wendell goler live on the north lawn. general motors says 6,000 blue collar workers have taken the latest round of early retirement and buyout offers. that still leaves the company short of its goal, meaning more layoffs are likely. g.m. wants to cut 7,400 more workers by the end of the year. spending on home construction rose by 3/4 of a point. it is the second increase in three months. manufacturing activity declined at the slowest rate since last august. production is at its highest level in more than two years, and tftion a big day on wall street. the dow jumped almost 115 points. the s&p rose 15 and change and the nasdaq picked up just over 3o republican turned democratic senator arlen specter says august is shaping up to be a battle ground month for healthcare reform. he should know. after enduring and an tague nis tick crowd at a weekend town hall meeting. shannon bream reports on the public venting over changes it may not want. >> no healthcare! >> with skeptical americans across the country, they are pushing back

wendell goler, fox news. chris: in other political news, florida republican senator mel martinez is resigning. he made the announcement in orlando, citing a desire to return to his family in florida. he had earlier said he would not run for re-election next year. republican governor charlie crist will name his replace many. crist was already running to replace martinez but says he will not appoint himself. and new york democratic congresswoman caroline maloney says she will not run for the senate next year. maloney had considered challenging incumbent kirsten gillibrand who was appointed when hillary clinton became secretary of state. democratic leaders, including president obama, have tried to discourage potential challengers to gillibrand. a powerful democrat who resisted efforts to make public records about sweetheart loan deals for colleagues apparently got one himself. and what's next for the taliban after the depghts of one of its top leaders? introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in

shepard: wendell goler live tonight at the white house.rand new auto sales figures show that cash for clunkers program has met its main goal of luring car shoppers back into the delearships. look at the numbers here. if you are wondering what that funny looking green thing is in the background there, that's an up arrow. we haven't seen one of those next to the ford symbol for almost two years. its u.s. sales up 2.3% in july. compared with the same month last year. it's all about cash for clunkers. chrysler sales were down 9%. much smaller drop than we have seen in recent months. g.m. reports a year over year drop of only 19%. even though sales have risen for five months in a row. in terms of the overall share of the u.s. market, g.m. still leads the pack, followed closely by japanese automaker toyota and ford. honda and chrysler are well behind. still, it's been a rough time for workers forever general motors. over the past two months the auto giant has announced shut factories employs more than 20 thousand people. now there is word not en

what is the answer, wendell goler?t the senate will extend the program as his last order of business before lawmakers leave for their august recess. any of the amendment would force a suspension, but none are expected to pass. the $2 billion extension expected to keep the clunker program in business until labor day. trace: wendell goler, live on the north lawn. a prayer at a city council meeting getting a lot of folks riled up. >> forget about the pot holes. right now, the biggest issue before the lodi city council is the 2 minute prayer that opens all of their meetings. atheist groups say that the prayers have got to go. church leaders are demanding that they stay. both sides cite the constitution and case law to defend their case. in the meantime, the city council is just praying that all sides can reach a common ground. trace: there is brand new information in the bottom of the hour. martha: and now to the war against h1n1, that will be heating up. there are a number of pharmaceutical companies battling to be the fi

white house correspondent wendell goler is live with an update. good evening, wendell. >> chris, this legislation passed by a 3-1 margin in the house an harry reid is confident he has the votes to pass it in the senate but lawmakers are spending hours debating amendments they know will be rejected just to get their objections on the record before they go home for the august break. as of yesterday, the clunkers program had burned through three-quarters of the billion dollars congress initially appropriated, suggesting the original $4 billion authorization the house wanted was a closer estimate of the program's appeal and its cost. gp was the big winner with 17.8 p% of the cash for clunkers car sales. >> it has been a madhouse, people coming in with their clunkers wanting to trade them in. >> the big 3 accounted for 45% of the sales, which is their normal market share. still, four of the five top selling new cars are sold by foreign manufacturers. 60% of the foreign cars were actually built in this country. in fact, hyundai's montgomery, alabama plan

shepard: wendell goler, thanks.u wonder when the appetite people have for new cars will run out and whether they got an early russia that will sort of go away quickly, or whether there will be -- got an early rush that was sort of go away quickly or whether there will be something more. the historic day, judge sotomayor, the owner young woman from the bronx, who learned a lot along the way, -- the woman from the bronx. she is to be sworn in on saturday with the chief justice at her side. it is good to have you with us. be back for "the fox report." now, the man, neil cavuto. ♪ ♪ once you've dealt with the things that come between you... don't let erectile dysfunction get in the way. ♪ viva ♪ viagra! viagra...america's most prescribed ed treatment... can help you enjoy a more satisfying sexual experience. to learn more, spend some quality time with viagra.com ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. don't take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain... as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressu

bret: wendell goler live on the north lawn. thank you. israelis are very skeptical of the latest report from the u.n.'s nuclear wash dog agency, reporting that iran has slowed down enrichment of nuclear fuel. israelis don't trust the u.n. and they trust iran even less. national security correspondent jennifer griffin gives us israel's take on when iran could have a nuclear weapon. >> how long will it take for iran to obtain a nuclear weapon? the c.i.a. and israel's spy agency have different estimates. >> the difference is a year or two years as a whole. the american estimation is three years. >> the obama administration wants to negotiate an end to iran's nuclear program, but israel's president told fox news his country has little faith that the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog can stop iran. >> so do you have any confidence in the iaea or its head? >> no, i don't think so. you know, they didn't even discover that there was a nuclear danger in syria. facts are stronger than institutions, and institutions shouldn't lag behind the realities. >> and

>> wendell goler, live at the white house. bendel, wendell, thank you.e just getting word from a local television station here in new york city that the faye has suspended two air traffic controllers in the wake of the mid-air collision over the hudson river between new york and new jersey. according to reporting wnbc television one air traffic controller was suspended for talking on his telephone at the time of the crash and the supervisor suspended for being out of the room at the time of the crash. again, this is from that airplane versus helicopter crash over the hudson river in new york and new jersey over the weekend. and that reporting from wnbc channel 4 news in new york. a south korean worker held for months by the north is now a free man. the top story on a fox trip around the world in 80 seconds. south korea, the hyundai employee says only that is he happy to be returned safely authorities in pyongyang picked him up for n. march for denouncing the regime. they remained at war because they did not sign a peace treaty to end the korean conflict

wendell goler is at the white house tonight. wendell, what about it? >> shep, it's a late night for the senate. lawmakers voting as you said on amendments for the cash clunker's bill and $2 billion extension of the program itself. last votes the senators will make before going home for the rest rest of the month. i believe we have a live shot of the senate floor. this passed by a three to one margin in the house. the house is already adjourned for the month which means the senate cannot change the bill. of course, most republicans don't want to just change it they want to can it all together together. >> this should be called the debt for clunkers bill to begin with because, basically what we are doing is creating debt for our children. we're suggesting, we are proposing, we are allowing $4,500, a billion dollars now $3 billion out the door to buy cars today but the bill to pay those cars is going to come due on our children and our grandchildren. >> still, supporters say the program is doing exactly what was intended. the big three haven't lost any ma

bret: wendell goler live on the north lawn. the recession started out worse than we thought but recovering better than we expected that. was the word from the commerce department today, news that president obama welcomed. mike emanuel looks at the story behind the numbers. >> the economy has done immeasurably better than we had thought, better than expected. >> president obama took the commerce department's announcement that gross domestic product or g.d.p., the measure of overall economic growth in the country, shrunk by 1% annual rate in the second quarter as good news after revised numbers showed g.d.p. fell 6.4% in the first quarter. >> the g.d.p. revealed that the recession we faced when i took office was even deeper than anyone thought at the time. it told us how chose we were to the edge. >> in fact, the revised numbers showed during the first 12 months of this recession, the economy shrank more than twice as much as previously estimated including bigger declines in housing and consumer spending. how could the economists

caller: wendell goler reporting from the white house, thanks. staying with wall street, if you are one of the companies that took bailout money, today was the day to come up with a plan. how do you pay your top people well enough to keep them but without inflaming outraged taxpayers? correspondent brian wilson tells us the answer is you have to walk a fine line. >> the dilemma, if your company takes money from the government, the taxpayer will have a deep interest in what you do. paying your top people too much, and you're going to hear screams of outrage. pay them too little, and your top performers will cut and run. >> if you set the come pen sigs by government edict too low, then the company loses talent and loses the ability to serve its customers. who gets hurt? the customers get hurt. >> today is the deadline for the 7 companies that took billions in tarp bailout money to explain how they're going to compensate their 100 most highly paid employees. insurance giant a.i.g. and financial giants like bank of america and citigroup. car makers g

here is white house correspondent wendell goler. >> answering questions at the summit of the americas monday, president obama seemed ambivalent about canada's single-payer healthcare system. >> i don't find canadians particularly scary, but i guess some of the opponents of reform think that they make a good bogeyman. >> mr. obama went on to say the canadian system wouldn't work in the u.s. but many american doctors believe it does some things better. >> our healthcare system delivers the highest quality of specialty care in the world. our primary care infrastructure is not good. >> canadians have a longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality rates and lower rates of obesity and diabetes than in the u.s.. their primary care doctors get paid more and they spend more time with their patients than dock doctors in the u.s.. >> we don't reimburse the valuation and management procedures as they sit and talk to patients. >> canadians also wait twice as long for non-emergency care and sometimes come to the u.s. for specialized treatment. dr. scott gottlieb says the single-payer edifice is s

wendell goler is working the late shift at the white house tonight. >> republicans would like voterssee the governors' races in virginia and new jersey as referendums on president obama and is shrinking job approval rating. 56% in the latest poll. experts say the president's attempt to help of virginia is almost as much of a long shot as it was for him to carry the state in the election. history suggests he will stay there. >> interestingly, the state does not care whether there's a democratic or republican president. since 1977, they have always voted against the presidential party in the white house. it is the best indicator of who will win a governor's race in virginia. >> in new jersey, experts say incumbent jon corzine is so far behind his republican challenger that no president could help in. the arrests of dozens of public officials and operatives for alleged corruption last month hertz corzine -- hurt corzinechurthrit -- hurt corzine. shepard: one luxury resort in california is offering rooms for $19 a night. they're trying to boost business. the room does not have a bed. it

jon: wendell goler, thank you. there is no information coming into the newsroom on a continental flight that hit heavy turbulence. it was diverted to miami to make an earlier landing. the airline says that nine passengers have been taken to the hospital. the flight left rio de janeiro and headed towards houston. 168 passengers were on board. jane: in colorado, jury selection is getting underway in a child abuse case that sparked a lot of outrage. prosecutors say that aaron thompson beat his two euro -- his two year-old daughter to death and waited two years before reporting her missing. the body of the little girl there has never been found. experts are speculating this could be a problem for prosecutors trying the case. jon: the corruption trial of a former louisiana congressman, william jefferson, is continuing. federal prosecutors accused him of receiving $400,00 in bribes to help businesses get contracts in africa. his defense team says that he was acting as a private citizen and did not perform any official ac

trace: wendell goler live forys at the white house. brand-new poll numbers and from rasmussen reports. the president's approval ratings are not good. his approval rating is at 47% of americans. that is lowest level, by the way, recorded so far. when you ask about strong approval, that number drops to 29%. we have fresh new gallup polls showing that the town halls are making an impact with american voters 34% say that they have become more sympathetic to the cause. the largest percentage of independent voters say that the town halls have not changed their feelings toward the protesters either way. we have brand new fox opinion dynamic polls that will change tomorrow. that is 45 minutes from now. let's bring in our panel. monica crowley is a conservative commentator. richard, you look at these poll numbers and it does not paint a very good picture for the president and his health care reform. >> i think it is fascinating that fox all day has been showing ms. rasmussen poll. i would urge your viewers to check realclearpolitics.com that sh

trace: wendell goler, thank you.artha: we want to take you live to this news conference in chicago. this is at the cemetery where bodies were dug up and those areas resoled. let's listen for a minute. >> i am joined by numerous people who helped us during this case. tom? >> good afternoon. the fbi would like to express its heartfelt condolences to those who are affected by the tragic events here at ferro -- and brokat burr oaks. thank you to the cook county highway department and the cook county forest preserve. they did so with a great deal of reference, ever mindful of the fact that what we were recovering was more than just evidence, it was human remains. i wish we could have fully identified all the remains recovered to give some sort of closure to the families affected by this unfortunate occurrence. however, as we got into our search efforts, we realized that into -- doing so would be highly improbable. even if we could have obtained the dna profile from a bone or fragments thereof, we would have the problem of

white house correspondent wendell goler joins us live with details. good evening, wendell. >> good evening, bret. house judiciary committee chairman john conyers released 5,400 pages of e-mails and other documents he says show the white house under former president george w. bush was, quote, the driving force behind the removal of a number of u.s. attorneys. the ranking republican on that committee, lamar smith of texas disagrees. he says there is no credible evidence of wrongdoing in the documents. he has accused the obama administration of politicizing the justice department, for dropping the charges against several black panthers accused of voter intimidation in philadelphia this past november. former u.s. attorney david iglesias figures most prominently in the bush administration documents. he was strongly criticized by new new mexico republicans for not prosecuting alleged voter fraud in 2004 that they felt might have hurt a republican candidate. iglesias told the congressional committee his firing was a political flogging. iglesias said the decis

wendell goler, we are starting to see some optimism in dc >> the president says we have stepped backbrink. he will not be satisfied until everyone who wants a job has one. some think it will take longer than he expects, certainly longer than he wants, for that. >> i think this will be a slow wan long recovery. we do not have anything that will lead us out of the recession. consumers are spent up. >> the cash for clunkers program lifted industrial production in july. gm and chrysler reopened some plants. the big three are not likely to lead a rebound in manufacturing jobs. >> automakers are utilizing 40% of their capacity. sales, we cannot expect them to rebound enough for them to utilize that capacity. >> the consumer spending that got us out of the last two recessions might have contributed to the current downturn. >> over the last decade, we live beyond our means thanks to the readily available debt that was out there at low interest rates. we are seeing a form of payback. >> president obama is building a new, more durable economy. >> we cannot afford to return to an economy based

white house correspondent wendell goler is here to talk about more add sen tours in fact checking. good evening, wendell. >> good evening, bret. in portsmouth, new hampshire, the president said one reason healthcare costs are so high is that the system doesn't reward preventive care, for example, by paying doctors enough to counsel diabetics to lose weight and make sure they're taking their medications in a timely fashion. >> they might get reimbursed a pittance >> but if that same diabetic ends up getting their foot amputated, that's $30,000, $40,000, $50,000. immediately the surgeon is reimbursed. >> the a.m.a. says doctors don't benefit that much. medicare's reimbursement for an amputation, $750 to $1,500. it says the entire cost of the amputation, including hospitalization, and these ya and other fees could come to $30,000, bret. bret: what about the president's promise that healthcare reforms won't add to the budget deficit. >> it is extremely difficult to project the cost of government programs out over a long period of time. medicare, for example, 25 years after congress crea

wendell goler is at the white house. is he going to be helpful or not?hter] >> of course, that remains to be seen. but with his approval ratings near 40%, republicans are trying to make a statement here. they have given bob macdonald a lot of money and a platform. last night the president campaigned for cree deeds for the first time, attending some health care forums. deeds is behind mcdonald by about 15 points. megyn: where else is the traveling? >> republicans would say new jersey. the republican is winning over john corzine, and perhaps no president could help john corzine. of course, he campaigned for him last month, and that is also when dozens of political officials were arrested. the republican candidate lead doubled in that time. porcine supporters are now seen as less likely to make it to the polls -- corzine supporters are now seen as less likely to make it to the polls. bill: we have a lot of fun in the summertime, but nothing like this. we think he is from germany. we also think he is crazy. and we think it is real. in full disclosure, we can

wendell goler is at the white house with more. >> the vice-president said it sets a bad precedent fortration to investigate a previous administration for what he sees as political reasons. the 2004 campaign was republicans assertion that democrats could not do what was necessary to keep the country safe. >> they are threatening to disbar lawyers that gave us a legal opinion, contrary to the president who said they would not investigate. >> what house officials say that attorney-general holder is independent and squashing the investigation would amount to accusing the bush administration for not prosecuting terrorists aggressively enough. patti ann: for more on the exclusive interview, go to our website, foxnews.com. bill: monday morning and a full slate of town halls. eight lawmakers holding public forums today on reforming medical insurance. also, we examine an issue that could affect millions. have the democrats done enough to make sure that we have enough doctors? good morning. bill: we also have dr. mark siegel here in the studio. what i find in their research is trying to pinpoin

trace: wendell goler is at the north lawn. maybe more money for cash for clunkers? >> maybe not. might do well to buy a car in the next few days. the white house says that the program could be suspended or ended. republicans are using the unexpected popularity to cast doubt on the government estimates on health care reform. there will be talks about how to keep both programs on track. trace: let me bring in mike huckabee. welcome to the show. we are getting word from reuters that the senate wants to billion dollars more for cash for clunkers. is that a good idea? >> sure, how about $4 billion, $10 billion? these people are going to get free government money. it sounds like a great idea, but one not the musical it is -- instrument industry? why select one industry and say that we are going to make you successful? this is government manipulation and a giveaway at the expense of taxpayers and long-term debt. trace: this was supposed to last 90 days. it ran out in one week. what does that mean for the mathematicians in washington? you are taking care of the entire economy and this th

first, to the north lawn of the white house, wendell goler and the president tried to distance himself from the canadian health-care plan. >> the president says his critics are using the canada health care system as a bogeyman. we spoke to some experts that say canada is moving toward the u.s. with more and more health care services available on the private market to those who can afford it. trace: now a very interesting possible link between obesity and h1n1. >> doctors here at the university of michigan said the obese population is not more likely to get h1n1, but it could be more deadly for them if they do. doctors have seen patients with upper respiratory problems and a doubly organ failure. their advice is to treat with antiviral medications, including tamiflu immediately. trace: crimes in south florida. the victims are not human. >> investigators say this is all about horse meat and big money, in some cases paying $50 for one count. 18 horses have been butchered by an organized groups of poa butchers. trace: thank you. that is brand new information. in the meantime, voters are ge