the blame game kicking into high gear last night. >> an approach that doesn't ask the wealthiest americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. and because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scale, such an approach would close the deficit only with more

be severe cuts to programs we all care about. >> the solution to this crisis is not complicated. if you're spending more money than you're taking in, you need to spend less of it. there's no symptom of big government more menacing than our debt. break its grip, and we begin to liberate our economy and our future. bill: we've been talking about this issue for months, and we are down to that critical time. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer. and a big welcome to jamie colby. jamie: you think we'll make it before august 2nd? how you feeling? bill: we'll see. jamie: we'll know more after the next two hours. absolutely. great to have you all here. harry reid and speaker boehner both have their own plans, presenting their own debt deals last night. boehner's plan cuts $3 trillion over the next ten years raising the debt limit by more than $2.5 trillion, and guess what? no tax hikes. bill: reid's plan includes more

than $2.5 trillion in cuts over ten years raising the debt limit by $2.4 trillion and, also, no tax hikes. or as they like to call them in washington these days, revenue. stuart varney of fox business, good morning, my friend. how you doing? you're a financial man, what was your takeaway from the president's speech last night? >> reporter: okay. the world of money was looking at the leader of the world's largest economy in an address to the nation at a time of financial crisis, and what did we get? in my opinion, we got a campaign speech. the president talked about taxing corporate jets, oil companies, millionaires, billionaires. none of that is in senator reid's plan. it was really a pitch for re-election in 2012. and the president of the united states in a financial address, essentially, made a plea for people to go out and e-mail the gop to support president obama's position. look, the bottom line as a financial guy looking at that speech last night, i believe

that that speech made a downgrade of america's financial reputation much more likely. didn't help. bill: wow. an fg, we call you. what are people doing, what are the markets doing? the are they running for the hills? >> reporter: no. there is no panic at this point. there is not that much major selling, quite frankly, not at this point be. that's because most people or many people do not believe that august 2nd deadline. they think, and there have been reports to the effect, that deadline should be stretched more like to august the 10th pause a lot of tax revenue that came into the treasury at the end of this month, the money to pay the bills will be there probably until august the 10th. therefore, it's not a hard august 2nd deadline. bill: or it could be -- others are contending you have two or three months on this because you're taking $200 billion in revenue, and that would cover your bills. >> reporter: we should separate default, that would

occur if somebody doesn't get paid, that's a technical default. separate that from a downgrade. i am saying that the president's speech last night made a downgrade more likely because the rating agencies which give that downgrade will be disappointed with what the president had to say. bill: interesting clarification. we got it. i mean, 14 trillion, but we got it. [laughter] stuart, we'll see you at 9:20 on fbn. see you real soon, thanks. jamie? maim maim and it seemed just days ago that the president and speaker boehner were on the brink of an historic deal. as evidence of the divide between the two now, boehner said he didn't watch the president's prime time speech. interesting. as he left his own office to give his speech, boehner was overheard saying, quote, i didn't sign fun for going mano a mano with the president of the united states. bill: as every day passes with no debt deal, the u.s. for the

first time in history risks losing its aaa rating which it has held for be nearly a century. despite the impasse, investors on wall street keeping a close eye on the negotiation. some worry an agreement will not be enough to stop a downgrade. moody's, standard and standard , fitch ratings have warned they might cut the u.s. credit rating. we await. jamie: not all republicans are onboard with either the boehner or the reid plan. here's what republican senator mike lee of utah told sean hannity just last night. >> he's not being honest, and he's overlooking the fact that when you raise taxes on that group of people, you're raising taxes on the very people we need to rely upon to invest their money to place it at risk so we can create jobs in this country. moreover, the tax increases that he's talking about wouldn't even put a dent, not even a scratch on dent in the deficit problem that we have. jamie: well, republican

congressman jim jordan of ohio is the head of the conservative republican study committee, and he says the plan does not meet the standard set by the cut, cap and balance plan that had already passed the house. and republican congressman jeff flake of arizona says he's still undecided on boehner's plan but said some of the details are troublesome. bill: we're going to watch all of this, and it's going to move a lot over the coming day. lawmakers on both sides will be holding news conferences on ways to prioritize the payments and the debt spending, so we will talk to the vice chair of the house democratic caucus, javier bo sera is here, his reaction to speaker boehner's speech last night. then we'll talk to republican scott jarrett about the president's claim that house republican members are holding up the process. now, moments ago house speaker john boehner did a radio interview with krc radio, 55 am in cincinnati, ohio.

he believes that over the next two days the house will vote on his idea, a two-stage process that will then go to the senate. he believes the senate will pass it, and the president has yet to mention the word "veto." and, therefore, speaker boehner as of 50 minutes ago believes the president will sign that deal. we'll see whether or not that gets done. jamie: a big announcement coming from the postal service today. that agency is considering closing more than 3600 local branches across the country. reports most of those will be in rural areas. the postal service lost $8 billion in revenue last year, and business at local post offices has dropped significantly with the rise of e-mail and the internet. bill: finding out this morning all lanes on a major interstate west of topeka, kansas, back open today. investigators had shut down a

20-mile stretch to search a truck suspected of containing hazardous materials. hazmat crewses also evacuated and searched a nearby hotel there. we'll show you the man who triggered the scare, this man here. he called police on monday night to tell them he had deliberately left some sort of chemicals inside a hotel room in junction city. fire and hazmat crews searching the hotel and police stopping the suspect's truck on i-70, but they did not find any chemicals inside. jamie: you remember last week we reported on another deadly bus tour accident, and they're happening too many times. now new york governor andrew cuomo is cracking down on charter bus companies, the governor suspending the operating licenses of eight bus companies after at least 100 buses failed their safety inspections. rick leventhal is following that story and an important one, rick, in our newsroom. tell us. >> reporter: right, jamie. new york is one of many states that have seen a frightening number of tour bus crashes resulting in dozens of deaths

and hundreds of injuries this year alone from coast to coast. that's why new york has stepped up inspections. just last friday, as you mentioned, a tour bus was involved in a fatal crash near syracuse, a collision with a tractor-trailer left 30 hurt and the truck driver killed. andrew cuomo says there have been frequent and sometimes flagrant violations of federal and state safety regulations by these companies, so he has singled out the eight biggest offenders. this idles about 100 buses until the operators can demonstrate they deserve to be on the road. this action comes after an aggressive 400% increase in roadside inspections by new york's department of transportation, that's 3,000 in the past four months, putting more than 500 drivers or vehicles out of service. we can tell you that some of the operators that have been targeted in this latest crackdown say they don't deserve the punishment be. one of them actually called it

absurd, and he hopes to have his fleet back in action by this weekend when he's supposed to supply rides for several weddings, jamie. jamie: rick, thank you so much. great development on that, thanks. bill: about ten minutes past the hour, a couple stories we're watching right now. much more to come including a flash mob caught on tape, but these guys are not dancing. wait until we tell you what they did in this story that now has the police involved, and for good reason. jamie: really hot tape there. all right, new pain at the gas pumps, prices are on the rise yet again. we're going to find out what's causing it, though, and when the rises prices will go back down. bill: $4 a gallon in new york. same headline, different day and no deal on the debt. but with two plans on the table, are we closer now to a compromise? we'll talk to the vice chair of the democratic caucus in minutes. >> the house passed a bill to raise the debt limit with bipartisan support, and this week while the senate is struggling to pass a bill filled

with phony accounting and washington gimmicks, we're going to pass another bill, one that was develop with the the support of the bipartisan leadership of the u.s. senate. [ jon ] we don't just come up here for the view up in alaska. it's the cleanest, clearest water. we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster we can find. yeah! [ male announcer ] hurry in to crabfest at red lobster. the only time you can savor three sweet alaskan crab entrees all under $20, like our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake or sn crab and crab butter shrimp. [ jon i wouldn'tut it my table at home, i wouldn't bring it in. my name's jon forsythe, and i sea fd differently. but for some of us with overactive bladder,

our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. so why wait ? ask your doctor today... ... about taking care with vesicare.

♪ until the sun went down ♪ i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists and use pre-defined screeners to work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ]

jamie: they've now ordered safety inspections in china after a deadly high-speed train crash. take a look at this new video of the bullet train saturday, there were at least 39 people kill inside that accident, and it's fueling the kind of public outrage we rarely see in china's tightly-controlled media. the government's handling of the crash has done nothing to reassure public confidence there, says the media. bill: a lot of attention on capitol hill, and for good reason. republican leadership, now, and all its caucus getting together to talk about what the next step will be. speaker boehner warning that our current fiscal path will mean more pain down the road if you do not act now from last night.

>> the president is adamant that we cannot make fundamental changes to our entitlement programs. as the father of two daughters, i know these programs won't be there for them and their kids unless significant action is taken now. and the sad truth is the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. this is just not going to happen. bill: now the other side. javier becerra with me now. the speaker makes a valid point, and i don't think you'd disagree with that. unless you get structural changes in programs like medicaid, medicare and social security, this problem's not going away, and now you wonder if 10 or 20 years from now if money's even in those programs. >> with actually, i do disagree. the crisis today deals with yesterday's borrowing. the issue with social security is a quarter of a century away

so while social security in the future, in about 25 years, we'll only start collecting about 75% of what it needs, that's a quarter of a century away. today we're dealing with the fact that we are $14 trillion in debt as a result of yesterday's spending. so to have seniors today and tomorrow and for the next 24 years pay for what we did in years past is wrong. bill: what you're going to find here now is this debate as to how you figure this out. now, whether you get something done before the second of august or not, is that a moot point when you consider revenues to the federal government are still well over $200 billion a honest in august? is that money pays your bills, doesn't it? >> bill, listen to what you're saying. you're saying, essentially, that the government should operate with less money than it takes in and at the same time admit to the rest of the world we're not going to try to find a way out of it. no business on main street would

operate that way. bill: no, my point is that when members of congress try and scare seniors that their social security check's going away, that that, indeed, is not the case. >> well, remember, social security, fortunately, has a large surplus. but the difficulty is the money has to flow through the department of the treasury in order to get to the hands of seniors from social security administration. that's why the president says i can't guarantee that the check will go out. not because the money's not there, it is. it's the just when you have to shut down part of the government, if you have to shut down treasury which issues the checks, it makes it very tough for seniors to collect their social security. bill: we could go for two or three months at this, and everybody would get their check, and everything would be fine, and folks like yourself could go back to your conference and talk about what you're going to vote on that can actually be passed -- >> bill, i think the president has always been consistent, and when he said he's trying not to overpromise on what he can do. you're right. the governme continues to collect revenues because those

of us who are working continue to pay our taxes. but he doesn't collect enough to take care of all the obligations we have whether it's our troops or payments for medicare or social security or payments to our schools. and the president's saying this is no way to run a government, the largest economy by saying i've got 60 cents of what i need out of that dollar, and i'll have to figure out where to put the money. this is a manufactured crisis that congress can resolve tomorrow. bill: and it's going to go around in circles again and again and again, but now you have a calendar date that's seven days away from today. do you think our government will get a deal in the next week? >> absolutely, i think so. because it's in congress' hands to do so. the president can only beseech us, he can only end courage us. -- encourage us. remember, he can't pass laws, and congress could easily do that today. bill: understood. he's been taken out of the equation, so you've got the leaders in the house and the senate, they're the ones who are doing the negotiations without a rep from the white house in the room we are told as of this past

weekend. so you're saying we will get a deal in seven days or before that? >> i'm saying we should. the only reason we shouldn't is because you have an intransigent bunch in the house. in fact, republicans are feuding amongst themselves in the house. speaker boehner can't even guarantee that he can get republican yet to vote for his proposal which is a my way or the highway proposal which won't go anywhere in the senate, so it's difficult to believe that the republicans have a plan out of this other than to let the government go overboard. bill: you know, they're meeting right now. we're going to find out in a matter of minutes what they talked about. >> keep your fingers crossed. [laughter] bill: that we will. what do you think at home, does the debt ceiling matter to you? tell us, yes, a lot or, no, not that much. the poll's up online right now, we'll bring you the results throughout the show. we'll at least get a measure right now of what folks out

there are thinking about that. jamie: all right. i wonder what they think about this, too, because we talked a lot about illegal immigration and new laws, and can it's having a major impact on public education. why it could cost schools millions of dollars. plus, the horror in norway, there are some new details in the investigation and if this problem is deeper than once thought. we go live to oslo. we'll be right back.

bill: police tell us it is the new and growing trend in crime, incidents like this in washington d.c. they're called flash mobs where a large group of teenagers contact each other with a text message, then swarm a clothing store. within minutes, they make off with $20,000 in merchandise. >> they come in there, they do this so fast, a matter of seconds. you know?

probably the stuff here today i would surmise lasted maybe 20 seconds. they go in, they distract the employees, they grab the merchandise, they're in and out. we have some information that they may be using some of the social media, the facebook, the twitter, that type of thing, to schedule an event, if you will. bill: yeah. what happens if they overwhelm the employees, can't do anything. d.c. police adding foot rolls and officers on segways in shopping districts to respond more quickly to these, quote, flash mob reports. jamie: alabama has a new immigration law, and it's sparked controversy especially among educators because they're saying it will cost them millions of dollars in needed funding. jonathan serrie taking a look at that for us live in atlanta. hi, jonathan, tell us how it works. >> reporter: good morning, jamie. sponsors of this new law say it will give alabama taxpayers a more accurate assessment of just how much they're spending on

providing public services such as education to illegal immigrants, but some public school officials say the law could have unintended consequences. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: some alabama educators fear the state's new law cracking down on illegal immigration could jeopardize millions of dollars in federal funding for public schools. at issue is one provision in the new law requiring schools to report if number of undocumented students they enroll. phoenix city school superintendent larry says t impractical if not unconstitutional. >> if a kid comes in the here and speak broken english, should we then begin some kind of document search on him? should we ask for their green card, should we fingerprint 'em? you know, we're certainly not going to do those things. >> reporter: critics say schools should be in the business of education, not law enforcement, but lawmakers say it's all about statistics. >> we're not even requiring them to turn any specific person in the -- in any way which is being

put out. it's similarly about statistics and knowing how many people are here who may not supposed to be. >> reporter: civil rights groups have are won temporary injunctions against portions of immigration laws in arizona, indiana, utah and georgia, but the sponsors of the legislation say this law which takes effect in september due to it late approval has allowed them time to study what's going on in other states and draft policy that will hold up in court. jamie? jamie: all right, jonathan. we know school's getting under way there in just a couple of weeks. keep us posted, thank you. bill: details at a closed-door republican meeting on the hill. the president says the wealthy these to pay more. is that the way to tackle the problem? fair and balanced debate coming your way. jamie: that's how we do it. you know those high gas prices? they never really went away. and do you want to know how much of a bite they're going to take out of your summer?

we're going to take a look at that. what is causing this pain at the pump, and if it's going to hurtg our economy. the whole family will love. five flavors of chex are gluten-free, including the honey nut flavor. and it's nice for me to be able to syes" to something that they want to eat. [ male announcer ] chex cereal. five flavor gluten free

our girl's an architect. our boy's a genius. we are awesome parents! biddly-boop. [ male announcer ] if you find a lower rate on a room you've booked, we won't just match it. we'll give you $50 towards your next trip. [ gnome ] it's go time. just don't feel like they used to. are you one of them? remember when you had more energy for 18 holes with your buddies. more passion for the one ya love. more fun with your family and friends. it could be a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. come on, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. [ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor

and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. jamie: welcome back, everybody. thirty minutes past the hour. brutal summer heat keeping its grip in the south, triple digits expected in tennessee, and the heat is worsening trouts they're experiencing in texas and arkansas. and reports of a military plane crashing into a mountainous region killing at least 26 people in this morocco, and still not clear why the

cargo plane went down. plus, the atf gun-trafficking probe known as operation fast and furious may have been more trouble than previously thought. there's a new report that shows federal agents lost track of more than 1,000 firearms that were purchased by suspected drug cartels. bill: back to the story in oslo, and what a tragedy it is too. we are learning new detail into the mind of the suspected shooter. the lawyer for anders breivik believes the 32-year-old used himself as a savior and still possible victims remain unaccounted for after that bombing and shooting has kerr at the end of last week. greg burke is live stream anything oslo. what else is this defense attorney saying, greg? is. >> reporter: well, bill, the most chilling thing, certainly, the lawyer speaking today saying that breivik has no sense of remorse, no feeling for all those that he killed, and this after a twin attack in which 76 are dead and some still officially missing. the lawyer saying that he did

not think he was going to pull it off, that breivik thought he would probably be shot right after the bombing. he seems to think often that he's going to be shot. there were also reports he thought he'd probably be killed on his way to court yesterday. the lawyer saying that he thinks he's in a war, a war that's going to last a very long time, but he feels that, that he's actually in a war. and then the lawyer saying something which, of course, we see to be pretty clear. he says he's just not like one of us, he doesn't think like one of us. bill: how is this country dealing with this? a cub of five million -- a country of five million people absolutely rocked, greg. >> reporter: yeah. it is a small country, and you get the sense that for two days of the weekend it was total shock. now they're back to work. there was a beautiful vigil last night, people bringing flowers, not candles, down to the area of the cathedral. you do get the idea they are pulling together, that it's tough because it is such a small country, and the loss was so large. but there's certainly going to

be some practical changes. i don't think you'll be able to drive a truck up in front of the prime minister's office like that was before and some psychological changes. some have said it's like when the germans invaded denmark. it's not something you forget after 50 years. bill: oslo, norway. thank you. jamie: tick, tick, tick, there's only one week until the debt deadline, but president obama is not backing down on wanting the wealthiest in our country to carry out part of the burden in any debt deal. >> an approach that doesn't ask the wealthiest americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all, and because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scale, such an aroach would close the -- approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about. jamie: just days ago the president and house speaker john boehner seemed close to an historic deal, but last night speaker boehner skipped the

president's prime time speech, he said he didn't even watch it. after he made his own remarks to the nation, he was overheard saying, quote, i didn't sign up for going mano a mano with the president of the united states. fair and balanced debate, ford o'connell and democratic strategist mary ann marsh, former adviser to senator john kerry. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> good morning, jamie. jamie: mary ann, the highest wage earners in our country, that's who the president pointed out last night. yet the reid plan doesn't call for new taxes, higher taxes. did he undercut his own party's plan? >> i think everyone's undercut everybody, and as a result undercut this country. the fact is, without revenues we're not going to hit $4 trillion in cuts, and that's what it's going to require for goldman sachs and standard and & poor's not to downgrade our credit. so we're now in the unbelievable position of perhaps avoiding a

default only to have our credit downgraded, and that just shows you this entire debate is politics at its worst because people are putting their own political interests before the best interests of the country, and that is just wrong. jamie: what do you think? >> well, i definitely think the president was playing class warfare last night, but the bottom line is taxing the rich is not a long-term solution. it's a stopgap measure. we have more than 3300 earmarks in the tax code. i promise you if we close those earmarks, i promise you we can find it there. jamie: fort, let me ask you this, the president went to the national council of la raza conference which is an hispanic organization, and he told the support bive crowd there that we're a nation that asks only the middle class and the poor to wear the burden. is -- bear the burden. it almost suggests that the wealthy don't contribute at all. ford? >> of course the president's misleading. he wants to win re-election, he

knows he needs hispanics in the battleground states. the wealthiest 1% in this country pay most of the taxes and do most of the hiring. penalizing them is bad. we need to close the loopholes in the system, and whatever revenue we may need we can probably get there, i assure you. jamie: mary ann, this that same speech the president said neither party is blameless, yet in the speech last night he seemed to really call out and only target republicans. what are your thoughts? >> well, i don't think his speech last night was the best performance i've ever seen, but here's the real point. the middle class in this country bailed out wall street. they have all the tax breaks and ask all the loop -- and all the loopholes. folks who run thosebacks and corporations and hedge funds pay less in taxes than the people who work for them. that's wrong. and yet if we go down the road proposed by the republicans in the house, that same group of people, the middle class, will

be told no social security for you, no medicare, none of the things you've already paid into. and that's the problem, republicans want to avoid a primary, and be independent voters will not forgive them in a general election. as a democrat, i want the house back, but they picked the wrong fight because it's going to cost them too much. i'll peat republicans any -- beat republicans any day, but not this way because it's bad for the country. they're going to be a minority party the likes of which when the democrats lost the south will make it look like a two week vacation. jamie: all right, it sounds like you're calling for a bipartisan resolution, and be, ford, there's a "wall street journal" editorial today that i read that said the president last night not only called out republicans, but they used the word demeaned republicans. how do you feel about that? >> what else do you expect about a president that hasn't offered a plan? now the president's to the left of his own senate majority leader. he wants to win re-election, he's not concerned about the plight of the american people,

and the number one issue for independents is jobs. be the we default, we will hurt jobs. jamie: all right, ford and mary ann, really interesting discussion today. good to have both sides. thank you. >> thank you. >> thanks, jamie. bill: watching the markets as we go on wall street. 48 points lower. investors watching these debt talks in washington and also some new numbers on home prices coming out. we'll talk about those later, but we'll watch the dow throughout the morning and also see what we hear from republicans as to whether or not we might get a bill on the floor of the house tomorrow that they'll vote on again. jamie: they did make the deadline last night for getting that going today. meanwhile, new evidence small businesses are inching closer to dropping health care coverage for all of their employees. our next guest says the new health care law will cost a trillion dollars more than it was advertised. is he right? bill: we'll find out. also, an amazing story of survivor. a teenager called a hero after a

grizzly bear attacked his friends three different times. >> i thought i was going to die when i was attacked. i was so scared. we saw the first person go around the corner and yell bear and started running backwards, and i looked behind me, and the bear was behind me, so i started running down the hill, and it tackled me on the way down, and it was running between four of us.

are you anxious to protect your family with life insurance... but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can

get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work.

booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. jamie: she's 07 years old, and she carries a cane, but you don't want to mess with bonnie. the elderly woman in manchester, new hampshire, actually grabbed her bat, her baseball bat, when she found a strange man standing in her bedroom. he was naked. >> some stranger just comes in, tramples over everything. it's very demeaning, and i did not appreciate him being in my house period. this person is standing there, and i'm saying, who are you? who are you? what do you want? he's still standing there. and i'm screaming at him, and

he's not moving, he's not doing anything, he's just there. >> reporter: naked? >> yeah. that's the point that blew me away. i said, no, no, not in my house. so i grabbed my bat, and be i hit him a couple of times. jamie: that's right. bonnie says her biggest concern was her grandson sleeping down the hall. the suspect took off, he's still on the loose. we don't know if he has his clothes -- bill: you go, bonnie, and next time put a picture, and we'll put it on the news and bust this guy. maybe we don't want to take a picture. jamie: i don't know. bill: we can do that fuzzy thing on the screen. there's a new survey, could be the latest evidence that millions of americans will lose their health plans under the health care overhaul law. now, the national federation of independent businesses, small business organization, says a stunning 57% of companies that employ 50 or fewer people will consider canceling coverage because of the new health care overhaul. doug holtz-eakin, the former

depressioner of -- director of the congressional budget office, good morning to you. a conclusion that another organization came to about three months ago, and what they're talking about is the exchanges that will be established. under the think law. now, what is an exchange, doug? the let's start there. >> well, under the new law every state has an incentive to set up a marketplace for health insurance, and if they don't, the federal government will do it for them. you would think of this as a web site you could go to, and you'd see insurance options, and there'd be prices and comparables on the coverage, and you'd get to pick the policy of your choice. and if you're eligible for subsidies, the federal government would kick in to pay for it. bill: so the conclusion by the report is more employees will take advantage of the exchanges. thousand, why is that a bad thing in this your view? >> there are a couple negatives. number one, every time an employee takes advantage of the exchanges, it means the taxpayers are forking out a lot of money. the subsidies are quite

generous, as much as $7,000 to a person making $70,000, 10% of their income. so that's a real taxpayer burden. the second is it means employers are dropping coverage. there are insurance arrangements that they already have, and they're going to go away. one of the central promises of the affordable care act was if you like your insurance, you get to keep it, and that's increasingly not true. bill: because you conclude it'll be too expensive for employers to keep their plan, and then you make a heck of a claim here -- [laughter] you say obamacare's going to cost a trillion dollars more than advertised? back that up. >> the basic logic's very simple. if you look at the subsidies, they're extremely rich, as i said before. the employer can drop the coverage, they can also pay a $2,000 penalty. they can still give their employees enough of a raise that when they go to the exchanges, the combination of their raise and the subsidies gets them insurance that's better than they had before. so the employer comes out ahead,

the employee gets insurance and comes out ahead, but the fakier's on the hook for a lot of money. and if you toll that logic carefully -- follow that logic carefully, up to 35 million americans could wind up with coverage, and so that that's an enormous amount of money at risk. our theory increasingly appears to be right. a survey by mckenzie found employers ready to do this, a survey by pricewaterhousecooperss got to the same result and now well over half of businesses are doing due diligence, and they're going to drop their coverage. bill: the employer's not going to want them anyway, and the exchanges just grow, and they're funded by, as you conclude, the taxpayers, which means more and more money. >> everyone comes out ahead except you and me. bill: but detractors say this is all bunk, it's not going to happen that way, doug.

>> the detractors are relying on the fact that employers have always offered insurance, and they say, well, they're i just going to continue to do that. that's a fine argument, except when hr departments run the numbers, the employees are doing the right thing. they're going to come out ahead for their employees -- bill: if employer wants to have good employees, they're going to offer them health care because that's a great incentive to attract a better employee. what do you say? is. >> and what the ponce is response will be is, yeah, they're going to offer them insurance through the exchange, and they're going to give them higher wages. that's hard to beat. bill: i hope you're wrong because that's a lot of cash, doug. doug holtz-eakin. the study is out there, and "the wall street journal" just wrote about this yesterday. doug, thank you for that. we're talking a lot about dollars, what do you think about the debt too? does the debt ceiling matter to you? yes, a whole lot or, no, not that much. more than 1400 people have voted in about 30 minutes. go to our web page,

foxnews.com/"america's newsroom." you can vote during commercial, do that online while we continue. jamie: something else we are watching right now, we're awaiting house republicans to talk. they are in a closed-door meeting right now. that's right, house republicans, we know how speaker boehner felt, we listened to him talk last night about what the president had to say. what are they saying in that room? well, when they come into this room that we're showing you live, we will tell you. if they go to the mics, you'll hear it. bill: in the meantime, gas prices once again on the rise this recent weeks. the usual price dip we see this time of year, it ain't out there. so what's causing this? and the norway terror suspect claims he's linked to other cells. we learn more about what the suspect is saying from jail and whether or not we can believe him. >> i'm from new york, and unfortunately we lived through that with 9/11, and we've seen our share of tragedy, and it's so sad. i feel for the victims' families.

i'm saying a prayer. [ male announcer ] walls can talk. but it's our job to make them say sothing interesting. so how about this weekend we learn some new tricks of the trade... then break out our doing clothes and get rolling. let's use some paint that helps us get the job done in record time and makes a statement when we're finished. we're lowering the cost of a new favorite color. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. glidden premium paint has been rated a best buy, and you can only get it at the home depot.

bill: watch out netflix, the world's largest retailer trying to get in the streaming film business. all this coming just two weeks after netflix announced new price increases. many be of its loyal customers not happy about that. movies available at wal-mart.com can be rented anywhere from a dollar to about $6. jamie: as if we needed another drag on our economy, there is one, and it's being largely ignored throughout the debt deal debate. it's gas prices, folks. check this out. the national average is now $3.69 a gallon, and that's up 11 cents since just last month.

normally, gas prices take a dip after memorial day. that's where we are, but we're not seeing it. gerri willis, anchor of "the willis report" on the fox business network, good to see you, thanks for being here. >> reporter: yeah, these prices, they're moving higher. interesting, it happened last night after the president spoke. we were really interested in what would be the reaction of the markets to his speech. prices popped higher, closing in on $100 a barrel, that means gas prices will continue to go higher. we saw this happen earlier in the spring, the arab uprising really pushed gas prices higher, and we've gotten no relief since, jamie. jamie: gerri, if you can't afford to fill up your tank, you can't drive to work. >> reporter: that's right. jamie: and your house is already worth less, you're probably working at a job and not making what you were, now you have to worry about higher gas prices. should that all have been factored in to the numbers they're crunching in washington? is. >> reporter: well, look,

consumers are paying the price here, this inability of folks in the washington to get together. we're paying higher gas prices and, look, if we have a problem with the credit rating going lower, what you'll see is that interest rates could spike higher. already we're seeing gold prices go up as people seek some sort of safe haven in the investment markets, but there are real world implications for families all over this country and, jamie, as you just said, you don't have a choice. you have to take the kids to school, go to work, go to the grocery store. higher gas prices act like a tax on consumers. they have to pay it. it has to become part of the budget. that means you spend less on other stuff. we're hearing again about staycations this summer rather than traveling. the budget is under assault, and hopefully they'll get some kind of resolution this washington soon. jamie: so they're not shopping, they're not traveling, a lot of industries could be hurt by it. what a great analogy, gerri, that it's essentially a tax

we're already being hit with. thanks so much, and we always watch you, we never miss your show. you're doing such a great job filling everyone in on this. 5 p.m. eastern, don't miss it, folks. good to see you. >> thank you so much. bill: a fox news alert now, the action is in ohio. the elections chief just clearing the way for a vote on an amendment to opt out of the federal health care overhaul that's expected to be on the ballot in november. also on the ballot in november is the union challenge to the collective bargaining agreement that lawmakers came to a few months back, that's senate bill 5. the union's challenging that, so possibly two referendums in november in ohio on national issues at the state level that could have huge ramifications for the rest of us. so watch that story just breaking right now out of columbus. jamie: and the debt talks, thai trying to move -- they're trying to move things forward today. right now they're meeting behind closed doors, the republicans in the house at least, and here you

have the room where we expect them to come, the leaders at least, after they have their meeting, and we're going to bring you live what happens. bill: also new details on that horrific bear attack in alaska. a teenager now called a hero. he helped fight off the bear and save his own friends' life. >> i was hiking second in the group after, um, one other student, and so, um, the other student and myself saw the bear immediately, but the bear began attacking him. [ mom ] one of the challenges for kayla being gluten-free

is actually finding choices the whole family will love. five flavors of chex are gluten-free, including the honey nut flavor. and it's nice for me to be able to syes" to something that they want to eat. [ male announcer ] chex cereal. five flavor gluten free or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

bill: away we go! awaiting top republican lawmakers meeting on the hill. when they come out, you will see them at the microphone here. house speaker john boehner, last night, following the president's address to the country. accusing the white house of not

negotiating in good faith, saying republicans tried to cooperate but were thwarted this weekend, by the white house. >> i want you to the i made a sincere effort to work with the president an identify a path forward that would implement the principles of cut, cap and balance in a manner that could secure bipartisan support and be signed into law. and i'll tell you, i gave it my all. unfortunately, the president would not take yes for an answer and even when we thought we might be close on an agreement, the president's demands changed. bill: from last night and now, today, there is a new idea developing, we'll tell you all about that, welcome back, here, i'm bill hemmer, live here in "america's newsroom," how are you doing, jamie. jamie: great, what do you think, fasten our seatbelts this hour as we watch the developments in washington? we are watching the markets, too. 7 days before the august 2nd default deadline, and, then the treasury department runs out of cash to pay our country's bills. bill: so they say, and president obama is not backing down, on wanting america's wealthiest to

carry a bigger burden on the debt deal and house republicans say tax increases are a nonstarter and the latest talked-about plans, one in the house and one in the senate, neither calls for more taxes and doug mcelway is live on the hill to follow that. a bouncing ball. what is the latest? >> reporter: you know, bill, as speaker boehner left the capitols last night after the conclusion of his remarks he was overheard telling a security guard i didn't sign up for going mo mo mono mono against the president of the united states, and, the president calling for revenue increases, though his own senate majority leader, harry reid called for none and, the president and speaker boehner, back-to-bark. >> president barack obama: let's ask the weatherest americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their breaks in the tax code and special deductions. this balanced approach asks everyone to give a little, without requiring anyone to

sacrifice too much. >> the president often said we need a balanced approach which in washington means we spend more, and you pay more. you run a small business, i know the tax increases will destroy jobs. >> reporter: with acting one week to go before the august 2nd deadline both sides still engaged in the high stakes stare down contest, and no one willing to blink and the bottom line, though, bill, is that there is considerable doubt that the reid plan in the senate has enough votes in the house and the boehner plan in the house has enough votes in the senate. that is where we stand. bill: okay, so there is another senator working on a deal, which senator is that, to prioritize the payment of u.s. bills if we go past august 2nd. >> reporter: senator pat toomey doesn't believe the u.s. will default even if the debt ceiling is not reached on august 2nd. >> we cross august 2nd without raising the debt limit, it is

patently ridiculous. we will not default on our debt and have more than enough ongoing tax revenue to avoid that. >> reporter: he says he will introduce legislation which would require the treasury secretary to prioritize payments, first to keep the u.s. out of default and secondly, to make sure the social security checks go through and active duty military will be paid. bill: fast and furious there, so to speak, thanks for that. jamie has more now. jamie: john boehner putting more pressure on president obama and the senate to pass a debt plan, this morning. and he actually followed up on his primetime tv speech by going on the brian thomas show on 55 krc radio, in cincinnati.passed get us past the potential default and, begin to put caps on spending and make real changes to the way we spend people's money. and, the senate last week decided to table it. and so over the weekend i worked with harry reid and mitch mcconnell, to put together a

bill that can pass the house, and pass the senate. and, we were doing fine, until the president decided, no, no, i want all my money up front, i don't want to have to go through this a second time. and, all he wants is a blank check and i believe if we pass the bill through the house in the next day or two, i believe the united states senate can pass it and the president will get to decide whether he is going to sign it into law. jamie: speaker boehner said, too, that the house passes tuesday's plan the next couple of days and if they do, he remains confident, the senate will pass it as well. bill: one key thing he said there, brian thomas, he has not heard the word veto come from the president's mouth and if you get it through the house and the senate signs up, too, boehner thinks they have a deal. here is where we stand, speaker boehner and harry reid, presenting their own debt plans, the following way and boehner's plan, cutting $3 trillion over the next ten years, and raising

the debt limit by more than $2.6 trillion, and no tax hikes, reid's plan includes more than 2. trillion, over the next decade, raising the debt limit by $2.4 trillion, and, also, no tax hikes in the senate plan, being talked about, jamie. jamie: the president called for those, though from the wealthiest americans and meanwhile, we learn one debt plan still on the table could take a big bite out of senior social security checks. remember the gang of 6? their plans saved money by changing the way the consumer price index is calculated, to keep inflation rates from rising too quickly. and, analysts say the deal would cut the deficit by 200 to $300 billion over the next decade, and, that would mean benefits, ten years from now, would be 3% lower than they are today. after 20 years, benefits would drop 6%. bill: you heard the blame game, it kicking into high gear, speaker boehner says the president is in the way. >> the president says house

republicans are the sole reason for the current stalemate and republican congressman scott garrett responds to all of that, and we'll find out what he thinks, live in a few minutes, from the him, so stay tuned for that. jamie: also, we really want to know what you think and many of you are already telling us, does the debt ceiling matter to you? lots of votes, this morning, in fact, more than 2700 people weighing in with 78% of you saying that it does matter. you can still tell us what you think, go to foxnews.com/"america's newsroom." and, we'll bring you the results throughout the show. bill: 2700 votes, so far and only on-line a little less than an hour. jamie: they care. bill: they certainly do, on the minds of people in a big way, because of the $14 trillion number we keep putting out there. not going away. all right, now, new questions about 2012, about possible bids for president by the governor of new jersey. chris christie is in iowa, refusing to get into the race, thus far, and his swing through the critical state, making some people think that he is now

looking ahead. is he? >> here's what i understand about politics, you know, two months is a long time. let alone five years. and, so i am not out here to lay any groundwork at all about any kind of future aspirations, 2016 is a long, long way away. and, not something that is in the forefront of my mind. bill: we have watched the trip into iowa and will get a live report later in the show to talk about what has happened there so far. jamie: and, bill, as this story could become any more shocking, there are new allegations that the atf secretly armed one of mexico's most dangerous drug cartels, the atf, our guys, the latest fallout from operation fast and furious. the house oversight and government reform committee is actually holding a hearing right now and, that happens as we learn one cartel bought more than 1,000 weapons through the program, from our government,

meant to track the firearms used in mexico's drug wars. america's third war, william lajeunesse, live in los angeles. william you have done an awesome job on the story and it becomes more bizarre and even more amazing as time goes on. what are you learning today, in these hearings? >> reporter: well, the hearing is going on right now, it started 7 minutes ago and the program was so out of control, in the words of one agent, the u.s. government itself was single-handedly, quote, arming the cartel, and, in just a matter of a week, we sent 300 assault rifles south of the border and continued to authorize those sales, even when we knew it took just 24 hours for a gun to go from a gun store in phoenix, to a crime scene in mexico. and, while u.s. officials at first insisted that this program did not exist, and that we did not do that, we know it is a total fabrication and in fact the circle of those who knew

about the reckless program grows larger every week and the report claims and we'll hear today, that the head of the criminal division of the u.s. attorneys office, lanni brewer, the right-hand man of attorney general eric holder, received a detailed briefing and slide show of this more than a year ago, and that the operation then had sold more than a thousand weapons to the cartels, for $650,000, and so, today, you see elijah cummings, the ranking democratic member on the committee and we'll hear from the former and current attache in mexico and how they were kept in the dark and from the atf agents themselves, defend the program, the executives, and that should be exciting. jamie? jamie: just to put it -- exciting and devastating. to put it into perspective when you say the u.s. attorneys, talking about the justice department, they might have had advanced warning and, we know at least one border agent lost their life with a weapon put into the hands and not tracked. no tracking devices.

what else is in that report? any sense? >> reporter: well, it is full of interesting things, number one, the attache in mexico called it a perfect storm of idiocy. and, for the first time we'll get a detailed accounting of all of the guns sold to the straw buyers out of 2,000 of those guns, some have been recovered in mexico and some in the u.s., and, in the words of one agent, he said, there are hundreds of people in mexico, people who were shot with the guns and wounded. back to you. jamie: in a word, wow. keep us posted. thanks, william lajeunesse. >> reporter: you bet. bill: we are waiting the republican leadership in a meeting at the hill and they'll be at the microphone soon, and wield take you there as the president says there is no set deal because the republicans so far, is that the case? scott garrett is a republican, live with us next on that. jamie: plus, new details in the case of a missing mother of triplets from missouri. why her family thinks there is a new break in the case. bill: and he thought he was a

dead man and came face-to-face weather a grizzly bear. the teenager who helped fight off a bear attacking his own friends, and the incredible story in the alaska wilderness. >> well, i would say that it was just general chaos. we came upon the bear as we walked around the rock outcropping and the bear began to attacks, basically. -- attack, basically. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities.

excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that.

[ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. jamie: speaker boehner at the mic. >>... cuts in spending, than you have an increase in the debt limit. and, it has real caps and a real process for cutting spending, before the end of this year. and, it provides for, i think, the best effort to gets a balanced budget amendment enacted into the constitution. it is reasonable, it is responsible, and it can pass the house, and it can pass the senate, and i hope the president will consider signing it into

law. >> good morning. you know, the president spent 10 to 15 minutes last night on tv, and, there are a lot of words in there, but, what the words didn't say was what the president is for. there was no evidence that he has a plan. he doesn't like our plan but he has not put a plan forward yet. and, there were a lot of words and a lot of focus on the politics here. the president spent a lot of time talking about corporate jet owners and millionaires and billionaires and things that have nothing to do with the debate right now, and, at this point, you know, we have three options here. one is to wait, do nothing and go past august 2nd and bring on possible default, which i for one am not for, nor is the speaker or any of us standing up here. another is to go with harry reid's plan. which is as the speaker said, a blank check. something that we as republicans

don't believe most americans think ought to happen, because that lets spending continue in this town the way it has, and it helps promote the economic policies of the obama administration, that it, frankly, wrecked this economy and thirdly, we have our option on the table, and it is consistent with our commitment to saying we will change the system here, stop spending money we don't have, and, start focusing on getting people back to work in this country. doing something about the unemployment, that is now still over 9%. >> last night when you listened to the president, it was a political speech and watched the leadership from republicans sit down hours after hour trying to get to the a bipartisan agreement. it is difficult to ever have any agreement with someone who you are buying a house, buying a car and make an offer, and no one ever counters. no one tells you what they want. so, what happened is the president lost the perspective

because he couldn't produce the plan and couldn't make an agreement and as the founding fathers set down, the house and senate have to get together and make a decision and that transpired over the weekend and from those talks we put together a bill and the bill that had provisions that the house and republicans were looking for, a bill that had provisions harry reid an mcconnell were looking for and this is what the american people have been asking for and this is the opportunity to move the country forward. we look forward to moving the bill up the floor of the house, onto the senate and to the president's desk and, remember what the president did not say last night. he did not say he would veto it. >> the president's speech last night, i believe, was historic. i do not recall the last time a president of the united states used a nationally televised address not to tell the american people what he was for, but to tell the american people what he

was against. seven days out from his august 2nd deadline, there is still no plan to deal with the debt crisis from the president. what we heard from the president again, was a call for balance, but there is a tale of two balances. the president's idea of balance is republicans, i want you to raise taxes on small businesses and american families to pay for my spending spree. house republicans' idea of balance, mr. president, we will raise the debt ceiling, but only if you agree to cut up the credit cards. nothing has changed in the debate. i also find it quite interesting that the president would quote thomas jefferson, allude to ronald reagan, both of whom supported a balanced budget amendments to the constitution, and the president of the united

states last night was silent on the issue, that could solve this problem, once and for all. again, mr. president, we have heard it before and we know you want to get it done before the next election. but it's not about the next election. it is about the next generation. >> i'm excited that the house will vote on the balanced budget amendment on thursday, the first time we have voted then balanced budget amendment since 1997. and in the -- one of the polls that was done last week showed 74% of americans support this amendment. and what was most important -- impressive in the poll was 2/3 of democrats support a balanced budget amendment and there is broad bipartisan support for moving forward on a balanced budget amendment, and, we are going to be taking action this week, when thomas jefferson after they finished the constitution, he said if i could make one change it would be to limit the federal government's

ability to borrow money. over 200 years later, i am excited that we are going to make thomas jefferson's dream a reality. >> [inaudible]. bill: there is the republican leadership. i want to hang here for a moment, in case there are more questionses. they believe now they have a plan that cannot only pass in the house, but, it can pass in the senate, and you heard kevin mccarthy, looks like we'll hear from -- john boehner, 20 minutes ago, does not believe the president will veto that and now they believe they have a plan that is coming together and that could pass before the august 2nd deadline and that is the headline of the morning and in a moment we'll talk to scott garrett who is a republican on the budget committee and we'll get to the specifics of what the boehner plan proposes. is this the answer for america with 7 days to go? that is next. looking good! you lost some weight.

you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories. ♪ ♪ i like dat, all right [ male announcer ] mio. a revolutionary water enhancer. add a little...or a lot. for a drink that's just the way you like it.

make it yours. make it mio.

>>... another is to go with harry reid's plan. which is as the speaker said, a blank check. something that we, as republicans, don't believe most americans think ought to happen. because that lets spending continue in this town the way it has, and it helps promote the economic policies of the obama administration that have, frankly, wrecked this economy. jamie: that was eric cantor speaking after the house republicans finished their closed-door meeting this morning and republican leaders are sticking with -- skapeaker boehner's plan which does not raise taxes, republican congressman scott garrett from new jersey, the vice chairman of the house budget committee joins us. great to see you this morning. >> good to be with you. good morning. jamie: your thoughts on how the

meeting went this morning. are we closer? >> we are certainly closer, and, i was thinking as i was sitting here watching this segment and the one you had before with regard to the justice department and the atf selling guns down to mexico when the president said, the public doesn't trust a dysfunctional government, certainly i can understand, the trust the american people has right now with all of that previous story going on plus all of the you might say dysfunction in washington at the same time as we stand here without any proposal from the white house, still with only a few days to go. jamie: speaker boehner says the proposal put forward, the republicans in the meeting and in the house and some democrats may jump aboard. he feels it would pass in the senate and he feels that the president wouldn't veto it. do you agree? >> well, obviously, all the things remain to be seen, we have had promises from the senate in the past and, right now, senator reid is out there with, eric pointed out, a plan that gives a plank check to the

president, and it would be great if they had alternative plan and i haven't heard that from the senator and that would be a good sign to say he's on board with not raising taxes and giving blank checks to the president and that should be the next question put forward to senator reid. jamie: you mentioned the president saying in his speech last night americans don't want toy dysfuncti a dysfunctional government. i want you to listen to this: >> president barack obama: the american people may have voted for divided government but they didn't vote for a dysfunctional government. so i'm asking you all to maker voice heard. if you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of congress know. if you believe we can solve the problem through compromise, send that message. jamie: apparently, folks are, because our senior congressional producer, congressman, says not

only are web sites crashing on the hill but he tried to call the chief administrative officer to see why the phones were so backed up and he couldn't get through. and what is going on in your office, and what are people who are getting through, telling you to... since the president said be heard. >> the president has come out and said call and say what you don't like and we are hearing the public wants a balanced approach, as you know, we had a bill that passed through the house just last week that was cut, cap and balance and i would say that it is balanced in a couple of ways and one in the sense it hayes balanced budget amendment which has almost 2/3 of the american public behind it and secondly, it was a bipartisan bill and the only bill that actually had a bipartisan vote in one of the houses, and so cut, cap and balance is a balanced approach and has a bipartisan support and that what is we are hearing from the public. jamie: balance was the one heard we heard last night from the president, congressman, wonderful to have you on.

>> thanks, appreciate it. bill: new question about whether or not president obama's official duties and the political activities are blurring a legal line. and, when a bear attacked him and his friend in alaska, victor martin sprung to action in a big way and now is telling fox news about how he helped put an end to the vicious attack. >> i got bit in the leg by the bear. i turned around and i kicked the bear in his face as hard as i could to try to get away and i felt like it was the right thing for me to try to do and, then playing dead, it didn't help me at all at the moment. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein!

really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ensure! nutrition in charge!

bill: chilling new developments out of oslo, already today, norway bombing case and shooting case, and, according to the attorney general, andres brevik says he is not sorry for what he did and, views himself as a savior and may not have acted alone, he's 32 and the anti-immigrant extremist said he set that he have bombs to save europe from muslim influence and a former counterterrorism analyst for the cia, good morning to you. >> how are you, sir? bill: i'm doing fine, do we believe him when he says he did not act alone? >> i think the shooting could have been done alone, bill, but it would be hard for me to imagine that he didn't have help on the bomb, it was a pretty effective bomb, and, there was a lot of material that went into it, and, it seems to me that, unless he spent an inordinate amount of time doing it by himself in secret he probably

did have some kind of help. bill: he says he's part of an organization, that has cells all over europe. now, do these cells exist and, if so, what is their issue? >> well shg, organization is st but in terms of anti-immigrant sympathizers, that -- there is no doubt they have a wide association of those people across europe, and europe has always been more racist than the united states, for example, and, so, have been very... some people have been angered by the unrestricted anger into the european community in the sense that governments favor the immigrants over people who have been there a long time. bill: what he described is two more cells in an organization, he called the knight's templar. have you heard of it before? what is that? >> well, the knight's templar were, of course, people who were in the employ of the catholic church and protected the holy

land for pilgrims coming there and fighting the muslims during the crusades and afterwards and it is a strong historical precedent, that he's referring to, and, unfortunately, the way we teach history, many people will not recognize it. and, he certainly is playing on themes in western european history of christian history, that are very strong. bill: that goes back to late 1600s, i believe and that was in his manifesto. and i think... >> even before that. the knight's... bill: 1683 is what he's referring to. >> 1683, the muslims got to the gates of vienna in as yustria before they were defeated and the knight's templar were catholic monks who fought in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. bill: the manifesto, 1500 words long and the judge said he believes he needed to carry out these acts to save norway and save all of western europe and there's a lot more to be discovered on the story,

michael. thanks for coming in, today, all right? >> you are welcome. jamie: governor chris christie, his trip to iowa is fueling speculation he might run for president, g.o.p. heavy hitters are pressing him to get into the race and the governor is not budging. >> you have to feel in your heart that this is the moment for you to do this. no matter what encouragement others may give you, whether financial people or political people, in the end, it is something that you have to believe in your heart is necessary for you to do, right now, with your life. and as i've said before, i don't feel that at the moment. jamie: said it again and again and steve brown is there where the action is in iowa, tell us the new jersey governor is hath not running, he says and he doesn't have a favorite? >> reporter: no, another thing that he says he doesn't feel, quite yet. he was here in iowa, yesterday

at an education summit, and, talking about how he changed the educational map, if you will, in the state of new jersey, and, inevitably in a news conference, he did get the political questions and he said he still has not settled on one candidate he likes about the other, have a listen. >> i'm not a half-way kind of guy and, if i'm going to get in and support someone i will do that 100%. and, to get there, i have to feel that way about one of the people offering themselves for president. and so, if that moment comes, i certainly will not keep it a secret but i'm under no legal obligation to endorse anybody. >> reporter: one of the most aggressive campaign swings through iowa is happening this month and involves rick santorum, the former senator from pennsylvania. he has moved to iowa. literally, brought his wife and seven children, ranging in age from 3 to 20 and, yes, they'll

be out at campaign events with him and he says while he's going to be here for three weeks he wants to see his family so he's moved them to iowa. jamie? jamie: a lot of extra campaign workers for him, i guess! steve brown in iowa. >> reporter: sure. jamie: we have been waiting for this, folks, fox news and the washington examiner getting together to bring you the first televised iowa republican presidential debate, happening on thursday, august 11th, and their views and words all here on fox news. and, all you need to go about twee 2012, on our web site, the candidates and their campaigns, foxnews.com/aehq. bill: there is an app for that, too. oh, yeah. jamie: without the ipad. bill: san francisco is now considering legal protection for ex-cons, criminals who served time in jail. what is kind this and the logic behind the proposal, claudia? >> reporter: good morning, bill, supporters actually call it a public safety issue, to help ex-cons find steady jobs and

housing so they are less likely to reoffend and they say many felons are written off out the gate an discriminated against simply because of their criminal record which could be decades old and not at all related to the job they are trying to get. and, at a recent public hearing, rental property owners worry that if made into a protected class, many would seize the opportunity to sue them. >> some ex-cons will make this a business, going from apartment complex to apartment complex, getting denied for whatever reason, and then filing a nuisance lawsuit. >> and employers worry if they will end up wasting a lot of time and resource, interviewing someone for a job, only to come to find out, the person is not a good fit precisely because of their criminal past, and they say they deserve the right to get the information right away, if not later. bill: how would it be applied, claud claudia? >> reporter: it would get rid of

the box on application forms, that asks whether the person has a criminal record. landlords and employers would have to consider factors like credit and work history, before they can ask about arrests and convictions. >> all we're saying is get a chance to know them and see if they are qualified, before you use that as a criteria for taking them out. >> reporter: the protections would not extend to sex offenders or those who committed violent crimes like murder, but, most other felons would benefit and here in san francisco, bill, the proposal is getting a lot of support from many city leaders, and, will likely be adopted. bill: claudia cowan, thank you. san francisco, 21 minutes before the hour, jamie. jamie: thanks, new developments in the search for a missing mom of triplets, her parents blame her estranged husband and say they know he did it and now they say there is new evidence that proves it. that is next. >> she wouldn't walk away. she has three beautiful children that were her whole life and with the threats that she was

been listening to for a year now, i can kill you and i can get away with it, we know that he did what he said he was going to do. tertain you ♪ ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] with beats audio and flash, you can experience richer music and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad with webos.

excuse me. him? he's helping me get back to normal. hey, i don't even live in a floodplain. but i've got flood insurance, so i'm covered. how's that? nice. flood insurance, it helps make your home a home again. or, your me a me again. ooh, check it out fred, new foundation.

got any of those in my size? [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen. bill: the story of surviving a horrible bear attack now being told, 7 teenagers, rushed by a grizzly, while hiking through the alaskan wilderness and here's one of those stories now. >> we came upon the bear as we walked around, basically, like a rock outcropping and the bear began to attack. and i believe we startled the bear and, so, when grizzly bears are startled, they attack, and, we also believe that the bear was a mother, and had -- there was a cub present as well, and, so the bear was acting in defense of its cub. bill: that what is the authorities said about the cub but those 7 have not seen any

cub in sight. we also talked with the teenager who fought off the bear and is credit with stopping the attack and this is victor martin from earlier today on fox and friends. >> it was a terrifying experience. i found myself hiking through the wilderness with a group of friends, and, next thing you know, you have this big bear leaping toward one of our friends, you know, my first reaction, you know, was to take off my backpack and run, you know, which i did along with everyone else, and i felt... i think that was the smart thing to do. eventually, run on the -- helped me for a little while, before i got bit in the leg by the bear. and i turned around and i kicked the bear, in his face as hard as i could. bill: the other thing victor said is they had mace in their pockets and they were advised to spray in the face of the bears,

but the grizzly same so fast they had no time to reach for it and pump it out from behind and many recovering in the hospital, this morning. jamie: the family of a missing mother of triplets say they feel a break in the case could come this week. jackie waller disappeared on june 1st, her father has been very out spoken, as has her mother, and they believed jackie probably is not alive at this point and they still want to find her. and he also says, that they found blood evidence, or that blood evidence exists, at her estranged husband james clay waller's house, though police are not either confirming or denying that fact. but, right now, he is the only person of interest, in the cases. and, her mother blames clay waller. >> i was so shocked when she started telling me about six months ago, about the threats he made to her and i'm, jack said,i

can't believe it's the same man in our family the last 17 years and she said, mom, he's a different person. you don't know what he can do. jamie: her heart was broken having the conversation with them and let's bring in a police detective, pat brosnan, she kept a diary of alleged threats for a year. how helpful is that to investigators. >> it is very helpful. it puts into perspective for them, from an objective and subjective points of view, in other words he's not the head of the choir and he has a history of verifiable and corroborated first-party threats against her. and he's a bad guy from the onset according to those diaries. jamie: so they were going through a divorce and she had visited her attorney that day or had a hearing, a bit unclear, and, then she vanishes. now, her parents don't believe she is alive but the mother says tips are coming in more than ever now, especially since they were out asking folks for help and she says they are good tips, how quickly do you think we will learn from police and investigators, what they know?

>> it will depend only what is developing and it is difficult to speculate and the father is a former police officer in st. louis, missouri and may have friends on the force and he claims blood evidence recovered from the house may be true and there may be forthcoming information that is relevant. jamie: we sure hope so, i think of the casey anthony trial and the fact that caylee was not found for such a long period of time, and a bit of similar circumstance, it's the summer, it is hot, they have been out searching and the searchers themselves are getting dehydrated, dealing with tips. is it possible, does every day count now, that if she isn't alive and they don't find her, they may not know what happened or who did it? >> this is day 56 and the internet age today, it is exceedingly difficult to drop off the face of the planet, someone, somewhere sees you and a camera captures your image and someone tweets or sends an indication that you are seen,

and it is a whole different world than 15 years ago. the meter is ticking and it is scary. 56 days, where is she? jamie: that is the question her family wants to know and if you have any information we hope you will call 911 or reach out, no tip could be too small. thanks so much, pat. >> my pleasure. bill: really feel for those parents, too. we are waiting top republican lawmakers, meeting right now, and you heard from them a short time ago at the microphone and as we wait on all that, the democrats will come to the and, we'll check in with jenna lee, with "happening now", that comes your way in 11 minutes. >> we'll continue to watch that as well and you talk about the countdown to the debt ceiling deadline, a week away, a deal isn't looking any closer at this hour, but as you say, anything can happen and our nation's budget director, joins us with his latest thoughts on this and the message from the white house, today. and we also have lawmakers from both sides, joining us as well. and also, dr. siegel on why emotional eating might not be emotional at all.

how about that and senator grassley with shocking claims on the fast and furious scandal and you can talk about all the stories in our town hall, america's asking, we certainly want to hear from you, go to foxnews.com/happening now to weigh in. bill: see you in 10 minutes, all right? >> sounds good. bill: in a moment, republicans talk about the debt crisis after a closed-door meeting. saying they will not write a blank check for america. >> but i do think it is time for congress to do its work and the first step in the pros, cess is make sure it is passed in the house and i ask all of my colleagues, democrats and republicans to look at a common-sense plan to avoid default and put america's fiscal house back in order. bill: where are we now, john boehner 20 minutes ago and nancy pelosi will talk soon and first, what do you think at home? does the debt ceiling matter to you? nonscientific poll, 4500 votes in 90 minutes. 80% say yes, and it sure does, weigh in now as we go to commercial break at

foxnews.com/"america's newsroom."  are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

bill: house oversight, government reform committee, chairman darrell issa out of california plans to hold hearings on a dnc ad, and he questions, did the following ad violate election laws? watch that. >> we're setting a place at the table for joe biden, he wants to join us and it isn't dinnerer with barak any more, it is dinner with barak and joe and use one of his favorite expressions, that is a big deal. bill: a big deal, really big deal. by law the white house cannot be used for political functions and that was shot at the map room of the white house and byron york is a chief political analyst with the washington examiner and a fox news contributor. why is darrell issa pursuing

this? >> it is unlikely that he will get very far with this. it started with a cheesy little enterprise, the president raffling off a dinner with himself and said, we'll have joe, too. and people said gee, that is the white house and you cannot raise money in the white house, but, previous administrations have used the white house as back drops for political ads, and it is seems more likely what darrell issa is doing here is he is not trying to nail the administration to some big crime but he's saying we're watching, and if you continue to do this and make bigger use of the white house in the 2012 campaign, we will be watching. bill: i see but you think it is a stretch for him to prove anything in this circumstance, you don't feel he has the goods on him? >> based on what we have here, it is a minor violation, if one at all. the white house says it has been done many times by previous administrations. bill: republican and democrat? >> exactly. exactly. and, indeed, it has. the bigger issue is that -- is

it part of a larger use of the white house for political purposes? and i think, by holding a hearing and you probably wouldn't hold a hearing on this single thing. i think issa is sending the signal that he'll be keeping a close eye on the white house. bill: remember the name of the committee, the oversight committee. >> it is, indeed. bill: underlined. thank you, byron, we'll talk to you soon. byron york out of washington. what is next. jamie: serious concerns over smartphone addictions. what doctors are now saying about a growing obsession with gadgets. are we talking about you? before you head to the beach, this summer the pool or park? go to our web site, foxnews.com/moby to download our app, take fox news on the go with you to keep plugged in, foxnews.com/mobile.

jamie: do people love their gadgets a little too much? psychologists are warning people prefer the company of their smartphones, they're even taking them to bed, they're sleeping with them than to interact with people face to face. they say an increase in stents is blamed -- accidents is blamed on textsing while driving. you've got to meet more be people, get out more. bill: can't have a traffic accident in bed. but that just makes sense, people use their blackberries, i have a rule, you've got to call a blackberry time out -- jamie: i sleep with my ipad, though, is that a rob? the. bill: get it done and then -- jamie: we're going to discuss this one after the show. bill