qualified to answer as a husband. >> as a husband, it's a state secret. but right now she kind of hurt her leg. so she's sleeping with a crutch. >> gretchen: oh, my gosh. >> steve: could be a weapon. >> which doubles as a weapon. she has very, very beautiful intimate attire. >> steve: we're going to continue this conversation in the after the show show. >> brian: pjsforthecure.org. >> steve: america's news room right now from studio j. to the health care law and the setup for a lorntion long legal battle. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer, welcome here. martha: good morning bill hemmer. bill: at least we're in where it's warm! martha: it is cold. good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. president obama's signature legislation suffering a huge setback, a mandate to buy

insurance is ruled unconstitutional. this morning the administration says they will appeal that decision, the ruling coming on the heels of a new poll that shows 43 percent of americans support changes to the health care law. bill: remember this name, ken cuccinelli, attorney general in virginia who brought the lawsuit, telling us moments ago the ruling is significant: >> there's no question this is a substantial setback for the people who were hoping, though i'm not sure much analysis went into, but they were hoping this individual mandate would be held constitutional and, therefore, they could maintain the rest of the law, because this is the center pole of the tent, this is the linchpin, the word the federal government chose to describe the individual mandate, and it is not constitutional. the court here in virginia so found yesterday. and i'm hopeful that ultimately the supreme court will find the same way and that the constitution will be protected, and we'll have to go back to the drawing board because we do need method care reform but it needs to be constitutional. bill: all right. now what now?

molly henneberg leading our coverage out of washington. good morning, molly, what happens now? >> reporter: good morning, bill and martha, both sides gear up for the next round, judge hudson said in his ruling yesterday he knew his decision would not be the final word on this. now, on a normal track, the next step would be an appeal to the fourth circuit court of appeals in richmond and as the appeals process goes forward judge hudson ruled the law will remain in effect, the part of the law judge hudson found unconstitutional requires all americans to buy health insurance or face a penalty. it's not set to begin for another three years. but republicans, including congressman eric cantor from virginia, the second in command for the gop in the house, have asked the white house to help move the case directly to the preem sort. and bypass the fourth circuit in order to get some clarity quickly on the matter. the white house has indicated there is, quote, time to work it through the legal system, since the health insurance clause doesn't go into effect until 2014. bill: have we heard directly

from the president? if so, what has he said molly? >> reporter: yes. the white house and obama justice department believe it is constitutional to require americans to buy health insurance and other judges have upheld it, which is what the president pointed to yesterday in an interview with the florida tv station. he said, quote, keep in mind, this is one ruling by one federal district court. we've already had two federal district courts that have ruled that this is definitely constitutional. you've got one justice who disagrees. that's the nature of these things. next year, the new congress, where republicans will control the house and have a couple more seats in the senate also may take up the health care law. some republicans have indicated they intend to try to withhold funding for it, bill. bill: thank you molly. as we mentioned, attorney general ken cuccinelli out of virginia urging other courts to strike down that law. you will hear more from him a bit later in the show and you will hear from him, his prediction for the u.s. supreme court that he believes ultimately will decide this case. stay tuned on that. martha.

martha: and also the governor of virginia applauded this decision. here he is with neil cavuto: >> this is a -- really a great positive step for federalism, i think this is what the founders would have applauded. there are certain elements of this bill, like building insurance expansion and other things that are going to take years to do and we're starting to incur expenses in virginia, so is every other governor, in being able to build insurance expansion and so forth that's going to cost tens of millions of dollars in states to do, so we need to get this resolved and that's why i hope other governors will join me in urging the justice department to use a -- the rules of federal procedure to bypass the court of appeals and directly to the supreme court. martha: this thing is on a roll. what is next in this health care battle? the virginia case is just one of 20 other lawsuits that may end up before the supreme court ultimately, a high court ruling, though, may not come for another couple of years.

most experts say. the white house says it will appeal yesterday's decision and they are confident that they will prevail in court. going forward, a judge will rule on thursday on a simulate in florida. so that will be another perhaps kind of linchpin in all of this. the supreme court justices will ultimately decide if they're going to take this up as individual cases from all of these 20 states or whether or not they'll combine them or perhaps not even look at them at all. bill: one projection says they'll hear it in june of 2011, if that's the case that's right smack dab in the middle of presidential elections. in the court of public decision, it seems an opinion has already been made, a "rasmussen poll" shows a growing number of americans support repeal, 60 percent of voters, at least somewhat favor a repeal, the highest level since said september, 34 percent are against that idea. we'll have a lot more throughout the morning on "america's newsroom". martha: the tax cut bill, clearing a key test vote in the senate and may be passed

as early as today, we expect, but the measure may have a tougher time in the house, that is where many democrats have voiced objections to extending tax cuts to the wealthy. house lawmakers will debate this morning on this, with a vote expected this evening, under a deal between the white house and republicans. this is a deal that was so controversial amongst house democrats. all income earners would receive two-year extension if this bill was passed and we're seeing an indication of that on wall street. bill: we are, getting reaction already to tax cut votes, stock futures surging ahead of the opening bell today, investors also awaiting information on a key retail number that came out about 8:30, about 35 minutes ago. how ismark doing in the shopping category? we're checking the markets when they open up, 24 minutes from now. martha: i was out there helping answer that, getting ready for christmas. exactly. how about digging out from the deadly winter blizzard that hit eight states in the midwest? this is crown point, indiana. take a look at this. even the salt truck skidded off the road and then

flipped over. what you're going to see in a second. in which conditions the weather was so treacherous out there authorities decided they had to pull the snow plows off the road, it wasn't safe for drivers, the midwest was blanketed with as much as 20 inches in some areas, in ohio, the snow is still falling. >> it's not fun at all. it may if the weather is too bad, i don't care how much, i don't care what the freight is, i'll park it. my life or anybody else's life isn't worth the freight that's in that box. >> we've been on the road an hour, we've made about 8 miles. >> really? >> yeah, yeah. >> you're giving up. >> giving up, going home, staying warm. martha: definitely a good decision. the storm is on the move now. janice dean is with us from the forks weather center. where is this thing going? >> reporter: the storm itself is moving off shore, which is great news, martha, but the big deal here is the temperatures. i mean, you don't want to be outside. this is air temperatures, no

is -- this is not your wind chill which i'm going to show new a second. look at the midwest as they try to dig out of record snowfall, minus three in minneapolis, ten in indianpolis, you get the picture, right? but when you factor in what the wind is doing and if you're not dressed appropriately, it feels like minus three in minneapolis, minus 13 in green bay, minus nine in chicago, and zero in indianpolis. you know what, it's not even officially winter, that comes a week from today, and there's that video, that incredible video, just the border of indiana and illinois, i-94, i believe, this really tells the story. i mean, the winds were up, you have blizzard-like conditions, trucks are having a hard time. people are advised to stay off the road if you can, and that cold, by the way, guys, stretches all the way south. it feels like four in atlanta. all the way south down to florida, where they are currently under freeze warnings. martha: wow. janice, thank you very much.

if you have pictures of this at home from your area or video of the storm, send those to us at you report, foxnews.com. stay safe when you do this but if you have good shots you'd love to send along, we'd love to see them, fox news.com is the place to send them. bill: for more breaking news now, on this the american shopper, consumers are spending for the holiday season. the commerce department, reporting u.s. retail sales spiked by .8% in november, that is more than expected. likely better than last year. maybe even the year before that. stuart varney knows the history. stuart, good morning to you, fox business network. good number there? >> very good. much better than expected. hey, in november, we were out there shopping. you just showed a number there, retail sales, up .8%. okay, you sweep away cars, forget car sales for a minute, and retail sales went up 1.2%. that's a strong gain. and if you look at online sales, up 12 percent from last year in the latest period. what this means, bill, is

that the economy is recovering, pointing towards a strong economy for next year. remember yesterday, we talked about 3 1/2% growth next year, looks like we're on target for that, bill. bill: all right. .8% doesn't sound like much on the surface, stuart. >> compared to the gains in previous months, in previous years, and you look at those -- >> bill: were those numbers negative, do you recall? >> on occasion, yes, they were, yes. some months in the last three months have been negative. we're not quite, but we're almost back to the spending levels of the good old days of 2007. bill: wow. where were we then? >> where we are now! bill: we were shopping back then. martha did her share yesterday, though. look out america! martha: trying to help. trying to help. bill see you at 9:20, fbn. martha: looking for a number of things that are not easy to find these days but that's a different matter. president obama's economic adviser is on his way out the door and on the way out he says if you want

to save the u.s. economy, the government must spend even more money than it already has. we're going to talk about that. bill: also the tax cut bill clearing a key test in vote in the senate. we await a full vote and not all democrats on board, including this man, senator mark udall out of colorado, who said this: >> our apparent inability to squarely address the problem in a bipartisan way is a signal to the american people that they -- as if they needed more proof, that our democracy is not working, and that is as dangerous as any attack on our country. it is a time bomb in our midst, the ticking of which we cannot ignore unless we are comfortable knowing that it will eventually and inevitably blow up on our children. bill: he defend his no vote in only three minutes.

martha:martha: wait until you se this, a massive sinkhole swallowed an entire city block in astoria, oregon.

it is believed that heavy rain over the weekend may have caused the concrete to literally cave in and right now city workers have place add fence around the hole until they can fill it in. >> it's pretty scary, because we all park right here and you know, is it going to cave the street in, also, that's what we're afraid of. >> that's something. i can honestly say i've never seen anything like this in my life. martha: an expensive mess but lucky nobody was hurt in this when the road collapsed bill: well, now the tax cut bill hits the hurd nel the senate. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell on the test vote late yesterday: >> nobody ever created a job by punishing a job creator. and we simply had to turn off the spigot, not from some, but from everyone, to remove the temptation to spend it. bill: senator mark udall out of california voted -- sorry, out of colorado, voted no.

good morning, senator and thank you for your time today. what's wrong with this, tax cuts for all americans staying the way they are? >> bill, here's my take. two weeks after the president's decifit reduction commission said this is a cancer threatening us from within, we just added what -- it looks like we're going to add $900 billion to the national debt. it's just not sustainable. there's another way to do this. and in particular, to direct tax cuts at millionaires and billionaires just doesn't make sense to me. we did that for ten years in this last decade, we didn't create jobs, we had foreclosures at a high level, average incomes have dropped. i just think it's time to make a stand. and as you know, i was joined by an interesting group of senators across the spectrum who were making the same point yesterday. we shouldn't be driven by calendar. bill: you know the math, though. the middle class tax cuts are $3 trillion. it's some $700 billion, depending upon who you

listen to. what about this idea? would you support cutting spending? >> of course. we've got to cut spending. we have to have reform in the entitlement area and we do have to look at the revenue side, if you're honest with yourself and are going to do all the things you do at the federal level, have a strong national defense, invest in new energy technologies, make sure we have a federal government that responds on the infrastructure front. we have to have additional revenue. we need all three approaches. bill: you agree with john boehner that he would cut spending 5 percent. would you agree with that and is that enough? >> i like john boehner, i served with him in the house, i'd want to see what he's proposing but i think the simpson bowles commission had a plan that made sense, there were elements in it nobody liked but it received 11 of 18 votes. i wish that reporters in that commission had support thunderstorm so we could move to a vote in the congress. bill: i don't understand the logic then, because mitch mcconnell is arguing cut off the spigot, which means quit taking money from the taxpayer because once it

gets to washington, d.c. it's just going to be spent. >> no, it won't be spent if we have the right plan. we'll put it into decifit reduction, into investing in our economy and our people, but those are some of the constraints that ought to be put on any plan moving forward, and you'll find that i'm in this interesting group of people that believe we've got to focus on our long term debt. that's probably the biggest threat to our country. bill: i -- you're right about that, i tell you, you listen to our viewers and they are keyed in on the debt and decifit. and in ways they have never been before, probably in the country's history and the reason for that is 13-point -- $13 trillion at the moment. but you fundamentally disagree with the notion that if you allow people to keep more of their paycheck that they will spend more, give a boost to the economy and allow revenues to go higher into the government of washington, d.c.? >> no, i agree with that when it comes to middle class americans. i don't agree with that premise when it comes to millionaires and billionaires. if you look at what economists tell you that money tends to be saved, put

aside, it doesn't create jobs, it hasn't created jobs in the last ten years. that's where i make the distinction. bill: would you not grant that that is their money in the first place? >> i would grant that we all have a role to play and a responsibility to make sure that our -- that which we do together, that is through government, is funded adequately, and i look to warren buffet and bill gates, senior, and others who say look, don't reduce my taxes, invest those proceeds in paying down the debt. bill: but those guys are billionaires. so you don't believe they should keep their money, then? >> they're keeping a significant portion of their money, but we have a progressive tax system in our country that asks people who do better to do a little more for the country, the price of civilization is having a tax code and paying taxes to make sure we have the services and support systems that make this the best country in the world. bill: i'm out of time. senator, thank you for your time. we expect it to pass on the senate side, then we'll move to the house. senator, thank you for your time, out of colorado. senator udall. to our viewers, hemmer, fox

news tot comb is the e-mail, also twitter, bill hemmer, bya, because you asked, taxes about the economy, the debt, the decifit, you name it, it's your call, online. martha. martha: boy, have you checked out this story? michael steele, not going anywhere without a fight. he says his record is a good one. is he going to hang on or be ousted at the rnc? bill: also the trip from an atlanta football coach in hot water, his reaction, his explanation, and now the team makes its move.

bill: so the punishment is in, the new york jets taking action against their coach after tripping a player from the miami dole anyone's, strength coach sal alosi, watch carefully, sticking his knee out, talking to a

dolphins quarterback, nolan carroll tripped during the game. alosi talked about that yesterday. >> once again, i'd like to apologize to nolan carroll, the coach, mr. johnson, the entire new york jets organization. it's an honor and privilege to work every day and coach every day in the national football league, come in contact with a lot of good people in our building every day, players, staff, coaches, and i let everybody down yesterday with my actions. my actions were inexcuseable, and irresponsible. bill: when asked why he did it, he said i just wasn't thinking. all right, he is suspended without pay for the rest of the year and will pay a $25,000 fine, nolan carroll was able to play in that game on sunday. he left the field and came back in. martha: unbelievable. bill: at least he was honest, when his feet came to the fire, he was like look, my bad. martha: i would imagine they told look, you're going to pay this fine, be suspended

and get out there and apologize. bill: especially when it's caught on national tv. martha: yeah, i'm appalled. it's appalling. they've been under a lot of pressure lately. maybe that's where that came from, right? let's move on, shall we? don't think about that. some more later. hedge funds investors taking on a new risk, betting on the lawsuits that are generated by the victims of convicted ponzi schemer bernie madoff, investors offering the bankruptcy victims a cut if their victims do not want to wait for the federal bankruptcy court to decide their cases. rick leonel up that is live to explain this new trend. how does this work for those who were left out in the cold and broke, many of them, by bernie madoff? >> reporter: absolutely martha. the madoff case, we'll explain this in a second, it's the latest trend that's been building for years, exactly, investing in lawsuits or loaning money to plaintiffs so they can afford to take cases to court. pursuing a case like the madoff swindle can be incredibly expensive, teams

of lawyers, expert witnesses must be paid, proceedings can drag out for months or years. if the client doesn't have the cash to support himself during a case he can take out a loan from any of a couple dozen. s designed just for this purpose, to fund lawsuits, or his legal team might borrow money to help fund the case and charge the client the interest later. much of this infusion of cash comes from hedge funds, investing an estimated $1 billion in lawsuits at any given time, and critics think that all this investor money may be fueling abuses of the legal system. >> this is a practice that's pretty troubling. we have a cottage industry of everybody from megahedge funds to payday lenders who advertise on late night tv who are investing in lawsuits, who are caught in the action in the end. it's for-profit investment that's quite troubling because they're putting profits before the people in the lawsuits. >> now, trial attorneys will tell you that that's not true, that no one is

investing in a case they don't think they can win. >> would you be funding an unmeritorrous case, putting up ten, 15, $20,000, to fund a case that you knew was not meritorious because maybe you could sue somebody in that's absurd. >> the madoff case is a bit different since there are firms willing to buy peoples' claims outright, so they think there is merit. they're going to pay 20, 30 cents on the dollar up front, hoping to collect 40- 60 cents on the dollar when it's finally resolved. the people who are filing for bankruptcy or have a claim against madoff get their money now but not as muff as they would perhaps if they waited for the trial martha. martha: pretty interesting gamble on their part. rick, thank you very much, rick leventhal in our newsroom. bill: this time around, carnival, not so fun after all, passengers getting an extended cruise they did not plan on. the dramatic details for what they went through. martha: there's been a lot

of these stories lately. where does health care reform go from here, folks? you're going to hear from this man. he was really at the forefront of challenging this law. he is virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli and he joins us in "america's newsroom".

bill top story, 9:30 in new york, wickileaks founder julian assange in a sweden courtroom, awaiting a judge 's decision on whethersy extradited to sweden, authorities want to question him about alleged sex crimes against two

women. assange's lawyers saysy innocent. not a merry christmas for yahoo. it's about to lay off 700 workers. lackluster growth triggering this latest round of layoffs. it's the fourth biggest cut in its work force in three years. richard holbrooke, remembered as a giant of u.s. diplomacy, the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., helped craft an agreement to end the boss knean war and served as special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan, a critical role in that war. holbrooke died following heart surgery. he was 69 years old. martha: well, interesting advice this morning from president obama's outgoing economic adviser. larry summers, in his last speech to everybody in his position, said if americans want to save their money the federal government will have to spend more money in order to get that happening. summers urged spending on infrastructure. listen to this: >> a sur standingsal,

sustained effort to rebuild america should be at the top of washington's priority list next year. martha: there you have it. steve forbes joinsny, editor in chief of forbes media. good morning to you. >> good morning. martha: infrastructure in this case? >> larry per sonfies the theory that if people aren't spending themselves the government must do it for them and he makes no distinction between people making their own choices in the marketplace, people producing for others in the marketplace, and government doing it for them. and so it's been the binge spending market that's made this the worst recovery in a severe recession but a man addicted to theory is not going to give it up. even if it fails, they want to do more of it. martha: i thought it was interesting, when asked if he felt they made any mistake, he said i think the president should feel good

about basically the record here and that we averted what could have been worse. that's the achievement, thatie averted what could have been worse, that's sort of his parting thought on how they did. >> well, that's like days of old, surgeon saying that the operation went well, but the patient died. and well, if we hadn't been around there, it would have been worse, and so that's a wonderful thing to tell patients, not getting better but you would have been dead by now if we hadn't given you the bad medicine and they think they're like popes, they are infallible, no, they're not. martha: you have the team, summers leaving now, orszag and romer, already gone, tim geithner is still in position there and austan goolsbee, also now on the teal and somebody will be replacing summers as well. is there anything you're reading in the tea leaves, steve, that indicates they're going in a different direction? >> i think they're going in a different tactical direction but the fundamental beliefs and the

government's soft socialism, whatever you want to call it, remains in tact, they read the election returns, they're going to make tactical moves to try to get through the next two years, focus on regulation to do what congress won't do and try to resume after what they think will be a vicinitiry in 2012. so no, and i think the two biggest villains are still there, geithner, at treasury, as you mentioned, and ben bernanke at the federal reserve, both have made huge mistakes, but they're still in position. but it's normal, martha, after two years, to start to get a change in the economic team, whether it's working or not. martha: i mean, i guess occasionally it's something that happens on saturday night live is on occasion of the way -- an indication of the way things are going but there's a funny bit with the comedian who plays president obama anded whoa, after this trickle down economics thing, not such a bad idea. do you think the president is changing his tune a little bit and sometimes humor is foretelling where we might be heading in some

ways at least. >> i think the real fight is next yearo fights next year are going to be -- the tax debate will be over in a few days but two fights will come, one is over health care, and the decision in the federal district court in virginia i think is going to have a profound impact on it but republicans are going to have to fight to repeal that piece by piece, and the other big battle that's looming and i think a very exciting one is reforming, simplifying the tax code. martha: which you, of course, have been a huge champion of, wanting the flat tax. let me back pedal for a moment, though. in terms of the tax plan out there now, that the president agrees with senate republicans, are you on board with that, because republicans seem very divided on whether or not they think this is a good deal in the end. >> i was encouraged by that procedural vote yesterday that almost all listens -- republicans voted, as did most certainly 23rd of the democrats. that's a huge victory. i think what you have to focus on is the taxes just not raise revenue, they're

also a price and a burden, and lowering the price and making sure it does not go up on successful work, does not go up on productive work, does not go up on capital and capital creation, which it would have done if they hadn't done anything, is a huge positive and worth all the junk and all the spending they've embedded in these bills. this is going to be the last time they're going to get away with something like that. martha: well, everybody pays a lot of attention when you speak, sir, and we're going to see what the folks think about that out there. rush limbaugh is very much against this tax plan and other folks think it is a second stimulus, steve forbes weighing in in america's "america's newsroom". thank you steve. >> thank you martha. martha: do you agree at home? log on to foxnews.com/"america's newsroom", we're asking this: to improve the economy congress must cut spending or increase spending? weigh in with your vote, twitter me at martha maccallum and let me know what you think there as well. this is a big debate going on. we've got to get it right. bill: congressman paul ryan telling our neil cavuto he

does not believe the president is changing his position. we'll explain. >> no, i think i still think he's a class warrior, he went to calling us enemies to calling us hostage takers so he's using similar rhetoric, he's now telling us at his last press conference he's going to go after us on class warfare, making sure the rates do not get extended in 2012, so i don't think he's changing his ideology or tune but he's recognizing the new reality and is going to compromise here and there. that's going to be the exception, not the rule. bill: expect to hear a lot more from congressman ryan. he heads up the budget committee in the house, come the first week of january, when the new congress gets to work there. thirty-eight minutes past the hour. martha. martha: you remember this one, it was a case that shocked the nation. a lacrosse player at an ivy league school, accused of killing his girlfriend and fellow classmate -- girlfriend and fellow classmate, yardly love, where prosecutors are saying this suspect may not even go to trial. bill: it is the ruling that

could tie up the new health care law for years, and ken cuccinelli is the attorney general out of virginia who took on the white house and won. he answers our questions in a moment, and you want to know what stories are clicking hot now? go to fox news.cole and click on the most read tab. we are back in a moment. cuccinelli on deck. >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

martha: to virginia now where prosecutors say they will not seek the death penalty against jowrnlg huguely, and in fact the state and defense attorneys may agree to a plea deal in this case. remember this beautiful young woman, she was a fantastic lacrosse player at the university of virginia -- and a university of virginia student, he is charged in the killing of his girlfriend, yeardley love, a member of the

lacrosse team at uva, her body was found at her off catch us apartment back in may. police say that huguely admitted the couple fought, he slammed her head against the wall, he admitted. right now he is charged with first degree murder and he could face life in prison. >> two courts affirmed the law and one has found it unconstitutional. bill: that's democratic senator dick durbin, a federal judge dealing a major blow to the core of president obama's health care law, ruling the government cannot force americans to buy health insurance. that's the mandate in the law. ken cuccinelli is the attorney general out of virginia and i talked to him a bit early they are morning about that: >> ken cuccinelli, good morning to you and thank you for your time. most believe -- >> pleasure to be with you. >> bill: most believe this winds up at the u.s. supreme court. the way the court is seated today, does that work for you or against you?

>> well, i sort of jokingly tell people that i expect the case to end up 5-4. i just don't know which side will win. but we'll see, and i do think it will be close at every level -- at every level of appeal. it is the nature of an unprecedented case that you don't get nine, zero rulings on these kinds of cases, and congress and the president have never tried to exercise a power like this ever before, so order people to buy a product. so this is truly unique, and so predicting what the court will do is a little difficult. if i were a betting man, i'd still bet on our side, just wouldn't bet everything. bill: would you -- >> it will be close. bill: will you encourage a fast track to the supreme court? have you taken that position? >> yes. and we're having to discussions with the department of justice about that. setting aside what anyone thinks about the legality, constitutionality of the health care law, the fact of the matter is, the

uncertainty about what is going to actually be implemented is a huge cloud over our economy, and we want to clear out as many impediments as possible to allowing businesses to start having some certainty so they can make decisions about hiring and investing as quickly as possible and get our economy going. bill: and "the washington post" this morning, they recorded kathleen sebelius, health and human services secretary, they qui the opponents that claim responsibility of the provision is unlawfully because it regulates inactivity, but all of us need health care eventually. that's their argument. is that a legal argument as you see it? >> no. absolutely not. bill: why not? >> that is an pearl to the heart, and i have one, too, like everybody else, but my first job as attorney general is to uphold the constitution and they don't seem to be as interested in that as i am. and we're absolutely

committed to that. if you really think about what's at stake in this case, it's not about health insurance, it's not about health care, it's about liberty and it's about protecting against the overreach of the federal government, because if they can do this, they can use the same power to make you buy a car, to make you buy a house, to make you buy clothes, to make you buy particular foods, and the attorney general, secretary, could write the same thing. bill: and they -- >> they can do the same thing. bill: what holder argues is if you don't have the mandate the math doesn't hold up. so can that particular law be stricken from the law, or does it all have to be thrown out? >> yes, it can. it could be stricken from the law, but none of the insurance provisions would work. even the federal government acknowledged in their briefs that if the individual mandate is unconstitutional, the rest of the insurance scheme won't work because that's how they're financing it. they did it that way

unconstitutionally, instead of taxes everyone, which while no one really likes to be taxed is at least within the power of congress to do. that's how they did social security, that's how they did medicare but not this. they didn't want to have a tax vote, they wanted to try and do an end run and of course while the bill was in process, they said no, this isn't a tax, this isn't a tax, now they've run to court and said no, it's a tax, it's a tax, when they want to try to survive our assault. bill: what we heard from the white house yesterday and again today, they believe you found a friendly judge in henry hudson in the state of virginia. they also argue that three different courts have heard challenges, two have gone in their favor, only one has gone in your favor. what would you argue? >> well, that's only half true. the two judges they cite as ruling in their favor on the individual mandate, the order to buy health insurance, ruled our way, meaning there's all rulings against the federal government on the tax argument itself. so there are two

constitutional arguments here, ordering people to buy health insurance, that's called the individual mandate, and the penalty for not buying it, which they're arguing now is a tax. no judge in america -- they're o for four, four judges have ruled against them on the tax argument and two have ruled for them on the individual mandate. that just points up when a -- what a close call this is and that the supreme court not only will but should ultimately decide this, and we hope that will take place sooner rather than later. bill: some predict maybe june of 2012. i don't know if the country can wait that long but we shall see together. ken cuccinelli, attorney general there in the state of virginia, sir, thank you for being on this morning. >> thank you for having me. bill: a lot of reaction to the health care ruling and what's next for it. log on to foxnews.com. there's complete coverage. our other news source while "america's newsroom" is on the air, of course. what do you snng 5-4 ultimately, u.s. supreme court? martha: like you said, 5-4, not sure which way, right?

bill: you know, it makes for another fascinating american story. we'll have it all for you. martha: and what about your taxes, just weeks away, perhaps, from going up? how will it finish on capitol hill as we head into christmas? bill: rough seas for the cruise industry, martha, another ship getting into a jam. what happened this time, we wonder.

bill: must be that time of year. another cruise ship, where passengers get a bit more than they bargained for on board the carnival inspiration, finally back on dry land. had some high winds keep thank ship from coming into port in tampa. crews worried it would hit a bridge. forced to wait thing out in

the gulf of mexico. >> it was rough. the first couple of days, i wasn't sick at all. man, the last one -- >> it was a long journey. we're just glad to be back on land. bill: they got about another day on board. that's pushing back the departure time. the next cruise is head to go bart's. martha: how about a vacation on land! turning our attention to florida, a state with nearly half a million homes in foreclosure, all right, just think about that number for a moment, now some homeowners are starting to fight back. lawyers say that they have proof that some of the banks that foreclosed on the homes may have been committing a crime. we've heard a lot about this, and orlando salinas has the report on this. good morning, orly. >> reporter: good morning. lawyers say here in florida, there are already thousands of folks who have been foreclosed, out of their homes now. they are now suing, they're lining up to sue to get

those homes back. these folks admit look, we've gotten behind on our payments, we didn't get it done the way we should have, but they're also saying they were never properly served. in this cases they are saying -- in some cases they were saying they were never served at all. they have to follow a law. before they take possession of a home, there are specific steps to follow, you can't cut corners, no ifs, ands or buts but what happens when that bank incorrectly sells that foreclosed home to an innocent third party? there you go: >> almost two years ago, kevin and gail winters bought their 3700 square foot home in tampa in a foreclosure sale from bank of america. >> then we get a notice in the mail that you may not have this home anymore, and a phone call from an attorney that says we might have you out of here by christmas? >> it turns out the bank may not have the right to foreclose on the previous owner in the first place and now he's suing to get back this four bedroom, four bath home.

>> he should be able to get his house back, because when you lose any lawsuit, including a foreclosure suit, without having been served, without having a chance to defend, it's like that final judgment never existed. >> who thinks they're going to lose their house? nobody deserves that when they've done nothing wrong. >> lawyers say it's rare for courts to reverse a foreclosure after a home has been sold to an innocent third party. >> 2 1/2 years later, after making this house their home, spending thousands of dollars on it, they learn for the first time that he's going to make that claim. >> martha, there was a hearing scheduled for next month in tamperra, a judge at that time could decide whether or not the winters get to stay in their home or they get the boot. martha: unbelievable. orly, thank you very much, orlando salinas. bill: we need to clean that up, don't we? >> some members of his own party were not fans but michael steele is not retreating. why he says he's not ready to step aside as chairman of

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martha: big morning in this story, we're awaiting a decision by a london court on whether wikileaks founder julian assange will be allowed out of a british jail on bail. he's been in court in london, to determine whether he'll be sent to sweden to face allegations of sexual conversion against two swedish women who were volunteers for wikileaks. that is one big story and we are

launching a new bid, michael steele is, to lead the republican party in 2012, he says he will seek re-election, as chairman of the r.n.c., how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." good morning, everybody. good morning to you. bill: good morning, martha. how are you doing. martha: just great. how are you doing. bill: all right, i'll bill. steele says he stumbled along the way but always has been accountable and he says no excuses. martha: you know what? last night he sat down with greta van susteren and she asked why he thinks people are politically out to get him. >> my style is different than most conventional republican party chairmen and is grassroots orient and i'm more of a street guy and love hanging out in board rooms but prefer to be in neighborhoods and communities and my first trip as chairman was to go to harlem and a number of asked why are you going there, that is where the votes are and the party needs to get outside of his comfort zone. martha: you heard him, an interesting interview with him

last night and, doug is live in washington for us today. how does it play out. >> it had been widely speculated for weeks, steele would step down and last night in a conference call with republican national committee remembers, the embattled chairman defied conventional wisdom and confirmed what fox news reported yesterday that he'd indeed run again facing a committee angered over his profligate spending and poor fund-raising record, and occasional gaffes he struck a conciliatory tone and he said i always accounted to you for shortcomings, no excuses, lies or hidden agenda, he said. and, told fox news yesterday, he kept the decision to run to himself for the better part of a month so he could flesh out competitors, no fewer than five or six people are gunning for his job and for all the criticism directed his way, he can point to the undeniable fact that he was chairman of the r.n.c., at a time when

republicans won more seats in the house than at any time, since the year 1938. martha: yeah, she can. doug, thank you very much. and, we report, you decide. should michael steele stay or go? as head of the r.n.c., go to fox news.com and take your "you decide" poll and we have responses and more than 64% say he should go and we have division in the ranks, get those votes in and tell us, if you have comments go to twitter@marthamccallum and let us know, that is an interesting number. bill: and ultimately, see if he's successful and a long legal battle after the key court decision against the overhaul of health care a federal judge rules it's not constitution tol mandate americans buy medical insurance, siding with virginia's attorney general, ken cuccinelli, he fought the battle in virginia, and two judges prior to him sided with the white house.

here's robin gibbs. >> you have district court rulings 115 miles away that the bill will continue to have its day in court. i think it is important that even this judge ruled that the bill continues to move forward, in terms of its implementation and, obviously, the individual responsibility aspects of this legislation weren't to go to infect until 2014 and there's time to work this out. bill: also there are at least 20 states following in virginia's footsteps, suing to block the health care legislation and ultimately the only court decision that will really count is the ruling from the u.s. supreme court. we talked to ken cuccinelli in virginia and he said that is where it is headed and it will be a 5-4 decision but which wait goes he cannot say. martha: that is why some in congress say cut to the chase, soon to be house majority leader eric cantor from virginia saying we, quote, must ensure that no

american will be forced by the federal government to purchase health insurance they may not need, want or be able to afford and to ensure an expedited process moving forward i call on president obama and attorney general holder to join attorney general cuchinella in requesting the case be sent directly to the u.s. supreme court, and, a call for that again and just ahead, senator and orthopedic surgeon, john barrasso and we'll get his thoughts on this. >> a "fox news alert," not a done deal yet. tax cut compromise. passing one hurdle in congress, we could see a final vote sometime this morning. the package extending tax cuts for all income earners and renewing the program of jobless benefits for the long term unemployed and this measure is still in question in the house. some democrats say they want a few more changes to the bill. here's senate republican leader mitch mcconnell on the floor yesterday. >> for two years, democrats have

argued the solution to economic problems is to give bureaucrats in washington trillions of dollars and have them spend it for us. but with the bipartisan compromise we are taking a different approach. we are telling the american people to keep money that is rightfully theirs, so they can spend it and invest it. bill: carl cameron back in his post on the hill. you with me, buddy? we're on the air. >> reporter: i am, sorry. bill: you have a lot to do and what i talked about prior to the introduction. when the senate will take this up. could that happen any moment or later tomorrow. >> reporter: later, the reason i wasn't able to listen is because, the senate majority leader, harry reid was talking about that on the floor of the senate and, what he announced, said was the current time for debate expires just shortly after midnight tonight. very early tomorrow morning, 12:35, 12:45, and what mr. reid is doing is seeking consents from republicans to try to move the time forward so they can

vote on it this evening or late this afternoon, there's a large number of senators, democrats and republicans alike, who would like very much to expedite this and get it completed and there are also those who disagree with it, whether bernie sanders, the independent from vermont, liberal and an avowed socialist who spent 8 hours on the senate floor objecting to this early last week as well as republicans who voted against it yesterday and believe the tax cuts should be made permanent and there shouldn't be an increase to the deficit and debt as a consequences of the 86 billion cost. $58 billion cost. mitch mcconnell is on the floor and we expect him to give an answer and we'll find out momentarily. bill: chase that frog out of the back of your throat and we'll cut your microphone, i have one more question and that is the: what you hear is that if you get an overwhelming vote on the senate side it will put pressure on house members to approve it also, and this congress, is that necessarily the case?

>> reporter: we'll find out in a couple days and the frog is still there, bill, i apologize, long hours in the senate where it is cold. the house said they don't want to pass it without' change to the estate tax, nancy pelosi, the soon to be former house speaker and her top deputy, steny hoyer, the majority leader, soon to be minority leader suggested there needs to be a change in the estate tax and republicans, and senate democrats say any alteration would scuttle the deal they are working on here in this body and most of the smart money is on ultimately passage by the end of the week. the question is, whether or not the senate will complete their work today or early tomorrow morning. bill: carl, thanks, have those guys go easy on you, okay? see you later. carl cameron. martha: harder on himself than anybody. let's look at business inventories numbers. we have a couple of encouraging signs for the economy this morning. this just came in. business inventories rose for the tenth consecutive month, they jumped 0.07%.

this is combined with increase in sales we saw over the month of october and the bottom line, when companies start to put more on the chefs and stock more and have more inventory it shows they are more confident that the economy is moving in the right direction, when they are concerned it isn't they want the inventories to be as lean as possible. a good sign for the economy in terms of sales, and also inventories rising for the tenth consecutive month in october. pretty nice numbers here, dow jones industrials up 42 points on that news this morning. and there is this today: his defense team claims that he is, quote, incapable of plotting a terror attack, the suspect in baltimore accused of trying to pull off a terror attack with fake explosives, why they plan to use his face as evidence. is that fair? bill: a chilling scene as a police chase comes to a smashing end. you will not believe what police found inside the car. martha: score one for opponents

of the health care overhaul. yesterday's decision by a federal judge may not mean a whole lot in the long run, though. we'll talk about that, with senator and surgeon john barrasso, coming up after the break, why we may be better off going straight to the supreme court. >> score is 2-1 and two courts affirmed the law and one is that it is unconstitutional. i have asthma. and en my symptoms came back

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bill: we have been reporting on the storm that covers literally half the country now, 16 people killed by it and now the kirfol miami are waking to temperatures in the 20s, those are icicles hanging from oranges and farmers are worried they could wipe out their crop. >> we are not ready for this. certainly last week we enjoyed very nice weather and now, we are bombarded with freeze or

below temperatures. bill: if the damage is as bad as predicted, consumers might be hit with higher price, florida is a major producer of winters fruits and vegetables and is causing a lot of angst. warm it up! martha: the final battle in the war over health care will probably end up being waged in the supreme court, this after a federal judge ruled requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli applauded the decision, saying it is a simple case of the government stepping over the lines. >> if you really think about what is at stake in this case it's not about health insurance, not about health care, it is about liberty, the federal government acknowledged in their briefs if the individual mandate is uncushionstitutional the res the insurance scheme won't work,

they did that way unconstitutionally instead of taxing everyone which no one likes to be taxed, is at least within the power of congress to do. martha: very interesting, i'm joined by wyoming republican john barrasso, the vice chairman of the senate republican conference and also an orthopedic surgeon. and brings a lot of expertise to the discussion. good morning, senator. good to have you here. >> thanks for having me, martha. martha: first off, what is your react to the decision. >> i agree with it i said that on the senate floor when we debated the health care law that was being crammed down the throats of the american people. i believe it is constitutional. you can provide health care, we have a lot of ways to do it without trampling on the constitution and the american people know that and this is much more than just about health care, it is about our liberties and freedoms. martha: we heard senator durbin before we went to the commercial break and he says if you are keeping score in the fight it is 2-1 in terms of judicial decisions in favor of the

reform, they've got two, and this is one on your side. >> well, there's going to be a hearing in florida, coming up, this month and -- actually this week and we know five new states will be joining suits after the new governors are sworn in, in january and will ultimately get to the supreme court i believe and we'll hear from them right in the middle of the presidential election in 2012, martha. martha: which would be very interesting timing on this. you look at the polls, 60% of americans according to a recent scott rasmussen report said they want to see changes. >> they know it is a bill and law, bad for patients and the providers and nurses and doctors taking care of the patients and bad for taxpayers and small businesses. it's interesting, the former president clinton was at the white house on friday with the press conference with president obama and president obama left and bill clinton said, you know,

he could off the top of his head think of 4-5 things he'd do to change the health care law. this is a bill, now a law that is not the way to go for this country and is harmful, will lead significantly to huge expenses and i think is actually not going to make health care any better and really worse and when i talk to patients, and i was home in wyoming this past weekend people are worried their own costs will go up because of the law and the quality of their own care will go down. martha: you brought it up and i found that news conference vel fascinating. with president clinton, how much impact does he have on the discussion, do you think? >> well, it is hard to know. there was an editorial by the secretary of health and human services, here thoughts, she's granted 222 waivers to over 1.5 million people from groups that supported the health care law but don't want to have to work beneath it and lives under the laws and is hard to see how much

impact former president clinton will have but he said off the top of his head he can thing of four or five improvements and mine are, let them buy insurance across state lines and, write off the care of the insurance, give individual incentives, let small businesses join together an deem with lawsuit abuse which has not been dealt with at all in the law, martha. martha: absolutely, it has not. howard dean weighed in on this this morning and had a different take on that. i want your quick thought on that. let's listen to this: >> i think the decision is not a bad decision. the first thing is, the mandate is not essential. principally that was a benefit for insurance companies, it is absolutely not essential and the judge limited his decision to this particular clause and didn't declare the bill unconstitutional, just the piece of the bill and specifically said in the decision it doesn't apply to the bill. martha: that is -- he's arguing it is one fine point in this reform, it doesn't have an impact on the overall health

care reform. >> he says the mandate is not essential? "the new york times" fronts page headline says core component of health care law found unconstitutional. core component. i believe it is the heart of the bill, and if this is unconstitutional it will be a bullet to the heart of obama care. martha: senator, good to have you with us this morning, sir. >> thanks, martha. bill: 18 minutes past the hour, the president said his party took a shellacking in november and republicans say it's because the left is not listening and a leading democrat says the american people are wrong and history will tell the true story. fair and balanced debate coming up, what do you think? martha: well, and when good manger scenes go bad... nature meets nativity. wait until you see where the camel landed. unbelievable. ♪ ♪ jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪

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martha: a shocking end to a high speed chase, cops looked inside a smashed vehicle and it started at a traffic stop, a robbery suspect takes off, cops give chase and he crashes the car and dies, behind the wheel. when police got to the wreck, believe it or not they found a baby, hanging upside-down in a car seat, inside the car. >> we cut the car seat out to remove the baby out of the vehicle and the baby, because we did hear the baby crying, that was our most urgent, right there, is the safety of the baby.

martha: boy, what a situation and apparently the three-month-old belonged to another person in the car and police are looking into whether or not he also took part in the robbery and thankfully the baby is doing just fine. bill: it was supposed to spark an economic come back in an ailing state, your federal tax dollars training hundreds of people for green jobs in florida. problem is, there are hundreds of skilled professionals with no jobs to be had. phil keating is live in miami, what is happening there, phil? good morning. >> reporter: good morning, bill, this is not just a florida situation, all across the nation, almost every state, there were federal grant dollars given to specifically train unemployed people to get green skills for the new green economy. the obama administration budgeted $90 billion of the $870 billion stimulus bill, law, specifically, for green energy, and green jobs, but, here's what the white house on background released to me.

they say so far the past 18 months, the obama administration and its priorities, on getting clean energy jobs created the 224, 500,000 -- 224,500 clean energy jobs which is about 25% of all jobs, that have been created with government tax dollars and unfortunately that is far shy of what president obama publicly stated early in his administration, he had hoped 5 million green jobs could be created. in ocala, florida where the unemployment rate is 14%, a lot of unemployed have taken the job training class and the reality is for those graduates, only 25% of them have actually found jobs and part of the problem is green energy remains 1% of energy consumption. >> the reason for the slow growth in green jobs in the u.s. economy over the past few years is the industry was small to begin with and is hard to

leverage that industry up and make it create jobs. >> reporter: green jobs are defined as anything with renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean technology solar, wind power, anything you can do to reduce carbon emissions and the bottom line, in the economy where cutting costs is a high priority for a lot of businesses, fossil fuels are cheaper than going green, bill. bill: thanks, interesting report. it is cold in florida, stay warm, it won't last. thank you, talk to you later, here's martha. martha: u.s. troops taking on the mexican drug cartels but are not doing it in mexico. find out where they are fighting off one of our country's biggest threats. bill: a leading house democrat saying history will prove their democratic agenda is what america needs. do you agree? fair and balanced debate with a great panel, coming up, first, steny hoyer. >>... is not convinced either party has all the answers.

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he's wanted to face sex crimes accusations there. two women placed. but, right now he's a free man, he's going to post his bail, we'll wait and find out exactly how much that was and last week, it was a couple hundred thousand dollars and his assets have been frozen as a result of the investigation, there was some question about whether or not he could get his hands on that and apparently that will not be a problem and we expect he'll be released. we have the live shot, left-hand side of your screen and hope to see him as he walks out of the courtroom, hugely controversial case and is all about the sex crimes he's accused of. not about the release of hundreds of thousands of state department documents that other weeks believe he should be talk to about as well in a legal sense and we'll continue to follow the story and if he walks out of there we'll certainly bring it live. bill: whether he makes comments, likely not, his attorney might, and, live there when it happens, and, steny hoyer saying despite

his party losing control of the house in november, democratic policy and principles are the path, right path for america especially when it comes to tax cuts. >> in 1993, congress margolis voted for the clinton budget and it cost her her seat. in the congress. but that budget helped create $2 22.7 million new jobs and the biggest surpluses in our history and history proved marjorie margolis correct but it cost her her seat, and i believe the same will be for my colleagues in the 111th congress who made political sacrifices to do what they believed was right. bill: is he right, math rin catherine hamm, and joe trippi, former campaign manager for howard dean's presidential campaign, both are fox news contributors. how are you doing and good morning, i home you are warm wherever you are, washington and san francisco. respectively. he is talking about vindication,

mary catherine. >> well, they said they'd be vindicated by november of this year and he's playing more of a long game now and there's a chance that with giant entitlements people end up liking them, and health care the centerpiece of the last few years maybe people will change their minds. i'm not super sanguine about that. i think there is an argument to be made, once it is passed with bipartisan support and people are upset about that. bill: joe, what about this? the other thing he said, by the way, is america is not convinced that either party has all the answers. he's probably right about that but, his larger point? >> he's right about that, but one thing, bill, i was a consultant to marjorie margolis when she decided to make the vote and knew when she walked into the well her career was over and making the vote was going to lose her her seat and probably the seats of a lot of democrats. and she did it, because she believed it was right for the

country. now, at that time everybody said you pass that tax bill, the whole country will fall apart, the economy will go into a basket case and instead, 22 million jobs were created. i agree so that with health care, for instance, you know, social security got hammered when it first started out, socialist, it was -- any time we have a big safety net kind of program it tends to become -- get more popular as people get to know preexisting conditions. bill: that is what the white house is arguing now. they say a lot of lawsuits were brought against them and ultimately they prevailed and back to steny hoyer's point, he said in that speech yesterday. at the press club in washington. it is easier to stir up culture wars and cultural resentment and those proved successful but are poisonous to our future. is that an implication against conservative america, mary catherine?

a shot at maybe the tea party movement? >> that is what he means, as i would argue the people are saying, hey! we have to take more taxes from a certain income just because they are of a certain income is a little bit more class warfare than going on with the tea party movement but that is who he means it for and the proof is in the pudding, the actual results matter, why people are upset about the trillion dollar stimulus that didn't stimulate and it was spectacularly unstimulative and unless you have results, people get upset. bill: joe, i don't know what you think about that and to many it appeared like a veiled shot at what happened a month ago. is steny hoyer right on that or wrong. >> there are things i agreed with but i disagreed. i don't think it is right to take shots at a tea party and that has been a mistake tor democratic leaders throughout the 2010 campaign and beyond.

what these people are -- the dean campaign, same kind of tension within our party, at the time, upset the party establishment for not sticking to the principles and, right now those people, you know, the energy on the other side, those people gave the republicans is something we need to try to win those people over. not push them away and i think those kind of shots just don't do the party any good. bill: part of the issues, steny hoyer argues is this tax cut deal but, that seems to be the past two weeks, taken entirely away from congress and made solely by the white house. should arrange be anythingered at -- anger be focused on the democratic leader. >> you have people against the tax deal for totally different reasons and the progressive left is upset at president obama, and you start to see fractures everywhere on this thing, and,

people angry at each other and at the president, and it is going to be really interesting to see how it develops and what the final goods how it heals, mary katherine, the last word. >> it will be hard to say the past two years and democratic chances the democrats had to get their stuff through, sort of changed the game or the economy in any sort of good way and the president conceded when he went to his press conference and was mad about the deal he made though conservatives are upset about the things in it with good reason he conceded philosophical grounds saying it will stimulate the economy and if things get better, people say it wasn't obama's ideals that did that. and that was a strategic move on his part. bill: nice christmas green. >> festive. bill: joe, you don't look bad, either! joe trimmy appi and mary kather

ham. and now, 1200 weighed in on the poll, almost all of you say we need to cut spending, head to our web site, foxnews.com/"america's newsroom," vote in our survey, the poll is on-line for you. martha: new fears mexico's dangerous cartel threat is now moving south to guatemala, a notorious drug family is trying to control trafficking routes in those countries and special forces are stepping up their fight and they are training guatemalan troops, fox news gets a never before seen look at the operation, part of america's third war series, our jennifer griffin is streaming live from a military base in guatemala city. good morning. >> reporter: last week mexico had a huge success, in fact killed the head of one of the 7 cartels, the head of la fa mill

yeah, and -- that is their loss and we were taken to a military base in the northern part of the country, a jungle base, u.s. special forces are training the guatemalan military there. take a look: >> in the jungles of northern guatemala the military carved out a training base. the base is secret but no secret the mexican drug cartels want to expand the operations south into guatemala to control the land routes and eliminate guatemala drug families who have long served as middlemen in the lucrative drug trade. u.s. green berets spin it the last three years training these special forces. not just how to shoot straight, but also, how to push back against the cartels. a few days before we arrived at the border they staged a prison break allowing one of the most wanted cartel members to estate and the special forces want to be sure that doesn't happen.

when several decapitated heads appeared on the steps of parliament, a calling card from those working for the vicious cartels, guatemalan authorities suspected the zetas were moving in and they have been buying up property and infiltrating gangs and guatemala needs help fighting back before it comes a narco state where cartels bring what they want over land into mexico and across a very porous u.s. border. and now, there is evidence that moyer mexican drug cartel, is moving into costa rica, and that is a big problem, because costa rica does not have a military. back to you, martha. martha: what a story, jennifer, thank you. jennifer griffin in guatemala city. bill: breaking news, out of london, a brush judge granted bail to the wikileaks founder julian assange, screen right is his picture. screen left, is the reporters

and police officers outside the courthouse. where we may see not just assange but his attorney and if there is a statement, on behalf of assange, with the bail being granted, with conditions, apparently, strict bail conditions as he fights the extradition back to sweden for a pair of sex crimes violations, brought forward by two different women, he's 39 years old and born and raised in australia and held in the london prison about a week after surrendering to british police a week ago and response to the arrest warrant in sweden. will he go there? what will he say in we're standing by for news on that and, an attorney is on deck to talk about this, in three minute. -- minutes. yellowbook has always been good for business.

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>> coming up on happening now, the unfolding drama over the tax cut deal continues on capitol hill and senate passage could come as early as today and we have senator kent conrad and

orrin hatch among our guests and another major story, you saw what some call a major defeat of the health care bill, and, america is weighing in on foxnews.com/happening now and jon and i will see you at the top of the hour, we have been reporting breaking news, a british judge granted back leaks founder julian assange bail. he'll be released on bail, the word that came out of the london courtroom, he's accused of sex crimes in sweden and the london court judge saying he must follow strict bail conditions, which i'll outline in a moment, let's bring in the attorney, an attorney and the director of policy at the american center for law and justice, jordan, good morning to you. >> good morning. martha: are you surprised at this. >> i'm a bit surprised. under the common law system which we use here in the united states, we have made it statutory and look at the same issues when granting bail, how serious was the crime being

charged, sexual months conduct, very serious charge, and how severe is the flight risk and how much of a chance that assange would try to flee the u.k.? well, because of the other issues that he is exposed to with wikileaks document dump and the u.s. pursuing a possible prosecution of him for espionage or conspiracy, this is pretty shocking to see a judge in the u.k. would grants him bail. martha: the conditions of his bail are pretty much what you would expect. he has to surrender his passport, will have a curfew and will wear an electronic tag to be sure that he doesn't bolt, and i guess one of the main questions here, is how strong are the other potential charges that might be coming down the pipeline? in terms of the wikileaks document dump? because that will affect his own confidence level in terms of what he is facing? >> two things, first, inside the european union, even without a passport he could try to escape

to a country that is more friendly when it comes to the wikileaks matter specifically and second, when it is comes to the law we have an espionage act and unfortunately we are dealing with 1917 law, first we have to extradite him to the u.s. which means sweden and the u.k. have to agree and i think it could be done but the second part, the espionage act does not apply to journalists but it could apply for conspiracy and he's a bit different than a "wall street journal" reporter, who gets a leaked document and publishes it. if he's working with people like bradley manning, on how to get the documents and where to put them and how to release them he could be charged with conspiracy and serve a long jail sentence in the u.s., the toughest hurdle is that sweden has the law, they'd have to agree to extradition, they don't allow political extra decisions and the u.s. department of justice would have to make it clear that they are not going after assange for political reasons, that is because of national security. martha: well, that -- i don't know, whether you think that is a high bar or not. and i want your take on the doj

investigation, which eric holder has told the country that, you know, is ongoing. how serious do you think the investigation is and do you think they have intentions to bring him in on charges related to that? >> if they can bring him in on -- i'm not sure how serious washington, d.c. is taking this because, our laws are not updated. we don't have good laws to handle cyber attacks, cyber war or cyberterrorism. we are using, again, 1917 laws, to go after someone who is doing on-line leaking of documents, and applying supreme court precedent, maybe the "new york times" versus u.s. case about the pentagon papers from the 1970s. we are not in the correct paradigm for how we should be operating when it comes to cyber sk security in the united states. martha: as we often see in cases where folks -- prosecutors wants to bring somebody in they lean on another charge to hold them so they can work on the other case and i've read about the

charges the women have brought and seems a little weak, at least based on what i have read. what do you think about their case. >> i don't think it is the best way to go after him. a bit of... the accusations that have come out of these two women should be taken seriously by a court but we're not at that trial stage, this is whether or not he has to face those charges in sweden, ultimately, sweden charged him with this and the u.k. will extradite him there and he'll face these charges, but, this is not how we need to go after him, to prove a message to people like him or others who want to copy him like the break off groups, from wikileaks you need to prosecute them for the major crime they did the national security crime and send them away for a long time. i've looked at the swedish law and have been talking about this and the charges that he has, these will not put him away for a long time and i'm not sure he'd be found guilty of them. martha: you touched on something a moment ago that is the biggest issue in this and that is is it a "wake-up call" for our cyber

security laws in this country? this is the tip of the iceberg and what we'll deal with in terms of national security where this kind of stuff is playing in? >> absolutely. how many more wake-up calls do we need before we change our laws? we have a congress who can make laws that are competent to deal with cyber war, cyber attacks, hacking, we don't have them on the books and shouldn't be talking about 1970 supreme court precedent and 1917 laws. it isn't the 1900s and we have to move on and if we don't update our laws, the attacks will continue to happen. martha: thank you so much, we have been looking at the live scene, julian assange is granted bail, watching the story and we'll stay on top of it. bill: in the meantime, awaiting new reaction from the white house after a federal judge dropped a bombshell, ruling the centerpiece of a white house health care law is against the constitution, we're waiting on robert gibbs for more on that. a 1,000-pound camel behaving tough time at a christmas

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martha: all right, you have to see this, folks, a 1,000 pound camel, crashes right over into the pews in the church in florida, during a nativity scene rehearsal. watch it closely, the name is lula bell, and, right over into the place where the people are sitting, poor thing, nobody was hurt, the camel lost her job. she's out of it. bill: took her out of the the christmas celebration, you know what they call that, don't you? martha: what? bill: away in a manger...

martha: way, way over into the manger! that must have hurt! bill: folks in houston putting the brakes on traffic cameras, designed to catch a red light runner in the act, and, officials say turning them off for good will have a $10 million ripple effect on and all ready bleak budget, kris gutierrez is obeying the speed limits in houston. good morning, cameras make money, don't they? >> reporter: they do, take the intersection for example, bill, the cameras on here on average issue 934 citations every, single day. $75 a pop, this intersection right here, generated roughly $70,000 a day for the city of houston, city wide, since the cameras went up in 2006, the city brought in $18 million. but, not any more, listen here: >> that money is now gone. taxpayers will have to pick up the short fall, instead of holding people accountable for dangerous driving behaviors and assessing fines for people

putting others at risk, now, every taxpayer is going to assume the risk and that liability. >> reporter: the city is facing a $70 million budget short fall, bill, this does not help. bill: if the voters didn't want the cameras, why are they still up? >> reporter: the city of houston has a contract with the company that owns and maintains the cameras, and the company is american traffic solutions. and they sued the city of houston, in federal court after that vote, if the city had to break the contract they could pay roughly $900,000, to get out of the contract, but the judge could rule, hey, the contract is now void because the people have spoken, or as critics fear the judge could rule something else. listen here: >> we're afraid the judge will throw out the election, put the cameras back up, and let the city continue to write these tickets after the public said they didn't want them.

>> the judge is expected to make a ruling in this case sometime before the end of the year. bill: a lot on the line. kris gutierrez on the streets of houston. martha: keep those cameras... yeah, takes an actual policeman to find you were speeding and pull you over. bill: do it old school. martha: just a money maker. i hate those cameras. you know what else people hate? i don't mind snow but cold weather is stretching coast-to-coast now and some had deadly ramifications. from snow and high winds to freezing, we'll show you where the winter deep freeze is hitting hard, folks. we'll be right back in america's snowy newsroom! @ñññ÷ç]/wçó/>v@ññ]o

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jenna: treasury secretary tim geithner hospitalized with a kidney stone. apparent happarently he doesn'tp from the commander and chief. >> tim geithner has and admitted to a hospital where he will undergo minor supblg rear for 0