thank you for joining us. that's it for us, katie couric will see you up next. >> couric: tonight, the bill's post online, the price tag certified, and now the president is putting off his overseas trip again to try to push health care reform through congress. i'm katie couric. also tonight, a black market in green energy. in sunny california, solar panels are becoming the new target of choice for thieves. and meet the real wonder woman. she cycles, she runs, she swims, she rode the atlantic solo, setting records all the way. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. the house is moving ever closer to a showdown vote on health care reform. the latest bill was finally posted today, so we can all see what's in it. and that started the clock ticking. members have 72 hours to read it before they vote. the congressional budget office, meanwhile, put out a report that may help win over some democrats. it says the plan, which would cost $940 billion over 10 years, would reduce the deficit over that same period by $138 billion. it would cut the deficit over 20 years by more than $1 trillion. and it would ensure 32 million americans who are currently uninsured. it's expected on sunday house members will vote on what's called a reconciliation bill. nancy cordes is on capitol hill with a copy of that reconciliation bill. nancy. >> reporter: and, katie, here it is. it's 153 pages worth of fixes to the original senate bill. few democrats would say it's perfect, but more and more of them concede this is as good as it's going to get. undecided democrats got the answers they've been waiting for today. >> they say a picture is worth a thousand words. well, a number is worth a lot, too. >> reporter: in this case, that number is $1.3 trillion, the aim by which the final health care bill would redue the deficit over the next 20 years. that's according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office, which is trusted by both parties as the authority on budget matters. >> that makes this legislation the most significant effort to reduce deficits since the balanced budget act in the 1990s. >> reporter: unlike the original bill that passed the senate in december, the new bill closes the gap in medicare prescription drug coverage for seniors, often called the donut hole, by the year 2020. it imposes a $2,000 per-worker penalty on employers who have more than 50 workers but don't offer insurance coverage, and it eliminates some of those special deals, like nebraska's cornhusker kickback. >> we did not like the state inequities. it's a category. and this bill corrects the state inequities by making medicaid reimbursements more fair to all of the states. >> reporter: the new bill also scales back and delays a tax on high-priced insurance plans. a revenue raiser that ran afoul of labor unions. all those changes left the congressmen responsible for counting democratic votes suddenly sounding much more confident. >> starting this afternoon, i'm going to be asking for hard, fast commitments. by evening, i think we'll be in a very comfortable position, and i think we will be very close to the-- to the 216 votes we need. >> reporter: sensing the democrats' momentum, republicans ratcheted up the doomsday rhetoric, even predicting doctors would retire en mass if this bill passes. >> it's going to kill millions of american jobs. >> reporter: and they began to experiment with stalling tactics, forcing a vote late this afternoon on a resolution condemning the democrats' strategy for passing health care. >> whereas the democratic leadership of the house has conducted a calculated and coordinated attempt to willfully deceive the american people. >> reporter: the deep divide in congress has left the electorate torn with a new pew poll finding that just 38% of americans favor the health care bills, while 48% oppose them. >> the process looks extremely messy to people, and they say, if they're having to do this to pass the bill, the bill must not be all that good. >> reporter: if the house passes the bill on sunday, the senate would take it up next week, but there republicans have even more powerful stalling tactics at their disposal, katie. >> couric: nancy, what kinds of things might senate republicans do to delay that vote? >> reporter: well, for starters, they're technically allowed to offer unlimited amendments and if even one of those amendments passes, then that changes the language of the bill meaning the bill would have to go back to the house another vote and that's something the democrats are desperate to avoid, katie. >> couric: nancy cordes on capitol hill, tonight, thank you. and with the signature issue of his process on the line, president obama is putting off his overseas trip again. it was scheduled to begin on sunday. he's putting it off now till june. chip is at the white house tonight, and, chip, obviously the white house says the president is postponing that trip to indonesia and australia because he wants to be here for the health care vote, but members of his party want him here as well. >> reporter: absolutely, katie. and some of them are not happy at all that he was planning to go overseas to indonesia on the very day the house was going to vote on health care reform. they thought that it sent a terrible message to the country and could jeopardize the entire bill, and they made their feelings known to the white house, and the white house changed the plan. >> couric: chip, meanwhile, the president has continued with his personal pleas to house democrats. politico is reporting he's telling some members the fate of his perezidency depends on this. did the white house confirm that report today? >> reporter: they did not. i asked robert gibbs that at the briefing today and he evaded the question, but i don't think anybody doubts if health care reform fails, the president will be severely weeked, democrats on capitol hill will be severely weakened and their entire agenda will be put in peril. >> couric: getting back to the pew poll. it's a mixed bag. >> reporter: it is. on the one hand, most americans still see the president as an inspiring figure, but look at these numbers. 46% approve of the president. 43% disapprove. that's the lowest numbers for him yet. in health care there is a glimmer of good news 51 say their health care costs will increase if their health care he costs republican passes. people are nervous about health care reform, but the white house says they're even more nervous if nothing is done. katie. >> couric: all right, chip reid at the white house, thanks so much. also at the white house today, the president signed a new jobs bill, and that tops our cbs moneywatch.com notebook. the jobs bill passed with bipartisan support, providing $20 billion for transportation programs and $18 billion in tax credits for businesses that hire people who have been out of work for at least 60 days. and there are plenty of people in need of a job. the labor department said today the number of americans collecting unemployment benefits has grown to more than 11 million. there's a new sign the global economy is recovering. federal express, considered an economic bellwether, said its business is literally picking up. fedex said profits from international deliveries soared in the past three months by nearly 500%. and inflation's well under control. in fact, there wasn't any to speak of in february. the government says the consumer price index held steady as higher costs for food were offset by a decline in energy prices. in other news, two u.s. citizens were in federal government today to answer charges they helped plan terror attacks overseas. jan crawford tells us these cases are part of a disturbing trend-- americans joining forces with muslim extremists in other countries. >> reporter: she is a blond american who converted to islam and allegedly called herself jihad jane. today, colleen larose pleaded not guilty in philadelphia to conspiring with muslim extremists to kill a swedish cartoonist who sketched mohammed with the head of a dog. she is said to be cooperating with investigators. hours later in chicago, another american, david headley, pleaded guilty to helping plan the deadly terror attacks in mumbai, india. headley admitted attending terrorist training camps in pakistan and making five trips to india to videotape locations for the 2008 attacks. 170 people were killed. although cia director leon panetta told the "washington post" this week that al qaeda is on the run overseas, the recent arrests of americans in the war on terror shows islamic extremists still have tentacles in the united states. >> unfortunately, what you've seen over time is a number of americans falling into the orbit of al qaeda or other extremist groups. >> reporter: yesterday, five students from the washington, d.c. area were charged in pakistan with terrorism. in yemen, a new jersey man, shariff mobley, is in custody with suspected ties to al qaeda. najibullah zazi, a u.s. resident, pleaded guilty last month to plotting to explode bombs on new york city subways. and army major nidal hasan, an american doctor, killed 13 colleagues in fort hood, texas. what san had contact with anwar al-alwaki. >> how can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation that is responsible for the tyranny and crimes committed against your own brothers and sisters. >> reporter: national security experts say the internet is emerging as a key recruiting tool and one very difficult to police. jan crawford, cbs news, washington. >> couric: now to the census. the u.s. constitution requires the federal government to take a head count of the american people every 10 years. it's extremely important. the census determines, among other things, how many representatives each state will be allotted in house and how much federal aid communities all over the country will get. don teague tells us the 2010 count is under way. >> let us know if you need anything. >> reporter: martha lockett came to dallas from mexico 20 years ago and is now a u.s. citizen. she considers the census count a matter of pride. >> so they can count us and then we can be somebody in here. >> reporter: locket knows she is part of the shifting population in america, one which, in a generation, will see minorities become the majority. >> this is a matter of naked self-interest. the more people are accurately counted by the census, the greater the likelihood that they and their neighbors will get benefits out of it, legitimate benefits. >> reporter: benefits like new highways and where they go. the census also helps determine where schools, hospitals, and even businesses should be built. likewise, it determines how many representatives each state sends to congress and how much money washington send back. >> over $400 billion of federal funding is disseminated every year based on the census count. so every household that's missed, every person that's missed, that's less funding for that community. >> reporter: which is why volunteers are going door to door, urging wary residents to fill out their forms, especially poor and immigrant populations. >> it's really about power and money. and we want to make sure that the latino community is included when we paint that picture. >> reporter: by law, information about individuals can't be shared with other government agencies. the 10-question form, mailed to 120 million households, is designed to create snapshots of communities across america. for example, how many people live in each household, their ages and sex. but there are also questions about race and ethnicity, which some say isn't the government's business. >> i'm a little concerned about the race issue. it seems like in this day and age, government, media, they want to separate people. >> reporter: federal officials call is a civic duty to answer the questions on the census, and then return the form. they have the power to find people who don't comply up to $5,000. >> that's how we get federal funds. >> reporter: but rely instead on a massive p.r. campaign urging americans to be counted. >> the census is coming. >> reporter: don teague, cbs news, dallas. >> couric: counting american families may be getting easier. that's because a record number of them are living under one roof. a study out today says 49 million americans live in multigenerational households, households that many times include parents living with their adult children or their own parents. that's more than 16% of the u.s. population. and coming up next here on the cbs evening news, it gives a whole new meaning to catching some rays. criminals stealing solar panels. >> couric: as energy sources go, you can't get any greener than solar power, but when crooks look at all those panels on top of buildings, they see a tich kind of green, as in money. john blackstone shed some light on a growing problem in california. >> reporter: it is one of the newer crimes under the sun, so security companies are scrambling to stop thieves taking solar panels. sunny places, it turns out, attract shady people. >> it's amazing what people do pick to steal these days. >> reporter: so as well as cooching the sun, this solar unit in california's napa valley is being armed with cameras and motion detectors to catch a thief. >> these guys are coming in at night. they're grabbing these panels and whether they're walking out of area where's they are or driving their cars in and loading them up real fast, they're able to get them out with one or two people. >> reporter: thieves have plenty of targets in california where there are more than 250,000 solar installations. each panel costs $1,000 or more. schools in pleasanton have had solar panels torn from the roof five times. 24 panels disappeared from a hardware store in sebastopol. but wine country has been hit hardest. here in napa valley the vines are what makes the money, but increasingly the vineyard has discovered the same sun that produces the grapes is valuable in producing electricity, and the thieves have discovered the value in these, too. >> i was dumb founded. i was like who would take solar panels. >> reporter: michael honig installed 819 solar panels to provide all the power his winery needs. one morning he discovered 40 panels gone. >> when i rode by, all of a sudden i saw one of these rows was missing. >> reporter: at least a dozen napa wineries have lost panels worth a total of $400,000. some have been hit twice, including honig's winery. >> it's just an epidemic right now, of theft. >> reporter: finally, honig put in security cameras. the next week, there was a hand across the lens, then shadowy figures. three men were caught and are now in jail. police think some of the stolen panels may go to indoor marijuana growers who are big users of electricity, and with growing demand from builders for solar panels there appears to be a black market in this green technology. john blackstone, napa valley. >> couric: now to father oh, north dakota, and the anxious waiting game on the banks of the red river. residents have reached their goal of stacking a million sandbags and now all that's left to do is watch the water rise. the river is up three feet since yesterday and is expected to crest late sunday or early monday. >> couric: now an update on one of america's most notorious convicts, bernie madoff. the "wall street journal" reported today he was beaten up by another prisoner, someone doing time fair drug conviction, who believed madoff owed him money. it happened back in december. madoff, who is 71, wound up with a broken nose and ribs and cuts to his face. in northern england, police are reinvestigating a highway accident after some amazing new video surfaced. it shows a car with a woman trapped inside being pushed by a tanker truck at 60 miles an hour. a stunned passenger in another car shot the video and posted it online. now the police want to know how the car got pinned and why the truck driver didn't stop sooner. they do know the woman wasn't hurt when the truck finally pulled over. meanwhile, back in the 1940s, a young marine named fess parker was told at 6'6" he was simply too tall to become a pilot, but in the 1950s, walt disney told parker he was just right to play the legendary davy crockett, and soon he had kids all over america wearing a coon skin cap. he went on to play a variety of roles, including another frontier hero, daniel boone. but fess parker, who died today in los angeles, at the age of 85, will always be remembered as the king of the wild frontier. ♪ davey, davey crockett, king f the wild frontier ♪ >> couric: we'd like to welcome home another katie, katie spotz who made history on sunday, becoming the youngest person and first woman to row alone across the atlantic, more than 2800 miles. as michelle miller tells us, that's not bad for someone who says she was the worst rower on her college team. >> yeah, i'm always looking for new ways to challenge myself. >> reporter: 22-year-old katie spotz has cycled across the country, run through the mojave desert and the first to swim the length of the allegheny river. was this a piece of cake? but nothing compares to this. >> not at all. >> reporter: this was the hardest? >> by far. >> reporter: rowing the breadth of the atlantic ocean for 70 days, all by herself. where did you get this idea? >> well, it was almost like the idea found me. >> reporter: an idea from a guy she met on a bus in australia. >> he mentioned that his friend rode across the atlantic ocean, and i thought it sounded like a good idea. >> reporter: but her parents were not on board. >> when i see my child doing this adventure, it's everything against my nature. >> reporter: but on jb 3, katie spotz hopped aboard the 19-foot "liv" and cast off from senegal, west africa. she ended up in george town, guyana. there would be no watch boat. only a beacon and a radio. >> how did you draw from your inner strength when there is no one else out there to help you? >> well, it was kind of easy to be motivated in that once i was out there, there was nothing else to do but row. >> reporter: and row, she did, fueled by a half million calories of freeze-dried food. >> we're having date nut ... i was lucky to have some friends along the way. >> reporter: a pod of dolphins. >> they were swimming underneath and doing flips and all kinds of tricks. i felt like they were giving me my own personal show. >> reporter: katie was the show for a half million fans online, and when she got into trouble off the coast of south america ... there were several times i thought my boat would capsize? >> reporter: ...they tracked her 400-mile detour around dangerous swells. >> dihave moment where's i didn't know where i'd find the strength to continue on ( applause ). >> reporter: but she did. and in the process, she raised $75,000 for a group supplying clean drinking water to people worldwide. >> more than anything, it's often ourselves that holds us back from doing things, so i think it's important to question that and challenge that. i can't walk. >> reporter: even if you're not facing an ocean alone. >> it was amazing. >> reporter: michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >> couric: wow. congratulations, katie. and that is the cbs evening news for tonight. i'm katie couric. thank you for watching. good night.