germany. worst hit, rockhampton and queensland where a thousand people are forced to evacuate ahead of rising want. the flooding has directly impacted nearly a quarter million people. the water is slowly starting to recede. thanks for watching us on cnn sunday morning. i m joe johns in for t.j. holmes. state of the union is about to start right now a very special guest filling in, ed henry, senior white house correspondent. thanks for watching, everybody. there s been a mercifully quiet holiday. the obamas have been able to put together some real family time, so savor recent victories and recharge for the battles that lie ahead. as the president gets ready to end his hawaiian vacation the man who must rally democrats for the 2012 campaign, party chairman tim kaine. then the republican who plans to make life difficult for the
meeting because he cares about the same things i care about. he cares about the dollar going further. he has a huge government that needs help. i ve got igs, the general accounting office. i ve got all of government, including all of them that report to the president, i ve got them wanting to do the same thing. i just have to help them do it. congressman darrell issa, we appreciate your time this morning. thank you, ed. we have an explanation of how to deal with the white house and the new republican majority right up next. i m hugh jidette.
last month president obama had some familiar words of wisdom. think, oh, spider-man for the republican leaders in the 11th congress. with greater power is going to come greater responsibility. now the president may have had our next guest in mind when the gop takes control of the house this week, with it comes the power of subpoena and california congressman darrell issa will take the helm of the oversight and government reform committee. while he s vowed to focus on he s also called mr. obama one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times, leading some democrats to think back to the 1990s, the last time republicans led this committee and a democrat occupied the white house. today, we continue to look into illegal foreign money that flowed into national campaigns through florida. we are not going to have a pretty debate today. is it the business of the people to run out the lincoln bedroom
and seats on air force one for campaign contributions? the chinese gun merchants, cuban drug smugglers and russian mob figures were being invited to intimate white house events with the president. today, we are meeting to hear testimony about the white house s failure to produce documents to the committee. chairman dan burton issued over 1,000 subpoenas and launched a flurry of investigations directed at president clinton with very mixed results. when we come back, incoming chairman darrell issa and he ll tell us his approach.
your district. pittsburgh steelers in your district and congressman you re agnostic, won t pick a side. i m partisan about baseball. mets and yankees. you re the top democrat going with darrell issa. this is your only appearance on sunday morning. what do you think about what he said and what is your approach on that panel? i couldn t help but think about the fact he s called this president the most corrupt in history, and basically, what he started with, and keep in mind, issa will have subpoena power to subpoena almost anybody he wants to. and that s a problem when you come to these conclusions before you even bring people in. i think i sat on this committee 14 years and watched what happened with the clinton administration and how witnesses were dragged in to depositions. people making $50,000 a year had to pay $25,000, $30,000 to hire a lawyer. i think we ll have to be careful