guy. >> steve: that will rap it up for today. thank you very much for joining us. we'll start the after the show show in five seconds. so log on. bill: good morning, everybody. let's start on tuesday morning a epic fight shaping up for the white house. mitt romney just weeks ago was hoping to seal that nomination early. now acknowledging he has some catching up to do. now he admits newt gingrich is the frontrunner. one and two we go. good morning. i'm bill hemmer. martha: you are bill hemmer. good to see you this morning. i'm martha maccallum. we've got three weeks to go. bill: from today. martha: until the iowa caucuses. mitt romney is making it clear you know what? i would rather lose to make charges against my opponent that he feels would ultimately help president obama. bill: romney says i am what i am.

i don't tend to say outrage just things about other people that i don't believe in order to win political points. where are we do? steven hayes, fox news contributor. senior writer, "weekly standard." what is your take? >> good morning, bill. i think mitt romney is actually right. newt gingrich is the frontrunner. if you look at polling over past several weeks. look at the enthusiasm. he is winning the momentum primary at this point. mitt romney still has the advantage on organization and long term infrastructure of a campaign that you would want to have going into the actual voting period we're seeing a contest between organization and enthusiasm. bill: romney says he has a foundation in place to take him all the way to california which would be june 5th of next year. you say it is to romney's advantage, that it is a smart tactic to put gingrich as the front runner. how so? >> well, absolutely.

i think he is trying to raise expectations for newt gingrich calling him the front runner and by terms lower expectations for mitt romney. if he calls the gingrich the front runner says he is the underdog, he being mitt romney there is certain expectation that gingrich will perform well. however well romney does at they point he is outperforming expectations that he is trying to set for himself. here's a little tactical game going on here. this is part of that. bill: when you examine some of these early states, you point out that romney, who had moved along a thin line between, say, 22 and 27% of the vote is now slipping in some of these states. where do you see that and how, stephen? >> this is i think one of the most interesting things we've seen over the past several weeks is, during the time that you've seen alternatives to mitt romney rise whether it was donald trump or michelle bachmann, rick perry, herman cain, mitt romney's numbers not only didn't, not only stayed the same, but in some cases

in important early states like iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and florida, he actually took a step backwards. now i think this is going to be a new part of this campaign where romney has an opportunity and it is sort of ironic way to be more energized to go on the attack and fight for the republican nomination something he hasn't had to do up to this point. >> we'll see how the fight goes. stephen, it will be very, very interesting. three weeks from today is iowa. marthaas more. martha: mitt romney pledge not to go negative is earning praise from newt gingrich, his chief competitor these days. here is gingrich at a town hall in new hampshire. watch this. >> governor romney this afternoon said something very important which i'm very grateful for. in that he was being interviewed and he said that it was very important that we not weaken any of the people who might defeat barack obama and that he would rather lose than engage in outrage just attacks on one of his

competitors. [applause] martha: that was interesting. romney interview yesterday afternoon and gingrich made a point really trying to keep this a positive campaign, at least where his gop rivals are concerned. he says he will keep it that way. he did go after romney's days at bain capital. we'll talk about that in a little while. gingrich says he will publicly disown any super pac that run as nasty ad in his name and advices supporters not to donate. bill: money and raising, romney is raising serious campaign cash in the state of new jersey. hauling in more than a million dollars, republican fund-raiser hosted by governor, chris christie. the governor is one of romney's most high-profile backers on the trail. he came out very early in support of romney. romney feeling the love in the garden state. >> this is quite an honor. this is quite an honor. what a remarkable state. what a remarkable people. this is just extraordinary

experience for me. i have never seen anything quite like this. there are more republicans here than in my whole state. bill: romney continues to lead his republic challenge challengers, money he may need for what could be a very long primary season of the as we mentioned with stephen hayes, romney think he has infrastructure in place to go to the 5th of june in california. like clinton and obama in 2008. we'll watch that all that for you. and on thursday nights make sure you remember check out our debate at 9:00 eastern time. it is in the state of iowa and you will only see it right here on the fox news channel. that website right there gives our viewers at home a chance to interact with the analysts live when the debate is underway. martha: i couldn't help but notice mitt romney seemed a little bit surprised he liked new jersey so much. did you see that? this is great state and a great people. we'll welcome the governor here tomorrow on "america's newsroom." we'll talk to him coming up tomorrow.

there is merry news for retailers. bill did a little bit of shopping over the weekend that helped out. consumer spending is on the rebound, folks. americans buying more during the start of holiday season. retail sales up .2%, 2% would be nice. .2% is modest gain. that means sales have gone upper to the last six straight months. what does that say about the state of our economy? stuart varney, joins me, anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. good to see you as always. >> don't get carried away, martha. martha: unemployment numbers ticking down, retail sales are ticking up. we're seeing encouraging signs. >> everybody walked in seeing high hopes. a lot of economists are saying right now the economy is performing better than it performed in years. then we get the retail sales numbers for the month of november of. up .2%. nowhere near what was expected. and that is not a signal of a truly robust economy.

.2% is not a shopping bonanza and precisely at the time when you expected to see a shopping bonanza. so there is some disappointment this morning. as i say this is not a signal that we've got a robust recovery going on in our midst this morning. martha: is it possible people are waiting, waiting until december to sort of get into shopping and take advantage of some of those sales? >> you can always manipulate the numbers and look for deeper meaning, you can always do that but look, in october sales were up .6%. in november up .2% that is not a very good trend. martha: you need to get out there do a little shopping for us stuart varney. stuart varney coming up on the business channel. thank you, stuart. always a pleasure. bill: we'll go from terrible to awful. it will feel great. martha: exactly everything is relative. bill: seven minutes past the hour. there are major developments in hour in the state of pennsylvania. the former person sta assistant coach jerry

sandusky, only moments ago waiving his prelim fairy hearing scheduled for today. that puts him closer to trial. sandusky facing 52 counts. free on $250,000 bail. david lee miller is outside the courthouse in center county court. good morning, david lee. record. >> reporter: good morning, bill. this was a shocker. the hearing began at 8:30 and approximately 8:31 leaving courthouse. sandusky leaving the courthouse saying quote, i will fight for four quarters. for reasons we do not yet know his attorneys decided to waive his preliminary hearing. i spoke with his attorney only yesterday and he told me the hearing was going to take place. one of those in the courtroom is attorney ken suggests he is with me right now. he represents one. victims, victim number six. ken, you were in the

courtroom. what was the reaction. how did the actual waiving notification take place? >> all the folks walked in the courtroom, the judge took the bench and mr. sandusky's lawyer asked for a bench conference. the lawyers for the commonwealth. he went up to the bench and after that the judge announced that he indeed waived the preliminary hearing. >> reporter: can you imagine any reason that they would waive it this morning? they have had weeks and weeks to have that opportunity. what happened between last night and this morning? >> the only thing i can think of he wanted to test the resolve of the victims and see if they were going to show up and testify. that makes very little sense but you know, a lot of what has happened doesn't make any sense either so. >> reporter: you represent victim number six. is he prepared to testify. >> he was prepared to testify. he was notified that he would be testifying about 1:00 today. >> reporter: one of the things jerry sandusky's attorney told me believes there may have been in his words some type of collusion or conspiracy here among the alleged victims to try to

profit from charging jerry sandusky with abusing young boys. what do you say that defense theory? >> that is utterly ludicrous especially with victim number six came forth in 1998 very time this happened. told his mother. the mother told the police. he remained quiet until now until he was contacted by prosecutors. he is certainly not part of any collusion or conspiracy. >> reporter: attorney ken suggs thanks for talking with us. january 11th is the date sandusky will be arraigned but his attorney told me yesterday that they would waive that arraignment. based on what happened here today anything in this case is possible. bill: that is breaking news. david lee miller all over it. thank you for that. had the court case gone forward it would have been dramatic because the accusers were ready to confront him. today at least that won't happen. martha: those a few of many stories we've got for you this morning in "america's

newsroom." everyone is talking about iowa and of course new hampshire as well in the coming weeks but what about the south? because south carolina and florida may be telling a significant chapter in all this. larry sabato is here. he will think why those two states are wide open at this point. bill: new reports. another u.s. drone going down. we'll tell you where. as iran make as new demand after what it calls an invasion in their own territory. martha: a city under siege by a group of hurling grenade-attackers. two people are dead, several people are injured. we're live with the details on that, more in "america's newsroom."

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the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. martha: all right, we've got a fox news alert for you now. a u.s. drone has crashed on a tiny island in the indian ocean. the u.s. embassy in seychelles, is confirming that the aircraft went down attempting a landing.

nobody is injured. go to iran, that part of the story. demanding an apology today what they're calling a drone invasion. this comes after a request from washington that a stealth drone lost over iran be returned. you heard the president talk about that yesterday when he was out there with maliki. iran's parliament says the top secret aircraft will not be returned. big surprise there, right? they're calling this war booty, okay? the scientists claimed they have recovered data already in iran from this american drone. no way to really tell whether or not they have got anything significant off it. they have more which is huge story diplomaticlynd we'll talk about that in the next hour. bill: meantime fox's carl cameron catching up with newt gingrich asking him if he needs to win iowa in order to win in new hampshire? one after one-two linkup there. gingrich's answer here. listen. >> do you have to win iowa to actually beat him in new hampshire? >> the record is in fact if

i win iowa which i hope to do, makes i had harder in new hampshire. average new hampshire says i will not let people in iowa tell me what to do. >> reporter: that is split. iowa goes to you and new hampshire and south carolina is do-r-die battleground? >> become as big deal. bill: larry sabato director for center for politics from the university of virginia. i would like to see that entire conversation between gingrich and cameron, especially for a guy like you a political nut, who knows what else they led to. is gingrich right if he wins iowa does it make it more difficult in new hampshire. >> absolutely. as you know, speaker gingrich told us many times he is an historian and he is correct on his history. since an including 1980 in every republican primary for president where there was no incumbent running which is the case this year, iowa split with new hampshire. new hampshire wanted to make a separate judgment. they wanted to make a separate statement. bill, as you know, including new hampshire preserving the new hampshire primary as a

peculiar special institution is practically a religion. this assists the religion. bill: one does not like to ratify the other because it diminishes the other, right? >> it diminishes the other and some people will say, why do you have a separate new hampshire pry larry? they're going to ratify whatever iowaid? new hampshirites are very proud and very independent and they live free or die and they probably will make a separate choice, probably. they will always be an exception. democrats done the same thing, splitting iowa and new hampshire. back in 2004 they both voted for john kerry so you can have exceptions. bill: everybody is talking about iowa and new hampshire. what no one is talking about is the state that comes after that, south carolina and then florida at the end of the month on january, on the touch-screen here, behind us you can look at iowa and you can see, professor, that the economy does not appear to be that big of an issue because the unemployment rate is much

lower. on our map behind us, the deeper the red by the way, the tougher your state is in economically. the green obviously show as better state of affairs. in south carolina, a number of jobs lost since americans voted in november of 2008, down 36,000. the unemployment rate is well above the national average at 10.5%. at the moment national unemployment rate 8.6% as the numbers two weeks ago. go down to florida, a similar situation. the jobs lost in the sunshine state, 170,000 in three years. unemployment rate, 10.3%. again you see it's well above the national average. factor this in now, professor, if you could for what south carolinians are thinking and feeling once the attention goes there? >> bill, first of all i love the screen and the reason i love it because you can analyze this state by state instead of using national figures which often obscure

the state by state differences. you're absolutely right. the state of the economy is the number one national issue but it varies a lot by state and so in south carolina i'd expect to hear a lot more talk about the economy than we've heard in the iowa case for example. we're going to hear a lot of it in florida as well. let me also suggest though that there are other dimensions. south carolina is much more likely to vote similarly to iowa than new hampshire is. why? because in both iowa and south carolina 60% of the republican voters are fundamentalist christians and that factors into their vote. in both florida and new hampshire the percentage of fundamentalist christians is much, much lower. bill: then you talk about the february freeze which is something that is a terrific topic that we're going to get to next time. that is after all the events happen in january, we take a big pause and we look around and see what and who is

still standing. thanks, professor. we'll talk to you again next week, all right? larry sabato, university of virginia. >> thank you, bill. martha: very interesting. he can not be looking forward to this, folks. jon corzine is going to testify before his former senate colleagues on one of the biggest corporate meltdowns ever. will he be able to explain to them where more than a billion dollars appears to have vanished? bill: great question, huh, where is it? here we go again, occupy protests turning violent as demonstrators try to block a major seaport. how it is affecting shipments coming in and out and more on that. [shouting] [ male announcer ] what if you have potatoes?

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bill: 23 minutes past the hour now. police questioning a group of hunters. two students shot outside

their texas middle school. police suspect the kids rather the kids may have been hit by stray rounds from hunting fields nearby. seattle police using pepper spray and flash grenades to disperse occupy protesters who blocked the entrance to the port of seattle. many arrests were made after the group blocked nearby tracks as well. >> flight attendants are not happy with alec baldwin. they are asking to ban "30 rock" from all future flights. he was thrown off last weekend for refusing to turn off his phone. martha: that is only place i can watch tv. bill: you saw him on "saturday night live." he was playing a game for smart people. only baldwin. martha: all right. well it's a tense situation that is moments away on capitol hill, folks. former senator jon corzine, back on the hill. he is going to testify for the second time in just five days on one of the biggest

wall street meltdowns in history. you can bet he probably just rather would be about anywhere than where he is going to be because he will be in front of the lawmakers he used to serve with. he is a former governor and senator and he expected to repeat the claim he doesn't know where that money went, more than a billion dollars of it. expert financier, former head of goldman sachs and has no idea what happened to all that money. kelly wright joins me live from washington. kelly, what do we expect in there today? >> reporter: martha you said clearly he is in a tough spot and he will feel it well. former new jersey governor and senator jon corzine meets with the senate agriculture committee. he is expected to deliver the same kind of statement as he did before the house on thursday. he will acknowledge that $1.2 billion in customer money is missing from mf global holdings but he does not know where the money is. martha: so he is -- >> he remain deeply concerned about the impact

that the unreconciled and frozen funds have mf global customers and others. i simply do not know where the money is or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date. >> reporter: corzine is also expected to testify again before the house financial services committee on thursday. his company, mf global, filed for bankruptcy protection on october 31st, martha? martha: he will also have two other executives there as i understand it, kelly, from mf global. who are these two and what do we expect them to say in there? >> reporter: you're exactly right. henry st. camp, chief officer and bradley ablow of chief financial officer of mf global will be prepare there today. in prepared remarks they will express regrets for the situation. ablow we expect him to say i am deeply troubled by the fact that customer funds are missing. i assure you i share the your interest and public's interest to find out exactly what happened.

at this time however i do not know the answers to those questions. from steincamp he is expected to state i do not know why the funds can be accounted for. based on the fact that no short falls have been reported to me previously it appears any irregularities were likely caused by events that occurred shortly before the bankruptcy filing. he has remained at his post following the bankruptcy. he will add due to sipc, or security investors protection corporation trustee rules and policies he has not been able to participate in the current efforts to find those missing funds. >> gee, that makes it pretty tricky, doesn't it? >> reporter: does indeed. martha: all the european debt bets that were made by mf global. kelly, thank you very much. we'll be watching that. bill: former governor. martha: yeah. bill: former senator. martha: yes. bill: ran goldman sachs. martha: unbelievable, right? bill: was on the short list to be treasury secretary? martha: whoever thought jon corzine would find himself in this position.

there are accounts out there he was warned this was going on in the company and that he kept saying it's not a problem, it's not a problem, don't worry about it. we'll hang in there with this bet. if that turns out to be the case --. bill: he is tough to understand, frankly. 20 minutes past the hour now. we're getting new information on the deadly grenade attack. what police are learning about the attackers. we'll get a live report. martha: candidates said they want to keep things very positive and smiley as we see here, right? but the 2012 race starting to get a little bit edgy out there. mitt romney and newt gingrich have been going after each other in a very particular way. we'll talk about that, who might favor. >> one of the things that i think people recognize in washington is that people go interest to serve the people and then they stay there to serve themselves. [ male announcer ] who fills their holidays with sawdust?

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bill: want to get back to our breaking news this morning. two people said to be dead, several others injured after a grenade attack at a crowded bus stop in the city of liege, belgium. we're getting reports that at least three attracters involved. kitty logan is tracking this down in our bureau in london. what happened? >> reporter: details are still very confused, bill. a liege is very quiet town. this took place in the city center. a lot of people are out doing their christmas shopping. we know the attack happened in a busy area near a bus

stop. it appears grenades were thrown into a crowd. there were multiple explosions, possibly shots fired as well, resulting in a number of casualties. we're hearing at least a dozen may have been injured. amongst them a 2-year-old child in critical condition. we've spoken to local police. they say they're not able to give anymore specific details at this stage but local media, an eyewitness, reported that eyewitnesses are reporting that three people threw grenades near that bus stop. some reports say one of the attackers was killed. one was arrested and the other is still on the run but i must emphasize, none of this information is confirmed at this stage. we did manage to speak to a local shop worker who witnessed the attack and she confirmed this report. she said that the attacker threw grenades and fired with an automatic weapon. she also tells us that police have closed off the area. there is a lot of police still active on the streets there investigating what has happened but she says that

there are no details of the attackers. we're not hearing any specific reason why this attack might have taken place but police are urging people still to stay indoors at this stage, bill. bill: there is a lot more to be told about the story that frankly we don't know yet. kitty, thank you for that. liege, you're right to say is one of the sleepiest towns you will find in all of europe, in belgium. thanks. martha: we said earlier that the two republican front-runners kind of promised to keep it cordial in this race for the white house. they don't want to shoot at each other to the appointment where they're weakening the gop candidate. it is clearly getting more aggressive between the front-runners to be sure. presidential candidates mitt romney and newt gingrich threw elbows in the final stretch to iowa. new poll in the battleground state. look at this. while it shows gingrich clearly leads the pack he has slipped a little bit in his traction in iowa. really when herman cain pulled out it did not help newt gingrich according to some of these numbers as much as we really thought in the initial look at all

this. so both romney and gingrich now going at each other over money basically. listen to this. >> one of the things i think people recognize in washington is that people go there to serve the people and then they stay there to serve themselves. and contacts in washington working for freddie mac, getting paid $1.6 billion. by the way a very different number than he said in the first debate. $300,000 and there as historian. that would make him the highest paid historian in the history. >> if governor romney would like to give back all the money he earned bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at bain i would be glad to listen to him, i bet you $10, not 10,000 that he won't take the offer. martha: very interesting. so joined now by bob and andrea. bob beckel, former democratic campaign manager including walter mondale's presidential campaign and andrea tanteros. both co-hosts of "the five". good morning. >> good morning. martha: you know what will?

i'm fascinated by this. i want to focus on what newt gingrich said about bain capital. whatever, what is bain capital? it doesn't really matter but newt gingrich, andrea, is attacking mitt romney for working for a free market capitalist organization, you know, that helped to, you know, knock down some businesses and build others. is that wise on his part? >> well, i don't think this rich guy against d.c. insider strategy is going to work. i particularly don't think what gingrich is doing is going to work but i also think that what romney is doing to gingrich talking about freddie and fannie is not going to work. i remember obama was a senator that took the most money out of anybody in the senate from freddie and fannie. when you see the economy he can choing like it is now, these type of attacks don't matter, take alreadily in gop primaries. you pointed out, martha, earlier that gingrich is up having in iowa. this is because romney finally decided to go on attack. he didn't want to do this but gingrich forced his

hand. up until yesterday he did it himself. he went personally on the attack and it is working. negative ads work in politics. this is why you see gingrich up having. gingrich can not afford to look arrogant and angry. he needs to stay sunny. fight back at the same time but he can not afford, martha, to take his eye off president obama. this is why newt surges because of focus on obama. martha: hurt by own colleagues and tom coburn and others, look i worked with the guy a long time and i wouldn't want him to be president of the united states in conference call with romney as well. i want to address this issue one more time with bob in issue of bain capital. try to look at this objectively, bob, if you for a moment, if you were advising mitt romney, isn't this opportunity for him to wrap his arms around free-market capitalism? you know what? you bet i went in there, some companies weren't going to survive anyway. and other ones like staples which we grew and grew, create a ton of jobs for people. should he run for that or

embrace it? >> he has got to embrace it. keep in mind his principle platform is creating jobs. what newt is saying here in fact in many of these corporations he took them apart and cost them jobs. now this has been run against romney before. i think that it's not frankly the strongest attack point but, listen, you talked about the traction for gingrich in iowa. one of the reasons is not because herman cain got out. it is because there is array of like i never seen of independent committees and others out against gingrich. they're spending millions of dollars. most of that generated from washington people who don't like him. if you want to see the key attack point, look at peggy noonan's column in the "wall street journal." it mimics every bit of the talking points. hear is the problem. newt is not a good attack guy, if he does attack reminds people of old newt, mean newt. mitt romney doesn't have it in him to be a negative campaigner. you got two guys not very well-suited for this

campaign. martha: look at what brit hume said about this issue on "special report". i want to get your reaction to. >> us did he really believe what he did for freddie mac is similar to what romney did at bain? probably not. when newt gingrich feels threatened or up staged he reaches for whatever weapon comes to hand, start swinging. just ask paul ryan. martha: this is what people see as newt gingrich's vulnerable point. he says he changed. i'm a grandfather. i know there is lot of stuff in my past. i tried to reconcile that. the enemies he made along the way, andrea, clearly they might not succeed because people like newt but they are gunning for him. >> they are gunning for him and he is starting to show he is slipping. personal attacks won't matter. what will matter what brit hume called up. when he went after paul ryan and called his bill social engineering. i think that will hurt him much more. look at mitt romney, to your question why mitt romney won't embrace the free

market rich guy image because he has his mind on the general. he as you been a general election candidate. and he does not want to be the guy that embraced bain capital if he wins the nomination. martha: you know what? even in a general, president obama is going to look at him across the debate stage and go after him for being, you know, a capitalist. >> why give him the sound bite to use. martha: against that argument, better for him, you know. >> he doesn't want to give him the sound to give barack obama's campaign even more ammo. they will do it anyway. why give him the narrative? i think romney's most vulnerable point he is not tough. that is why newt is surging. people don't believe he can knock out president obama. martha: this may be opportunity. >> well he is surging because newt's surged because everybody has surged against romney who flat-lined at 21%. the difference everybody else has fallen back. in newt's case he stayed there. one thing has to scare romney more than anything else, his biggest argument

electability in iowa. newt went in front last iowa poll. that is something he has to knock down and knock down quickry. martha: you're right. thank you very much. we'll see you guys on "the five". we'll look forward tot. mitt romney will join "america's newsroom" tomorrow, folks. he will be in studio. he will talk about all this. this is interview you won't want to miss. we'll ask him about all this stuff. bill: just as you were talking to bob and andrea. newt gingrich campaign sent out a letter to all supporters. newt urges supporters to stay positive. critical that the republican nominee emerges from the campaign unbloodied so they can present the best case against president obama from a position of strength. martha: that is clearly a plea to back off on attacks against him because he feels they will hurt him. bob pointed out a lot of forces coming out and lot of money. bill: looking very much to that. she recused herself in the immigration matter. should justice elena kagan

do the same on the health care challenge before the court. >> i'm not quite sure how i would characterize my politics but one thing i do know is that my politics would be, must be, have to be, completely separate from my judgement. bill: records show kagan supported health care passage. is that enough to expect her to step aside? great guest on that in a moment. martha: how about this? it is the most advanced fighter jet ever made but has never flown in come pat -- combat. what is next for the raptor aircraft? bill: that is cool. you heard about wild horses. check out the wild hogs on the farm. keep running, fellows. ♪ .

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spring, immigration and health care. and justice elena kagan has recused herself of arizona's immigration law but she has not done so when it comes to the president's health care law. should she? here's the attorney general eric holder when asked about that during a hearing just last week. >> would you have had any reason to exclude her, any reason to wall her off in the words that you were told by a deputy prior to the time that she was considered for the supreme court? >> well, i can tell you that with regard to, as i said, the conversations that occurred in my conference room about the health care bill i did not remember her being present for any of them. >> would you be able to check your records to find out what the date would have been when you started telling her shashe should either excuse or recuse herself from those discussions? >> oh, we'll attempt to do that. i'm not sure that information exists any place. to the extent that it does, i will provide it to you. bill: look for that topic to come back in the period between january and may 2010.

jay sekulow, chief counsel for american center of law and justice. >> good morning, bill. how are you? bill: should she stay in or recuse herself on this topic too? >> you know, it will be her call. there's clearly the e-mail exchange between professor laurence tribe from harvard who was then with the department of justice and with then solicitor general kagan where she expressed her, you know, she was thrilled and pleased that the health care bill had become law and had passed, raises serious questions. but ultimately it is the individual justice's call. it was interesting in that same hearing that attorney general holder made the statement that he didn't know if he was going to release some other documents regarding the conversations or e-mail exchanges that might exist between elena kagan and his office or elena kagan and others because the congress had filed briefs in the health care case and he was worry what is called separation of powers. i represent those 105 members of congress so i

found it pretty interesting he was blaming our participation in the litigation as a reason not to disclose justice kagan's involvement. at the end of the day in arizona -- go ahead. bill: but there is one key piece of evidence that you pointed to. laurence tribe is a harvard professor and there is an e-mail exchange about the health care legislation. what did that e-mail specifically say? >> well, she expressed to professor tribe how thrilled she was over the passage of the affordable health care act called obamacare. bill: is that enough then to build an argument to suggest she is not neutral on this topic? >> well she certainly expressed her pleasure with the legislation and the passage of the legislation. does that mean she expressed her opinion as -- what she would say in her defense, if i was defending her i would say, that didn't express her opinion on the constitutionality of it. but you're cutting very close here and i think the real problem is when you look at these kind of issues

there is a standard that's in the law that says judges have to not only appear to be, not biased but they have to avoid the appearance of impropriety. here's the problem. that e-mail exchange is not helpful but at the end of the day ultimately this becomes justice kagan's call. there is no external enforcement mechanism here to mandate her exclusion. bill: jan brewer is the governor of arizona. she will be on to talk about the immigration case in 30 minutes. why did kagan pull herself out on that topic? >> there you go. why? i'm holding brief we filed in that case in my hand right now helping governor brewer. we're glad they granted review. here's the problem, bill, she did it because she was involved in the litigation. you would i think that the solicitor general of the united states, like in the health care case, they knew there would be challenges would be involved in this litigation. that is where there is just a disconnect here. that is one of the dangers of appointing a current solicitor general to the supreme court of the united states. when i say dangerous, there

are going to be maybe cases where she has to recuse herself. she did in arizona which sets up very interesting dynamic because that was a vote i'm sure the administration would have been counting on that is now gone. now of course if it is 4-4 affirmtive of the ninth circuit. i'm more optimistic i think at end of the day the supreme court will rule in favor of arizona here. reality, there she felt she was conflicted out. here she doesn't. bill: as you point out, it is call of him or her, the justice on the supreme court. jay, thank you. good to have you back on the program. >> absolutely. thanks for having me, bill. bill: martha? martha: we have some new fallout from the drone tha fell into iranian hands. what tehran is now demanding from the united states

bill: they were going hog-wild, martha. ham on the lam. martha: come on, stop. bill: 30 wild pigs escaped from a meat house in fort worth, texas. look at this. they headed for the nearest neighborhood backyard. martha: run. bill: fry the pay con -- bacon. martha: run foreyour life, little piggies, most of them were caught. any way bacon is on sale. martha: it was designed to guarantee america's air dominance on any battlefield. the f-22 raptor is what it is named and equipped with stealth technology. it is the most advanced fighter jet ever made. look at that thing. pretty cool. the production of this plane will come to an end today. when the final f-22 raptor rolls off the assembly line in a lockheed martin plant in marietta, georgia. that is where we find jonathan serrie. jonathan, what is the storied end to this aircraft? >> reporter: yeah, hi, martha. it was a combination of

purpose and price tag. each one of these f-22s has an official price tag of a $153 million. it was really designed with a high-tech enemy in mind. critics of the f-22 says that enemy simply no longer exists with the collapse of the soviet union years ago. however the fenders -- defenders of this fighter aircraft said it made excellent deterrent against emerging superpowers. either way, financial concerns won out and the f-22 will be replaced with the f-35 which is sold at about 2/3 of the price tag of the f-22. also the f-35 is being made with foreign sales in mind, which is not an option for the f-22, which is simply too high-tech for its own good, at least as far as congress is concerned. congress has banned the sale of the aircraft you see behind to foreign powers because they say it is simply so high-tech, they don't want to export this

technology and risk it falling into the hands of an enemy government, martha. martha: boy, changing times and changing defense needs and that is the story for the f-22. jonathan, thank you so much. bill: there is a major showdown in congress will happen today. first on the floor of the house with regard to extending the payroll tax cut. speaker john boehner believes he has the votes to get his through idea. what will that be with only two weeks to go before they expire? we're live in washington on that breaking news from the capitol. martha: how about this big story? the supreme court is about to take up arizona east controversial immigration law, a move the state's governor highly supports. jan brewer joins us live in "america's newsroom", coming up. >> we are all thrilled by the united states supreme court decision to hear senate bill 1070. this has been a long journey for arizona. at long last we have arrived in the highest court in the land. smany great pioneers before me,

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martha: iran is saying america should apologize for the invasion of an unmanned stealth drone, also saying that the u.s. is in position of, quote, a beggar in asking for them to return the drone as the president did yesterday. brand-new hour now of "america's newsroom." welcome back, good to have you with us today. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good to be here also. they say the aircraft malfunctioned, it landed automatically, iran did not bring it down. martha: president obama confirmed that iran has it and washington has asked for them to send it back. >> as has already been indicate we will eye see how the iranian's respond. martha: ambassador john bolton. good to have you here today.

what do you think about what the president said yesterday. >> i thought he looked week and a little silly. the iranians are not going to give us the drone back, at least not until they have explored it tot totally if ever. if iran wanted to do something nice they could give it back and their own. i think the administration has mishandled it in many respects starting with, our drone is down. the standard line is we don't comment on intelligence matters. i simply would have held to that, period, close quote. martha: could you get away with that, though? most of us could not tell you whether it is real or fake. there are plenty of people out there that could. is that a line we could have got even away with? >> try we again, we don't comment on intelligence matters. martha: bob scales said, look

everybody wants to put a good face own this. but this is bad, there is protective coding paint on that that is deflect euf of radar, therive paint. there i is radar. clearly the russian -gs and the chinese if they got their hands on it could do damage in using it. >> there is no doubt about it. i don't think reverse engineer is easy either with the composite material that makes up the stealth surface or the technology itself or with the communications, and sensors and mechanisms inside. there is a lot at this point we don't know. but i do think if there was an operational or tactical possibility to have destroyed that drone, or retrieved it we should have done it. and i frankly think the administration's stated reason why we didn't do anything -- skwraot word was tha martha: the word was that was

offered, that was on his desk and he didn't want to do that. >> he declined to take action because it would give iran the excuse to say we have committed a hostile act. i don't mean to second-guess if there were operational reasons not to do it. i think it's hard to second-guess that from the outside. but the president gave a political reason not to do it and that is not sufficient. martha: ambassador john bolt done, always good to see you, sir, thank you very much. >> thank you. bill: we are waiting for the house to vote on a bill backed by the speaker john boehner that would extend the tax cuts that stalled keystone pipeline has put on the board. first from the democrats on that. >> there are 14 million americans out of work and 116 million counting on this payroll tax cut.

>> here is a bill that contains both priorities from both sides. let's take it up and pass it without any thee at tricks. let's pass this job creative bill and give americans the certainty and the jobs they deserve. bill: they are drawing the line firmly. wendell goler on the lawn of the white house. what is going to happen here? >> reporter: there in fact may be another complication behind the pipeline controversy and we'll get to that in a minute. congress needs to pass an appropriations bill by midnight friday to extend the government's spending authorities. there is a talk that they will do that, go home and lets tax cuts not extend. that ads another element to this high stakes game of poker, whether he'd risk a government shut down and basically keep lawmakers in town by tyi the payroll tax cut to the bill extending the government's

spending authority. republicans of course believe mr. obama delayed the pipeline for political reasons given the opposition of environmentalists. the white house feels republicans can't justify holding the payroll tax cut hostage given how hard they've fought to keep the bush administration's upper income tax cuts in place. jay carney said the decision to tie the payroll tax cut to expedited construction of the keystone pipeline shows the republicans luke warm support for a tax cut for the middle class. he says, quote, they are basi basically saying we are doing a favor for you president obama for voting for this otherwise we won't do it. pipelines have long fallen under the president's authority to conduct foreign policy. there is no question of the congress forcing the white house to expedite the construction of

the keystone pipeline, and the state department says if congress sets an unreasonable schedule for the pipeline's construction it may simply we skwrebgt the project. bill. bill: we are going to watch it go back and forth all week starting today. wendell, thankou. wendell goler on the north lawn of the white house. martha: you know, of course that fox is america's election headquarters, right? and newt gingrich is focused on staying positive this morning, sending out a letter to staff and supporters that reads like this in part, quote, he says it is critical the republican nomineeee morning from this primary campaign unbloodied so that he or she can make the case against president obama from a position of strength. we will run a popular campaign based upon our country' future. we will n neglect t*eu ad advertising.

he's trying to keep it nice, bill. bill: we'll see how long that lasts. you've got a debate coming up in two days right here. all right, resurgent republicans pulling ahead in some of these critical swing states. brand-new gallop poll numbers putting mitt romney ahead 48-43% over president obama. that is among register voters in states like florida, iowa, and new hampshire. the same poll on newt gingrich showing the former house speaker hold ago similar lead in those states, again 48% of the votes. analysts say republicans feel nor strongly about the importance of this election than to democrats. that goes to enthusiasm based on party affiliation. cycle after cycle in tight elections that can determine the outcome. we will watch that factor. martha: intensity is a big factor for sure. you have a new crop of gop

voters springing up in iowa adding to the presence of evangelical voters. this has left the top gop contenders vying for the support of this group, including the frontrunner newt gingrich who is pulling in about 30% ever the vote, that is the "real clear politics" average among likely caucus goers, mitt romney trailing behind with just over 18%. ron paul rounds out the top three at 16%. iowa is going to be just fascinating folks of the it's only a few weeks away. steve brown is already there in souix city iowa. the evangelicals a big force. they will be out there in force on caucus night. >> reporter: you can bank on that. there is a relatively simple examination for that. for evangelical christians, everywhere, particularly in iowa they think it is their christian duty to be politically active? i've asked them too go down to

the capitol building on many occasions. we try to get involved down there as much as possible. i've been down there several times myself. i plan on being down there again. i think it's our responsibility to be engaged in that process. >> reporter: exit polls in 08 and 2010 suggest that born again christians, selfidentified make about 60% then of the vote, martha. martha: that's a huge dynamic obviously in iowa. the candidates who are viewed as more socially conservative, you would think would have an advantage there. it's also interesting that newt gingrich is bringing up all of this. don't shoot within the tent stuff when you head into iowa as well. >> reporter: well, yeah, traditionally negative campaigning doesn't go over well in iowa. social conservatives might get squeezed a little bit if turn out is high. a sharp operative by the name of tim albrecht thinks the turn out

will exceed 120,000. he thinks the demographics of the caucuses will change. have a listen. >> you've seen intense interests in the debates, the viewership, the amounts of people watching them has been unrar a hreld. there is such an interest in this race because of the unpopularity of barack obama. >> reporter: there are likely to be previously disaffected republicans, independents and perhaps some currently disaffected democrats. those folks are less likely to be social conservative, more likely to be fiscal conservative, worried about the economy and jobs. martha: this is so really fascinating, and, you know, i was always full of surprises. you look at the polls then you have the caucus night and you go, wow, look what happened. steve thank you very much. that's going to be fun. bill: that's why we watch. we will be watching on thursday night too, right? the fox news republican

presidential debate takes place. 9 on the east coast, 6 on the west coast. you will have instant analysis with our fox contributors at foxnews.com/debate. you can get to that website and get full interactive experience there. martha: full interactive experience like we have here every day. she led her state to pass a landmark crackdown on illegal immigration that will now be decided by the highest court in the land. this is big. >> we have to have our border secured because of the terrible policies and the method with which the federal government has not reacted to the public has just created devastation in our state, and in the united states. martha: she has been such a fighter for this cause. the supreme court set to rule now on arizona's immigration law. governor jan brewer is here with us on "america's newsroom" that is next.

bill: don't bail them out, a key republican, jim demint will tell us the shocking numbers on who is getting billions of dollars, american tax dollars in europe. martha: there are reasons those window washers wear harnessess. bill: good advice. cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to theool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone.

bill: back to breaking news out of belgium. we are learning that four people have been killed and 64 wounded after some sort of grenade and gun attack. it took place in the sent part of leege. they are saying there was only one attack erin solved. about an hour ago we were told there were three. belgian authorities saying only one. the death toll includes the attacker. they say it has no relationship with terrorism. they've made that determination

already. it is a stunning number coming out of this attack. four dead, 64 wounded. that number has gone up throughout the day. we are working with our folks in europe to figure out more on that. we'll have it for you here in "america's newsroom" skwraot highest court in the land green lights arizona's immigration case. the u.s. ooh spraoepl court announced that it will indeed take up this controversial law next spring on their docket. this will be a key test for the obama administration. jan brewer is the author of the book, scorpians for breakfast, which she likes to eat. good morning, governor, good to have you here. >> tkgood morning, martha, it's great to be with you. martha: you started this ball rolling. you said hundreds of millions of dollars the state was losing due to illegal immigration, right? >> exactly. martha: talk to me a little bit about how you feel after you

really pushed this. you feel the federal government is not doing the job, and it cost your state a tremendous amount of money to do the job you think the federal government should be doing. what happens now. >> we are so pleased that the supreme court agreed to hear the senate bill that is in controversy across the country. but we all know that for years now arizona has been the recipient of illegal immigration, we are the gateway into america and it's costing us millions of dollars every year because of the federal government's inadequate enforcement of their federal laws, and so we feel that as arizona citizens, and as governor i feel i have the opportunity to protect my citizens. if the federal government is not going to do it then we're going to step up and help them. so with the ruling that we received yesterday, you know, we are looking for clarity. what is it that they are going to do? are they just going to sit on their hands and do nothing?

are they going to leave us defenseless? alabama, georgia, south carolina, utah, we have many states that are under the same situation that arizona is. and i, as governor, am not going to sit still and just let it take place in arizona. martha: you have not sat still, there is no doubt about that. it's interesting because i know you were shocked initially that the department of justice came off you with this. before the law was even implemented, before anything actually happened that would have allowed for police officers and law enforcement officials once person has been pulled over, detained for another offense to ask them by the way do you happen to be in this country legally. and they came after you. the solicitor general was after you, elena kagan, it appears she will recuse herself from this argument as it comes into the court. what do you think about that? >> i think she made the right decision. she did have a conflict because she was giving advice in regards

to the situation. so, you know i'm pleased, i think that she made the right decision. i don't think it's going to say too much about how the decision is going to come down, because i would have assumed she would have been a no any way. we are looking for five solid votes and i'm hopeful that we'll receive those as we did on the employer sanction bill. i think we have a very compelling case. when the bill was going through the legislature i monitored it, i wanted to make absolutely sure that the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed. i wanted it to be absolutely clear, that it had to work and be constitutional and it didn't step on anybody's civil rights, and our bill does exactly that, so i feel very confident that we'll be successful. i would just like to say, martha, i appreciate the people across the united states that have supported artpheuz this figharizona in the future with the federal government on this point. it means a lot to me and certainly to the people of arizona. it doesn't just affect arizona,

it affects everyone. martha: the administration has said that they are tougher than ever now on that border. they put more boots on the ground. a quick comment before we let you go today. >> we appreciate what they've done on our border. but the fact of the malts is our border is not secure. we are still recipients of the drug cartels and crimes that are taking place and they have the ability to secure that boar border. and we won't be satisfied until it's done. martha: great to have you as a guest today. we hope to talk to you again as the process moves forward . thank you, have a good day? bill: in the springtime we'll have two big ones, one is immigration and the other healthcare. martha: really around the time of the election. that will be fascinating. bill: a massive 30% pay cut for doctors hraoupl being charge. how much will that effect your bottom line if lawmakers don't ask? we'll let you go. martha: a dramatic twist in the search for missing florida mom michelle parker.

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martha: let's get a look at some of the headlines right no. new concerns over the withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq coming from former vice president dick cheney. he says he's worried about iraq's security ones comt troops leave that region. thousands of occupy protestors stepping up their efforts to disrupt traffic at busy courts along the west coast, and they managed to shut down at least one major point and that caused dozens of workers a day's pay there. russian billionaire putting his money where his mouth is. he is pledging to challenge

prime minister vladimir putin for the presidency. putin's bid for the presidency has sparked massive antiprotes antiprotests. bill: 25 minutes past the hour now. a difficult decision for the family of a missing florida mother, their attorneys saying that search efforts for 33-year-old michelle parker will now be scaled back significantly. >> they want to remain hopeful, ultimate leave. i just finished talking to yvonne before i sat down with you, and she wants to remain hopeful that michelle is out there and we are going to find her alive. as leach day passes, you know, it just turns into a situation. we are all preparing for the worst. bill: yvonne is the mother of michelle parker. mark fuhrman is a former

l.a.p.d. detective and fox news contributor. good morning to you. you say this is clearly a homicide investigation? why are you so certain? >> well, bill -- well, i think from the on set, the circumstances when you look at a missing person, immediately the detectives are seeing that nobody accessed money, they left certain personal belongs, they left high seen and toilet items at their home, clothes, nothing was packed, nothing was planned and they show no indication that they are using credit cards, going out of the country, purchasing tickets or anything else, and so immediately it's either somebody is being held against their will or it's a homicide. bill: they found her car, which was a hummer, they found that immediately. how do you find a cellphone at the bottom of a lake? how is that possible unless someone is telling you that it is there? >> that's interesting. i was thinking about that too, bill, and i'm not sure cell

phones are as heavy -- or they don't have some health of buoyancy, or some way that they might end up by the shoreline, or end up being visible in a shallow piece of water. somebody might have been fishing there, somebody may have been walking there, somebody may have found it some way. they are not releasing that. they are not looking too much in the water. they have cadaver dogs and they are looking at the points before and after that bridge for evidence of her body. bill: i see. i know you know this business as well as anybody and let's hope in the end that she does turn up alive and that the worst case is not realized. but for you as a detective, do you believe finding a body is critical to ultimately solving the case? explain why that is, mark. >> well, bill, they've done something that law enforcement doesn't usually do in this day and age, and that is definitely

call somebody a suspect right out front. they are usually saying person of interest while they collect their evidence. but that means that her exfiance, smith, has so failed certain interviews, timelines, accountability, and they probably have a little bit more. but they need the victim's body to not only find cause of death, but that little tidbit of forensic evidence that will connect him forever to the victim. and considering the circumstances i believe that is probably there, and i would probably suspect that there are some hairs and fibers of his in her hummer. but after all, they were in a relationship, so that is hard to not explain away. so they need the body. bill: thank you for your time. we appreciate your expertise. >> thanks, bill. martha: you know that greece got $40 billion from the united states last year, and their

economy is still as you know in very rough shape. we'll talk about that. jim demint is a republican on the senate joint committee, economic committee. he wants to talk about the best way to help europe which he believes is to cut the chord. bill: if you slip and fall at office you might need a first-aid kit, but this is not your office. >> he was hanging and i said is he hanging by his neck, you know? and the guy said he was just hanging, it was by a harness. and a girl came by and i screamed at her, i said call 911. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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a year and a half ago we opened another line of credit that they can draw on of a hundred billion dollars. this is what we are trying to hold, to stop. we don't want our pockets to be open at any moment to the imf coming and taking more money. bill: i understand that 67 billion is the contribution into the international monetary fund and from there the fund does what it chooses, and at this point it's to bail out countries: if you cut the money off does europe go under? >> bill, we're not talking about cutting our dues, although that is something we should debate. what we're talking about is cutting off the additional 100 billion-dollar line of credit. what happens if we don't give more money? first of all america might be in a better situation to save ourselves, but it also may force europe to make the hardy situations that they need to make. we've already given, as you've

pointed out, 40 billion to greece, their debt to gdp is now worse than it was before the bail out. bill: about 160%. >> right. so we're not helping these nations we are just putting things off. all the nations of the world, including the u.s. need to cutback the size and scope of their government so their private sectors can operate. the imf is pushing countries the other way. >> i think you have a friend in mitt romney on this toeupbg and you might even have a friend in newt gingrich. listen to romney quickly. >> europe is able to help europe. we have to focus on getting our own economy in order and making sure we never reach the kind of problem italy is happening. if we stay on the course we're on, with the level of borrowing this administration is carrying out. if we don't get serious about cutting and capping our spending and balancing our budget you're going to find america in the same position in italy is in, four, five years from now and that is unacceptable.

this is what you write senator. the most dangerous threat to the u.s. economy is not across the pond, it's in the swampland of washington d.c. how so? >> bill, our own policies are hurting our economy, driving middle class jobs overseas. we continue to borrow billions of dollars every day despite all the hoopla here about deficit reduction. and we've got one political party, the democrat party, which thrives on making more promises to people every election. so we've got two competing world views here, and one of them on my side is that we've got to balance the budget. romney expressed it very well, and we need to express that urgency to our country. we cannot afford to bail out the world. we've got to figure out how to bail out ourselves. bill: jim demint thank you from our time. the senator from sa*bg. >> thansouth carolina. martha: the u.n. will recognize palestine as a full member in this kay. oounesco will raise the flag in

paris. they say this undermines any hope for a middle east peace plan. this has been a very contentious issue whether palestine would be recognized. eric shawn joins us from our new york newsroom. >> reporter: the palestinian bid for statehood has yet to be voted on. the palestinians are claiming a victory this morning and it's one that is very controversial. for the first time the palestinian flag was raised outside a major u.n. agency, there it is. it happened in paris at the headquarters of unesco. they designate world heritage sites and promoted indication. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas because there. he hopes they can join other u.n. organizations. analysts say it's part of the palestinian game plan to try to gain recognition without

negotiating with israel, which they see as fruitless. >> they've clearly decided that it's less costly to stay away from the negotiations and pursue this course going to the u.n. seeking membership in unesco and so on than i it would be to go back to the status quo ante, which in their view is a failed negotiations process. >> reporter: the u.s. has responded by raising that flag and recognizing them they are cutting off all the agency's funding, that is about $60 million a year, martha. martha: what is the reaction. >> reporter: supporters are praising the palestinian effort this morning. critics say gaining statehood through direct talks with israel is the only way to have lasting peace. he they stand b peace.

>> how clairvoyant of our legislators many years back when we saw the handwriti on the wall. we saw what the palestinians wanted to do. they wanted to avoid responsibility and be granted statehood without first having to make east with its neighbor israel. >> reporter: the u.s. has vowed to veto the bid for statehood stating that they need to return to direct talks with israel first before they achieve that. they say the administration is putting pressure on congress to try to wave the organization that has that funding. bill: how about a 30% pay cut? that is what america's tkr-rs fashion. you can bet that is going to affect your wallet ultimately unless congress takes quick action. senator and dr. john berasa up next to answer that. martha: a holiday surprise for a military mom.

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bill: a wonderful surprise for a military mother in minnesota. watch. [cheering] bill: she is not going to let go. that is great. theresa caldwell getting quite a shock from her son, the national guardsman surprising his mom as school after receiving a two-week leave from kuwait. martha: she is hugging him, you can just feel that feeling. it's like she is just so happy to have him in her arms. bill: you know she has a calendar in her home mashing oven day until he comes back, so enjoy the two weeks. martha: the president has said that he wants toote on the extension of your payroll tax

cut before everybody goes home for christmas, right? house republicans have put out a new plan for that to happen. some democrats have already flat out rejected this plan. in the plan is an attempt to tackle the so-called doctor fix, okay. if they don't fix what medicare pays doctors, because they've taken a cut that, will mean that your doctor would get a 27% pay cut in the new year. so your doctor would be making a whole lot less money come 2010 if they don't fix this thing. john brasso is vice president of the senate pep conference. h republican conference. he also supports it because he's an orthopedic surgeon. thank you for being here the big jobs bill has whittled down these measures that they are trying to get through before the end of the year. it would be the payroll tax cut which would allow everybody to continue to see that money in their paycheck, the doctor fix

which would allow doctors to continue to see that money and a couple of other elements, including extending unemployment benefits into the new year. what is our idea on a way that would make this work? >> i support this tax relief for working americans. with the issue of the doc fix, let's take a step back and remember that the president's so-called healthcare law didn't actually fix paying doctors. and we know that the president's healthcare law took $500 billion away from our seniors who are on medicare, not to save and strengthen medicare but to start a whole new government program for other people. these why this law continues to be so unpopular. and this so-called doc fix is a way to deal with some of the accounting gimmicks that the president used in the healthcare law to say that the law paid for itself. but it didn't pay for doctors to take care of patients. and if you think about people on medicare wanting to see a doctor, it's going to be that much more difficult for that

patient on medicare to see a doctor if the doctors are going to be paid so much less. martha: right, understood. and we did the doc fix the last time around. this is a question of how to extend it. what is interesting to me is how you want to pay for it. how would you pay for it? >> i agree with the simpson-bowles approach, and it's something the president actually supported previously this year. i talked to the president about it at the white house, and it's to end some of the subsidies for the whelt yes, sir american the wealthest americans who have having being subsidized by the taxpayers. we can save $31 billion by allowing many much the wealthist americans to not have the subsidy. martha: this is a big conversation about benefits in this country. you hear the president on the one hand saying he wants to increase that highest tax bracket a little bit. as you said many times, warren

buffett shouldn't pay less than his salary than a secretary does. so you would think he would be on board with this. because warren buffett doesn't need to get a check in the mail from medicare, right? >> i think that we should in economic times like thesdon't think we should raise taxes on anyone in these hard economic times. hard-working people should not subject satisfactor subsidize people on medicare. martha: wonderful to see you again. thank you so much for being here today. >> thanks for having me. bill: in liege, belgium a fox news alert. what we are learning about a grenade attack that killed at least four. two of the four are teenagers. the injury toll continues to

rise. we are now at 75. authorities maintain this is not an act of terrorism, but beyond that an explanation has been illusive. we will watch that story throughout the day for you here. also coming up on "happening now," jenna lee has a handle on that. with more now, how are you jenna. >> reporter: great to be here. a lot of politics here. some new polling on the swing states showing in head-to-head match up the president is pweupbd both mitt romney and newt gingrich. what this means for the campaign overall. some good news about the economy, how for that once. the question we have is will it last into 2012. newt gingrich warning the nation of the dangers of an electromagazine get particular pulse attack. is it for real? we will have some of those questions today, bill. bill: we'll see you in about ten minutes. slip and fall on the job that required a fire department to come to the rescue. working 9 to 5 high in the sky.

we'll show you what happened to that guy, huh? martha: and with the end of the shuttle era nasa has been relying on russia for the pricey trips into the space station. today there is a private space cowboy that is offering uncle sam a little bit of a lift. can i give you a ride? how about going into outer space with me? bill: saddle up. i love the holidays.

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brand-new information about what is going on in liege, in this attack that happened in belgium where more than 75 people are wounded. there is a name now of the suspect. nordine amarani.

he was well-known forearms and drugs offenses. he was supposed to show up with a meeting with the police today, and failed to show up for the meeting, and all hell broke lose in what is a grenade attack that killed at least four people, 7 a people injured. this is a horrific situation. we'll stay on top of it. bill: the shuttle is granded, nasa calling a taxi to the final front tear, space-x set to become the first private company to dock a commercial spacecraft at the international space station. the author of sky walking and astronaut's memoir tom jones, a former as throw now the is wit astronaut. we talked about how disappointed you were that the shuttle be retired before a better route,

and have to rely on the russians and pay millions just for them to get us there. does this satisfy you, tom? >> it's a big step in the right direction. this solves the cargo problem of how to get supplies to the space station without the shuttle. this will fulfill the cargo requirement and help us ease the reliance on the russians in the years to come. bill: do you have any doubt that space-x will be successful? will it make it there? >> i think with two successful flights of the rocket, one of the capsule i think there are good odds that the test flight in february will succeed and deliver cargo for the first time to the space station on a commercial endeavor. if the capsule works out well it could evolve into carrying astronauts to the international space station. bill: that was my question. if you're able to do this well,

what is next? is this the answer to a retired shuttle program. >> exactly. the approach nasa is trying to follow is cargo first, to prove the capability and show that it's cheaper and more more reliable than governmental tern teufs. i alternatives. they hope it will free up funds for exploration of the moon, and mars. bill: we wanted to tap your knowledge today. thank you, tom for coming in. good to see you. martha: there is outrage being expressed by women's rights and liberal groups at the obama administration over the decision to not allow the plan b continue septembe contraceptive to be sold over-the-counter to women and young girls. they claim it's a political move. we'll be back with more of that from "america's newsroom" after this. [ dr. banholzer ] every once in awhile

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. .. martha: a dramatic rescue in new york city. check this out. a window washer slipped from