. here the bad news, according to the 309 investment strategists cnn surveyed -- don't expect it to last. that rally is supposed to be short-lived. always the bad news with the good. christine romans is here to talk more about it. what's the biggest headwind? >> washington itself is the biggest headwind quite frankly. we have more mini cliffs ahead, and some of them are not so small. i want to tell you what one of these money managers said. he said democrats and republicans did the least they could possibly do to avoid the fiscal cliff. the question is will they do the least amount again when it comes to raising the debt ceiling, and how will the rating agencies view that. moody's did the warn it could lower the rating unless washington reduces the deficit. we have these how old deadlines. listen to bill gross, bond guru bill gross quoting homer simp n simpson, i'm not kidding. >> they have three data points in the two months that something has to be done. we've seen what happens in this particular case over a long weekend. it's a dangerous situation and perhaps not homer simpson, i don't want to say, doh! but it's fair to say that taxes for all americans have gone up here in the past few days. >> he's talking about the payroll tax holiday as well, but we've got some work ahead of us. >> tell me about the income tax refunds we expect to be timely. maybe not so much this year. >> we're waiting for the i.r.s. to tell us exactly when they'll be able to start processing, especially for people who file early. maybe things will be delayed here. the i.r.s. says it's currently reviewing the details of the legislation and assessing what impacts it will have. now they know what they need to know, but need to wait for all the programs to be ready. >> i have to wrap it up, but extraordinary auto sales. >> strong. we have strong auto sales, the best for the three major u.s. car groups since 2007. if you put it together. it looks like 14.5 million auto sales, this year, 2012, the best in since 2007. and the numbers were crunched. the year over year rise in sales biggest since 1984. that's the sign of a strong consumer. if you're going to buy a $35,000 car, you should have confidence in your job. it shows things are looking up for the consumer, i think. >> there's nothing more confident than a woman who brings her blackberry and evening bag with. >> my wallet. i have my moan with me at all times. >> back right after this. stop! stop! stop! come back here! humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our optional better car replacement. if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask one of our insurance experts about it today. hello?! we believe our customers do their 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[car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24/7 support and service. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? this is not an easy story to report. it's about two football players allegedly raping an underage girl in a small town in ohio. this has really gripped this town, by the way. the police apparently piecing the case together mostly because of the posts on social media. gel we're talking about an alleged rape. susan candiotti has been sifting through this evidence and some of the reports. >> disturbing on so many different levels, ashleigh, in this case the charges are absolutely horrific. a 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two high school football players during an end of the summer parties in the small eastern ohio town of steubenville. there are reports the girl was drunk and possibly unconscious. now two special prosecutors appointed by ohio's attorney general mike dewine are just over a monday away from trying at least two teens on rape charges. what makes this case stand out even more is talk about the alleged attack last august that's been playing itself out through social media. even ohio's chief law enforcement officer says this case might never have come together a decade ago. that's because police in part for you sound about the alleged rape by piecing together outrageous tweets, a cell phone photo that claims to show the girl at the center of the alleged attack being carried seemingly limp by her arms and legs, and at least one online video showing young people callously laughing about it. >> if that was my daughter, i wouldn't care. i would just let her be dead. >> listen to yourself. >> i'm listening to myself fine. >> ten years, my das's going to be -- and that continues for about 12 minutes. he goes on to make offensive one-line comments about rape, and talks about the girl as if she was dead, which she is not, ashleigh. >> there are so many levels that are troubling about this story. that video shows one young man who appears to be seated in a room. you can hear a lot of other voices. >> they appear to be talking about what happened. >> aware of what's going on, but there are only two charges right now? are there going to be any more charges involved? >> possible. for now two are charged. one of the two is also charged with illegal use of a minor in nude material. the attorney general's office says they will be tried by a juvenile court judge. that's without a jury, in open court next month. these two have been publicly identified by authorities, however cnn is not yet revealing their names at this time. because cnn's policy is not to release the name of alleged rape victims, we are also not reporting the name of the girl in this matter. ohio's attorney general tells me the investigation isn't over. he's still conducting interviews. he also says he's well aware of the online video and various postings. some of them have now gone back online. i have new information just in, again from the attorney general's office. they are telling us more about the pretrial hearings. a little notion of what evidence they might have. here's a direct quote -- the prosecutors let me just say in the case told the juvenile judge at that pretrial hearing that the defendants had treated the girl, quote/unquote, like a toy and then added, quote, the bottom line is we don't have to prove she said no. we just have to prove that when they're doing things to her, she's not moving, she's not responsive. the evidence is consistent and clear that is the end of the quote. >> i don't know the statute as deeply as i should so even react to that, but -- >> we certainly don't know a lot about the evidence -- >> this is a juvenile system that's been in. >> it's been decided to try this case in juvenile court. it will be an open proceeding. all the proceedings so far have been. we're now following this very closely. it's important to point out that we are waiting to hear from the lawyers who represent the two young men in this case. we have left messages for them, and certainly we will bring you more when we hear their responses to this. >> but that's great you were able to get that last-minute comment for us. thank you. we'll be right back. power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app. so i don't know if you caught any of congressman's peter king's outrage on the failure to take up the vote for the victims on superstorm sandy, but man, was he mad. the speaker heard at least from him and a lot of other people and changed the tune of congress. we wanted to get peter king's reaction, actually, now that john boehner has relented and the new congress is going to move forward on this relief. take a listen to congressman's king's response and some other thorny issues i asked about last night. suggested that anybody who game money to the republican congressional campaign committee would be, i think in your words, nuts. do you still feel that way? >> well, sometimes you have to use shock treatment to get results. that's part of what i was doing. >> do you still feel that way? >> listen, if this goes forward the way it is, as far as i'm concerned, what's done is done, over and gone forever. now we go forward. in the same vein, i want to talk about your colleague hal rogers, who some say we are insensitive comments, that fema's not money to bridge the gap, what's the crisis? but you suggested that hal rogers better not come to new york. have you had a chat? >> no, hal rogers and i have not spoken, but he was at the meeting. if he does his job, that's fine. we've been in this business a long time. i take issues very seriously. i try not to take personals too seriously. i hope hal rogers feels the same, but if not, i did what i had to do, and right now his job is to get the bill to the floor. in his defense, he certainly did work hard, as you know, on this bill, putting the machinations together. is he welcome back in new york? >> sure. if this bill goes through, i'll buy him a drink when he's in new york. >> was the president's position sure, i can give him credit for that. speaking politically, no matter what the president had said john boehner was going to make his own decision. if there was question or friction, it came within the republican party and that's how it was resolved. you've heard the news about the secretary of state being released. a lot of people are happy she's well. i know you're personal friends as well. >> yes. >> i wonder if you think that john bolden's comments about the secretary, and in my words, faking an illness, to have a diplomatic illness to beat the band are deserving of an apology. >> i certainly wouldn't have said it, especially knowing hillary clinton and what a tough warrior she is, to me there's no basis for that. even if i didn't agree with someone, you should always give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a health issue. only in ambassador's bolton's defense, and i'm being sarcastic in this -- -- it could have been serious, it wasn't thank god, and i would not have said what the ambassador said. >> do you think he should apologize, congressman? that was pretty serious, very, very strident comments. >> again, all i would say is i would -- if i was the one who said it, i would. and of course you all know that secretary of state clinton has been ill, treated with blood thinners, and doctors do expect her to make a full recovery. here are the pictures of her leaves. a state department spokesman says the secretary, quote, has been quite active on the phone, even making some phone calls to a cup the foreign officials. i remember asking jill doherty, do you think the secretary is working while in the hospital bed? and there's the answer, she was. good luck to her. we wish her a speedy recovery. now to another recovery, this has been something we have been waiting for. you are looking at 53-year-old senator mark cook, republican from illinois, in his first return to congress, a number of members, he after suffering a stroke a year ago that paralyzed him on one half of his body, through an enormous amount of rehabilitation has been able to climb the steps. there's joe biden hugging him and greeting him as he makes this awesome assent to the senate. i want to listen in a bit. so 457 steps. he took 45 steps. he said this was his inspiration as he went through this rehabilitation, that he wanted to ultimately be able to climb the steps of the capitol. that's what helped him to work hard and make this happen. i love it, the hugs. congratulations, senator, this is terrific. not only has he been doing rehabilitation, but also some trial runs, not at the senate, but in a couple others places. listen to this. in july, he walked almost 15 miles, and he climbed 145 flights of stairs. this was experimental therapy. he also in november made a choice to do something that probably a lot of is watching right now wouldn't be able to do. he climbed 37 floors, climbed the stairs inside chicago's willis tower, part of a fund-raiser. here he is with his ultimate goal climbing the steps of the u.s. capitol. congratulations senator mark kirk, and welcome back to work. aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ we went to break showing you the beginning of a dramatic return, and the climb continued with the vice president and joe manchin, the plan on the right, they are accompanying senator mark kirk, a year after he suffered a stroke that paralyzed him after arduous -- i hope i said mark kirk -- after a year of arduous rehabilitation, senator kirk is returning to work and has decided he wants to climb those stairs himself. he had to re-learn to walk, and he said his ultimate inspiration was this climb. obviously a lot of photo ops along the way. so many of the staffers and others senators have shown their support, as he makes this very dramatic assent on his first day back to work. obviously there as well to see some of the swearing in of his new senators, the colleagues who will join him for the chambers. this is a great moment, a nice moment of bipartisanship. great to see the vip alongside him. congratulations to mark kirk. there he goes. lest you think that this is something he didn't think he could handle. he can handle it. these are 45 steps at the state capitol, but he already had some trial runs elsewhere. he climbed 37 floors, the staircases in the chicago willis tower back in november. and he walked 15 miles in july as part of his therapy. the physicians by the way, who helped him from the rehabilitation institute of chicago and northwestern memorial hospital, they're there in that crowd. they're on hand as he makes this terrific return to congress. they're also there to talk to some of the members about this experimental treatment that he underwent to learn how to walk geren. half of his body was paralyzed a year ago this month, january 2012, so obviously a terrific accomplishment and a great year to wrap up back at work. senator kirk. this is somewhat controversial a wisconsin stays senator with a veld blunt attack on the hold day kwanzaa. he sent out a press release -- why must we still hear about kwanzaa? he is the republican glenn grof mast, and he said, quote the founder was a racist and didn't like the idea that christ died for all of our sins, so he felt blacks should have their own hold day, hence kwanzaa, and of course almost no black people care about kwanzaa, just white left-wingers, in an effort to divide americans. seemed like a pretty clear message, and it did offend a lot of people. i spoke with him last night. i started out by asking him whether or not he expected a back lash from the comments. take a peek. >> no, because we sent out something like this 12 years ago and it really was no big deal. i think the underlying problem here is not enough tv types, when they talk about kwanzaa, talk about the horrible racist violent past of its founder. if they knew the past, i think kwanzaa would die a quick death. you've got to remember t ron kerenga, the founder of kwanzaa, who just founded it in 166, was a black separatist, who felt the black panthers didn't dislike white people enough. the group he founded wound up shooting a couple black panthers, he himself for committing physical violence against women, had to spend time in prison. the idea that our country would celebrate a special holiday created by this guy before he committed these acts of violence, and now we're going to say we must talk about this to the kindergarten children and how wonderful this holiday is, is ridiculous. >> you've got to admit the holidays itself didn't celebrate the founder, but the holiday itself. if the look at the aspirin else. principles. that sounds pretty nice. >> if you go through ramblings of some people, you can say -- but when you have a horrible person who founded this new holiday solely to promote or in part to promote his goofy ideology, i think we all would have to agree that most americans wouldn't choose to celebrate it. what proof do you have, though, sir, that he founded this holiday solely to promote his goofy ideas. these are ideas that i think most americans hold very dear -- family, unity, faith, goodwill? >> why don't you google him. you look at anything in the background, things he said at the time. >> i don't get my proof from google. you're a state senator, you should be better than google. >> okay. the proof is the things he said at the time. he did not like christianity because of course christianity is a religion for all americans and for people around the world. he felt that blacks should not be part of christianity, have a different holiday. he was a marxist, and he did beat up and physically abuse the women who were his followers. his own followers shot two black panthers. is this the type of guy we want to have as a founder of a holiday that we're promoting around some eric? quite frankly i think if most news sank orr types, be they did a feel-good story about kwanzaa proned exactly what ron kerenga was about, it would not get off the ground. >> i'm a news achkor type, and i'll put it to you, i wanted straight answers from you, and cnn approached you about this interview and asked you to appear with roland martin, a cnn commentator very passionate about this issue, he wanted to challenge you, and you refused, you said you didn't want to appear with someone who would defend kwanzaa. why would you do that? >> you're completely distorting the comments that we had earlier in the day. earlier in the day, i said if we were going to have a discussion to how many black people cared -- >> before you even go, if we've made a mistake, i've got roland martin ready to go. ready to go he was. we were going to hold those two segments, so roland was wiring up, getting ready for the state senator to finish, but instead roland got his time with senator growthman. wee show it in just a moment. at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!" share your progress-oh! story on facebook. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. back to that enter with the wisconsin state senator what is catching a lot of heat for his remarks slamming the holiday kwanzaa and the man who created it. originally we have been told by the senator that he did not want to appear with roland martin, who was going to be, you know, obviously the role and he corrected me sxsd it wasn't true. roland was ready to go. he's very passionate about this, and he was challenging the state senator about the assertions that almost no black people care about kwanzaa and it's white left wingers who try to shove it down black people's throats. those are the senators words. have a look at the interview. >> i would ask the senator, you look at easter and it was derived from a pagan holiday. do you defend that? you talk about a made-up holiday. which of the holidays do we celebrate from america that descend on high and were granted to us when we were born? aren't all holidays actually created and made up by someone? >> well, the question, first of all, they are not created and made up by somebody. a holiday like thanksgiving, which is a holiday created by the u.s. congress. >> they aren't? >> thanksgiving is something that i think we all can appreciate. it was not created by splb out of a desire to separate americans white and black. it was not created out of somebody who had soon after he created the holiday beaten up his own followers and went it to up prison for it. >> i asked about easter. it's a pagan holiday. >> it's not a pagan holiday. if you feel that christianity is a pagan religion, i suppose you can tell you that christianity and easter is a pagan holiday. >> senator, i'm a christian. i'm a christian author. my wife is an ordained minister. if you look at the origin of easter, it actually was a combination of christianity and also the pagan holiday where people walked around and painted themselves. where do we get the paint d eggs? you're denouncing the holiday because you don't like the individual. if you don't like it, fine. if there are people across america who celebrate unity and celebrate purpose and celebrate faith, what's the big deal? if your attack is on him, knock yourself out, but if there are people who appreciate the principles, what's the problem with that? are you saying no unity in america? is that wrong? is that bad? >> no. anybody can celebrate any holiday they want. the problem i have is when they talk about the holiday without giving its history or given the limited amount of time we have in public schools, when they decide to use that time to promote kwanzaa and present it as a holiday that millions of people ought to be following rather than the -- >> you don't want to talk about -- >> let me jump in here. congress mba, if you suggest the history is at issue, some of the historical ancient roots of kwanzaa have to do with a fruit festival, and it happens that the fruit festival is at the end of the year around new year's or christmas. if there's any allegation that kwanzaa was an attempt to divide white and black people in christianity, it would steam that time line would nullify that argument. in the same vein i want to ask you -- >> you need to do a little bit of research. >> i did. i just gave it to you. that's research. >> that was designed specifically to be a holiday that was separate from christmas because he wanted his own holiday. >> the person you refer to says it has nothing to do with christmas but has to do with culture. this whole issue you say almost no black people care about kwanzaa. you said almost no black people care about kwanzaa, just white left wingers. i'll read for you this statement and i'll quote it verbatim. kwanzaa strengthens the ties that bind communities across america and around the world and reflects the great promise and diversity of america. do you remember who said that? >> absolutely, i remember it. it was one of the reasons why george bush was kind of an irritating president for some of us. >> right or left wingers. this is borderline ridiculous. was george w. bush a white left winger with a comment like that. >> actually he was a born-again christian, ashleigh. >> some politicians try to engrash yat themselves to everybody. that's the way some politicians are. >> happy new year. we'll be right back. i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone. i knew you'd come. like i could stay away. you know i can't do this without you. you'll never have to. you're always there for me. shh! i'll get you a rental car. i could also use an umbrella. fall in love with progressive's claims service. so we had an amazing sooitd we want to share with you. it's gone viral, so if you see it trust me you'll see it again anyway. it is a baby being born by c-section literally reaching out of her mother's womb and grabbing onto the finger of a

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