significantly slashing government spending. weigh in and vote online, foxnews.com/ america s newsroom . heather: we will hear from the president in about nine minutes. in the meantime there s news out from overseas this morning, tense moments in baghdad this morning, three rockets hitting the city during a visit by secretary of defense leon panetta, no injuries reported at this time but this attack is coming after mr. panetta made a bold assessment on the fight against terror, the newing it chief says the u.s. is on the verge of defeating al-qaeda for good. take a listen: the key is that having gotten bin laden, we ve now identified some of the key leadership within al-qaeda, both in pakistan, as well as in yemen and other areas. that if we can be successful at going after them, i think we can really undermine their ability. heather: all right. well, you heard it there.
heather: we are waiting to hear from president obama, after a deadlock in debt negotiations yesterday. he s giving lawmakers ten days to get together and try to make a deal. so where are things now? senator republican congresswoman marsha blackburn of tennessee, on the house energy and commerce committee. good morning. good morning. heather: we heard the president is going to give a short statement at about 11:00, then he s going to take questions from the media, before meeting with congressional leaders. it s a bit of a surprise the president is coming out and talking to the press first. what do you want to hear from him this morning? well, one of the things that i think if he were talking to me this morning, i would say tom, mr. president, you have gotten on the last nerve of the american people, and they don t want a tax increase, and you just don t seem to understand that. what they want to do is see the size, scope and cost of the federal government cut. they want the spending
premiering tonight that is sure to bring you to tears, it s on tlc, called surprise home coming , it follows military members who are returning from overseas to surprise their loved ones. take a look at this: i m shaking. i am just shocked. i cannot believe he s here. i cannot believe he s finally home. heather: what a sight to see and a beautiful little girl that you have right there. joining us right now is that family that you just saw, they are on the show, private first class justin hart and his wife ashton, good morning and thank you so much for joining us. we saw that beautiful little girl right there. tell us a little about this. i understand your daughter, sir, was born just prior to
sides come together when you re so far apart? there again, the american people and republicans in congress have been very clear, let s cut. you know, it s interesting, when you listen to what the economists are saying, they re not saying they re looking for a debt hike. they re looking for what we re going to do about spending reduction. the time has come to in a very serious, sober manner, address the spending, the out of control spending of the federal government. and that s what we re willing to do. we ve put our plans forward, i ve had my across the board spending cuts out there for years. i think this is the time where we say this is an opportunity to go make these cuts. let s get busy, let s make these cuts, reduce the size of regulation, reduce the size of these agencies, reduce what the federal government spends. heather: all right. i guess that comes down to who blinks first. we ll follow that angle, but there is something i want to ask you about today, there s a vote taking
crisis? before he meets with republican leaders the president will meet the media that is 20 minutes from now. heather: then there is a law that essentially bans, get this, the most common light bulb, the one we all know and love, but this one is getting a significant challenge, one congressman striking back. the battle of the bulb. we ll explain what s going on.