is exactly his business experience. the president has claimed mitt romney is responsible for bain capital companies sending jobs overseas even though romney was on leave from bain overseeing the winter olympics at the time. and he is under scrutiny for his offshore bank account as well. >> i am not suggesting that based on what we know he has done anything illegal. i am not suggesting that. but what i am suggesting is he is taking advantage of every single conceive ability attack sheller -- conceivable attack shelter and loophole we can see. he is the guy that will clean up the tax code and make it available to average taxpayers in the country, or is he going to look at it through the lens of his own experience? >> the president lost an attack beneath the dignity of his presidency and especially when an obama campaign aid said he committed a felony.

but his supporters tried to clarify romney's role today. >> he was not responsible for day-to-day decisions or the management of the company at that time. he was on leave. as harvey pit was quoted in a story about this, it is standard though to while you are on leave to sign those documentfor the sec. he was still ceo and had shares, but he wasn't responsible for management. that's the bottom line. >> other republicans suggesting the president may lose critical support over these attacks on romney. >> remember who is up for grabs in this election, independent voters. they were drawn to obama in 2008 because he was going to change politics and raise and elevate the political discourse. this is gutter politics. >> and it will likely continue to be an issue on the campaign trail. >> steve, good to see you, thanks. >> the supreme court and medicaid was topic number one

at this weekend's governor's conference in virginia. sphowr more states are -- four more states are considering opting out of the obama medicaid provision. two other governors said they won't implement the medicaid expansion. florida governor rick scott and terry brandsted that the provision is far too steep a cost for taxpayers in their states to pay. >> it is unaffordable, unsustainable at either the federal or state level. if we buy into it, then we have a maintenance effort requirement, and when the federal government can't afford to do it, the burden is dumped on the taxpayers. >> this is another government program where the federal government will run out of money , and they will put it on the states again. we can't afford it in florida. >> governor scott says rather than issuing mandates, the government should be promoting more choice and competition. from the economy to religion and immigration. we covered all kinds of issues during this election campaign, but now we want to hear it straight from you. with four months to go, here

is the question, with four months to go, what do you still want to know from the candidates? tweet your answers to at anhqdc or john roberts fox. i will be reading some responses a little later on in the show. after weeks of fighting, florida officials will now get access to a federal database to help fight voter fraud. the save database, as it is called, is a list of non-u.s. citizens compiled by homeland security. they say it is not a comprehensive list, but a florida judge ruled in florida's favor. this will allow them to find legal voters and remove them from their voter roles. florida is not the only state battling over voter id laws. texas has a case going before a federal judge right now. we will talk to greg abbott coming up in our next hour. who leaked what and when? house judiciary chairman lamar smith is demanding president obama provide access to current and former senior

white house officials for an teargas on the national security -- for an teargas on the leagues. some say it was orchestrated by the white house to improve president obama's election chances. a claim the president calls, quote, offensive. congressman smith joins us now. you sent the letter to the white house. what specifically are you asking for? >> what we are doing is we want to question seven individuals starting with the national security advisor, and then other national security advisors as well about the extent of these numerous leaks that have jeopardized national security and endangered american lives. we can't get that information unless we talk to these individuals. we are hoping the president will allow us to do so. >> in a letter you sent to the president you said concern about these leaks knows no matter line. when national security secrets leak and become public knowledge, people in our national interests are jeopardized. when our enemies know our secrets, american lives are threatened.

are you prepared to subpoena these people for interviews if necessary? do you expect the president could invoke executive privilege here? >> we are hoping the administration will cooperate. the next step if they do not is to try to subpoena these individuals and get the answers that the american people deserve. but there is bipartisan concern. you have the chairman of the house intelligence committee and the senate intelligence committee, and both saying this is perhaps the worst leak they have ever seen and why it is going to cost american lives. and if we have leaks at the highest levels, and according to the media they are from the highest level administration officials, and it is everything about how did we capture osama bin laden and how do we conduct cyber security operations, how do we target terrorists? this goes to our worldwide intelligence gathering operations, and that's why these leaks are so significant. they need to be stopped. we need to hold people responsible. >> just a shopping list here if you will of the things you want to know about. it is the leak on the iran

stucknet and the bin laden raid and information about seal team 6 made it into the hands of a hollywood producer. how did the identity of the doctor in pakistan who helped the united states get out there, targeted killings, and the latest underwear plot. i asked you a second ago and it bears repeating again, do you expect that as they did in the fast and furious scandal that the president may envoke executive privilege here and not give access to these individuals? >> that's something that he might decide to do. i hope not because i want him to level with the american people. we need to get to the facts. we need to stop these leaks in the future. this is also a situation -- what is disappointing is the president has decided to investigate himself. that is not satisfactory. that is why we need a special council. we need somebody independent to investigate this. if no one else will, then congress will, and that's what i want to do as chairman of the judiciary committee. >> the ranking member on your committee brought up the idea

of an independent investigation through your committee. but when you asked him for a list of people he would like to interview he declined and said he didn't think that a lot of these allegations had any basis, that in fact they were unfounded. where is your understanding of where he is on this, congressman? >> well, you are right. he offered, and i accepted the offer immediately to question high level administration officials about these leaks. frankly he has since backed down. that doesn't mean we have to stop. we are going to go forward, and i hope it is going to be a bipartisan effort at the end. certainly you have democrats and republicans in congress, both concerned about these leaks and what they are doing to our national security and jeprodizing american lives. >> as you said, an important topic, and one we will continue to watch closely. congressman, thank you for your time. really appreciate it. >> thank you. secretary of state hillary clinton is demanding egypt's military work with the country's new leaders to fully transition to saw civilian

rule. since they approved a million dollar aid package to egypt it is not clear how much leverage the secretary has left. secretary clinton is wrapping up a trip to egypt which includes a one-on-one meeting with the newly elected president. in a press conference, egypt's foreign minister says egypt plans to honor all treaties including the 1979 peace accord with israel. also in egypt two americans abduct owed friday are still missing. now the family of boston pastor michelle lewis are appealing to the kidnapper saying they are worried about his health. the 61-year-old pastor is diabetic. despite the alarming situation, the family remains hopeful. >> we want to thank everybody that's involved and concerned. we ask that everybody pray for not only the safe return of our receive ranked michael -- reverend michael lewis, but everybody who is with him. >> reverend lewis was on a mission trip when he and other

american tourists were taken. the kidnappers are demanding the released of a relative who they believe was unfairly jailed. a fox news alert now, and the only trace of two missing iowa girls are their bicycles which were found deserted. a small army of volunteers is searching for them. anna is live with the latest on the search. what is it looking like happened, anna? >> hundreds of volunteers are continuing their search after holding a candlelight vigil. a mother of a cousin fears they were abducted. she says it is out of character for her daughter, 11-year-old lyric cook, to wander too far from home. she often stays at the home of her younger cousin, eight-year-old elizabeth collins in evans dale when her mother works. the cousins were last seen on friday in downtown evans dale. the girls's grandmother called police when they didn't show up after a couple of hours.

lyric and elizabeth's bikes were found along a trail near the lake. they found no other traces of the girls. police swept homes and a plane with infrared sensors proved unsuccessful. and crews also used sonar equipment as they dragged the lake and plan to oich other bodies of water today. the girls ails -- the girls's families continue to hold out hope. >> who ever has them, turn them in, let them loose anywhere so they can call me. lyric knows my cell phone. she knows my house phone. >> eight-year-old elizabeth collins is approximately 4 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 80 pounds. she has brown hair. lyric cook is about 4 feet 10 inches tall and she has a stocky build and light brown hair. if you have seen them call authorities immediately. authorities still view this as a missing person's case, but they are not ruling out possibility that the girls were indeed abducted. an amber alert can't be issued

for the girls because they don't have a suspect or vehicle. back to you. >> tough weekend for those families. anna, thanks so much. the shadow is looming, and it has thousands on edge bracing for cuts. the house armed services committee joins us. we want to know what congress plans to do to stop the sea questration. more on this footage and the aftermath after the break.

no injuries and only minor damage, but a tornado touched down near locustville, virginia. it made a lot of people nervous. it shook houses, but the whole thing didn't last long at all. it missed a trailer park anding nod out power to several homes. well, things are heating up across the country. it is just what you wanted to hear. are we in for another major heat wave as we had a couple weeks ago? we go to our chief meteorologist in the weather center, and he has not so good news for us. hi, rick. >> the heat is back. it is not as bad as it was this last one. it is at least a bit of a bright note. we had 25 states that were

under some sort of heat advisory. right now we have five here across the central plains as well as a little bit of an area that is off toward the east. it is feeling like 100 to 105. today is the worst of it. 106 for your actual temperature. keep in mind we have drought across the central plains and this is not helping it. >> go farther to the south, contrary to what you would believe. we are 88 in little rock. we are almost 20 degrees warmer as we go quite a bit farther up to the north. a little farther off to the east. all of the hot air is moving off toward the east, so we will see the temperatures really spread. tomorrow 91 and tuesday 95 and wednesday 93. tuesday 98. you can see this spread, a little bit of a break across the northern plains.

tomorrow minneapolis pushing 100 degrees. your relief comes on tuesday. so a three-day heat wave, john, and then we get a little break, and it does look like by next weekend we will heat things up again. we are in this pattern of warming it up way too hot and cooling down to average and then warming up again. >> after all, it is summer. >> it is july. >> that's what we can expect. rick, thanks so much. the much dreaded sea questratin is looming. massive cuts can be avoided. joining us is democratic congressman adam smith of washington. congressman, great to see you. you have this hearing coming up on the first of august at which the deputy secretary of defense is going to testify. you are going to hear a lot of dire pro nuns ments about what it -- pronouncements about what it will do. are you concerned that will give republicans a very big

stick to pound democrats with in the next few weeks? >> it is mutual. i don't think it is a democrat or republican problem. we only got into this mess a year ago august because republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling. they insisted on this deal as an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, to put in place these mandatory cuts if the super committee didn't find cuts in the broader budget. the entire discretionary budget was put under hostage, basically. that is important to remember. this is not just the defense budget. this is the entire discretionary budget. transportation, infrastructure, education, a lot of programs are facing severe cuts starting in january if we don't fix the law. >> the amount of cuts, up to $500 billion. leon panetta said it would be devastating. the whole idea of this budget

control act that it would be so horrible they would work out a budget deal and avoid it. why haven't you done that? >> i didn't vote for it because i didn't believe that at the time. the forces making it difficult to address the long-term deficit were so great that they were not going to change because we created this super committee. 24r* is a huge unwillingness to raise revenue and to make substantial cuts in spending. so to put us on this path when we knew that, it was extraordinarily unwise. the only way out now is to change the law and say yes we need to get the deficit controlled over the course of the next ten years. but short-term and huge cuts to spending, particularly in defense and infrastructure aren't in the best interest of this economy right now. we need to change that law. i am working to try and make that happen. >> so what do you think will happen here? will there be a budget deal that avoids seaqu se tration.

will they kick the can down the road six months or maybe they can get a one-year deal to avoid sequestration. which way will you go? >> it is impossible to predict. anyone who says they know doesn't. we have to change the law to stop sequestration. what will you get them to agree on in terms of what that looks like. one of the big sticking points is that part of the solution to our long-term deficit has to be more revenue. we have had substantial tax cuts and that has to be a piece of it. they are extremely concerned about the cuts to defense. they are unwilling to put one penny of revenue on the table to stop the devastating cuts. so what the ultimate deal looks like, it is hard to say. but it is becoming increasingly apparent how devastating sequestration would be. to a broad range of programs and to our economy.

we will work hard to find a solution. >> the white house has received some criticism for not preparing for the sequestration. they are not too worried about these cuts ever going through. is he right to not be error weed, or do you have some -- not to be worried, or do you have some concern that this could happen? >> first, i don't think -- i don't think the president is unconcerned. there is plenty to be worried about. we wouldn't be able to find a solution for all of the reasons we stated earlier. they are talking about it. they are concerned about it. they are trying to figure out how to deal with it. congress and the white house have to do something to solve it. you quoted secretary panetta a couple minutes ago and talking about how devastating this would be. they are very concerned about the problem. >> adam smith, thank you for taking the time and coming on board. >> thanks forgiving me the chance. >> thanks. the threat from iran is

even greater. the rogue regime is now threatening the world's oil supply. and now we know the country is about two years away from uh massing an an atomic arsonal. what is the u.s. response? what should it be? we will ask the intelligence committee mike rogers after the break.

harsh words from mitt romney's campaign advisor toward president obama. it is the bottom of the hour and here are your top stories. >> ed gillespie fires back at the president's campaign saying the bain attack ads are an attempt to shift the focus off the nation's failing economy, and gillespie added, quote, this president will say or do anything to keep the highest office in the land, even if it means demeaning the highest office in the land.

secretary of state hillary clinton says egypt must commit to creating a strong democracy that protects the rights of all citizens. she is wrapping up her trip to egypt today after meeting with the country's new president, mohamed morrisey. the family of an american pastor being held against his will in egypt is pleading for his released. reverend michael lewis was on a trip when he was abducted. he is dye diabetic, and his family fears for his health. and the search for two missing iowa girls enters its third day. they were last seen friday afternoon as they left on a bike ride. their bicycles have been found, but so far no sign of the girls. those are the top stories. back to you. >> thank you so much. the head of england's spy agency made a rare public announcement claiming iran is about two years away from building an atomic arsonal. is the obama administration taking this threat seriously enough?

joining us is the chair of the house select intelligence committee. congressman, great to see you. do you believe this administration is doing enough to check the emerging threat from iran? >> well, they have done some good things. they just haven't gone far enough. we can pull forward from the captions that congress put in place in 2010. they have given neighbors certain countries when we are trying to put pressure on the regime. china is the number one country they have begin to a waiver to in dealings with iran. >> we will have to take a stance. if we want to stop iran from going nuclear, and by the way what it means is a nuclear arms race in the middle east. you can bet saudi arabia and turkey and egypt and others will talk about going nuclear as well. >> libia was well on its way. what you don't want is the destabilized nuclear arms race in the middle east. you can imagine in those neighborhoods, imagine what is

-- what it would look like as a nuclear armed region of the world. >> congress is considering tough new sanctions. what would you like to see happen? >> i would go after the irgc folks, any company they are affiliated with, any of the shipping, insurance companies that would provide services to anyone affiliated with the irgc. >> that's the iranian revolutionary guard corp. >> that's correct. they are keeping the oppressive nature of the state and protecting their ability to continue their nuclear weapons development. it is very, very serious. and you need to rach chet back the waivers. they are cooperating and china isn't buying as much oil, but the statistics don't bear it out. if you want to have an impact in the short-term to avoid any military conflict, you are going to have to be tough on these sanctions. china has to be in the mix. other european folks have to be in the mix as well. >> this recent pronouncement by the head of mi6, the spy agency in britain that iran could have a bomb in two years and you couple that with the recent pentagon announcement

there could be an inter continental ballistic missal in three years, how much concern does that give about you what is going on in iran? >> we are worried about this problem, and it is real and serious. remember, israel is in this mix as well. they have to make a tough decision. they can't wait on the united states to make a decision. they will have to make their own decision. egypt is no longer a reliable partner. hezbollah is armed with what many believe is 20,000, 30,000 accurate missal systems. then they have on top of all of that, they have iran possibly going nuclear. you have serious, serious problems. the predictions are just that, predictions. there are key things that could happen that could shorten the two-year time frame before they got a nuclear weapon. >> i know you can't share all of the intelligence you have, but we have recently seen the talks with iran about the nuclear program went no where. it looks like nothing much more than a sham to buy more time. if iran keeps going down the road of building, as we believe, a nuclear weapon, and these talks, if they get

resurrected or not go no where, do you think israel will launch a preemptive strike, and when will they do that? >> i hate to predict that. they are seriously calculating what it will mean to have to go in and take a military strike against iran. what has not helped is the fact that the united states has not said that military intervention is still on the table. i think we have to make that very clear. we don't want that to happen. but it will happen if they don't believe -- if iran doesn't believe the united states will use military action to stop their nuclear program. we have to make them believe it. we think that could, i think, at least feed into the calculus of israel should they or should they not take military action to stop a nuclear iran who said they would use it against israel jie. we will watch this closely. thank you. >> thanks. in what has become an alarming trend san bernadino is the third city in california to file for

bankruptcy. what happened to these cities, and will more cities fail as well? let's check in with our senior business correspondent, brenda butler. it is not looking good there in california, brenda. >> it isn't. it is no news that cities are drowning in red ink, but the latest lifeline is surprising, filing for bankruptcy. three cities canada fine fiscal relief through bankruptcy protection in the last two weeks. stockton, mammoth lakes and as you said the most recent san bernadino and they are running to bankruptcy court. they are not alone. since the economy went south in 2008, 12 towns, counties orville ledges, four in the last year have filed for chapter 9. that's the magic number. the financially stressed city and it can shield them for creditors for awhile. there are hundreds of municipalities in the same situation. these bankrupt cities have several issues, usually poor populations, infrastructure that is falling apart and huge pension and health care bills

for city employees and retirees. san bernadino has a special issue. it faces a criminal investigation amid alleged accounting errors and false financial reports. but don't expects a huge wave of other cities to make it to bankruptcy court. that's because many states, about half of them in fact, do not allow cities to file. the fear is that bankruptcy is just a bandaid. it does not address the systemic problems that are driving cities into insolve ven see. that leaves cities with few and drastic options. scran ton, pennsylvania, for example, is considering cutting all pay for mu miss pal workers to -- municipal workers to $7.25 an hour and an 80% hike in property taxes. is that doesn't stop one group from anticipating all of this red ink as a gold mine. you guessed it. bankruptcy lawyers are busy preparing for this trend. somehow they just always make

out, don't they, john? >> the market goes up, the market goes down. itit is the traders that make out and the lawyers do too. thanks so much. >> you got it. california's lieutenant governor has been pushing a new economic plan to put the state on the road to prosperity. amid all of these bankruptcies, it seems other state leaders may finally be getting on board. lieutenant governor gavin newsom breaking down the details in a few minutes.

mitt romney says bain

capital is one of the things he is fight owing bough ma on and the other is taxes. fact, in 20s 10 and 2011 -- 2010 and 2011 romney paid less than 15% on taxes on $42.5 million in income, much less than what middle class families pay. but is that really fact? here to help us sort it out is glen kessler. he is the washington post fact checker. break down that tweet. is he paying less than tax than middle class americans ? >> they use the word many. the way the obama campaign talks about it, there are three million americans that pay a higher rate than romney does overall during that period. but it is not most. his tax rate -- his effective tax rate is higher than 80% of americans paying taxes. >> so the obama campaign is specific in the way it parses words? >> that's how all campaigns do it.

it makes for an effective attack. when you get down to it, one reason why romney has a pretty low effective tax rate is because he gives $3 million a year to charity. that brings down his effective tax rate 4 to 5 percentage points. >> you have a lot of money, but you are giving a lot away. it is an investment, and that's what the law is. is he paying his fair share? >> right. and part of the reason they bring this up is mitt romney has only released essentially one or two years of tax returns. and they are trying to get him to released more tax returns. >> i read your column this morning. are you at an undisclosed location these days? are you hiding in the cheney cave? >> no, i am fine. i get a few nasty tweets here and there. >> you have a lot of e-mails mostly because of your fact checking on this claim the obama campaign is making that mitt romney was in charge of bain capital between 1999 and 2001 and 2002.

therefore he may be lying when he is saying he didn't have anything to do with bain that may be a felony. what did you find out? >> i have looked carefully at this. part of the reason it is important is between 1999 and 2002 there were a number of business deals that bain capital did that didn't turn out well. if you can say romney was in charge to 2002 you can put all sorts of out sourcing and bankruptcies on his watch. the question was, was he personally involved in those transactions? i cannot find documents. there was where he was listed as chairman chief executive of bain. there were six i found he signed. but you look at other records and you can see the boston election commission said that he was working six hours a day -- 12 hours a day, six days a week on the olympics. >> so this idea that if he was in charge of bain when he said he wasn't might be a felony

emanated from your column. what did you mean when you said that? >> he submitted a report -- a personal election commission report disclosing his history and his finances. in there he said i had nothing to do with bain after february of 1999. you can see his signature on the first page. he says i have signed this under penalty of perjury. that is really the -- if you committed a crime, that would be where it is. the most recent filing as opposed to the sec documents that i think are a bit of a red herring. >> thanks for of coming -- thanks for coming in. >> thank you. many of those without id's would have to travel great distances to get them. and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. we call those poll taxes. >> texas fights back against claims from the obama administration that its attempts to clear up voter fraud are discriminatory.

in the next hour of america's news headquarters, we will talk to the state's attorney general about his legal battle. three california cities go bankrupt. the state's lieutenant governor says california hasn't had a clear economic plan for decades. now he's got one. gavin newsom will lay it out for us. and president obama can't take virginia for granted this time around. the blue state is now purple with strong military interests and waivering independents. we'll look at governor mitt romney's path to victory.

it is unprecedented that three cities in one state would file for bankruptcy protection. some fear more cities were going to go under. most have a hard time convincing a bankruptcy court they can't cover their debts with tax revenues. mammoth lakes, stockton and now san bernadino say they are absolutely broke. california's you -- lieutenant governor says he has a plan for the state to rebound. lieutenant governor, it is great to be with you. do you expect more cities may file for chapter 9 bankruptcy? you talk about cities with financially difficulty including fairfield, arvin, grover beach, lancaster,

monrovia and others. are there more now in line? >> well you had mayors from cities as large as los angeles, san diego, san jose use the b-word as well, bankruptcy. i don't anticipate that to happen, but remember vallejo in the east bay near san francisco filed for bankruptcy in 2008. they just came out of it in 2011. so there is the prospect. look, at the end of the day it comes down to this, we had a housing boom and bust, and it has dragged down the economy in the state particularly in areas near san bernadino, riverside, stockton, modesto, fresno and it has had a dramatic impact on revenue as well as the self-evident and obvious point, we have not been good fiduciaries for our budget and we are paying a price for that. >> forbes magazine took a look at what is going on in california and said bankruptcy may not be such a terrible thing. all of the worst has happened, and now there is no where to go but up. do you agree?

>> that's an interesting argument. you hate to see it because it is an ab do location of leadership and from my perspective responsibility. reare elected -- we are elected to keep the lights on and do the mask math. there are macro economic consequences that precipitation precipitation -- precipitate. they had no choice in 2008 and somebody who lives out here in the bay area, they are doing fairly well right now in recovering. it hasn't had the dramatic impact and the devastating impact some believed in 2008. i don't think these are headlines, but there is a greater trend we will focus on. california was 10th in the economy for job creation between 1950 and 19it. 1980. nobody grew more than california. since 1980 and 2010 we flat lined. no longer are we 10th. we are average. for those who grew up in california, we are not a state -- we prided ourselves on being on the leading and

cutting edge, hardly average. we have a jobs and revenue problem. the answer is always in california and as the national debate either we cut our way to solve ven see or raise taxes to solve ven see. neither will work. we need to create a framework where start ups and small businesses can get revenue growth back and create the jobs we need in this state. >> you came out with a plan last year, an economic summit recently released a plan with 47 points to get california back to prosperity. a lot crossed over with you, supreme line regulation, workforce preparation and encouraging innovation. everybody seems to be on the same page, so why isn't that being implemented? >> it is frustrating. i watch your news segments and everybody else is saying the right thing, but we don't do the right thing. that goes to a broader segment and question as the old adage to move the mouse you have to move the cheese. you have to change the incentives in bad politics for bad behavior. in california 10.8% seasonally adjusted unemployent in. 10 counties have unemployment

north of 15%. if you are watching this segment in imperial county 26.8% unemployment. a hybrid economy. the coast doing well and the inland doing badly. atat the end of the day we have to focus on what unites us democrats and republicans. our plan started with that. but it is regions rising together. it is a bottom up strategy and not a top down strategy. we had an economic conference with george shultz as a co chair and laura tyson. we brought folks together. 700 regional leaders focusing on best practices and regional a you line meant. at the end of the day there is no national economy or state economies. there are local, regional economies and that is the new framework. >> i can talk to you about this all day. unfortunately we are out of time. vallejo, after it emerged from bankruptcy, fewer firefighters, fewer police, fewer public service, so definitely there is a big affect from this. lieutenant governor, good to talk to you. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. unions, some of them call them the left instruments of class warfare.

their membership roles are dropping, but does it mean their political influence is weakening? we will have that story coming up next.

it is a fact that union membership is down, but that does not mean big labor's political influences are decreasing. our chief washington correspondent jane rosen explains why. >> after months of research the "wall street journal" has dramatically revised its

estimate for how much organized labor has spent on political activity over the last seven years. the journal now places the figure not at 1.1 billion, the number usually cited based on filings with the federal election commission, but at 4.4 billion, a figure reached after examination of additional documents known as lm2 that the union has been required to file since 2005 with the department of labor. >> we have always known, but now the "wall street journal" story has documented more. really the power of unions has been in their ability to mobilize their members. either to get them out to vote, to volunteer in campaigns. i think it is a controversy within the labor movement. how much emphasis they should be placing on politics, how much emphasis they should be placing on workplace issues and on membership issues more generally. >> indeed after their stinging defeat in the recall election the rank and file may wonder what they have gotten for their money. big labor prevailed in the

ballot battle last year overturning a law that limited collective bargaining right. but they have been stymied in their push for car legislation and union membership as a workforce and as a whole has declined since 2005. >> i think that in someways they are looking to object stain political -- obtain political influence and to grow the size of the union, to get new members in ways that harm their existing membership or their existing pension beneficiary. >> the major unions declined to comment publicly, but call the journal story a hit piece with a crazy premise, saying it is not news that labor has sought to advance its agenda in ways that wouldn't show up on forms. they also note that corporate political spending and lobbying dwarfs that of the unions. >> lobbying expenditures by companies and trade associations more than 10 times more than unions typically and over a long period of time. >> verifying the journal's new figure would involve retracing their exact methodology and

making inevitably subjective judgment calls about categories of spending and the like. so what the average voter may safely conclude as the 2012 cycle intensities is both sides of every major policy dispute seems to have access to huge sums of money to get their messages out. in washington, james rosen, fox news. if you are signing an sec document with your own signature you are the president, ceo, chairman of the board and 100% owner of a company, in what world are you living in that you are not in charge? >> this president will say or do anything to keep the highest office in the land even if it means demeaning the highest office in the land. >> fresh reaction from president obama about the increasingly personal attacks on the campaign trail. he is refusing to apologize for attacks the romney campaign calls out right lies. governors and surrogates from both sides took the heated argument to the sunday shows

today. i'm john roberts. we begin hour number two of america's news headquarters with steve in washington. it is getting ugly out there. >> that's right. and the president is standing firm in his criticism of mitt romney over bain capital. on a virginia television station obama was asked if he would apologize. the president said, no, we will not apologize. mr. romney claims he is mr. fix it for the economy because of his business experience. so i think voters entirely legitimately want to know what is his business experience. the obama campaign has questioned romney over the period when he was running the olympics, but was listed as head of bain capital. and they questioned romney's offshore bank accounts saying it is not something the president would do. >> he could have a swiss bank account if he wanted it. he could have a bermuda holding company. he could put tens of millions of dollars in the caymens. he could use loopholes in the

tax law that have a $100 million ira as governor romney does. the president could do those things, but he doesn't do those things. he looks at this through a different lens. >> an obama campaign aide suggested romney may be guilty of a felony by misrepresenting his leadership of bain. supporters say romney did nothing wrong and the president has gone too far. >> you've got these baseless charges on moving jobs overseas which independent fact checkers have said they are not true. they are indeed a lie. and then a completely reckless and unfounded allegation of criminal activity and so it is sad to see we now know this president will say or do anything to keep the highest office in the land even if it meets demeaning the highest office in the land. >> if you look at the fact checkers and look at the washington post they say obama is blowing smoke. they give him three pinnochios. in other words he is fibbing. he is misrepresenting the

facts of bain capital. >> republicans also say, john, the president is just trying to divert attention away from the poor economy. we are bound to hear more about this. >> steve, politically anytime you spend an afternoon doing interviews saying you are not a felon is not a great day for the campaign. alabama's governor is firing back against what he calls misleading report by the associated press. the ap stated that governor robert bentley called on governor mitt romney to make more financial disclosures. the report suggested that by not releasing financial documents a person may have something to hide. bentley released an immediate statement saying his words were taken come pleatly out of context. quote, i believe in total transparency, but i believe much of the rhetoric surrounding mitt romney's finances is nothing more than attempt by democrats to distract from the real issues of the presidential campaign. bentley went on to say that he would do everything he could to help get governor mitt romney elected. a tale of two health care

plans, one by the president and the other by mitt romney as governor of massachusetts. the chief national correspondent jim angle explains the differences between the bills. >> oat bough ma camp -- the obama camp said they are favoring romney for cover. mitt romney gave birth to this baby in massachusetts. now he doesn't recognize it. >> when you hear these folks -- >> it is working just fine. >> analysts say there are huge differences between obama care and romney care. the president had to raise a trillion dollars in revenues over the last 10 years. more in later years to cover the costs. governor romney didn't raise taxes at all. >> certainly the obama plan that came out of congress raised taxes significantly. the romney plan was not

predicated on using tax money to finance it. >> in fact, the obama plan raised 21 taxes. >> taxes on health care plans, on health insurers and medical device manufacturers. so he has a whole host of taxes to make this thing appear deficit neutral. >> analysts say they had 8% uninsured and romney focused only on fixing that unlike the federal plan. >> the federal law tries to change the entire health care system in one bill. >> another analyst, however, knows romney did get financial help from federal medicaid money. >> the federal government provided governor romney with hundreds of millions of dollars in medicaid matching funds which is what he used to fund the proposal. the federal government didn't have anybody else they can turn to for money, so they needed to raise the taxes. >> others can say they got medicaid money to cover the cost of the uninsured, but to pay the unpaid bills, the state gave individuals money to buy their own policies. >> affordable insurance on

their own. the federal approach put them on the public role, and as a result we don't get near universal coverage. >> you don't accomplish much of anything other than causing greater confusion and even greater turmoil on the market. >> two approaches to the same problem, one that cost taxpayers more and one that doesn't. in washington, jim angle, fox news. texas is one of three states fighting with the obama administration over voter id laws, laws the administration says are discriminatory. in fact, the attorney general eric holder compared a voter id law to jim crowe era poll taxes. the law was passed to curb voter fraud, and this case could wind up going to the supreme court. joining me is the texas attorney general greg abbott. general abbott, thanks for being with us. we had final arguments before the district court in washington on friday. it looked like it was a tough room. how do you think the arguments went? >> let's put this in context.

this lawsuit was living with obama's department of justice and it is part of an over all national scheme by the obama administration to promote and protect illegal voting in this country. the texas litigation as you pointed out is one of three pieces of litigation with states across the country, most recently in the state of florida. florida was trying to purge illegal voters from their roles, and the obama administration actually filed legal action to prevent purging illegal voters. same thing applies in texas. what we approved in texas is voter fraud exists. we have more than 200 dead people who voted in the last election, and we proved that in court in addition to the fact that the voter id law will have no disenfranchised affect on the voters in texas. despite those facts you can see the obama administration trying to protect dead voters for nationals and others on the voter roles in texas and across the country. we think that approach is

reprehensible to the integ graw tee of the election system. >> you say you identified voter fraud, but how much of a problem is it really? >> first you need to understand that the united states supreme court spoke on this issue four years ago. it was in upholding the indiana voter id law. in that case the supreme court said there were no proven incidences of voter fraud. but the indiana law should go into affect to prevent voter fraud, and they upheld the case in ibd january gnaw. gnaw-. >> why the need for a voter id law that could go to the supreme court here? >> as the united states supreme court itself made clear because of the appearance of inpropriety in the election system there is lack of confidence in elections. understand this, my office alone which is one of countless prosecutors in the state of texas, my office alone has prosecuted more than 50 cases of voter fraud. john, in may we had more than 200 people who were dead who voted. we have four nationals who

have voted. there is rampant voter fraud. there was one from texas who testified that voter fraud in south texas is rampant. it is a proven problem that needs to be addressed and voter id is one of the ways to address it. >> general abbott, you say there is no disenfranchisement of different voters here. the attorney general says though to the contrary that this could disenfranchise as many as 1.4 million people in the state of texas. you disagree. why? >> because the evidence showed conclusively the opposite. first of all, you would think if one person could be disenfranchised they could present that person to testify. no one testified at trial who would have been disenfranchised. but more importantly among the 1.4 million people they claim would be disenfranchised includes more than 50,000 people who are dead, includes more than 200,000 people who live in other states and includes hundreds of thousands of people who are age 65 or older who don't need a photo id, but also importantly, the number of people supposedly

disenfranchised included george w. bush, senator k bailey hutchison and phil gramm and even a senator from the state of texas who testified from the witness stand. we showed at trial the data relied upon by the department of justice was hopelessly flawed. >> i want to say something that they said the naacp convection where they likened the voter law to jim crowe poll taxes. here is what he said. >> many of those without id's would have to travel great distances to get them. some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. we call those poll taxes. >> in a short amount of time we have left i want to get your response to that and to two texas state senators who testified before the district court saying these laws were, quote, racially motivated. what do you say? >> first of all one of those senators who testified of that said he had lied previously

already, and so his testimony can't be taken to account, but as it earns c eric holder -- as it concerns eric holder, he doesn't know what his own witness testified to. eric holder's witness said it is inappropriate to equate voter id laws to jim crowe laws, but on top of that eric holder has not read the supreme court decision that came out four years ago that said these voter id laws are a raised neutral way of protecting the ballot box. >> attorney general greg abbott from the state of texas, great to talk to you. 2003 are looking forward to that decision -- we are looking forward to that decision coming up soon. two americans and their tour guide abducted in egypt on friday are still being held. this as the pastor's family begs for the captors to free him. we go to the newsroom in washington for the latest. how is this looking, peter? >> right now nobody knows how it is looking. nothing new has come out in the last two days. but in broad daylight a 32-year-old man, an egyptian man , ordered three

unsuspecting missionaries off a bus and abducted them. the hostages are 61-year-old reverend from dorchester, massachusetts, lewis, a 31-year-old woman, lisa alfons skee their tour -- and their tour guide. they say we are aware that two were kidnapped on the sinaid peninsula. we are in close contact with egyptian authorities who are doing all they can to bring about their safe released. we will provide assistance as needed. due to privacy laws we are unable to provide further details regarding this incident. this incident took place because this egyptian man thinks holding american hostages will convince egyptian authorities to released his own 62-year-old uncle from prison which is frightening for family members of the pastor in boston who are only interested in released and not at all interested in revenge.

>> i'm sure they have their own reasons for doing such. we just would love to return to our normal lives. >> secretary of state hillary clinton is in egypt right now on a pre scheduled trip. experts here in the states are already saying that this kidnapping is going to test the resolve of egypt's new president , mohamed morri se y. >> i think the egyptian government has to demonstrate it is still able to maintain security in egypt. if it fails to do that, it is going to be a severe economic blow to egypt, to its tourist industry, and it will also call into question whether the new government is effectively in power. >> and, john, this pastor lewis has apparently advice said mount sinai which is the spot where god gave moses the 10 command meants in the old -testament. this is not going as planned. >> we look forward to any word. thanks, peter. investigators are searching a lake for any trace of two young cousins who went

missing on friday. police say eight-year-old elizabeth collins and 11-year-old lyric cook wept missing after a bicycle ride. their bikes were found, but no clue on what happened to the girls as of yet. the sheriff says police are still treating the disappearance as a missing person's case, and they are to the ruling out a possible abduction. >> we have no person that was seen, and we have no vehicle that was described, so we can't issue an amber alert by their guidelines. >> one of the girls mothers says her daughter never wanders very far from home. the obama administration doesn't want to plan for sequestration. one democratic congressman says there is still time to stop it. is he right? senate armed services member roger wicker joins us after the break with his take on the massive military budget cuts.

there is a lot of hand wringing in washington these days. not over health care, but sequ se t -- sequestration. it would slash, among other things $500 billion from the

budget. if the money is not there our national security is at risk. mississippi senator roger wicker who serves on the senate armed services committee joins us. thanks so much. what do you see as being the affects on our military if sequestration goes through? >> the affects would be cat catastrophic. catastrophic. that's from secretary panetta down to the members of the house and senate of the affected committees. troop level reductions, fewer ships than we need for our international presence. devastating cuts to our industrial base that we would not be able to recover from for decades. it is very, very serious, and the hour is upon us, actually. >> you know, we talked to affects on the military itself, but there is also, and you eluded to this a little bit, an an -- ancilary affect

for those building for the military, correct? >> that's right. angle's ship building in my home state of mississippi, for example. we can't possibly layoff ship builders and tell them to come back in two or three years and retrain. we have to keep that industry base. it is very, very important. layoff notices are going out as we speak. >> democrats are pointing at republicans saying this is all your fault. the majority of republicans signed on to the budget control act. and now they are immovable on this idea of raising revenues. you can't get a budget deal. representative adam smith was on just a little while ago and said essentially the same thing. what do you say to that charge? >> i listened to adam smith. he is a good friend, and you had a good program.

republicans reached out at least three times to the president. senator collins and senator mccain with their proposal that we simply freeze spending spending -- freeze hiring for one year and freeze federal salaries. that would pay for a one-year fix. it is that simple to do. last week they had a proposal that we couldn't get any democrats to sign on to the letter. so we are reaching out to the president. frankly we would not be in this situation if the president had sent positive messages and positive signals to the super committee. we could have done the long-range budget cuts that we needed and avoided this with presidential leadership. >> do you think this -- do you think there is a real possibility the sequestration going through exprkts white house doesn't seem -- and the

white house doesn't seem to be taking any action at sequestration at this point. >> and we asked if they are planning for these real statutory cuts. so far we haven't had an answer from them. we need to fix this before the august break. it really should be priority gub one. the senate has wasted time. we need presidential leadership and we need to act before we leave for that summer vacation. i would be opposed to taking an august break if we have not answered the sequestration issue. >> there are the layoff notifications that will go out between 60 and 90 days of sequestration. a lot of those notifications will go out in october. a lot of others will go out november 2nd, four days before the election. what do you think the political affect of that might be? >> that's what i can't understand about the president. this is going to have a

devastating affect on the economy between now and the election. it causes a great deal of uncertainty. i think the president and those congressmen and senators who are up for re-election this year would be better served by coming together on a bipartisan solution, and it really needs to be done way before those notices go out. 60-days before the end of the year is really too late. >> we will see whether you get your august break or not. senator wicker, good to talk to you. thanks. >> thank you. it took him more than a month, but his mission is complete. 19-year-old junior garcia carried a cross from sag ghana, texas all the way to the white house. his support system was his home church, oasis international, via skype. >> it has been a blessing, and i thank you all for supporting me and standing by me. just join us as we pray for our nation and for our leaders. >> he recognizes the moral decay in this country.

what he wants to do is he wants to bring attention back to the cross which is a message of love. >> garcia started his journey early last month and walked 12 hours a day. battleground virginia. once blue and now possibly purple and red in 2012? president obama put virginia in the spotlight with his visit there. what does mitt romney have to do to win the commonwealth back in 2012? our own political expert is taking on that coming up next.

right now 26 states across the country are declared disaster areas because of the severe drought they are facing. is there any rain in sight for them? our chief meteorologist is at the fox weather center. how is it looking for those folks, rick? >> i tell you, we will be in a bad pattern for quite awhile. it looks like maybe even the

remainder of the summer, especially across the central part of the country. this is a look at the drought monitor. 80% of the country is in some sort of drought, and around56% is in a moderate drought. it is a widespread problem we have. areas of georgia and the northeast, all of the central part of the country, and then go out across areas of the west and we have it as well of the we have rain falling right now, but look at this area. it is around the appalachians and mississippi and back back -- and alabama and then look at where the rain is falling. unfortunately it is falling where we don't need it, in that area we need it, but not as desperately as parts of central georgia and up toward the west and north of that. big rain showers moving across areas of the northeast that will be with us through the start of tomorrow, and where we do have drought across parts of the four corners significant showers that we will deal with again. monsoonal moisture that is typical for this time of year. here are your high temperatures. the central part of the country that is dry and temperatures again extremely

warm. tomorrow another warm day. it warms up a little more farther toward the east, and then the high temperatures scoot off a little toward the east by the time we get to tuesday. a little bit of a break into the far northern plains. they are baking in temperatures and no significant rainfall in the week at least for this week. >> to the untrained eye it looks like those things may go together. >> you said it. >> thank you. >> the severe drought is causing crop problems for farmers, and that means we could see food prices go up. brenda butner is live with how much the food prices could increase. what are we looking at, brenda? >> we don't have to live in the midwest which is baking under a hot sun with no water to feel the impact of one of the worst droughts in decades. the heat will hit you in the wallet, or right at your kitchen table. from hamburgers to milk, you may soon be paying more for food.

the drought is drying up corn production making the cost red-hot. the usda warns that two-thirds of corn is being grown in areas from moderate to extreme drought. instead of the $5 a bush shell expected, farmers and ranchers are paying $7.50 a bush shell. the fists% increase can funnel into beef, pork, chicken prices all of which use corn as a key livestock feed. that's not all. corn is used to make a bio fuel called ethanol, and its prices are at more than half a year high. that could make the one major purchase for most homes gasoline that has been falling start to climb again. ethanol is used in many grades of gas. the midwest is not the only part of the country feeling the heat. farmers in the south are finding that vegetables are drying up on the vine. and with no hay growing in places like missouri, cattle could be scarce in some areas.

consumers may not feel the heat until harvest time when we learn of all of this speculation about prices turns to reality. last year's flooding you remember produced similar warnings of rampant food inflation. it did not come to fruition. the trouble is the things that are supposed to go up, home prices and stock prices, are having a rough time. and those that would help americans if they went down, food and energy, may see some spikes. so watch the weather if you want to know what happens to your wallet. john? >> we will be watching it closely. brenda, thanks so much. once reliably red, virginia is up for grabs in this presidential race. president obama hoping for a repeat in 2012, but can he do it? joining us now for a closer look at this key battleground state is fox news digital politics editor. good to see you, chris. >> good to be here. >> can president obama repeat in 2012, or is this truly up for grabs and could go to romney's court? >> when we look at the state, it is a swing state.

virginia is the epitomy, and it is a microcosm of all of the swing states. it is right on the razor's age age -- edge and you have a very red part of virginia. all of virginia is very red except two key areas, three key areas. one is the tide water area in nor fog and large african-american population and strong support of obama. then you go up into the northern virginia suburbs outside washington, d.c. and those are democrat leading. a lot of government workers and liberals and that business. but where this battle is fought are in the suburbs in richmond and ryko county is very important for campaigns and the exurban counties in metro washington in places like prince william county and places like that. the president flipped those to blue in 2008. if he can keep them blue he will win again. if mitt romney can see them to their prior practices he will win. >> in heavy military areas

like virginia beach, hampton, the looming sequestration and the political battle being fought and mitt romney sent a letter to the president talking about what the affects of sequestration can be to the military. >> military is giant, but not just for the reasons you describe, but also because you have aside from these defense contractors and the military families, you also have a large veterans population. you have a large active military population. now republicans win with the military. that's been the truth in modern era. romney's hope is he can run up the score and get it up to 65%. if he does that nationally he can look for virginia to be good. >> president obama spent a couple days in virginia. one of his signature lines is "i believe in insourcing." this whole thing of mitt romney and bain capital and out sourcing, even if it is smoke and not based in fact, it seems to be catching on. mitt romney spent all afternoon on friday doing a round of interviews with fox and some of the other

broadcast networks. basically saying, i am not a crook. >> that's never a good thing to be doing on a campaign. >> repeating the charge reinforces the charge. what romney is hoping to do is reinforce something bad that is happening for the president right now. what he wants is to remind people of the distance, the shadow between obama 2008 and obama 2012. >> but they have him playing on their turf. >> this is a time we would come to in the campaign we knew, but this is the absolute assault on mitt rom nay's character as it -- on mitt romney's character. it is withering. it is relentless. it was on the sunday shows today, and what romney hopes is the president's negatives continue to go up. the president who ran as a healer and a unifier, if he is seen as attacking he will suffer collateral damage in these swings. >> the obama campaign can keep

it up because they have the cash from the primary campaign they have to unload before general election starts, and romney is trying to protect cash. >> when he can't spend -- he spent his primary money in the primaries. so he has to wait until the convention. the romney strategy, what they call the brave heart strag gee. you get your uh opponent to where you have an advantage. you draw him to a place of weakness for him, and then you unleash hell on them. and that's what they hope to do is unload on obama come september. >> for the sake of the romney campaign looking at it from their perspective, if president obama has defined him by then, they may have a tough go. chris, always great to see you. thanks. >> you bet. one of the places president obama visited in his two-day swing through virginia was virginia beach. that happens to be the district of congressman scott rigell who joins us now. congressman, thanks for being with us. when you look at these potential cuts that could come to the military via

sequestration and the area you live in and the military folks in virginia beach, and i know a couple personally, what could the affects be in the state of virginia? >> we will pierce the false veil of competency. the first is job creation. the second is competency as commander-in-chief. here we have a next success of both. -- a nexus of both. the president is doing absolutely nothing, nothing to stop these defense cuts which his own secretary of defense has said are dangerous and would do serious harm to our troops and to really our ability to defendant this great country. and of course the job creation element there, layoffs. not only here, but across the country. >> and particularly, i think 14,000 private businesses in the state of virginia provide goods and services to the milled terry. that's a -- to the military. that's a big trickle down affect. >> it is an important part of our economy.

this should be important to every american, not just virginia ans. the loss of jobs and the affects on our ability to defend this country, the chief enable operations, said these cuts would do permanent damage to our fleet. and the president is silent, and i know congress is ready to do it. >> democrats are pointing fingers at republicans and they said most signed the budget control act. it is in order to get some sort of a budget deal. but at the same time so congressman this is your fault and major party's fault. what do you say? >> there is one commander-in-chief, john, that's the president.

he is not leading and he is watching our navy and air. i am ready to go baying to work -- i am ready to go back to work. he is silent on this issue. that's where the distinction is. >> congressman, you obviously think the president is vulnerable over this idea of potential cuts to the pentagon. you were also talking earlier in the week about his appearance in vaw -- in virginia and his approach to coal is big. >> well, coal is important to us. it represents a great opportunity for all of america to move toward energy independence. and right here in virginia's second congressional district which i have the privilege of representing, there is truly one person standing between the folks here who want jobs and the 18,000 jobs that would be created by us responsibly leveraging our offshore energy. and that's president obama.

he has a full moratorium on coast alva vaw energy. i ran on opening that up. governor mcdonald ran on opening that up. we have two frankly democratic u.s. senators who say they want to open it up as well. so the collective will of virginia ans is clear. we want to move forward and president obama is stoping job creation. about 18,000 jobs by our best estimate right here at home. >> congressman scott rigell, thank you for taking the time. >> thank you, john. letters from a soldier delivered decades after they were sent. it is one of our most click owed stories on fox news.com. we will tell you what kept the letters from the rightful owners coming up next.

three astronauts on the route to the international spacestation. it is one of the most read

stories on fox news.com. peter is standing by with the other most clicked news. >> the international spacestation is preparing for a lot of traffic in the next couple weeks. as you said, the russian souz spacecraft is carrying astronauts from the u.s., russia and japan. it was launched orca -- over kazakstan and land on tuesday. >> outrageous and destroys the well -- welfare reform ideas that have moved millions from federal dependence and to freedom of opportunity and jobs. >> you heard there virginia governor bob mcdonell is slamming the welfare policy. the administration released a memo last week saying it will allow states to waive strict requirements for welfare recipients, and that aired here on america hq.

you can also see letters from a vietnam soldier that were finally delivered more than 40 years after they were written. the south carolina soldier who wrote them was killed in 1969. that's when vietnamese soldiers took the letters. they were given to defense secretary leon panetta during his trip abroad and presented to relatives yesterday. those are some of the most clicked stories on fox news.com. >> remarkable story. thanks for bringing it to us. the minnesota department of transportation is asking the local veterans of foreign wars to remove the flags they placed on overpasses. it violates their right to display the flag. >> they originally were put up in about 2004, and it was an honor of the 34th briggade that was serving in iraq. >> this has nothing to do with the american flag. it has to do with any objects placed on a bridge. >> veterans insist the flags are secured safely with

brackets and can't blow off the bridges. iran is threatening the world's oil supply as they continue to work on expanding their nuclear arsonal. how concerned should the united states be about that, and what should america do about it? we'll talk with a weapons expert after the break.

a pentagon report warns that iran may be able to build a missal capable of reaching u.s. soil within three years. it is just one more piece of evidence that shows iran's military threat is real. weapons expert david all bright joins me about what it could mean for the nuclear program. good to see you. let's start there with this assertion by the pentagon that they could have an icbm in iran within three years. what threat would that pose to the united states and america's allies in europe? >> the report says it could be flight tested in three years. it is still several years before it could hit the united states if the flight testing goes well of the iran has been working on missiles for a longtime, and not much has slowed their progress down. it is relatively slow, but it is a developing country dependent on foreign expertise and assistance, so it will

move slowly. it just shows the threat of iran getting nuclear weapons continues to build, and we have to worry if we do decide to build nuclear weapons they will have a fairly advanced delivery system. >> and on that point they said in a very rare recent public statement that he believes iran could have one nuclear bomb within two years. do you think he is correct? >> iran could make a decision to try to build a bomb and would have in a sense all of the pieces. it would take him time, and that's why i don't think they will decide to do it now. in a sense they are deterred. in sense the long pole and the tent is getting enough of the explosive material, the uranium, and it will take them time. it is done at facilities that would be known so they would be bombed and before they could succeed.

they are deterred now. what i think the head of mi6 is talking about is woo go out a couple -- we go out a couple years and we have less certainty and you start to develop worries that two, three years from now they will be able to do that in secret and we don't know it happens until they announce. >> they have a certain amount of low enriched uranium. how much of a leap is it to gett from there to weapons grade uranium? >> they have a stock of 6,000 kilograms of three and a half percent and then 100 kilograms of 20%. what that material represents is a down payment on getting to 90% which is weapons grade uranium. it is a significant down payment. they can go from 20% to 90% relatively rapidly if they had enough centrifuges. or it may take a longtime to go from natural uranium to 90%. >> let's talk about what you just said about this idea that you don't think they have made the decision to build a bomb, but meantime they are building

some facilities that may be out of sight of regulatory agencies, the iaea and isis, the organization you work for, says you believe there is a program to build an enrichment facility that is very, very secret that nobody knows about. >> iran said they would build a secret enrichment site. they take the position that they don't have to tell the international inspectors until almost the plan is done. the inspectors take the position that they have to tell them sooner. but iran has said it is planning to build additional enrichment plants. they have said they will hold back, but we are increasingly worried that they may have started. we don't have evidence, but we have followed this for a longtime. they have built secret plants in the past, and we are worried they are at a point they may try to do it again. >> we have a few seconds left, but if iran is actively pursuing a bomb, do you think israel will go after them? >> israel will go after them if they decide iran has

reached a point where they are not going to be stopped by other means. >> david allbright, always good to see you. thanks for coming in on this sunday. >> thank you. responses to our twitter question, with four months left before the election what else do you want to hear from the candidates coming up after the break.

it is terrifying. >> it is not that time of year

just yet. roughly 3,000 san diego residents gathered to pay tribute to spain's festival which happens at the end of august. they have been hurling tomatoes in a messy battle for 70 years in spain. almost 50,000 rotten tomatoes were used in this battle in san diego. of course all had a good time. we have had a lot of responses to today's twitter question. we asked you, with four months to go, what do you still want to know from the candidates ? what haven't you heard? diana writes, i would like mitt prom knee to be more specific for his plans for the economy. i want obama to give a second plan for a -- a plan for a second term. he just attacked his opponent. todd says it is important we know the details of what they want to do. in bad economic news generalizations will not do. angela adds, i would like to know the single most important then on their agenda iffy elected. and blaze says, what are the

candidates' [stances|instances] on and support for the nuclear energy in the united states. there is a safe, green energy source. thanks for playing today. we appreciate your responses. that's the time we have here in washington. i'm john roberts. fox news sunday is up next. thanks for joining us. the race for the white house intensities as president obama and mitt romney trade charges over who best can run the country. we will talk battleground state politics and the impact of health carrie form with two -- health care reform. and then campaign strategy. we will talk with karl rove, the so-called architect between two presidential victories and joe trippey who redefined rining for president -- redefined running for president in the internet

age. and we will ask our sunday panel if the latest round of negative ads is working. that's all right now on fox news sunday. fellow again -- hello again from fox news in washington. from the change in well form work requirements to implementing the new health care law there is concern in key states where the 2012 presidential election could be determined. joining us now are governors from two of those states, rick scott of florida who comes to us from san francisco and terry brandstet from virginia. welcome to you both, gentlemen. let me start with the question that stirred so much interest at the end of the week which is a set of new possible waivers of the federal government of work requirements under welfare reform. this would appear on the service at least to be a case of the states getting more