politics, but after last weekend s treagedy in tucson, many spoke of gabrielle giffords and how the attack impacted the new congress. caroline shivley is live in washington. representative giffords closest friends on capitol hill, as i understand it, are talking today. what are they saying? gregg, senator gillibrand described her friend this way: she has courage, she s got drive, she s got spirit and the north said giffords is breathing on her own, can open her eyes and understands what she is hearing and seeing, here s gillibrand: anyone in the world will recover fully from this kind of crime and just unbelievable injury, it is her. she s got courage, she s got drive, she s got spirit and i really think her courage is en expiring all of us right now. her husband, astronaut mark kelly has been by her side, listen to debbie wasserman schultz.
those unprecedented cuts. eric. eric: they ll try and get a handle on it and start meeting in 72 hours, wednesday, congress back in session. caroline shivley, thanks, as always. jamie? jamie: the new congress will get down to business this week beginning with the two major show downs on government spending and debt and both significantly impacting our nation s economic health. but, will returning house democrats be able to work with the republican majority? joining us now, erin billings, deputy editor of roll call. good morning. what will republicans face in terms of cutting spending. that is always difficult and cutting tax, not difficult and republicans have been successful at doing that in the past but when you get down to spending you have to prioritize and republicans know it and that is not going to be easy. i think the real challenge is, not just between republicans and democrats, but, also republicans and republicans. we ll have a lot of these new tea party members
and, that takes a lot of political might. in these days, they might be able to find the will, but it is very hard. reporter: unions say they are feeling the pinch as well, and, a spokesman for the new jersey education association, telling us, telling fox they ve already cut 10,000 jobs. and, they say that some point, this is a quote, at some point, governor christie needs to address the state s failure to meet its obligations, to the pension system, without further eroding the morale of the people who educate new jersey s children. and, so, the battle continues. gregg: heather childers, live outside our studios, thanks. reporter: you are welcome. julie: income tax filers hoping to get the refund checks quickly, we have bad news for you, you are going to have to wait. early birds will not be seeing the refunds until sometime in february. according to the irs, so what is the hold-up? caroline shivley has details and
too. what happens now. caroline shivley is live in washington. reporter: the president is jumping in and the sources say the president is trying to sell liberals on a deal that would extend all the bush tax cuts and even for the wealthiest americans and senate democrats, republicans and the white house, all think they can get an agreement through by the end of the week in the senate and yesterday, senate republicans and a handful of democrats blocked the plan that would have extended the tax cuts for the middle class and let am the expire for top earn earns. a gallup poll a week ago had 80% of americans saying, don t increase taxes. but, i think the point is this: especially in an economic downturn like we re in now. but i would say, at any time, it s not a good idea to raise people taxis. the president says unemployment benefits have to be extended as part of the deal. senator kyl is one of the key negotiators and indicated it will be likely a part of the deal and other republ
reid, to solve problems, we re going to stand on the sidelines, sit on our hands, and basically just say no to everything. reporter: this is the president s third trip to las vegas for reid in a year. the first lady is scheduled to head there on election-eve. rick. rick: caroline shivley, thanks. police arresting three men suspected of creating a meth lab at georgetown university and emergency crews racing to a dorm at the prestigious university after a strange odor was reported and there, they found a lab full of chemicals. two of the men who were arrested are students, one was a visitor. and 7 people were exposed to the chemicals and fortunately, no one was injured. rick: sad story, member of the u.s. national swimming team, dying during a race overseas, 26-year-old fran crippen was competing in a ten kilometer race in the united arab emirates. and failed to finish. and his body was found in the water, he died. swimming world magazine reporting the water temperature