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 possibly the fbi. let's head to the pentagon and correspondent barbara starr who has been all over this this afternoon. minute by minute i know this story is changing and evolving, and you're getting more information what. can you tell us about this awol soldier and specifically what police saw in his hotel room? >> reporter: first, brooke, let me circle back for a minute. you referred to him as a muslim-american soldier. normally we don't talk about a soldier's faith in terms of a criminal story, why are we talking about it today? this man had applied to become a conscientious objector last year to the army. as a private first class and as a muslim-american he said he could not in good conscience deploy to the war zone. he did not want to be in the possible position of killing fellow muslims in the war zone, so he applied to become a conscientious objector. subsequent to that he was found by the army to have child pornography on his computer and he was facing court-martial charges on that and then he went awol. he turned up in texas and this very astute gun owner called police after this private first class naser abdo asked questions that didn't make sense to the gun shop owner, bought material and went away in a taxi. when he was finally stopped by police they found a good deal of material in his hotel room, as you said, enough to make two bombs. they found weapons, explosives, sugar that -- pounds of sugar that they thought might be used as an explosive enhancer and even christmas lights that they thought might be used as a timing device for some potential bombs, a lot of concern about all of this, but our sources are telling us so far they do not believe there's any tie to any terrorist organization. brooke? >> let me circle back with you to the point you were making as -- as i do remember his story. viewers may not remember his name, but we have some sound. i just want to play, he was interviewed by a number of media outlets including our nashville affiliate. we have sound of this man speaking about how he didn't want to go overseas based on his religious beliefs. let's just listen to that for a moment. oh, we don't have the sound, but barbara starr, to go back to your final point being -- here he is. >> i had different views on war. i had different -- i had different views on what islam as a peaceful religion allowed and did not allow. >> okay. short and sweet. here we have it. barbara, finally, he is not tied thus far from what you're hearing to any kind of, you know, larger terrorist organization. do we know yet, and i know it's so, so early, whether he was potentially a lone wolf here, or did he have help? >> reporter: at this point there's no indication he was working with anybody, but as you say it's very early. >> yeah. >> reporter: i think we'll all be watching this upcoming press conference from the killeen, texas police department, and we will be watching to see if the fbi is also there. what we are told is that federal charges have been filed by the time of this press conference, which is just a few minutes away, we will see fbi officials there at that press conference, if the federal charges have -- have already been filed. what will also be interesting to watch is who will exactly have jurisdiction over the case. the army was already searching for him because he was awol, he was going to be taken back to ft. campbell, kentucky, if they found him, but it may now be that if there are federal weapons charges, that may supercede all of this, and he may remain in federal hands, brooke. >> okay. barbara starr, you and i and our viewers will all be watching for that news conference. supposed to happen any minute now. i'm told that it's yet to begin. killeen, texas police will be giving it, and we'll be standing by for that. barbara starr, as always, thank you so much. staying on the story here now on the line is the gun store sales clerk who so astutely alerted police to this man in killeen, texas. his name is greg ebert. he's also a former law enforcement officer and greg, quite a story here and i'm sure you're being inundated by media types like me and i appreciate you taking time. on tuesday you had this awol soldier, little did you know, comes into your gun store. do me a favor and begin with his behavior. can you describe, it anything odd or pretty normal guy? >> well, the only -- the only thing that drew our attention to this young man initially is the fact that he arrived here in a taxi. after he entered the store his purchase raised a red flag with me, and when i say red flag, he bought six one-pound canisters of smokeless gunpowder to the counter, and then asked the manager what is smokeless powder? i thought it kind of strange that he would be buying something that he had no firsthand knowledge of. >> so you thought that was odd because he didn't know what the smokeless gunpowder was. what else? what did he ultimately walk out of your store with? >> the entire purchase consisted of the six pounds of powder help. also purchased three boxes of shotgun shells and a spare magazine for a semi-automatic pistol, but his -- just his general demeanor and the fact that he showed up in a taxi caused me to be a bit concerned about what he might be up to. >> why the taxi, greg? why is that odd? >> well, how many folks do you see going around town doing their shopping out of the back seat of a taxi cab? >> mm-hmm. so that was red flag number two. red flag number one was he didn't know what smokeless gunpowder was that he wanted to purchase and also that he was in a cab. beyond the purchasing there was nothing odd about his behavior. was he talking to anyone else in the store? was he quiet? >> very much to himself. as a matter of fact, the very brief exchanges that took place were kind of terse, to be honest with you. >> so like you said, you sold it all to him. he had not done anything unlawful to prevent the sale. he leaves in this cab. you don't immediately call police. you sit on this for a little while. what happens next? >> well, we -- after the young man left the store, we discussed the purchase amongst ourselves, and the manager who is a wonderful woman was just concerned that something might be afoot. she was uncomfortable with it, so i told her if it would help put her mind at ease that i'd call one of the lieutenants that i know at the pd and discuss it with him. that way at least the authorities would be alerted to this young man, and they could take whatever action they deemed to be appropriate. >> so having worked, sir, with killeen pd for 17 years. waco police two years and harrison county sheriff in houston, i imagine you're pretty good with the details so you're able to relay that information on to the police who then went on to his hotel room to find all the materials. this same store where you work, called guns galore, the same store where major nidal hasan bought some weapons that he used in that shooting back in 2009. i'm just curious, sir, since that point in time, did anything change within your store? is there a heightened awareness because of what happened, perhaps surveillance cameras, et cetera, anything different? >> well, i like to think that we're aware of all of our customers. the owner did in fact invest in a more advanced video recording system which certainly helps us, but we take the view that we have an obligation to the community to get the authorities involved any time we feel that something is afoot that just doesn't seem right. >> well, i just want to read to you from congressman carter out of texas who says thanks to a quick action by a texas gun dealer, you, sir in, alerting police to a suspicious character, we may have averted a repeat avac on our largest military installation. sir, i thank you very much. >> thank you. well, speaker of the house says he is ready to raise the debt ceiling and a vote could happen on the so-called boehner bill just hours from now. debate on the bill just opened up on the house floor, but senate leaders say don't waste your time. we'll take you live to washington here in just a movement also ahead, a creepy story out of florida. two beautiful women just moved to the u.s. for the summer here and enjoying their new apartment in florida until they find out someone has rigged the place with hidden cameras. back in a moment. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ my only sunshine ♪ you makes me happy ♪ when skies are grey ♪ you'll never know, dear ♪ how much i love you ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ [ male announcer ] as long as there are babies, they'll be chevy's to bring them home. ♪ they'll be chevy's to bring them home. purina cat chow helps you well-being. we're all striving for it. nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. unlike fish oil, megared softgels are small and easy to swallow with no fishy smell or aftertaste. try megared today. let's go live to washington. it's the house whip speaking right now. congressman steny hoyer of maryland here. now keep in mind five days remaining to a potential default of the treasury. the house of representatives just begun the debate there over this legislation to raise the debt ceiling. now this is the plan today put forth by the speaker of the house john boehner, and at last report boehner continues to twist arms among his own republicans to win enough vote to pass this thing. let's bring in joe johns here in washington. joe, let's just both listen to speaker boehner. this is when he spoke just a short time ago. >> the bill is not perfect. i've never said it was perfect. nobody in my caucus believes it's perfect, but what this bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end this crisis in a bipartisan way to send it to the senate where it can receive action. >> joe johns, just so we are all on the same page as succinctly as you possibly can, what does the boehner plan offer? >> okay. i will keep it short, okay, so just stay with me. >> okay. >> it's got two steps. there's a debt limit increase, and it would cut spending by $917 billion over ten years and then second step there. would be a second $1.6 trillion debt limit increase linked to $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction, and the two-step thing is the thing the democrats are really upset about, including the white house. they say number one that second round of cuts would be a lot harder than the first, and it would probably come around the end of the year, if not somewhere before the next election, and it would just be risky for the entire country, so that's the main thing the democrats are objecting to, the two-step thing, brooke. >> so that's the outline of the plan. as we said, in terms of votes here, joe, boehner is not saying whether he has enough votes from independents to get this thing passed but it it is appear he's made progress among the 85 freshmen who do tend to be hardline conservatives. let's list inn to one of them. >> today is important because this freshman class is coming together to get around a proposal, get around an idea. is this as big as we want it to go? heck no. we wanted to go bigger. we ran on going bigger, but this is the only proposal on the table that accomplishes the goals that we've set out to do. >> so joe, which republicans are still holding out? >> well, you have some republicans who have been around a long time. they have been conservative for a long time, and they are upset because they thought this was their big opportunity to really cut spending and downsize the government, and now it's looking like they are not going to get everything they want, so the speaker has said himself it's those old sort of hard line conservatives. apparently the speaker has gotten a lot of the tea party freshmen we've heard so much about to go along with him, at least in the short term, but, you know, this is sort of like herding cats at the end, and it will be interesting to see what kind of groups he gets under the tent, if he gets the bill passed at the end of the day. he says he doesn't have all the vote, but it sounds like he's close. >> well, as the cats are being herded, joe, minor detail here, and i say this facetiously like any legislation, right, you have to clear it in the senate, and the senate majority leader came out and said today flat out not going to happen. >> as soon as the house completes its vote tonight or this afternoon, the senate will move to take up that message that they sent to us. it will be defeated. they know that. the american people should now understand that clearly. >> so, joe, if that is what happens, here's the if, if the house passes the boehner plan, it immediately dies in the senate, then what? >> well, then you've got to figure out something else, and we do know that harry reid and mish mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, are going to get their heads together to try to come up with something at the last moment, and there's also some outlines, even in the boehner plan, that they might be able to use to try to give him a little face-saving maneuver there and try to get something on the president's desk at the last moment before that august 2nd self-imposed deadline. going to be tight, but, you know, they still have a few arrows in the quiver, if you will. >> okay. joe johns, thank you. as we talk republican plan, talk democrat plan, talk house, senate, what about the president? the white house says the president is saying intensely involved, that's their word, intensely involved in all of this, very much so working behind the scenes. as to the boehner legislation here that joe was just talking about, the chief white house spokesman sin sifting with five days left until this potential default, house republicans are wasting precious time. >> look, what i know about the speaker's proposal in the house right now is there are already i believe 55, 56, 57, 58 senators, democrats and republicans, who oppose it. it ain't going anywhere in the united states senate, so we need to start doing things that actually can pass both houses and be signed into law. >> brianna keilar live for me at the white house this afternoon. brianna, it sounds as though the folks there, where you are, they are looking beyond the boehner plan to try to influence what happens next, is that correct to say? >> reporter: that is correct to say, and we heard from jay carney. he called the boehner plan dead on arrival. he said this vote is political theater, and the white house has long said this will never get to the president's desk, although when you heard joe detail the boehner plan, brooke, the real objection here is to that second vote on the debt ceiling and how that all is orchestrated, so that really is the hiccup here, but that's also seen as really the trademark if you were to talk to white house officials of the boehner plan. right now all eyes are on capitol hill. the president has a very bare public schedule today. what we do know is at least publicly it's very vague, but we do know that there are a lot of discussions going on between the white house and congress. here's some more of what jay carney said today. >> we are having conversations at every level. i'm not going to detail the individuals who are talking to members, but you can be sure that members of the president's team are continuing the conversations that we have been having for weeks and months even, and that goes -- goes on every day. >> there is a plan. >> look, there are a variety of ways to achieve a compromise here, and we are obviously, as our members and leaders of congress are engaged in discussions about what those plans look like and what the best way forward will be as -- as the clock clicks down here, ticks down. >> reporter: so here's what to expect in the coming days absent a deal in congress. more details from the white house, from the treasury department, on who, brooke, will get paid and who will not get paid in the actual case of a default. we've heard sort of, you know, some of the more vague details coming from the white house and coming from trish rirk and i should say the white house still says, as it has, it's confident that congress will increase the debt ceiling. we expecting details on what exactly would happen if congress does not in the coming days. >> can't even begin to imagine what -- what folks are thinking within the department of treasury right now. brianna keilar, live for me at the white house. thank you. and coming up next, texas starving for rain. in fact, the drought there is so bad crops are dying. wells are drying up. homes are even shifting because the ground is so baked, but relief may be on the way. chad myers joins me next. the state of texas, and if you're there you know this, used to very long, very hot spells, but as dry as texas has ever been, the first six months of this year are the record -- the state's driest on record, driest ever. take a look at this. crops dying in the fields. there has been no rain here in a very, very long time. what is surviving, a bumper crop of grasshoppers. take a will be at this drought map. almost every square inch of texas covered by the deepest shade of burgundy. see that? that means that the drought in texas is beyond bad, moved to the worst level which is called exceptional, and look at this. dead fish. dead fish in a dry lake bed. what this means to the average texan is a shortage of water so extreme that wells are drying up, forcing people to drill deeper. the state's aquifer is declining at an alarming rate and reservoirs are dangerously low. texas needs rain, and they need a lot of it, and that is why texas is now watching the advance of tropical storm don with great, great interest. don is moving across the gulf of mexico. chad myers here to answer some questions. i can't get over the pictures of all the dead fish. it just shows how horrific it is there. talk to me about don. will they get the rain? >> texas is worse right now than the dust bowl. >> wow. >> know the pictures and all the old film of the dust bowl. will they get rain? yes. will they get a lot? no. why? because the storm is moving quite quickly. the storm is moving at 15 miles per hour. it's growing in size, 45 miles per hour. it's not forecast at all to be a hurricane, and that's good. there's not one model that i've looked at all day that forecasts it to become a hurricane but somewhere between corpus christi and probably brownsville that makes landfall late, late tomorrow night, after midnight friday nig