if six democrats protect entitlement and six republicans protect defense spending and refuse to raise taxes, you can see the strong possibility of gridlock. jon: the cuts are do by thanksgiving but there is another battle congress has to face. reporter: the fiscal year 2012 starts october 1st. congress has been funding the government using continuing resolutions this year. the hope is congress will make the tough choices when they return from recess. here is connecticut senator joe lieberman. so, in september when we come back, after the summer break, right away we ve got to start dealing with the budget for the federal fiscal year that begins october 1st. and there is a lot of work to do quickly. reporter: continuing resolutions just kick the can down the road on making serious budgetary decisions. the hope is congress after recess, perhaps after getting an ear full from constituents will make tough choices and spending priorities moving forward.
nothing in the first two and a half years. the aaa of this country lasted a hundred years, through the great depression but it couldn t survive two and a half years of barack obama. it s his economy, it s his problem and it s going to be a problem. you can fight the history battles as long as you want. the reality is simply this. you had republican members of congress standing up and saying, it doesn t matter if we default on our debt and stop paying our bills, that is one of the reasons we got downgraded because of the political problems here, and the political problems are very clear. president obama said u know what i m willing to make big cuts and he did. i m even willing to talk about entitlements. you ve got to be willing to compromise to us. the republicans not only said no compromise when they sat down with the president in the super committee democrats are saying senator reid said i ll look something on this committee to talk about entitlement reform. what did the republican
for the jobs situation, the recovery not really picking up here in the u.s. now when it comes to the downgrade, you see the administration pointing the finger, pushing pushing back at s&p but pointing their finger at the tea party. it will be interesting to see how the president frames this in less than an hour from now and whether or not he takes responsibility for this. jenna: it will be interesting and we ll be watching it. ed henry, thank you very much, at the white house today. jon: this latest downgrade sparking a selloff on wall street. it was preceded by the long drawn-out political battle over raising the debt ceiling. as we await a statement by president obama expected in slightly less than an hour, let s bring in special report anchor bret baier. there s been all kinds of finger pointing on capitol hill with members of congress and the senate, pointing fingers at the white house, the white house pointing back. what is the president hoping to accomplish in this speech tod
are suing the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and the obama administration over new regulations that would require them to report multiple sales of semiautomatic rifles, the new rules only apply to gun dealers in those four states bordering mexico. now, its new fallout partially in response to the government s so called operation fast and furious which helped smuggle american guns into mexico, two of those guns found at the scene where border patrol agent brian terry was shot and killed last year. joining us now, criminal defense criminal dwayne cates, also with us, doug burns, a former prosecutor. doug, it s always been my understanding, based on high school civics, that congress is supposed to pass laws, and the administration is supposed to enforce it. so how are they getting away with passing what amounts to a law here? you forgot maybe the second half of that, or a college course in administrative law, jon. jon: i didn t take that course! which joking aside, seriously,
congress has until the end of september to come up with a federal budget and a new bi-partisan committee will have late until november to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. potentially setting up another battle with the white house over taxes. mike emanuel is live for us in washington. what are the expectations for this so-called super committee. reporter: conventional wisdom is the top for members of congress will pick members who share the same priorities with leadership. the hope is they will act in the best interests of the country. take a listen to john mccain of arizona. i think it will be a serious battle, and i think that those of us are worried about this nation s security are going to have to fight hard to preserve a level of defense spending that preserves our national security. reporter: nancy pelosi says protecting entitlements, social security, medicare and medicaid is a priority for democrats.