a better program should have been negotiated. >> it sounds like you think the president was a poor negotiator. >> everybody who sides studies the issue has a huge win. that is why in the house, an overwhelming number of republicans voting for it far more than democrats. >> if he wouldn't have accepted it, the country would have gone into default that would have raised interest rates. >> clearly default would have been a disaster and unconscionable for the history. the republicans would have pushed us to the brink on this issue. as you know we raised the debt ceiling several times. having said that, i don't

believe default would have occurred at the last minute. the president appropriately would have used the 14th amendment to protect the faith in credit of our system. >> he said repeatedly and that would work. the former president recommended that he go in. >> default would have been a disaster. >> if he would have declared the 14th amendment and would have seen what was to happen. you are right. there would not be default. he didn't want to use it. there was a constitutional professor at the university of chicago. he looked at the law and concluded it wasn't a good idea. >> the other point i want to make is this is a complicated piece of legislation. here's the main point. first there will be $900 billion in cuts to discretionary programs that hurt a lot of people. the second approach is $1.5

trillion that goes to a super committee. everything is on the table for that, including the possibility you have a lot of people who want that to happen. you add it together and the wealthy and large corporations contributed to the reduction and it's all on working families and the elderly and the kids and the sick. i don't know how anybody could think this resembles anything that is fair. >> there a lot of disappointed progressives and liberals are disappointed in the way the president handled this. do you think they will challenge him for the democratic nomination? i do believe the president should be held accountable. when you say something and you don't do what you said, it's

fair to raise those issues. >> do you think he will be reelected? >> i think there is a reasonable chance that he will be reelected because i think while people are not enthusiastic about president obama, they look at right wing republicans and they are strong defense with the wealthiest people and the largest corporations and the willingness to make devastating cuts on the need of working people. he may do just fine. a lot of this thinks the liberal base asked noplace else to go. even though they are upset and disappointed, they will be with him in november. >> let me say this with all due respect. the media keeps talking about the games here. that's all interesting, but back home, the polls that i get, are they going to cut my social security. are they going to cut medicare.

i'm on food stamps. am i going to get food stamps and what about the ability to go to college? that's what ordinary people are doing. making clear that the people understand what is in this legislation and how many jobs are going to be lost? how many of the most vulnerable. there people who depend upon the meals on wheels program. they are fragile people. i can't guarantee i will do my best that the program will continue at the same level. i think what we have to do is focus on what this legislature means to ordinary people and what we do, people conclude it is grotesquely unfair. >> thank you very much for joining us and good luck. >> thank you. >> the debt compromise came at a price with weeks of bitter

wrangling that revealed how dip the divisions are. americans have paid a financial price for all that drama approaching the default deadline. our senior kor pond respondent explains what is going on. >> now that the congress and the president agreed on a deal to increase the debt ceiling and the bill has been signed, we know that the treasury department is not going to default. the very first evidence we have of that came in the auction today and yesterday forus treasury bills. after all, the u.s. raises money by auctioning off bills and notes and bonds to investors and what's been happening recently is that for the short-term bills, investors have been demanding higher interest rates.

yesterday there were two. three-month treasury bills and six-month bills. the extra interest costs more than six million and more than $11 million. as all of that up and the rates were far, far lower. if you add them up, we get more than 18 $1/2 million that's the cost to taxpayers and that money goes on to the deficit. the deficit increases by that amount and of course the money comes out of the pocks of u.s. taxpayers. wolf? >> thank you. lots of money involved here.

how far does congresswoman gabrielle giffords have to go. sanjay gupta is standing by live. bl the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable.

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of all the drama surrounds the debt ceiling, one of the most dramatic moments was the appearance of gabrielle giffords on the house floor. it was seven months since she was shot in an assassination attempt in her direct. more now on giffords's emotional return. how were her colleagues reacting to this dramatic scene?

>> wolf, after the tears, they said gabby's back. one of her colleagues said that watching the legislator casting the vote is about as exciting as watching someone use an atm machine. last night was an exception that literally took their breath away. it was an unexpected moment from the floor. one that surprised even those closest to congresswoman gabrielle giffords. >> surrounded by republicans and democrat, getting the response to bring people together as she does here, what an experience. >> ron barber, pamela simon and hernandez share a special bond with her. staffers who were there with her the day of the mass shootings in tucson. barber was shot in the leg. simon in the chest.

hernandez tended to give help with the head wounds after she was shot. >> i see ron and look ahead and i sea sooe david and a few feed ahead of her and i see pam. it was a horrible scene all-around. >> just seven months later, this sight. triumph. it brought tears and smiles as they watched giffords wave to her colleagues. >> she had been following it and felt like this was something that was critical to the country. >> it was the first time she appeared on camera in front of a national audience since the shooting in january. the first time she had returned to work. >> the fact that we were having this tense national discourse on the debt ceiling and i saw her come in at the last minute and make sure her voice was heard and took the vit rial out was

heart warming. >> in character for the blue dog k democrat. >> she voted twice against raising the debt ceiling. >> that is true. >> gabrielle giffords's office was inundated with calls here. what's next for the congresswoman? she looked great last night. wolf, what we were told is it's way too soon to venture a guess. right now she is not declaring anything. at this point she is focused on her recovery. >> we wish her a speedy recovery. let's get more on congresswoman giffords's recovery. we are joined by the chief medical respondent. sanjay, it's remarkable video we

saw from your perspective. what did you see in the video? >> as a starting point, keep in mind this type of injury, a gunshot wound to the head, only about 3/4 of the people survive at all. half of them have a neurological deficit. only several things to note. this was a left sided brain injury that controls lots of things including the movement on the right of the body. if you look at it long enough, she is not really moving her right arm very well. she is able to stand with assistance from people around here. that's the first thing. also just the amount of expression in terms of speech, she is mouthing thank you to a lot of people and blowing kisses as you see. this is a good sign and much improved from a few months ago. these are the types of things that you pay attention to and get an assessment of how

someone's recovery is going. very, very impressive. i would say i talked to a rehab doctor and he would put her in the top 1% of patients who were going through this rehab. >> you know what it means to seek reelection, medically speaking and based on what you saw and are hearing and you studied this since january, do you think she will be able to do that? >> her doctors think so. i asked the same questions of her doctors in arizona as well as thes in houston. she could if she wanted to. there is lots of demands into that sort of job. with regard to speech, you think of speech as two components. your ability to receive and comprehend speech and the second part is the ability to express yourself. the spoken and the written word or through gesturesful her ability to understand and

comprehend seemed to be fine and intact. even immediately after the injury, she was able to understand things. it's more the expressor and ability to give speeches and not have word-finding difficulties. that can take time to come. then the physical. the strength on the right of the and moving around and logistical demands of the job. that's something they are focusing on in her outpatient rehab. he had a left sided brain injury as well. you may remember a devastating one, but now you see him on television and he is able to speak. they say 12 to 18 months. max mall recovery. improvements after that. she is about halfway through. it's early to tell, but her doctors who i asked the same question to thinks they foresee it happen.

>> i was impressed that she could stand and she was waving. she wasn't moving her right arm at all, but she clearly knew what was going on. she was smiling and saying thank you. she wasn't giving speeches. amazing recovery and as you say, the rehab is only just beginning. she has months and months of work ahead of her. we will hope that the progress she made since january until now, it will be doubled over the next seven weeks. >> it's a good chance. she is about halfway point now. the 12 to 18-month mark. you can see changes in terms of overall recovery over the next several months. we will keep an eye on that. >> we will. thanks very, very much. to our viewers, an important note you can watch sanjay gupta every saturday and sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. eastern and follow sanjay as a lot of people did on twitter. sanjay gupta all one word. follow him.

you will get a lot of useful information. the night the navy s.e.a.l.s got