that some of her democratic colleagues are trying to give her some cover can. and that director pinetta, after all who is a former democratic congressman himself, is trying to help out a bit. >> eric: what if there is something to the allegations? you raise an interesting point. you have pelosi claiming the c.i.a. lying to her and pinetta said the c.i.a. does not lie. now we have members of the committee saying theyer were systematically misled. that's the quote, by the c.i.a. during the congressional hearings. in an effort to try to open up and basically declassify what the congressional hearings committees are told was stymied by the democrats this week. >> well, what we do know is that this program, whatever the program was, never really got off the ground. so it's a very much of a gray area as to whether there was any requirement to brief congress on it. >> eric: why is that

important? why is that important if they're discussing something or we don't know it was operational, the report say it's planning or discussion. what is the difference between something that is discussed, maybe they've got memos on it, but they actually did not start it. >> well, they couldn't possibly brief congress on everything that's under discussion. the programs that they consider relatively, relatively few come to life. i'm afraid the problem here is that we're increasingly politicizing c.i.a., which is a very bad thing to do. and frankly, the republicans have been guilty of this just as the democrats have. i left the c.i.a. in 1975, at the height of the congressional hearings in the agency, which i felt were really eroding the capability. and i testified in early 1976

against the nomination of george h.w. bush as director on grounds that he had been the republican chairman. i have nothing against the man personally. i had every respect for him. >> eric: you're talking about the -- >> i thought it was a bad precedent. >> eric: you're talking about the church intelligence committee hearing, that some say demoralized the c.i.a., hampered the c.i.a. and tied its hands. others say the c.i.a. can't do black bag jobs, they can't go out and assassinate foreign leaders and they can't do stuff that's against the law. >> that's true. there was word that the c.i.a. crossed the line, there is no question about that. i think the congress crossed the line, too, in emasculating the agency. when it -- >> eric: do you think that they are trying to do it again now? do you think it's happening again right now? >> i don't think anybody is trying purposefully to

destroy the agency. but i think we have gotten into a practice of politicizing it. the republicans appointed porter goff who had a brief agency career and went on to be congressman and c.i.a. director. then the democrats come along and they appoint pinetta, a former democratic congressman. there is no western intelligence agency led by political figure. we need to stop doing that. we need to take the agency out of politics. >> eric: the broader question is dealing with the supposed secret program, we don't know what it is. the "washington times" claims it has to do with a potential plans to potentially assassinate foreign leaders or something like that. we got to get away from this. this is what the church hearings was about. we got away from this 30 years ago. >> i can't believe it would have dealt with the assassination of foreign leaders. that to me is -- i would

write that off as speculation and probably not at all grounded in fact. >> eric: you know what is amazing to me is we're sitting here on television, seen all over the world, in 87 countries talking about some secret c.i.a. plan that is out there that we don't know exactly what it is, but it seems so much in the open. what does that do finally to the c.i.a., to your former colleagues? and what will investigations do? because likely there will be congressional hearings on all of this, on pelosi, what the c.i.a. said and what the c.i.a. didn't say. that will likely be in open hearings. >> it's thoroughly demoralizing. it's demoralizing to people out as we speak risking their lives making the country safe. >> eric: mike ackerman, former c.i.a. operative who left the c.i.a. in the heat and the height of the church committee hearings in the middle 1970s.

you know, sometimes history can repeat itself is the old adage. we'll see what happens as the drama unfolds. thank you. >> thank you. >> jamie? >> jamie: we're getting word that the state department is switching strategies in the attempt to free two american journalists imprisoned in north korea. secretary of state hillary clinton saying that the u.s. will drop us request that laura ling and euna lee be released on humanitarian grounds. now she says they're seeking amnesty for the journalists instead. a plea for amnesty implies forgiveness for an offense. last month, ling and lee were sentenced to 12 years in a prison requiring hard labor after being charged with entering north korea illegally to conduct a smear campaign. >> eric: new violence erupting on the southern border. gunman launching a string of deadly attacks in the federal police in mexico. we have new video of the attacks. this occurred in the western state. among the boldest carried out against the government,

gunmen armed with grenades and assault rifles opened fire on the police bases. three police officers and two soldiers were killed in the attacks. ten other agents also were wounded. at least six cities have been hit. the attacks appear to be in retaliation for the arrest of a suspected mexican drug boss. >> jamie: and the federal government as you know gave some big bucks to the banks and then the detroit auto makers. what about the little guys? the ones on main street? the small business administration is supposed to give a boost to america small businesses but critics are saying that the agency isn't living up to its name. they argue the sba is putting the squeeze on the firms by denying them loans, even if they need all -- meet all the conditions for assistance. the small business owners say it's wrong. laura ingle has more on the story from the new york studios. hi, laura. >> hi, jamie. the small business administration doesn't make direct loans but instead works with banks and other lenders.

according to the sba, loan volume increased more than 40% over the last five months and nearly $6 billion in loans they say were made to small businesses in that time. but it is not so easy getting the green light, leaving many owners asking the sba to show them the money. small businesses like cameo cleaners in new york city where we spent some time have been applying for this type of help for years. owner jerry pogniak, for example, says he's been turned down a whopping seven times for sba loan, which forces many business owners like him to restricture, re -- restructure, rethink business plan and some cases charge everyday expenses on credit cards to make ends meet. >> we have to make cut-backs. we cut everything to the bone. we strengthen our company by look at our numbers more carefully than we have in the past. >> some business owners say the sba rules are simply too restrictive, which prevents small businesses from getting the help they really need. >> it's their life blood.

they need to finance their supplies. they need to finance their working capital needs. payroll, overhead. >> the sba tells fox news they are reducing and eliminating some of the fees associated with the loans which can make the difference between making or breaking their business. last month, banks across america began taking application for the america recovery capital loan program, known as arc. the short-term loans for up to $35,000 interest free. but for many business owners they say it's simply not enough. they need more. >> appreciate that. thanks. >> the new g.m. getting big welcome out of bankruptcy gift for uncle sam and it could help the company thrive. the auto maker is being allowed to carry forward a large amount of previous losses on paper that were held by the old g.m. that will allow the new g.m. to avoid paying taxes on profits for several years. that move is it expected to save the company billions. savings that will pay

dividend for taxpayers and for the auto unions. >> we can talk more about that with brenda buttner, too. there is new information on what could be nasty custody battle over michael jackson's children. people.com is reporting debbie rowe plans to attend upcoming custody hearing in los angeles. the judge granted a request from rrowe and jackson's mother kathryn to delay the hearing until july 20. they said it will allow both sides to resolve the issue anickably. debbie rowe is the mother of jackson's eldest son and daughter. >> eric: we've been waiting word from nasa on whether or not the launch the shuttle endeavor will happen today. the launch was called off yesterday after dramatic lightning strikes hit the shuttle's launching pad. nearly a dozen of those. look at that. keaton live now at the kennedy space center.

phil, any damage from the lightning strikes? man, did it look dramatic. >> it was ferocious the lightning storm friday afternoon. we watched it from up north in new smyrna beach and the skies were black. seven lightning strikes hit within .3 miles of pad 39a. several hit the lightning tower. a couple hit the water tower, next door adjacent to the shuttle stack. engineers decided in the past 24 hours, all circuitry is good. there are pyrotechnics involved with the solid rocket boosters because all the bolts that hold the shuttle stack down on the launch pad, they all have to blow off so it can lift off as it thrusts itself into space. grace under pressure for these guys. they rushed it in. the solid rocket boosters also have to separate on cue as it's traveling up to 200 miles into space on the path toward reaching the international space station.

right now, nasa is tanking the orange fuel tank, 500,000 liquid gallons of like wid hydrogen and oxygen. the astronauts woke up around 8:15 and had a delicious breakfast of pancake, fruit. douglas hurhurly, the pilot, two eggs overeasy. >> don't they serve tang anymore? >> technically, they don't. i asked about it. they have a generic version up in space. >> eric: speaking of going up in space, what -- fill us in on the mission. >> this mission, you know, it's a month delayed. had it gone off on schedule, the guys, the seven astronauts would have been home by now. they say very intense mission. 16-day mission. featuring five long space walks. they are basically assembling the third and final stage of the japanese space agency laborato

laboratory. the mission is slugged, porch in space. they will put up a big porch platform outside the international space station, which will then be able to hold research projects on pal lots up there. in the future, spacewalking stra astronauts can assemble the scientific experiments, retrieve data, take it back in if space station and educate the earthlings down here as to what they learned. a big construction mission and we're getting close to the end of construction of the international space station. seven shuttle launches remain before the fleet is retired. >> wow. porch in space. talk about house renovation. that's amazing. phil keaton live. keeping an eye on it. thank you, phil statement tuned to fox news tonight. we'll have complete coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern of the expected launch of the space shuttle endeavor. jamie? >> jamie: the senate jew divisi --

senate judiciary committee is preparing to delve into sonia sotomayor. we'll have coverage, of course. but her supporters are also hard at work and they're trying to discredit a witness speaking at the hearings. who they're targeting and how is next. >> eric: if house democrats have their way, the wealthy could soon pay big bucks to cover the cost of health reform. the middle class is safe, right? well, not so fast. how the proposed tax hikes they say could ultimately affect everyone. (announcer) it's applebee's two for twenty menu. and two entrees for just $20. or, have a night in with applebee's carside to go. the two for twenty menu, only at applebee's.

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>> jamie: fox news alert. new information and reaction from congress about the claims this morning that former vice president dick cheney asked the c.i.a. not

to tip congress years ago about a post 9/11 intelligence program. >> eric: democrats saying the story supports speaker nancy pelosi's controversial claim that the c.i.a. had lied to congress. republicans say this looks like a new effort to try to deflect tension from what questions there are about pelosi's attacks on the intelligence community. senator jon kyl making that statement this morning saying we don't know enough about it all at this point. >> in any event, leon panetta, the c.i.a. director has come forth with information saying the c.i.a. doesn't mislead the public. specifically in response to house democrat allegations that the c.i.a. had misled, he said that's not true. so i don't think we should be jumping to any conclusion. >> eric: congressman who is a member of the committee told abc news she had been "systematically lied to." she said, "i know i've been lied to." but michael hayden says

congress has always been fully informed. jamie? >> jamie: president obama turning to the newspapers to try to defend the stimulus package. in an op-ed piece in the "washington post" today, the president is urging americans to have patience with the $787 billion plan that is meant to give the economy a boost. >> critics say it hasn't helped create new jobs but the president says the plan is designed to work not immediately but over a two-year period. emotional family members flocked to burr oaks cemetery in illinois. another headline we're following. they're filling out forms in an effort to try to find their loved ones. police say four workers there dug up graves and dumped the bodies so they could resell the empty plots and pocket the cash. at least 300 graves were disturbed. more drug violence playing out in the street of lawless tijuana, just across the border. shoot-out between police and

suspected members of a drug cartel in which one suspect was killed and two federal police agents were hurt. it's in the western part of mexico. there, gunman armed with grenades and assault rifles have opened fire on federal bases. there they killed three police officers and two soldiers, so on the violence is increasing. >> eric: supporters of supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor are trying to dig up dirt apparently on those who could potentially hurt her confirmation. sotomayor's confirmation hearings begin tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m. a list of 14 witnesses who are being called for the republicans. one of them is from new haven, connecticut, firefighter frank ricci, part of the lawsuit. part of the controversial decision. she rejected his claim and supreme court reversed the decision. now they're hoping to investigate to trouble and

litigious work history of ricci. we will take a closer look at the nomination tonight at 8:00 p.m. when bret baier and megyn kelly look into this. >> jamie: they're looking into wealthy will pay for the healthcare and many say is nationalization plan. fasten your seat belts. it could bring it to taxes to 45%. the calculation is interesting. even that would only generate about $550 billion over the course of a decade. the house health reform is expected to cost much more. will the middle class pay big as well? republican congressman time price of the house financial service committee joins me now on the phone. good morning. >> hey, jamie. good to be with you this

morning. >> jamie: good have you, too. the news breaking about the tax, the increase is astronomical if you think about it. especially if we're passing a nationalization plan of the healthcare system that we really can't afford right now. do you think we can afford it? >> isn't it amazing? it ought not be a surprise to american people now that democrats are in charge who want to ration care, that they can control the healthcare. the taxes will be raised not on individuals but small businesses at a time we need the job creation, not killing jobs. as you mentioned, the proposal that they have will only get $500 billion. their plan needs $1-$2 trillion. they'll have to raise taxes or ration care or do both. none of this is what the american people want. >> jamie: $1 to $2 trillion, perhaps more than that. the middle class was supposed

to be helped by the stimulus, with more jobs. by this, the healthcare naturalization or reform to fix a system considered broken. in the end, do they end up paying for it? >> certainly they do. i think there is great frustration across the land about what the administration and the democrats in charge in congress, speaker pelosi and the like are doing. every turn for every challenge they see the solution is raising taxes and killing jobs. that's not what we ought to be doing. there are wonderful positive solutions to embrace out there, not just healthcare but energy and all of the above strategy for job creation and rewarding small businesses that create jobs. it certainly is true in healthcare to allow patients and their family to make medical decision with the doctors in a way that doesn't me mean government takes over healthcare and raises tax on

every american. >> i suppose it's great to come to the decision of the healthcare you need. but if you can't afford to get it, it's a problem. we'll learn more on monday about the house plan. my question has always been the plan is supposed to be put together and finished in august. i remember with the stimulus plan how many elected officials on both sides of the aisle told me they were on the air, they hadn't read it. are we pushing this too quickly to come up with a plan that may or may not work? >> without a doubt. on the stimulus bill, bill over 1100 page bill that nobody had the opportunity to read. two weeks ago on the national energy tax bill, nobody had the opportunity to read that bill. these are very consequencial decisions that affect every american. to have speaker pelosi and the democrats in charge right now push these things through without the opportunity for people to read the bill, and know what they're voting on

for their scon stitch wents is wrong. we need to soberly look at this, have a reason, deliberate debate, bipartisan debate would be a wonderful thing. novel in this congress. so that we can truly solve the challenges we face, which need addressing without a doubt. the status quo is unacceptable. >> jamie: i think all along there was so much emphasis on helping the middle class. they should watch carefully as well. thank you so much. we'll be watching on monday as well to see how it develops. nice to chat with you. >> thank you. >> jamie: take care. >> eric: the new general motors, it's in line to get billions of dollars in tax breaks under the new government ownership. what this means for the taxpayers who own a big chunk of g.m., and what it means for the auto unions who own the rest. >> jamie: plus, new drama from spain. maybe you didn't make hit the year, the running of the bulls. it's turning into the racing of ambulances. details and the always dramatic video next.

>> jamie: big day tomorrow when the new g day tomorrow when the new general motors premiers. it will happen in the morning. we're hearing that they're already in line to get billions in tax breaks. while taxpayers likely benefit, so will auto unions. host of "bulls and bears" joins to us add up the numbers and tell us what it means for everyone involved. so they got a lot of money and now they'll essentially get more money. it will help their bottom line. will american taxpayers who help foot the bill be helped, too? >> if they actually make money by selling cars that people want, that's a big if, they have to have profit profit have the tax deferred on. the tax breaks are certainly bigger in scope in size than we have seen for other companies which we structure in a similar fashion to the way that g.m. has coming out

of bankruptcy. they don't get to use the tax break. it could mean a lot to the company. it helps to have uncle sam as the boss or the main owner. the u.s g.government, of oulourse, that means us, put up a lot of money. own the majority of the oulompaomp. >> i have to stop you. i'm scratching my head as a lawyer. it sort of helps us, but g wa. was picked by the government to be 60% owned by the government. generally you have to be a 5ent owner in order to get these breaks. now so g.m. gets a benefit that other companies respect getting. including those small business owners and other big oulompanies struggling in the recession. is that fair? >> g.m. is in a deferred position. they argue they couldn't have been allowed to go under. it's getting the benefit that

other companies will not. other companies that restructured in the way, the way the tax benefits work is -- one thing they have a lot of are losses they've had in the past years. $16 billion worth. if they make a profit in the coming years they essentially do not pay tax on that. they can carry forward the losses. >> jamie: right. for a long time. oullearly the unions will benefit as well. what about ford who made it on its own and didn't take any money? >> yeah, no, these are all really good points. unfortunately, that debate has been lost in war fington. [brief technical difficulty]

>> eric: intelligence experts believe kim jong il blipped the computer systems in the past week. south korea looking from data from a couple of computers to track back where the attacks originated. charles dodd is an international computer expert, founder of nycore global security. charles, unbelievable. north korea starve the people, nuclear bombs, they fire missiles. now could they try to zap our computers? >> these programs that they've had on the cyber warfare front have been under development since the late '80s and the mid-'90s.

they have nuclear capabilities and you find coordinated cyber events happening in and there are recent years with the estonia attack. cyber perceive ss a kinetic strike. >> what do you mean by kinetic strike? what are we supposed to worry about. >> the type of attack on the forth and fifth. they were a nuisance, unsophisticated attacks. they were very broad spectrum of south korea to major intelligence in the united states. >> they talk about the pentagon and stock exchange and amazon.com. when people went in, couldn't get in the site temporarily?

what if it was more devious. >> what could they do? could they shut down the electrical grid? can they paralyze the pentagon? can they disrupt the financial services and we go to an atm and not working because of some guys in a little room? >> well, right now, north korea is sitting about eighth on the list down in cyber war fair capabilities -- warfare capabilities. pose a real threat. the foreign nation sponsor threat. it's now becoming heavily funded. millions and millions in cyber war fair, because for the first time in history, we have looked at the military tactics as being divided by water, land mass, which then puts our adversaries at a distance from striking. now with the cyber warfare, you can bring the line of battle to our front door. >> right in our living room.

right up in your bedroom. right there in your computer. >> what is amazing to me is you said it started july 4, july 5. important date. they have something about our independence day. 2006, they fired off a slew of missiles in july 4, 2006. they fired off more missiles on saturday, july 4 this year. they started this cyber attack allegedly from them. what is in it from them. where do you think it will lead to? >> unfortunately, i believe this is not even the birth pains. i think when you look at a foreign adversary, activist group politically motivated or someone trying to break in and take the military secrets, if you're bold enough to come out, our intelligence agencies, without any fear of recourse, what kind of message does it send to other groups out there? >> yeah. >> they think they don't care. they don't care about the

international security. they're doing their thing. how do you foe if you got hacked by the north koreans? can you tell? if my computer at home, people watching and have been invaded by the north koreans? >> like i said, this is a fairly unsophisticated attack. i had a massive footprint, but still unsophisticated. right now, the anti-virus manufacturers are look at themalware. bot-ware taking control of home system. through more or less denial of service, they use a lot of systems to be -- >> block them. they have independence or memory of. so you if get an e-mail saying independence or memory of, it could be north koreans in the room somewhere. >> and there is the possibility that the attacks which are hard to track, internationally, wasn't actually perpetrated by someone else. we want to make sure that just like the south koreans

trying to analyze their system we don't want to rule out the possibility of other actors involved there. the threat is huge trying to pin point it. >> the word that the threat is huge. charles dodd with the global cyber security can. the new edge of cyber warfa warfare. >> jamie: still not sure why people do this. it's dramatic and we have the video. spain's running of the bulls. four more people gored as they try to outrun a half ton bull on the streets of pamplona. you are seeing spain's largest and most famous bulls alone and isolated from the herd, but not for long. because the bulls, they get separated, they get disoriented and they tend to charge the crowd. i think that's what everyone looks forward to, eric, though. there they go. >> eric: can you imagine doing this? >> jamie: the bull gets out of control, charges one

runner, knocks him off his feet, rolls him around and tosses him up against the wall. people are cheering. gets ahold of another runner, tosses him around like a rag doll. two of the runners gored were seriously hurt. a man died friday during the bull run. this is the first one since 1995. i'm not going ever. >> my goodness. >> he lost his pants, eric. >> eric: that was a 288-year-old american who died in 1995. 15 people have been killed in the running of the bulls. they call it a sport. >> jamie: you know what? take a beach vacation. >> eric: coming up, first, wall street, banks and then auto makers. up next could be the small businesses. they create the bulk of the jobs in our country. answers about this after the break. >> jamie: are we any closer to cracking the code when it comes to predicting earthquakes? recent quake helping new research that could potentially save countless lives. so interesting. we have it for you after a

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live better. call or click today. busy week on capitol hill, including confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. senator jeff sessions will join me live to talk about the tough questions he'll have for the president's pick and congressman tom coal will be here to talk about whether a multi-billion stimulus

package will be in the works. we have the latest on then vice president dick cheney ord order to c.i.a. to hide controversial program from congress. that's coming up from washington in 20 minutes. >> eric: we have new information to tell you about from the battlefield of afghanistan. 12 insurgents were kill canned. there has been intense fighting since they launched operation ten days ago. four marines were killed in a bombing yesterday. shuttle endeavor may launch tonight. yesterday's launch was called off after a dozen lightning strikes hit the launch pad. if it takes off we'll cover it live.

and the confirmation hearings of sonia sotomayor, the gavel go down tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. it will be the judge's first chance to publicly answer questions about controversial issues and ruling including a statement that wise latina can often reach better conclusions than a white male. we have special coverage tomorrow but tonight, you can get caught up with a look at the confirmation process and the controversy, 8:00 p.m. eastern, fox news reporting. with bret baier and megyn kelly has the hosts. >> jamie: it turns out what you can't feel could hurt you. researchers at u.c. berkeley say tremors deep underground could be a sign of big one to come. casey stegall tells us why. anyone who has been in an earthquake knows and would wish for even a couple of seconds' notice just to get out of harm's way. what if they learned?

>> you know it's a scary situation when you go through it. but to better understand this, let's have geology lesson. faults lie ten miles below the earth's surface, very, very deep. when the faults move or slip, that's when we experience an earthquake. but it's what happens under the fault that has the scientists out here interested. right there, you are looking at the san andres. they've been conducting studies along the fault, one of the larger ones that stretches through most of california. teams buried seismic tools about 20 miles below the earth's crust, constantly recording ground pressure. early data suggests changes in pressure under the fault happen before we experience movement on the fault, itself. what that means is if it's fine-tuned it could one day actually mean earthquake prediction. >> hope and potential in this. this is a new phenomena and

it's giving us new information. the more we know about it, we may find that in fact they can give us the type of information you talked about to help us give a shorter term forecast. >> now part of this new study also looks at information from previous quakes. a lot of people remember this. in 2004, parkfield, california, in the central valley rocked with a 6.0. scientists say that underground activity was in fact noted there along the san andres in the days leading up to the event. here is what is troubling some of the geologists. they have seen 80% increase in the number of tremors and activity along the san andres in the last four years and some interpret that as the big one being imminent. so it's scary stuff. but also, fascinating when you talk about the potential here of warning people when earthquakes could hit. of course, to save lives. >> absolutely.

casey, a great story. thanks. >> thank you. >> eric: you know first it was wall street, banks, auto makers. now some are asking why washington hasn't done enough for small businesses. there is a plan afoot. we'll have answers about that right after the commercial break. >> also, the lead republican questioning sonia sotomayor has just issued a bold new channel to the supreme court justice nominee. senator jeff sessions. breaking news concerning bias on the bench. right after this break. [ female announcer ] swiffer wetjet cleans so completely you'll never go back to your old mop again. ♪ don't you want me baby? ♪ don't you want me ohhhh! [ female announcer ] why go part of the way clean?

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we've been talking about how we bailed out banks and financial institutions. we also helped the auto makers. how about you small business owners? do you need a bail-out?

you're the backbone of the american workforce. small businesses employ at least half of all private sector employees. so should some of the $700 billion plus that were allocated to bank bail-out funds go to help struggling small businesses? those on main street, the white house made an exception to bail-out the auto makers. how about you guys? floyd chapman is president of the american small business league. he's looking out for you. so, how badly first of all do small business owners need assistance? >> they need it really bad. so far about only 1% of the bail-out money has gone to small businesses. that's shocking when you realize that 95% of all new jobs come from small businesses and half of the gross domestic product. only 1%, so 99% of all the money so far has gone to big businesses.

>> jamie: the plan talk about would increase the credit line. are you concerned that if the small businesses have access to more credit it might present a whole portfolio of new toxic loans for lenders who have the cash to lend and might reduce their requirements to help the small businesses out? is this a vicious cycle potentially? i hate to think loaning money being toxic. small businesses we've seen in financial industry. small businesses aren't giving their executives, you know, bonuses that bankrupt the company. >> jamie: no, i just ask because there were innocent homeowners that got roped in loans they couldn't afford. some of them might have known what was going on with inflated appraisal, some not. the business owners employ a lot of people.

they want to stay in business. they may push the envelope a little bit and the government might help them out. are we being responsible about this now that i know you're if favor of the plan? >> when you realize the amount of money given to small businesses is infinfa infantessinale in comparison. if they took the money from the tarp and gave every bit of it to small businesses it would be 5% of the bail-out funds. that's for the small businesses that create 95% of new jobs. >> jamie: it could make a substantial difference. it's just a proposal at this point. we have a tax rate increase. if you make 350 or more, $350,000 or more for healthcare to pay for the

huge healthcare proposal that we're learning more and more about every day. it will affect small business owners. >> they have had layer of difficulty. a lot of people don't realize when you hear about someone making $350,000, people in middle class go gosh, you must be rich. that is not a sma lot of money when they lose half of it to taxes. if off small business where you sell a product you have to finance, that's not much money. it will be another burden for small businessbusinesses. >> jamie: thank you for joining us. they support other incomes hiring so much of the nation workforce. thank you, lloyd chapman. great to pete meet you. >> thank you. >> eric: we have breaking news on supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. the republican in charge of

questioning the nominee starting tomorrow at 9:00, well, this morning he is raising the issue of possible bias on the bench. because of her remarks, you may recall them, that a wise latina women would likely reach better rulings than a white male judge. it came from the alabama senator jeff sessions. >> this is a mature judicialjudicial fy philosophy she stated. she criticized the idea that a woman and man would reach the same result. she expects them to reach different results. i think that's philosophically imcompatible with the american system. >> eric: that will take top attention when hearings convene at 9:00 a.m. and she'll be questioned about the second amendment decisions, felony voting and the controversial connecticut firefighter appeal. the hearings begin tomorrow morning. has she been treated fairly in the media?

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>> eric: sonia sotomayor, her confirmation hearings kick off in the morning. she's been a lightning rod of controversy. has the media treated her fairly? liz trotta takes on the media every sunday at this time and joins us. good morning. >> how are you? >> eric: good. how do you think the media has been when it comes to her? >> it gets down to whether she's a bigot and has a racial bias, or is she a mainstreamer? everybody from both sides was trying to make their case through the media, naturally, because the liberals control the main stream media. we have two big newspapers, "washington post" and the "new york times," printing absolute valentines about her. citing studies from every liberal academic you could find. laughingly referring and doing a whole piece on report released by the brennan institute for justice, which they pose as non-partisan,

because if alec baldwin is on advisory board i don't know how you get to that conclusion. but the old game again. the liberals is going to push her. and the republic republicans wh to tread carefully because they're not exactly getting votes in the hispanic community that they'd like are going to be at each other's throats. >> eric: some say she has judicial temperament, life experience for this. of course, we have the controversial comments about a wise latina woman. >> that is going to be hard to get away from. you know that frank ricci, the man who filed the suit in new haven, connecticut, filed the original suit, because he took an exam and white firefighters and one hispanic thrown out and then was reversed by the panel of judges, which sotomayor was a member of. and finally was vindicated in the u.s. supreme court.

saying that yes, he should have been given that promotion and the exam shouldn't have been thrown out. we have him as a witness. i already groups like people for the american way and all the other ultra left organizations are trying to make ricci's background and his life story the target of the hearings. >> eric: then again, we have others like dave cohen former yankees pitcher, and mets pitcher who will speak on her behalf because of the baseball strike. >> i'm an unabashed yankee fan but i wish he'd leave politics to the politics. >> eric: fireworks start tomorrow. good to see you. thank you. that does it for thus morning. i'm i eric shawn. >> i'm jamie colby. new hour of america's news headquarters is ahead from washington with shannon bream. >> who knew