>> brian: where in soho can we see you? >> victoria secret store. >> gretchen: tomorrow we'll have full coverage of the president's job speech from tonight. log on for our after the show show. >> steve: so long, girls. bill: we have a lot to cover this morning. that's where we start.

good morning. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to america's newsroom. martha: it was a very firey debate. candidates traded jabs. you have got jobs, the economy which will be front and center. and the big question, whip of these people will be best qualified to go up against president obama in 2012. >> it must be gone now and as president of the united states i won't rest until we repeal obama-care. >> you can buy a gallon of gasoline for a silver dime. >> to have a president walk out from behind the teleprompter, speak from your heart and soul and tell us where you want this country to go. >> eliminate the tax code. >> obama-care is a disaster

procedurally, it was rammed through after they last teddy kennedy's seat in massachusetts. it can't be implement. it's killing this economy. if he had any concern for americans he would walk in thursday night and ask to repeal it. >> for anybody to go to el paso, texas and say the border is safer than it's ever been. either he has the worst intel in american history or he's an abject liar. >> we love america. mayor case in crisis. we have differences between us but i belief this president has got to go. this montana is a nice guy bauge guy, but he doesn't have a clue how to get this country running again. many experts say it's a two-man

race. perry, romney, who got the better do you believe? >> it was close to even. they were both heavy hitters and in good form. romney did well on the issue of social security and immigration which remains an important issue with the republican base. so really close between them. bill: you mentioned jobs. here is a quick exchange near the top of last night's faceoff. >> michael dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, mitt. >> george bush and his predecessor created jobs faster than you did, governor. bill: it went from there. was there an edge on jobs? >> it was like a tennis match with both of these guys at the net. perry has the edge on jobs because of his record of job

creation in texas. if he didn't have that job creation record he wouldn't be in the race. it's his strongest part. romney did pretty well attacking him and defending a record that's okay but not as impressive as perry's. bill: the next two debates are both in florida where social security is a huge issue so that will come up again with rick perry and the rest of the panelists. newt gingrich was firing bombs from the left side of the stage. a lot of people those was hot. we'll get to him in a minute. perry was the clear front runner in a poll that has flip-flopped. it has gone back and forth. 26% perry, romney at 18 follows him. do these numbers change as of last night? >> my feeling is the order will not change. perry will stay in the lead.

i think the margin may get closer. you may see romney moving up but my guess is perry will stay where he is. bill: thank you, good article. >> thank you. bill: bementioned the debates -- we mentioned the debates coming up in florida. martha: fox news is teaming up with google september 22 in orlando. you can submit questions for the candidates and vote on which questions you want answered. if you felt the questions you wanted to hear were not being asked, here is our opportunity to make a difference in the next dough bait. there is a link there, it's very easy. click on that and put your question out there. bill: there is an "ask" tab. you can write a question or

submit a video for the candidates. you can also see questions submitted by other viewers. give these questions a thumbs up or thumbs down. give the categories a thumbs up or thumbs down. that debate comes your way with google and fox news in orlando, florida. martha: we are getting new details on obama's jobs plan. we are now told that it may cost this plan as much as $400 billion. you remember the original $800 billion stimulus package. this we are told will be offset by commensurate spending cuts. what spending cuts will they be? we don't know at this point because we won't hear details on that is the word we are getting at this point. we are joined by stuart varney

of the fox business network. where is the extra $400 billion going to come from? >> reporter: we don't know. yesterday this jobs package was said to be worth $300 billion, today it's $400 billion. where does the extra $100 billion come from? we don't know. the details on how it will be paid for and which cuts will be made, those will emerge in a second speech sometime soon. what you have is spend now, promise soon. we have some disappointing news on the jobs fronts. more people lined up for jobless benefits. 414,000 of them to be precise. 156 weeks out of the last 164 weeks we have had north of 400k

jobless claims per week. martha: in recent speeches the president tried to make the argument there was evidence we were starting to come out of this deep, dark hole the economy has been in. he goes into this speech with a number that will not support that argument. >> reporter: that is correct. the economic news on all fronts has been negative. it has shown a weakening economy, a worsening jobs position and a worsening housing situation. that is the backdrop to tonight's speech. worsening economy. martha: of the idea we are hearing so far. obviously infrastructure spending has been on the table for a long time. the payroll tax relief that has also been there for a long time. do you think he will pull a rabbit out of the hat and give republicans something they have been supportive of all along? >> reporter: i would be surprised if he goes before a joint session of congress and

mentions only same old-same old. i would be surprised if he didn't have some kind of new element to make the speech more attractive so it doesn't go off as a complete dud. martha: i spoke to gretchen this morning. stuart, thank you so much. stuart varney, the fox business network. bill: one of the questions we'll have in the coming weeks is if new spending creates more jobs and drives unemployment down. critics say this is what the stimulus did not deliver on. it cost $840 billion. 85 per of that has been out. according to the congressional budget office.

the impact peaked in the first half of 2010. martha: we may be getting a preview of the president's rallying call for 2012. you can bet he will blame congress. there are reports tonight's speech will be followed by a campaign to put congressional republicans on the hot seat to take that argument out to america. we'll ask texas governor john cornyn about that. plus the fallout on what is not happening tonight after the president's speech tonight. that is an official gop response. the gop says they haven't gotten enough information about what is in it to prepare a response. should the republicans do a response after tonight's speech? weigh in. bill: kick off 8:25 for the

gape, i think. we are watching a number of developing stories. much more on the republican debate from last night. >> if 10% is good enough for god. 9% ought to be good enough for the federal government. martha: this is a powerful film, folks. it tracks the lives of five people who were profoundly affected by september 11. we'll talk to a firefighter who is profiled in this movie and find out what life has been like for him since that fateful day. bill: the east coast is under water again. all these areas hit so hard by hurricane irene pounded again. and the water is rising again. >> we pray to god it's going to stop and it recedes. please, god, stop the rain.

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martha: a possible terror plot in germany stopped in its tracks three days before america pauses to represent september 11. police arrested two men at an islamic center. police say they were trying to get their hand on large amounts of chemicals. bill: a campaign poster from 2012 for president obama may just say blame congress. after tonight's jobs speech president obama is said to be launching a month-long campaign to put pressure on republicans on the hill to work with democrats and create jobs or take the blame for war they call inaction. senator john cornyn is on the senate budget committee. how do you react when the president says congress is the problem? >> the president's policies

during the first two years of his presidency have not on been ineffective in dealing with high joblessness and trying to get people back to work, they actually made things worse. so more of the say is simply not an option. we need to help settle down the job creators by reassuring them they will deal responsibly with the debt by cutting spending. we won't yield to high inflation or deflation, and give them some predictability by long-term growth programs. bill: what about a jobs act that will cost $400 billion. that will be paid for is the word we are getting from the white house. would you support that on the surface? >> i would like to look at the details. what i'm leery about is what he would pay for it with. if he's talking about raising taxes on small businesses, i don't see how that will work and i wouldn't support it. bill: will any of this go

anywhere? >> we'll hear what the president has to say. we'll be sitting there respectfully and listen to him. but if all he's going to do is say let's do more of what we have done in the past, i'm not sure what the purpose after joint session of congress is. instead of having a joint session of congress and making a nationally televised speech he could have picked up the telephone and worked quietly with leaders in the congress to try and solve the problem. bill: perhaps he is doing that also and would have to assume that's the case. what do you think about this speech sandwiched between a football game tonight. sacramento, california, a state that's deeper in debt than any other state in the country. >> there is time enough for everything. i regret there was this confusion over scheduling the president's speech. i know the american people are interested in hearing with his

suggestions are. i hope he has new ones and not the same old rehashed ones. but there is tim enough for everything. bill: were just getting word, our fox news producer on the hill. michele bachmann will give a response to the president at 8:30 tonight. that is news to us because we were told there would be no official republican response. >> i don't know whether congresswoman's response will be an official republican response. maybe it will just be her own response. i think you will be hearing from a lot of members of congress what their reaction is to the president's speech. probably none of them official. bill: you are saying this could be coming from her office. something i can't determine just yet. but i'll try to nail this down for you. or perhaps she was invited by the speaker. is it "a" or is it "b." >> i don't know the answer to that. we'll have to wait and find out. bill: you will attend, some of

your colleagues will not. what do you think about the decision to skip it. >> i think we oh it to the office of the president to listen to his views. i hope he has new ideas and they are not simply the same old ideas we know have been not on ineffective, but which have raised the debt by $4 trillion. and that's created a lot of sun certainty in the private sector by the very people we are depending upon to create new jobs. himself policies in the past have not on been ineffective, they have made things worse. and i'm going to be there listening to what he has to say. bill: on that specific issue of job creation we found 45% in a fox news poll, does obama know how to encourage job creation, 45% say he has a pretty good

idea. >> i think the president is out of ammunition. i don't think he knows exactly what to do if he's going to propose more stimulus and debt and higher taxes on the people we are depending on for job creation. i'm frankly starting to believe he doesn't understand what the private sector needs in order to create jobs. we don't need more government jobs, we need the private sector to grow the economy and create jobs and they are worried about what the policies are. bill: senator, thank you. bachmann will hold a press conference at 8:30 and we are working for more information on that. you can watch all of it later tonight on the fox news channel. 7:00 p.m. eastern time. your host tonight, shepard smith. his slot, prime time. martha: devastating wildfires have torn across the lone star state. hundreds of homes reduced to rubble. a live report on the fire and

the progress and the effort to fight it. that's coming up. bill: terrorists turning planes into weapons september 11. the heartbreaking journey of healing through the eyes of a firefighter who was there on 9/11. >> i remember talking to my dad and saying i made it. in the first dream i go up to her and hug her. eds can go up when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure!

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martha: this weekend marks 10 years since the september 11

attacks. a decade worth of heartbreak and healing. that is the subject of a new film called "rebirth." it follows the lives of five people whose lives were changed forever that day. >> i'm caught between having to move on but i don't want to. it was a very painful decision to start dating again. it's such a betrayal. >> i felt horribly guilty. i should have been there with him in death. martha: a 9/11 firefighters lost 343 of his fellow firefighters. since then he has dedicated his life to fighting for them and the survivors of september 11. he joins me from washington. i know this is a tough week for all of you. you talked to me about those 343, and you said there are so many more who were down there rescuing people and digging

through the rubble. that number is not a finished number at 343. >> it's not. there are a lot of firefighters who are sick with lung and airway problems. now with a new study, a 19% increase in cancer among firefighters in the new york city fire department. firefighters that were there at the world trade center on that day. so the numbers are starting to bear out what we thought was going to happen. martha: we are covering a number of illnesses for those who were down there rescuing and digging through the rubble, but cancer is not among the things covered there. i know you think the increase in cancer is attributed to the crush of the buildings that yield mercury, crushed computers in an unprecedented -- just disintegration that we never experienced before in any way in this country.

>> this is all new. the doctors, they are studying this. this is something brand-new for them. the intensity of it is never occurred before. so in 1975 there was a fire in the new york telephone company in manhattan that caused a similar cluster of cancer early on. sadly, as a result of that fire, all those firefighters who responded to it contracted cancer. martha: as you have said, you believe that will be the case for so many more. what is sort of the singular message you want people to understand in terms of the ongoing fight for these people and how difficult their lives continue to be as a result of all this? >> never forget but it's just that simple. never forget the heros of 9/11. it's not just the firefighters. it's the police officers, the construction workers and all the people that went down there and

spent months digging and hoping for survivors. sad day that didn't happen. martha: the firefighters are not invited to this ceremony. where are you all be during this ceremony. >> they have gone up to the fireman's memorial every september 11 in the morning. it's center private for us. there is no politicians and we just do you give up and read the names of our brothers at the firemen's memorial. it's a very somber experience. that's where the firefighters will be as they have been over the past few years. martha: you were spared on that day and so many are grateful because you have been a voice for those who were lost. we thank you for all the work you do for them and for being here today, and we'll see you soon. >> thank you, martha, nice to see you. bill: special coverage all day starting early in the morning sunday and we'll be a part of it in lower manhattan.

we got a double dose of disaster on the east coast. now there is more rain and a lot of it. the next big storm that's already on its way. billmartha: there was a storm lt night between these two. did the former massachusetts governor get himself black the game last night? a fair and balanced debate on that straight ahead. >> we have people on this stage who care very deeply about this country. we love america. america is in crisis. we have some differences between us, but we agree the president has got to go. the president is a nice guy but he doesn't have a clue how to get this country working again.

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martha: the republican frontrunners mitt romney and rick perry went at it last night. >> we created more jobs in the last three months in texas than he created in four years in massachusetts. >> let's widen this out and bring in in cane on one side. go ahead. i'll give you 30 seconds. >> wait a second. texas has zero income tax. texas has a right to work state. a republican legislature. a republican supreme court. texas has a lot of oil and gas

in the ground. those are wonderful things. but governor perry doesn't believe he created those things. if he said that it would be like al gore saying he created the internet. >> michael dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, mitt. >> george bush and his predecessors created jobs faster than you did, governor. martha: it row mind me of the my dad's bigger than your dad argument. good to have you. what did you think? >> i think they did great. it was civil and informative. it showed that the republican party has a big tent. we have 8 people giving various points of view. butting to on the key issues facing our country. we must create jobs and reduce spending and deficit

entitlements. all the republicans touched on it. they mean it, and that is the achilles heel for this president. martha: it looks like mitt romney put himself back in the game last night. there is one moment that deals with social security where rick perry may have gotten himself into some difficulty. let's watch that. >> it is a monstrous lie. it's a ponzi scheme to tell our kid that are 25 or 30 years old today that you paying into a program that's going to be there. anybody for the status quo with social security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids and it's not right. martha: i heard a whole bunch of folks in the analysis saying this is really bad for him. democrats can run on this one sound bite and they can beat rick perry. >> not on can democrat run on it.

mitt romney missed an opportunity to slam him on it. a ponzi scheme is a criminal activity. so to say that he's going to change the andific it down the road doesn't work. martha: let's talk with a upon custodupon -- what a ponzi sche, you pay money in and and rick perry said in his answer we would not take away from anyone who is already receiving it or about to sift. we are talking about 25 and 30-year-olds change the system for them. >> first of all, he's right. chris, don't be holier than thou. overbideen can call tea party members a terrorist. it's a crime. it's political rhetoric. your people use it as much as our people use it. joe biden wasn't right to call

tea party people terrorists but governor perry was right to call social security a ponzi scheme. >> one reason i like work with you is you have been there. you were in the white house when george w. bush said he was going to change social security and the republicans in congress -- he wanted to privatize social security. republicans in congress said, whoa, don't go there, sir. there are senior citizens who are watching the show who saw what rick perry said and are worried about their benefits. those people vote in high numbers and they won't vote for him. martha: i'm fascinated by this. the truth is, chris hahn is right politically. it will get used against him. but brad, you put your finger on the problem. republicans are talked about doing something about social security or eons.

and rick perry is saying maybe it's time for provocative language to talk about fixing this. but mitt romney said i would not do away with social security stan we'll reform it. >> democrats will use the rhetoric of perry to scare voters. but it has to be defined. and i think it's up to governor perry to show what he meant by his controversial statement last night. to show how he would fix what he calls a ponzi scheme. romney was more statesman like on his reply to social security. but what governor perry said was correct. martha: is this now a two-man race between perry and romney? >> i believe it is. >> absolutely. everybody else is irrelevant. huntsman had a chance to get back in it, he should have called him crazy and he didn't. martha: we'll see them back in action september 22.

brad, thank you so much. chris hahn, great to see you. bill: there were some funny moment at the reagan library last night. >> governor perry doesn't believe he created those things. if he tried to say that it would be like al gore saying he created the internet. >> if 10% is good enough for god, 9% ought to be good enough for the government. >> to my good friend, mitt47% ain't going to cut it not when you can be first. >> i was trying to get your attention. i'm a physician but you weren't going to ask me any medical questions. >> in terms of credentials. >> if he wants to write another book, i'll write anotherford anr

foreward. bill: right before that ron paul had been cut off and not able to get an answer. last night shows the reason why these men and women spend a year in iowa and a marathon in new hampshire. it gives them a chance to talk to 6 to 8 different groups and hone their message. when they get in circumstances like this and the clock is running. they have to get it in or they will miss their opportunity. martha: i thought they put to rest the notion that the gop doesn't have a good candidate to run against the president. they were strong as a group. i thought when newt begin grimp spoke on their behalf as a group, i thought they did well. it's interesting, lively and it will get better september 22. bill: check on the markets

quickly. we are lower. not that bad. 26, 27 points. markets reacting to the disappointing jobs number that came out 20 minute ago. we are still above that 400,000 mark which is so critical at not being able to chip away at the unemployment number. inquestors chewing on that. martha: we'll talk about this september 11 as we head into this anniversary. the horror of that day left a deep imprint on so many people. but not the fighter pilots who scrambled that day. bill: they had a lot to say about the healthcare law. we'll take a listen and ask a doctor about the response. don't miss it. 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...

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martha: this is an endless story of water the last few weeks.

what is left is tropical storm lee is hammering the region already drenched by irene. record breaking flooding. people just cannot believe what they are seeing when they look out their front door. >> there is flooding everywhere. >> we have never seen it like this. there has never been and time when we can't get home. we have had trees falling. the river will come all the way up, but never has it been to the street. it's just impossible. >> i have been in baltimore all my life and i have never seen anything near this. martha: you have flash flood warnings and watches in effect for parts of that state as well as pennsylvania and new jersey dealing with a lot more flooding as well. we have a live report coming up for that. so the republican candidates put

a new spotlight on president obama's healthcare. all believe it's a jobs killer and should be repealed. >> i understand healthcare pretty darn well having been through what i went through as a governor. one thing i do on day one if i'm elected president is direct my secretary of health and human services granting a waiver from obama-care to all 50 states. one thing i know, that is what obama put in place is not going to work, it's massively expensive. >> i was the first member of congress to introduce the bill to row peel obama-care. it d to repeal obama-care. as president of the united states i will repeal obama-care. bill: a tax buried in that overhaul will take away 43,000 high-paying jobs in america.

dr. marc siegel parts of our fox "a" team. it's a 2.3 excise tax on medical devices. what's the claim here. >> that industry has 409,000 jobs. the report is saying it will lead to the lost of 43,000 jobs from 2013 to 2019 because the manufacturers will end up with a tax that's almost double what they have now. one of the highest corporate taxes anywhere in the world. the report believes they will end up shipping jobs overseas to foreign countries. just what we need. by the way, this is a great thing to be talking about today with the jobs speech coming up tonight. but also medical devices are at the heart of the problem because they are ever change. when obama-care make these claims they want some say what treatment is the best. a saves lives. what help you. the problem is medical devices

are always changes. bill: is that a pacemaker, a stent. >> it's all kinds of the catheters -- bill: why are they changing all the time. >> cardiac stents. we are always changing them. they get smaller, they get covered with drugs that prevent clots. tremendous. but this innovation with the new product doesn't have a market yet. before you can create the market you can't be paying extra taxes or you won't take the risk. bill: these companies have a vested interest because this is their prove it, their bottom line. if they lose that money how do dhee restructure their company. >> 33 billion is paid right now for jobs. if they lose that much jobs they will lose $3.5 billion over the six years. but that's not even considering what they will lose in market

share. as they cut the employees they may not take the risk for the new product. bill: why was this baked into the law in the first place? >> this is the secret about the law. the law is feet the beast, bill. when you extend insurance to 30 million new people, 16 million of them medicaid. overuse is what we are talking about here. it's not like insurance for a flood where you have got to have a flood before you use it. this is insurance for every rainstorm, obama-care. every time you have to cold. where are you going to get the money to pay for that? you have got to secretly tax people. bill: according to these companies it will generate $32 billion for the government between 2013 and 2019. >> it's deeply embedded in the law. it's not an executive order.

the american public needs to know there is a lot of hidden taxes here. the president could say he's not raising taxes but there are taxes in this law. bill: you have been to the bill many, many times. all 2,300 pages or so. happy reading. see you later. martha: all right. so romney and perry may have dominated last night's debate but there were 6 candidates on that stage. who else stood out. chris wallace joins us with the best of the rest. bill: texans are battling the most ferocious wildfires they have ever seen. >> it's a war zone. something blew up. it's terrible. >> just trying to save these structures. save what we can.

bill: northeastern pennsylvania, a mandatory evacuation has gone out in the scranton area for 100,000 people in that state to get out. the rivers continue to rise. it's been raining all week in the northeast. it won't stop for at least a day and a half. martha: firefighters gaining ground on one of the most destructive wildfires texas has ever seen. it has torched almost 800 homes and claimed at least two lives so far. chrikris gutierrez is at the fie command center. >> reporter: we just learned the number of homes destroyed has climbed to nearly 1,400

homes in bastrop county alone. all of this water you see behind me has been donated from people in the greater austin community. take a look up here. all of these handwritten card are from kid staying in area shelters showing signs of support and thanks to the firefighters who responded to this fire from across the country. but the one thing that really pulls at your heart strings are these lists. these are lists updated every so often by the local authority here, and it's basically lists of addresses. if you see your address it is a sobering reality. but if you see your address on one of these lists that means your home is now gone. earlier we spoke to a man who found his address on this list. listen here. >> i started crying inside. i had seen the list.

so i built the addition, i'm rebuild this, too. it's insured. i informed them about it. we are going to win. this whole community is going to win. >> reporter: you may have noticed his arms and parts of his legs and face were actually burned. second degree burns because he ran from the ryan that consumed his house. this is from the lower colorado river authority. it helps put this story in perspective. this video was shot sunday night in the tahitian village community. you can see the dashboard video camera from this patrol car captures in great detail how bad this fire was and continues to burn. right now 30% contained. martha, back to you. martha: chris, thank you so much. bill: texas, maryland,

pennsylvania. some republicans will not even be at the president's speech tonight on jobs. more on last night's debate. we showed you the frontrunners. now the best of the rest and it's good stuff. >> the fact that president obama doesn't come to the reagan library to try to figure out how to create jobs. doesn't talk to any of these three governors to try to learn how to create jobs. doesn't talk to herman cain to try to figure out how to create jobs. it shows he's so committed to democratic socialism that he can't be effective in jobs. ♪

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martha: all right, back to the campaign trail now as the dust is settling from last night's fiery debate, mitt romney and rick perry squared off, face to face for the first time, very interesting to watch all of that play out, the recurring theme throughout the night of course was jobs, jobs, all about jobs.

watch this: >> we selected as a president a guy who had never worked in the private sector, a person who had never been a leader, who had never been able to get anything moving, and we said let's let this guy run the country and he's just over his head. >> actually what americans are looking for is someone who can get this country working again, so i will suggest to you that americans are focused on the right issue, and that is who on this stage can get america working, because we know for a fact the resident of the white house cannot. martha: rough words all afrpblt that's how we start the brand new hour of "america's newsroom". great to have you with us, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. bill: plenty of material, right? i'm bill hemmer. good morning, everybody. eight republican white house hopefuls, all trying to stand out as the best candidate to create jobs in america. martha: two of them, romney and perry, continually rows to the top of the field by all assessments last night. anita vogel from los angeles

has some of the highlights for us. >> reporter: hey martha. there were several key moments, including testy exchanges over social security and of course, jobs and the economy. i watched the clock, the first 15-20 minutes of that debate was devoted to jobs and the economy. we saw texas governor rick perry coming out swinging against mitt romney, attacking his record of creating jobs when he was governor of massachusetts, and romney fired right back. take a listen to this exchange that took place early on in the debate: >> i know back and forth, michael dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, myth. -- mitt. >> as a matter of fact, george bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor! >> [laughter] >> governor romney left the private sector, he did a great job of creating jobs in the private sector around the world, but the fact is, when he moved that experience to government, he had one of the lowest job creation rates in the country.

>> reporter: those were just a few of the dustups between mitt romney and rick perry when it came to jobs. speaking of jobs, tonight the president gets his chance to talk about jobs to the nation, that speech, though, taking place at 4:00 p.m. eastern in california, so a lot of people in california might not get a chance to hear the president's speech, and i want to just mention quickly, the candidates are back on the campaign trail today, rick perry will remain in california where he will hit several republican strongholds, la ola, nowhereport beach and fresno. martha: thank you very much, anita vogel in california. bill: in the meantime we are getting new details on president obama's plan to tackle unemployment, america, and he'll lay that out to a speech to congress, just as we get the weekly jobless report, it's not good, jobless claims ticking higher, 414,000, the previous week was revised again, higher, new evidence the jobs market is not getting better. wendell goler is at the white house, north lawn.

what's expected from the headline later tonight? because we're hearing about a few things, higher taxes for upper income americans. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, bill. and that is apparently the case, though it is not clear in what form the higher taxes will be. the president's aides say the entire cost of the jobs proposal which we're hearing is in the range of $400,000, will be paid for, off set -- offsets elsewhere in the budget. one of the president's senior advisers, vallerie jarrett, told fox business networks' pete you are barnes that higher taxes will be part of the equation. >> we need to have a fair tax system, we need to make sure that people are not -- that are paying their fair share and those who can most afford to pay a little more, do. so i think the process that secretary geithner has been going through, looking at corporate tax reform generally will come out later but in this particular bill, the president will be looking to close lope holes.

>> republicans equate close loopholes to higher taxes. they made this during the debt ceiling, and they would not go along with that, and it's not clear that the jobs crisis is enough to change their mind. bill that's one them. -- item. what other details are you picking up? >> reporter: the president made clear monday in detroit that he wants to put people back to figure who figure large in the 9.1% of the unemployed, a million of those folks are construction workers, he wants to rebuild roads, bridges and schools, he also wants aid to states to help them rehire public sector workers, teachers, firefighters, 200,000 of them lost their jobs last year alone, and then there will be money for job training and subsidies and extended unemployment benefits for the long term unemployed. bill: wendell, thank you. 7:00 p.m., prime time tonight. wendell goler is at the white house there.

thanks. martha. martha: let's talk about the backdrop of the president's speech tonight, a grim unemployment picture, right now, you've got 14 million americans unemployed, those unemployed have been out of work for an average of just over 40 weeks already. that is a very long time. more than one in three unemployed americans have been out of work for a year or more. so a very tough picture that the president has going in here. so a reminder, we have full coverage, then we'll have analysis of the president's address tonight, all that begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. shepard smith, doing the coverage there, right here on fox news channel. bill: got some extreme weather right now and this is significant. breaking news on mandatory evacuations for 100,000 people in northeastern pennsylvania, and only -- in only hours a major river expected to top levees at wilkberry and kingsfield, pennsylvania, residents told to get out by 4:00 eastern time, and all this destruction coming from the deadly remnants of the tropical storm known as lee. before that, we had

hurricane irene. a week before that, we had 7 inches of record rain. in york county, pennsylvania, rescuers ferrying people to safety and for many, their homes are already a complete loss. >> i'm hoping a lot of people don't lose a lot of their belongings, but it looks like there's going to be some major water damage. >> it's sort of sad, too, because a lot of people are going to lose a lot of investment, and money, and their homes are going to be gone. you thought this would have happened during a hurricane. nope. bill: that is so true, we thought it would happen then. emergency officials now blaming at least two deaths on the deaths so far. watch that susquehanna. >> residents are forced to pack up their lives again and get out of the northern part of state, unbelievable rain last night, and that has threatened to swell the rivers and go up over flood stage again, the rain not

stopping any time soon. david lee miller is in paterson, new jersey, where they've been hit so hard, david lee. >> reporter: as yog i berra said, it is deja vu once again, placingo bracing for flooding in the city of paterson, the very city that president obama visited a few days ago, many residents are still in shelters because of irene, and it looks like they're going to get a lot more company because more rain is expected. this is downtown paterson, the passaic river is one block from where i'm speaking to you now and as you can see, i'm in at least a 23509, maybe a foot and a half of flood water. the car behind me, you can take a look and get a sense of how deep the water is, the tires are completely submerged, they are stranded, it looks like there is water inside the vehicle as well and off in the distance, to set the scene, take a look down this street, bridge street here in paterson, new jersey, after in the distance, you

can perhaps hear that alarm that's been ringing all morning here, apparently no one can get to it to turn it off. down the street there's a bridge that craves -- crosses the passaic river, it is one of three bridges that we're told are impassable. there are a number of bridges that divide this city in half and once again it looks like it's going to be a city cut in half because people will not be able to go from one end of paterson to the other, and lastly, com claiting this situation, maybe you get a sense of looking down the street here, many of the side streets are strewn with debris and garbage, stuff that people wanted to get rid of that was damaged during irene that is going to end up floating in the flood waters that they expect to arrive here in the next few hours. back to you martha. martha: it's awful, and eery, looking at those streets that would ordinarily be so busy on a day like this. david lee miller, thank you very much. bill: we count down to the president's big speech on jobs but several republican lawmakers will not there tonight, one says he doesn't want to be used as a prop.

what else does joe walsh say? we'll ask him live in minutes. martha: and nonstop zingers last night back and forth across that stage with mitt romney and rick perry, but there were six other candidates and chris wallace is going to talk to us about how he thinks the rest of them fared. >> we need to understand, there are people out there who want to kill us, and if they have an ability to sneak in weapons of mass destruction, they're going to use them. we need to overhaul and reform the department, but we need some capacity to respond to massive events that could kill hundreds of thousands of americans in one morning.

bill: we just received new video in from libya, qaddafi loyalists firing from inside one of the ousted leader's last strong holds, 90 miles outside of tripoli, the new fighting comes after a tv station aired an audio

message believed to be from qaddafi urging followers to take up arms and continue to fight, qaddafi also denouncing rumors and the reports that he has fled the country. martha: five lawmakers are choosing to sit out president obama's long awaited speech on jobs and one of them is republican senator jim demint, he says he's just not interested in hearing what the president has to say tonight. listen to what he said earlier: >> i can't listen to another political speech from this president. if he had a jobs plan, it would be written down, he would send it over to us, you would have it, i would have it, we could be discussing it today, but that's not the way this president operates. he is going to give a speech, and then dribble out what he is going to do, he's going to wait and see what his political advisers and the union bosses tell him to do. i'm just so frustrated. martha: well, republican congressman joe walsh is another one on that list, he says he will not be there in

attendance tonight, he is a tea party caucus member. welcome. good to have you here this morning. >> thank you martha. martha: why not go to the speech? some say that was disrespectful. john cornyn was on earlier and said it was disrespectful, that he wouldn't do that. >> martha, when i heard last week he was going to call a joint session of congress, i said i'm not going to be there. look, he's demean dollars the very notion of a joint session of congress. typically we reserve these things for heads of state from around the world or presidents during times of war, or very momentous occasions. this president, it seems like every time someone skins their knee, he wants to give a big speech, and as senator demint just said, we're tired of speeches. if you've got a plan, show us the plan. put it in writing. if you're really serious about working, quit giving big political speeches. i said it last week and i say it now, that is campaign

speech and i just don't want to be a prop in that. instead i'm going to fly back home and i'm going to sit with 40 or 50 small business men and women, the job creators in this country and find out what washington should be doing. martha: let me ask you this, because when you look at it, it's a $400 billion plan that is supposed to stimulate job growth this this country. val lee skwraeret, adviser to president obama, suggested this morning that -- this morning that basically it's going to come from tax reform, that if -- that if you eliminate the loopholes like ge and many others have enjoyed and force them to pay the taxes they need to pay in this country you're going to bring in new revenues and that's where the revenue growth would come from. do you have any problem with that idea? >> look, a lot of the republicans have talked about simplifying the tax code for years. and again, martha, i will respond to anything the president puts in writing. but based on a lot of what we've seen so far, again,

it's going to be more of the same. martha: yeah, but hold on. so i'm asking you, if there's no actual -- if there are not spending cuts but there is an lem nation of tax loopholes to cover a good chunk of this money, we don't know how much it's going to be yet, you would vote in favor of that if the president presented that, is that correct? >> i would certainly look at it and be open to getting rid of loopholes wherever we can get rid of loopholes but let me make this important point, the last thing we need is government spending to stimulate this economy. he's done that. he's been down that road before. and it's made everything dramatically worse. we're not going to go there again. the job creators are out there, martha. they're not in washington. martha: all right, but you know, i just want to stick with this issue of tax reform, because i've heard it from both sides, right? that if you have real tax reform, you'll bring in additional revenue, and i understand that's sort of the one palatable way to raise revenues as far as republicans are concerned, so you're saying you would

be willing to look at that. you know, what else would you want to see in terms of job creators and real spending cuts that you would like to have looped into that? i guess is there anything that you would get up and say you know what, that's a great idea, president obama, and i'm going to sign on to that tomorrow? >> martha, maybe. i doubt it. but maybe. and i'm open to it. remember, i'm going to respond to whatever he puts forward. i am sick and tired of speeches and the american people are. if he's got some interesting ideas, give them to congress and let's talk about it. martha: lets -- >> but remember, we are not going to increase taxes on americans and we're not going to increase government spending. martha: i hear: very quick, i got to go. there's no official republican response. michele bachmann says she's going to respond, that's her own press conference she's going to do. should there be an official republican response? >> no. no, no. let him give the speeches, we'll respond to what he says and we'll try to work with what he says, but no more speeches. martha: joe walsh,

congressman, thank you very much. >> thank you. martha: what do you think about this, folks, at home? are you planning to watch the speech tonight? go to foxnews.com/"america's newsroom", take your poll and click questions -- yes or no or i'm not sure yet. if you want to send me a comment, send me a tweet, and then after that, it's football time, bill hemmer! bill: that's pretty good, you get the debate, the speech, then the nfl! so how do you slash more than a trillion dollars from the decifit? there's a group trying to solve that mystery. the supercommittee meets publicly for the first time in only minutes. >> martha: america watched and wondered if there were more than four hijacked jets in the sky on september 11th. no one was under more pressure than the fighter pilots who scrambled during those attacks. we are now hearing their stories. >> i looked out the window and we had armed escorts.

you don't want the president flying back into an environment that is dangerous and if something were to happen to me, it would have an major blow for the terrorists, because they would have killed the president of the united states in a time of war.

martha: russian investigators are searching for the data recorders after a deadly plane crash killing players on a hockey team. the russian team was on its way to a game in bell roos, 36 -- belarus, 36 players and coaches died in that crash, including former nhl players. >> they are guy that is have played in national competition for a long time, in the international competition. and they were household names, some of them played

in the nhl, some of them played in the nhl last year. it's just a tragic thing that happens. martha: such a tragedy. investigators are hoping the recorders will pinpoint what cad that awful, awful crash. -- what caused that awful, awful crash. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> bill: we remember, as the country collectively, 9/11 all week, especially on sunday, and looking back nearly ten years ago, you know, no one knew how many hijacked planes remained in the sky that day, especially the fighter pilots who were scrambled on a mission to defend the country. eric shawn spoke with some of those men, he has their story good morning. >> reporter: good morning, bill. you know their job that morning was to protect the nation, even if it meant firing a missile to shoot down a hijacked airliner. the pilots of the air national guard took to the skies, facing an unknown terrorist threat. >> as my airplane came to life like they all do and the generators came online, the radios were going

ballistic, and people on the emergency channel saying anybody in and around washington, d.c., stay away, you will be shot down. and i remember thinking to myself, man, that's -- wait, that's me. >> on september 11th, colonel dan cani's mission was to defend the heart of the nation's government, his orders, shoot down any hijacked airliner that threatened the capitol. >> the words we got as we walked out the door is you are protecting the national command authority, so for me, what that meant is that i was perfective the legislative branch, the executive branch and judicial branch which equated to any simple fighter pilot mind, nobody goes into washington, d.c., downtown, period. >> he was about a dozen of the airport that day, as duffy patrolled the city air space, he had one mission in mind: >> the only way i can describe it, really, is you kind of flip a switch and go into like a combat mode, so there are people dying right now, and it's our job to do

whatever we can to help the situation, so you kind of push all emotion and everything out and try to focus on the task at hand. >> flankfully, both colonels cain and duffy didn't have to shoot anything down that day. he praises the courage and sacrifice on those on flight 93 who fought back, sparing the the pilots what could have been a difficult decision. bill: eric shawn, thank you, eric, we'll talk to you again over the weekend. martha: what a story that is. the fight over faith at the 9/11 memorial is still being waged in a very big way today, the new efforts from the religious community to include prayer, that story and that battle is not over yet, folks. that's coming up in a live report today. bill: also the contenders

for that com nation -- nomination on stage last night. fiery and funny at times. chris wallace weighs in on the candidates who he believes may have come out on top and helped themselves just a smidge last night. >> i'm a mom. i've raised five biological kids and 23 foster kids in my home. one thing i know is that kids need jobs, and omabacare is clearly leading to job killing regulation, not job creating.

martha: all righty. republicans are set to unveil their own plan for job creation ahead of president obama's address tonight, we're waiting to hear from a group of lawmakers set to speak in about 30 minutes about how they plan to put americans back to work emanuel is live on capitol hill. so what are the republicans planning with regard to jobs right now, mike? >> martha, here in the 11:00 a.m. hour, we're going to have two different news conferences from republicans, at 11:30, we're going to have a group of five republicans who are going to step up and talk about a 3-pronged approach to creating jobs, calling for regulatory reform, trade packs. -- packets, we have three free trade deals that have been lingering for a long time, and also tax reform. at the top of the hour, a group of western lawmakers are going to unveil their plan. it's 18 senators, 38 members of the house, if i counted properly, and among their proposals to get washington out of the way and create

jobs, they're going to call for increased affordable american energy, explore for american oil and natural gas, strengthen the american mining sector, overturn washington's overreach, and promote agriculture, ranching, and forestry. bottom line, they say, there's been way too much regulation in this administration, so a lot of those points, they say, if you remove regulations, that will free up private industry and create american jobs, martha. martha: that's certainly an idea that they have hammered hole and so have some of the republican candidates that we've been listening to. so for the president, mike, democrats, on his own side, are also going to be a bit hard to please tonight with this speech. >> that's right. i've been at news conferences this week, we've heard democratic lawmakers say mr. president, be bold, call for a huge plan, we've heard the white house say the president intends to call for a plan that will be paid for, he's going to announce how to pay for it down the road, but already, some democrats are concerned it's not going to be big

enough. here's democratic leader of the house nancy pelosi. >> the initiatives will be some that have some popularity in our caucus, that is to say, issues that we have drawn on for a long time. it's by nature to some of us to always be dissatisfied and want more, but i think it will be a very good proposal. >> and of course, all of that is free speech, the president takes center stage on capitol hill in a matter of about 8 1/2 hours or so, martha. martha: we keep hearing about the things that they've been agreeing on for some time. it makes you wonder why they didn't have you been -- haven't done any of those things that they say they've agreed on for a while. mike, thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. bill: so you have heard an awful lot this morning from the top two republicans last night. but oh by the way, did you know there were six others on stage in california? including newt gingrich, who is launching some verbal bombs from stage left. watch and listen here:

>> the fact that president obama doesn't come to the reagan library to try to figure out how to create jobs, doesn talk to any of these three governors to learn how to create jobs, doesn't talk to herman cain to learn how to create jobs, tells you that this is a president so committed to class warfare and so committed to bureaucratic socialism that he can't possibly be effective in jobs. the fact is, every person up here understands omabacare is a disaster. >> i hope all of my friends up here are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get republicans to fight each other to protect barack obama who deserves to be defeated and all of us are committed as a team, whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating barack obama. >> i'm frankly not interested in your effort to get republicans fighting each other. >> bill: chris wallace, anchor of "fox news sunday", how you doing? >> doing well, bill. bill: newt gingrich is low in money when you compare it to like the efforts of mitt

romney. what did last night do for him, because he was fighting from the opening bell? >> i'm not sure it did much. you know, he's decided, and he decided it before he went after me in the iowa debate and now after these moderators in this debate, that one of his things is he's going to try to attack the media. he ended up with 385 votes in the ames straw poll, so it didn't seem to work there. you know, i find it -- frankly, kind of sad. he was one of the most compelling figures in american politics, and he is still filled with ideas, but -- >> bill: but why is that sad? >> i'm not sure what he gets out of -- i mean, this was a debate and he's complaining about the fact that the moderators are trying to get the candidates to debate each other. bill: but isn't that -- wasn't he invoking the rickan rule on that, he was at the reagan library, do not criticize another republican in public? >> ronald reagan criticized other republicans during -- you know, not in a personal

cutting way, but he certainly expressed differences over issues with jerald ford when he was running against him in 1976 and in 1980 when he was running against other candidates. i mean, what is this supposed to be? a kind of linking of arms and ring around the rosie? there are differences. bill: now, that would be something to watch! >> bill: bill. >> bill, if i may, there are important dives on social security, health care, approach to jobs. bill: immigration. >> immigration. are we not supposed to talk about those? >> bill: what about michele bachmann? i'll play you a little clip here. she came into this debate, she was running third. many people had viewed her performance last night as not being as outstanding as it had been previously. i'll get you to react after this. >> don't forget, the day that president obama took office, gasoline was 1.79 a gallon. it's entirely possible for us to get back to inexpensive energy. the problem is, energy is

too high. let's have a goal of bringing it down, because every time gasoline increases, 10 cents a gallon, that's $14 billion in economic activity that every american has taken out of their pockets. this is a great solution, and this is the place to start with american job creation. bill: well, so what do you think? i mean, do you agree with the others that she took kind of a back seat last night or was that just one night? >> i think her answers were all just fine and very cogent and i think she's an impressive candidate but part of it was she apparently wasn't asked a question, i read this in the paper today, until 14 minutes into the debate. to a certain degree, the moderators sidelined her and in fairness, some candidates, rick santorum in our fox debate in iowa found a way to get himself on to the stage, he basically just butted in and more power to him. michele bachmann was unable to do that last night, and so she did seem kind of marginalized. bill: i thought it was interesting in how she even took that first question and

turned it right to health care and the question of omabacare at that 14 minute mark. do these moments stick? or given the hyper speed of the debate schedule over the next 4-6 weeks, do they disappear in memory and fade away, even on monday night, when they get together again? >> i look at rick perry, and look, he's the frontrunner, so he's the one that made the biggest impression and it of the first debate, i thought the first hour was outstanding for rick perry, as i watched him, i thought there's the next republican nominee. i thought the last half of the debate was not impressive and he's got to find a better answer on social security. he gets hung up on this phrase ponzi scheme and he needs to say look, there are big problems with it, but he also needs to say as romney pointed out, we need to fix it. there are millions who depend on social security, it's what feeds them, it's what pays for the essentials of their lives and to dismiss it as a ponzi scheme is not a good enough answer. bill: and part of that goes to where the next two debates take place.

florida. >> well, that's right. bill: social security, that's -- >> you've got to know that an awful lot of -- and it would have been so easy. i was surprised he didn't do better. he had to know they were going to ask him about the ponzi scheme, and, you know, a good, skillful politician finds a way to glide off that and to say look, it's broken, and i promise you, i will fix it, and social security will be there. that's what he needed to say and he didn't say last night. bill: chris, thank you for coming in, okay? >> you bet. bill: chris wallace. martha and i were talking earlier, too, this is a prime reason why you go to iowa and new hampshire for month after month after month, that's when you hone your message and when the spotlights are on, you only have 15 seconds to give the answer, you must deliver. chris, thank you for that. martha: you can hear them honing that message, very strong across the board in many ways last night. fox news is teaming up with google to host a debate in orlando on september 22nd, this is going to be a great

one, a very big night for these candidates and you can submit your questions for them, go to foxnews.com, scroll down to the spotlight section and click on the gop presidential debate. there's a link right there, you can submit your question. click on the ask a question tab, the aptly named ask a question tax and then you can either write to us in your question or send me a video, if you're technologically a*pbl able to do that which is very easy on this website and get your questions to the candidates. bill: we have this from martha in new jersey, she and her kids want to know, why are we back in school, mom! so unemployment, a crumbling economy, piles of debt for america. these are some of the massive challenges a congressional committee faces in today's first public meeting. it's called the supercommittee. that's a live look right now, the opening statements from some of its members. will these lawmakers be able to make a dent in our nation's problems? we will check in there. martha: important stuff. also, just when you think you've seen it all, folks, how about a cook in a gumby

costume trying to rob a store? he's incognito. but things did not go quite as planned. is that you in there, bill? >>

bill: points for creativity, and that's where it stops. gumby walks into a 711 in san diego. that's funny! and drunk. martha: look at the guy behind him, he has no reaction whatsoever. bill: waving his arms, he appears to stop and wave at the camera, tells the store clerk he's being robbed, but then fumbles with what they thought was a gun and walks out and leaves, the entire time, the clerk thought it was a joke. maybe it was! >> martha: there's a very good possibility of that, i would say. bill: search say -- police say they're searching for the suspect. i have no idea how they're going to find him.

martha: maybe we'll show up for halloween and it will make it easier to catch him. it was a product of last month's debt crisis, you remember that, right, and now the congressional supercommittee is holding its hearing, getting together to try to figure out how to slash $1.5 trillion from the decifit, but with unemployment still sky high, should we be looking at more than cutting jobs. let's bring in john fund, from the american spectator, good to see you as always. what do you expect the supercommittee is talking about on day one? >> probably organizational matters, making sure that they don't fight as much as some people fear, ando because they have a tight deadline to meet. they're supposed to cut hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars off the decifit. that's a big challenge. martha: and the president, his spokes mourn, jay carney, said earlier today that the president is going to announce a plan, not tonight, but in the coming days, for an even bigger cut than $1.5 trillion, so we'll see what comes out of that.

but now there's this movement, as if they don't have enough on their plate, this supercommittee, to also add that they have a jobs program that should be pared with this decifit reduction plan. is that too much to ask at this point? >> look, one of the reasons you can tell a democracy is in trouble is when they keep going around the normal rules, when presidents keep issuing executive orders, creating polices without consulting congress, when congress advocates -- abdicates its responsibility and creates supercommittees which weren't part of the traditional arrangement. i think this is just asking for trouble. you know, the federal reserve got into trouble i think originally when they were given two duties, about 40 years ago. they were told you're supposed to contain inflation, you're also supposed to reduce unemployment. those are contradictory and shouldn't be under the same roof. if the supercommit see charged with reducing the deficit and using government polices to boost employment that, means more spending often. they are contradictory. martha: you bring up a great

point, why do we need a supercommittee, we have tons of committees within congress, banking and finance and all kinds of entities that are designed to be working on the economy, that have clearly not worked. what do expect? if you look into just crystal ball, what are we going to get out of all this in the end, the supercommittee? >> joe bidden, vice president, the republican leaders in congress had come to an agreement of one, to $1.2 trillion in decifit reduction. i think a lot of that is still on the table. i think you could combine that with some tax reform which would boost revenues. i think you can meet the target. but the real problem the american people are facing is there is real gridlock in washington, nothing is going to be settled until after the presidential election, because clearly, the president has his own vision, the congress has another vision, and i think we're just going have to have -- to have to wait until january and wait until they give firm marching

orders to the president. martha: i think the markets have indicated that they are feeling that way, but i think a lot of american people would like to see a little progress in this economy before that happens. >> one four-months of this kind of unemployment is horrible for everyone. martha: so it sounds like you think they're going to get the cuts. they really have to get these cuts in order to not trigger these more onerous things they would have to deal with if they don't come up with something. my question is are they going to come up with real things, is it moving around the shell game to make it look like they came up with cuts? >> there is this theory, if they go into across the board budget cuts, there are always ways to get around that. it's called supplemental spending. let's say the pentagon, the pentagon is supposed to be cut dramatically if they don't reach an agreement. well, all you have to do is pass a supplemental bill saying we have to fund iraq, we have to fund afghanistan. that won't count. so whatever -- there is a way for congress to evade or deflect or avoid actually confronting a real issue,

they'll find that way. they're very good at that. i think we have to hold their feet to the fire and say you are elected to do this job, do it. that's the reason you have a 13 percent approval rating. martha: i hear you. john fund from washington, we'll see how it goes, first meeting underway. by bill jenna lee is working on a whole lot of things in the newsroom. what's coming up? >> jenna: we are going to talk to comic senators fagic h and manchoin, and the mother of one of the heroes of 9/11 is our guest, jon interviewed her nearly ten years ago and she's back to share her story with us, and red, the dog who saved lives at the pentagon, after the attack, making his rounds and we're glad to have him on set. so come down, take a visit, give red a little milk bone, something like that. bill: sounds like a great program. we'll see you in a bit, okay? thank you jenna. so the battle to include

religion in the 9/11 ceremony this sunday is not finished just yet. new reports to include faith on the day we remember and honor the victims of america's worst terrorist attack.

martha: a debate last night at the ronald reagan library in simi valley, california included a very special tribute. some of it. >> i'm very blessed to find him. >> mrs. reagan has always said her life started when she met ronald wilson ra*eulgan -- reagan. martha: great picture, the former physical lady got a standing ovation afterwards, she looked great and it was just wonderful to see her. quite an event. bill: she did look good, too. a couple of weeks ago, she had that fell. martha: she looks well.

bill: that's from the reagan library, last night. >> ♪ >> ♪ bill: so as america prepares to remember the attacks of 9/11, ten years on now, some religious leaders are calling on the mayor in new york city, mike bloomberg, to rethink his plans to a ceremony at ground zero. lauren greene is on the story. what's this controversy all about? >> reporter: the mayor doesn't want to include closing prayer or pastors at the ceremony itself, so it sparked quite a controversy, so in just over an hour, a new york city council member will present mayor bloomberg with 60,000 signatures from an online petition, trying to show mayor bloomberg that excluding pastors and prayers from the 9/11 ceremony is offensive and overlooks the roles faith played in the healing.

>> we are looking at the tenth year anniversary. in light of the fact that he said, just a month ago on the radio, quote, the people that should be included at this event are people who were there. who was there? who was one of the first ones? it was the clergy. >> cabrera says they'll keep up their protests until the very last moment. bill: why is the mayor sticking to his decision, lauren? >> reporter: he says that the clergy prayer has never been included in any of the past 9/11 ceremonies. many object to that and say that is not the way they remember it, but but some accuse them of excluding religion from the public square. >> there is a conscious attempt on the part of secularists in this country who understand we have a secular state but they want to pretend there's a secular

society as well and there's an attempt to exclude the religious from the applicable square and to push religious observance to the margins of our society -- of our society. >> many religious defend the mayor, the father from the archdiocese said it would be tough to have all faiths represented. >> i think the mayor is asking, can we just all approach this based on our common hunty and -- humanity and not use religion to divide us on this day but join together as fellow human beings and i would agree with him 100 percent on that. it may be easy for some to criticize the mayor on this, but i think we should praise him. >> there are many religious services that will commemorate the 9/11 anniversary, so there will be religion represented but not specifically by the city. >> lauren greene is in our newsroom, our religion correspondent, thank you for that. >> sure. martha: in the meantime, another kind of debate that

happened on a boat, okay? four men made the catch of a lifetime. once the monster was on the end of their line, their battle had only begun! look at that thing! we'll be right back. ask me.

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