>> karen travers, thank you for that. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz was one of the few people who knew that giffords would be returning to the house. >> the florida lawmaker got the good news in a text message om her husband, mark kelly, early monday morning. wasserman schultz describes what it was like to see her good friend back there at work. >> i've never seen more electricity on the floor erupt than when she triumphantly, as we hoped and predicted when we talked about it a few months ago, when she walked up those stairs. it was just absolutely amazing. she received thunderous applause, hugs, tears. even the hardest heart, which we had a lot of hardened hearts in this debate, just melted when she walked in the room. >> i believe it. giffords has not said whether she'll run for re-election next year but many do believe her return to the house is a step in that direction. >> and of course nowhere was the triumphant return more closely watched than in giffords' hometown. kgun reports from tucson. >> reporter: it

our coverage begininwith abc's karen travers. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, daniel. good morning, tanya. yesterday's plunge caps a terrible two weeks for wall street. during that period the dow jones industrial average lost more than 1,300 points. it was a brutal day on wall street. the markets plummeted, finally closing down more than 500 points. it was the biggest one-day drop since december 2008. in less than two weeks the market has erased all of its gains for the year. in total some $940 billion worth of investors' wealth wiped out. the average 401(k) saw a loss of nearly $12,000. investors are growing increasingly worried about a weakening u.s. economy and debt crises in europe. >> the u.s. economy is losing momentum. it shows up in the numbers. investors see those numbers. and they think, and i think for good reason, that it's time to move to the sidelines. >> reporter: the white house pointed a finger at congress and said lawmakers need to get to work. >> congress has the power to pass legislation that t

karen travers is joining us from washington this morning with more on the struggles there. hi there, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob and tanya. hurricane irene struck north carolina first and hardest. residents there are cleaning up but it's going to be a difficult process because of damaged infrastructure and massive power outages. after hurricane irene made landfall on n e north carolina coast, residents are starting to pick up the pieces. as if irene's whipping winds and pounding rains weren't enough, a tornado ripped through tyrrell county in eastern north carolina. five homes were destroyed. >> glad i wasn't inside this house. >> reporter: irene is being blamed for six deaths there. five people killed by falling trees or branches. >> wind seemed like it was never going to stop. >> reportete the storm ripped apart highway 12, the main road along north carolina's barrier islands. it was breached in five places as storm surge washed away the asphalt. hatteras island is now accessible only by boat, leaving more than 2,000 people stranded. >> basically it's haul it ou

abc's karen travers has details. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob. good morning, tanya. yesterday the transportation secretary assured americans that safety would not be compromised. but this partial faa shutdown is compromising construction jobs and projects. >> this is 100 airport projects across the country that have been stopped because of the fights in washington. >> reporter: that means projects like this half-finished tower in oakland. and this one in palm springs. postponed because of the funding fifit. >> this time everybody wants to play hardball. and hardball hurt us. >> reporter: already, 4,000 faa employees have been furloughed. and more than 70,000 construction workers are out of a job. also cut off, 40 airport safety inspectors. the faa asked them to keep working, without pay, citing their "professionalism." airlines are unable to collect taxes on ticket sales. so the federal government has already lost more than $200 million. that figure will increase the longer this goes on. >> don't let $1 billion at a time when we're scrambling for

abc's karen travers is following the race. good morning to you, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob. good morning, tanya. labor day is right around the corner. that usually means the start of that sprint to the primaries. and d the republican presidenti race is certainly heating up. for months mitt romney has been the clear front-runner in the republican presidential field. but enter texas governor rick perry who just in a few weeks has shaken up the race and vaulted to the top of several polls. perry hasn't even finished setting up his campaign office. but the most recent poll from cnn has him crushing romney by 14 points and michele bachmann by 20 points. suddenly there may be a shift in the republican race. >> i spent most of my life outside politics. dealing with real problems in the real economy. career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don't know how to get us out. >> reporter: that's romney's not so subtle shot at perry who's served as texas governor since 2000 and has been in politics for almost three