>> schieffer: tonight with the debt deadline fast approaching, president obama will address the nation as i'm dana king. here is something we're working on for the 6:00 news. they just built a brand new fire station but then the boom went bust. the bay area county that may be forced to lay off half its fire staff. who is the best repsych letter in alameda county? i'm ann notarangelo in san leandro. a $500 prize is on the line. this is what strips up the contestants. >> we'll have that and more at 6:00. >> but first, cbs news bob receiver is coming up next. >> the weather is always on cbssf.com. >> have a pleasant evening. about to come way down for top sellers like lipitor and plavix. and combat stress has this vet on the verge of suicide. >> i was this close to pulling the trigger. >> schieffer: but chip reid reports his best friend came to the rescue. ng sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley.

>> schieffer: good evening. scott's off tonight. i'm bob schieffer. president obama has asked the networks for time to address the nation on the debt crisis tonight. cbs will carry the address and the response by republican speaker john boehner at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. the president's request came after congress and the white house sank deeper into gridlock over how to prevent the government from defaulting on its financial obligations. we have three reports tonight. we began at the white house with nora o'donnell. nora. >> good evening, bob. tonight president obama will address the nation in a rare prime time address. only the 7th since taking office. the goal, say his advisors, is to rally the american people to urge their legislators to seek compromise. the president will talk about tonight how there is a legislative stalemate. one republican bill in the house, a democratic bill in the senate. today the president backed that democratic bill in the senate.

he called it a reasonable compromise. you know, it's interesting. on that democratic plan in the senate it proposes just $2.7 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. that is far short of the president's original goal of some $4 trillion. that democratic plan would not raise additional tax revenues. that is something the president has long backed. it also would not address the long-term deficit drivers which, of course, are medicare and medicaid. now as for that republican bill that is in the house, that would offer only a short- term increase in the debt ceiling. and the president's advisors again tonight reiterate that the president does not want that kind of deal. they say it just kicks this can down the road further. bob. >> schieffer: nora, this was very unusual. as you said for the president to ask for this time in prime time. when did they decide to do this? >> the president's advisors decided this afternoon that it was a good idea for the

president to address the american people. this is a last-ditch effort by the president to use a huge audience in prime time television to try and seek their political goal and their policy goal of a bigger compromise and to try and get the people to sort of call in to capitol hill and try and get something done soon and avert disaster. >> schieffer: let's go up to the other end of pennsylvania avenue now. nancy cordes is at the capitol with that part of the story. nancy. >> bob, good evening. what's prompting all this drama is the fact that talks between democrats and republicans here on capitol hill broke down yesterday. so now the two sides are moving to plan-c, pitting two bills against each other to see which one wins. house speaker john boehner and senate majority harry reid presented rival plans today after a last-ditch attempt at bipartisan negotiations this weekend went nowhere. >> it appears to me at this stage the republicans are more interested in trying to

embarrass the president than doing what's right for the country. >> reporter: reed's democratic plan would raise the debt ceiling through the end of 2012 while cutting $2.7 trillion in domestic and defense spending. >> i believe that the plan is full of gimmicks. we're not making any real changes in the spending structure of our government and it doesn't deal with the biggest drivers of our deficit and our debt. that would be entitlement programs. >> reporter: boehner's republican plan involves a two- step approach. first raising the debt ceiling for about seven months while cutting $1.2 trillion in spending. then creating a bipartisan commission of six republicans and six democrats to identify at least $1.8 trillion more in cuts from entitlements and other programs as a condition for raising the debt ceiling again. >> i would call this plan less than perfect. but it does ensure that the

spending cuts will be greater than the hike in the debt limit. >> reporter: but the president has repeatedly threatened to veto any plan that includes a short-term extension of the debt ceiling arguing it could jeopardize the country's credit rating. >> republicans' short-term plan is a non-starter in the senate and in the white house and certainly the democrats in the house agree whole-heartedly with us. >> reporter: both leaders want to hold votes on their respective plans on wednesday but it's not clear either bill can pass. in the house boehner needs to win over republicans who wanted even deeper cuts. in the senate leader reed would need to win over all of his democrats plus a few republicans as well. in this acrimonious environment, bob, that does not look very likely. >> schieffer: we'll see you later tonight when the president speaks. as this gridlock tightened today, the financial markets dropped suddenly as many had expected. but they did rebound somewhat. the dow was still down 88 points though for the day.

here's anthony mason now with more on that. >> reporter: wall street hasn't panicked yet, but the world is watching as britain's business secretary put it.... >> it's the biggest threat to the world financial system comes from a few right wing nuts in the american congress. >> reporter: but investors in the debt insurance market are measuring the risk of a u.s. default at less than 1%. bankrupt greece by comparison is at 16%. and the u.s. may have just bought itself more time. the deadline really isn't august. >> in our view it's not. >> reporter: larry kanor red says the treasury faces a big $22 billion social security payment on august 3. but recent tax revenues have come in $14 billion higher than expected. >> in other words, the treasury on august 2 is going to have more cash on hand than what it looked like before. therefore they'll be able to make that big social security payment on august. >> reporter: at most that gives the government one more week.

can they go right up to the 11th hour here. >> there's a big cost going to the 11th hour because you start to spook the markets. >> reporter: former fed governor ric mishkin points out when congress at first rejected the tarp financial rescue package in 2008 the dow plummeted nearly 800 points that day. >> boy, was it a disaster. when you go to the last minute and you're basically saying, you know, don't assume that we have responsible adults, well, that actually has huge, huge costs. we've seen this happen before. let's hope it doesn't happen now. >> reporter: economists say the risk of a default is remote, but the risk of a new recession is very real. if america has to slash its spending to stay under the debt ceiling, the recovery could be over and quickly. bob? >> schieffer: thank you very much, anthony. the accused mass killer in the oslo tragedy told authorities he was trying to call attention to what he called the threat of a muslim takeover of europe.

today in the streets of oslo, there was an enormous outpouring of grief and sympathy for the victims and the killer's own father said he wished his son had committed suicide. again tonight, jeff glor is in oslo. >> reporter: anders behring breivik is changing his story. after first insisting that last friday's massacre was his work alone police say he hinted that two cells of extremists worked with him both capable of more attacks. he was denied the open court hearing he wanted and ordered held for at least eight weeks. the first four in solitary. while that may give him plenty of time to think, there is zero indication this 32-year-old, a self-proclaimed knight, is about to express any remorse. his radical propaganda video railing against immigrants and muslims is chilling. his 1500-page manifest owe indicating he began planning his attacks all the way back in 2002 is exhaustively detailed

insisting he's not guilty of any crime because he was needed to send europe back to the days of white christian domination. from france, breivik's father, who hasn't spoken to his son in years, said he wished his son just killed himself after the onslaught. the bombing of government buildings in oslo on friday afternoon left eight dead. ( screaming ) 90 minutes later, a youth camp ground shooting spree that lasted for an hour-and-a-half. officials today revised down the number of dead to 68, but it's still the worst shooting by a single gunman in modern times. now this country of five million comes together to say good-bye. there was this enormous gathering in downtown oslo today. all prompted at first by a single user on facebook. there was supposed to be an official march through the streets but police had to cancel that because so many people showed up they couldn't handle the overflow. the total crowd: 200,000. many carrying roses in

remembrance. norway has made very clear they would like to get beyond this and not give breivik any more of a platform. bob. >> schieffer: so, jeff, what about punishment for this man? >> well, the maximum jail term that a judge can impose is 21 years. that's got a lot of attention here. however, the state can potentially add to that in five- year increments if that person is deemed a threat to society. we should say breivik has said he expects to spend the rest of his life in prison. >> schieffer: no death penalty right. >> no death penalty here in norway. >> schieffer: thank you very much, jeff. jeff glor in oslo. the attack was a reminder that terrorism is not the sole province of muslim extremists. for more on the domestic terror threat we turn to bob orr in washington. >> reporter: the attacks in norway underscore a threat u.s. officials have been worrying about since timothy mcveigh and terry nichols bombed an oklahoma

city federal building. domestic terrorists present a lethal and often invisible danger. the most dangerous is the lone wolf who evades detection as he maps his plot. law enforcement knew little about james von brunn until after he shot up the holocaust museum and killed a security guard in 2009. unabomber ted kaczynski lived anonymously for years in a montana cabin as he mailed out bombs and his leftist manifest owe. domestic radical groups also span the political spectrum. environmental terrorist torched an upscale seattle neighborhood. in 2010 nine members of michigan hutaree militia were charged with conspiring to kill cops, so-called right wing militants outnumber those on the left. ten years after 9/11, the greatest home grown threat still comes from islamist radicals trained or inspired by al qaeda linked terrorists. nidal hasan inspired by anwar al awlaki killed 13 soldiers at fort hood.

najibullah zazi, schooled by al qaeda bomb makers, plotted to blow up new york's subways and faisel shahzad, aided by the pakistani taliban drove an s.u.v. bomb into the heart of times square. in all, more than four dozen u.s. citizens have been charged in various jihadist plots in the past decade. some critics say in light of what happened in norway the u.s. should now focus on right wing radicals but homeland security officials tell us they're meeting the threat exactly where it is. for now the emphasis remains, bob, on al qaeda. >> schieffer: for millions of americans across... the cost of prescription medicine is about to plummet but not the price of airline tickets even though the government's no longer collecting taxes on them. so, who is pocketing the cash? guess. and a new approach is helping veterans put the war behind them. k-9 therapy when the "cbs evening news" continues. [ male announcer ] it has an hd webcam

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and that's why i still work. because i'm 74 years old now. >> reporter: her diabetes drug byetta cost $75 a month. she begs her doctor for samples to cut costs. over the next decade patents on dozens of brand name drugs are expiring. that clears the way for generic versions which work just as well and cost much less. >> now i'm also taking lipitor. >> reporter: two of the biggest to go generic, cholesterol drug lipitor in november and blood thinner plavix in may 2012. 4.3 million americans take lipitor. 1.4 million are on plavix. >> i've seen people that couldn't afford the brand name. their insurance doesn't cover it or the co-pay was way too high. they had to either go without or take a medication that wasn't comparable. >> reporter: generic drugs cost 20-80% less than brand names. when heart burn drug protonix went generic the price dropped

from $170 per month to just $16. >> plavix helps protect people.... >> reporter: by 2016 dozens of popular drugs with $255 billion in global sales will go generic. pharmaceutical company profits are expected to plunge. it's hard to feel too sorry for big drug companies but a portion of their massive profits does go back into creating new drugs. they could cut back on innovation and jobs. but for marvelene bickerstaff the savings could be $50 a month. >> that's more money. >> reporter: and generic drugs say save the u.s. health care system much more. an estimated $1 billion every three days. ben tracy, kbs news, los angeles. >> schieffer: you might think that passengers would save money if the government stopped collecting taxes on airline tickets. next, why it didn't happen. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting expensive. man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk.

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only three american carriers are lowering their prices accordingly. the rest are collecting on a windfall of $200 million a week from the more than 22 extra dollars they'll pocket on every $200 base price ticket. the news was not well received at o'hare international. >> i think it's ridiculous. >> if it isn't illegal it's quite unethical. >> reporter: transportation secretary ray lahood doesn't think much of it either. >> in these hard economic times, they should be looking at an opportunity to help customers out by making sure that the tickets reflect the fact that they're not paying the tax. that they're not charged the tax. >> reporter: the airlines explain they're just matching the pricing policies of their competitors. this latest move by the airlines to increase their revenues comes as the transportation department is asking them to provide more information about all the fees they impose on travelers. those extra fees to check bags, use a pillow or don a head set,

fees that now allow the airlines to keep from raising their base fairs and paying the higher taxes that might follow. last year the airlines collected $3.4 billion in baggage fees alone. for passengers that seems like a heavy lift. >> it's kind of a rip-off considering we had to pay a lot for the flights already. we could use a break too, you know. >> reporter: but if it's up to the airlines, they're not going to get one. dean reynolds, cbs news, chicago. >> schieffer: well, there will be an nfl season this year. player reps unanimously approved a labor deal with owners today splitting $9 billion in annual revenue and ending a four-and-a- half month lockout. teams will start opening training camps on wednesday. pit bulls don't have the best reputation, but that may change when you hear what one did for a troubled veteran when we come back. [ female announcer ] for frequent heartburn sufferers,

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about one vet who discovered peace was a lot closer than he thought. now he's helping others find it too. here's chip reid. >> what are you doing. >> reporter: dave sharpe calls his pit bull cheyenne his savior. that's no exaggeration. when she was just a puppy, she saved his life. sharpe served with the u.s. air force security forces in saudi arabia and pakistan after two near-death experiences he returned home with severe post traumatic stress disorder. >> before i met her, i was a wreck. i was out of control. i would start fights for no reason. >> reporter: deeply depressed and filled with rage, he decided to end his misery with his pistol. >> cocked it back. put it right in my mouth. and i sat there and i cried for about a minute or two. i was this close to pulling the trigger. >> reporter: that's when cheyenne, who was then six months old came to his rescue. >> she came up behind me and

licked my ear. she gave me this look of, "what are you doing, man?" like," who is going to let me sleep in your bed. listen, if you take care of me. i'll take care of you." good girl. >> reporter: sharpe realized at that moment he had something to live for but he didn't stop there. he decided that what saved him might save others like him. so he started pet to vets, now known as p-2-v, an organization that has put dozens of injured veterans together with their own four legged saviors, dogs and cats. p-2-v makes sure it's a good match, provides training, even pays for the pet's health insurance. the pets all come from this shelter in washington d.c. so everyone comes out a winner. the veteran gets a badly needed companion. and these guys get a new lease on life. marine sergeant jimmy childers lost a leg to a roadside bomb in afghanistan that also left him with traumatic brain injury. he was prone to angry outbursts

into p-2-v paired him with tidus. childers looked into getting a dog trained to work with the disabled but was told it would take more than a year. anyway he says that's not what he needed. >> i don't need a dog to grab my prosthetic leg. >> reporter: the dog gives him what he does need. >> he gives me back unconditional love. no judgment. >> reporter: the demand is never ending on both sides. there's 18 veterans that commit suicide every day in this country. there's one animal that's put to sleep every eight seconds. >> reporter: dave sharpe puts the two together to save each other's lives. chip reid, cbs news, washington. >> schieffer: that's the news. for scott and all of us at cbs news, i'm bob schieffer. we'll be right back with president obama's address and the republican response from house speaker john boehner. see you soon. captioning sponsored by cbs

in just a moment president obama will address the american people about the country's debt crisis. this is a live look from the white house. the president will be pushing a democratic plan. we will have special coverage of his address, and the republican response, in a moment. meantime, new details tonight about the suspects accused of beating giants' fan bran stow. court documents reveal louie sanchez allegedly told a witness not to provide information about the crime. we've also learned the two men are accused of several other assaults that night. a richmond teen who survived a grizzly mauling is on his way home. 18-year-old victor martin was part of a hiking group in alaska when they were attacked. four of the teens suffered life-threatening injuries. martin was treated for minor injuries.