as lisa sylvester reports, bernanke may not have that many tools left in his box though. >> reporter: the economy has been sputtering along. last quarter u.s. economic growth was a measly 1.3%. the federal reserve acknowledged consumer spending is down. the housing sector still taking a beating and things are not looking good on the job front. investors have been looking to the fed to work its magic and get the economy moving again. to that end the federal reserve gave the markets a gift, pledging to keep interest rates near zero at least through mid 2013. >> they're speaking directly to the markets. they're telling banks and bondholders, bond investors that they can count on ultra low interest rates for at least 24 more months which is a pretty major statement i think. >> reporter: that means low cost for americans to borrow for a house or a car or to take out a college loan, at least for another couple years. until the now the fastball only said it would keep interest rates low for, quote, an extended period, without spelling out how long that was. but the central bank did not commi

lisa sylvester reports from washington. >> the congressional super committee of 12 has been tasked with slicing $1.5 trillion from the deficit. aside from feeling the pressure from their home state constituents, they are also under pressure from special interest groups. at&t and other wireless carriers, for example want the federal government to auction off valuable radio spectrum, arguing would be a great revenue generator for the federal government. it would also be hugely profitable to the communications companies desperate for more airwaves for the next generation of portable devices. three of the 12 members have received generous campaign contributions from at&t over the years. more than 77,000 to representative james clyburn. more than the 99,000 to fred upton and more than $53,000 to representative jeb hensarling. bill ellison is with the public watchdog group. the sunlight foundation. >> when you look around, there's a lot of different players, contributed to members of congress who have a real stake in the outcome of the negotiations. >> the anti-tax group club for growth is th

lisa sylvester is joining us now with more on this part of the story. lisa? >> $2.1 trillion in cuts, and the first wave of that actually starts in fiscal year 2012. congressional approach aye tors are going to have to take out their red pens and decide how to cut billions from the budget. the debt ceiling deal swings a big ax up front that grows even bigger over time. starting next year, $25 billion will be cut from discretionary spendinging. the government's day to day operating budget. the cuts grow larger until 2021, reducing the deficit by $917 billion. so who will likely be impacted? at the top of the list, federal workers who are already operating under a two-year pay freeze. john gauge, the president of the american federation of government employees is anticipating layoffs. >> this is pretty drastic stuff. and i don't think the agency can simply, you know, these cuts for them to be enacted have had a huge implications for the agencies. and they can't be -- they can't be met by freezing travel or training. you know, this is really to the bone stuff in

cnn's lisa sylvester is joining us once again. information you have that that every homeowner should know about. >> yeah, absolutely, wolf. you can see the picture, the images, the water, the raging rivers. a big question are people actually covered, will they have money from the insurance company to rebuild and repair their homes? and it hinges on whether or not they have the straight insurance policies or if they have flood insurance. if they have flood insurance they're in good shape, however, so many people do not have flood insurance. they have the straight home homeowner's policy. we can show you, the source of this, floodsource.gov. a scenario of a 2,000 square foot, just a foot of water, you can see how the costs add up quickly. $2,600 for cleaning. almost $3,000 for dry wall. you can see how this adds up. we can go to the bottom again. this is just a 2,000-square foot house. we are talking about $52,000, more than $52,000 that might have to go out of pocket. what's happening in these days and the weeks ahead is you'll hav

let's go to lisa sylvester. she's over at the data wall picking up this part of the story. >> we're talking about $1 trillion in cuts, but then on top of that, there lab bipartisan committee that will be formed. you could call it a super committee, if you will. there's some question and debate about how successful they will be and tackling the revenue side of it. they'll be looking at defense spending and nondefense spending. some of the potential cuts really we're talking across the board in terms of the government. transportation, education, and energy. these are just a few of the examples that this bipartisan committee will be taking a look at. we go to something called the trigger. we will be hearing a lot about this. you're talking automatic cuts across the board. 50% from defense, 50% from nondefense. things like social security, entitlement programs, low income spending, those things would not be cut. pla particularly when you're talking about defense, we're seeing pushback. in the defense budget, the fir

let's bring in lisa sylvester. what happens. >> polygamist sect leader warren jeffs was just found guilty on two counts of sexual assault. those charges are aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14, carrying a potential term of anywhere from 5 to 99 years. the other charge was sexual assault of a child under 17, which carries a possible term of between 2 and 20 years. jeffs was charged with sexual assault after a raid on a ranch back in 2008 near el dorado, texas, that his church used to operate, the fundamentalist church of jesus christ of latter day saints is the church he headed. it took the jury roughly about 3 1/2 hours to render this decision. the next phase is the penalty phase. the same jury will decide hi fate, wolf. >> lisa, thanks for the update. >>> whether it's dealing with war, a tough economy, or the sheer weight of the office, the gray hairs certainly come quickly for a president of the united states. look at this. during his eight years in office, bill clinton's hair turned almost completely w

our lisa sylvester is monitoring that. some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. a big setback, potentially. >> that's right, wolf. the u.s. court of appeals in atlanta has ruled the individual mandate section, which requires almost all americans to purchase health insurance by 2014 or face financial penalties unconstitutional. the court argues that doing so was an improper exercise of federal authority. the ruling could likely prompt an election year show down at the u.s. supreme court over this legislation. >>> new charges filed against those three siblings nabbed after a dramatic high-speed chase with police. each was charged today with attempted murder and assault on a police officer in one colorado county. similar charges were filed yesterday in a separate county. the three are also accused of bank robbery in georgia and attempted murder in florida. >>> a former pennsylvania juvenile judge has been sentenced to 28 years to prison for accepting millions of dollars in bribes to incarcerate young p

this is just coming in to "the situation room" right now, i want to bring lisa sylvester back, she's monitoring the story. what do you have? >> we've got new information here. we are just learning the u.s. government is ordering the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey, that has been linked to dozens of salmonella outbreaks and one in california. since the bacteria is proving resistant to many antibiotics, the turkey is made by cargill, and they say to make sure turkey is cooked to the internal temperature of 165 degrees. >>> and the u.s. army plans to cut 8,000 civilian jobs over the next year in an effort to cut costs. a senior defense official tells cnn more jobs may be slashed as a result of this week's debt deal in congress. the army currently has about 350,000 civilian employees. >>> tropical storm emily is churning toward the dominican republic and haiti where hundreds of thousands of people are in makeshift shelters after last year's massive earthquake, there's concerns about flooding and mud slides as well as emi emily's sustained winds. some forecasts are calling it

lisa sylvester is here working the story. a lot better today. >> much better today. the markets were very happy. the dow jones is up 429 points. what a difference a day makes. the federal reserve or committee met and announced they will keep the funds rate at 0 to.25%. they made that decision saying economic growth has been considerably slower than the committee expected. the economy has been puttering along. the economic growth was a measly 1.3%. the federal reserve acknowledged spending is down. the housing sector still taking a beating and things are not looking good on the job front. investors have been working to work the magic and get the economy moving. the federal reserve gave the markets a gift, pledging to keep interest rates near zero at least through mid 2013. >> they are speak to the markets. they are telling banks and bond holders and bond investors that they can count on ultra low interest rates for at least 24 more months. that's a pretty major statement, i think. >> that are means low cost to borrow for a house or a car or to take out a loge loan. un

lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other top stories. >> well, israel's military says it launched an air strike in gaza due to what then yahoo! see office called concrete evidence at least seven were killed in the initial assault. hamas denies responsibility and says israel was looking for a reason to strike. >>> hewlett-packard is planning to spin off its personal computer business. the dramatic move to reshape the could you due this part to a slump in pc sales. >>> and the fbi says the woman believed to be the so-called bandit has been apprehended. she's want for up to 20 robberies. she got the name bad hair bandit because of the different wigs she have wearing when committing the crime. >>> and amazing video of a brawl at a basketball game in china. chaos broke out between georgetown university's men's basketball team and a chinese team. punch, chair, even water bottles were thrown. it's unclear what prompted the fight. the game ended abruptly tied at 64 a piece. the brawl happened a day after vice president biden attended a georgetown game on his official trip through china. v

lisa sylvester is back working this part of the story. what have you found out? >> this is interesting, wolf. mitt romney is proud of the fact that he improved the finances and the state's credit rating on his watch. the question is, how did he do it. did he advocate raising tax accident. new do you means have come to light. >> mitt romney gave his best soap box speech, but the crowd gave it back to him. >> let's let him finish. >> what are you going to do to strengthen social security, medicare, and medicate without cutting benefits. >> you get to ask your question and i give my answer. if you don't like my answer, vote for someone else. >> he will defend social security. he is being down by conservatives. playing to the gop base said he opposes raising taxes, but roars obtained by the organization show in 2004 then governor mid-romney timeouted the revenue raised by the state as a pitch to standard and poor's to lift their credit rating. >> how are you, sir? >> romney is taking shots at to be for having the credit rating downgraded. casey hunt said romney had m

lisa sylvester gives us a taste of the anger that's out there. lisa? >> wolf, this has been a brutal month for the economy. unemployment is above 9%. people have watched their retirement accounts plummet in value. constituents want their lawmakers to know they are mad. >> i want to see you working together. that means kras, republican, that means two parties, however you may call them. >> how can you stand here in front of all of us and take a pledge not to raise taxes? >> and they are angry. >> people who can afford! >> across the country, people are mad. mad at politicians for ignoring them and mad at politicians for ignoring each other. representative brett upton of michigan had his town meeting repeatedly interrupted. angry constituents parked themselves outside of their office. they couldn't get a meeting with him. >> among the protesters, steve similar co. >> it's an associates degree. i cannot find a job. i am -- i'm at a loss that our government and our officials are not standing up for them like we had asked. >> this is a town hall meeting. >>

but you can see a lot of damage here, wolf. >> lisa sylvester in northern virginia. the epicenter of this quake was down in mineral, virginia. that's not far from the capital. brian is live. what are you hearing and seeing from your vantage point? >> reporter: wolf, we're just outside the nuclear power plant which is near the epicenter that we got here. we have information from the power plant. again, a cause of real concern because it's close to the epicenter of the earthquake. it's in mineral virginia and it's over this ridge here. we've got some aerial shots of the plant to show you. what we're told now about the nuclear power plant, two reactors there, they are shut down, that they're going through the call shut down process. the reactors are shut down. they have to be cooled. that's what they are doing right now. they are doing that on backup generator power. the owner and operator of this facility has said that there's been no release of radioactive material into the atmosphere and no significant damage or injuries here at the plant. one official, said that the

lisa sylvester is here monitoring that and other stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going hon? >> reporter: hi there, wolf. hurricane irene is storming through the caribbean unleashing widespread flooding and power outages in preako and now it's moving its way towards the dominican republic and could reach north carolina by friday. forecasters say it's still too early to say for certain where it will hit. another bombshell in the dominique strauss-kahn case. sexual assault charges against the former head of the international monetary fund will be dropped. that coming from the lawyer of the hotel housekeeper who aaccuses strauss-kahn of attacking her. attorney kenneth thompson met with the manhattan district attorney's office ahead of tomorrow's status hearings. he said the d.a. is denying his client justice. wolf? >> what a story that is, too. thanks very much. >>> desperation setting in for foreign journalists trapped in a hotel in tripoli right now. our own matthew chance is one of those journalists inside the hotel. we'll speak with him when we come back. >

. >>> lisa sylvester is following a fast-moving story. what's going on? >> the fbi is confirming that a potential explosive device was found attached to a gas line near oklahoma today. this device is being described as a type of pipe bomb with a timing device on it. the potential ied was disabled and the fbi said the device is being examined. an investigation is under way. wolf? >> we will check out that story as well. thanks very much, lisa. the u.s. raid that killed osama bin laden is going hollywood. a filmmaker is in the n preliminary stages of making a movie about the raid and gotten access to white house, pentagon and cia officials. that has the chairman of the homeland security committee demanding an investigation. >> we are talking about revealing classified information that can put american lives at risk. what they have done for 90 days if they haven't until now, i say okay. they have a horrible track record. it's embarrassing what they have done. they are putting lives at risk. so many people in the community were outraged by what they have been

lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on? >> hi there, wolf. >>> honda is recalling 1.5 million cars in the united states specific to transmission problems, it can cause the engine to stall and the parking gear mechanism to jam. the japanese automaker will update software in cars. the affected models are 2010 crvs and 2005-2008 honda elements and 2004-2010 honda accords. no injuries or deaths have been reported. >>> nasa launched the mission juno satellite into orbit today. it will take the spacecraft five years to travel 400 million miles to jupiter. nasa says juno will offer a unique look at how the solar system came to exist. jupiter is about 1,300 times larger than the earth, wolf? >> lisa, thank you. >>> it's one of the last places you'd expect to find a snake. cnn's jeanne moos shows us a slithering surprise. we'll be right back. >>> to those always searching for what's pure and what's real from we who believe we know just how you feel. haagen-dazs. man on tv: ...rbis and 36 homers. swings at the first

to find out what that means for you, we asked our own lisa sylvester to take a look for you. these aren't just numbers we're talking about, these are people's lives and their portfolios. the way they can put food on the table, if you would. >> and their homes are included in that list. in the short-term today, we saw interest rates went down. but over the next few weeks and months, there is a very good chance the downgrade of fannie mae and freddie mac will mean that if you are shopping for a new house, it is going to cost you more. there's a good chance that your mortgage loan is either owned or backed by either fannie mae or freddie mac. these private companies that receive private funding own or guarantee half of all mortgage loans in the united states. that's some 31 million homes. s&p downgraded fannie mae and freddie mac from aaa to aa plus. in a statement, s&p said the downgrades reflect their direct reliance on the u.s. government. >> things have been -- >> reporter: lawrence is with the national association of realtors. what impact will this downgrade have? >> well,

let's bring back lisa sylvester. where's all this money coming from for these politicians? >> they're going to have to have pick winners and losers. the full 40us will not be able to offer any kind of amendments or make changes to any kind of compromise they come up with. it all comes down to this committee. some have deep ties to special interests. the congressional supercommittee of 12 has been tasked with slicing $1.5 trillion from the deficit. aside from feeling the pressure from their home state constituents, they are also under pressure from special interest groups. at&t and other wire leless providers want them to auction off valuable spectrum. it would be hugely profitable to the communications companies desperate for more airwaves for the next generation of portable devices. 3 of the 12 members have received generous campaign contributions from at&t over the years. more than $77,000 to representative james clyburn. more than $99,000 to fred upton and more than $53,000 to jeb henserling. >> when you kind of look around, there are all kinds of play ers that have a re

lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. >> let's go where the news is a bit brighter. shall we? rob marciano getting ready for the big pga tournament. the weather is very much a factor. >> it is. yesterday couldn't have been more perfect. but we are going to get back to what's par for the course down around this part of the world. in august. which means increasing levels of humidity. you see the players on the practice tee. the first tee-off times are going off now on one and ten. tiger, phil and adam scott will be some of the early morning pairings. and we will be updating you on those throughout the morning. talk about the heat first of all. across texas, across parts of mississippi. these are the record highs. the list is beginning to shrink. that's the good news. as are the number of advisories out for this part of the world. 105 in midland. 102 for a high in vicksburg. dallas continues 100-plus days and continuing. pleasant across the northeast. surface map, that's why we have dry conditions here as far south as atlanta yesterday. cool front came through. humidity levels wi