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Political leaders from the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have not been shy about their intent to seek as much federal funding as possible for their storm-struck states. Damages and lost economic activity as a result of Hurricane Sandy have been estimated as high as $50 billion.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., wants $30 billion in federal assistance to help rebuild his state. This request, and others, come at a time when Congress is already consumed with reducing the deficit.

Melissa Block talks with Carol Leonig of the Washington Post about Jill Kelley, the Tampa Bay socialite whose report of threatening emails to the FBI led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus. Since the scandal broke, much has been made of Kelley's background: how she came to be close personal friends with Petraeus, Gen. John Allen and other top military officials, the lavish parties she and her husband hosted, and their mounting debt and pending foreclosures on properties they own.

President Obama sounds like he's in for a fight over the woman who could be the next secretary of state. Republicans have been blasting U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for the way she characterized the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11.

But the president came to her defense in his news conference Wednesday afternoon.

"When they go after the U.N. ambassador, apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they've got a problem with me," he told reporters.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Now, to one place where the fight over the future direction over the Republican Party is playing out - the House of Representatives. A race for the number four House Republican leadership post has taken on broader significance, pitting a conservative congressman from Georgia against a congresswoman from Washington state, who has said the GOP has to become, quote, "more modern." And today, that Washington congresswoman won.