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U.S. Stays Clear of Default for Time Being; Jobs, Taxes Continue Debt Debate; Combat Engineers in Afghanistan

Aired August 02, 2011 - 13:58   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Randi Kaye. Thanks for joining us this afternoon.

Any journalist can tell you there's nothing like the deadline to focus the mind. Thus, with just hours to spare, a plan to make sure the world's biggest economy can make good on its debts and commitments is headed to the president's desk.

As you may have seen live right here on CNN, the Senate signed off on the plan about 90 minutes ago. And for all the anxiety, acrimony and alarm, it wasn't even close. The vote was 74-26, largely in line with last night's vote in the House. And so with a signature from President Obama, the United States will stay clear of default until 2013 at the earliest.

The president's pen is poised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This compromise guarantees more than $2 trillion in deficit reduction. It's an important first step to ensuring that as a nation, we live within our means. Yet, it also allows us to keep making key investments in things like education and research that lead to new jobs, and assures that we're not cutting too abruptly while the economy is still fragile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Let me remind you what this deal actually entails. Between now and the end of this year, it raises the U.S. debt limit, currently just under $14.3 trillion, by $900 billion. It also calls for spending caps designed to save $917 billion over 10 years.

This fall, a 12-member bipartisan congressional committee will try to find at least $1.2 trillion in further cuts as a condition to raising the debt an equal amount. If the still unnamed Gang of 12 fails, automatic cuts will kick in.

And we just want to tell you that this is breaking news just into CNN that President Obama has signed the debt ceiling bill, so that has now gone official. Jay Carney, at the White House press briefing, just announced that moments ago. So we can tell you that it is official.

The deal is signed. The deal is done.

We're following the dollars, the politics, and the global fallout as only CNN can. My colleague, Kate Bolduan, on Capitol Hill, and Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger is in our Washington studios.

Kate, tell us first about the atmosphere there. I mean, is there a huge sense of relief, or maybe a feeling of doom postponed possibly?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there's absolutely a sense of relief. I started getting that sense last night once this compromised bill reached what was arguably its biggest hurdle, which was getting past the House, and absolutely a sense of relief today as it passed the Senate.

This really brings to an end this fierce partisan battle and standoff that we've been seeing for weeks now, and it at least brings it to an end for a little while, we should say. We shouldn't go too far. For maybe the month of August we shouldn't see this partisan bickering going on. But when they return, they do still have a lot of work ahead of them.

This seems to be kind of, as we've heard over and over again from leaders on both sides of the aisle, Randi, this culmination, this agreement, finally, and this passage of this bill is the first step. The first step, the first step, that's what we keep hearing, because they have deficit reduction measures that they still have to tackle, and they return with this super committee, this special committee of 12, to really tackle the tough stuff that they couldn't deal with on this first round.

KAYE: Exactly. Now that we've just said -- we just got word, we just told our viewers there that the president has signed this bill into law. So we know he has two weeks, or Congress has two weeks from that signing, to come up with the members for this super committee.

Do we know how this is going to work or who might be on this panel?

BOLDUAN: That's really the question on everyone's mind up here. We started asking that actually yesterday, and no one's really kind of tipped their hand yet on who will be on the committee.

But the makeup of the committee, not only the issues they're going to tackle, but just the makeup of the committee, is going to be very interesting and very telling. There is some thought up here that if this committee is kind of stacked with some of the hard-liners from both parties, that this committee is really going to be set up to fail, which would then just trigger those across-the-board cuts in spending that everyone really wants to avoid.

But, at the same time, if there seems to be more members of some kind of -- somewhere in the line of, like, the Gang of Six senators, who really sat down for a year to kind of tackle these tough issues, there seems to be some sense that if that type of senator and member of Congress is put on this committee, that they could really reach this deadline of Thanksgiving and come up with some good solutions. So the makeup of the committee, not only the issues they tackle, will be very interesting to follow -- Randi.

KAYE: All right. Kate Bolduan, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Gloria, let me turn to you now. This major legislative achievement heads off default and hands off really the toughest decisions on taxing and spending.

Do you think this is cause for celebration?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: No. Well, it's cause for celebration because the debt ceiling has been raised, and I believe that that needed to happen. But I think, you know, now comes -- now comes the hard part, as Kate was saying.

And it was very clear to me in watching the president today that he took an immediate turn. He wasn't overly exuberant about this. He said this is a compromise, there's not everything in it that I like, for example, and then he took an immediate turn laying out his priorities for this committee.

You know, this is a president who said, we're going to have to make, yes, adjustments to things like Medicare, entitlement programs, but he called for reforming the tax code, which, as you know, is a very big job. And also, he called for revenue increases, taking away oil and gas subsidies and tax cuts for, as he put it, billionaires.

And so it's -- you know, this is a debate we have been having, we have had on other debt commissions, we're going to have on this committee. They've got to report in a very limited amount of time.

The only thing I can say is that everybody knows the solutions that are out there. This is ground that has been covered many, many times before. You're just going to have some -- have to have some people on that committee who can sort of suck it up and make some tough recommendations, no matter what the political fallout.

KAYE: Yes.

Speaking of political fallout, I want to share one result from our new CNN/ORC poll with you. Seventeen percent of the Americans saying the participants in this debt debate have acted like responsible adults; 77 say they've acted like spoiled children. Now, Jay Carney there at the White House said that Americans are rightfully appalled -- those are his words -- by what they saw.

Is Washington capable of more than this?

BORGER: Well, you know, we're going to have to see. I mean, the line that we heard from the president, that, you know, people voted for a divided government but not a dysfunctional government, is clearly something that has a lot of resonance out there. And the people don't want to see the dysfunction.

But people voted for this. You know, people don't like the bickering, but they actually voted for a divided government. They voted for a Tea Party Caucus that took pledges, that said we are not going to raise taxes, that took pre-election pledges. And so this is the kind of environment you get when do you that.

Now, at some point when you're against the wall, as they were here and as they will be in November, the feeling is that they will be forced into some kind of compromise. And maybe that's the only way we can do it these days, when these folks have a sword hanging over their heads and they have the threat of the kinds of cuts that nobody wants. So we'll see if we can force them to do their jobs.

KAYE: And just very quickly, we saw the president there immediately turning his focus to jobs as soon as this bill was passed.

BORGER: Sure. Absolutely.

KAYE: Is this what you might call the restart of the 2012 campaign here for the president?

BORGER: Yes. You know, it is.

The president -- and I might also add, Nancy Pelosi, took about a nanosecond before she had a press conference in which she said jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Not too subtle there. They have to make the case now that they -- that's the turn they want to take.

And they hope -- they hope that this legislation will convince businesses to start dipping into the pots of money they're sitting on and investing again and creating jobs. But, of course, that's the standard that the president knows he's going to be judged on in the 2012 election. We have an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent now.

And we also heard the president talk about why the economy has stalled. He gave a list of reasons, including, you know, the Arab Spring and everything else. And so, you know, you see him kind of justifying why he wasn't able to kick-start this economy the way he wanted to.

KAYE: Well, we'll see if it gets a kick-start now, won't we?

BORGER: Yes, we will.

KAYE: Gloria Borger, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

BORGER: Sure.

KAYE: Nice to see you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Congress finally got the job done when it comes to raising the debt ceiling, but there's one very important and costly piece of business they left unresolved before heading home for summer recess: how to fund the Federal Aviation Administration, which affects not only the FAA, but everyone who flies. Lawmakers inaction pretty much guarantees nearly 4,000 FAA employees will remain furloughed for the next month, and ironically at a time when the government is bickering over how to save money and cut the nation's debt. The federal government will also lose at least $1.2 billion since airlines have stopped collected airline passenger taxes.

My colleague Martin Savage spoke with FAA administration Randy Babbitt earlier today about the hang-up and the impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY BABBITT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: In a nutshell, the issues had to do with essential air service which is not part of the FAA reauthorization. That's for a broader political debate somewhere else, but that's what's hanging it up. Because this can't go on a day longer, much less six weeks longer.

We're going to suffer a lot of long-term damage. We have billions of dollars in construction money that should be going out the door that's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Construction projects at airports are being suspended. In addition to FAA employees, Babbitt and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood both say it will hurt tens of thousands of airport and construction workers. But airport inspectors are being asked to stay on the job without pay.

President Obama has just signed legislation raising the debt ceiling, but the big issues of jobs and taxes are still on everyone's minds. What does this debt ceiling deal mean for both? The parties are clearly divided on how to create jobs and how taxes factor into growing the economy.

Moments ago, the president called on Congress for more action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We need to begin by extending tax cuts for middle class families so that you have more money in your paychecks next year. If you've got more money in your paycheck, you're more likely to spend it. And that means more small businesses and medium-sized businesses and large businesses will have more customers. That means they'll be in a better position to hire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: I want to bring in "Chicago Sun-Times" finance expert Terry Savage for some deeper perspective here.

Hi, Terry.

First, I want to ask you, do you agree with what the president said there? And the question then becomes of course, how do you offset that loss in the revenue? TERRY SAVAGE, FINANCE EXPERT, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, it's nice to hear that the president recognizes that you don't raise taxes in the midst of a recession and that lower taxes give people a chance to decide what to do with their own money, and they'll probably spend it. And if they save it or invest it, that's OK, too.

Jobs is definitely going to be the next big focus because we know that Friday is the monthly unemployment report, or the lack of new jobs created report. And we've seen it that business needs confidence to create jobs, consumers need confidence to go out and spend, and banks need confidence to go out and lend.

So now that we've got the worst of this debt crisis behind us -- not all of it, but the worst of it -- there is an opportunity for the economy to grow.

KAYE: Some have suggested that if you cut federal spending, that isn't exactly going to spur economic growth or job growth.

What do you think about that?

SAVAGE: Well, the question is, where would the money go? If we're borrowing the money or printing the money in order to spend it, that's not good for the economy.

Take a look at gold today making new highs at $1,645 an ounce. That's the fear in the global markets, that we will water down our dollar, pay for all the spending with newly-created money. That's not good for confidence in the future.

So, yes, you're concerned about the fact that some government employees will be laid off, there will be some cutbacks in spending. But the real economy, not the government economy, could likely pick up the slack.

There's a lot of money already out there. Waiting for that spark of, here's going to be the tax law, here will be the new regulations, what we don't need now is this new committee of 12 arguing the same argument that we just went through the last two weeks. They're going have to act decisively and come up with some agreements. That will spur the economy more than any government spending can do.

KAYE: What kind of agreement, though, do they need to come up with? I mean, what needs to done here?

I feel like we've been talking jobs and economic growth for a long time. And now the president again pledging to fight, for his words, new jobs, higher wages, faster economic growth. So what does this super committee need to do?

SAVAGE: This super committee needs to get its act together and come out much more quickly than anyone expected with an agreement on where the cuts will be and how the economy will go forward. If we can get that kind of an agreement, something that comes out in a period of two or three or four weeks, and surprises everyone, it could be the spark of confidence that will ignite all the money that's sitting on the sidelines. We'll encourage consumers to go out and buy the houses at bargain prices and bargain interest rates, and encourage the banks to lend.

So that's what the real economy is waiting for now. Will they put all this camaraderie and compromise into action? That's what the economy needs.

KAYE: One quick question, my last one for you. These long-term unemployment benefits, they were originally in the plan, and then they never made it to the final bill which has now been approved and signed.

Should they have been? Was that a mistake?

SAVAGE: You know, there will be a lot of these questions, because now they will be getting down to the specifics. And that's what's going to make this next go forward so much more difficult.

Here's one thing we've learned. The government can spend trillions of dollars -- they've done it -- and not really create jobs.

So we have to take care of the people that are unemployed. But the best way to take care of them is through economic growth.

Our economy is capable of incredible things. We've been through tough recessions before.

You know, the unemployment now is not even as high as it was in the 1980-'82 recession. So we have proved that we can come out growing strongly. We just need the confidence all across the board, and the confidence comes from the fact that we have some adults in charge in Washington that are going to make some rules, the economy can live by them, and people can make decisions by them.

The real trick now going forward is, please don't let us have this argument on all the little things. Let them come to an agreement and step aside and get the economy going again.

KAYE: Well, let's hope that we see that happen. And we look forward to the job numbers, of course, on Friday.

Terry Savage, thank you very much for your perspective.

SAVAGE: Thank you, Randi.

KAYE: Think you have a rough job? Up next, a look at what it takes to hunt for IEDs in the heart of Afghanistan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Yesterday we looked at the stark physical and mental transformation of one young soldier experiencing war for the very first time. Today we go out with his company as they search for IEDs. It's all part of an exclusive weeklong series by Jason Carol. He joins us now from New York.

Jason, these guys have an awfully dangerous job, no doubt about that. What was it like being in the war zone with them?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I should tell you, it was tense. It was really tense for a first-timer such as myself being out with these combat engineers.

And just to put it into some perspective for your, Randi, one report shows that some 268 troops were killed by IEDs, these improvised explosive devices, last year. The combat engineer's job is to go out and find those bombs before they can do any harm.

So we got a first-hand look at how they try to accomplish their mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. NICK CHRISTIAN, U.S. ARMY: What we do is we make sure that our route is cleared before we step off.

CARROLL (voice-over): On mission with combat engineers in a remote area of southern Afghanistan, these soldiers hunt for IEDs, those roadside bombs insurgents use to injure or kill.

CHRISTIAN: They watch us and they wait to see what we do, and then they act.

CARROLL: But they also search for the people who plant them. On this particular day, it wasn't long before they found both.

1ST SGT. VALENTE ORTIZ, U.S. ARMY: They came out positive for some of the compounds that we think that could be involved in suspicious activity out here. All making explosives.

CARROLL: During a checkpoint set up to snare insurgents, they find five men and the car they're driving test positive for explosives.

STAFF SGT. DANNY MCCRITE, U.S. ARMY: This one is military grade plastic explosives.

CARROLL: The men say they're builders and farmers, not a credible story to these trained soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pakistani money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CARROLL: One man carrying two million Pakistani rupees, about $23,000, two others found with questionable passports.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They both say that they're going to be a tourist in Asia, Europe, and America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger (INAUDIBLE).

CARROLL: And then, off camera --

ORTIZ: They found suspicious bomb material behind us. That prevents us from going back over and getting exploded on.

CARROLL: Someone knew we were going to be turning around and coming back that direction and planted a bomb so we would hit it on our way back?

ORTIZ: Yes. We're now learning just how big it was.

CARROLL: How big was it?

CHRISTIAN: There was six jugs of homemade explosives, which is roughly 300 pounds of explosives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just so you know, like 300 pounds, like a typical SUV, like they say, a Tahoe, would break it into about two million pieces and kill everybody inside the vehicle.

CARROLL: Finding the bomb, men with lots of cash who test positive for explosives, these combat engineers say it all adds up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're putting two and two together here, and it's not -- today's events aren't equaling good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to believe that we found (INAUDIBLE) IED behind us, five guys that came up with explosive residues on their hand and walking around with --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two million --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pakistani rupees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two million Pakistani rupees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're able to seemingly catch five of them. So, do you think it was luck or do you think it was just that there are a lot of them out there, so it's easier to sort of grab?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today might have been a lucky day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one got hurt. That's score one for America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Wow. Those guys are certainly brave, Jason. And you as well go out with them.

How often do they find the IEDs?

CARROLL: Well, you know, it's an interesting question. If you go to certain parts of southeastern Afghanistan, into some of these remote areas, it is not uncommon at all, Randi, to either find an IED, get blown up by an IED, or find insurgents who allegedly may have planted some of these IEDs, depending upon some of the remote areas of Afghanistan that you go to. So it's still very much a problem.

KAYE: All right. Jason Carroll, thank you so much for bringing us that story. We look forward to the rest of the series as the week goes on. Appreciate it.

CARROLL: You bet.

KAYE: Time right now, just about 25 minutes past the hour. Time to check our top stories.

President Obama has signed the debt ceiling agreement. That news coming just a short time ago from the White House. No grand ceremony, just the signing. The bill was passed in the Senate by an overwhelming margin a little while before the president signed it.

Today is the 32nd straight day of 100 degree temperatures in Dallas. Many parts of the South and the central plains continue to endure extreme heat. The heat wave is blamed for dozens of deaths.

The fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Emily, moving over the Caribbean Sea. Current maximum sustained winds are only 40 miles an hour, but Emily is expected to gain strength over the next couple of days. It could hit Haiti tomorrow and it could skirt the east coast of Florida by Saturday.

All right. Take a look here. Remember this?

We now know it as the "Miracle on the Hudson." An airplane lands in the river on one of the coldest days of the year. Everyone on board gets out, and it's all caught on camera from all of these different angles.

Today is a big day for CNN's iReport, and we're celebrating by showing you some of the best pictures and videos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: They have transformed the way we cover big events, from the Virginia Tech shooting to the earthquake in Haiti and last year's oil rig explosion in the Gulf. CNN wouldn't be able to cover the big stories in the same way without iReports. Videos and photos sent in by you, the viewer. Now, iReports have been around for five years.

And to celebrate, we're taking a look back at some of the most memorable submissions. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got some frightening images coming in from the iReport. Jamal Abelruti (ph) who was able to capture those pictures of Virginia Tech students.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Iranian government has decided to ban all members of the foreign media from covering protests and demonstrations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That didn't stop the Iranians from spreading the word about what's happening in their country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every two step I saw, like, a house collapse. Every two steps I saw people bleeding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, here's a way where you can find out. At least one -- if your loved one is alive. Or, two, put the information out there so maybe if someone has seen them, we can figure out if someone did indeed survive the earthquake.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You used the iReport, right? You used the Red Cross Web site and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly, exactly.

LEVS: All right, well, I don't want to delay the great news. So Shazar (ph), tell me, you got a phone call and it was the good news. Tell me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. I received a call from my father.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

LEE CRAKER, BAGHDAD RESIDENT: Heading to work right after lunch. Alfa palace, Baghdad, Iraq.

JOHN DKAR, TRUJILLO CITY, PERU RESIDENT: This is Trujillo City in Peru in South America.

JUAN PEREA Y MONSUWE, NETHERLANDS RESIDENTS: Hello, world! This is Juan comes to you live from the (INAUDIBLE) Forest in the deep south of the Netherlands.

CHRISTOPHER MCGOVERN, BELGIUM, WISCONSIN RESIDENT: Welcome to Belgium, Wisconsin.

JEREMY BERG, GOKASE, JAPAN: This is Gokase, Japan.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC 360": Thank goodness you were near enough to kind of respond as quickly as you could. What did you see when you first arrived at the scene?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Anderson arrived on location around 2:30 that morning. At that time it was still dark, but you could pretty much see a blaze. I mean it -- it sort of resembled, I guess, the sun coming over the horizon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So excited. I'm so proud to be an Arab today. For the people of Egypt who wanted freedom, who wanted to be there. Who wanted to have a better life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is still going. Oh, my God. The building's going to fall!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole ground was shaking so much. It was -- it was unreal. I can't describe it. It was -- it felt like someone was just pulling you back and forth, like side to side as hard as they could.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: If you have a story to tell, you can become an iReporter. Just sent your photos and videos to CNN.com/iReport.

Well, if you're going to throw pie, you'd better be ready to do the time. That's what the protester who threw a time in media mogul Rupert Murdoch's face is about to do. His punishment, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It is about 35 minutes past the hour. Let's check out the news and other headlines you may have missed.

Just a short while ago, President Obama signed the last-minute compromise plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling. The move heads off a debt ceiling default. The U.S. Senate gave final legislative approval to the debt ceiling bill earlier today by a vote of 74 to 26. The measure was approved by the House of Representatives yesterday despite opposition from unhappy liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans.

The White House has announced President Obama's plans for observing the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. White House press secretary Jay Carney said a short while ago that Mr. Obama will travel to the three sites that were attacked: to New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Well, if you're going to throw the pie, you better be ready to do the time. That's what Jonathan May Bowles found out today. He was sentenced to six weeks in jail for throwing a pie at media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The incident took place during a British Parliament hearing last month while Murdoch was testifying about the "News of the World" phone-hacking scandal. May Bowles, also known by his comedy stage name, Johnny Marbles, will also pay a fine and a victim surcharge. Murdoch was not hurt in the incident.

The Justice Department challenging Alabama's new immigration law less than one month before it's set to take effect. In documents filed yesterday, the Justice Department said various provisions of the law undermine immigration enforcement priorities, and objective of the federal government. The law is also the target of a class action lawsuit filed last month by several civil rights groups. The Alabama crackdown on illegal immigrants is scheduled to go into effect September 1st.

After a lifetime of pushing the benefits of freezing dead people in the hope that they can someday be revived, Robert Ettinger died last week at the age of 92. And fittingly, he was frozen. Considered the founder of the cryonics movement, Ettinger joined others 105 other people, including his mother and two wives, frozen in liquid nitrogen at the Michigan institute he founded in 1976.

Now that there's a debt deal, will the U.S. lose its top-notch credit rating? Guess what? It already has. Who did it and why, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: President Obama moments ago signed the debt deal, but the U.S. isn't out of hot water just yet. At least that's the take from Fitch Ratings. Fitch today said it's not enough for the U.S. to maintain its top-notch AAA debt rating. Fitch says it wants to see a credible plan to reduce the budget deficit. Fitch says it plans to finish its review of the U.S. rating by the end of the month.

But the credit rating agency in China has already actually taken action. Stan Grant in Beijing has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Guan Jianzhong has pored over the U.S. financial books and he doesn't like what he sees. He once worked as an account for a Chinese firm on Wall Street, but now he says he has lost faith in America's economy and its political system.

GUAN JIANZHONG, CHAIRMAN, DAGONG GLOBAL CREDIT RATING CO. (via translator): The two political parties acted in a very irresponsible way and IT greatly exposed the negative impact of the political system on the economy.

GRANT: Guan heads up Dagong, China's only independent international credit rating agency. While the big three - Moodys, Fitch, Standard & Poors -- watch and wait, Dagong has already downgraded the U.S. once last November. And now on the back of the debt crisis, it is marking America down again.

JIANZHONG: Our downgrading of the U.S simply reflects the U.S. inability to pay back its debt. It reflects reality.

GRANT: The people who work here pride themselves on being independent. Dagong says it is not controlled by the Chinese government and will make the hard calls where other international credit ratings agencies will not.

JIANZHONG: People are used to credit ratings by the Big 3, but the financial crisis has proved them wrong. They can no longer shoulder the responsibility of rating the world.

GRANT: Downgrading the U.S. could hurt China. As America's biggest international creditor, any damage to U.S. financial credibility could cost China billions of dollars. Analysts say China, with big reserves of cash and committed to low currency, high export growth, is tied to the U.S., like it or not.

PATRICK CHOVANEC, ECONOMIC ANALYST: There aren't that many other markets that are as deep or as liquid as treasuries - I expect there are none.

So when they accumulate reserves this is really the only place they can put them. GRANT: Dagong, though, has a warning: China needs to start looking elsewhere to put its money.

Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And as we mentioned, President Obama has signed the debt ceiling bill into law. Dan Lothian joins us now from the White House.

Dan, let me ask you. The president and the White House aides have talked about a divided Congress that wasn't elected to be dysfunctional, as they say. And now that the bill has been signed into law, what is the president saying about the process?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they do believe here at the White House this was a very messy process, but in the end, it showed that they were able to find compromise.

But you also heard from the president lamenting the fact that it took sort of this ticking clock, the specter of having the nation going to default to get everyone reach agreement. And the president pointing out that, listen, there's enough motivation out there. There are a lot of Americans who are struggling, who are unemployed, who are trying to stay in their homes. And that enough, the motivation of trying to make the life better for American people out there should be enough to get folks up on Capitol Hill to get on the same page, compromise and get things done, Randi.

KAYE: And the message right away after the passing of this bill, Dan, seemed to be jobs, jobs, jobs.

LOTHIAN: That right. In fact, we've been getting indications from the White House even before today that this would be the big turn, or pivot as they like to call it here, once this thing was taken care of to start pushing again jobs and the economy. You heard from the president this call to Congress once they returned from their break to really focus on job creation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The parties share power in Washington, and both parties need to take responsibility for improving this economy. It's not a Democratic responsibility or Republican responsibility. It's our collective responsibility as Americans.

And I'll be discussing additional ideas in the weeks ahead to help companies hire, invest and expand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: So, some are the things that the president will be talking about in the coming weeks and months. Extending cuts for middle-class Americans, infrastructure jobs, providing loans for employers to hire some of these construction workers who have been out of work. And also things like patent reform, getting rid of some of the red tape that's been holding up some of the innovations from investors out there.

So, these are some of the themes on the economy and jobs that the White House will be pushing hard, moving ahead from this contentious battle.

KAYE: Dan Lothian at the White House. Dan, appreciate it. Thank you.

Ever wonder how today's business tycoons made hundreds of millions of dollars off of one simple idea? Well, stick around. We're going to tell you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: What does it take to make an idea a booming success? Well, to take a simple or let's be honest, sometime seemingly insane concept and make millions? A recent CNBC.com article caught our eye when it broke down the success stories of $100 million companies started by everyday people just like you and me.

Companies on the list included the Boston beer company. You may know them from Samuel Adams beers. Chipotle, the fast food Mexican chain. Burt's Bees, the all natural skin care line. 1-800- flowers.com, the flower delivery company. And Curves, the female- friendly fitness club. All of these each, yes, make hundreds of millions of dollars. So, what is the story behind the success?

Well, Steve Ells created Chipotle when he was a chef who wanted to open his own restaurant. He borrowed money from his parents. Opened his first Chipotle in Denver almost ten years ago, and the rest is history. The company reported more than $500 million in revenue for the first quarter of this year alone.

In 1984 ,Roxanne Quimby and Burt Chavis teamed up to make candles from bees wax to sell at craft fairs. They branched out to personal care recipes and today sell more than 100 skin and hair care items. The company's made more than $250 million in sales in 2007, and Clorox bought them for just under $1 billion. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Jim McCann bought a flower shop in 1976 for some extra incom. He branched out over the years, later having the idea to add the 800 telephone number and dot-com to his name. Pretty smart. The company reported almost $668 million in total revenue last year in 2010.

It's also where one of my producers goes every time he's in trouble at home, I'm told. So, you can tell he wrote this script.

Visit my Facebook page at /RandiKayeCNN for a link to all ten success stories.

The emotional return of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The congresswoman, you can see her there on the left, who helped make it happen, talks about what it was like to be there next.

And Sanjay Gupta tells us what he noticed about the congresswoman's right arm and what it might mean for her recovery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: All right. Here it is. The moment everybody is talking about today. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on the floor of the House, seven months after being shot in the head. She returned for the first time yesterday to cast her vote in favor of the debt deal. Her friend and fellow congresswoman, Debbie Wassermann Schultz, helped orchestrate Gifford's entrance into the chamber. She described what it was like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: It was just the most overwhelming -- I mean I -- it would be hard -- my heart -- all of our hearts were so full. And you've had some grizzled hardened members with very hardened hearts. Everybody just melted when she walked into the chamber. It was so incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: It is hard to believe how good Giffords looks after what she has been through, of course. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us what he noticed most when he saw the congresswoman. Sanjay?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Randi, as you look at that video, one thing to keep in mind from a medical standpoint is that three quarters of those who had the injury like the congresswoman had, don't survive. About 75 to 80 percent don't survive at all. So, to see her walking on the floor like puts that into a little bit more of a context.

As a medical doctor, as a neurosurgeon, there are certain things I'm looking for specifically, including fact that her right arm is not moving. She's still getting some assistance with her walking. If you look at what she's mouthing to people around her, it's short sentences. Thank you, I love you. She obviously has very good attentiveness there. Recognizes her name and acknowledges lots of people.

It's quite remarkable and as one of the rehab doctors put it that we visited down in Houston, she's in the top one percentile for people who recover after an injury like this. The rehab she was going through in Houston was pretty extensive in terms of trying to strengthen that right side of the body, in terms of trying to teach her to communicate, to express. Not only through the spoken word but also through the written word, through gestures. This is all important part of speech. Her comprehension has never really been a problem. Her ability to understand, to process and to execute based on those words has always been there. Even right after the injury, she was able to hold up two fingers when the paramedics asked her to do so, and she's been able to understand all along.

But, again now she's out of the hospital. She's in outpatient rehab. This event last night is a big part of that rehab as well. Being surrounded by family, being surrounded by friends, getting the emotional support of all those people around her. That helps. A lot of data will suggest that.

But she's seven months in now to her rehab. They say 12 to 18 months is when people have sort of maximum improvement, but they can continue to improve for a long time after that as well. So, I'm sure they'll continue to work on her strength, work on her speech. Again, just a remarkable thing last night to see her and to see how far she's come along.

Randi, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Sure was incredible.

The man accused of shooting the congresswoman is currently being held in a federal mental hospital after being diagnosed as schizophrenic and found incompetent to stand trial.

Our Joe Johns has more on today's debt ceiling deal. What do the American people think of it? Joe is standing by in Washington.

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KAYE: More now on the passage of the debt ceiling agreement. Joe Johns joins me from Capitol Hill. Joe, we have heard from those in Washington, but what do the American people think about the deal and all the deal making?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've got a new CNN/ORC poll. Quite frankly, Randi, the resulting are fascinate but not necessarily surprising. Let's just take a look at them.

Starting out with the president's job approval rating. Now, this is always high among Democrats but actually down three percent from 80 percent to 77 percent. Among independents, the president's job approval rating is up three points. And among Republicans, it's up six points. But then that only get him to 12 percent, so that tells you something.

Meanwhile the bickering and confusion on Capitol Hill continues to have its effect on the job approval ratings of Congress. We take a look at that. When you look at that and ask the question of how many people approve, 14 percent approve of Congress, 84 percent disapprove.

And we gave them a fill in the blank question. Elected officials who have dealt with the debt ceiling having acted like responsible adults. Only 17 percent said yes to that. Spoiled children, 77 percent of respondents have said Congress has acted like spoiled children.

So, how big a surprise is that given what we've seen?

KAYE: Not really surprising, I guess, huh? Certainly says a lot of how people think of how things went down in Washington, Joe.

JOHNS: That's for sure.

KAYE: And what's the very latest word, very quickly, on the super-committee? How close are we to having that formed?

JOHNS: We're told in about two weeks, they're going have to name the members of that super-committee. It will be six Republicans, six Democrats, and each leader in the House of Representatives, both Democrats and Republicans, they each get to name three people.

And then the fun thing is right around Thanksgiving, the super- committee is going to have to come up with all of its recommendations, so there's a joke around the Capitol they're going to deliver the biggest turkey ever to the American people on Thanksgiving.

KAYE: I'm sure we'll see more polling on that. All right, Joe Johns, thank you very much.

Within the past few minutes, the Republican leadership of the Senate talked to reporters about the debt deal the Senate just passed and the president just signed. Already the battle lines for the next fight are apparent. Here's Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I'm often asked what would you do to get the economy going. My answer's always the same. We need to quit doing what we've been doing. Quit borrowing, quit spending, quit trying to raise taxes, quit overregulating. And let the private sector flourish so we have a chance again to have a growing economy. Which, of course, will produce more revenue for the government.

So, that ought to be our single focus. Not only at home during the recess, but when we come back here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And when they come back from their August break, congressional leaders will form that special bipartisan committee to look for a trillion dollars, plus an additional savings, and clear the way for an equivalent hike in the debt limit.

And as my colleague Wolf Blitzer has said, if you hated the debate we all just lived through, you will despise the fight that is straight ahead.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Randi. Thank you so much.