joining me now live from washington is transportation secretary ray lahood.ongressman for a long time. these are your colleagues that you're talking to. you're asking them to come back. can you just explain for americans out there what this is and why it happened? >> what it is, it's an extension of the faa money that can be available to pay for the work that employees do. we have 4,000 employees furloughed because congress didn't pass the 21st extension the way they had done on 20 other occasions. they left town on their vacations. they are receiving their paychecks. over 70,000 americans are not receiving paychecks because congress left town without taking care of providing the money to the faa so construction projects could continue and so faa employees could continue to do their jobs. >> secretary, explain to me the difference between the 4,000 faa employees who are not getting paid and the 70,000 number you just used. >> yeah, good question. 4,000 faa employees work directly for the faa. they work on research, they work on development, they work on next

ray lahood will start it off. this is "hardball" only on msnbc. >>> treasury secretary tim geithner is expected to remain in his post. the "new york times" reports today president obama and bill daley are threatening him to stay through the obama full first term avoiding a contentious confirmation battle for a successor, which may not succeed. we'll be right back. >>> this is a lose, lose, lose situation that can be equally resolved if congress gets back into town and does its job. the house and senate through a procedural agreement said they'd review this with unanimous consent and have the fight they want to have when they get back. >> right. that was president obama yesterday calling for congress to take action on the faa shutdown before the end of the week, and it looks like it worked. senate majority leader harry reid says there's a deal to end the partial shutdown of the faa that put more than 70,000 workers off the job. for more let's bring in secretary of transportation ray lahood. who joins us live. thank

. >> i'll be talking to ray lahood later on "american morning."ess returns in september, the federal government will be out more than a billion dollars in revenue. the pentagon is warning against cutting too much from its budget. leon panetta says the automatic cuts that may kick in if congress can'tgree are completely unacceptabl panetta holds his first news conference as defense secretary at 2:30 eastern time today. >>> 72 people have been charged in a global child porn ring, based in the u.s. but reached across five continents. some of the children victimized were only infants. attorney general eric holder says the bust should send a message, abuse children, we will find you, stop y and bring you to justice. >>> in the trial of polygamous leader warren jeffs, it's the defense's turn. he fired his legal team a while back. the prosecution rested yesterday but not before it played an audio tape of a man said to be jeffs sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. >> we heard warren jeffs say that feel goods, how do you feel and this little girl voice

our secretary of transportation, ray lahood, is doing a great job of pushing our issue. but we're still not getting paid. and the silliness of it is the congressman and senators argued and gnashed their teeth and carried on about saving a few hundred million dollars, or hundred billion dollars, and then they lose 1.2 in the first month. >> sure. look, one of the things we've been hearing is that the secretary said that he didn't think that safety was being compromised here. and yet i can't help but wonder, if this drags on and on, it's, as they often say about airline problems, it's a series of small mistakes that add up into a big problem. and some things not being attended to by you being here and all these other people being here instead of on the job. >> well, there's a lot of that. a lot of the engineers' projects are falling behind. it's going to cost us a lot of money to get them restarted. there's a lot of new stuff that we're not getting built. but the safety of the existing national airspace is -- will remain. the maintenance workers are there. the air traffic

ray lahood will be here in the situation room. but this 500-plus point drop in the stock market, that's a huge story. it affects so 78 people out there. remember, this is not just today. it's been going on for 8 of the last 9 sessions on wall street, dropped more than 1,000 points, 10%, that's huge. >> wolf blitzer, we'll see you in a couple minutes. >>> in the meantime i've got two more people i want to talk to, we've got to get a break in. don't move. we'll be right back. what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. [ kimberly ] the university gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. [ carrie ] you're studying how to be an effective leader

i appreciate that and they have one now her ray lahood the second time was last year when there was some terrible tragedy. the gentleman who was beaten to death, followed almost right and -- right away by the asian woman who was thrown off the t line. both of these instances involved young black men. a lot of attention in the area in the city. and a few of us got together and tried to do something about it. i want to commend our former commissioner, vincent. we met every week at the boys' club. along with ed lee who was always out there every week. we tried to come out with some ideas in the aftermath of those tragedies. one of the ideas that surfaced was an urban peace corps. i think it was them that might have come up with that but we thought, well, what if we could place a group out there to begin the work of restoring faith and harmony in the community?

and transportation secretary ray lahood came out today with some pretty strong words.o work pronto. is there any sign that that might actually happen? >> reporter: not quite yet. and we've been asking. but as you know, up here things can change very quickly. we'll keep tabs on that. but this is a fight that has been brewing but largely overshadowed recently by the debt ceiling debate but is now out in the public, this being a battle over funding for the faa. there seems to be the issues of this fight are twofold. a short-term extension in funding and a long-term funding package for the faa. it's but it's coming down to a ideological fight. democrats support union efforts. republicans very generally oppose union efforts. listen here to senate majority leader, the top democrat in the senate, harry reid, earlier today when i asked him about the short-term extension that's on the table. why not just accept this short-term and live to fight another day -- >> live to fight another day in september 15th and -- what will the hostages be then? this is a subterfuge for the numbe

earlier this morning, ray lahood also slam congress for taking a vacation without a vote on the bill. thousands of nonessential faa employees have been on unpaid furlough. airport projects are on hold, like the one for a new control tower at the one at oakland international. >>> the u.s. airways ticket counter had more than passengers swarming in today. a group of pea, including those from the naacp -- a group of people including those from the ncaa p dropped off -- swarmed the counter. jade hernandez has more. >> reporter: that's right. this coordinated effort was for all to see. >> i cannot speak -- >> we understand. >> i will get these forwarded to the headquarters. >> reporter: steve knew -- newell accepted the signatures with. promise to send them on to management. the group acts as an advocate for black americans and supports the 22-year-old university of new mexico student arrested early back in june for not pulling up his sagging pajama bottoms. the naacp has sorted -- has supported the family from the beginning and came to speak at sfo. >> they thought we were gonna kid all o

we have, as ray lahood said, he's talking about 20 times raising the budget for the faa, routinely --last few years, and yet this is being held -- there's two things going on, one is a fight around small regional airports, and surprise, surprise, the gop wants to shut down ones in democratic controlled areas. the other is a labor issue. that the republicans have tied the renewal of funding to a move that would restore a type of eviceration of fair labor practices, having to do with union votes. taking us back a decade or more. they have refused to move forward unless these fair union rules are eviscerated. and they've run out of town. the amazing thing about this, these are people who said they hate deficits. this is costing the u.s. treasury some $35 million a day. clearly as other people said today, they hate deficits, and they hate workers worse. >> right. well, republicans are blaming the senate for not passing the house funding bill. if the senate doesn't pass the bill, if they don't agree on the amendments, why don't they just pass a temporary fding measure that will fill in the

and transportation secretary ray lahood joins us live. bill: also, she had been ordered to orlando, so does casey anthony have to go back home? and new pictures of where she's been living. alisyn: and celina cass as her father deals with the loss of his 11-year-old daughter. >> it incredibly hurts me. i don't know how to even explain it. it's crushing. it's heart crushing. it really -- it's like a sore that's never going to leave. d b] [ coughing continues ] [ gasping ] [ elevator bell dings, coughing continues ] [ female announcer ] congress can't ignore the facts: more air pollution means more childhood asthma attacks. [ coughing continues ] log on to lungusa.org and tell washington: don't weaken the clean air act. alisyn: casey anthony has been spotted in ohio. the once-accused child killer photographed just weeks after her acquittal. casey had been undercover until now, but she's been seen shopping wearing glasses and a baseball cap pulled down tightly over her head. it's a much more casual look, of course, than what we saw during her

i'm joined by transportation secretary ray lahood. let me ask you here, when we're talking about the impasse over the faa, what are the options at this point? >> the options are for congress to pass an extension of the faa bill as they have done on 20 occasions to put 70,000 construction workers back to work so the government can continue to collect the tax that they're not able to collect. and so that 4,000 faa workers can go back to work. right smack dab in the middle of the construction season. 70,000 construction workers are out of work. this is one of the highest sectors of unemployment. for all these congressman and senators who love to talk about creating jobs, send these construction workers back to work on these important jobs at airports. send the faa employees back to work and let's get the faa back in the kind of operation that it should be. >> okay. so the house has already passed a short-term extension that eliminates subsidies for rural air service. it's sort of been a sticking point on the short-term resolution for the

host: joining us is transportation secretary ray lahood. if i could ask you about as bigger reauthorization bill. fawn johnson was just explain to our viewers, this is the big sticking point. union of language. do you see a way to compromise, and if so, how? >> there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved on the larger bill. it is not just a union issue. there are probably 10 other items that need to be resolved. certainly, the nmb, national media and reporters -- mediation board, is a sticking point. central air service is another one. that is a service that provides money to smaller airports to entice airlines to fly in and out of their airports. but there are other items, too. this could have been easily resolved. this is the most unfortunate situation i have seen in a long time in washington as a result of one or two people who were just really not willing to compromise. they wanted their way. as a result of them wanting their way, 70,000 construction workers are idle in construction projects around america at airports, 4000 faa e

ground and design at a ceremony attended by then-speaker pelosi, the secretary of transportation ray lahood, and whereas his commitment to the transit program goals directly contributed to the receipt of $400 million in stimulus funds and the important recognition of his involvement in the transit program, and whereas he left his position as executive director of the san francisco municipal authority, now therefore be it resolved that the transit authority expresses its most sincere appreciation to nathaniel p. ford, and be a further resolved that we wish him continued success in all his future endeavors. vice chair ortiz: thank you. i wanted to add my words for the appreciation for his leadership here. >> i spoke to mr. ford this morning. apologizes for not being able to attend to except as. he says he is deeply honored and he appreciates this board for the resolution of appreciation. >> i will move the resolution. >> second. >> and the members of the public -- and no members of the public indicated they wanted to address that item. >> we will give this to you director carter, so you can g

>> reporter: transportation secretary ray lahood resorted to begging as the partial shutdown of the faa moved into its 12 day. >> i'm calling them back. come back to washington. leave your vacations for a couple of hours! >> reporter: the stalemate over funding the faa has idled more than 200 construction projects for airports, putting many out of jobs. >> this is a lose, lose, lose situation which can be easily solved if congress gets back on the job and does its job. >> reporter: and 4,000 faa employees are out of a job. >> there's mortgage payment due, student loans due, car payment that is due, groceries to be bought. >> reporter: the main sticking point is workers rights. house republicans want to make it harder for airline employees to unionize. democrats, don't. republicans are trying to trim subsidies. >> reporter: democrats held an irate press conference before leaving town. >> i hope the american people wake up. this is their modus operandi. government by crisis, government by hostage taking. >> reporter: construction after new $31 million air traffic control tower has been pu

it was solved today and we'll hear from transportation secretary ray lahood. the "hardball" strategies gists are with us tonight. let me finish with the economic fear which is in the land. a big drop on wall street. maria bartiromo joins us from the new york stock exchange. thank you, maria. what happened? >> well, today we saw europe really set the tone, chris. you have a debt situation in europe that is spiraling downward. the peripheral countries are getting in involved whether italy will be able to pay its bill, same with portugal. a spiral going on in europe. that is one issue that set the tone. a new focus happened on the u.s. economy. remember, we're just coming off of a two-month stalemate where virtually, people aren't doing much of anything. whether it's companies, corporations or individuals. we were all worried about the debt, the deficit and we were watching what was happening in washington. the back and forth, and, in fact, it materialized in people sitting on their hands, unable to make long-term decisions on anything, and as a result that is im

. >> meanwhile, transportation secretary ray lahood command year commandiered the podium at today's with respect briefing and demanded an urgent response. >> come back to washington, leave your vacations, just for a couple hours. come back, congress. help your friends and neighbors get back to work. >> and while republicans claim the impasse stems from subsidized regional airports in senators' districts, democrats said today that the real issue is american workers, and one major airline that wants to prevent them organizing. >> most of the big airlines are unionized. not a problem. one isn't, delta. >> an anti-worker agenda of one airline, delta airlines, that's what this is all about and that's what the republicans in the house said. >> congressman jim moran, democrat of virginia, joins us now from capitol hill. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon. >> what on earth is the congress doing going off on holiday leaving an important agency in partial shutdown, endangering at least $1 billion in tax revenue from ticket sales tax and with tens of thousands of construction workers unable to

with me now, transportation secretary ray lahood. thanks for joining us. >> good morning, andrea. >> first of all, what about safety? let's talk about the consumers, first of all. safety, you've said, will never be compromised but you've already asked these inspectors, dozens of safety operators working without pay to keep working without pay and keep on the job. how long can you expect them to make that kind of sacrifice? >> well, these people will make the sacrifice as long as it takes, andrea. they're dedicated federal employees. their number one priority is safety. they went to work today using their own credit cards, traveling on their own credit cards, they're not being paid, but they believe in the safety work that they do. and thousands of people will board airplanes today in america and around the world and fly to america. it will all be safe. hundreds of air traffic controllers are guiding planes in and out of airports. flying is safe. we will never compromise safety in the airlines. and our people are so dedicated to their

host: joining us is transportation secretary ray lahood. if i could ask you about as bigger reauthorization bill. fawn johnson was just explain to our viewers, this is the big sticking point. union of language. do you see a way to compromise, and if so, how? >> there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved on the larger bill. it is not just a union issue. there are probably 10 other items that need to be resolved. certainly, the nmb, national media and reporters -- mediation board, is a sticking point. central air service is another one. that is a service that provides money to smaller airports to entice airlines to fly in and out of their airports. but there are other items, too. this could have been easily resolved. this is the most unfortunate situation i have seen in a long time in washington as a result of one or two people who were just really not willing to compromise. they wanted their way. as a result of them wanting their way, 70,000 construction workers are idle in construction projects around america at airports, 4000 faa e

>> well, because the transportation secretary ray lahood kind of stepped in and said i'm going to settlebble and the issue that you're fighting over right now, which is these rural airports, i have the authority to decide whether we cut funding for some of those or not, so leave it up to me. he didn't commit, john, whether he was going to do it or not, but as you know, on capitol hill, sometimes fights are about the things they look like and sometimes they're about bigger issues. and this is really a longer, larger fight about collective bargaining rights. >> let's talk about that. let's talk about that. first, though, i said debatable number of workers. if you've been following this debate in recent days and even in striking the deal the senate majority leader in announcing this agreement he said this -- i'm pleased to announce we've been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the house and the senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work. i'll stop there. the statement goes on. 74,000, right? 74,000, that's from the top democrat in the united states

later here in "the situation room," i'll speak with the secretary of trps ray lahood. we'll talk about what happened, lessons learned. he's been very outspoken with his anger at what happened in congress. he'll join us later here in "the situation room." >>> there's not a lot for president obama to celebrate on this, his 50th birthday. he's seeing fallout from the recent debt deal and now the massive sell-off on wall street. we'll talk about the dangers for his reelection bid. >>> she allegedly smuggled high-powered ammunition in clothes, even food. we'll tell you what happened. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. the authentic, the rare, the hard to define. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real from we who believe we know just how you feel. haagen-dazs. >>> let's get right to jack cafferty for "the cafferty file." >> not exactly a slow news days, is it? >> no. >>> the old saying is you can't fight city hall. the cou

. >> reporter: transportation second ray lahood resorted to begging today as the partial shutdown of the f.a.a. moved into its 12th day. >> i'm calling them back. come back to washington. leave your vacations. just for a couple of hours. >> reporter: the stalemate over funding the f.a.a. has idled more than 200 airport construction projects putting at least 70,000 contract workers out of a job. >> this is a lose-lose-lose situation that can be easily solved if congress gets back into town and does its job. >> reporter: an additional 4,000 f.a.a. employees have also been furloughed, including boston engineer mike macdonald. >> there's a mortgage payment due. there are student loans that are due. there's a car payment that is due. there are grocery to be bought. >> reporter: the main sticking point is it workers' rights. house republicans want to make it harder for airline employees to unionize, democrats don't. republicans are also trying to trim subsidies for rural airport service. >> i call upon speaker boehner to end this. >> reporter: democrats held one last irate press conference

but the bill allows secretary ray lahood to continue the service if he deems necessary. >>> a honda recall underway covering some 1.5 million cars in the u.s. the company wants to update software on the automatic transmission to decrease the possibility of any damage. the recall affects four-cylinder accord models from 2005 through 2010. also recalled, the cr-v from 2007 through 2010. and finally, three years of the honda element, 2005 through 2008. the company says without the change part of the transmission could be damaged. so far the problem hasn't caused any injuries or problems, but you should take it back. >>> topping our "health watch," turning the tables on the phenomenon known as mindless eating at the dinner table. i'm guilty of this. >> so am i. researcher at cornell university found that most people don't know whether they're full so they tend to eat more than they should. they recommend reducing the size of your plate and glasses. storing unhealthy foods out of sight, and not eating in front of the tv. in one study people ate 73% more when given bottomless bowls of soup compa

ray lahood says construction projects at airports have been halted costing more jobs. >> it is not fair to the 70,000 construction workers who need these jobs, it is not fair to the faa employees. >> i'm joined by faa administrator randy babbitt to talk about what's happened here. let me begin by asking does this impact the men and women in the towers and control centers and tracking our planes in the sky? >> no, i want to assure everybody in the traveling public the safety system is up and running. all of our air traffic control, all of our inspections of airplane, pilots, mechanics, though are those are ongoing. what are have ben furloughed is tens of thousands construction workers. >> the airport inspectors are working without pay right now? >> that's right. these folks, to be clear, they will when the funding is restored, they will be paid retroactively. but right now we're asking literally hundreds of airport inspectors to did their j s ts without compensation, to carry the burden of expenses as they travel on their own credit cards. that's not right and not fair. >> and i wonder h

. >> reporter: transportation secretary ray lahood begged as the partial shutdown of faa moved into its2th day. >> i'm calling them back. come back to washington. leave your vacations, just for a couple hours. >> reporter: the stalemate over funding the faa has idled more than 200 airport construction projects putting at least 70,000 contract workers out of a job. >> this is a lose, lose, lose situation that can be easily solved if congress gets back into town and does its job. >> reporter: an additional 4,000 faa employees have been furloughed including boston engineer mike mcdonald. >> there's a mortgage payment due, there's student loans that are due, there's a car payments that are due. there are groceries to be bought. >> reporter: the main sticking point is workers' rights. house employees want to make it harder, democrats don't. republicans are trying to trim subsidies for rural airport services, democrats don't. >> i call upon speaker boehner to end this. >> reporter: democrats held one last irate press conference before leaving town. >> i hope the american people wake up. this

in addition to faa employment, babbitt and ray lahood say it will affect them.nspectors are being asked to stay on the job without pay. >>> president obama has just signed legislation raising the debt ceiling, but the big issues of jobs and taxes are still on everyone's minds. what does this debt ceiling deal mean for both? the parties are clearly divided how to create jobs and how taxes factor into growing the economy. moments ago the president called on congress for more action. >> we need to begin by extending tax cuts for middle-class families. so you have more money in your paychecks next year. if you've got more money in your paycheck, you're more likely to spend it. that means more small businesses and medium-sized businesses and large customers will have more customers and that means they'll be in a better position to hire. >> i want to bring in terry savidge. hi, terry. first i want to ask you do you agree with what the president said. and then it becomes what's the offset of the revenue. >> it's nice that the president says you don't raise taxes in the

i will be hearing from ray lahood.not acting. the faa routinely gets authority extended through congress. this has happened 20 times 32007. congress has decided to place in politics with it. as a consequence, the have left town thousands of workers are followed. -- as a consequence, they have left town. thousands of workers are furloughed. it means projects all across the country is also including tens of thousands of workers being suspended. that means folks who were on construction sites. there are important projects which are left undone. here is what happens. it turns out that this extension gives the authority to collect fees from airlines. the airlines are still collecting these fees because it is priced into their tickets but they're not turning it over to the federal government and the federal government stands to lose too glutted million dollars a week. that would be a billion dollars at a time when we are worried about how we pay for everything from education to head start. we don't anticipate it will be easy

. >> ray lahood layed it on the line for congress, put summer recess on hold and finish work on a funding bill for the federal aviation administration. >> congress is on its summer recess but another funding stalemate created a new furery and left thousands of workers off the job. >> it means projects across the country involves construction workers being suspended because congress didn't get its work done. >> president obama today accused congress of playing politics. lawmakers left town without renewing the funding for the faa. shut down hundreds of projects, one is a tower being built at oakland. 4,000faa employees and 7,000 construction workers are out of work. >> we are disappointed. we are struggling a way to pay bills. >> congress is dead locked over funding for rural airports and a provision that might encourage employees to unionize. the faa is losing $25 million a day from tax money. but republicans are holding fast. >> someone has to say no, no to wasteful spending. >> democrats say the issue could be resolved while congress is on vacation and they introduced a bill to do that.

and transportation secretary ray lahood says operators were not affected by the shut down and says swaiftz never compromised. >> thousands of people are boarding planes, they'll arrive safely today because our people are on their jobs. >> this continues funding until mid september. congressional leaders hope they can reach a deal long before then. >> firefighters are mopping up a series of fires in the east bay. those fires erupt in an eastern contra costa county alock the railroad tracks. the fire came close to one home. the flames destroyed a barn and heavy equipment and caused a shelter in place. and residents say the fire started right after a freight train went by. >> i was coming home from work. i saw the train going by. it was on fire. it just kept going. >> there was a big, oh, sheesh. really big fireball. and we started hearing explosions. it was just really scary. >> there is no official cause of the fire. officials say it's too early to know the cause. >> hundreds of residents are marching along international boulevard and 17th avenue tonight. they're rallying behind a bill boar

>> ray lahood was saying that. that the safety system is still very concern eed but a lot of concern. they would love for that funding to come through and make sure that those employees, those faa employees all get their paychecks. >> it's ridiculous. think about what $1 billion could do for a problem resolved easily. thanks very much. dan lothian over at the white house. republicans, by the way, pushing back hard against the democrats. senator orrin hatch tells me that member of the president's party could have easily ended this standoff if they backed down on provisions to make it easier for airline workers to unionize. >> they just think they've got a good political issue here and they're crazy. they're the ones costing $30 million a day and they're the ones that won't budge. they're the ones that want and it's all over that improper change of labor law. the power of the united states senate and house where bureaucrats just determine to overturn the law. >> senator hatch blocked the compromise agreement that cou

he is joined by ray lahood the transportation secretary and also richard trumka of the afl-cio, sayset together to get some of the jobs done before it is too late. bill: it will be a battle next week when they come back to work on tuesday. martha, no parade for you. union leaders in wisconsin are telling republican lawmakers they are banned from a labor day parade. remember the union battles earlier this year? republicans won in the end but not after democrats fled the state and rallies in madison went on for weeks. pam galloway, republican state senator in wisconsin. you represent the district where the big parade takes place and i understand as of today, or even late last night, that the ban has been lifted, is that true? >> yes it is. so we will be able to attend the parade. bill: so it was a fact that you were barred from attending? your own parade in your own town? >> yes. the republican lawmakers who had been elected last fall had been banned from attending the labor day parade but the labor council reversed their decision. so we'll be able to attend and be there with the folks

secretary of transportation, ray lahood overseas the faa.e former congressman had harsh words for his old colleagues at the capital. >> this is the thing that really makes the public mad, that congress can't do their job. when ordinary citizens around the country hear that their friends and neighbors ought to be working on a construction site at an airport and they're not because congress couldn't do their work, this is what infuriates the american people. >> now, as ted rolands reports with the lawmakers out of town on vacation, those who are out of work and waiting have few places to turn. neil bolland has been building radar buildings for the faa for 22 years. he has two kids and a mortgage but now, without warning he doesn't have a paycheck. >> i'm incredibly disappointed and frustrated, particularly in our congressmen and senators. they went on vacation for four weeks when they could have taken an extra day and finished this job. >> reporter: neil is one of 4,000 faa employees who are out of a job until congress passes a funding extensi

we will have ray lahood on "hardball" tomorrow. we'll be right back. >>> welcome back to "hardball." republicans may have gotten their way in the debt ceiling fight, something they won in many ways, but is there any evidence that cutting spending is the way to revive this slagging economy? senator casey, i guess there's a battle that's over, and i'm just wondering who won. when you cut spending, usually that's a sign you cut jobs. is that your view? >> well, chris, i don't think there's any question, when i talked with people in pennsylvania, they want us to cut spending. we cut by a record amount in the 2011 budget, we will be cutting as a result of this recent agreement. i think the debate now will be when you propose budget cuts, what effect does it have on the economy? but also what's the difference between a smart cut and one that hurts investments and jobs? and i think that's where some of the debate is. i think they did see a different this spring where they cut medical research by a billion. that's a bad idea. when they sla

go along with a clean bill of extension for the faa that is something transportation secretary ray lahood wants as well. he just said at the white house he wants congress to do this right away. >> leave your vacations. just for a couple of hours. come back, congress. help your friend and neighbors get back to work. >> reporter: the reason democrats in the senate don't like the bill that passed the republican house is partly also because it tries to get rid of wasteful spending at rural airports. house speaker john boehner is not taking any of the fresh attacks lying down. his spokesman said quote, the only reason 80,000 jobs are at stake is senate democratic leaders chose to play politics rather than keep their word and pass the house word. that is indefensible and they should end this crisis immediately. another boehner spokesman kevin smith says the house passed its bill. this shutdown is not their fault. if you look at calendar, shannon, as far as resolution goes, congress doesn't come back until september. there is chance this could drag on for quite a bit. shannon: peter doocey live

back from vacation until september 6th, but tomorrow night right here, transportation secretary ray lahood will be rachel's special guest on the faa shutdown. i'll be tuning in for that. sam higgins... you have frequent heartburn, right ? yeah, it flares up a few days a week. well, we're the two active ingredients in zegerid otc. i'm omeprazole, the leading prescription heartburn medicine. and i'm sodium bicarbonate. i protect him from stomach acid so he can get to work. look, guys, i've already tried a lot of stuff. wow. with zegerid otc, you get 24-hour relief. so, this is goodbye heartburn ? gone. finito. zegerid otc. two ingredients... ...one mission. heartburn solved. >>> you have been quoted coming out of your caucus as calling this agreement a sugar-coated satan sandwich. was that indeed your quote? >> it's a very accurate quote. if i were a republican i'd be dancing in the streets. i don't have any idea what the republicans wanted that they didn't get. >> it's not exactly a secret that not everyone on the left is happy with this new deal that was struck over the weekend to not have

. >> how does everyone walk bisect ray lahood and look him in the face. >> i don't think they can. >>here congress totally failed. as with respect to the big bargain, the bargain that helped avoid default, you can like it or not like it. but the fact of the matter is congress got its work done. but the faa is exhibit a of how how dysfunctional and that is a terrible blight on the congress. >> nice to see you this morning. thank you. >> good to see you. much more coming up in a moment right here. don't forget, 1:00 p.m., andrea mitchell reports will have nancy pelosi joining her in an exclusive interview. the tea party, the the debt deal and the dysfunctional state of politics in washington. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your col

. >> transportation secretary ray lahood went to new york city's laguardia airport yesterday to point out the impact of this partial shutdown. he stood in plain view of an old traffic control tower that's supposed to be demolished by a company based in brooklyn. the contract to do that work is for $6 million. a whole bunch of jobs, right? like the other $2.5 billion worth of improvement projects this one is on hold. secretary lahood has said the partial shutdown will not affect airline safety amid all the chaos and uncertainty here, the faa did miss a deadline to publish new safety rules. and to add injury to the existing insult here, in addition to all the people out of work and the work that needs to get done not getting done. the faa shutdown is also projects to directly cause taxpayers more than a billion dollars. when you buy an airline ticket, you pay tax on that ticket that the faa collects, except with no faa, the government cannot collect that tax, so the government loses that income. delta airlines, the airline lobbying so heavily to strip funding rights in this bill, they w

and today, during a conference call, transportation secretary ray lahood said we need the senate to pass bill before they go on their vacations to put 4,000 people back to work, and 70,000 construction workers. at this hour, the senate democrats and the president have not caved to the republican confrontation, and we will bring you up to date as soon as they do. >>> the coke brothers block the vote. malan mitchell will join me. >>> president obama met with labor leaders today and vowed to renew his focus on jobs. after a bruising battle just to raise the debt ceiling, can this congress ever reach an agreement on a real jobs bill. it's my number one goal. ♪ students like me, who take these ap math and science classes and have these opportunities, this is where the american dream lies. when i write that book, you know, i plan to dedicate it to my school. ♪ those hopes and dreams that you have, you know, they're within reach. and i'm living proof. >>> we're one week away from election day in wisconsin and the right wing is doing all it can to block the vote. astroturf americans for prosperi

projects have been halted, which has left 70,000 workers idle according to secretary transportation ray lahood and the loss could reach $1.2 billion if the situation isn't resolved before congress returns in september. joining me now is robert reich, former labor secretary in the clinton administration, he's now a professor of public policy at the university of california at berkeley and mark zandi, the chief economist for moodie's analytics, he worked for the mccain campaign and the obama administration. thank you both for joining me tonight. professor reich, i want to go to the question of what have we done to the economy with this legislation? >> well, the good news, obviously, lawrence, is that the economy now doesn't have the sort of dam collies hanging over it, we can pay our debts, we are not defaulting on our national debt, and we won't face an economic calamity. the bad news is the president has essentially tied his hands and the hands of congress with regard to boosting the economy. right now i don't have to tell you, joblessness is huge, the economy is not growing, friday we'll find

. >> reporter: today, transportation secretary ray lahood urged the party to reach agreement. >> we'reg congress to delay the vacation, not to go on vacation until they pass a bill to allow 70,000 construction workers and 4,000 faa employees to go back to work. >> reporter: late today, new skirmishes over the faa bill erupted on the senate floor. >> if we don't extend the faa authorization, we don't collect the revenues on the passenger tax. >> reporter: democrats contend the uncollected airline ticket taxes amount to $200 million a week. far more than the savings derived from eliminating the eas subsidy. but republicans counter democrats are renigging on earlier agreements. >> the house and senate by significant voting we pass limitation on semiair services. >> reporter: by this afternoon, with most senators preparing to jet off to an august recess and many house members already gone it appeared a surprise deal to break impasse may have been in reach. harry reid said he was amenable to accepting the house republican plan. of newstime, that had not happened. bret? >> bret: okay. we'll

meanwhile transportation ray lahood has been making the rounds today again urging lawmakers to reachpart of the faa program, if congress doesn't like it have a debate, make the changes they want to make, but don't hold hostage 70-plus thousand americans who want to go to work. >> reporter: even though congress will be in recess for august and remains in proforma session through a unanimous consent resolution it could pass this extension of the faa bill very easily without calling all those members back from those expensive vacations. shannon: thanks, doug. we'll see if they are game for it. the virginia tech campus remains on lockdown this hour after reports of a man carrying what looked like a gun on campus earlier this morning. we are awaiting a new update on the investigation, but we're being told the police are going to hold off on giving out any new information right now. the university says three children who were on campus for some type of camp saw a man holding what they thought was a gun moving kwubg lee towar quickly toward a volleyball court. there have been no other sight

. >>> ray lahood was begging them to come back and act, and they have. [ waves crashing ] [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. >>> to washington now where an outrageous standoff that cost 4,500 their jobs, and then a few members are still in town, and today they did this. >> mr. president, the senator from virginia? >> i ask we proto consideration of calendar 109 hr 2553, the bill be re-read and passed, and any statements related to the bill be placed to the record in the appropriate place as if read? is there objection? hearing no objection, so ordered. >> i want to bring in kate bolduan to tell us what we just saw and what it means. kate, explain. >> reporter: rand what happened was the senate came and gavelled in and passed

. >> transportation secretary ray lahood talking to us tonight from the white house.ir. >> thank you, john. >>> up next, back to our top story. the voices of the egyptian revolution share their thoughts as the former egyptian president for almost three decades goes on trial in cairo. every day, all around the world, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. [ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hu