white house is not going to get behind anything that is not a long-term increase of the debt ceiling. but you know, people have been pushing this on this saying that past presidents have increased the debt ceiling for periods of six months much like the boehner plan would. earlier today on msnbc, dan pheifer addressed this very issue. take a listen. there are lots of short term debt ceiling increases in the past, but they were done in a place where it was not, where one party did not use it as an opportunity to extract their entire policy agenda or by holding the economy captive. reporter: now the pressure is ramping up on the president and also on congress to get something done here. in fact, some ceos of the banks have just released this letter, and we want to read part of it to you right now warning of what would happen if they don t get something done quickly, and i m quoting here. the letter said, a default on our nation s obligations are a downgrade of america s cre
brown: then, margaret warner interviews the new head of the international monetary fund, christine legarde about the debt crisis here and in europe. the global economy is clearly highly dependent on the u.s. economy. so to have the lead economy uncertain about its debt ceiling is quite worrisome. woodruff: spencer michels updates the story of honey bees dying in large numbers for the last five years. a lot of research is taking place in the lab and in the field but the mystery of the disappearing bees remains. brown: ray suarez talks to paul farmer about his new book on haiti, still reeling from the massive earthquake and cholera epidemic. you can get stuff done in haiti, you work with haitian colleagues and public health authorities, you can get things done. but it does require just gutting it out, sticking with it, and not being discouraged. woodruff: plus, we explore the discovery of a new traveling companion for planet earth, an asteroid dancing back and for
up support for today, and essentially it would raise the debt ceiling and also save some $917 billion in spending over the course of the next decade, so we re keeping an eye on that as always, but first let s get to that developing story for you out of texas. an awol muslim-american soldier has been arrested near ft. hood with what the fbi is saying is a large amount of bomb-making materials. private first class naser abdo is now in custody after a sales clerk at a gun shop alerted police about this suspicious purchase. fbi agents then went on to abdo s hotel room where they found these bomb-making materials, enough apparently to make not just one but two bombs. i ll speak with the gun shop clerk, very astute man who made that crucial call to police in just a minute. definitely stand by for that. also stand by for a news conference. that s expected any minute now in killeen, texas. we ll take you there live as soon as that begins to be briefed and police in killeen and possib
hopefuls are refusing to back down. i cannot i am committed to not raising the debt ceiling. they include major spending cuts. a commission to propose more cuts. the big difference the senate will lift the debt for 2013. the house bill is only a temporary extension. the white house calls that not good enough. house leaders call it a compromise. but something that fixes the problem past august 2 and allows us to continue to focus on the issue of time to get the fiscal house in order. behind closed doors all day the arm-twisting continues. right now, john boehner is meeting with members one on one in his office. he is pulling them out of meetings and off of the house floor. he works furiously to find the 216 votes that he needs. the senate is standing by waiting to vote. there is no guarantee that this crisis is over. you can continue to follow developments anytime on wjla.com. the transportation secretary ray lahood is urging congress to get the faa back up and run
much of the afternoon, the speaker and his leadership team have been pulling republican members in his ceremonial office just off the house floor to make the final push to vote to pass this bill. it s been an unpredictable day on capitol hill. let s pass this bill and end this crisis. the rallying cry from speaker john boehner on the day the house is due to vote on his debt plan, but when asked if he had the necessary votes boehner deferred to the republican whip who was cautious. we re moving in the right direction. you ve always known, i don t talk about the vote. this conference has moved a great deal in a short amount of time. as republicans work to firm up support for the measure that would cut $917 billion while raising the debt ceiling in a two-step process, democratic leader nancy pelosi predicted the measure won t get help from house democrats. i m not speaking for every member in my caucus, but i feel very confident they ll have 217 votes, whatever it is