wasn't this just politicking? >> yeah, and we've got less than four months to go until the presidential election and that's what a lot of this is about, presidential politicses. congress up for election as well in november. we went through this fight two years ago the last time we battled over taxes and there was a standstill then and looks like there will be a standstill now. the republican dominated, the republican-led house will vote on a plan to keep everybody's taxes at the same rate whereas the senate will vote on a plan only for people making $250,000 or less for their taxes to remain the same. a standstill here. of course, all this is presidential politics. here's what mitt romney had to say about it. >> small businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed not at a corporate rate but at the individual tax rate, so successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically and that will kill jobs. that will be another kick in the gut the middle class in america. >> obviously the president and mitt romney did not see eye to eye. what do americans think? we asked this last october. take a look at our findings. 63% say they're okay with people increasing taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year. a very partisan divide here on this one with democrats wildly in favor of this. independents, almost a two-to-one majority but republicans very much against this is that's why you're seeing democrats and republicans in congress and here in washington not seeing eye to eye. >> this does not seem like any secret in terms of the timing. looks like extraordinarily clever campaigning, when you dovetail what the president was doing in the east room yesterday with this position and what he's been doing up until now, ham way at his opponent's wealth and asking for the disclosure of more of his tax returns, it almost looks as though president obama and his team are trying to paint mitt romney as one of those rich one percenters who's trying to keep tax cuts for himself and his cronies. this seems like this is a concerted effort. >> seems like this is part of the campaign because this was a part of this component yesterday by the president. i think what they're trying to say, listen, i'm with you. i, the president, i'm with you, middle class. mitt romney is just for the wealthy. the obama campaign going after mitt romney on his failure to disclose things, be they swiss bank accounts or companies in bermuda. take a look at the president on wmr cnn afill yeah in new hampshire. >> what's important if you are running for president is that the american people know who you are, what you've done and that you're an open book. you know, that's been true of every presidential candidate dating back to mr. romney's father. >> rhetoric there. what he's talking about is mitt romney's father in 1960s when he was running for president closed 12 years of tax returns. mitt romney has only disclosed the last year or two. there's calls for him to show more. the campaign cash figures for both campaigns, mitt romney was out first yesterday, $106.1 million raised by mitt romney and republican national committee in june. look at that, $35 million more than president and democratic national committee is raising. that's a big gap. >> wow, that is massive. we should also say as well, paul, the romney campaign came out and branded these attacks from obama as, quote, unseemingly, disgusting character assaults on a successful businessman. so i assume there's more coming today. >> stay tuned. another chapter ahead. >> and many more. like 50 shades of all this. i went there. i went there. sorry. stick around, we'll talk to you a little later on. also at 6:30 eastern we'll talk about the bush tax cuts with eric paulson, a member of the house committee on ways and means. >> i can't believe you just did it. >> i did it. i went there. >> you're going to read it by the end of this week. i know you will. >> we'll talk about that. the egyptian parliament is back in session this morning in defiance of the country's military and judiciary. a decree by newly elected moment morsi recalled lawmakers after the military decided to dissolve parliament. egypt's highest court affirmed the military decision calling it, quote, final and binding. meantime, muslim brotherhood called for a million man protest march today in support of morsi, the newly elected president. lance armstrong's legal battle against the united states antidoping agency didn't last very long. federal judge tossed the whole thing out. tossed out his lawsuit. just seven hours after it was actually filed. the seven-time tour de france champion was trying to block that agency from punishing him for the allegations of doping violations, but a texas judge struck down the suit and then chewed out arm trong's lawyers saying the complaint was jam-packed with legally irrelevant complaints solely designed to increase media coverage of this case. [ bleep ]. >> a nasty brawl breaking out in a florida courtroom between the family of two murdered brothers and the suspect's familiar. it happened after a hearing on florida's stand your ground gun laws was canceled, the same law in the middle of trayvon martin shooting case. one of the victim's friends left on a stretcher after this brawl, possibly with a broken jaw. the defendant's father and stepfather were taken awe in handcuffs. prince, your home run king. detroit tiger prince fielder won the home run derby last night in kansas city, which will host the major league baseball all-star game tonight. justin verlander will start for the american league. matt cain for the national league. and the league that wins gets home field advantage in the world series. a break from the heat comes at a price. storms bringing major flooding in the mid-atlantic. flash floods left as much as 5 inches of rain in downtown gree greensboro, north carolina. the government says the past 12 months were the hottest 12 months on record in the mainland united states. that's not even counting you'll. more than 2,000 heat records were broken or tied just in july. so far alexandria steele in for rob marciano. >> well, you gave away the good stuff. hot off the presses. noaa coming out with the latest climate report. did you think it was hot? you're saying, this was a hot spring, summer? you're right. the hottest 12 months for the lower 48 on record. since record keeping began in the 1890s. that's not even counting, as you said, ali, july, when we've had on many records, including now that heat moves to the west. las vegas, yesterday, 113. between 110 and 120 out west today, including phoenix and las vegas. here's the problem, though. so in the east in the mid-atlantic we got relief from the heat with this cold front but now it stalled out. so, the stationary front has the front there, not moving, abundant moisture in the atmosphere, heating of the day, flooding today especially in that same area, 1 to 2 inches potentially. story today in terms the temperature, these look night. 88 in washington. 86 in new york. kansas out of the 100s. temperatures much more palatable. >> i didn't know we would say it's nice to say it's 88, alexandra. >> comfortable 88. >> we kol from cooler places. >> thanks. i don't know if you saw this, unbelievable embarrassment at a little league game. remind yourself you're watching little league, with little people. so what's up with the adults? we're going to get the rundown on this, find out what happened. and who on earth these people are. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. thanks, honey. yeah. you suck at folding. [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] just one dose of tide original liquid helps remove food stains better than an entire 40 load bottle of the leading liquid bargain brand. that's my tide. what's yours? homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief, i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. if you want to make a difference, you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i am committed to making a difference, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! the washington monument will be shrouded in giant scaffolding to fix the cracks that shut it down after that east coast earthquake. this was the scene last august when the quake hit. you can see pieces of debris falling inside the monument as people run. the monument has been closed since it was damaged in 2011. it may wanted be ready for public tours again until 2014. sandra endois live on the national mall with more on the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ali. repair work is set to begin this fall. as you mentioned the washington monument has been closed since last august, when the 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit this area. after extensive thorough investigation, engineers determined this 555-foot monument has to undergo extensive internal and external repairs, like sealing up cracks, removing loose stones, repairing joints and internal beams have to be reinforced. this is a big project. just on the top area alone, nine marble panels are cracked at this moment. so, they're going to have to undergo a lot of renovation. the national park service says 700,000 visitors come each year to go inside the monument. now they'll potentially are to wait until 2014. >> came a long way. like to see it, take the whole tour and the experience in, but unfortunately, the powers that be say that's not going to happen. >> that's mother nature. mother nature did its thing. i'd rather be safe than sorry. >> safety's important. >> reporter: this entire project is going to cost around $15 million. a combination of a personal donation from the founder -- or co-founder the carlisle group to the tune of $7.5 million, as well as a bunch of congressional funds, ali, so a hefty price tag there. >> 2014 is what we're aiming for. for those people you talked to, if they want to come back and get that tour, that's when they need to do. good to see yous as always, sandra endoon the washington mall. coming up on "starting point," christine roman is in for soledad and will speak to superintendent of the national mall and parks about the efforts to save one of the great symbols of this country. 16 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to get you up to date on top stories. president obama calling for extension of the bush-aorta tax cut but only for middle class americans. the house republicans are already crafting a plan to extend those cuts for everybody. rich, poor, and everyone in between, including those very wealthy, wealthy americans. the president has promised if it ever gets to his desk, he'll veto it, saying it's just too expensive to do so. fast and furious bounty. the feds now offering up to $1 million to find four fugitives in the murder of border patrol agent brian terry shown here. federal authorities unsealed the indictment monday against five men, one of those men is already in custody. the u.s. attorney saying a covert manhunt in mexico has not led to any more arrests. terry's death is tied to the botched fast and furious gun-running program. some guns were found at crime scenes, including at terry's shooting. internet doomsday. kind of came and went with a whimper. feds are telling us about 211,000 computers all around the globe were infected. about 42,000 of those computers were here in the united states. all of them knocked offline yesterday when the fbi finally decided to shut down the servers that they had set up to protect people from a nasty virus that six estonian hackers implanted in the computers months ago. that's really not a bad statistic, if you consider that as many as 4 million pcs all around the globe could have been infected at the peak of this virus. can you imagine, six estonians. >> we don't hear moch about astonance here. >> i'm sure the government of estonia is really ticked. >> we'll have to see the estonian version of the daily news this morning. >> the losers who cost us our tourism. 18 minutes past 5:00 in the morning on the east coast. a good time to get you your "early reads," the newspapers. before they're even out in print, we've quot them figured out. "ledger enquirer" in columbus, georgia. parents in an embarrassing brawl at a little league baseball game. the video on your screen tells the story. here are the beats. friday night. it broke out after a bunch of adults got into it. when it was over, two adults were facing one count each of disorderly conduct. yeah, the cops had to get in on this one. one of the league's administrators said this is the most disgusting thing he's seen in little league. according to the police report, you don't often hear about a police report at little league, apparently the brawl actually was sparked because there was an argument about the music, the music being played for the kids on the field. >> i don't even know how you get from there into this. >> i do not know how you get from music to police report. >> that's a stretch. police in houston, texas, looking for the man they say punched and robbed an elderly woman at the bus stop and stole her money. they say 40-year-old tyrone lee brown asked the women for money to buy beer. she said something like she only has enough money to buy cat food so police say she refused, brown knocked her to the ground and took off with her cash. >> took off with her money for cat food? >> that's what they say. >> come on, buddy, give us a break. for beer, nice. a follow-up from yesterday. the lifeguard from -- >> from florida. >> yeah, the one who said, goit a drowning guy, outside of my coverage zone, but i'm going to save him. anyway, apparently now getting the honors he rightfully deserves. thomas lopez getting the key to the city of hallandale, florida, in the suit and tie in the middle. he shook hands with the man whose life he saved as well. he was offered his job back but he decided he wasn't interested. he wanted to move on to a different phase of his life, put it all behind him. this new development from the company that fired him. that company is now decided it is no longer going to handle the life guarding duties for the city. >> is that the city saying that or them -- >> that's a good point. this wasn't good. it wasn't good for them. >> bad pr. we're not saving a guy outside of our zone, even if a guy is drowning. >> the head of the company was on erin burnett and said this wasn't something that reached the highest levels of the company and he would have made different decisions. head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. >> if you're like most americans, you're putting more money on your credit card these days. have you noticed? have you been -- >> i haven't but i've been watching that people have been. >> good or bad for our economy? >> very good question. puts more money to the economy but more debt on people's books. >> we'll weigh the pros and cons of that. incredible offer on the powerful c250 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends july 31st. to your kids' wet skin. neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®. of single mile credit cards. battle speech right? may i? [ horse neighs ] for too long, people have settled for single miles. with the capital one venture card, you'll earn double miles on every purchase, every day! [ visigoths cheer ] hawaii, here we come. [ alec ] so sign up today for a venture card at capitalone.com. and start earning double. [ all ] double miles! [ brays ] what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no. did you know honey nut cheerios is america's favorite cereal? oh, you're good! hey, did you know that honey nut cheerios is... oh you too! ooh, hey america's favorite cereal is... honey nut cheerios ok then off to iceland! honey nut cheerios ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. we take it on ours. this summer put your family in an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz now for an exceptional price during the summer event. but hurry, this offer ends july 31st. boy, are we having fun this morning. >> we've covered a lot of ground in three minutes. >> languish -- >> whether estonians can hack computers on their own. breaking new, there was a russian involved in the thing to shut everybody's internet down. >> you know there are some estonians watching that will be tweeting you like crazy. >> i've only met nice estonians, none that committed crimes. i'm abit surprised there were six estonians and one russian. i've met a lot of nice russians -- >> he's on his -- >> producer says move on. >> here you go, u.s. stock futures in the red. european stocks also down. all of this despite the fact that spain got a bailout. what's that? >> well, let's ask our russian and estonian expert -- oh, no estonian? >> no estonian. >> russian ancestry. >> you know what's waying down sentiment at this point, corporate earnings, parade of earnings started yesterday. they're going to continue throughout the week. the big worry is that they're going to be much lower than first quarter. april through june quarter. after the open today at least we'll see results from altria, at&t, caterpillar, jetblue, after the bill, amazon.com. so there's a lot of trepidation because of the slowdown in europe and china and how that's affecting corporate america. we'll get the report cards for the next several weeks. >> remember a few years ago we used to say, things aren't moving as quickly in america as the rest of the world and that's the great part because more than half the companies on the s&p 500 make their money everywhere else in the world. now that's coming back. >> coming home to roost. hey, you know, we are racking up more debt. more american than racking up debt, like eating apple pie. looks like we put more credit -- we racked up more credit on our credit cards and made more than any other month since not