>> we will find out tomorrow. we'll talk about his future and his family. you will see an interview. >> gretchen: brian with beckham. i'm never going to miss that. bob massi and michelle magazine kin as well. -- malkin as well. have a fantastic wednesday, everyone. see you tomorrow. we continue with a fox news alert with a new round of debt talks at the capital. republican members of the house that closed door meeting. the speaker's debt plan heads back to the drawing board. boehner was forced to postpone a floor vote, promising to rewrite the measure to find more savings. but the president says if it reaches the president's desk he will veto it. or will he? the bouncing ball is bouncing again today. we'll keep it all straight for you. this is all important stuff as we get closer and closer.

we are only six days away. i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum today. republicans are now scrambling to retool their plan. some house members say speaker boehner aimed far too low. >> i want a solution, not a deal. i don't think this goes far enough. we need more drastic cuts. i can't support it in its current form. >> didn't get the savings we anticipated so we are going back and adjusting it, find more cuts to get the numbers to come out right. >> the commitments are we have a dollar for dollar more in cuts. and there would be no new taxes. so we still have to stay within those parameters. bill: the white house is still calling for compromise. take a look at what happened

when jay carney was asked about an obama plan on paper. >> reporter: you have got a plan you say can't go through the senate. and you are saying we want to compromise. what was the point of giving a prime time address to the nation without an obama plan. >> i understand the idea that there is not an idea plan is point number one on the talking points issue by the republican party, i get it. >> reporter: what's the plan? >> the president put forward in detail his principles at george washington university. the president stood before you. some of you weren't here because you cut out early and he put forward in detail with numbers what he's willing to do. he then referred from podium

that white house officials would be briefing in detail. bill: at least one white house official says all this could lead to a depression. fox business network stuart varney joins us. >> reporter: dan fiv -- dan pfeiffer i -- that was a scare tactic. bill: he continues one that could potentially put is towards a depression because the house republicans led by speaker boehner are unwilling to compromise one inch. that word defor example scares the heck out of anyone. >> reporter: he's talking about a default if we do not pay the government check. if the government check bounces. that's hard target of august 2

has in fact become a soft target. it's more like august 10 because a great deal of extra tax money came in which gives us more money to spread around and spread out that target date a little longer. so it's a soft target date of august 2. bill: some people say sit could be late august or september or october. >> reporter: we are assuming that ben bernanke would allow the treasury to bounce a check, that would do nothing. he would stand by, the treasury bounces a check and we default. i submit that is out of the question. there is no way a chairman of the federal reserve of the united states of america would allow that to happen. he would print money for give the treasury an overdraft. bill: you and i talked about this yesterday at this time. tell me why a downgrade although we don't want to think that it's

better than a default, but in a way it is. >> reporter: it's less severe. a downgrade affects your reputation. the world thinks a little less of you. there would be financial consequences to that. i don't know what they would be, maybe higher interest rates. the consequences politically would be severe for president obama because it would be on his watch. for the first time i think in 100 years that mayor what today was downgraded. and he would have to take some responsibility for this downgrade because of his enormous spending which has played a part in this debt mess. bill: 100 years. >> reporter: i believe so. bill: it's crunch time, stuart, thank you. alisyn: things are changing by the hour but here is where we stand at this hour.

speaker boehner is rewriting parts of his plan. but here is what he says the plan thus far would do. it would cut $3 trillion over the next 10 years. the cbo disputes that. he says the plan would raise the debt limit by $2.6 trillion. harry reid submitting his own debt plan with $7 trillion in cuts off the next decade. and that one also has no tax hikes. it doesn't sound like they are that far apart. but for some reason they are. bill: this is the scene on capitol hill. republican leaders going into a closed door meeting. it's brand-new videotape. eric cantor there leading the pack. when that meeting is finished well bring you the developments out of it. at that time, republican leaders

came out and they said if they passed their plan, the president will never veto it. that what's necessit -- that's y said. here is what sarah palin said with gretta last night. >> president obama does not know what he is doing when we ask him to lead us out of this situation that we are facing with bankruptcy. he's exacerbating the problem. he's making it worse by wanting to incur more debt, grow government and not presenting any kind of plan to the american people to show us what he really believes the solution is. bill: sarah palin said this before. she said the august 2 deadline is not life or death. her solution to the problem? cut more spending. alisyn: we have a big lineup on our show to talk about the debt.

republican senator lindsey graham, and jim jordan, the head of the senate committee. we are asking you today about the debt debate. if the u.s. defaults are you worried it will be bad for your family or do you still don't see how it will impact you directly. go to our web site foxnews.com/americasnewsroom. bill: in 90 minutes we had 6,000 votes online yesterday. lines are open right now. what do you think? weigh on in. alisyn. that was new polls showing mitt romney leads the pack of announced presidential candidates.

27% support romney. but it dramatically closes if sarah palin, or rick perry or rudy giuliani are included. alisyn: there is new outrage over a decision not to cover healthcare benefits for 9/11 workers stricken with cancer. defenders of the move say there is little evidence that exposure to hazardous materials at ground zero caused the cancer. >> this is an insult to our intelligence' 53 funerals. 51 were because the person died of cancer. alisyn: rick leventhal is live in the news room. >> reporter: we just got some

numbers from the department of health. 664 illness-related deaths, more than half of them. 345 deaths related to cancer. doctors aren't saying those cancer-related deaths are directly caused by responding to 9/11. but the first responders say they are in fact convinced that breathing those toxic fumes at ground zero for weeks caused this laundry list of health problems including cancer. john field said he has been to 53 funerals. 51 died of cancer. a police officer who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer says he finds it disappointing and heartbreaking to learn that he won't be compensated for his treatment.

this decision part of the first periodic review of that health and compensation act, that legislation was just signed in january to provide $4.2 billion worth of healthcare for first responders but apparently none of it going to cancer treatments which can cost thousands of dollars a month. alisyn: the numbers are compelling. 300 cancer-related deaths in the past 10 years. is this the last word on this? >> it's not for the people who are suffering from cancer. the administrators say they will continue to do periodic reviews. but the next review scheduled for early to midst next year, that many little comfort to the survivors who have been diagnosed with cancer and say they need help now. bill: some of the stories we are

watching so far at "america's newsroom." a brand-new poll shows how americans really feel about congress. how low can you go? alisyn: republican lawmakers grilling the atf. their allegation that a secret operation put guns in the handing of mexican criminals. you note story, but the question is how did this happen? >> how many hundreds of thousands of weapons did you allow to be purchased knowing they were going to mexico? the stronger the rapids, the more we loved it.

took some wild risks when i was young. but i was still taking a risk with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more, and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol to 60 percent. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patits who have heart diase or risk factors for heart disease. [ female annncer ] lipitor is not for evyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if y are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. lets go... haha. if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don't kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk a about lipitor.

don't kid yourself. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk. woman: scholarship! woman: honey go get him. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

al rsh sparks fly -- alisyn: sparks flying on capitol hill, lawmakers grilling the former agents in charge of the operation to put guns into the hand of criminals. >> how many guns did you allow to be purchased knowing were going to mexico.

you facilitated. >> it was to disrupt -- >> are they lying or are you lying? >> sir, this investigation is we have not let guns -- >> you are entitled to your opinion, not your facts. alisyn: operation fast and furious was supposed to track criminal activity. lawmakers want to know how it got out of control. bill: house speaker john boehner reworking his debt plan hoping to gain more support from his own members. is the u.s. government, your government headed for a default? the chairman of the senate budget committee is senator john conrad. the thanks the group in the senate with one of four plans on the stable. we spoke at the end of last week and thank you for coming back today. it's good to have you back. late yesterday on the fox business net work said you were more nervous than ever.

why? >> because the agreement are not coming together in the way i think all of us would hope. that is, we do need a grand bargain, something on the range of $4 trillion to meaning any change the debt extra jik joke trithat we are on -- the debt trajectory that we are on. that does not appear to be at hand. i should say i also don't believe we'll default. i believe that leaders, republican and democrat understand fully that a default would be a catastrophy. bill: that is significant then, what can be done in 6 days then? >> you know we could adopt the framework the group of sick have laid out. it's the on bipartisan agreement produced anywhere. we could also do something short

term so there was more time to put in place that grander bargain. so there are options available to us. i also believe what senator reid is work on has a significant chance with senator mcconnell if he decide to join in. that could well become the plan that carries the day. bill: the reid plan, the mcconnell plan, cut, cap and balance, all of this stuff came up in the last 7 days. you just said something about giving a short-term extension that will allow to you work on deeper spending cuts that could cut into the $14 trillion debt that we carry today. john boehner has a plan to do that. you pass an extension right now. then for the next six months you get down to the nitty-gritty of tax reform and find a way to cut

trillions more out. would you buy that? >> i wouldn't. but you can see speaker boehner is having a hard time selling that to his own group. when they found out yesterday from the congressional budget office that his plan falls $300 billion short of what he thought it would do. they have a lot of problems with that plan. not the least of which is a 6-month extension the president said he won't go along with because he thick that adds uncertainty to the markets. bill: you just said you would support an extension. so how much of an extension do you need? >> i was talking about a short-term extension in order to get a process agreed to. it is absolutely true. we are not going to reform the tax code of the united states in 6 days or 6 months. reforming the entire tax code of the youth is more than a year-long exercise.

it's an incredibly complicated undertaking. we could put in place a process with real teeth in it to assure that there was a result. for example, one idea that's been broached is we take neither reid is work on along with senator mcconnell and we couple that with a group of six so that if the special committee of congress didn't come back with a result, the group of six plan would be put in place. that would assure almost $4 trillion in deficit. bill: then you have to get it to the house. you know what they are keen on. they want that balanced budget amendment that's not in any of those plans. i'm out of time, but thank you for coming back. we'll continue the conversation with you and our viewers, too. >> stay tuned. bill: we shall. the headline from that. he does not think we'll default. what do you think? what does the possible new debt

limit mean t? you can put in your annual gross debt income. that amount is staggering. alisyn: there has to be a way to have a an all the plans. bill: a race against time here. heavy mudslides sending so many running for their lives.

bill: think you had a tough day? you have got nothing on this guy. check him out. he's in california and he's in the getter. apparently he dropped his cell phone. he was stuck for 40 minutes and neighbors, they watched. >> i heard a faint scream and i see these feet dangling in the drain. and i was like, what? >> i don't think they could believe what they were seeing. i was laughing it was so funny. his feet were going back and forth. it was weird to see. you don't see that like ever. bill: he's said to be okay. you know who he's ticked off at? the police, for taking that picture. alisyn: dozens of law enforcement agencies prepared to track criminals by taking their picture or scanning their eyes.

many see this as a break through in crime fighting. jamie colby is live in new york. >> reporter: i was going to say smile, allison. it's called morris. it can recognize people based on their eyes, their face, it can even take inner print. it connects easily to a smartphone and that allows an officer to snap a picture of someone's face from up to five feet away or scan their iris for up to 6 inches a way. the database has been going for about 4 years and it has been installed in 47 states. the hand held system cost $3,000. the whole system costs $10,000. >> you look notice camera man the matter of seconds the true

identity and all of the criminal records come back. >> reporter: the massachusetts sheriff's department has the system and they say it's a game changer. alisyn: critic don't like it because they say it's an invasion of privacy somehow. >> reporter: the courts have yet to rule on this innovation. but the privacy advocates say using the can can amount to an illegal search without a warrant. >> we think there should be rules and regulations that govern the way police use these things. >> despite the challenge it will be distributed more widely in the next few months. but once the recognize data is mamped or cleared. no record of the image or

identifying information is stored. bill: new word on americans being recruited to al qaeda-linked groups. how serious is this? we'll talk about that in a moment. alisyn: the outcome of this meeting could go a long way in making or breaking a debt deal. we awaiting what's being discussed behind closed doors by republicans. could the house speaker get the votes to advance this bill? bill: how worried are you if the u.s. defaults on its debt. 60% say they are worried for their own families. foxnews.com/americasnewsroom. weigh in as we go to a commercial break. [ 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.

glidden premium paint has been rated a best buy, but thieves can steal your identity, turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. hi. hi, you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. you just read my mind. [ male announcer ] just one little piece of information, and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money, and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock. lifelock is the leader in identity theft protection. relentlessly protecting your personal information to help stop the crooks in their tracks before your identity is attacked. protecting your social security number, your bank accounts, even the equity in your home. i didn't know how serious identity theft was

until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. [ male announcer ] credit monitoring alone is not enough to protect your identity and only tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 60 days later. with lifelock, as soon as we spot a threat to your identity within our network, our advanced lifelock id alert system directly notifies you, protecting your identity before you become a victim. identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me, and it's gone away because of lifelock. [ male announcer ] while no one can stop all identity theft, if the criminals do manage to steal your information, lifelock is there to help fix it with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right. a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock free for 60 days. that's right -- 60 days free! use promo code safe60. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you'll never pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands...

a $29 value, free. get the protection you need right now! ♪ ♪ ♪ bill: awaiting the outcome of this important meeting on the debt crisis. members of the house republican party huddle at this hour on the hill after house speaker john boehner decided not to bring his plan to the floor for a vote. boehner making changes to the plan trying to drum up enough support among his own caucus to get it passed. the new jersey governor chris christie chimed in on the debt crisis. >> they still have plenty of money to spend on programs. they just don't have enough.

so they have to make choices about what they fund and what they don't. i believe naively that both parties will get together and do what we did in new jersey understanding not everybody is going to get what they want. when you have divided government, everybody is going to have to compromise. bill: here is the difference between the house bill and the senate bill. the house bill for boehner predicted $2.2 trillion knocked off the deficit. that's $500 billion less than claimed, according to cbo. that's on the senate side. on the house side, baner would cut spending by $850 billion rather than the $1.2 trillion the bill promised. so they are off a couple hundred billion dollars in each plan. so neither adds up. that's why they are back to the drawing board today. we'll watch that for you, alisyn. alisyn: take a look at these

numbers. you would likely be out of a job if you got the same performance review as congress does. only 60% of americans think lawmakers on capitol hill are doing an excellent or good job. 31% rate them as fair. and 61% say congress' work is poor. scott rasmussen is president of rasmussen reports.com. >> these numbers are the lowest level of approval we have ever seen for congress. every month we report a new low. there is probably no coincidence consumer confidence today hit the lowest level in the past two years and getting near the lowest level of the past decade. alisyn: last time you said it was 8%. now it's 6%. another interesting question you asked. over the past year has congress passed any legislation that will

significantly improve life in america? what did you find? >> only 11% say yes they have done something that will improve life in our country. this is part of the problem. people go to washington. they have all these discussions and debates but people aren't seeing results in life outside of washington. alisyn: so you have basically asked people what they thought congress' motivation was. very interesting question. let me read it. are most members of congress sincerely interested in helping people for the public service of this or are they just interested in their own careers. 85% said their own careers. >> that many right. whenever you start doing polls like this people say people hate congress but they love their own congressman. only 31%, if you are than one out of three people believe their own representative is the best person for the job. most likely think it's their own

representative trades votes for cash. alisyn: you asked are most members of congress corrupt. let's see the findings. what did you learn? >> 46%, the highest level we ever measured said most members of congress are kripts. these are not republicans say yes, democrats say no. these are the only polls we get to talk about where the results are the same across partisan and demographic lines. a huge amount of and i civi of t there. mainly because people in congress aren't listening and responding in ways that are meaningful to their voters. alisyn: they say corrupt. that's even lower down the scale of public opinion. >> this is something people believe is part of the routine

process. when a company offers a regulator a job, that's a bribe. when the regulator takes the job, they are compromising their ability. this what is goes on in washington. the american people think much of what is business as usual in washington is unethical and corrupt and needs to be fixed. bill: we need to find that 6%, don't we. we have more details on the investigation of this ms. car. the suspect accused of killing 76 and shaking the country of norway to its core. what are they find can out about him today? >> reporter: well, interesting stuff going on right here it's peaceful, people coming to leave flowers or say a prayer. but there have been a couple false alarms as this investigation goes on. people on edge. they had to track wait the train station this morning and the

police were out looking for somebody who agreed with breivik's ideas. they later row tractd that and said they were looking for a mentally unstable man. three hours after the bombing they had his name. somebody at a rental car agency recognized a red flag went up that he had in fact rented two different vehicles recently before that and police had the name already. but of course by that time breivik was already on the island. last night there was a controlled explosion at his farm. they found explosives there. clearly the easiest way to get rid of them. a polish man being arrested for selling chemicals. bill: we are hearing some incredible stories from the survivors. can you tell a few about what you are hearing? >> reporter: a young man on the same ferry with breivik

after the bombing going to the island. the woman who was like the camp mother leader was suspicious about him because he was dressed as a policeman. he had two guns, not just one. also a rifle. she was suspicious asking him questions about it and he appeared to be very nervous. so obviously signals going on. she was one of the first persons killed along with the security guard. bill: i also heard about a young man who played dead. he was shot in the shoulder and did not move. because he did not move he survived. closer to home we are watching wall street. what are we doing? we are down 69 points right now. a lot of concerns about the debt negotiations. can they get it done. we'll watch this all day. and we'll let you know how we do. yesterday we closed down 91 points. the dow has been on a roll so far. all this indecision gets out

there, investors are not sure which way they are about to go. alisyn: we are awaiting debt debate developments on capitol hill. this could be happening in the next hour. first the outcome of a house gop meeting as speaker boehner reworks his plan and tries to con vine conservative republicans to support it. house democratic lawmakers are expected to talk. keep it here to get the latest from capitol hill this morning. bill: there is breaking news on this. could one state go a long way in settling its own battle over the federal healthcare law. a look at whether ohio voters will get a chance to decide their own fate come november. that's next.

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.

alisyn: the allegedly alling lockerbie bomber, the on man convicted of bombing a u.s. aircraft over scotland was spotted looking healthy in his wheelchair at a moammar qaddafi rally in libya. wildlife experts claim that a mountain lion killed in connecticut is a world record holder. dna showing the massive catwalked all the way from south dakota, making his nearly 2,000 mile journey the longest ever recorded by a land mammal bill report signatures are there to put it on the ballot in ohio. they gathered enough signatures to put the federal healthcare law on the ballot on a

referendum. can ohio opt out? thank you for your time. >> good morning to you. bill: why is this important in know come november? >> ohio has wells been a bellwether state in terms of how voters feel about what's happening in their country. we have many voters upset about being told they must buy healthcare insurance and if they don't they will be fined. this is an important measure that voters have chosen to put on the ballot and they will have a chance to voice their opinion in november. bill: i read there might be a court challenge before you get to november. but critics contend even if it does pass, state law will not trump federal law here. are they right? >> that's true, but i think it's southern that voters have an opportunity to tell their elected officials in warn and in particular the president of the

united states how they feel about some of these initiatives. he jeff reached, he went too far, and i think we'll find in november the voters in ohio will say let's step back and take a look at this, mr. president, when think you have gone too far. bill: there is another significant referendum in november. the other is the challenge to unions and collective bargaining. the results of both of these votes could have national implications. the second bill challenges the collective bargaining rights of the union workers, hundreds of thousands in ohio. that passed. it was signed into law. but that will be on the ballot, too. those against senate bill 5 collected 900,000 signatures. they tomorrow needed 231,000. will this survive? >> i believe it will survive. it's important to note that ohio's law will be a bellwether for the rest of the country.

we do not eliminate collective bargaining, when reform collective bargaining. i'm convinced once voter have an opportunity to look at the facts and understand what the senate bill does, they will say these are reasonable reforms. these are things those us in the private sector live with every day. they won't understand what all the fuss is about. i'm anxious for it to go on the ballot. bill: there is a poll that 56% favor repeal. there will be millions of outside dollars outside of ohio spent on that very issue. can you beat them? >> yes, we can. it's important to know that with the poll that -- for the most part the only information that most voters have been getting about senate bill 5 is the misinformation created by the unions. they are trying to protect their interests. but we have a plan in place to get the facts out to the voters and one of the reasons ohio is

such a good bellwether state for the rest of the country. given the facts you will find ohio voters are going to make the right decisions. i'm confident as they get the information, we know when they are given the facts about what senate bill 5 does, the numbers swing in our favor. i'm looking forward to a spirited campaign and yes we will win in november. bill: it will be a centerpiece in november with both of these referendums. was the healthcare referendum pushed to counter the union referendum you knew would be on the ballot already, balance them out and bring out your supporters against healthcare? >> i can't speak to that because i was not involved in the effort to put the healthcare referendum on the ballot. i was involved in senate bill 5 and the checkive bargaining reforms because we needed to make changes in the state of ohio. we could no longer keep doing business as usual. so i can speak to senate bill 5,

but i can't speak to the healthcare referendum because we did not initiate that in the senate. that was a voter initiated petition. so that's why it many important for the voters to have a chance to win in november. bill: we will be watching both these referendums very closely. tom, thank you for your time out of columbus today. alisyn? alisyn: there are new concerns the debt crisis is forcing u.s. companies to take drastic measures. bill: incredible video of this incredible rescue. people being ziplined over the raging waters. take us with you. go to our web site, foxnews.com/mobile. you can connect with us wherever you are when you are not in front of the tv. do that while we go to break

right after this. 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. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill.

bill: landslide killing at least 17. there are lucky survivors because of actions like these. they had to use a zipline in south korea's capital city of seoul. can you imagine? 15 inches in less than a day. 8 college student were killed when the cabin they were staying in was engulfed in mud.

that 17 number could go higher. south korea. ale bad news for female lawmakers. 2011 shaping up to be a rough year for women in politics. the number of women in congress is down sharply. they occupy just under 17% of congressional seats and at the state level women hold 80 fewer seats than one year ago. many women are choosing the private sector and to avoid nasty campaigns. >> reporter: in los angeles 15 people sit on the l.a. city council. only one of them is a woman. the national numbers are dwindling. one study shows the united states is tied in 70th place with for the numbers of women holding elective office. >> california is on the cutting edge of history, sending two

women to the united states senate. >> reporter: 1992 was called the year of the woman when a record number of female candidate were elected to the u.s. congress. but women still lag behind men at the national, state and local level. >> one of the biggest challenges is raising money. it goes hand in hand. if you are going to run for office you need to be comfortable asking for money. >> reporter: linda ackerman runs an organization that trains female candidates to run for office. they insist women bring a different and important perspective. >> when you have more women seated at the tables where the policy decisions are being made, the legislation and the policy is more fair and balanced. >> reporter: they look up to women who have stepped into the

national spotlight and those who have decided and may yet decide to try cracking that glass ceiling 2012. >> it would be wonderful to have a female president in the united states and it would be nice if we had more than one. alisynone. >> in the meantime the numbers of women in congress did increase after that 1992 election. but now women represent just 16% of congressional seats. alisyn: anita vogel. thank you very much. bill rar americans recruited to go overseas for terrorist training. where and why one lawmaker says that's happening right now. alisyn: the clock is ticking down to a looming deadline. a republican senator says if the boehner bill makes it to the senate he will not support it. what will change senator lindsey graham's mind?  turn left.

you have arrived. sweet belt. e-reader for textbooks. gps. hd video cam for lectures. game pad. have you ever considered this ? it's got all that and more than 200,000 apps. technology to learn and play on-the-go. only at verizon. buy one droid 3 by motorola, the thinnest full qwerty smartphone ever for $199.99, and get another one free. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies,

rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. bill: a "fox news alert," right now, there's a lot moving on capitol hill and we are about to find out what both sides are talking about. screen right. you'll see leading republicans now in a meeting, screen left, leading democrats in a meeting of their own. dueling press conferences, coming up, this hour and we'll watch both of them. republicans on the right, and democrats dells on the left, yo it? alisyn: i do! bill: six days and counting before the unthinkable could happen, u.s. default, something that has never happened before. last hour, in "america's newsroom," democratic senator kent conrad telling us it would be a disaster. but he also said this: >> i should say i also don't believe we will default.

i believe that leaders, republican and democrat, understand fully that a default would be a catastrophe. bill: system it appeatill it ap no closer to agreement than they were a week ago or a month ago and the analysts say we could lose the top credit rating even if a deal is reach in time and that could mean mortgage rates go up and make borrowing money more difficult for every american. brand new hour here where the stakes are high. i'm bill hemmer and welcome to our continuing coverage. how are you doing, alisyn. alisyn: doing well, thanks, great to be with you, i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum. one of the plans up for consideration is from speaker of the house, john boehner and a vote on it had been postponed until the math can be worked out. bill: he was promising to rework it after the nonpartisan congressional budget office said his plan could not cut as much spending as promised and it was supposed to cut $3 trillion over ten years and raise the debt limit, $2.6 trillion with no tax

hikes. my next guest is publicly against that. republican senator lindsey graham, with me now and good morning to you. >> good morning, an interesting lead-in. bill: how come? >> well, at the end of the day, we need to kind of slow down hair on fire law making never results in a good outcome and you are glimpse, the future of what america will face and we don't have to default and we will not but there will come a day we cannot pay the social security checks and there will come a day our debt is so large people will stop buying our treasury notes because they think we are unsound as a nation and there will come a day where medicare runs out of money and you get a chance to look at the future, because the debt crisis should educate every american, if you don't have fundamental change, all of the things we worry about happening next tuesday are going to come true, one day. and, speaker boehner is a good man, but, his plan doesn't fundamentally change the reason we got debt... bill: let me get to the -- i

think what you said is what kent conrad said, you don't think we'll default, is that right. >> i don't believe we will, but eventually we are, yes. bill: well, what about a downgrade, next wednesday, august 2nd. >> absolutely. i mean, what do they say, you need to cut $4 trillion over the next decade to avoid a downgrade and speaker boehner's proposal was 3, i feel for him, he has been working with the president for weeks be a every time they come to a big deal, they throw more revenue on the table and move the goal post and we are a few days away, because the white house never pulled the trigger and said no to everything and never put their own plan on the table. so, in response we shouldn't come up with a plan that doesn't get to $4 trillion and you know how much the boehner plan cuts in 2012? $1 billion. you know how much we borrow a day? spend a day? $10 billion. so, the plan saves us 6 hours of federal spending. and it doesn't pass the smell test. bill: what you are saying, then,

is the boehner plan doesn't go normally far enough... and that is the reason why it does not have your support? >> it is a -- designed to deal with a problem of the president. the president would never pull the trigger on a big deal, so they are scrambling to avoid default and coming up with a plan that doesn't make things better, it makes things worse. and, if we'll focus on changing america, we'll come up with the right plan. bill: one final thing. what would make you happy? >> on august 3rd, to have a process in place that would leaded to a bipartisan recognition that the only way washington changes is if we have a balanced budget amendment, in the constitution and 1997, we fell by one vote an 1997 to the day the case for the balanced budget amendment is greater, not less and i want a plan to deal with what got us in debt and put discipline in place we don't have and that will cut more than $4 trillion over the next decade and have near-term cuts and a

balanced budget amendment requiring both parties to get us out of debt and stop the political rhetoric in terms of getting us out of debt and that is what i want. structural change, consistent with the 2010 elections. and that will save america from coming greece, and all of this talk about fear, it is real. we are on an unsustainable path when it comes to our nation and the sooner we act the betterer off we'll be. bill: six days to do it, thanks, senator lindsey graham. alisyn: americans by the thousands are flooding the phone lines and web sites of capitol hill one day after president obama urged people to make their voices heard in his primetime address. the phones on capitol hill started ringing off the hooks. and here's how florida republican congressman daniel webster's constituents weighed in. >> people are really tuned in and we saw approximately 60% of our calls were saying, you know, we'd like to see a compromise,

it is okay to raise the debt limit and 40% say, no, we have reached the point where we need to not raise the debt limit. >> we seem to be willing to compromise to try to get something done. >> the congressman's priority has been to cut spending without raising taxes and that is a principle he stood on consistently. alisyn: the capitol hill's call center said phone circuits were near capacity and received 40,000 calls in one hour, twice the normal volume. bill: and the phone calls are continuing today. many americans are voicing concern in person, not by telephone. out of houston texas we have the constituents gathering inside and outside of republican congressman john culberson's office. >> i expect to provide things in my classroom, school districts don't provide and funding is cut and people in washington continue to take care of themselves first, before they

take care of the american people and i have kids in my classroom who cannot afford medical care. >> anything that cuts my income means probably a few more days less of food. or in some cases medical care. >> this economic crisis will probably kill my business, with in the next couple of years. >> just about all 300 million of us will have to sacrifice, in one way or another and congressman culberson is an original sponsor of the house's cut, cap and balance bill. alisyn: u.s. companies are now pricing for what may be an unprecedented u.s. default. reports are that companies have started hoarding cash and are lining up extra sources of financing, in case a debt deal falls through on august 2nd. fox business network's elizabeth macdonald joins me now to talk about this. hey, liz. >> hi, alisyn. alisyn: we have heard companies have been hoarding cash for two years now.

is it just a new excuse for them not to spend? >> you know, that is a good question, because, you know, you are right. we have seen estimates of $1.6 trillion, anywhere from that to more than $2 trillion, sitting, parked on company balance sheets and not going into the economy and hiring, basically, not picking up speed and we know the jobless rate is stuck stubbornly high and as to whether it's an excuse, what we are hearing out of the cfos, the top trade group, half say they need preserve liquidity and preserve their cash, because they don't the if the markets will lock up, and in fact half of cfos surveyed out of the trade group say they are parking cash on the balance sheets and not going to do any hiring, and they will cut back on capital spending because they are worried about the debt impasse and the possibility of a downgrade and, a hit to their own balance sheets. of a downgrade, and jpmorgan chase says a downgrade could cut out of the economy $100 billion, in economic activity, alisyn, and that is why you are hearing

companies like ge, ford and eaton corporation are saying, look, we have to sit tight and make sure we protect our liquidity, our cash on a balance sheet, alisyn. alisyn: you know, the default and the downgrade are two separate things and if a deal is reached on the debt ceiling, before august 2nd, we still could be downgraded, would they then loosen up some of the liquidity. >> that is an important question, because they are two separate things, and you are right to ask whether or not this is an excuses. we have seen the behavior of companies in the past, they kind of lock up and they do what they can to basically protect their balance sheets. so, it seems to, according to the indications, we are getting out of deutsche bank as well who talk to cfos, too, they'll continue until they see an impasse stopped in washington, d.c., back to you, alisyn. alisyn: liz macdonald from fox business network, thanks. we are asking you what you think, go to foxnews.com/americasnewsroom and take our poll, if the u.s. defaults on its debt are you

worried it will impact your family? since the show started, more than 1700 of you have weighed in with 67% saying, yes, you are worried and you can still weigh in, go to our web site, and tell us what you think, at this hour. bill: 1700? 6,000 yesterday? 50 minutes to go. alisyn: come on, you can do it. bill: one of our nation's most important and historic hospitals shutting its doors for good. the walter reed army medical center treated hundreds of thousands of u.s. military men and women since it opened more than 100 years ago. almost a million outpatients go there every year and some of our nation's most heroic and influential people are also treated there. president dwight eisenhower died there. steve centanni is live on the story out of d.c. this is history them. facility has a long history. steve, good morning to you. >> reporter: bill, good morning, it is more than just a facility, more than a hospital, more than a place, it was really a beacon of hope for all of these years,

102 years, our wounded warriors who came here and got help and began to get their lives back together. let's look at some of the earliest photos, it opened in 1909. you can see some of the wards in the original building, started with just a few dozen patients and now, today, look at the next pictures, it has grown to a 100 acre, huge medical complex. and, very historic, as you said, presidents have come here and richard nixon was here when he was suffering from a bacterial infection, 1960 and many presidents have come for their check-ups and it is really a story of courage and determination, and the doctors and the patients here, over all of these many years. bill: what is next for the facility? what happens? >> reporter: well, they are going to close it down over the next month and move to a brand new facility in bethesda, maryland, just a few miles from here and will be combined as the national military medical center and will keep the name, walter reed which it has had since it opened in 1909. he was a pioneering army

physician, and best known for first identifying yellow fever connected to mosquitoes, and, it was named after him, and, now, after all of these years, it will be closed down but moved and, the important work they do will continue. bill: a great story, steve, thank you, steve centanni, good to have you there today. alisyn? alisyn: from fringe to favorite? ron paul's presidential bid is picking up steam today. we'll look at the reasons why. bill: also, americans turn terrorists overseas, new fears a group linked to al qaeda is winning the hearts and minds of u.s. citizens. and there is this: >> as well as the owner of the home, apparently outside... hey, hey. i'm getting hit -- >> journalists attacked. the story behind the report that turned dangerous. h, forgot jack cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, ts is pretty good.

[ male announcer ]alf a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. 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.

the 3.6-liter v6 engine of the jeep grand cherokee has a best-in-class driving range of over 500 miles per tank. so you can catch morning tee time in pebble beach and the afternoon meeting in losngeles all without running out of gas. st make sure you don't run out of gas. ♪

bill: as promised, democrats now breaking their caucus, their meeting and talking about the debt. listen here.

>>... and take this cup away from the american people. they are pushing the american people -- this is not just about the global economy. nor is it about just our national economy. as important as that is. this is about household economies, this is about 401(k)s, becoming 101-ks and we are getting calls to our office, saying what should i do with my money? what is going on? how serious is this event? what do we need to do? and during our caucus, one of the great wise heads of our caucus stood up and said, i'll tell you what we need to do, we need to have the president look at all of his options and with that, i'm call on our leader, jim clyburn, to explain what he said to our caucus. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, mr. vice chair. i think all of us are quite

aware that the american people are now tuned in big-time, as we say, to this issue. and, they are very, very concerned about whether or not their retirement checks are going to continue to flow and hold their value and are concerned as to whether or not their children are going to be in positions to continue the pursuit of their education, and they are concerned about the mortgages they hold on their homes and whether or not what we are doing here threatens the validity of those transactions. bill: mortgages, interest rates, 401(k), all of that happening now in the democratic press conference and the republicans will speak any moment and they,

too, got together earlier today, 9:00 eastern time, and, the meeting is still underway, and they'll be at the microphones in moments, stay tuned for all of that. 18 past, alisyn. alisyn: and, more on politics now. he's often considered the long shot in the republican primary process, and now texas congressman ron paul picking up a key endorsement from the storied county iowa republican chairman. and why is that important? story county is home to next month's crucial straw poll. and here's paul on monday in iowa talking about his straw poll appeal. >> how do we do so well in straw votes? we have and we have done quite well. it's the enthusiasm of the supporters they know what we believe in and what we stand for and they are willing to go the extra mile and because of that reason, because the message is spreading so much further... >> reporter: here with in sight to talk about this is alan colmes, host of "the alan colmes radio show" and mary katherine

ham, a fox news contributor. this is considered a coveted endorsement, mary katherine, and, from the republican chairman in iowa, does it give ron paul the momentum he needs to win the straw poll and move beyond that to success in high wa? >> look, i think it is a big deal, as ron paul noted, thee a winning straw polls an organizing but they have not been able to transfer that to mainstream republican votes and perhaps this is' signal they are getting closer to doing that which is not surprising because his message is more popular among the mainstream republican voters than it was in 2007 and whether that means he'll actually come out on top i'm not sure, and beyond that, whether it means he'll break through, in the actual primary, i'm not sure. i think there is a lot contingent on that but he could damage the mainstream candidates. by doing so well. bill: alan, what do you think about ron paul's momentum? i like ron paul, i'm a

liberal-tarian, not a libertarian, but with his momentum i can't imagine the republicans giving him a nomination when he's out of sync with mainstream republicans even with the debt ceiling, most economists and mainstream republicans acknowledged we need to raise the debt ceiling and ron paul doesn't want to do that, consistent with his message we need to cut and have less government which i respect and understand, but, i can't imagine that he has enough momentum to overcome what is considered mainstream republicanism in the year 2011-2012, i can't see that happening. alisyn: mary katherine, talk about his fund-raising, he has been raising money in iowa and the latest campaign is called, cleverly, ready, ames, fire and he raised a respectable $5 million in the last quarter, does it make him less fringe? >> he's certainly raising a lot of money and when you are organizing, as "the new york times" reported he's getting buses and he can bus people into the straw poll and they are offering food an bid the largest

amount for the best sort of spot at the straw poll, the one mitt romney had in 2007, and, so you can get things like that, and the question is, it just comes down to the voters, and maybe they can organizing this really well and come out with a good finish and that translates into the broader state voters, republican voters in the future but the polls, you know, the june poll showed him at 7% and that is a tough number to get up from. bill: alan i owe one, i'm sorry. we'll have breaking news here. i apologize. thanks for coming in, both of your perspectives. >> thank you. bill:' we're watching both news conferences now and we heard from democrats, and waiting on republicans and the question for you at home, what if washington took 100% of your income in taxes, would that pay off our $14 trillion debt? the surprising answer, because you asked. in minutes, alisyn? alisyn: the interesting decision made by the judge in the casey anthony case. >> i doubt very seriously if you

would have had this uproar if the decision had been different, but, jurors are not supposed to make decisions based upon popularity. how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in. it's how our rough ideas become "you did that yourself?" so when we can save more on the projects that let us fix, make, and do more... that just makes the stories even better. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. add some style to your sink, with this moen banbury faucet for the new lower price of 79 bucks. didn't really know what i wanted to do. didn't like high school. and then i met my teacher, mr. mccooey, and that click happened. i would never have even thought about going into the engineering field if it wasn't for these ap classes, these teachers and them helping me realize that this is a major calling in my life.

♪ i didn't always know that i would like math, but now i think it'll change my life.

alisyn: breaking news to tell you about because we are awaiting word from republicans who are behind closed doors right now, we are told they are trying to retool speaker john boehner's plan that he submitted the cbo came up with different numbers than he did and this morning, they are back at the drawing board, trying to figure out what to do about the debt. we have heard already from democrats who also were behind closed doors this morning and as soon that's republicans emerge, and tell us what this new plan looks like, we will bring that to you, live. bill: another long meeting, isn't it? six days to go, and, president

obama insisting the other night in primetime television to forge a debt deal, america's wealthiest must pay more in taxes. >> president barack obama: i want to extend the payroll tax cut for working families. what we're talking about under a balanced approach is asking americans whose incomes have gone up the most over the last decade, millionaires and billionaires. to share in the sacrifice everyone else has to make. bill: which brought a number of questions from our viewers. bya, because you asked, we got this, wilbur writes the following: if the u.s. government raised our taxes to 100%, would that pay off the national debt? fox business network's dagen mcdowell with me now. good morning to you, the question is this: if they took all of the money that was made, over 12 months, one year, over all of the americans who are working, where would that get us. >> not even taxing it, i mean, if the government came in and took every, single dime in

adjusted gross income, this is how we measure wages and salaries in this country, 7.6, a little more than $7.6 trillion. every dime of it. bill: the income, $7.6 trillion. >> how much money would go into the federal coffers, at the irs, and that would get us a little more than halfway there. to paying down the national debt. bill: hang on a minute. $7.6 trillion, in national income. >> adjusted gross income, after... bill: after $900 billion is this money they take out now and you are taking $6.8 trillion more, in new money and only get halfway there. >> halfway there, but can you imagine an economy, a country if the federal government took basically every dime we make, every penny we make? you would have a... bill: we'd be on steroids. >> it gets you a little more than halfway there. bill: tax everybody for two years and take all their income and you can pay it off. >> what would we be eating and

buying, and, what would the landscape look like. bill: a different category. what if you taxed those making more than $250,000 a year? what we found out. you would raise $1.23 trillion. but the projected deficit for this year alone is $1.4 trillion. >> right. these earners already pay, and this is going back to 2009, the numbers we are using, already pay 381, a little more than $381 billion in taxes, and if you took all of the income, all of it, all of the adjusted gross income again every penny, it would only be $1.6 trillion. bill: the point is, when you and others you talk to, you cannot tax your way out of $14 trillion. >> absolutely not. and, you can't -- you can't have an economy that functions and a country that doesn't completely collapse in on itself, no, you absolutely can't do that and, by the way, bill, remember, too,

that more than half of americans pay no net federal income tax, and not paying for the defense and not paying for many of the services we take for granted. something to think about, too. bill: we would all be eating peas, wouldn't we? >> i don't like peas. bill: we'll check you out on fbn. hemmer@foxnews.com and also, twitter, @billhemmer. and foxnews.com/americasnewsroom. thank you, dagen. >> thank you, sir. alisyn: things are changing by the minute here, g.o.p. leaders are meeting behind closed doors and we'll bring you developments as soon as the leaders come out and new word terror groups linked to al qaeda, now are recruiting americans, more on that potential threat, facing america. ♪ and so the conversation turned ♪

♪ until the sun went down ♪ like many chefs today,own i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.

a living, breathing intelligence that's helpi drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪

alisyn: "fox news alert" now, moments ago we heard from democrats, on the debt limit debate. meanwhile, house republicans are still meeting behind closed doors, at this hour, as speaker of the house, john boehner reworks his debt limit proposal, he's trying to sweets en the de to get more support from the plan and we hope to hear from lawmakers shortly. in the meantime, doug mcelway is live on capitol hill, what is

the latest with the boehner plan, as we know it? >> reporter: well, the original boehner plan was shelved late yesterday, as it was scheduled for a vote today. that after the cbo scored it and found the savings were just not there. the savings that boehner had anticipated would be there. so, keep in mind, boehner has said all along, that any savings must be equal to or greater than any increase in the debt ceiling, so, it just didn't pass muster. so, it is back to the drawing board today and the house rules committee will meet today at noon, to formulate the rules for debate and a vote on the revised boehner plan which we expect tomorrow, now, having said that, even before the cbo scored the boehner plan, it was being excoriated by senate majority leader harry reid at the ohio caucus today, who says was dead on arrival in the senate. >> speaker boehner's plan is not a compromise. it was written for the tea party. not the american people. democrats will not vote for it.

democrats will not vote for it, democrats will not vote for it. it is dead on arrival in the senate. >> reporter: if boehner didn't face enough problems, on the senate side, he faces every bit the same kind of obstacles within his own caucus and needs 217 votes, and can afford to lose no more than 23 republicans, but already, 15 republicans have gone on record in opposition to the original boehner plan, and, many, many more have also expressed doubts about it. senator jim demint, reflects the views of many the of the house freshmen who are opposed. >> i think a lot of this is politics. and i believe the plans we're hearing talked about now are bill solutions. but the only plan that solves our problem is cut, cap and balance and i don't want to give up on it and go back to business as usual. >> reporter: so, alisyn, bottom line, boehner in a very version tough spot, will be interesting to see whether he cajoled the

house freshmen over to the revised plan. alisyn: it sure will, doug, thank you and we'll let our viewers know, we'll have congressman jim jordan on who also doesn't like the boehner plan. bill: new fears americans are now being recruited by terrorist groups overseas. that is a new report just out today, and at the moment, this is a house homeland security hearing that is happening, headed up by peter king, the lawmaker out of new york, holding a hearing on homegrown terrorism. mike barrett is the former director of strategy for white house homeland security and the former intelligence officer for the office of the secretary of defense and, mike, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you say there are two significant but difficult issues for the hearing. what are they? >> sure. well, one thing obviously we're talking about radicalized americans and so there's a lot of civil liberties concerns and we have issues with constitutional protections which create a lot of challenges in terms of the law enforcement piece and makes it inherently uncomfortable. there's a lot of hard discussions you have to have and the second one, we are talking about somalia, where everyone

remembers black hawk down from 19 the 93 where the brave service members died trying to bring humanitarian aid to essentially a failed state. bill: you have 40 americans, what the report says, that have been recruited or radicalized to al qaeda links to aterrorists i somalia and you say we face an increase in risk of homegrown terrorists attacking us from within. where is the proof of that today? >> we see it in any number of incidents and someone tried to blow up the christmas tree lighting ceremony in portland,ing or, a couple months ago a student in texas was involved in activities, and what we have is people who are here legally, and therefore have legal protections, whether they are first or second generation citizens, or permanent residents who have legal reasons to be here, and there, forehave certain protections. and it makes it harder on the intelligence community and law enforcement community to carry out what they need to do which is connecting the dots, you remember from the 9/11 commission they talked about a failure to connect the dots and

first you have to collect the information. bill: you mentioned somalia. that is the country that has all kinds of issues. and, it is a lot like afghanistan, prior to 9/11. how do we best deal with this threat, sir? >> well, i think, you know, two things, one is we have to really learn to be vigilant here at home, the good news is that the homegrown guys are less likely to use chemical or nuclear weapons and just like we saw in norway, you can have one crazy person with a gun, kill almost 100 people and, so, we have to be vigilant here at home and second thing, we have to work better at putting pressure on the regimes overseas and ungoverned territories, al-shabab and followers have essentially taken over half of somalia and the rest of it is falling apart and millions are starving and we have piracy issues and other security issues and there are ties to yemen and the al qaeda leadership there and the other thing we need to do is work closely with our allies in trying to figure out as we pull down in iraq and afghanistan, how are we going to keep the pressure on in places like yemen and afghanistan and

somalia. bill: okay. mike, thank you. you know, we talked a lot about the u.s. threat but the canadians are dealing with something similar, too. and the numbers are disputed by some, but, what we believe is that 20 somalis were recruited in somalia, out of the u.s., and 20 also out of canada. and mike barrett, thank you for your time. in washington. >> appreciate it. bill: watching those hearing, they continue now on the hill. 21 minutes before the hour. alisyn: with the clock ticking towards possible default speaker of the house john boehner trying to sweeten his debt limit deal after members of his own party express their doubts about it, as you know, they have been meeting behind closed doors, for the past hour-and-a-half, and it looks like they may now have some information to share with us. bill: also we were watching the camera -- and the microphone and apparently they walked right by it and what was said in that meeting that lasted at least an hour and 30 minutes is still not known. but, when there is comment we'll bring it to you. right here on "america's newsroom." alisyn: all right, we're also

going to ask boehner's fellow congressman and republican jim jordan what he doesn't like about the boehner plan. he is standing by and we'll see him in minutes. plus, this... >> as well as the owner of the home apparently, outside... hey, hey. i'm getting hit. bill: when the reporter becomes the news, right? we'll show you what happens next, as they cut back to the anchor on desk. ñíoz6ooñtñíy

alisyn: "fox news alert" for you now, because house g.o.p. leaders had been in a closed-door meeting this morning. and looks like the meeting may be over, as you can see, the speaker of the house was just leaving. and we had hoped he was going to stop at the microphone and share with us what they had decided. behind closed doors. but he breezed by there in that scrum of reporters. asking questions. as you can see. we also just saw house majority leader eric cantor leaving.

and the speaker is reworking his debt limit plan as we know, after the congressional budget office reported that it would cut much less than he advertised. democrats of course are vowing to defeat it, and some members of the speaker's own party are publicly opposing the plan as well. one of those republicans, against it, is ohio congressman jim jordan, he's a chairman of the republican study committee and joins me now, good morning, congressman. >> good morning, good to be with you, alisyn. alisyn: any idea what happened behind closed doors since speaker boehner would not talk? >> well, i don't know if there is any change and there are people who have trouble with the legislation, still, and many members who support it and we'll see how it ext day and they are rewriting the bill to comply with what was initially proposed, earlier yesterday. alisyn: now, is your only problem with it, is the reason that you don't support it, because it doesn't include a balanced budget amendment? >> that is certainly the biggest reason. but, you have to look at the basics, harry reid said he's against it and the president

said he'd vote it and there was another bill which passed one house of congress and it is frankly a plan -- and call me the optimist but i think it would get to this point, the plan that works and the only plan that would be debated and, the only plan with bipartisan support and prevents a downgrade and only plan that has supports from the american people as evidenced by the poll last week which said, 66% of the american people support cut, cap and balance. and it is already... think about which plan is closest to the station and which train is closest to getting to the train station it is the cut, cap and balance plan which already passed one house of congress. alisyn: it has been reported that eric cantor basically admonished you and like-mined fellow republicans and said in his closed door meeting today, reported by the "new york times," he said, cantor said, quoted, to stop your grumbling and whining and to come together as conservatives, and rally behind mr. boehner's plan. can you do what eric cantor is asking?

>> well, look. i have a great deal of respect for the speaker and the leader and the fact there are not tax increases in the plan is a testimony to their fortitude in these negotiations but we respectfully disagree and think that the plan that we want to push for, the plan that you want to have the fight on is the one that actually fixes the problem and we have said for a week washington wants the deal and america wants a solution and the solution is the plan we put forward, which, again, has bipartisan support, and is actually -- has passed one house of congress and is closer to the final destination than anything else. alisyn: but, the... veto the cut, cap and balance and isn't that a nonstarter. >> he said he will veto the plan that is current under consideration in the house. so, if you get the president saying he'll veto both plans, go with one that passed one house and harry reid, they didn't defeat it in the senate they tabled it and having him bring it off the table and put it up for debate and have real debate and after all the senate is supposed to be the most deliberative body in the world, what are they afraid of? let the american people watch as you debate the bill beand i thi

the american people will embrace it and we can do the right thing and fix the country. alisyn: you've got 6 days left. are you optimistic enough this morning that you are going to get some deal cobbled together in that time? >> i hope we get a solution, not a deal. but, yes, i want -- this is america, you have to be and other mist, the greatest country ever and we have had tough times before and we've always risen to the occasion and this is one of those moments where we need to say, look, let's do the right thing and do the thing that fixes the problem and do the thing that prevents a downgrade and let's do what the american people have embraced and cut spending and cap it and get a balanced budget amendment. alisyn: you know, speaking of the american people, we understand there has been a record number of calls to capitol hill, in the past 24 hours, of voters telling you all, please put aside your partisan politics, and come together for a deal. what are you saying to your constituents? >> well, alisyn, the compromise

will be the president gets what he wants, he wants a $2.4 billion increase in the debt ceiling, and he made that clear last night and we want to get that, and that's in the cut, cap and balance plan and we said we'll give you a debt ceiling increase to take you past the election if you put in place the things that will solve the problem and that will actually fix the country's fiscal situation. that is the deal, the compromise, and it is already on the table and passed the house of representatives. alisyn: all right, congressman jim jordan, thanks so much for coming in, your perspective on this, we like your optimism and we will see what happens today. we have been asking you what you think about all of this and our poll today, there are about 3,000 voters who weighed in and we're asking if the u.s. defaults on its debt are you worried it will impact your family directly? 71%, are saying yes, they are worried. and, you can still weigh in, go to your web site,

foxnews.com/americasnewsroom and tell us what you think today. bill: you can walk down the sidewalks in new york, people are asking, are you going to get a deal? what is going to happen? we'll see, jon scott is waiting now, "happening now" rolls your way in 10 minutes. >> good morning, bill. there is no deal at least not yet. as the deadline quickly approaches to raise the debt ceiling or default. the congress seems locked in bipartisan gridlock and we'll talk with several prominent house members from both sides of the aisle where we stand and what happens fit doesn't get done and the discovery from the far side of the moon that has people talking. a recommendation to set aside half an hour a day, not for exercise or meditation or prayer, but for worrying. what is that all about? we'll explain. always go to foxnews.com/happeningnow and weigh in on the day's news and we'll see you in a few minutes. >> i'm stressed out already about the worrying. >> we're all worried about the debt ceiling thing. bill: it has been a big secrete

in the casey anthony case and the judge made a decision about the juror that has many people shaking their heads. ♪ we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

bill: a new and surprising decision made by the judge in the casey anthony case, the judge will release the names of the jurors in the trial, in october. until then, they'll remain secret. our fox news senior judicial analyst, judge andrew napolitano, co-host of "the five" and anchor of "freedom watch" on the fox business network. double your salary! what is up with the judge? how can he do this? >> there are two public policies working against each other here,

one is nothe policy of transparency and people have a right to know what the government does and who is acting with the government's power and clearly jurors are part of the judicial system when they make a decision on a crime case and the other public policy is judges like to protect jurors from intimidation and they don't want them to have to worry that their decisions should conform to what the public thinks... bill: based on what we have heard out of orlando, that their lives were in danger and there was physical harm. >> no. no. no. no. no. but this judge, like a full-time judge would think, if i release their names now, and they are the object of public scorn, it will be very difficult for me to get 12 people in the future, to try a highly controversial and public case. so, the judges have a tendency, i, myself, do this, to want to protect the jurors and when you impanel a jury, you say to them you answer to your conscience and the law and not the headlines and you do not answer the public and i'll protect you from the headlines and the public and that is what the judge is trying to do.

bill: it is his discretion, you are saying? he can make the call? what does the law say? the constitution say about the decision. >> the constitution says the defendant is entitled to know who the jurors are, but the public is not entitled to know. the decision to release the names of the jurors, resides with the court or with the jurors themselves. most judges would say to the jurors, if you want to go public, that is your privilege to do so, and if you want me to keep your name private you tell me and i will keep your name private. bill: he can keep them quiet for three more months. that is his plan, right now. >> he can keep their names from the public. forever. his decision to wait three months i think is intended for the controversy to die down, but, still, to give the media what it want and he doesn't -- is not obliged to give the media those names at any time. bill: that is why we call you this jenni the judge, check him out, 8:00 eastern time, and he'll be on "the five" today at 5:00. alisyn: we'll be watching you,

judge. the next tropical storm could be brewing in the gulf. what will this -- will this, i should say, become don? ugh, my feet are killin' me. well, we're here to get you custom orthotic inserts. dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center recommends the custom-fit orthotic that's best for your tired feet. foot-care scientists are behind it. you'll get all-day relief. for your tired achy feet. for locations, see drscholls.com. thank you... where do you go to find the superguarantee®? only superpages.com®.

for local maps, deals and more, go to superpages.com®. and let the good guys save the day. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have cess to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

bill: a reporter this philadelphia will remember this live shot, and it was live. >> complaints over extreme stench coming out of this building as well as the owner of this home, apparently, outside -- hey! hey, i'm getting -- bill: i got your stench right here. that's fox reporter chris o'connell attacked by the son of the homeowner, his attacker was taken away in handcuffs, and it made for some very interesting television. alisyn: that's live television. bill: philly. ♪ freak out! finish oh, freak out! alisyn: and there was drama unfolding in the florida marlins' dugout. a praying