brianna keilar is it at the white house with a preview. and originally the sole focus of his remarks was a new initiative putting military veterans back to work because they're having such a hard time. that's changing. he is going to speak about the encouraging jobs reports number, correct? >> reporter: and expect him to really emphasize this program for getting unemployed vets who have to do have a much higher unemployment rate than the national average, expect him to emphasize that but the president has certainly addressed these jobs numbers most months he's been in office and especially with the newspapers being better than expected, we're told that he is expected to address that than expected, we're told that he is expected to address that p p. in the meantime, we do have new reaction from the austan goolsbee, it's his last day in his role, and you heard chris team talking about the private sector job number. 154,000 added. this is when goolsbee is emphasizing. they're better than expected, but not enough to keep up with really what th

brianna keilar, as you know, is our white house correspondent and brianna, if you don't mind, i wantedse you were actually there in 2000, the first reporter on the scene when that shooting rampage happened back in 2007, april of 2007. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, we were actually well on our way to virginia tech because we had understood that there had been a shooting that might have just been a domestic incident, as we understand it at the time, and that was the shooting, you'll recall, there were two, one was at a resident hall where a young man and a young woman were killed andhe staff at the university thought it might have been a domestic incident so the school was not shut down later in the morning. and that is when the larger shooting that claimed many more lives, dozens of lives at norris hall happened. the school took a tremendous ount of criticism for not shutting things down and so what you're seeing here is really just a very guarded response by the university. we have seen this time and time again when there have been incidents of question at virginia tech. because the

brianna keilar, what are the things the administration could do today to ramp this up? >> reporter: you know, kyra, one of the things we have heard frequently from the administration is that the markets, the ratings agencies, these are things they can't control, and it may not be very reassuring but the strategy is certainly slower moving than the panic. you've seen the white house and they continue to emphasize this deficit reduction process. of course, you know that congress is away for this month, and what we heard yesterday from the president trying to be reassuring was that he was going to try to intervene in the process in terms of sending recommendations on entitlement reform and tax reform to that bipartisan commission that is going to be tackling this issue. also this issue of jobs, that the president is very eager to try to get back on the road and emphasize. the strategy remains the same there. payroll tax, holiday extension, unemployment benefits being extended, dealing with the free trade deals before congress, and also infrastructure spendsing may be the t

brianna keilar is there in between the punches and trying to dodge the bullet. what do you think, brianna? is the white house sitting back and saying okay, zee to step up this offensive in the blame game. >> we certainly saw it over the weekend and kyra, there are some looking backward and some looking forward. i'll start with the looking backward. the white house is criticizing s&p for the nation's credit. we heard the white house calling this amateurish, calling this political saying this was a miscalculation calling that a $2 trillion error, something that the s&p is calling a smoke screen and saying that the reason they continued with this downgrade has very much to do with the political climate that creates so much uncertainty in raising the debt ceiling and dealing with these long-term fiscal issues. the white house also pointing a finger at house republicans for that very reason saying they're the ones who really slowed down this process. of course, you'll hear the reverse coming from the other side, won't you, kyra? looking forward the white house is see

let's reflect a little bit about what's going on, brianna keilar is with us. ign trip although it does have that feeling. i've covered a lot of campaigns. but he's trying to make some policy decisions and meet with local constituents at the same time. >> reporter: it's a bit of a two fer. of course here we are in iowa and you can't escape that fact, especially with all of the action that you're seeing from republican presidential candidates here in the last week. and of course, the president is hoping for some support here that he got in 2008 that really gave him that early momentum. but on the other hand, you also have him here using iowa as a backdrop for rural issues. and we've talked about this, that democrats in the mid-term election in 2012 really struggled with rural america and arguably it cost them or helped cost them control of the house of representatives which the president would now say is causing certainly a lot of the headaches that he's having. so here you saw the president today. and even though we're waiting for him to unveil a big sort of job

you can look at what brianna keilar has dubbed the beasty bus.lcome from man's best friend. >>> iowa has six electoral votes and it's more of a swing state in recent president kbral elections. president obama easily won iowa back in 2008. the state went republican four years earlier with george w. bush eeking out a slim victory. in 2000, al gore narrowly beat bush in iowa. brianna keilar is with us. this is not technically a campaign trip though it has that feeling. it does to me, but she trying to make policy decisions and meet with local constituents at the same time. >> it's a two fer. you can't escape that fact with all the action you are seeing with republican candidates in the last week. of course the president is hoping for some support he got in 2008 that gave him that early lead. you have him using iowa as a backdrop for rural issues. democrats in the mid-term election really struggled with rural america and it cost them or helped cost them control of house of the representatives that the president said cost a lot of the headaches that h

brianna keilar live now at the white house. once again the president getting toward speak at 12:15. signs that bill, the vote expected to go down at high noon. we think we'll know what's going

brianna keilar joining us live from the white house this morning. why did timothy geithner want to leave? >> well, you know, i think he's been here a long time, carol, and certainly we've seen a lot of members of the president's economic team depart and that may be the argument for him staying. we saw christine romer, she's gone, larry summers. friday was the last day for austin goolsbee who did head up the president's council on economic advisors. really geithner was sort of the last man standing on his economic team. certainly the argument for continuity is there. the president asked timothy geithner to stay on and we're told that he'll be here into the fall of 2012. of course very important, there is a little election right around there, carol. >> you know, i'm just thinking about it. timothy geithner has his share of critics who want him to go, but when you think the president would have to nominate a new treasury secretary, which would have to be approved by congress, and can you imagine what that would be like? >> it would be quite the fight an

moment to flee the scene as fighting between pro and anti gadhafi forces a military correspondent brianna keilar is at the border there has been a rather intense fighting reported missing the true khadafi and avg rebel forces about fifteen kilometers from the border with tunisia in as it's out of the much the border between libya and tunisia have been in sort of a degree as a plate over the past five months people have been trying to escape leave because they have out of syria like you know about what's going on to control it especially now when the libyan forces are literally attacking just going over out of their way over tripoli i found to get even more confusing is now people who president to reside near the border on the beacon side say that over the past couple of weeks here have been reported clashes between on the identified arm down arms of spending including two border guards the ohss say that. there have been a sightings of numerous heavy vehicles loaded with armed people reportedly before you leave the input it was a license plate so it's hard to identify exactly who those people wer

our white house correspondent brianna keilar is traveling with him every step of the way.ting ready for a major new plan to deal with the crisis involving jobs. what are you hearing? >> that he will be unveiling that plan as soon as congress returns to washington following labor day. according to a senior administration official, expect this plan to include tax cuts, infrastructure spending and a proposal to deal with the long-term unemployed. this is the headline as the president wraps up the three-day bus tour of the midwest president obama alived to a warm welcome in his home state. >> good to see you. >> his first stop of the day, the county fair in illinois. >> [inaudible]. . >> a little friendly ribbing, but it also reflects how fed up people are with washington. >> he is doing an okay job, but i think he can do better. >> an employee at the corn seed facility where the president held his first town hall meeting of the day. >> i would like to see him bring congress closer together and end the bickering. we don't get anything done. there people pushing agendas and not

cnn's brianna keilar joins us from atkinson, illinois. nna, in addition to jobs, the president has also been hammering republicans on this trip. any indication he'll continue to do that today? i bet he does. >> carol, i bet he does too. i think you can wholeheartedly expect that. as he sort of waits to unveil his jobs proposals when congress comes back in september and anticipating that he's definitely going to get some pushback as he already has for some of his general jobs ideas, he's painting and really hitting on republicans, house republicans not calling them out by name, for being obstructionists. the line we've heard a lot, some in congress are more interested in their opponents' losing than americans winning. it's interesting because he's also taking aim at the entire republican presidential field. listen to what he told wolf yesterday. >> when i saw our republican presidential primary candidates suggesting that they would not be willing to close a single loophole or close a single special interest tax break, even if they were goin

brianna keilar is with obama on the bus tour there in illinois. pawl stine hauser has a interview with the president and mark preston is in new hampshire, the latest stop for some of the top republican challengers. brianna keilar, what can you tell us about the president's speech? >> reporter: the president is under tremendous pressure, of course, to do something on jobs and we're learning this morning from a senior administration official that he will be unveiling his job plan when congress returns in september. they return early september after labor day. a senior administration official billing this as a major speech and telling us that this is likely to be a mix of tax cuts, of infrastructure spending, and something to address those that are the long-term unemployed. the thing to consider, kyra, all of those things laid out there are items republicans are flatly opposed to or opposed to the way in which the white house and democrats so far have said they want to execute those issues. in the meantime, we are three hours away from the president

our white house correspondent brianna keilar is joining us.at the president is trying to bring to the midwest heartland. >> well, certainly today we've seen a lot of criticism. we talked about that. he's also trying to create some optimism and also push some of his job-creating proposals, not new proposals, proposals that we've already heard about, but the white house insisting that this isn't a political swing, though it has all of the sights and sounds of campaign events, from the music to the mostly supportive crowd, at least at the one stop that we've seen so far today and yes, it has the rhetoric. president obama stepping up his criticism of republicans today. president obama left washington far behind. >> i am very pleased to be out of washington. >> reporter: to rail against the paralyzing political climate in the nation's capital and try to tap into the frustration of voters concerned by an unrelenting stream of bad economic news and disgusted by the bruising debt ceiling battle. >> i know you're frustrating. congress would rather see

brianna keilar at the white house for us right now. s why the white house has resisted making that call so far. >> reporter: well, certainly there's some considerations when it comes to syria, and also the u.s. has been looking very much for international support on this, t.j. and this is really the game-changer here. growing international support as the violence has become so elevated and has gone on for so long. and so what you have now is arab countries who are now chiming in, becoming more vocal and saying that this is unaccepta e unacceptable, and especially right now during this holy period of ramadan. those calls really have even more weight. the u.s. up until now, t.j., they've been looking for kind of some backup if you will. they have limited business interest in syria, so sanctions only go so far. and they've been looking for some more support from arab countries and from europe that may have more influence with syria. you have lately saudi arabia coming out in terms condemning the violence. china and russia finally joining t

brianna keilar is with us. mpaign trip, although it has that feeling. i've covered a lot of campaigns. it certainly does to me. but he's trying to make some policy decisions and meet with local constituents at the same time. >> it is. it's a bit of a two-fer it strikes me as. you have on one side the fact of course here we are in iowa and you can't escape that fact, especially with all of the action that you're seeing from republican presidential candidates here in the last week. and of course the president is hoping for some support here that he got in 2008 that really gave him that early momentum. but on the other hand, you also have him here using iowa as a backdrop for rural issues. and we've talked about this. that democrats in the midterm election in 2010 really struggled with rural america and arguably it cost them, or helped cost them control of the house of representatives, which the president would now say is causing certainly a lot of the headaches that he's having. so here you saw the president today

brianna keilar, thank you very much. brianna from the white house. stocks try to rebound from yesterday's nosedive. they're reacting to the credit downgrade. the dow opened higher, and is trading in positive territory. that is happening right now. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. tell us what's going on. >> suzanne, it's nice to see some green arrows for a change. but the volatility is still here. we are still in the green. the dow up 178 points. but we did see it go as high as 243. still once again holding onto a good portion of those gains. a good indicator of how investors are feeling is watching how they're trading. and we are seeing gold come off its intraday highs. it's encouraging because gold is often seen as an investment of last resort. as a safe haven. it looks like investors are kind of taking some of their money out of gold and putting it in other things like stocks. one other indicator is the vix. the vix is sharply lower. that kind of gauges the fear and volatility in the marketplace. that's sharply lower and shows that thi

. >>> brianna keilar is on the phone from washington, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ali. >ave you got? congressional leaders have made this debt deal, but there are -- there are questions about whether or not it will have the support in both houses to pass. the senate's taking it up first. over at the white house, the president -- does he think this is going to pass? >> reporter: i think obviously the hope is very much that the issue, though, is that of course there appears to be agreement between white house officials and leaders on capitol hill. but there's a whole other phase that has to go on here. that's really the buy-in phase. you'll be seeing that playing out today on capitol hill when leaders in the senate and in the house try to sell this to their members. we know that house speaker john boehner preparationed a power point to try to explain to his members. but when you look at the deal, it's a little bit of pot pourri, a little of what everyone wanted. so you're going to be having both democrats and republicans arguing that this is the best they could get, and the

brianna keilar, what are some of the things the administration could consider? >> you know, kyra, it seems that at least the strategy that the white house is pursuing on jobs and deficit reduction, these are not things that move as quickly, certainly, as the panic that we are seeing on wall street, and the markets, rating agencies, these are things that the white house had long said they cannot control. so on deficit reduction, the strategy remains very much the same. and we heard the president say yesterday, he'll be making recommendations to that bipartisan congressional commission to deal with entitlement reform, and to deal with tax reform or tax revenues. but, of course, these are things that will have to go on farther down the road, because congress isn't even here right now. of course, they're on their august recess. and then the president also still pushing his jobs message, and that remains the same as well, kyra, extending unemployment benefits. the payroll tax holiday extension. infrastructure spending, for instance, which is something that a lot of r

. >>> cnn's brianna keilar joins us live from peosta, iowa. >> good morning, christine. we're here in peosta, iowa, the single stop for president obama today for this rural economic forum. we're at northeastern iowa community college. this is really the anchor of his three-day bus tour. this is an event that the white house committed to months ago and they built the bus tour around it. and he'll be talking today with people in this community about some of the things they've been doing. it's interesting, if you look at the counties the president is going to on this bus tour, they have much better unemployment rates that the national average which is 9.1%. looking at the counties, the five stops he'll be making over these three days, they have unemployment rates between 4.8% and in the high 6s. one of the things the white house says they want to do is get a sense of what's working in these areas that maybe they could use in other parts around the country. but also, rural areas, very important as you know, christine, a place where democrats did v

. >> brianna keilar, thanks so much. >>> here is your chance to "talk back" on one of the big storieshe day. the question today, is heckling good for our political discourse? carol? >> we've raised heckling to an art form, haven't we? the question is, is heckling good for our political discourse? let's face it 2012, liberal hecklers scored when they challenged republican mitt romney. >> corporations are people, my friend. we can raise taxes on -- of course they are. >> it it worked. the democratic national committee turned it into an ad. >> corporations are people, my friend. we can raise taxes -- of course they are. everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. where do you think it goes? >> in their pocket! >> whose pockets? people's pockets. >> not to be outdone, iowa tea party chairman ryan rhodes confronted president obama. >> when you're talking about civility, how is your vice president calling us terrorists? >> sir, sir, look -- >> i would like to understand that. >> okay. i will explain it right now. he did not call you guys terrorists. >> i don't think they came to

brianna keilar, big speech next week. have they chosen the day yet? that are going to be in there, tax cuts, expect something here. a payroll tax cut that employees are enjoying at this point. a reduction in the payroll tax that they pay. the president wants to push the expiration date past the end of the year, perhaps extend it to employers, the idea being that they will give them more idea to play, perhaps an incentive to just hire people, a tax cut if they have new hires. also, infrastructure spending. this will get past republicans but something that the president wants infrastructure spending to put unemployed construction workers back to work and something to deal with the long-term unemployed so many americans, and one idea being discussed here is job training but also allowing at the same time the unemployed people to keep their benefits as they you go through the job training. again, these are things being discussed. the white house is being pretty mum on the details. >> okay. so possibly those things open up for discussion. we also can't for

. >>> rick perry is making big strides in the race for the white house, our brianna keilar, best team on television live from the political desk in washington, the perry folks, more good news for them. >> reporter: good news for them in a new poll out today, quinnipiac university poll rick perry, the new republican presidential field with 24%, mitt romney with 18% and the three republicans behind them, sarah palin, breanna keilecom m 11%, 10% and 9% respectively ron paul. take sarah palin out of it and rick perry leads more. pretty good news there for the perry folks, as we start things out, suzanne. >> brianna tell us about the musical chairs with the plans for the candidates, i understand romney, palin, all of them? >> reporter: we've kind of got the ultimate schedule shuffle going on. cnn first reported that mitt romney was going to be going to a tea party express rally, this is how he was going to be spending labor day, he would be in manchester, new hampshire. well a change now, he's actually going to catch up with the tea party express events over the weekend on sunday, instead

ali velshi in new york, athena jones, and zain verjee from london, and brianna keilar at the white house. what do you expect to see with the opening bell? i guess it's less than 30 minutes from now. >> it's going to be strong. it's going to be strong. the belief is that there is a deal. strong asian markets overnight. things started to weaken earlier today in europe and our futures were much stronger earlier than they are now. they've tempered down a little bit for two reasons. this talk that it's not done until it's done and some people saying they're not going to support t the general betting is that this deal is going to get done. this isn't euphoria. we weren't supposed to have this debate ever. we weren't supposed to lose that 4% last week. some sense that we're not quite sure how this all benefits the economy. what we know is that we dodged a bullet and we should be happy about it. we're not quite sure what the effects r analysts and investors, poring through the details of it. bottom line for your 401(k) and your investments today, the investme markets will open higher. for people

. >> white house correspondent brianna keilar is there.resident is saying yes, he's ready to go on jobs creation but congress is playing politics. is that the mess amg you're hearing? >> that's exactly right, brooke. congress is playing politics. what he really means is republicans and specifically house republicans are playing politics. he's been pointing a lot to that bruising debt ceiling battle of just -- that ended here a couple of weeks ago. as republicans are criticizing him for not doing enough on jobs, he is reiterating his plans that we have heard before, extending unemployment insurance, extending of payroll tax cuts, infrastructure spending. what he's saying, brooke, is that it's congress standing in the way. listen to this. >> the only that is holding us back is our politics. the only thing that's preventing us from passing the bills i just mentioned is the refusal of a faction in congress to put country ahead of party. that has to stop. our economy cannot afford it. >> reporter: so what is the president doing here in iowa? he

i want to bring in brianna keilar, our white house correspondent there. a what do we expect the president to say? a lot of people are frustrated and very nervous with the economic crisis and what is taking place today. >> reporter: very nervous and frustrated and certainly the markets are reflecting some of that, suzanne. expect the president when he talks to -- when he addresses and remarks at 1:00 p.m. eastern to talk about the economy in general. yes, i'm told, by a white house official he'll talk about the downgrade by s&p, but his remarks are going to be broader than that, expect him to take a reassuring tone and cite examples of why there should be confidence in the u.s. economy. certainly something to combat concern about the downgrade. we heard over the weekend white house officials and surrogates for the president really talking -- really hitting s&p for the downgrade saying that the math was flawed and that certainly hitting the process and house republicans in particular for really just the chaos that we saw going into the debt ceiling battle,

brianna keilar is there. the president didn't have a lot of support in the rural areas to begin with. what kind of reception is he getting now? >> reporter: so far, a lot of supporters that certainly feels campaign-like even though the white house insists this isn't a campaign swing. actually, president obama did pretty well in these areas. of the five counties that he is visiting on this three-day swing, he carried four of them and almost carried the fifth one. he won all three of these states. but in 2010, you had democrats really get slammed in rural areas in the midterm elections and democrats are very cognizant of that, certainly going into the presidential election so no coincide. you see an emphasis here on rural issues. the president is going to be where i am right now, which is on the grounds of the northeast iowa area community college. he'll be participating in a rural economic forum today. he is going to be meeting with local business owners, small business owners, farmers, and he'll be talking wa

brianna keilar, white house correspondent is standing by. nna, what are they saying behind the scenes right now. the president has specific ideas. he announced a repeat of them. continuation of the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance continuation of that and then infrastructure development fund, if you will. he says he's going to be coming up with more ideas for the so-called super committee to consider. any more information we're getting about tangible steps the white house is putting forward to deal with this economic crisis? >> quite frankly, wolf, no. this has been a question that we asked. i asked austin gools by on friday. the president's outgoing chief of council of economic advisors. what there is beyond this arsenal that the president laid out. the point that you will hear white house officials make is that there would be plenty of jobs in these proposals that they've put forward, be it extending unemployment insurance, the payroll tax extension and infrastructure bank. some of the things, of course, having problems that you hear

. >> white house correspondent brianna keilar joins us live from peosta, iowa.lkeded to that guy, i guess you could call it a confrontation, seemed like just a lively debate to me. what did he have to say? >> reporter: you know, he wanted to ask a question, and the president was calling on people who had their hands raised. and toward the end of it, this gentleman, ryan rhodes, the founder of the iowa tea party, he said he wanted to ask his question. so he just shouted it out. the president, during the town hall, actually said, we'll talk about this later. and he did talk to ryan rhodes about this. but it's been reported, drew, that vice president biden -- and this was happening over once the debt ceiling had been negotiated, the debt ceiling increase -- while he was talking behind closed doors with democrats, multiple democratic sources telling cnn they were venting about house republicans, tea party republicans, and that the reports are that vice president biden used the word "terrorists" to describe those lawmakers. what you heard president obama saying to rh

our brianna keilar at the white house, athena jones also in washington. brianna on the phone because i think our cameras exploded last night with all of our coverage. >> too many hours. >> one of the biggest things the white house was pushing hard for, for a while, they didn't get it, though, tax increases for the wealthiest americans. >> that's right. that is one of the big things that democrats and the white house wanted. you know what i think is interesting to think about, is that this bill is a two-part bill and in the first part this increase in the debt ceiling and then just spending cuts, but there is a whole lot of stuff that we will be talking about for months as the bipartisan committee that is being created in this bill works out some further deficit reduction measures. we don't know what that's going to be. certainly republicans are going to be fighting for entitlement reform, which they did not get in the first part of this bill as well, both sides have certainly tried to find common ground on tax reform and no doubt democrats are also going t