athe athena, i want to start with you.t the white house. even you're talking to them this morning. >> the white house is cautioning us of some of the details of the tentative framework that are trickling out. there's so many details to be iraned out they can't even really say how close they are to a deal. some of the numbers we're beginning to hear or read in reports will not necessarily be the final numbers that come out. certainly both sides are working. as we saw yesterday, there was no meeting on the schedule at the white house. we had the democrats come up and meet with president obama. we know that the president and vice president were talking constantly throughout the day with people on the hill, including senator mitch mcconnell. we can expect more of that to continue. again, this sort of gives you an idea of mcconnell being optimistic but we heard from reed s reid saying there's a distance to go. >> all right, joe, they'll telling us to be cautious here. >> right. >> yesterday at one point in day you had mitch mcc

athena jones at the white house. one of our newest members of cnn. thank you so much. >>> tomorrow night, cnn special, special report on the debt crisis, join wolf blitzer and don lemon for a breakdown of the hurdles, options, the obstacles, join them for "get it done, countdown to debt crisis" tomorrow night, 9:00 eastern here on cnn. >>> well, are you royal wedding out just yet? it was william and catherine, they were in the spotlight, continue to be in the spotlight, but there is another royal wedding happening this weekend. oh, good be good be. >>> also, tiger, tiger woods, has had a knee issue or a leg issue i should say. he has not been on tour for a little bit now, but now we know when he is going to return to the links. that's coming up. it's 38 minutes past the hour on this cnn saturday morning. stay with me. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like t

athena, thanks very much. joe johns, thank you very much. >>> america may be on brink of another financial disaster but some members of the tea party insist that now is the time to give in. others have been entirely unreasonable. we found one of those tea party members who we always find to be informed and reasonable about the economy. he's here to explain to us why they will not talk about tax increases after this. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade and check my investment portfolio, research stocks, and set conditional orders. wait, why are you taking... oh, i see. hey max, would it kill you to throw a guy a warning bark? [ dog barks ] you know i wanted a bird. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. ...was it something big? ...or something small? ...something old? ...or something new? ...or maybe, just maybe... it's som

welcome aboard, athena. thanks so much. >> reporter: thanks. >> all right.is going to have to happen to make this all get done? well, "get it done: countdown to a debt crisis" you can see that sunday night 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> and coming up this morning, we are having open tryouts for a new meteorologist here at cnn and our first applicant, you are seeing right there, what do you think? you'll see more from fabio. when they taste the food that you cooked, it does something to your heart. i think what people like most about the grilled food is the taste. the flavor comes from that oak wood. the shrimp, the fresh fish, the steaks. it locks in the flavor, it seals in the juices so that when you put the fork in it, it just goes through it like butter. it's beautiful. [ laughs ] i'm proud to be a grill master. i love food. my name is charles himple. i'm a red lobster grill master, and i sea food differently. [ female announcer ] sweet honey taste. 80 calories per serving. 40% daily value of fiber. i'm here in the downtown area where the crowd is gr

>> athena, thanks very much. athena jones, our newest correspondent up on capitol hill. welcome, athena, to cnn. we're looking forward to a nice, long ride with you. appreciate it. >> reporter: thanks. >> you picked a busy week to start working. >>> bracing on wall street for an unprecedented crisis. just ahead, we'll take you behind investors' growing anxiety as time runs out to raise the debt ceiling. >>> plus, why some now say it's time for the cash-strapped u.s. government to borrow a page from the apple playbook. those details next. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." [ barks ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ whistles ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ ting! ] [ male announcer ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage or visit travelers.com. >>> some new talk that maybe the u.s. government should consider borrowing a page from the apple ipad. according to the latest statement from the u.s. treasury department,

. >> okay, athena, we keep hearing less than three days away.congress and the president saying we are confident we will get something done. i'm starting to lose confidence. is there a contingency plan in place in case we get to tuesday with no deal? >> you know, t.j., it is the treasury department that is coming up with who will get paid and whether social security checks go out or military checks go out to military families. they say common sense will prevail. i had one official tell me there are different paths to a solution or compromiscompromise. they are not willing to give the idea that it is not going to happen. it will not work. they will not reach a deal by august 2nd. the stakes are just too high. >> athena, did i hear you say common sense will prevail? >> yes, that is what i said. we will see. >> we will put up a breaking news banner if common sense prevails in washington d.c. athena, it is good to have you with us. one of the new members here at cnn. making your cnn debut. a moment you will never forget in your career. good to have y

cnn's athena jones is at the white house.t is the president doing today to try and twist some arms or make something happen this weekend? >> reporter: what's going on here is mostly behind the scenes. all the real action is on the hill. but the president has taken several approaches. we saw him come out on monday, again on friday to give speeches to keep the pressure on congress. and he did so again this morning. but behind the scenes, there have been high-level phone calls, lower-level phone call, phone calls at all levels between the white house and members of congress and their staffs. we had a democratic official tell cnn that both the president and the vice president have been talking with members on the hill the last several days. we're told that vice president biden has been in particular contact with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who says the white house has to be involved in any negotiations to reach a compromise. and so the president is going about this different ways. here's what he said this morning in th

cnn's athena jones is there. what is president obama doing to try to get lawmakers on the same page? >> reporter: well, it is interesting, you heard joe johns say senator mcconnell wants to see someone from the white house involved. well, from the white house's standpoint they may not be on camera, the action on camera may be taking place down the other end of pennsylvania avenue on the hill. but the white house is involved. the president, the vice president, and senior administration officials have been talking to members of congress. and from the standpoint down here, they say the president is ready to play whatever role is necessary. so it isn't as though people don't know where both sides stand. real question here is whether or not they're going to be able to reach a compromise quickly enough that can pass both houses of congress. and, you know, the president has taken to the airwaves, had a speech on monday, again on friday, and he spoke this morning in his weekly address about the consequences if congress f

athena jones at the white house for us. good to see you, as always. one of our newest members of cnn. good to have you with us. >> thanks. >> and on sunday night, 9:00, a special cnn report, what will it take to find a solution on this debt crisis. it's "get it done: countdown to debt crisis," sunday night, 9:00 eastern right here. >>> well, at 20 minutes past the hour, he is the dear abby for those in need. how one newspaper columnist is turning stories of desperation into opportunity. stay with me. >>> 22 minutes past the hour now. $100 here, $100 there -- it doesn't take a whole lot to help people in these tough times. that's the mission of this week's cnn hero, a real estate broker and a columnist for a newspaper in lake geneva, wisconsin. >> when i go through suburbia, america, or the small towns, everybody's trying to hold their head up with pride. you've been looking for work? >> yeah. >> okay. i know it's tough in a recession. >> i can't find anything. >> i went and sold all my jewelry yesterday. >> these people behind closed doors, they tell

and a few minutes on our athena green card immigrants who are now seeing red after winning american citizenship lottery they're now being told no answer to their lives tell you why. their resignations keep coming in the british newspaper phone hacking scandal now that you case most senior police officer has quit sir paul stephenson was facing a growing backlash over hiring a former news of the world executive as an advisor and was later questioned about illicit phone tapping acts police commissioner also took a swipe at the prime minister saying his choice of advisor was a worst decision namely former editor andy coulson and a day of rapid developments from the back of who ran the paper was arrested as part of the u.s. to gauge she quit on friday as rupert murdoch's liberation is due to join him and his son james facing m.p.'s on tuesday over and ethical reporting methods and police bribery media analyst phil really says officers for information has been going on for years. this is a good example of what the police have been doing in the kind of murdoch years they've been using a receipt been l

. >> let me get to joe johns at the capitol there, and athena. any plans to lock them into the room? >> reporter: this is where we started yesterday. of course, a meeting happened with nancy pelosi and senate majority leader, harry yaed. and the president spoke with mitch mcconnell, and so we know these sorts of talks are going to continue. so if they decide another meeting will bring a breakthrough, that will happen. the framework is a tentative framework, and there's no deal and they don't know how close they are to a deal because there are several major details being discussed which is in line with what harry reid said, which is there is a distance to go to reach the final compromise. >> what is the framework as we know it so far, joe? >> reporter: right, and the best we can tell, this is what the president, the vice president apparently have been mostly to the senate republicans about, and it would include extending the borrowing authority of the united states, that's the debt limit, into 2030 which would avoid visiting the issue into the cam

. >> dan loathian and athena jones, thanks you both.o you. >>> and president obama due to speak at 10:20 eastern. we will carry it live. >>> the debt crises has pushed the har dote five straight days of losses. but now a government report shows the economy may be in worse shape than we thought. allan chernoff from the new york stock exchange. we were watching when harry reid was speaking on the floor, the numbers continued to take a dive. right now dow industries down 107 points. >> that's right. on top of all this concern we have regarding the debt ceiling, now we get bad news about the economy. this is looking back, okay? for the last quarter, we had growth of only 1.3%. that is very, very slow. the traditional rate is closer to 3%. that's what we need to start to improve the employment situation. we're nowhere near that. and then back to the first quarter, real revision there, the economy was barely moving at all pap growth rate of only 0.4%. now, let's look forward which is what the stock market normally does. when you add in this e

. >> this week's winner is athena wainscott, from overland kansas, she says the show keeps getting betterrrest, the show is what gets her through the day. she says -- favorite song is to her playlist and what to chardonnay is to kathie lee's wine glass. phe loves to hear about the weekends and she watches the show because you guys give moms permission to have a cocktail every once in a while. or liquid sanity as she calls it. as a thank you we are sending you to -- >> where? >> sunny california. you'll be living it up for two nights at the napa valley lodge, with round-trip airfare, car rental, a biking wine tour and dinner. all included and furnished by zozi.com. which is a website for finding unique travel and local experiences. hotels, accommodations, fu s fud by the napa valley lodge in yountsville, california. >> how to get softer and tighter looking skin. >> and >>> good morning to you. 10:26 right now. i'm laura garcia-cannon. students at all of the schools face a possibility of tuition increases this week. uc board of regence will vote 10 percent for the semester that starts next