a lot more happening tonight. isha joins us with the 3620 "news and bulletin." it looks like the casey anthony saga is not over yet. tonight, beat the clock. >> the deal negotiated with the leaders of congress is a victory for the american people. >> but is anybody in washington really happy now? >> this process has been messy. it has taken far too long. >> we have been operating under a balanced budget amendment that we never would have gotten ourselves into the mess we are in. >> no one got what they wanted.

>> will this make the economy even worse? >> this will cast a long term shadow on the nation's reasonableness and reliability. >> has congress shot itself in the foot? >> the american people hold us and their low opinion of us, because we are failing to do what they think is our job, and by the way, they are right. >> tonight, i will talk to the white house and members of both sides of the aisle and the man who can answer what may be the biggest and most important question of all, what will all of this cost you? this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening.

breaking news tonight the house has passed a debt deal by a vote of 269-161 and next stop is the senate and we expect a vote tomorrow at noon. but tonight, the moment that nobody expected, congresswoman gabrielle giffords casting her very first house vote after she was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in january. her colleagues giving her an arousing and emotional standing ovation, and nancy pelosi honored her, and we will talk about the debt battle next with my colleague wolf blitzer, and erin burnett. wolf, start with the uplifting there with gabrielle giffords, and nobody expected that and it was not really a dry eye in the house, right? >> it was very emotional, and understandably so, because we really haven't seen much of her and a little bit when her husband took off on the shuttle, but there she was and people could see her and come up to give her a hug and kiss and remember the days and she looks obviously different than she did, and she is coming back. i was frankly surprised to see her on the house floor and she stood up, and it was an emotional moment for everyone, democrats and republicans and liberals an conservatives were thrilled to see her and i know that the constituents back in tucson, arizona, were thrilled she is back in action and she actually cast a vote today. >> and she voted yes obviously for the deal. we are in a situation now where everyone expects the senate to rubber stamp this tomorrow,

wolf. where are we in terms of the winners and losers here? who has come out of this well? who has come out of this badly? >> probably the tea party supporters have come out of it pretty well, because they did manage successfully to get this entire issue link reducing the national debt and raising the debt ceiling. that has never been done before. they managed to get it on the agenda, and at the same time they managed to achieve at least in the short term what they wanted to do it without any tax increases. no enhanced revenue from any tax reform or anything along those lines, so i would say that the tea party movement, they come out of this as winners. the president, the republican leadership, and the democratic

leadership, they don't necessarily come out successful, big winners politically-speaking, but they did manage to step away from the brink that the united states at least not now the united states will not default on the obligations, the financial obligations. that could have been a disaster, and no guarantee, piers that this is necessarily going to stop the rating agencies from reducing america's aaa rating, but at least in short term, it moves the united states back from what could have been an economic disaster. the dollar going down in value, interest rates going up, and

given the fragile state of the u.s. economy right now, that would have been a huge, huge burden. >> and erin burnett, let me turn to you, because just as an impartial observer watching this slightly aghast might think that the tea party did well politically, but in terms of the behavior and when they shoved the president into the corner and made a crisis out of something that should not have been a crisis in terms of the debt ceiling being raised and pretty much stabbed the speaker john boehner flat in the back, didn't they? >> well, that is a good way to put it. you could say, piers, in a sense, they were playing chicken with the whole situation. if they ended up getting out of it massive cuts that moved the needle which the cuts on the table now do not, and they don't address the major entitlement programs, well, if they had accomplished that, then you

could say, well, yes, it was worth it, but all of that storm for, well, frankly not much. so i would say, yes, not very much was accomplished that was positive from this and now you have great uncertainty about the economy as wolf indicated by far the top story. you saw the market rally on the news of the deal and then terrible data of manufacturing back in recessionary territory and the markets gave it all back. >> yeah, almost every sector in the american economy is floundering, manufacturing, housing, and you look at it and it is going backward and the jobless figures expected to continue to rise, and nobody believes, erin, that anything this the deal will stimulus the american economy and that, in

itself, is incredibly serious, isn't it? >> yes, and nothing in the deal will stimulate the economy insofar as you get the certainty which is a good thing, but as far as we don't know the full extent of the cuts, and you want get clarity until november, but economic growth in general, this is the whole debate of spending money and whether we should make significant cuts and some would argue and including som of the biggest bond investors in the country, and you would think they would be pushing spending cuts, but no, they say we should spend money right now and we should cut when we have economic band width to make those cuts. >> quickly, erin, predictions

for the markets? >> well, it is tough. overnight we are seeing the markets in australia open and not gains there, and weakness there we are seeing because of the weak u.s. manufacturing data, and so we will see what will happen tomorrow, an obviously, everyone is expecting the senate to be a rubber stamp continue this cloud of uncertainty having a chilling effect on the economy. that is something that the president was determined to have, and we now have a deal if in fact it is passed be i the senate and signed by the president that will last until 2013. that is certainty that is important. >> and you think that when the american people voted for barack obama in such huge numbers and then when he promised change, they felt they were having to be eating satan sandwiches and doing deals with the devil? i mean, it is not quite what we hoped for, was it? >> well, it is a messy process and the president said it last night, but in the end, the congress acted responsibly and now we can turn the conversation

to where it belongs to gaining jobs and preparing the economy to prepare for the future and that is what the president is looking forward to do, and this whole debate was disturbing for everybody and time to put it behind us and shouldn't have taken as long as it did and now it is time to move forward. >> you said and every democrat agrees that he didn't get the deal he wanted, but where did you win and lose in this? >> well, the american people did win, because we brought down the deficit in the first step and a process in place to discuss entitlement reforms and sources of revenue and further cuts in the second tranche, and the president looks forward to having that debate, and the fact that we will have a bipartisan commission set up to have that conversation, and the fact that we have triggers that both sides will not want to see go off is a way of ensuring that we really do have a conversation over the next few months and looking forward to that.

another part of the bill that was a priority of the president is that he did not want to stee programs for medicare or medicaid or social security or s-chip or the earned income tax credit or any of the programs suffer, and they have all been protected. and that was also very important to the president. furthermore, he said, yes, he would have preferred a grand bargain to have greater cuts and additional revenue, but what he would not do is to see us bring down the deficit on the backs of elderly, poor, working families, the disabled and this bill also protects them, so yes, it is not perfect, but it goes a very important step in the right direction and we have a lot work to do, and it is heartening to see that we were able to get congress in a bipartisan basis through the house this evening

to pass this important bill. we will move on to the senate, and i know that the president is looking forward to signing it as soon as it comes over and get back to discussing what the american people want to hear about which is how we are going to rebuild the economy. >> i mean the problem that you have is even if the deal goes through the senate tomorrow, the president has emerged weak and looks like browbeat en by the republicans and there are no tax increases which a vast majority of the americans believe it does merit tax increases. >> i e would interrupt you -- >> let me finish, and allow me to finish, but not just the republican party, but the tea party who are claiming and in my view understandably a victory here, because they have campaigned steadfastly againstt

any tax increases and they can stand aside and say, well, we won. >> well, you know, no, it is not first of all a matter of political winners and lose eshes, but it is about keeping the focus where it belongs on the american people lt and what is at risk here is calamitous if we had not acted. >> finally on a more positive note i think for everybody, extraordinary scenes when congresswoman gabrielle giffords arrived in the house and got a standing ovation. what did you make of that? >> well, it was extraordinary. i still have goosebumps and it shows just the congresswoman's sheer commitment to focus on what she felt in her heart was good for the country. she is a role model for everyone and so proud of her to make this effort, and you are right, it was a silver lining in what is a messy process. >> valerie jarrett, thank you very much. >> thank you, piers. the senate is expected to vote tomorrow at noon on the debt deal, and joining me now is jeff sessions, a ranking member of the budget committee. senator sessions, how will you

be voting tomorrow? >> i have decided i will not vote for the bill. although, i really respect the people who have worked on it and the fact that it does take some real progress towards reducing spending, although, far less than we need, but as the ranking republican on the budget committee, they put in language that really undermines our ability to even have a budget next year. it would be the third consecutive year without a budget. so, for me, that was a defining moment. >> and people are saying that the tea party are the victors in all of this, and that they shoved the president into a corner, turned the debt ceiling which is normally a routine thing into a big scandal, and also pushed speaker boehner into a corner and browbeat him, and some argue stabbed him in the back.

what do you say of that? >> no, the tea party movement represented a spontaneous movement of american shock and concern over the spending going on in washington. we cannot possibly justify members of congress can't that they are borrowing 42 cents of every dollar spent. this is irresponsible so they demanded change, and elected a lot of new people. they have been called terrorists. i would say they put some terror in the hearts of big spenders. they are people who care about america, and i think that they have helped to move us from a discussion of how much we can spend into how much can we actually save and how can we get the spending and debt under control? >> i mean, the fascinating aspect of the tea party is their emerging political power, and n question, they have been at the forefront of the last two weeks, and as a republican, are you concerned about that, or do you embrace it? >> i embrace it. they are fundamentally correct, piers, in my view, and that is that congress is running up too much debt. we have been irresponsible, and the government is exceeding the constitutional limited role, and that, i believe, fundamentally

correct. and now all of them don't understand the niceties of congress, but the house passed a budget that would have reduced spending $6 trillion, and they have now come forward with a compromise that represented really $1 trillion in certain cuts and maybe 2.1 or 2.4 total reduction and they accepted that, most of the members. so this is not an unreasonable position. they love america. they are worried about the future of the country, and rightly they should be worried, i think. >> senator sessions, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> the whole of washington is talking about the miraculous recover of congresswoman gabrielle giffords after the assassination attempt that could have killed her. joining us is dr. sanjay gupta, and what an extraordinary moment that was tear-jerking, wasn't it? >> well, from a medical perspective and neuro perspective, nearly 2/3 of the people who have this type of gunshot wounds to the head don't

survive, and now nine months later not only alive, but able to cast a vote here on the floor. so it is remarkable in a medical and overall sense, piers. >> i mean, are you surprised that she was even able to do this and do you know what her current condition really is? can she converse with people, and have normal conversation? >> when you think of cognition overall, piers, it is two ways to divide it. first is comprehension and ability to understand things, and i can tell you that we did a whole investigation into this, and she was able to comprehend things almost always since the time of the injury, so that the comprehension has never been a factor, and more of her expression to your question, piers, that has been tough. she speaks in more of one or two-word sentences and difficulty expressing through the written word or gestures, but obviously something that improves over time.

the last time that they gave a full report on her was a month ago and she seems to have improved since then, and piers, if you look at the video closely, you will see, she is getting help certainly in standing. and someone's hand is around her waist, and her right arm does not move. the left arm moves well, but the right arm which is affected by injuries on the left side of the brain does not move, and that is sort of expekted. i am sure that is part of her ongoing now outpatient rehabilitation, piers. >> from a therapeutic point of view, sanjay, would something like today with the outpouring of emotion and everything else, would that be seen as a good thing for her? >> well, i think so. when you talk about rehab they talk about the things that you might expect. for example, she used to be right handed, but because the right side of the body is no longer as strong, she has to learn to write with the left hand. things like that, and those are tangible things, but the idea that you can get rehabilitation by actually finally get back to work so to speak interacting

with the colleagues and getting that emotional support is a big part of it. as doctors we like to get the patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible, because we believe they can improve and recover and rehabilitate themselves better when they are around their friends and their family. so, this is certainly a really good demonstration of that tonight, piers. >> it certainly was a wonderful moment. sanjay, thank you very much. >> thank you. and coming up, did the tea party stab john boehner in the back? and what could the deal cost you? i will ask dave ramsey. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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