we'll see if that happens when they reconvene on monday. >> jake tapper at the white house, thank you, jake. >>> and this sunday, the tough questions will continue on "this week," when christiane amanpour sits down with white house chief of staff bill daley. >>> heading overseasasow to syria, and look at this picture. it is the u.s. ambassador driving through a sea of protesters. hundreds of thousands of him. his car greeted with roses and olive branches. the protesters are thrilled at the show of solidarity against president bashir al assad's regime. >>> and in egypt, do you recognize this place? it's tahrir square where the revolution began. brimming with protesters once more today, but calling for faster progress, five months after the government fell. >>> and, in the united kingdom, shockwaves from the scandal that rattled rupert murdoch's media empire. they reached the british government today, as a former spokesman for prime minister david cameron was arrested. abc's jeffrey kofman now on the tabloid world out of control. >> reporter: when andy coulson was editor of "the news of

jake tapper at the white house. jake? >> reporter: good evening, diane. well, as you know, there is always a lot of talk in this town about job creation. but there doesn't seem to be the kind of your jen sill that might lead to cooperation and action. washington, d.c. is the kind of town where leaders like to reassure the public that they hear the american people loud and clear. >> i read letter after letter from folks hit hard by this economy. they want me to know that what they're looking for is that we have done everything we can. >> the number one question my constituents still have is, where are the jobs? >> i hear the same thing from the american people. >> reporter: okay, so, washington is listening. what is washington doing? let's take the list president obama offered this morning o o ways congress could act today to help create jobs. investing in infrastructure. passing trade agreements. and end tending last year's payroll tax cut for another year. >> all of f em have bipartisan support. all of them could pass immediately. and i urge congress not

abc's jake tapper reports now from the white house. >> reporter: the clock is ticking down. >> and we have no way to give congress more time to solve this problem and we're running out of time. >> reporter: congress at times sounds like a playground recess. >> eric cantor has shown he shouldn't be at the table and republicans agree he shouldn't be at the table. >> leader reid is frustrated as we all are. and the fact is we are going to abide by our principles. >> reporter: president obama rejected a call from house republican leader rick cantor to agree to $1.5 trillion in both spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling. with another vote on the matter next year. the president said no. this may bring my presidency down, but i will not yield on this. >> the president is saying, essentially, he would rather have a default than have to vote on this again next year. that doesn't make any sense. >> he is saying that leaders should lead and we have to do the right thing here. >> reporter: if the debt ceiling is not raised the federal government will default on its debt while immediat

and we're joined now by abc's senior white house correspondent jake tapper. jake, you're one of the most astute observers of washington that i know. what did you make of what we saw tonight? >> well, it was a play act of the dysfunction that those of us who have been covering this and watching this for the last month have seen. a president who envisions himself to be fighting for the little guy and seeking a fair and balanced approach. talking about how he wants to work with the house speaker and the speaker wants to work with him but it's these recalcitrant republican house members, these freshmen who are causing the problem -- >> well, let me ask you u out that. this is a relationship that has developed over months as we've seen. is this a sign that it's splitsville between obama and boehner? >> i don't think so. i think the president and speaker boehner have a decent in the same way, oddly enough, vice president biden and house majority leader eric cantor have a good working relationship and seem to like each other. but on this issue there just really doesn

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abc's jake tapper tells us what else happened today on the standstill. jake. >> reporter: well, president obama came before the cameras, this morning, diane, and he said they need to raise the debt ceiling so they don't have to deal with the debt ceiling issue till at least 2013. >> i will not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension. that is just not an acceptable approach. it's not going to get easier. it's going to get harder. so we might as well do it now. pull off the band-aid. eat our peas. now's the time to do it. >> "eat our peas," he says. but what is the impasse, break it down for us. >> reporter: to simplify it, it really comes down to taxes. democrats say that you can't have all these spending cuts that hurt seniors, the poor people, student loans, without asking corporations and wealthier americans to contribute as well. republicans say no new taxes. you cannot raise taxes during a recession. and that's really what they're at heads about. >> but any sign anybody's going to blink in the next couple of days? >> reporter: well, somebody n

but that's not up to me. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm jake tapper in chicago.

abc's jake tapper now. >> reporter: he didn't nominate her to run the brand-new consumer protection bureau but the president today made sure to give credit to harvard law professor elizabeth warren who came up with the idea for the agency and, since september, has been setting it up. >> let's face it, she's done it while facing some very tough opposition and drawing a fair amount of heat. >> reporter: so much heat, republicans threatened to block her nomination. on her way out the proverbial door, warren told us today that the bureau is on its way to making credit card and mortgage companies simplify their contracts and setting up a national consumer complaint hotline. >> nobody's responsible to the american consumer. nobody's looking out for american families. we started that. we're under way. >> reporter: you're the one who came up with the idea in this journal from four years ago. and there are a lot of progressives out there who are disappointed the president didn't nominate you. >> of all the ideas that got published in academic journals like that, not so many make it into law. and i

abc's jake tapper has the latest now from the white house. >> reporter: republican senate leader mitch mcconnell presented the unusual proposal to empower the president to raise the debt ceiling while congress votes to disapprove. >> i still want to cut spending. i was hoping he wanted to cut spending without extract ing as a condition for cutting spending what we believe are job-killing tax increases. >> reporter: president obama said if it is not passed before default day there will be an immediate effect on social security, veterans' benefits and medicare. >> i cannot guarantee those checks go out on august 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. >> this is turning into a laugh except it's nothing funny about it. >> reporter: former republican senator alan simpson, who co-chaired the deficit commission, says the american people are rightly disgusted and he's rightly bother ed about republicans undermining any chance of speaker boehner compromising. >> if that's what's going on in my party, it's disguguing to me. >> reporter: a democrat familiar with negotiations said at the most rece

jake tapper is covering it from the white house. jake, it seems like that last meeting, all the options were laid out. and the president said i still want a big deal. but it's up to you to come back to me with something you can pat. >> reporter: the only thing decided at the meeting yesterday they would not have a meeting today. president obama said, it's decision time. and there are basically three options. one is the big deal about $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. that would be entitlement cuts and also tax increase, something for everyone to hate. that seems very unlikely. the second option is this middle deal, maybe around $2 trillion in deficit reduction. all spending cuts. no tax increases. no entitlement cuts. then, there's this third option for this very complicated bit of legislation being offered by the republican senate leader, mitch mcconnell. >> that's right, the fallback. it would basically put the burden on the president. make maybe a small down payment in cuts now but put off all the big decision

and abc's jake tapper is at the white house tonight with those down to the wire decisions. tell us about them, jake. >> reporter: well, diane, even regardless of the state of the house bill, democrats say it's dead on earrival. so, it's unclear that the debt ceiling will be raszed by deadline tuesday. so, the white house is preparing for a worst case scenario. next door to the white house on the third floor conference room at the treasury department, secretary tim geithner and a dozen others have been preparing a secret plan for doomsday. for months, they've been planning a world where congress has instructed the federal government t tcontinue to pay its bills but as of next tuesday, has not given it a way to pay them. >> what happens then is that we no longer have the ability to borrow money. >> reporter: tax revenue will continue to flow into the treasury, but not nearly enough. $178 billion in august to cover $308 billion in bills. so, tough choices will have to be made. who gets paid? who does not? abc news has learned a top priority will be paying the interest on the ex

abc's jake tapper had an exclusive interview with clinton in chicago, where he is proposinina jobs plan and budget strategy. >> reporter: president clinton proposed a solution to the current budget led deadlock. do they have any point to make, in terms of taxes, could harm this very fragile recovery? >> sure, today. but that's not what the point they're making. every argument that the republicans can make for now's not a good time to raise taxes is also true for now's not a good time to cut spending. what i'd like to see them do is, agree on the outlines of a ten year plan, and agree not to start either the revenue hikes or the spending cuts until we've got this recovery under way. >> reporter: for the first time, the former president is focusing his clinton global initiative conference entirely on creating jobs in the u.s. among the items they've discussed is the unbelievable number of jobs that remain unfilled in the u.s. because workers do not have the skills. >> there are more than 3 million posted job openings today. those jobs are being filled at only half the pace they were fille

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >>> a suburban, new orleans man arrived home from work toind horrific scene. his wife and three small daughters were shot to death. the girls were all in one bed with their mother lying across them and at the foot of the bed. at this point police believe it was a case of murder-suicide. >>> overseas where funeral services are set tomorrow for the brother of afghan president hamid karzai. walid karzai was gunned down by a trusted associate yesterday. the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack but there's doubt about the rebel group's involvement. >>> in a moving white house ceremony president obama awarded the nation's highest military honor to army sergeant first class leroy petrie for bravery in the line of fire. petrie's actions cost him his right hand but he saved the lives of his comrades. >> reporter: above and beyond. at's where leroy petrie went in may 2008. afghanistan, his seventh tour of duty. these pictures from before he found out what he was made of. with the true sign of that today being a ceremony, a certain discomfort at

let me bring in jake tapper for more. jake, this is a good news/bad news situation for the white house. on the one hand, the fact that speaker boehner is having so much trouble getting votes could be encouraging to them. on the other hand, it makes the path forward so much more uncertain. >> reporter: yeah, i'm not getting much of a vibe with any of the senior advisers i spoke with this morning. that they're in any way happy with this. they're looking at this with disbelief. they expected boehner would be able to pass it. while it was a bill all but dead on arrival at the senate they were expecting that. and one senior white house official describing it as mad hatter time on the hill. this has nothing to do with the economy but power plays. one other senior white house official saying that all the house republicans have done this week is waste time because, of course, this bill is probably not going to pass the senate anyway. >> well, that's right. harry reid showed that he had a majority to defeat it already. let me brin

who sat down with abc's chief white house correspondent jake tapper for tonight's "nightline" interview reporter: today in chicago, the man who oversaw the best economy in recent american history took matters into his own hands. ncluding the first clinton global initiative to focus on creating jobs in the u.s., bill clinton today announced pledges to help create more than 100,000 american jobs and train more than 300,000 american workers. what ideas are you hearing here at this conference that president obama and speaker boehner need to hear? >> well, first of all, there does seem to be a real feeling here that we need to find economic always to increase our investment and infrastructure and in clean energy. and there was a great idea here today, discussi ined in our fir meeting about what to do about the so-called skills gap. there are 3 million posted job openings today. those jobs are being filled at only half the pace they were filled in previous recessions. >> reporter: at the same time unemployment is 9%. >> you got it. so, just think about it. we had 3 million people more working

. >> harvard law professor elizabeth warren with abc's jake tapper. she was a prime mover in the wall street reform and consumer protection act. wall street does not like this, charles. >> how was it working out, with 9.2% unemployment? the regulations that i get to be written on this -- that are yet to be written on this take years and years and introduce nothing but uncertainty in the markets, and add to that, obamacare, unbelievable uncertainty. nobody knows what the rates are going to be, whoqis going to be injured and not insured, and you are surprised busesses are not hiring? >> the consumer protection agency is not responsible for that -- >> dodd-frank -- >> could i finish? look at your credit card bill. for the first time you can -- >> i'd rather not. >> see what it costs you if you don't pay it off. this agency is to make the buying public able to see what the costs are -- and to break are -- make a market judgment as to what kind of mortgage or credit-card we want. it seems that those are all things that are eminently sensible. >> elizabeth

abc's jake tapper is at the white house tonight. jake, tell us what happened. >> reporter: good evening, diane. well, sources tell abc news that president obama told congressional leaders in their private meeting that this is a moment to be seized. that as long as they are attempting d dicit reduction, they should think big. and what they're talking about could affect millions and millions of americans. there's a lot of cutting going on at the white house these days. and the branches of this elm could be just the beginning. poth both president obama and the house speaker, john boehner, today pushed congressional leaders to reduce the deficit by up to $4 trillion over the next decade or so. but how to get there is the sticking point. the president wants both spending cuts and new taxes and revenue. >> everybody acknowledged that there's going to be pain involved politically on all sides. >> reporter: and that pain will trickle down. and how might you feel it? republicans want to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from entitlement pro

a big emergency meeting ended late today and abc's jake tapper on what happened, and he is at the white house. jake? diane.orter: good evening, well, the meeting broke earlier this evening after roughly an hour an 45 minutes of negotiations. and there is still no light at the end of this economic tunnel negotiations. and there is still no light at the end of this economic tunnel negotiations. and there is still no light at the end of this economic tunnd negotiations. and there is still no light at the end of this economic tunnel. republican senate leader mitch mcconnell this afternoon presented the unusual proposal to empower the president to raise the debt ceiling while congress votes to disapprove. >> i still want to cut spending. i was hoping he wanted to cut spending without extracting as a condition for cutting spending what we believe are job-killing tax increases. >> reporter: president obama told cbs news that if this impasse is not resolved before default day, august 2nd, there will be an immediate effect on social security, veterans' benefits and medicaid. >> i cannot guarante

let's turn to jake tapper. he's at the white house following every twist and turn in the high-stakes debt drama. jake, tell us, are they any closer at this hour? >> no, in fact, we had, today, democrats in the senate and republicans in the house introduce competing plans to solve this problem of the debt ceiling. both plans would not raise any taxes and would include at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years, but the republican plan, offered by house speaker john boehner, would only increase the debt ceiling by $1 trillion, getting us just until next spring. we'd have to go through this debate all over again. the democratic plan in the senate raises the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, getting us through 2013. it is a rather dysfunctional day in washington, even for the last month. >> well, jake, thank you. and of course you'll be there and abc news will be bringing you the president's address to the nation tonight at 9:00 eastern time. and republican response from john boehner. >>> and now a

we did check with our senior white house correspondent jake tapper on this issue. and here's what he had to say. >> reporter: i have never seen it this dysfunctional, and i asked people on all sides how is this going to enen nobody knows. everybody is confident something will happen before august 2nd but nobody can tell you what it will be, and to tell you the truth, it's a little dispiriting to cover, even though as a reporter i enjoy it, as an american, it's a little depressing. >> and that depression is evident in a new abc news poll that was released overnight. a majority of americans, 82%, in fact, say their hometowns are struggling to keep people employed. 54% say the economy has forced them to change their lifestyles. meanwhile, just 15% say they are managing actually to get ahead financially. >>> and attorneys for former ifm chief dominique strauss-kahn say the woman accusing him of sexual assault is only talking to push strauss-kahn into paying her off. in an exclusive interview nafissatou diallo told abc's robin roberts she wants strauss-kahn to go to jai

. >> let's head down constitution avenue and go to the white house where jake tapper is standing by. what did they say in response to this and what do they make of the wobbly economic numbers? >> there is concern at the white house about what's going on on the stock market. the economy is very fragile. people at the white house are concerned that house republican leaders just don't understand that what they pass needs to be able to get through a democratic senate. theyeyook at the balanced budget amendment as a real poison pill making sure the bill from speaker boehner will never be adopted in the senate. they are trying to convey some confidence. the president today asked by a man who said that he still wanted to play poker with the president. president obama said i have a high stakes game of poker going on right now, trying to project confidence there will be a resolution. there will be a compromise. one reason for that is what one democrat close to the process called theoretical conversations that are goingngn all over town. democrats and republicans theoretically my boss thinks t

and here's abc's jake tapper. >> reporter: it was twitter's first presidential town hall meeting. >> i am going to make history as the first president to live tweet. >> reporter: president obama is not particularly known for brevity, so, it posed something of a challenge. >> only 140 characters. >> reporter: he opted to speak instead of type, with a white house aide paraphrasing his answers. of the almost 25,000 tweets submitted, most focused on jobs, the economy, taxes and the budget. one twitterer asked, what mistakes the president had made in h hdling this recession? >> one would have been to explain to the american people that it was going to take awhile for us to get out of this. and i take responsibility for that. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner has been of his questions picked, with some odd code showing up. he asked, where are the jobs? >> john obviously needs to work on his typing skills. this is a slightly skew ed question. but -- what he's right about is that we have not seen fast enough job growth relative to the need. >> reporter: about those deficit negotiations

abc's jake tapper reports from the white house. >> reporter: the presidentnt continued to push for a big, painful deficit reduction package. >> we have a unique opportunity to do something big. >> reporter: and for the first time publicly, he detailed a specific, possible cut to a popular entitlement program. can you tell us one structural reform that you are willing to make to one of these entitlement programs that would have a major impact on the deficit? >> i've said that means testing on medicare. meaning, people like myself, you can envision a situation where, for somebody in my position, me having to pay a little bit more on premiums or copays or things like that would be appropriate. and again, that could make a difference. >> reporter: even with the suggestion, negotiations are at an impasse. house republicans are refusing to increase any taxes and insist the president is not serious about cuts. >> we asked the president to lead. we asked him to put forward a plan, not a speech, a real plan. and he hasn't. we will. >> reporter: the race is on to figure out a way to raise the

abc's jake tapper watched it all at the white house. >> reporter: the clock is ticking down. >> and we have no way to give congress more time to solve this problem and we're running out of time. >> reporter: congress, at times, sounds like a playground at recess. >> house majority leader eric cantor showing he shouldn't even be at the table. and republicans agree he shouldn't be at the table. >> leader reid is, i imagine, frustrated, as we all are. and the fact is, we are going to abide by our principles. >> reporter: during yesterday's tense meeting, president obama rejected a call from house republican leader eric cantor to agree to $1.5 trillion in both spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling, with another vote on the matter next year. the president said no. "this may bring my presidency down, but i will not yield on this." the president is saying, essentially, he would rather have it default than have to vote on this again next year. that doesn't make any sense. >> he is saying that leaders should lead and we have to do the right thing here. >> reporter: if the debt ceili

gathered our powerhouse political team, abc's george stephanopoulos here in new york, jon karl and jake tapper in washington. and all three told me, they have never seen anything like this before. >> reporter: with just about a week to go, none of f e leaders, none of them, not the president, not the speaker of the house, not the democratic leader of the senate, know how this is going to turn out. right now, there are no votes to pass anything. >> so, you are saying that the white house has no idea -- >> reporter: how this is going to play out? >> no idea. >> reporter: no solid idea. absolutely not. >> they have a plan? >> reporter: none at all. like this in 20 years in this town where nobody knows how it's going to end. >> republicans get to have their fight next year, in any case, right? it's an election year. we can fight about taxes in this country during an election year. why make the debt ceiling an issue? why make it about the debt ceiling as opposed to the fact that we're going to elect a president? >> reporter: because it's working for them right now. >> reporter: and also, diane, the

abc's jake tapper has the latest now from the white house. >> reporter: republican senate leader mitchhe unusual proposal to empower the president to raise the debt ceiling while congress votes to disapprove. >> i still want to cut spending. i was hoping he wanted to cut spending without extracting as a condition for cutting spending what we believe are job-killing tax increases. >> reporter: president obama told cbs news if this impasse is not resolved before default day, august 2nd, there will be an immediate effect on social security, veterans' benefits, and medicaid. >> i cannot guarantee those checks go out on august 3 if we haven't resolved this issue. >> this is turning into a laugh except it's nothing funny about it. >> reporter: former republican senator alan simpson who co-chaired the deficit commission said the american people are rightly disgusted and he's personally bothered by republicans undermining any chance of speaker boehner compromising. >> if that's the stuff that's going on in my party, where the pettiness overcomes the patriotism, it's disgusting to me. >> report

jake tapper, jon karl on capitol hill. jon, given the deadlock, the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell says he doesn't think a deal can be reached, so he's come up with a last-ditch fallback which puts the burden on the president. >> reporter: last choice option, only if the talks completely collapse. it's complicated but the bottom line is, it would give the president the auththity on his own to gradually raise that debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion between now and the election. the political burden is all the president's. he can do it without spending cuts and even in the face of opposition from the majority in congress. but i've got to tell you, george i talked to a lot of republicans in the house, rank and file, who say it's not acceptable. they want real spending cut, a lot of them and nothing else. >> there's no guarantee of spending cuts even though it would avoid tax increases. let me bring in jake tapper for the response on that. any openness in the white house to that and where do they think the talks are right

here is jake tapper with more on the president president's eo beyond mainstream media to reach the public >> it was twin citieser's first presidential town hall meeting. >> i will make history as the first president to live tweet. >> president obama is not particularly known for breivity so posed something fo of a challenge. >> it is only 140 characters. >> he opted to speak instead of type with the white house aide paraphrasing his answers. of the 25,000 admitted most focused on the job the economy and the budget. >> one would have been to explain to the american people that it was going to take this. for us to get out of and i take responsibility for that. >> house speaker joh john boehr had one of his questions picked. hear than -- this is a slighty skewed question. what is right is that we have not seen fast enough job growth released la toiive it threlati. >> reporter: the president also used some of his toughest language yet, saying debt ceiling should not be used as a gun against the heads of american people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners and oil and gas companies.

one of the most revealing moments was when jake tapper of abc news said mr. president, can you think of one structural change you would be in favor of? he refuse today give anything. he semi said he might be in favor of means testing. this was not a helpful step in moving us towards conclusion. as i said in my column today, i think the republicans in the house run the risk of being jammed by senator reid and president obama, unless they build on tuesday's success by continuing to take step to resolve this process in a way that is in conformity with their object, no increase in the debt ceiling unless it is offset by larger real spending cuts. >> greta: is your difference with the president ideology or do you think he's not performing his job even in support of his democratic principles? >> yeah, i don't think he's doing the job that we expect him to do as americans. granted, he began this whole debt ceiling with a problem that is, in 2006, as a member of the united states senate he treated a request by his predecessor to raise the debt ceiling at pure d polit

. >>> first, abc's jake tapper is at the white house with the latest. good morning, jake. >> reporter: good morning, george. sources say that president obama told congressional leaders in the room last night that he still wants the big deal. $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years. speaker john boehner says he wants to, too. but there's no path to get there. the clclk is ticking. the major sticking point, whether it's a large part of tax reform, wages on top wage earners go up. democrats say speaker b bhner agreed to put on the table letting the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans expire. but then could not take the heat from his republican caucus. >> this is serious stuff. we've got to be able to deliver on this promise. and i'll make sure that's done and no tax increases. >> reporter: republicans say that the problem is president obama hahabeen unable to bring his own party around to own entitlement spending medicare medicaid, social security, that he put on the table. tick tock. the goal is to reach an agreement in the next couple o

but as jake tapper reports, there was more squabling than there was settling down to business. >> the is ticking down. >> we have no which to give congress more time to solve this problem. we are running out of time. >>reporter: congress at times sounds like a playground at recess fichlt house majority leader shows he shouldn't be at the table and republicans shouldn't be at the table. >>reporter: reid is frustrated as we all are and the fact is we are going to abide by our principal. >> during yesterday tense meeting president obama rejected a call from house republican leader cantor to agree to 1.5 trillion i don't know dollars in both spending cuts and increase in the debt ceiling with another vote on the matter next year. the president said no. until may bring my presidency down but i will not yield on this. >> the president is saying essentially he would rather have a default than have to vote on this again next year. that doesn't make any sense. >> he is saying that leaders should lead and we have to do the right thing here. >>reporter: if the debt ceiling is not raised the fede

jake tapper at the white house. what we're seeing is classic use of the tactics. >> reporter: he will talk about how the house will pass a bill that probably can't pass the senate. the senate is about to pass one that can't pass the house and say the time for this deadlock is over and there needs to be a premium on compromise but there is a risk here, george. in the sense that the president is not going to be presenting any new plan and he is complaining about washington's dysfuncti dysfunction. here comes the president now. >> good evening. i want to talk about the debate we've had over the national debt. the debate that directly affected the lives of all americans. for the last decade we've spent more money than we take in. in the year 2 n.o.w. tho2000 ha budget surplus, and the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cut, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation's credit card. as a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year i took offic

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> the scary part of all this is you listen to the reporters,ll the analysts, and no one knows how this is going to end. and we're, what, three days out. tuesday is the big deadline and no one knows how this thing is going to come to a head. >> it's going to be a tense meeting with those bank heads. i'd like to be a fly on the wall in that meeting. >> now some are encouraging the president, president obama, to use the 14th amendment, which means he could unilaterally raise the debt limit without having to wait on congress. that seems like a dangerous move too. >> he doesn't want to do that. he s ss his lawyers wouldn't support that. it doesn't seem likely. >> american politics. it's a messy season. >> it certainly is, certainly is. all right. >>> now to texas where a soldier suspected of plotting a deadly attack on troops at ft. hood is behind bars. naser abdo was a muslim with a conscientious objector status. >> he was under investigation for possession of child pornography when he went awol three weeks ago. then he surfaced at a gun shop near

. >>> as abc's jake tapper reports, it was a success story detailed at former president clinton's jobn weeks later. >> we got under the mattress here in the hallway. >> reporter: brad hinman who survived by crouching with his family under a mattress is not only rebuilding his shattered home, he's hoping to help speed the recovery in another way, with jobs. >> there is a need for jobs in joplin because of the storm. we want to fill that gap. >> reporter: hinman's employer, onshore technology services is one of the handful doing rural outsourcing, convincing compmpies thinking about shipping tech jobs overseas to bring them to rural america where labor costs are relatively low. the company just expanded to joplin after starting a mini tech boom in tiny macon, missouri. >> i was sick and tired of watching jobs go offshore. >> reporter: shane maize founded the company six yeyes ago, retraining the unemployed or underemployed for i.t. jobs. >> we'll take people who may have worked in manufacturing, that may have been completely unemployed, may have come off of a farm and a short time later

john of course, jake tapper at the white house. bianna covering the markets in new york. jon, let me begin with you, it seems this tentative framework deal has a lot more support say in the senate an the house necessarily. >> reporter: that's right. republicans in the house will not like this idea of being forced to face the possibility of big defense cuts. george, there's a lot that can blow this up. the key thing is over the next several hours, when the framework of this deal is shared with membership on both sides, you could hear some very loud objections, both from liberal democrats and conservative republicans. >> and still some objections from the white house. let me bring in jake as well. last sunday, we were in a similar situation. seemed to be a deal negotiated on capitol hill. they went to the white house, it completely fell apart. the senate leaders on both sides, democrats and republicans, seemed to be more bullish in on the morning than the white house. >> reporter: that's right. a senior white house official told me he thinks the odds are no better than 50/5

the president did not answer jake tapper's question, the very first question at the news conference. what exactly who you do with regard to medicare to effectuate savings. we've identified over $100 billion a year in savings, just from medicare, medicate and unemployment compensation over payment. this isn't hurting anyone entitled to it. these are payments that shouldn't be made. yet the president is saying he is willing to look at unspecified reforms. >> you also heard what jack lew said if it was part of a deal it would involve entitle. >> we haveve no idea what he's talking about. thth's the problem. republicans are notot willing t make a deal based on some vague commitment the president might look at something he won't identify. >> right now, as both parties e in this, i guess stalemate, critical impasse, you've also heard senator mcconnell say, just this week and to a radio interviewer, that this politically could jeopardize the republicans, that being sort of blamed, which they could be, for a bad economy, c cld, quote, destroy the brand and it wouldn't be good going into an e

we're going to bring in our white house correspondent, jake tapper. jake, what they're talking about is trying to come up with a deal that would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years. that means major changes in spending and taxes. >> reporter: that's right, george. both president obama and house speaker john boehner are pushing for this larger, $4 trillion deficit reduction package. that means republicans are pushing for some reductions in entitlement spending. meaning, medicaid and medicare and social security. payments for recipients of those programs would likely be cut, especially for the wealthier recipients of medicare and social security. and then, democrats are pushing for some tax increases and closing of tax loopholes, including the end of oil and gas company subsidies, the end of some business tax breaks and capping the deductible for wealthier americans. on the whole, this would be about $4 trillion in deficit reduction over a decade or so. >> if it passes. but coming out of the meeting, speaker boehner says there's onl

. >>> want to bring in jake tapper this morning. jake, good to see you. i know you saw this number. 80% of americans say they're dissatisfiy eied with the government. are lawmakers hearing this? >> reporter: i think they are, david. that number has not been so high since 1992 and, of course, that year president george h.w. bush was not re-elected after that number. it shot up 11 points in just the last month. one big difference, though, from now as opposed to '92 or even 2010 when the public was discontent. in this instance the public seems to be holding the opposition party, the republicans more responsible than the president's party, the democrats. >> you make that point, jake. bad numbers for president obama but the republicans don't fare well either in this poll. >> horrible numbers for president obama but abysmal for the republicans. president obama own lip has 40% approval when it comes to his handling of the economy, the lowest number yet, but republicans, their approval number is 28% and when the public is asked is so and so compromising enough wh

tense mood when the president met with congressional leaders last night so let's bring in abc's jake tapper jake, this seems to be the roughest meeting yet. >> reporter:r:hat's right. described by sources as the tensest meeting yet of these deficit negotiation teams. president obama at one point clearly frustrated said he would not sign any short-term fix on this debt ceiling increase only a long-term one even at the risk of bringing down his presidency. temperatures began rising, sources tell abc news after house majority leader eric cantor suggested the two sideses were too far apart to come to a deal and proposed a short-term fix to raise the debt ceiling just until next year. he said that's when the president got agitated this. is confirming what the american people think is the worst about washington. everyone is more important in posturing and protecting their base than in solving problems. the president continued "i have shown enormous willingness to compromise and have taken huge heat for it. it cannot all be on us." the president again threatened to veto a short-term solution telli