Thats an alltime record. And pennsylvania, theyve been in the heart of the misery, a giant pile up on friday. Abcs linn swree janice was right there. Reporter the sun was shining, the roads mostly clear, but there was one problem, temperatures plummeted overnight and turned this pennsylvania turnpike into a sheet of ice. Reporter causing this fivemile long Chain Reaction pileup. More than a hundred cars, dozens injured. Almost all of this weather can be related to a single pattern locked in place. All winter, its been stuck. Every time in the weather center, we see the same thing, the jet stream cutting the nation in half. On the east, the coldest in decades to come as far south as the deep south, the gulf, really. And the jet stream in the right place, that moisture rides along it, snowstorm after snowstorm from the great lakes to the northeast. But thats also creating an extreme in the west. That big ridge gives record drought and heat. California last year, the driest year on record. President obama traveled west friday to see the drought up close. What happens here matters to every working american. Reporter Wayne Friedman from abc 7 in San Francisco visited a hay farm thats seen barely a sprout this year. What this drought is doing in california is unprecedented in five generations of living memory. Reporter he says the it will affect everything from food prices to hydro electric power. We could see brownouts from less water. For Small Agricultural towns, we are seeing the effects. Some of them have 50 unemployment. Bottom line, in california, a way of living could be ending. Reporter but are the extremes of one year related to Climate Change . Stanfords noah has been working through that very thorny link. He says manmade change does exacerbate the extreme weather events, meaning more intense storms, floods, tornados and droughts to come. Dr. Judith curry of georgia tech says climate models arent there yet. Just not up to the task of distinguishing what has caused an individual extreme weather event. For this week, ginger zee, abc news, new york. Lets go now to North Carolina governor, pat mccrory, los angeles mayor, eric garcetti, abcs chief important rebecca jarvis. And dr. Heidi cullen, author of the weather of the future. And week after week after week of these storms, the economy taking a hit. Absolutely, george. Were seeing it on multiple levels. Theres lost wages, theres the increasing costs of heating homes. Some estimates say as much as 4. 5 billion will go into heating bills this winter. Then you have businesses. The airlines have suffered massively under this, 75,000 flight cancellations. United saying its an 80 million cost. Cities are experiencing it. Theyre paying more to clear the snow. Chicago came out and said we expected to spend 20 million on snow removal this winter, now its 25 million and were not even finished with the winter. And a number of economists are looking at it as cutting into gdp growth. Its a. 3 hit on gdp growth. And just the lost spending that consumers arent doing because they are staying inside. 15 billion not going to restaurants, the movies, that is not going come back. The snow days add up and snow pictures out of your state this week. Its clearer this morning, but how much will this set you back . Its a big impact. The last two weeks has been extremely stunning and tough on the state. Not as tough as the First Episode of house of cards, but its been tough on all of us. Our budget is at the maximum regarding snow removal. And that doesnt include the cities and small towns. We had six major metropolitan areas hit with a major snowstorm twice in two weeks. Its a hit on the budget and a hit on the economy, because people havent been spending money for the last four or five days. Im sure kevin spacey appreciated that shout youtout. We will talk to him. And in california, this is affecting everything in the state of california, even changing the way of life. Absolutely. This was the driest year on record. But, you know, its coming at an immense cost, wildfires, changing how we get water, but governors and mayors, we dont have the luxury of debating the issue. I think its clear human beings have had an impact on creating the problem, but we have to solve it now. Were dealing with that in los angeles, we are conserving water, change out the landscaping, strengthen the building codes. But its not a question of this happening every so often, its the new status quo. And the question of why, heidi, one of the big points you make is all extreme weather is connected. The drought in the west connected to the blizzard in the east. Ginger did a great job setting it up. The cold were seeing here is very much connected to the broader pattern. And really in context, Climate Change, burning fossil fuels, means that were going to see more of these very expensive extreme weather events. Specifically the kinds of extremes we can expect. Heat waves, droughts, floods. Were seeing those. This winter certainly doesnt disprove Global Warming. Every time we have a really cold winter, we ask ourselves over again, is Global Warming real or not . Cold winter doesnt mean Global Warming is gone. And looking at the big picture, we have actually been globally incredibly warm. January is going to be one of the top three warmest on record. And, you know, the ten warmest years have all happened since 1998. But your key point on these intense weather systems, they are made more intense by Climate Change. Thats right. When you warm up the planet, you have more moisture in the atmosphere. When it rains, its heavier. And you can also evaporate for. That means that the tendency for drought is going to get worse. So the kinds of droughts that we have been seeing in texas, out in california, right now, we know that Climate Change makes them worse. Its like cigarette smoking and lung cancer, increases the likelihood of that risk. And we have looked at the texas drought in 2011, we know that Climate Change made that drought 20 time mrs. Likely. In the past you have said you believe that the whole issue of Climate Change is in gods hands. I believe there is Climate Change. Im not sure you can call it climate warming, especially in the carolinas. The big debate is how much is manmade and how much will naturally happen as the earth evolves. And the question then is what do we do about it and how much will it cost the consumer . I concentrate on cleaning the environment. I think thats where our argument should be. Cleaning our air, cleaning our water and cleaning the ground. And were at a brown fields area in charlotte where we cleaned up the ground right here, and cleaned up old brown fields and now we have great new development. But the issue of cleaning the environment is what we should talk about more than getting the debate from the left and the right about Climate Change or Global Warming. Its about cleaning the environment and having a good quality of life for not only now, but future generation s. What to you make of that argument, mayor . I agree. The evidence is clear, we have had a role. People have recognized we lost the first few skirmishes with Climate Change. We are strengthening the defenses in los angeles. We consume the same amount of water as 30 years ago with a million more residents. Were americans. We adapt, we innovate, were good at doing those sorts of things. Whether its in indiana changing out intersections and making them roundabouts to take Global Warming co 3 emissions out of the air, or mayor becker in Salt Lake City making sure the buildings built in a green way. Mayors, tribal leaders, governors are taking action because we cant deal with the consequences. And mayor made the point, we have to get ahead of this because these patterns are not going to be reversed. We have to get ahead of it. When it comes to dealing with the environment, one of the things were seeing, burning fossil fuels puts Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere. Cleaning up the atmosphere is part of cleaning up our environment. Its all interconnected. And what are businesses doing . Its innovate or die. And a lot of businesses are. Especially when you look at the Food Service Businesses and the clothing businesses which rely so heavily on that supply which is very much up in the air when you have these extreme weather patterns. Levi strauss worked with farmers to come up with new, lesswater sbernsive ways to get the cotton make their denim. Caring, which owns gucci theyre working on sustainable ways to bring the product to market and working with the suppliers to get the actual supplies in the clothing to make it more sustainable. Whether its going crazy or normal, they can deal with it and make the product and not be up in the air. Are doing the same thing. Ing the same whats the single most important thing business and government and all of us can do together . First of all, talk about it, and then really look at the opportunities presented to us to use energy smarter, to grow our food smarter, to treat our Water Resources with great care and converse. Across the board, come together and stop treating it like a partisan issue. It isnt. Work on. Thank you very much. Up next, the roundtable takes on the weeks politics, frothe strike to the papers and the collapse of the syrian peace talks. And kevin spacey is here live. Were back in just two minutes. [ male announcer ] we all think about life insurance. But when we start worrying about tomorrow, we miss out on the things that matter today. At axa, we offer advice and help you break down your insurance goals into small, manageable steps. Because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. Can we help you take a small step . For advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Oh, its great. Yeah. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. New at t mobile share value plans for business. Our best value plans ever. For example, you can get 10 gigs of data to share. And 5 lines would be 175 a month. Plus you can add a line anytime for 15 a month. Sharings never been better for business. Score team usa wins. T. J. Oshie dominates a thrilling shootout to give team usa a win over russia. More on that high point of the Winter Olympics coming up. But first, the big news out of the capital. A big reversal by House Speaker john boehner. We weigh in on that after a roundup from rick klein. Reporter its another battle in the gop civil war. I am disappointed to say the least. Reporter Speaker John Boehner letting democrats provide the vast majority of votes to raise the debt ceiling, no strings attached. The same formula would have worked in the senate, until senator ted cruz spoke up. I insist a 60vote threshold instead. I think its an irresponsible course of conduct to keep giving president obama a blank check. Reporter that set up an extraordinary scene, a roll call open an hour, forcing the republicans to vote politically tough on the debt ceiling increase. The vote will resonate throughout 2014. Starting with republican primaries where Tea Party Groups view it as surrender. And 2016 is top of mind too. Chris christie, once the republican frontrunner, back on offense this week. Our partys priority should be on winning. Not winning the argument. Winning the election. Reporter a taste of the old christie, and for Hillary Clinton, a reminder from her past. The diaries of an old friend, diane blair, revealing her unvarnished thoughts about the affair with monica lewinsky. It was a lapse, blair writes, but she says to his credit, he tries to break it off, pull away. Tried to manage someone who was clearly a narcissistic alony toon. Rand paul trying to do keep them from fading. Democrats say were the great defenders of womens rights, when the leading fundraiser was bill clinton, a perpetrator of that kind of harassment. Thanks for that. And the roundtable. Jonathan karl, and alicia menendez, and katrina vanden heuvel, and peggy noonan. Katri katrina, let me begin with you. And what happened in the house this week. John boehner allowing a clean debt limit to go through. Exactly what the president wanted. But probably shrewd for boehner too. Clears the decks in a year where he thinks they can pick up a lot of seats in november. The failure of the shutdown concentrated the mind, and the hostage takers left the scene. We have seen manufactured crisis by a party which has eroded business confidence, hurt the economy, hurt families, and i think as 2014 approaches, the Republican Party decided they needed to pull up their bootstraps and get in place to pose any real challenge. With ted cruz, you have to he is an antiestablishment figure. But when we talk antiestablishment, that the tea party is a corporatehugging, wellfunded lobby. And you saw in ted cruz the possibility for our country moving forward, is that the delusional is no longer marginal when you look at cruz. For the moment hes marginalized. We need to refocus. The real conversation should be creating jobs and investing in this country, not manufactured crisis. Youre taking notes. Wrote down the word bait. Look, i think the Republican Leadership on the hill didnt take the bait and have a big fight. And and cause a bit of a disturbance over the debt ceiling and the closing of government. I think it was wise. But i think as usual, mr. Cruz, the senator from texas, decided he was going to go his own way and cause some trouble. I think it is a reflection of what we all know. Either a basic split or maybe basic splits in the Republican Party, part of which one split of which has to do with those who are on the ground, have a lot of numbers, are impatient, dont want business as usual, dont understand why things cant be moved forward in washington. Its a big this was a pivotal moment. The white house might say the fever has broken. The use of the debt ceiling for hostage, as the white house put it, is over. You had the entire Republican Leadership vote for this in the house, pretty much, boehner, kantor, mccarthy, in the senate, mcconnell, cornyn, all top leaders voted for it and all the rank and file against it. So the question, the fever broke, will the patient survive. I thought the New York Times had an excellent analysis of this whole dynamic when they talked about the vote no, hope yes caucus. John karls right, the leadership voted for this, but only 28 republicans voted for this. When they know it must and believe it should pass. Its a sign of dysfunction. Which makes it the fewest members of a majority to vote for a piece of legislation since 1991 when we have the first record filing. This is huge. How does it play out in the midterm elections . Right . Can boehner prove that taking a moderate chance, showing they can get things done, is what they need to secure the votes they need to take back the senate . And ted cruz does this thing. The republicans in the senate have this set. This was going to pass with only democratic votes. He says im going to filibuster, need 60 votes. Ted cruz is so hated among the republicans. More so than the shutdown, the tuesday lunch they have, hes going to need a food taster. He had tough votes he does have a high tolerance for personal pain. To step back for a moment, these are games inside the beltway. They are important, but this is a manufactured crisis. I come back to it. Look at the top Republican Leadership. They voted 19 times, collectively, to pass the debt limit when george w. Was president. And they passed an increased pro forma, with the tax cuts, 350 billion for the richest. Its a game that americans look at and wonder whats going on inside of a city which is supposed to represent what we care about . We need a different conversation. The debt ceiling has held up conversations about rebuilding the middle class, rebuilding and the recovery. And theres a conversation about health care. We saw a bunch of headlines on this, somewhat contradictory headlines. Number one on tuesday, we saw that the president putting off the health law mandate again on businesses between 50 and 100 workers, yet at the same time, later in the week, news that showed that the enrollments are picking up. Just a little bit over a million added to the rolls in the past month. Peggy noonan, is sets up what this is going to mean come november. As well it does seem that the enrollments are taking hold. Not going to reach the goal of 7 million by the deadline. Might get within a million. Hard to take that away once people have it. Yeah, i think theres so much doubt at this point and so much questioning about the hhs numbers as put forward semiregularly. Im not sure theyre compelling. What i think is compelling is the amount of difficulty people are having with the aca, trying make it work in their lives. I think thats what 2014 is going to be about. Obamacare, but i think 2016 is going to be the about the split in the Republican Party and which way are they going to go as they choose their president. First of all, this has been an important week or month for obamacare. Rough patches, but working. 1. 1 million enrolled, higher proportion of young people, premiums are down, Insurance Companies cant deny preexisting coverage. What were going to see in 2014 and what were seeing now are republicans lying. Scaring people, actually keeping people from health care coverage. The governors, scott, jindal, perry, thats cruel. I think what we need to focus on is to say the broad mass of americans, not interested in repeal. Fix it, embrace it. And whats the republican plan . Vote for m