bill: thank goodness the roads are safe now, aren't they? we have that going for us! which ain't bad. see you tomorrow. martha: see you tomorrow, everybody. >> good morning i'm jane skinner along with jon scott, happening now, the taliban says it is behind an attack near a u.s. military base in afghanistan. a militant in a mini-bus has blown himself up outside camp phoenix in kabul. bill: and a man is arrested in a new jersey hotel, he was armed to the teeth wearing a bulletproof vest an carrying a map of a u.s. military base and wait until you hear what else they found. >> also security at are borders is making it harder for illegals to sneak into this country on foot but now, they are getting creative. what route the traffickers are using, to get their human cargo into our country and how can we stop it? >> we begin with your money... president obama is showing concern about the nation's rising mountain of debt. the latest estimate from the congressional budget office, is just in this morning, and it is pretty sobering. it pegs this year's budget deficit at $1.3 trillion. now the president wants congress to hit the brakes. he is calling for a three-year freeze on discretionary spending. national security and mandatory entitlement programs like social security and medicare would escape any budget cuts. molly henneberg is live for us at the white house, so i guess the question here, molly, what is included and what is excluded in the spending freeze? >> reporter: hi, jon, the president wants to hold spending at 2010 levels through 2013. but it would only apply to nondefense discretionary spending and that means spending for most governments, departments and agencies. about 17% of the total federal budget. so, what -- that is what would be included. what would be excluded includes the following: the cost of the wars in iraq an afghanistan. foreign aid. homeland security and veterans administration. social security. medicare. medicaid. and those last three there alone, social security, medicare, medicaid, make up 59% of all federal spending each year and they would not be touched by the spending freeze. >> how much money do you save if you freeze these discretionary items. >> reporter: the white house says, if you did it for 2011 it would save between 10 and $15 billion and the white house projects, hey if you held it at 2010 spending levels for the next ten years it would save $250 billion. now, the president has not proposed across-the-board cuts. everybody takes an "x" percent of cut and he says we'll cut here and increase spending there but in total hold it at 2010 spending levels and the white house said wilt not solve the ballooning deficit. and, national debt. but, the white house aide says, quote you have to take steps. republicans say, though, the president's been increasing spending all year including this 12% boost in nondefense spending in december. and, a spokesperson for house minority leader john boehner, michael steele put out a statement, saying, quote given washington democrats' unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you are going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest. jon. >> all right, so what is the president doing today? >> reporter: well, he is going to -- has been meeting with senior advisors and around lunch time will meet with business leaders and this afternoon, the president and the vice president will meet in the oval office, with the defense secretary, robert gates, later on this afternoon. >> molly henneberg at the white house. thank you. >> let's bring in stuart varney, the anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network and let's start with the numbers, can you explain in layman's terms what it means as taxpayers and some say it is a drop in the bucket. >> i agree it doesn't mean much, jane to be honest with you. if the pay freeze -- i'm sorry, the spending freeze is indeed imposed and lived up to it may save ten billion dollars per year, it may. the whole question about whether or not it is actually going to be imposed and until stick, many democrats don't want this kind of spending freeze and they say more spending is required to get us out of this recession and create jobs. so, it is indeed a drop in the bucket. if you save $10 billion per year, by freezing some of the government's spending, we are still looking at a 1.35 trillion dollar deficit for the year and is a drop in the bucket and may not be imposed and is a political response to an economic problem. voters hate debt. they are responding to that hatred of debt. >> stuart, here's my question, my husband and i go over my budget and i say i'll cut back on the gourmet coffees and he laughs at me and says, what, $3? it is a start. isn't it? don't we have to start somewhere. >> yes, of course it is a start but it is so small, it is almost -- i hate to use the word meaningless. but it is so small, in a $3 trillion a year total government budget, 10 billion a year, well, it is a start, fair enough but really doesn't mean much to any taxpayer. >> how did we get here? >> we got here because of the entitlement programs, medicare, medicaid, in particular, which are out of control. spending on them is just escalating, very, very rapidly. eating up the budget, costing a large portion of the deficit and got in because of the stimulus plan, $787 billion. and we got it through general increases in government spending. we are spending way more than we are taking in. we have to borrow the difference. the president is trying to narrow that difference, but what his solution is, is very, very limited indeed. >> can we blame an administration, i know democrats are saying it goes back to the bush years and some say it is what we have done in the last year. >> you can go back generations. on what you constantly found is an increase in government spending. it just won't stop, it is very very, difficult to rein in these ever-expanding entitlement programs, you can go back through president bush, to president clinton, first president bush and even go back to first president reagan. they can't have that much influence on this ever-increasing level of government spending. that is a big deal. >> one last quick question and looking forward instead of back, when you talked about the budget deficit numbers the congressional budget office is putting out today, 1.35 trillion, they also said we are looking at a muted recovery going forward and what does that mean. >> being you don't have the economic growth you really wanted and you should have when you come to the of a severe recession. normally when you have had a recession as bad as the one we've had, you should start to expand your economy, 4, 5, 6, 7%, on an ongoing basis. and a rapid recovery from this nasty recession. we are not going to get that. at best we'll get 2, 3% growth, for this year, 2010, and that is a muted recovery. >> stuart varney, the anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network and we should expect to hear a lot about the economy from the president when he delivers the state of the union address, set to begin at 9:00 eastern and we'll carry it live followed by the republican response, full coverage, fair and balanced, you know where you get it. right here on the fox news channel. >> let's update you on haiti, right now. where there are a few signs that normal life is returning. two weeks after the devastating earthquake. huge challenges remain, though as you can imagine. united nations troops in port-au-prince struggled to hold back a desperate crowd. people scrambling to get their share of food aid. but the u.n. also says commerce is picking up in that country. supermarkets, banks, and gas stations, are reopening in places. and the capital is generally secure despite isolated incidents of looting. >> a homicide bomber wounding at least six people outside an american base in the capital of afghanistan. today. in a message sent to the associated press, the taliban this morning is claiming responsibility for this attack, targeted an international military convoy and the bomber detonated a mini-bus, loaded with explosives, right at the gate of this american base, camp phoenix in kabul and no americans were reported at this point anyway to be hurt in the attack. we'll keep you updated. >> another deadly attack, rocking the heart of baghdad today. iraqi police say a homicide bomber killed at least 18 and injured dozens more in a strike against a police crime lab and the majority of those killed are likely police officers. today this attack follows a series of bombings targeted hotels frequented by westerners, 41 people killed in those coordinated bombings and more than 100 were injured. >> now to the report just out today on al qaeda. warning that the terrorist organization has not abandoned its quest to adak this country with weapons of mass destruction, as a panel released a separate and skacathing repor saying our government is not ready 8 years after 9/11 to deal with such an attack, mike emanuel has details at the pentagon on this. tell us what is in this report. >> bottom line the group says the united states is not prepared for a biological weapons attack, the experts are saying that based on the response to the h1n1 flu virus, they aren't convinced the government is prepared for anything more severe and they got three fs, for biological risks, an f for enhance the nation's capabilities for rapid response to prevent biological attacks, from inflicting mass casualties and two fs on government reform, reform congressional oversight to address intelligence and homeland security and cross cutting 21st century national security missions, and an f for implement education and training programs to recruit and retain the next generation of national security experts. these experts are saying it is time for the u.s. government to tighten it up, jane. >> mike who is behind the report? >> reporter: two headliners, former florida senator bob brand, a democrat and missouri senator, former senator jim talents, the headliners of the bipartisan commission on the prevention of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation. and to be fair, they say the last three administrations have been slow to respond and react to the threat of biological weapons. but they are saying they feel like at this point, with al qaeda this administration does not have the advantage of a slow learning curve and so, they are calling for this administration to get up to speed as quickly as possible. >> mike emanuel, in the pentagon for us, thanks. >> we have an update on the man arrested with a cache of weapons, and maps of a military facility. harris is on it from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: actually that is note story i was prepared to do unfortunately, jon. >> bring us what you have got. >> reporter: all right, all right, i'm following now breaking right now, is university outbreak of crime, university of minnesota. and this is just crossing right now. they've had three incidents in the last like 15 hours, and they've actually had a student shot. on campus, at the university of minnesota and, in fact, what the police chief on campus is saying, it has been a long time since we have seen anything like that. it started late yesterday with two female students who were attacked, first approached by suspects and then attacked, and then it moved on from there. and where another student on campus was shot and a third incident which police have not gone into. details about with that. but i'm going to keep following it and bring you guys more information as i kw can, happen in the twin cities of minnesota. >> and we'll update you on the star, about the guy found with body armor and map of a military base and cache of weapons, more coming up. >> also, the surprise victory of republican scott brown in massachusetts, we're still watching and feeling these shockwaves. democratic politicians may be feeling it in their home towns, very well-known dems are deciding not to run for office this year, carl cameron tells us what to expect in 2010, he's coming up. walmart's $10 90-day generic prescriptions... don: ...no matter where you live. don: plus get free shipping on over 3,000 other prescriptions. don: call 1-800-2-refill for your free home delivery. save money. live better. walmart. >> washington is all shook up of course over that upset by republican senator-elect scott brown in massachusetts and we are seeing fallout for democrats, all over the country for these 2010 mid interpreters, carl cameron is in d.c. -- midterms and carl cameron is in d.c. taking a close look of what to expect, what is going on here. >> reporter: political strategists in washington and all over the country are looking to recruit candidates in both parties, and, it is really beginning to take a toll on the incumbent majority. democrats in the house and senate are really kind of still smelling the coffee from the "wake-up call" that was the blowout scott brown won and the latest is arkansas congressman marion berry, a guy a long tim serving house democrat, easily reelected and well-known over the years and popular and this week announces and becomes the first since the massachusetts election, to announce his retirement. so, he actually now becomes the 6th democrat in the house to recently announce his retirement. and it is the -- beginning to look as though democrats are in some cases essentially bowing out of re-election bids because they read the writing on the wall, historically we have talked at great length about the fact that the first midterm of any new presidency is one in which the party in power at the white house loses seats in congress and that is likely to happen and now they've lost 6 democrats saying they'll retire, to only three among republicans, and in the senate by contrast, jane an even split, 5 democrats and 5 republicans already announced retirements and in that particular case looks like democrats might be more vulnerable, because they have now literally five appointed senators working on an interim basis and those are always the most vulnerable, to only one from the republican side, a florida senators, senator to replace mr. menendez. >> where does the battle for a congressional majority stand now? >> reporter: the magic number in both house and senate is the same, 40 seats for the house and ten seats for the senate. very, very difficult challenge, but, when you look at what most of the sort of political odds makers in the business have said the last couple of weeks, i don't know if we have shots of the flood, you can see there is still action going on -- there you go, judd gregg of new hampshire, his seat is open, he's one of those retiring senators an illustrates how it can be vulnerable and the odds are for republicans and continue to lean that way, this week stu rothlanberg said there are as many as 58 house seats democrats could lose or are in play and the trend lines are steeper and steeper and steeper for democrats and that is one reason why some of them are talk about early retirements. >> carl cameron in d.c., thanks. >> here's a question everybody is asking, this morning especially in washington. can putting a partial freeze on federal spending fix the budget and lower the deficit or is it just a band-aid? we'll talk with democratic senator jeff merkley, state ahead. [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new lexus gx. it has the agility and the power to take on any mission, and the space to accommodate precious cargo, because every great action hero needs a vehicle. see your lexus dealer. ♪ see yo♪r lexus dealer. raymond james financial advisers understand there's no one exactly like you. and with a culture of independence they have the complete freedom to offer unbiased financial advise that's right for your idea of retirement. not to mention college funds. raymond james. individual solutions from independent advisers. >> breaking news, quick-thinking by a customer at a quick check convenience store in southern new jersey. ramsberg township, unbelievable, the person called 911, because somebody was in the store who looked a little odd and cops get there and the police discover he has on a bulletproof vest and he runs and they chase him and he has a concealed rifle, and they go to his home and find an entire stash of weapons, some illegally and what they have done is prosecutors have now charged him with weapons charges. counts against lloyd woodson and then it goes further. duti does he have tires to terrorism and this morning they say there is no terrorism thinks and the stash not at his home, at a new jersey hotel room, where they found the weapons, separate from the ones he had at home, he's way, a bulletproof vest and concealed rifle and a customer notices. they say, you know, keep your eyes and ears open, if you see something, say something and the customer did and they picked the guy up and thankfully, no ties to terrorism. back to you guys. >> harris, thanks, the transportation department is announcing an immediate ban on text messaging by truck and bus drivers on the road. ban applies to drivers of interstate buses and trucks over 10,000 pounds and the move this morning is part of the national campaign against texting and cell phone use while driving and truck and bus drivers caught doing this could face fines up to $2700. >> president obama has a new plan to try to help trim america's 1.4 trillion dollar deficit and wants congress to freeze discretionary spending for three years starting next year and spending for national security and mandatory entitlement programs like social security and medicare would escape the budget axe. democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon serves on both the banking and budget committees, and he joins us now. what do you think of the president's proposals? >> i tell you, i'm really looking forward to hearing the details tomorrow night. what i really want to hear the president talk about is how we are going to put jobs back here in america. >> that seems to be the same focus a lot of other people have and was it a mistake for the senate and white house to spend so much of the last year working on health care? >> no, i don't think so. in fact in order to have our economy prosper, we have to be more efficient, more effective with health care, it is a handicap in our -- not only affects quality of life of our citizens and is a handicap with international trade and costs more to buy health care in america done in our competing nations. >> we just heard from stuart varney who said the spending freeze, the president is talking about, really amounts to a drop in the bucket, especially when the congressional budget office where you used to work is out this morning with a projection of a 1.-- almost 1.4 trillion dollar deficit. for this year. is it a drop in the bucket? >> well, as i understand in the first year it only affects $15 billion and grows sequentially, because you get a larger wedge, so, we want to see details but it is an indication we are struggling with two impulses here. one is creating a bridge out of the collapsed economy, into a stronger economy in the future and requires spending money and the second is not to create a structural debts that will handicap us down the road and those two things are in conflict with each other and we very much need to explore alternatives, such as the president's putting forward. >> structural debt sounds liken entitlement programs and things like medicare, medicaid, social security. is that what you are talking about. >> i'm talking about a debt that requires bonds to be sold to foreign nations, saudi arabia and china and interest is going out of our economy, whether creating jobs in our economy and means that instead of spending money on things that strengthen the quality of life and productivity of our nation we are spending money that is going to interest payments overseas and i couldn't have been more excited at the end of the clinton administration, we were en route to wiping out the debt and having debt free america -- handing a debt-free america to our children and we are certainly not there now. >> is that and in adopt of the stimulus spending? the $787 billion stimulus program? >> it is really an indictment of the debt run up during the bush administration, debt run up during more prosperous times and of the deregulation that led to an exploding economy, collapsing economy, in which it is necessary to build a bridge across that at this point. to avoid a great depression. >> the bush administration did a couple of things and expanded medicare benefits and cost us a ton of money, didn't it. >> and they did it without paying for it. which is -- i think is very important to rec, time after time the bush administration pursued things without paying for them and that is why we have been working hard on health care this year to make sure we pay for it. >> isn't that the problem with voters in general, we all want our cake but don't want to pay for it? >> well, that is... that is the eternal challenge. >> i want to ask you about the chairman of the federal reserve, ben bernanke. you were the first democrat to go on record opposing his renomination. to a second term. and the president clearly likes the guy and you came into office with president obama and supporting his election obviouslies. you are still planning to vote against -- against ben bernanke. >> yes, i am, is a member of the banking committee i went over his 8 year history as a member of the council of economic advisors and member and chairman of the fed and essentially he got item after item wrong and did one thing right and that is over the last year did a good job opening the credit windows, that helped us basically stop the slide into a great depression and that is a very important thing and i understand why people give him a lot of credit for that but look at his record over the previous 7 years he proceeded to either support or not owe pez or to ignore the expansion in derivatives, dropping nft leverage requirements, on the largest investment banks and expansion of proprietary trading that had our depository institutions gambling on the market and had responsibility for consumer protection and didn't do anything about kickbacks paid to brokers, and families that qualified for prime minister loan-- prime loans, into subprime loans and it became a disaster as warren buffett likes to say and he missed everything and to put it into an analogy led to the circumstances that led to the economic house burning down and is that the person you want to be the architect of putting the economy back together and we need somebody who will lean into the waned say to wall street when it is difficult to do so, it may be profitable in the short-term but it is damaging to the economy in the long term. >> no vote on ben bernanke, apparently, senator jeff merkley, democrat from oregon, thanks. >> a pleasure to join you. >> and we want to know what you think of the president's plan for a budget freeze, we have an unscientific poll going on and asked whether the partial spending freeze the president will propose is a good idea. 71% of you say it would be a bad idea, 22% say it may be a good idea and doesn't go far enough and 6% say it would be a good start. >> we are about to take you to texas. there is a major debate over how children are taught history. plus we're getting new information on the brother of former olympic ice skater nancy kerrigan, who is charged as you may know with assaulting their father during an argument, just before their father died. we are learning more details about mark kerrigan including his past run-ins with the law. anncr vo: with the new geico glovebox app... anncr vo: ...you can get help with a flat tire... anncr vo: ...find a nearby tow truck or gas station... anncr vo: ...call emergency services... anncr vo: ...collect accident information. anncr vo: or just watch some fun videos. anncr vo: it's so easy, a caveman can do it. caveman: unbelievable... caveman: where's my coat? it was suede with the fringe. vo: download the glovebox app free at geico.com. harris: welcome back to happening now, i'm harris faulkner at the breaking news desk. a big story at yale university when a student went missing. for days they looked for her. she disappeared the day before her wedding, and then they found her body behind the wall at the lab where she was a lab technician. a grad student at yale. and now the man accused in her murder, raymond clark iii, has just pleaded not guilt in new haven superior court. now he's charged with felony murder which means prosecutors don't even have to prove the killing was intentional, they just have to prove it happened. felony murder, now, charges against raymond clark ii. he's pleading not guilty. he was an animal research technician who worked with annie in that lab. both of these crimes, the felony murder and the traditional murder charges in that state carry 20-60-year prison sentences. back to you guys. jane: thanks. jon: most economists will tell you even a strong recovery won't bring an immediate end to high unemployment in this country. history shows american companies find prussianivity gains as they cut jobs and they don't hire back as many workers as they let go. consider this, 2009 marked the first drop in world productivity since 1991. but this the u.s. productivity rose 2 and a half percent making u.s. productivity the fifth highest in the world. james rosen is keeping an eye on this story from washington. all right, james, so does higher productivity spell trouble for unemployed workers because employers have now learned how to pump out more product with less labor? >> well, it certainly has over the last year-plus or so, but the economists that fox news contacted say that increased productivity over the long run leads to more jobs for more people. the two and a half percent growth in american productivity last year, which you just mentioned, jon, was in part spurred by enormous growth in the third quarter, 8.1%, the largest quarterly increase in the six years. at the same time, as we all now, jobs were being cut. the first quarter last year saw the largest quarterly drop in total hours worked, 9%. but companies can only grind out more for so long. over the long run demand eventually catches up with oversupply and employers once again see the value in human capital. >> perhaps they've also cut back on things like r&d, on things like product development which in the short term maybe don't do too much damage to output but in the long term would constrain productivity growth. so our view is as we're going into 2010, we're going to find that firms aren't going to be able to push the product it a lot further and are going to have to start to hire. >> and that holds for both manufacturing and services firms according to mr. galt who by the way, jon, earned his masters in economics at cambridge and his ph.d. at harvard, odds are that his math is spot on. jon: i would say so. i'm trying to think of a captain and tenille song that fits here. >> miss accurate love, perhaps. miss accurate love, perhaps. jon: what has to happen for people to start getting jobs back? >> seldom are productivity gains forfeited simply for the sake of bringing people back to work. by the way, we'll be talking more about that in tomorrow's on the job hunt segments. what has to happen is either a producer needs to reload on their inventory or best of all -- and this is what president obama and his allies say they are trying to foster with stimulus spending and other incentives -- new industries and technologies sprout up that require more human capital. of course, jon, along with that comes the requirements for education and training, but even those in such circumstances can prove to be growth industries. jon: james rosen in washington for us, james, thanks. jane: in texas a battle over textbooks and what kids should be learning about history and religion while they're in school. shannon bream is following this for us, what are some of the concerns we're hearing parents voicing? >> it's supposed to be a mix of parents, teachers, local citizens, they talk about curriculum and textbooks. one man in the group said he was only one of two people that was not an educator out of a group of about 50 people. he said there was a very strong liberal slant to what was being discussed. this group came up with these recommendations, eliminate mentions of independence day, veterans day, even christmas, remove the liberty bell from a list of patriotic symbols, get rid of daniel boone, paul revere, even general james patton. jane: how much success are these proposed changes having? >> they've taken their case to the state board of education there in texas. there are hearings before the board, they vote. so a lot of people have flood those expressing their concerns about where this curriculum could be doing. we talked with a lawyer who works to fight controversial changes, he says this group is very motivated by a specific agenda. here's what he told us. >> the reality is they just don't like our history, they don't can like the fact that our founding fathers had a particular religious faith, and that had an impact on our country. but, you know, that's no way to teach social science, that's no way to teach american history, and you don't need a ph.d. to be able to figure that out. >> he says essentially they are rewriting fact, and the important thing here is that textbook publishers nationwide look to texas when they are developing curriculum for the rest of the country, so it could have an impact on every school kid out there. jane: there's also support for these changes. who's supporting? >> yeah. they're definitely very organized about this, especially when it comes to highlighting the religious background of our founding fathers. they say, listen, religion doesn't belong in our kids' history books, they don't want it there, and they're actually upset that opponents have scored some victories. we have a quote from kathy miller who's with the texas freedom network, she's actually the president. they have been at the forefront of this. she says, quote, when partisan politicians take a wrecking ball to to the work of teachers and scholars, you get a document that looks more like a party platform than a social studies curriculum. the battle is far from over, jane. jane: shannon, thanks. jon: now to the death of the father of former olympic figure skater nancy kerrigan. we are learning troubling new details about her brother who pleaded not guilt yesterday to assaulting their dad. authorities say the father and son got into a struggle that turned violent over the weekend. 70-year-old daniel kerrigan later died. "the boston herald" reports mark kerrigan had been in a downward spiral way before this incident. joining us now, city editor for the boston herald. joe, we got a copy of the incident report that the officers filled out from the police department, pretty sobering stuff here. talks about how mark was reportedly belligerent and combative, and the officers who went in to this report of an unconscious individual, that would be the father lying there on the floor, had too poper spray him? pepper spray him? >> right, and it didn't work, jon. they had to drag him up the cellar stairs, and he was using his head to try to stop them from getting him up out of the cellar. but they just got him out of there, and all the while the father is undergoing cpr. jon: and he's got a pretty spotty history, doesn't he? >> he does. according to court records back in 2005 the he stood on his front lawn and said to police, go ahead, kill me. he was in an, you know, a vicious argument with his wife. it ended up with him being arrested on assault and drug charges. he was sent to jail, his wife divorced him, called him a mean drunk and his parents in 2008 sued him for $105,000 for unpaid bills. jon: yeah. they'd been apparently paying some of his expenses while he was in jail? >> exactly. paying for his pet food for his dog and cat, paying for his mortgage, paying for some of his other bills all according to court records. they did ultimately settle, settle that case. jon: there are two mark kerrigans that sort of emerge from these pictures. i mean, the arresting officer said that he and his father got into this fight, apparently, over the phone, the use of the family telephone. he was live anything his parents' basement. his father collapses and falls on the floor, he went down to the basement, and he's telling the cops, oh, you know, dad's just fake thing it. well, dad eventually died, as we all know, and yet you get that cold-hearted image of this son, and yet in court he was actually sobbing. there we have the picture, he's burying his head in his hands, and he's crying. >> right. and in the police report it's very interesting that he was trying to conceal something, the police say, so they were worried about it. they went and found it, and it was a bottle of scotch. so at the time of this tragedy, you know, he's, they believe he was intoxicated and then as you said, jon, once in court the tragic truth came out. jon: what's, what do we know about nancy kerrigan and how she's handling all this? >> the family put out a statement late last night saying they're grieving, of course, and they just are looking back at the father saying what a great guy he was, great grandfather, his wake is tomorrow, his funeral is thursday. this is a guy who had two jobs, he was a welder to try to get nancy kerrigan all of the skating practice and skating coaching she needed to go on and be the olympic hero that she was. so they are mourning the loss of 70-year-old dan kerrigan. jon: i know that people like kristi yamaguchi and paul wily, olympic skaters both, have reached out and expressed their support to nancy kerrigan, apparently he was very well known in the skating community, and a lot of people certainly miss him. all right, thanks very much for being with us, we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. jane: well, get this, it is the first time since prohibition that the coastline of prohibition has been so closely watched by federal law enforcement. they're not looking for bootleggers running whiskey. the coast guard will be with us next to show us what's going on. jon: new next hour, the white house saying it disagrees with a report card showing how the administration is doing on preventing a terror attack using weapons of mass destruction. in haiti people are finding that food and water aren't the only things in short supply, even when they can find necessities, they're having trouble getting their hands on cash. plus, what you need to know about the new rules for credit cards. did you know they're coming? how you can save yourself some money before it's too late. jane: immigration authorities in this country say a new and deadly kind of human smuggling is on the rise. police in san diego are seeing more scenes like this one. here you can see them rounding up nine illegals after that boat, which was overloaded -- it cap sized while they were trying to enter the u.s. by sea. at least one man on board that boat drowned. captain thomas harris, thanks for being here. they're coming by sea because it's gotten so much harder, as i understand, to do it by foot. can you describe to us what you're seeing, how many people are packed on these boats? >> yes. good morning, jane. generally due to the hardening of the southwest border, we're seeing a lot more work on the maritimes where the smuggling organizations are taking people out and typically a 25-35 foot boat. that boat is typically powered by one motor, has no real navigation or communications ability other than perhaps cell phones or handheld gp, ps. they go well offshore and, you know, in very cold water, what can be dangerous seas and try to make the transit north into san diego or orange county and then come can ashore at those point bees. obviously, a very dangerous proposition, especially when you look at 25 people aboard a small boat like that. vein jane wow, i would say so. and i can imagine they're also being charged an arm and a leg for this. >> well, generally that price does seem to have the been increasing. the best estimates that we hear are in the neighborhood of $5,000 per individual. jane: how do you go can about fighting this? >> well, our primary tool is collaboration between local law enforcement, the department of homeland security offices both cbp, immigration, customs enforcement, the coast guard. we meet weekly, we share resources, we deploy those resources up and down the coast. it's a lot of ocean to cover, but we feel like we're doing the absolute best we can when we work together. we get great cooperation from local law enforcement as far as north as orange county, san diego police department, san diego harbor police. it's really -- we're actually so crowded in our meeting room these days because we have so many organizations participating, it's a good thing though. jane: but it is a vast ocean to cover, as you say. captain, i'm going to put up some pictures for our viewers because this is also tied in some ways to drug smuggling that you're seeing. you've seen them smuggle drugs on a surfboard, jet sky, motorized raft? talk to me about this. >> well, you're right. they're very creative, and depending on the amount of drugs they want to smuggle, we've seen them strap them to surf boards and try to make a short trip across the border. weave seen them -- we've seen them actually glass the drugs into surf boards, jet skises as well where they're carrying the drugs on the body of the member or somehow integrating it into the jet sky body. they'll try to get north across the border by using a pleasure craft and blending in with the normal pleasure craft traffic that there's quite a bit of in the san diego area. again, we work together on that issue with our partners and field operations investing those boats -- investigating those boats and doing some intrusive inspections. jane: so much work to be done. captain harris, thanks for your time. >> thank you, jane. jon: a mail mayo clinic shocking some of its patients by closing its doors to some medicaid patients. what it says about president obama's health care reform plan. what if you could capture the fresh taste of broccoli in a luscious soup? v8 garden broccoli. from campbell's. velvety, delicious. campbell's v8 soups. also, try new garden vegetable blend. jon: another blast of arctic weather is pushing into the northern plains in the midwest. meantime in minnesota folks are -- montana folks are still digging out. some areas in montana saw 2 feet of snow. you montana residents, i'm going to give you the phone number to the weather center, janice dean is there, she will come help you dig out. [laughter] >> no! oh, my goodness, jon scott, yeah, it's been quite a winter already, and more cold weather is on the way. we're going to get cold in the next few days. here's our upper level low that's spinning across the great lakes bringing snow across the ohio river valley and parts of the northeast. this is nothing compared to what we could see this weekend, perhaps a weekend snowstorm courtesy of our storm in the pacific that's moving into california. they don't want to see any more rain and/or snow because they got just inundated last week, but more rain is on the way, and this is going to be a weather maker for the plain states. i just want to show you the cold air that is sinking southward from our canadian friends, this is where the temperatures are going to get colder across the southern plains in towards the next couple of days, and that is going to set the scenario for a possible ice storm for places like kansas, missouri, oklahoma city as we head into thursday. there's that ice moving into this region, significant ice accumulations are possible, and this storm could be our weather maker this weekend for the mid atlantic and northeast, get those shovels out, jon scott. jon: those of us who ski, we're loving it. >> yes, absolutely. silver lining, jon scott, we love you. jon: janice dean, thanks. jane: president obama's push for health care calls for better treatment at low cost. the president has praised the mayo clinic as an example of efficiency, but they say they lose more than $800 million a year treating medicare patients. now they have closed the door to medicare patients at one of their clinics in arizona, and there are worries they may have to stop in other states as well. william is on this story for us, he's in l.a. to explain what's going on here. william? >> well, jane, that is the fear that more and more doctors and hospitals will refuse to care for medicare patients because the government reimbursement doesn't cover the true cost of care, that those providers can no longer cover the loss, if you will, with private-pay patients. now, the president, as you said, has used the mayo model as a national blueprint, so when the mayor clinic speaks, people listen. >> i think it's rather outrageous. it's unbelievable. >> glenn standard is one of 3,000 medicare patients recently told by the mayo clinic in excellent dale, arizona, it can the no longer aford to treat them. >> and as of january 1 we're kind of put out to pasture. i've been coming to this facility for a long time. >> i have to find another doctor. >> the mayo clinics nationwide lost $840 million last year caring for medicare patients, more than 120 million of that here in arizona. >> in medicare we lose a great deal of money because the payments pretty much across the board do not pay the cost of what it costs to provide the care. >> that's bad news for president obama who planned to pay for his health care reforms by further cutting medicare reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. >> you are likely to see more of this spread to other hospitals, to provide, who will say i can't afford to treat medicare patients the way that i want to treat patients. >> so what does it mean for the big picture if congress helps to pay for health care reform by cutting medicare reimbursements as it does? jane, they could have a mutiny on their hands from doctors, hospitals and patients. jin jane william, thanks. jon: for years we have been warned about the possibility of a bioterror attack on u.s. soil. we have watched as authorities conduct drills like this one. now an alarming new report finds the u.s. is not prepared to deal with such an attack. we'll talk to one of the people behind this troubling report, plus we'll tell you how the white house is reacting. that's ahead. sfx: coin drop sfx: can shaking when you own a business, nothing beats the sound of saving time and money. and it's never been simpler to save - with regions lifegreen checking and savings for business. you'll enjoy free online and mobile banking. and with regions quick deposit, you can deposit checks right from your desk. drop by and get started with a business financial review through a regions cashcor analysis. it's how business gets into the rhythm of saving. regions it's time to expect more. jon: hello and "happening now," washington is seeing red and lots of it. the congressional budget office estimates the national deficit to be $1.35 trillion this year while president obama floats a plan to freeze some federal spending. jane: major changes to your credit card coming in just the next really week or so, coming in february. we'll tell you what you need to do to be ready and save money. jon: he robbed 12 banks in two months. now the fbi wants your help finding the blue note bandit. jane: but first, a government panel is warning at this hour that the united states is not ready for a terror attack using weapons of mass destruction. it's a bipartisan commission, and it's giving the obama administration a failing grade for not doing enough to prevent a devastating biological attack possibly in the next two years. here's a look at the report card. the commission assigns 17 grades ranging from an incomplete to an a, here are the first four. the panel gives the obama administration an f for biological risks, specifically saying the administration -- like the administrations before it -- has not stepped up the nation's ability to spobd quickly -- respond quickly to such an attack. it also got a d plus for securing labs involving the deadly pathogens. you can see it's not all bad, the administration get an a for securing dangerous pathogens. the white house has responded at this hour saying it does not agree with the commission's result and says it has accomplished a great deal to protect the american people. the president will be announcing new counterterrorism measures tomorrow, we expect, in the state of the union address. joining us now is colonel randall larson, thanks for your time this morning. the headline being we're not prepared, eight and a half years after 9/11, why the heck not? >> well, it's a good question, jane. i think we all saw an example this fall. we had five months' advance warning that we were going to have an h1n1 pandemic. thankfully, it was not as serious as some thought it was going to be, but yet we did not have vaccine ready if five-months' warning. if we have a bioterrorism attack, there will be no warning, and as we listed in our report, there's about seven stages to that biological response. and they're all very weak in capabilities, all seven areas. jane: can you explain the fs in particular? >> oh, absolutely. the, like i say, we're not capable of properly diagnosing and detecting a biological attack. we don't have all the medical supplies we need, we don't have the capability to produce them quick enough. why? because we're using 60-year-old technology to make important vaccines. we need a new system for doing that better. our emergency rooms, the emergency room association, physicians association recently gave a d -to americans' american rooms to handle a surge, so it doesn't make a difference whether we're talking about a bioattack or an emergency in california, this is important whether there's a biological attack on the, jane. there's so many disasters natural or manmade that we need this improved capability. jane: i want to put up the response specifically from the administration today. it says the obama administration rolled out a national strategy for countering biothreats in november and has taken about? steps to enhance the nation's capabilities to prevent biological attacks from inflicting mass casualties. are you saying they haven't done that or they haven't done enough? >> that report primarily addresses preventing a biological attack which is important, and we gave them a high grade for that strategy, by the way, but the issue is it's not, that strategy was not about this response issue that we're talking about. by the way, the obama administration signed by the president on that document says this is a threat that could kill hundreds of thousands of americans and cost a trillion dollars in economic damage for each incident. so, you know, they say it's a very serious threat, but we don't think they're giving it the priority. we are very pleased that the president is going to address this issue in the state of the union. he needs to give the nation a challenge, like president kennedy did in 1961 about when he said we put a man on the moon within a decade. tomorrow night the president needs to say that america is going to remove biological weapons from the category of wmd. that's capable, we are capable of doing that if he gives it the right priority. it must come from the very top. jane: and does that mean putting money into it? is that the answer? >> yes. absolutely. but it's small potatoes. in our report we said they need $3.34 billion to fund the capability to make new vaccines and therapeutics. right now congress and the obama administration only want to fund that at about 10 president, about $305 million. so when you compare this to the department of defense programs, these are pretty small poe potatoeses, but they're a very important part of national security. public health is part of national security in the 21st century. we need to understand that the. jane colonel randall larson, executive directer of this bipartisan commission. it's fascinating stuff, we'll put it on our blog. go to foxnews.com/happening now. colonel, thank you for your time. >> thank you. jon: well, of course the administration had a lo -- has a lot of decisions to make, the president will ask congress to put a freeze on nonsecurity discretionary spending that would start in 2011 and last three years. mean meantime, the national debt continues to soar, the numbers will astound you. $12,302,465,478,917 and somebody decided to include 34 cents, and it's growing. the president is expected to propose the freeze in his state of the union address tomorrow night. let's get to major garrett, he is live at the white house. we have some new estimates from the congress canal budget office -- congressional budget office on the early read of the president's proposed spending freeze. give us some of the details. >> good afternoon, jon. as you indicated, the congressional budget office which is nonpartisan, basically it's the accounting arm to run all the numbers, well, the cbo projects this next fiscal year is a deficit of $1.2 trillion. let me put that in some kind of economic context, that would be 9.2% of the nation's gross domestic product, that would be the second largest deficit since world war ii. the biggest was, of course, last year, $1.4 trillion. now, this proposed three-year spending freeze would, if enacted, in its first year save 10 or $15 billion, and the cbo says over the next ten years we're going to amass deficits equaling $6 trillion. the cbo directer says this is a step in the right direction, but a small one. jon: congress has jobs bills, would those be affected by the proposed freeze? >> oh, yes, folks, more numbers. 170 billion is what the house has passed, the senate is looking at $80 billion. those would not be affected by the spending freeze because they're designed to stimulate the economy held outside of the budget. so even as we talk and congress debates whether or not to go for a partial freeze on some spending, others would go up. jon: major garrett live at the white house, thank you. the president will deliver his first state of the union address, as i mentioned, tomorrow, 9 p.m. eastern time. we will have the entire thing live as well as the republican response here on fox news channel. full coverage right here on fox. jane: want to get to haiti. two weeks ago that powerful earthquake hit and millions are still struggling. adding to the lack of food, shelter and medicine is the fact that now there are a lot of lines at banks. people rushing to withdraw money, but the cash is very limited and, guess what? two more aftershocks rocking port-au-prince just today. amy kellogg is there for us, how are people getting money that they need to survive? >> yeah, jane, every day there's a new need that we focus on because there are so many here. today people are really talking about money because, of course, haitians need money to buy basic essentials, some are relying on aid, but others are just trying to survive on their own, so they're going to the banks, frantically trying to withdraw the local currency which is in short supply. some banks have been demolished, some have lost records, and apparently some safes have been looted, so it's a quite tense situation trying to sort that all out. some haitians don't have any money to draw on so they've been relying on transfers from family members abroad. there have been big lines outside of those cash transfer points, some people sleeping outside to secure their place in line, others just showing up at 3 in the morning not even knowing if the money will have arrived, but it's all they can do. we spoke to one person today who was just desperate to get some fresh clothing, he'd been in the same thirty for two weeks, here's what he had to say. >> we need the money to get the food, get the clothing because everything is closed down, and especially me. i got this shirt right here been on two weeks. a lot of people don't have no clothes, they don't have anything. that's why the money is meaningful for them. >> jane, estimates are at the best of times that two, that a third of haiti's gdp is these overseas remittances, so you can imagine right now just how much people here are relying on that because there are more people in need, and, of course, there's the issue of whether there will be cash to dispense at all these transfer points. people are desperately looking for answers from the government, but as we've been discussing, the government is really not functioning at this moment, jane. jane: amy kellogg in port-au-prince, thanks. jon: the actor john travolta is offering some major support to the quake survivors in haiti. the star, who is a pilot, if you didn't know, flew his own plane to port-au-prince with six tons of food and medical supplies on board. his wife, kelly preston, doctors as well as ministers from his church of scientology also on that flight. saying, quote, we have the ability to make a difference, so i just can't see not using the plane to help. here are some brand new exclusive photos that show a truck convoy taking relief supplies from the dominican republican into haiti. each day a convoy, escorted by u.s. immigrations and customs enforcement agents, brings food and other supplies into port-au-prince. it's a 16-hour trek to port port-au-prince and back. to see more of this slide show, go to foxnews.com slash live photos. jane: well, there's a mystery of some missing hikers in california. for the second time this month, a woman has vanished not far from san francisco. what has happened? this latest woman is said to know this area very well, we'll give you the latest in moments. jon: a search underway right now for a missing 77-year-old woman in california. the second woman to vanish suddenly from the same area. search and rescue teams are scouring point reyes national seashore near san francisco looking for sylvia lang. she disappeared saturday. her car and her dog found at the beach parking lot next day but no sign of lang. friends say she is an experienced hiker who trains dogs for the disabled. two weeks ago another woman disappeared just 8 miles from where lang's around car was found, that woman is still missing. jane: tsunami warning signs are setting off a bit of a controversy in southern california. the signs tell residents of san diego what to do in case a tidal wave hits the city, but critics say the signs are just a waste of money in this day and age. supporters of the program say a tsunami did hit that area after an alaskan can earthquake back in 1964, and the public safety campaign is actually very important. jon: attorney general eric holder is taking the heat for some of the obama administration's most controversial decisions like putting the christmas day bombing suspect and four 9/11 terror suspects on trial in federal criminal courts. the political backlash is mounting, and holder could be the one to pay the price. national correspondent katherine herridge has more live from washington. >> good morning, jon. congressman frank wolf and a senior republican on the senate side tell fox they plan to introduce legislation that will effectively block the transfer of the 9/11 suspects to new york city by cutting off the money from capitol hill. >> the cost of moving a handful of people and trying them keeping them in new york city this the appeals are out could cost up to a ball, so it would be done through the appropriations process. >> there are a lot of democrats who opposed the idea of sending them to noits new york city, and if i have another vote, i think i'll get a majority of the united states senate. >> senator graham says this it s the real problems the administration is creating by mirandizeing the suspect. jon: and i guess there was a letter that went late last night from capitol hill to the attorney general from the white house counterterrorism adviser? what do you know about that. >> that's correct. it urges the attorney general eric holder and john brennan to immediately transfer the alleged christmas day bomber from civilian to military custody. >> may have information that will help us stop the next terrorist act. >> it's not too late for the administration to try to undo the harm of its earlier decision. >> the circumstances surrounding abdulmutallab's case are unusual, but a leading national security a adviser tells fox a transfer may be possible if that is ultimately what the administration chooses to do. jon: catherine herridge in washington, thank you. jane: you read your credit card bill lately? well, huge changes are coming really soon. they could end up costing you, they may already have. some things that are happening before the law takes effect, we're going to talk about what you need to know to get ready. why was i hit with this terbolt? at 43. when i try to eat right and take care of myself. now i'm on an aspirin regimen becauset helps me live the life i want to live. so i can continue to do the things that iove. it's so simple. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i feel great about the future. i'm here. i got a second chance. it's not a big deal to go to your doctor. it is a big deal to have a heart attack. [ male announcer ] learn more about protecting your heart at iamprohet.com. one pack. 6 days. that's elations. new elations. clinically proven to improve joint comfort... in as little as six days. drinking it every day keeps it working. elations has clinically proven levels... of glucosamine and chondroitin, in a powerful form that's more absorbable... than joint supplement pills. tastes great. goodbye, horse pills. start your joints on the road to comfort... in one pack, six days. that's elations. the new standard in joint health. jon: if you have credit card bills, and just about all of us do, there's more reason than ever to pay them off. the new credit card reform law goes into effect just a few weeks from now. the new rules are meant to protect both consumers and lenders, but as this change in the law looms, credit companies are crafting some new fees and ways to raise your rates. here with some advice that'll save you money, personal be finance expert and author of "get a financial life," beth. this starts february 22nd, right? >> that's right. jon: the law takes effect that governs how credit card companies can deal with all of this -- >> exactly. jon: but some of the changes they've been sneaking in the door already. >> these guys are quite creative, the credit card companies, in that they've been aguessively coming up with sneaky new tricks to get in right under the wire before february 2 22nd. jon: such as. >> such as hiking interest rates on people whether you're late or not. the other big one is hiking rates on existing balances. if cuff $3,000 on your credit card and they hike the rate on you, you sort of are at a loss. jon: that's one of things they're not going to be able to do after february. >> exactly. jon: all right. you brught us a list d brought us a list, the first thing you say is open your mail. >> it sounds silly, but i have to tell you how many smart people i know that don't open your mail. open your mail, read what's going on, see how the changes in rates affect you because if you have good credit, maybe you can switch. jon: some of the banks bury information in that fine print. all right. don't opt in to overspend because that's one of the choices you're going to be given, right. >> exactly. so right now what they say is that you can opt out and a credit card company will come to you after february 22nd and say we will give you more credit. you have a $5,000 limit? oh, we'll give you $8,000. but what they don't say is they'll charge you an extra high rate for that. jon: don't go for that. if it looks good -- >> if it looks good, don't take it. don't go with that. jon: all right. watch for the new annual fees. even cards that haven't cost in the past are going to start to cost or jack up their annual fees? >> that's right. 15-20 years ago annual fees were envogue, then they got rid of it, now they're going to bring back the annual fees, so you have to look for cards that don't have annual fees. also if you have rewards cards, think about it f you're only getting $50 back but the annual fee is $75, may not be worth it. jon: and higher interest rates coming on a lot of these cards. >> absolutely. stay alert for that. pay attention. again, the great news about the new rules is after february 22nd you have to be late more than 60 days before they can boost the interest rate on your existing balances retroactively, so the new rules will be great, but be aware until then. jon: and this seems so simple, but you say pay on time. >> the bottom line is old rules, new rules, the number one thing you have to do is pay on time. it will keep your credit record good, it will make sure you won't get new fees, new charges, and that's the boom line for all americans -- bottom line for all americans. jon: that is so annoying when i send it in a day late and it's a $39 charge. >> do it automatically, that's the smartest thing, get it paid on time. jon: i'm lucky because jane has volunteered to start paying my credit cards. [laughter] jane: i put him on a payment plan. well, a desperate plea to president obama we're going to tell you about coming from a girl in egypt. she's asking the president to do something for her family. we'll explain. ya know, i'm really glad we finally decided to see where raisin bran crunch is made. yeah, this trip is way overdue. i just can't wait to see all those crunchy flakes in action. i hope i get a chance to put two scoops!™ of raisins in some boxes. you know what will really get us in the spirit? ♪ 99 boxes of raisin bran crunch ♪ ♪ if you're nice to me i'll share some with you ♪ ♪ you take one down ( and pass it around ) ♪ ♪ 98 boxes of raisin bran crunch ♪ three tasty ingredients, one great combination. ♪ raisin bran crunch! from kellogg! she is the greatest thing ever. one little smile, one little laugh. honey bunny. [ babbles ] [ laughs ] we would do anything for her. my name is kim bryant and my husband and i made a will on legalzoom. it was really easy to do. [ spits ] [ both laugh ] [ robert ] we created legal zoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. teenage girl in egypt is making an urgent appeal to president obama, why she says she needs his help to save her life and that of her father. jon: a huge reward for information leading to the arrest of this guy, the blue-nosed bandit, cops think he's behind 12 bank robberies. how you can catch him and get that reward. jane it's rough for retailers as we scale back on purchases but retailers are hard working for -- working hard for your money. jenna lee has a survival guide. jon: lawmakers taking up the issues of aviation security, specifically the locations and failings of the christmas day bombing plot. steve cena -- centanni is live in washington. >> reporter: they're talking intelligence failures and chairman and co-chairman of the committee, senators lieberman and collins are talking about getting umar faacabdulmutallab put into the military system. they were critical of giving miranda rights and a lawyer at his questioning. >> including a lawyer, who immediately council dollars him to remain silent, even though he may have information that could protect the american people from another terrorist attack. to me this is outrageous, a kind of alice in wonderland turning of the world of common sense on its head. >> reporter: and one witness testifying today, former congressman lee hamilton, vice chair of the 9/11 commission, pointed to a lack of leadership, maintaining president obama doesn't yet have a firm grasp of the intelligence community, jon. jon: what about homeland security? i guess we're going to hear from janet napolitano later today. >> reporter: right. she'll talk about aviation security and screening and her recent trip to europe where she tried to convince some other countries to beef up security, especially to move ahead on installing those full body scanners that the europeans have so far strongly resisted, the secretary attended a summit meeting of european nation necessary toledo, spain, then went on to a meeting with the air transport association in geneva. napolitano says a comprehensive approach is really needed using new technology that are information sharing and higher international security standards, jon. jon: steve centanni, thanks. jane: a young egyptian girl is calling on president obama to save otherham fea, dina el gohary urged him to save she and her father from religious persecution. they became christian. they're living in a part of the world where doing so can mean death. they're also asking for help to get out of egypt and come to the united states. dana lewis is streaming live in cairo. explain what's going on here. >> reporter: jane, there are a lot of christians here, as many as 14 million of them. they say they're facing a new wave of discrimination and acts of violence, and this man and his 15-year-old daughter who tried to convert to christianty, they were not recognized by the courts, now say that they are being hunted and flee fog their lives. >> reporter: dina and maher never pray twice at the same church, they are always on the run. born muslims, they became christians after both say they had religious visions, el gohary says he is being hunted. >> somebody tried to kill us. >> they tried to kill you? >> yes. >> reporter: several religious fatwahs were issued after el go hey asked the country to recognize his religion. a legal conversion to christianty would threaten public order. there are anywhere from eight to 14 million christians in egypt. earlier this month three muslim men sprayed gunfire at a church in upper egypt, killing six christians and wounding a dozen more. christians rioted the next day. dina has written a letter asking for help. you said the muslim minority in america are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise, we are imprisoned in our own home. >> jane, we can tell you we followed these two for a day in egypt, they are genuinely terrified, they are no longer in cairo, we've been asked to not say what city they are in. they've appeared a couple of days ago, we've learned the committee for international religious freedom which reports to the president asked for refugee stat nous america and the committee is examining their request. jane: i know you'll keep us updated. thank you. jon: new retail sales out today and stores are looking ahead. what do they have to do to try to stay in business in this difficult 2010 year, and how can you survive this rocky retail environment? jenna lee has the answers for us. >> reporter: i will tell you the only way to shop is to shop smart, so we're going to talk about that survival shopping. that's right. we saw retail sales just in the last week drop about 2 percent. a week ago, before that, they were up 2 percent, so retailers are getting a very mixed message from consumers about how we're actually shopping, so what does that mean for retailers? it means they're going to keep less stuff on their shelves, there's going to be less inventory, they're still going to be creative with sales so, that leads us to our survival guide, because as consumers we really do have the power in this environment. let's start off with the first thing we should be looking for and that is coupons, coupons, coupons. did you know we are at the highest level of couponing in this decade, and we actually have seen the most coupons out there for us, the re -- since the recession of the 19' \on/zeros. -- 197 os. you can find them online, in your paper, even in receipts. watch that receipt when you get it from the store. coupons can get you up to 17 percent without any other additional sales, that's according to burt flik inger who safe us the survival tips. the next one to look at, if you are going to shop sales, here's the key f. there's mid-week sales, that's the new thing for retailers, so a tuesday or random wednesday, you might see great deals there. also if you're going to shop by the and of the month, you feel a little less rich, so they know that you feel like you could spend more at the beginning of the month and that's where you'll see the biggest sales. finally, some of the private label products, you see them on the stores, they're next to your big brand names, regional products, a regional milk producer, for example, or apple juice or soda, even in the clothing lines, like vera warning at kohl's, sometimes you look at this and wonder if they're the same as the name brands and the tips from strategic resources, he says they're exactly the same quality so you don't have to worry about getting less for your money. shop those brands. the know the loyalty programs you want to join? you probably want to consider that, you get extra deals there as well. jane: jenna is very loyal to shoes. >> there is plenty of support for a woman like me. jon: and we're not even showing them now. we'll get them in the next pic. good news for women on campus today, there are now more men on campus. a new study finds the gender gap between college men and women has stopped growing. more guys, finally, are heading to college. women have outnumbered men applying to and graduating from college since 1978. but new research says the number is finally leveling off. the american council on education finds men account for 43 percent of overall college enrollment. they earn 43 percent of the bachelor's degrees. that's still a huge gap. jane: it is. it's changing. the las vegas strip, did you see it, it was full of activity bright and early, cops chase ago suspected car thief right through town. how does this baby end? we'll show you. jon: a wild ride for a suspected car thief in las vegas. take a look at this, the driver led police on a high speed chase through parts of the city, police followed the car for more than 45 minutes, then a strange twist, the suspected thief ended the chase simply by driving into a casino parking lot, the sun coast casino miles from the strip. cops later arrested one man and a woman. jane: a lot of talk about your money this week, the economy will likely be a major focus of the president's state of the union address tomorrow night, and it looks at this point anyway like this week we will see a vote by the u.s. senate on federal reserve chairman ben bernanke, on the possibility of a second term for him, plus, as we just heard this morning the president is expected to announce a freeze on some federal spending. he's expected to talk about that in the state of the union. joining us now from capitol hill is republican senator richard shelby of alabama, ranking member of the senate banking committee, senator shelby says he's planning to vote no on ben bernanke's renomination. senator, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you jane. jane: supporters of ben bernanke have said the last thing this economy needs is turmoil and if you get rid of bernanke, we're going to see turmoil. your thoughts. >> oh, i don't believe that. you know, people are people. chairman bernanke is an economist and he's a human being, and if he's rejected or if -- or if he were to withdraw, which i doubt, there would be somebody else we'd scrutinize and somebody would be a strong signal to the market. markets go up and down but they don't stay down on news of an individual very long. jane: he's credited with averting a deeper economic crisis this this country. that's no small feat. why are you opposed to him? >> well, he helped create that problem, as a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve and chairman for four years, he helped create the lax attitude towards regulating the very banks and institutions that he bailed out, for the most part. i think he deviated from a lot of his own teachings, he is a poor regulator, the federal reserve is a poor regulator. i don't believe he deserves another term. i think he's a nice man, and he's a smart man, but i think we could do better. will we? i think the president is all out getting votes for his nominee and a lot of other people will vote for him and they'll say just what you said, oh, he helped bail out the economy. he caused a lot of problems, or helped cause a lot of the problems. he set fire to something, then ran down with a fire truck to help put it out. jane: senator, spoaters would also say to you that this is a political vote, you'd like to go back home to the voters in your state and say see, i punished somebody for this economic crisis. how do you respond? >> well, i'm not -- i disagree with that totally. first of all, i was one of the top opponents, if not the top opponent, about the bailout that he was in the center of. i asked the people not to vote for the bailout, for t.a.r.p., and i met at the white house with president bush and said it's a horrible mistake to do this, the car companies, the same way. i still believe that, and i think history will indiindicate that down the road. jane: should anybody else be sharing the blame for all this and take the fall? >> well, there's a lot of blame to go around, but the issue before us now is ben bernanke, is he the best qualified person to be the federal reserve chairman, and obviously, if you look at the last four years, the answer is no. jane: i want to ask you, if you think, when it comes down to it, he will be confirmed for a second term. your thoughts, yes or no. >> well, i haven't counted the votes, but there are a lot of people out there, including the president, twisting arms with a lot of people who want to vote against him, and will probably vote for him, but i can tell you, a good no vote would be good for the country. jane: i mentioned you're the ranking member of the senate banking committee. i want to ask you, too, about what we heard from the white house today, that the president tomorrow will outline his request for a freeze in spending, in nonsecurity spending, basically. your thoughts. >> well, first of all, i believe it would be about 17 percent of the budget. i think it's more politics than substance. what we really need is a meaningful citizens presidential people to put together a commission, not to raise taxes to balance the budget, but to cut programs. everything should be involved. but that's going to take a lot of political will, it has to start with the president, and it would have to end up on capitol hill. we're not there, this proposal there goes nowhere like that. jane: senator richard shelby of alabama, good to see you, sir, thank you. >> thank you jane. jon: as jane and the senator were speaking, we got word of a hazardous material situation, upper marlboro, maryland, some kind of a tanker truck leak there after an accident. the driver had to be extricated. harris is on it, she'll bring us the latest from the breaking news desk. !e!e!e!e!e!ee jon: the feds are on the hunt for brazen bank robber. law enforcement is calling him the blue note bandit, that's because he uses blue paper for his demand letter during his first robbery. since then he has hit 12 banks across orange county, california. now there is a $10,000 reward if you can help capture this guy. joining us now with more fbi, los angeles special agent pat connelly. interesting m.o. here, he seems to wear these more or less disguises, he puts on the baseball cap and the sunglasses. in one case he was asked to take that off, he said no, and went in and robbed the bank anyway, huh? >> reporter: that's correct. he's very brazen, been consistent in his approach with the victim tellers, but in that one instance he was real brazen and went past a bank manager and another employee, right to the teller, despite them asking to take off his hat and glasses. jon: does he carry a weapon? >> he's not displayed one. there's all this concern that he would have one on him so we have to approach him with caution and our bank employees are told to be caucus with this individual. jon: he seems to skip around, he hits a lot of different bank branches, a lot of different companies. >> yes, he's been at multiple areas. primarily in orange, and southern orange county. but he has gone to multiple branches and multiple banks, including some banks inside grocery stores. jon: i guess the fear always is that these things could escalate. >> we're always concerned about that, we do not know his motivation. many times, often times we deal with people who are feeding some form of habit, whether it be drugs or a gambling problem and when people can become this desperate we're not sure how they'll react when approached or challenged. jon: there is a reward offered by wells fargo, obviously they'll make a determination as to whether the information is worthwhile or not, but here's the number: jon: i wanted to update you, or get an update from you quickly about the 20 questions bandits. we've talked about them before. they're a pretty scary bunch and i guess the reward for them is still out there. >> yes, unfortunately, since the last time we've spoke, they've declared at least three more violent takeover robberies, they've become an increasingly aggressive, very violent, they've assaulted bank employees and we're interested in the public's help in locating them. fortunately bank of america has come forward and offered a $50,000 cash reward for any information that will lead to the arrest and or conviction of these subject, so we're really seeking some help in trying to stop this crime spree with these people. jon: pat connelly is with the fbi. there's the number, if you have information: the jon: the fbi would like to hear from you and if you're in the orange county, southern california area and you've got information on any of these bank robbers, there's a lot of money available if you help catch them. pat connelly, thank you. jane: we're going to take you to oregon where voters are casting their ballots now on who could get hit with higher taxes. dan springer is in portland. dan? >> reporter: jane, high income earners and also all companies, but because this is taking place during a recession, there is high interest among politicians and pawndit -- pundits across the country. i'll have that story coming up after the break. jane: a crucial vote today in oregon, folks casting their ballot as we speak on a ref rndum that could spark a trend across the country, the initiative would raise taxes on businesses and individuals making more than $125,000 a year. again, byes and individuals. dan springer is at a polling place in portland. dan, this is being closely watched in washington, d.c., i would imagine. >> reporter: well, that's right, jane. you know, political pundits and politicians are always trying to read the tea leaves and see the mood of the voters and after the vote in massachusetts last week, the gop believes there's momentum for smaller government, lower taxes, and so that's why they actually sent out the republican -- the republican national committee sent out a staffer to work on the no campaign, he's trying to show that the mood is for smaller government. on the other side of the coin, you've got democratic politicians who are hoping for a yes vote, to show that the mood of the voters is that even though we're in a deep recession, that they would increase their own taxes, and the taxes here would be on individuals making $125,000 or more, or couples making $250,000 or more, and all businesses would see some tax increase if these measures were to pass today, jane. jane: how does someone in oregon justify taxing themselves more in this economy? >> reporter: well, it is a tough economy here, and that's the big debate, what will the impact be. you know, unemployment here is at 11.1%, this economy, the private sector has shed 115,000 jobs over the last three years, at the same time, government jobs have actually increased. so that is the question everybody wants to know. this is a $730 million tax increase. that's huge here. that's 5 1/2% of their budget. and the question on everyone's minds is is this the time to raise taxes. >> the time -- in a time of very dire economic straits, who does it make sense to ask to pay a little bit more? everybody across the board? or just those who continue to do well in this economy? i think the latter is what makes sense. >> in the middle of this kind of an economy, to be asking businesses that are already struggling to come up with that much more money makes little sense. again, what we need is to get people back to work. >> reporter: and we talked to one economist who said that this is a very risky strategy because of all the jobs that have been shed in the private sector, you are likely to see that continuing, and also might see companies leave the state or not locate here because of higher taxes. jane: dan springer in portland for us, dan, thanks jon: get you caught up on that hazardous material spill in maryland, harris is on it from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: jon, there is a huge response to this in upper marlboro, maryland here crume airport road. take a look at these pictures, they've dispatched fire departments, fire operations, several hazmat teams, and from radio transmissions, we know this is a full hazmat level three situation. i looked that up with the cdc, that means it's very serious just in terms of how they want to absorb material that is actively leaking from that overturned tanker that's down at the bottom left of your screen as you look at it. the driver had to be taken out, extricated from the front cab, but in the meantime, they're trying to soak up some of that stuff. they don't want it going down into the ground, getting into the groundwater. we don't know what it is, but it's serious enough they are working copyusely to -- copiously to try to get that up in maryland, a dangerous mess potentially in maryland. jon: harris faulkner, thanks, harris. breaking news out of the white house, this is the presidential press secretary, robert gibbs, he is about to brief reporters, and we're going to hear some, we expect, about the president's proposals for a spending freeze on some layers of the federal government. let's listen in. >> -- talked about, one of the things you'll hear him mention tomorrow and in the coming days, similar to what i've said on cap and trade, and that is that we've started a process on this, and if congress can put together the way forward, a coalition to get the way forward, then it's something we'll work through. >> does that coalition include senator mccain? >> that's a good question for senator mccain. he's obviously been an enormously strong supporter of immigration reform over the course of many years, and i think has been a valuable spokesperson for reform