Here and there, but its not like this. Its not a mass mortality of them. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff House Republicans and president obama challenged each other today to engage on major issues. Republican leaders insisted theyve passed vital legislation that stalled in the senate. The president said americans cant wait any longer for action on jobs and wages. Well get a full report and explore the political realities in washington, right after the news summary. Consumers spent more at the end of 2013 than they have in three years. That, in turn, fueled solid growth in the Fourth Quarter at an annual rate of 3. 2 . The numbers in a new Commerce Department report suggested the economy has momentum going into 2014. That report helped wall street bounce back. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 110 points to close at 15,848. The nasdaq rose more than 71 points to close at 4,123. The city of atlanta was finding its way back to normal today. Highway traffic came to life with the cleanup from a surprisingly fierce winter storm. Scores of vehicles still littered roadsides two days after an icy gridlock paralyzed the area. Police and the National Guard helped thousands of commuters find the cars they abandoned. Meanwhile, georgia governor nathan deal said its clear that storm preparations failed and he promised a full review. Im not going to look for a scapegoat. Im the governor. The buck stops with me. I accept the responsibility for it, but i also accept the responsibility of being able to make corrective actions as they come in the future. Woodruff schools and government offices remained closed today in atlanta and other parts of the south. Roughly 1,600 students in alabama finally got home after spending two nights stranded in their schools. Federal prosecutors will seek the Death Penalty for the alleged Boston Marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev. The explosions killed three and wounded more than 260 others. In a court filing today, prosecutors said tsarnaev attacked innocent men, women and children and showed a lack of remorse. The new mayor of new york city bill de blasio moved today to end a 14year court battle over stop and frisk tactics by police. The city will no longer appeal a court ruling that found the stops violate the civil rights of black and hispanic men. They make up the majority of those targeted. De blasio said he wants reforms to end any discrimination. The number of air force officers linked to a cheating scandal in the Nuclear Missile corps has more than doubled. Air force secretary Deborah Lee James announced today that 92 officers are implicated out of 500. James spoke at the pentagon after touring nuclear bases nationwide. I believe now that we do have systemic problem within the force. I heard repeatedly from teammates that the need for perfection has created a climate of undue stress and fear fear about the future, fear about promotion, fear about what will happen to them in their careers. Woodruff the cheating scandal involved officers at Malmstrom Air force base in montana. In iraq, an assault on the ministry of transportation building in baghdad killed as many as two dozen people. Six gunmen stormed the building and took hostages before some of them detonated suicide vests. Iraqi Security Forces eventually regained control. At least 50 people were wounded in the attack. Negotiators at the syrian peace talks agreed on one thing today they joined in a minute of silence for the 130,000 People Killed in the civil war. Otherwise, the assad regime and the westernbacked opposition made no progress on creating a transitional government. Only one day of meetings remains before the talks take a week long break. Authorities in russia now say two suicide bombers who killed 34 people in december were part of a militant group in dagestan. The attacks in volgograd raised new fears about security at the Winter Olympics in sochi 400 miles away. Meanwhile, athletes began arriving in sochi today, passing through heavy security to get credentials. American speedskater Kelly Gunther was among them. I am pretty excited, its pretty cool to be here, it is my first olympics. So, am very excited with everything thats going on. Im kind of overwhelmed. You know, i havent really thought about anything else thats going on, i know we will be in good hands and this security, i know, its pretty tight. Woodruff the Opening Ceremony for the winter takes place on february seventh. The political crisis in ukraine took a sudden turn today when president Viktor Yanukovych went on sick leave. This came in the face of weeks of antigovernment protests, demanding his resignation. His website said yanukovych has an acute respiratory ailment and a high fever. It did not say when hell return. President obama has made his choice to run the National Security agency amid a global debate over u. S. Surveillance. Hes nominating vice admiral mike rogers, whos now in charge of the navys cyber command. The current head of the n. S. A, army general keith alexander, plans to retire in march. One of the leading liberals in congress, california democrat henry waxman is retiring after 40 years. Waxman is 74 years old. He said in a Statement Today that he wants to sample life outside congress. Waxman helped craft president obamas Landmark Health care law and has championed environmental and safety legislation. Still to come on the newshour the political realities facing the white house and congress, the german governments point man with washington, the epidemic devastating starfish on the west coast, the detention of al jazeera journalists in egypt, plus new water worries after the West VirginiaChemical Spill. Ifill president obama hit the road for day two of his annual poststate of the union push as House Republicans traveled to their annual retreat in maryland. Newshour Congressional Correspondent kwame holman reports on the days events. Its important that we show the American People were not just the opposition party, were actually the alternative party. Holman from their annual retreat on marylands eastern shore, House Speaker john boehner and his fellow republicans aimed to dispel the notion that theyre to blame for lack of action on major issues. Majority leader eric cantor urged president obama to seek them out instead of just issuing executive orders. The president did say the other night, he said, look. In america, its always been if you work hard and youre responsible, you get ahead. Well, we agree. We republicans have been talking about that for years and years. And so we want the president to work with us to try to solve that. Holman in his state of the union address, the president painted the house g. O. P as the roadblock on immigration, for instance. It is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders and Law Enforcement and fix our broken immigration system. Republicans and democrats in the senate have acted. I know that members of both parties in the house want to do the same. Holman the House Republicans charged today its Senate Democrats whove been stalling key bills. As for immigration, Speaker Boehner signaled a readiness to act, but he gave no details. This problems been around for at least the last 15 years. Its been turned into a political football. I think its unfair. And so i think its time to deal with it. But how we deal with it is going to be critically important. You know its one thing to pass a law, its another thing to have the confidence of the American People behind that law as youre passing it. Reporter boehner did send a set of principles to the party rankandfile. It calls for providing a chance of citizenship for children brought to u. S. Illegally. But mr. Obama kept the pressure on in a speech at job training in a General Electric plant in waukesha, wisconsin. The question for folks in washington is whether theyre going to help or they hinder that progress. Whether theyre going to waste time creating new crises that slow things down or theyre going to spend time creating new jobs and opportunities. Holman from there, the president traveled to a high school in nashville, tennessee. A student there was killed tuesday night, in an offcampus shooting. Ifill how are the agendas of the president and Congressional Republicans shaped by the political realities they now face . We explore that with Michael Gerson, Washington Post columnist and former chief speechwriter for president george w. Bush, neera tanden, president of the leftleaning center for american progress. She served in both the obama and clinton administrations. And Andrew Rudalevige, professor of government at bowdoin college, and author of the book the new imperial presidency renewing president ial power after watergate. What did the speech, neera tanden, tell you about where the president and the presidency stands right now . Well, i think the president was really trying to foe can cus on the country from the lead where he could. I think not that much is going to get through congress. Im optimistic about Immigration Reform, but past Immigration Reform it seems like he recognize there iss a limit to what he can do in washington and he is not just limited by washington, he can do things in the country as well. Fill fill michael, youve had a hand in crafting these hydraheaded state of the Union Speeches with so many people contributing to it. What did that speech tell you and the republican ae action to it tell you about where things stand now . Well, i think its first worth saying that wherever theres a tribute to a Wounded Warrior its a great moment. That was a deeply memorable moment in that speech and i think it was great that the president did that. All that said, i defer a little bit. I think a lot of the policy in the speech was modest, a lot of it recycled, pretty generic from the democratic perspective, not a lot of innovation in the speech. And that thats probably appropriate for a second term, expectations are lowered, but its a real contrast with this president even last year coming out of his reelection where he pushed the Congress Hard on gun control and environment and some other issues. So i think were seeing a big change in the expectation, but he did give his own party a theme give the American People a raise. Thats a real important goal for him and if he loses the senate its important to his presidency. Fill fill im going to ask you both. Does partisanship demand modesty at this point where washington is now . I think the challenge is you cant judge the president by the fact that congress isnt passing many pieces. To say hes repeating thing he is did before, well, theres a lot of disnungs congress itself. The help tifts isnt passing his legislation. So i think the president i give the president credit for trying when he can to make positive change. And i think he is limited in that because he doesnt have a so i think challenge to judge him harshly is unfair. Ifill michael . I did participate in this process and sometimes you tend to come up with creative policy that puts the other side on the defensive. And maybe get some things done. And the president did that in a couple of small areas in my view a an expension of e. I. T. C. , which the republicans could do. The expansion of a new savings mechanism for low income people. But that was pretty rare in this speech. I dont think there was much in that category. And i do hold the president accountable for that. Ifill Andrew Rudalevige, as the nation shows skepticism and not a lot of optimism about washington and the ability to get past these things, do these moments count . Well, they count in that they try to set the agenda for the coming year. The president here obviously has the biggest audience that hell have all year. Its an audience thats diminished over time as broadcasting and viewing habits have fragmented. But nonetheless its his best opportunity to set the tone for the year with the American Public and to try to get members of congress to be pressured in a way towards supporting his agenda. As was mentioned, in a way that wound up cutting water a little bit politically, perhaps. A lot of proposals on the table. Not as many executive actions proposed as wed been led to believe but they could be important in allowing the president to set the agenda towards the midterms. Ifill let me ask you this today we heard john boehner, the speaker of the house, tell fellow republicans we want to be the alternative, not the opposition. And we heard the president in the speech as you point out not throw the gauntlet down but talk about ladders of opportunity, language like that. Is that what the American Public demands this kind of optimistic talk . Certainly it was a more cooperative conciliatory speech than weve been led to believe. The president has a few times during his administration signaled a turn a more administrative strategy. The we cant wait strategy that was unveiled october, 2011, tried to lay down a record of activity towards the president ial election in 2012 and here were seeing a return to that given the stalemate on capitol hill the president wants to sort of highlight the fact that any inactivity is not his fault. If only members of congress would come to him he would be able to act and, of course, members of the republican majority in the house are saying the same thing. If only the president would come halfway towards them we could get something done. The end result being that very little is likely to get done. Ifill michael, let me ask you this about the alternative versus the opposition language that john boehner used and marco rubio used it yesterday. Is that sustainable whether the tea party is really the party of opposition . I think theres a real distinction here between the party of congress. In the house districts off different political dynamic, as many of these house members do. But if youre trying to lead a National Party to have a message on immigration or other things. So theres a huge cleavage here. The party has to appeal to minorities, women, Younger Voters and they want to craft a message to do that. Members of congress have different political dynamic. So some of this only gets resolved in the president ial primaries where you have the emergence of a candidate that can give shape toward repositioning of the Republican Party. Ifill and does the president s language count in this, too, when he talks about ladders of opportunity and he steps out of the way to allow the republicans to lead the way on immigration . Why does that make you optimistic. I thought he was i thought he really talked about immigration in ways that would attract the president s support. He talked about in the terms of Economic Growth and competitiveness so he didnt throw down the gauntlet on any particular issue and i think the real issue this year ifill except giving america a raise. But on Immigration Reform itself he didnt say there has to be a path to citizenship or i wont sign it. Hes trying to move that process along without getting in the way. I think the real issue will be for speaker baner in the next few months whether he wants to pass legislation, to be looking like theres a Republican Caucus that is solving the countrys problems, ready to act or simply obstruct. And i think this language that were seeing is something we should welcome. An alternative means actually solving ideas not just say nothing to everything. Ifill professor rudalevige, lets talk about things that require maybe a little bit of legislative action. Universal prek, an education requirement change. Is there any room for those kinds of things to actually get action in the Midterm Election here . Well, i think there are can be action on things that both parties see as mutually beneficial in their own political interests. As we move towards the midterm, the parties obviously need to burnish their brand. The democrats want to boost turnout in the midterm among their own constituencies, constituencies that tend to be underrepresented in Midterm Elections. That electorate tends to be older, whiter, wealthier. These