generation of republicans in line. and president obama warns, and i m quoting him now, we are almost out of time, urging all americans to keep the pressure on washington and bring this devastating crisis to an end. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. you re looking at a live picture right now of the house floor, where just a short time from now, we expect to see that critical vote on the gop debt plan. the vote was supposed to happen yesterday around this time, but was abruptly postponed when the house speaker john boehner failed to get the 216 votes it needs for passage. meanwhile, with only days left to solve this unprecedented crisis, wall street is already reeling. stocks posted their worst weekly performance in more than a year while the dow fell about 97 points today. this on the heels of a dismal new economic report out today, showing the country s economic growth has now slowed to a crawl. let s go straight to our congressional correspondent, kate ba
delayed. police in texas say a muslim american soldier confessed to plotting an attack on ft. hood just two years after a muslim officer shot to death 13 people on that same base. tropical storm don could hit the south texas coast tonight and drought-stricken farmers are welcoming the prospect of up to 7 inches of rain. we begin with that sobering reality check on the debt crisis and just how daunting the challenge has become. in less than four days, the federal government could run out of money and default on its bills. but on capitol hill, the process has taken a huge step back. house speaker john boehner abruptly delayed a vote on his debt plan because of a revolt within his own party. joe johns is in washington with more on the political battle and ali velshi in new york waiting to see how the markets will react. ali, let s start with you. the new gdp number that just came out moments ago. reporter: this is going to add a whole new wrinkle. we have seen futures tank
really aren t too terribly far apart and the deal can be done by the august 2nd, tuesday deadline. let s listen to the president, this is when he spoke around 10:30 this morning. let s listen. good morning, everybody. i want to speak about the ongoing and increasingly urgent efforts to avoid default and reduce our deficit. right now, the house of representatives is still trying to pass a bill that the majority of republicans and democrats in the senate have already said they won t vote for. it s a plan that would force us to relive this crisis in just a few short months, holding our economy captive to washington politics once again. in other words, it does not solve the problem, and it has no chance of becoming law. what s clear now is that any solution to avoid default must be bipartisan, it must have the support of both parties that were sent here to represent the american people. not just one faction. it will have to have the support of both the house and the senate, and