that a new super committee -- >> the aye's are 269 the nays are 161. the bill is passed without objection. a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. [ applause ] >> with that gavel, the speaker of the house has just sent this legislation over to the senate. the speaker rarely takes the chair. he gets the gavel, controls the house. only on the big votes do you see him up there. if you're watching at home, let's remind viewers what's in this bill. in step one, the debt ceiling, the government's borrowing ability has increased by $900 billion. there then come $917 billion in cuts over the next ten years, 350 billion of that would come from defense spending. another $20 billion in mandatory

spending, that's medicare, social security, medicaid and about $156 billion in savings will be made, as the deficit shrinks, the government's interest palts go down. step two could be the hardest part on this, it creates a new super committee to come up with additional cuts for the president to get an additional $1.5 trillion in borrowing authority. six republicans and six democrats on that committee. paul, due to report by thanksgivi thanksgiving, why have a vote in the december before an election year in the big question is, the president says i would love that additional deficit reduction to include closing loopholes on the republicans. this fight is not over, is it? >> it's not over at all. we'll know better when the members of that super committee are appointed. very often here in washington

personnel policy is policy. they're likely to be appointed on the pledge that no matter what they won't vote for a tax increase. we have this enormous triumph by the republican party, a massive cut in future deficit. without a nickel, not a penny of taxes on anyone, not even the wealthiest of corporations. i think it's unlikely they're going to want to go back and raise taxes in the next go around even though they have these theoretical -- these triggered defense cuts should this become law and the president scenes it. even with defense cuts hanging over their head. i think it's unlikely you're going to see tax increases going into an election year. >> this is a fascinating political moment and a fascinating personal drama playing out on the house floor just movements ago. the house of representatives has just passed the compromise plan negotiated between congressional leaders and the president. it's just passed the house, the

senate will vote on this plan tomorrow we're told, sources tell us that vote will not come tonight, it will come tomorrow as this vote played out, as if the drama in washington was not high enough. on to the house floor came the congresswoman from arizona. remember, you see it just moments ago, listen in. i'm going to stop for a second. >> in the middle of that picture, the democratic congresswoman from tucson, arizona, in january, shot outside of a supermarket in her district holding a town hall, questions in those early hours as to whether she would survive, and then questions for months. as to whether her recovery would ever allow her to return to washington. she returns to the house floor, an emotional drama, the democratic congresswoman back on the house floor for the first time. now that it has passed the

house, it goes on to the senate. i don't think there's any doubt this plan will pass the senate. so the country has avoided what could be a watch plan. maybe i shouldn't say there's no doubt, there's very little doubt. this will not pass the senate, the country has avoided default or avoided getting to the point where it had to decide, do social security checks go out, or does captain jones get his pay in iraq and afghanistan. this political debate over the size, the scope of government, spending and taxes is not over. >> you know, now comes the hard part, right? they've found a way to raise the debt ceiling effectively for two times, but they've also promised to do serious deficit reduction. and as you pointed out earlier, this committee is interesting. lots of democrats believe it's a trap, they'll never get to any kind of balance or tax increases on it, some member of the administration said to me today, let's take a look at who's

appointed to this commtee and you know how it's going to turn out. the administration is on the record saying they're going to veto these bush tax cuts. they want to make sure that they expire for the wealthy, and they think that will have an impact on the debate. >> gloria, i want you to stand by. look down at the house floor if we can. live action on the house floor right now. >> obligations of our great country is important and symbolic. her presence here in the chamber as well as her service throughout her entire service in congress brings honor to this chamber, we are all privileged to call her colleague, some of us very privileged to call her friend. >> nancy pelosi paying tribute to gabrielle giffords. let's listen. >> more respect, more wishing for our daughters to be like her than the name of congresswoman

gabby giffords. thank you, gabby. muse >> whether you're a democrat or republican, some are in the middle of american politics, it's hard not to just say wow! wow! wow! . back in january, she was shot at point blank range in tucson, arizona, back on the floor of the house of representatives today as this traumatic vote unfolds. the former speaker, nancy pelosi paying tribute as we've heard. a key member of the negotiating team for the white house. and rallying, trying to get some votes for this plan. the question is, as we watch this emotional personal drama play out. we also have a very important and consequential policy debate that continues here in

washington. this legislation will go over to the senate, i want to bring our conservative contributor into the conversation. the speaker just passed this, it was an important moment for him. you saw the number of republican defections in the house in the 0s there, you think this is a bad deal, why? >> i do think it's a bad deal. first of all, john. as aaron said earlier, if we go through with this deal, we're still going to raise the national debt $12 trillion. this is going to be the first of what are going to become increasingly tense battles over the national debt. i can't see this as a serious plan, considering what it's going to do. i do think that the joint committee probably will raise taxes, and the republicans and democrats will be in a very interesting position to either take the committee plan or cut medicare and defense, they'll probably go with the tax increases, but that raises another issue, john, that no one talks about. even if you go back to 1998 which was the height of revenue

into the federal government, it was something like 21% of gdp. the government is spending 25% gdp. there's no balance there, and there can't be, even on the best democratic projections of what tax revenue could be, the numbers don't add up. the republican numbers don't add up either for that matter. >> for people watching at home, some of this is washington politics, many of them are saying will this -- as the president says, we get this deal done, maybe the private sector will start hiring again. it's counter intuitive to some. if the government spending is less money. if the government is spending less money, the government being a pretty large entity, does that certainty in wag of some plan convince the private sector to start herring or is what washington's doing actually taking money out of the economy and maybe contributing to slower growth? >> i think you have the connundrum right there, john. it's a little bit of both. they need certainty, and certainty on the debt ceiling

was significant. you would think that would be good. in a certain way it is, having that overhang would have prevented companies from making decisions on investment and hiring. just because we have this now addressed, it's going to be something in the far rearview mirror. as you know today, we have economic numbers that have fallen back in recession on manufacturing. that it's unclear what the government can do. now we're back to the big conversation, and that is jobs. >> let me stay with you on that point. if we're back to jobs, which is critical to the 16% of american people more either unemployed or underemployed, it's critical. it's also critical to a democratic president who wants to get four more years. a lot of the talk has been the private sector. the market needs certainty, does the market need certainty until we know what this super committee reports around thanks

giving? or are we going to have the uncertainty that it's a legitimate reason or excuse? >> i guess because there are some of those triggers built, in people trust that we're going to get those cuts coming in november. but in a sense, this is a drop in the bucket. if you take a longer term view, as you have pointed out, this does not address the big issues with entitlements in this country. you have several million mens coming on medicare over the next few years, that number is growing, we're not dealing with that issue. that's just one of many issues we need to deal with, with social security and medicaid as well. if you look at the long term uncertainty none of that is being dealt with. in a sense this paints a negative picture and that's fair. it's also important to note that america still remains the strongest country in the world with the best rules, the most clear rules, the most transparent rules, the deepest capital markets and all of those things are in our favor in terms of other people around the world choosing to invest in american companies.

>> following up on that, we're in a moment of divided government, one of the big challenges we have faced since the republicans have taken over the house of representatives, what have we learned that gives us clues as to what might happen? the pressures on this super committee? how the speaker, negotiates with the president. when the next thing comes up. whether it's something we see on the calendar a few months down the road -- >> it depends what the president has lenned from this, i don't think there's any question the republicans will come out of this feeling they have momentum, they drove these argument, paul begala just said it was a major republican victory. they'll continue going for broke. they'll believe that it works, they can get the upper hand. they think they've outmaneuvered the president. i think from the president's point of view, if he sees that leaning from behind as one of his admirer's called his leadership from within the white house didn't work very well in

this situations and he really must change his leadership style, then you could have a very different set of negotiations going on. he does have some things at his disposal. he can threaten the republicans and he's in pretty good shape to end the tax breaks for the affluent. those expire in 2013, he has the veto pen. i think if he draws clear lines and leads from the front about, this is what we must do. i think that would help him some. i have to say, john, overall, we're entering a period of ever deeper uncertainty for the business community. what if you're in the defense industry now? how can you possibly know or be confident about what your future is in terms of investments? >> well, let's continue the conversation, two key players with me. senator sherrod brown of ohio. on the house side of the

capital, allen west is with us. he came to washington as a part of this tea party movement. you voted yes in favor of this legislation, you are a military veteran, i believe you're a member of the armed services committee. >> yes. >> one of the concerns many of the conservatives who voted no tonight, many of the concerns they have rs in their view, they cut too much defense nowing and raise the prospect of cutting defense later. why were you comfortable saying aye? >> one of the things we have to look at, unfortunately is having this measure held over our heads to make sure we do the right things. we had a meeting with the armed services committee, republicans with the speaker, i made myself very clear in hoping that we can get one of the senior members, the subcommittee chairman to be a part of this congressional committee to make sure that we do the right things so sequestration never comes to fruition. >> another question, i know we've spoken in the past. taxation, you ran on an election, in which you said you weren't going to come to washington to raise taxes, you

were going to come to washington to cut spending. there are those who say the super committee has every right and every reason, whether it's raising the bush tax cuts on the rich, wiping them out when the deadline comes, whether it's tax reform in washington. a lot of people look at this as opening the door. a lost conservative groups look at it this way. why were you convinced it will not? >> because when you look at the baseline, first of all, it takes into account an expiration of the bush tax cuts, a raising of the amt and the tax increase of obama care. i don't think we'll see more tax increases, what i think we'll see is true tax reform, where we get to a change in the progressive tax code system we have, so we can broaden that tax base. perhaps we will lower the corporate business tax rate we have of 35%. bring it down to 22%. and get rid of subsidies and loopholes. those are the types of things i hope to be seeing come out of

the committee. >> congressman west, appreciate your insight. let's get some democratic perspective, from a man who not only has to vote on this plan as early as tomorrow, but is on the ballot in 2012. are you a yes or no? >> i'm voting yes. >> why? >> we successfully paid back some of the attempts coming from some fairly radical proposals in the house of representatives to dismantle medicare and turn it over to the insurance industry. we also knew that there were efforts -- going to be efforts in the house, to private ties social security and turn much of it over to wall street, and we're successful in beating back those. second we can't let the united states government, the united states of america default on its obligations, it would frankly hurt far too many families in my state, small businesses. social security beneficiaries, veterans, soldiers in iraq and afghanistan, interest rates going up, what that does to homeowners, everything. we simply couldn't do that. >> i want you to listen to a man

taj of your friends in the house who looked at this deal and said no way. the former speaker borrowing a line from the head of the black caucus. he called it a satan sandwich, she said it was probably a satan sandwich with a side order of satan fries. >> we cannot allow the extreme tea party republicans to advance their agenda to dismantle our government while rewarding the extreme tactics with this bad deal. >> i understand that this train is leaving the station. but it's going in the wrong direction. >> and then on the other side i have to pause because i don't see any sacrifice. >> if this bill passes, it may be the single worst piece of public policy to ever come out of this institution. >> do you agree that it's the single worst piece of public policy? >> i wish the deal had been better, i wish president obama had stk to his guns, talking

about everything from corporate private jets to oil company subsidies to hedge fund managers and dug in there, he wasn't able to. >> what happened? >> a lot of democrats are saying he's not tough enough, some are saying, put his own re-election interests ahead of the party. >> the president needed to go around the country and educate people about who's side are you on? this isn't liberal, conservative, left or right, it's whose side are you on? >> why didn't he do that? >> i don't know. but the radical elements in the house that want to private ties medicare, want to protect oil companies and protect wall street hedge fund managers simply were not -- they -- it's pretty clear that's what the battles ahead are. what we have to do is focus on jobs. one of the first things is take away cuts for companies that move jobs overseas. you can deduct the moving expenses again your federal

taxes. if the republicans dug in, and wouldn't let us change that. those are the battles ahead. we have to focus on currency, job training, on the creation of jobs. you know what happened in the 1990s, we had seven years of regular economic growth. that's what gets you to a balanced budget. it's tax, it's cuts in spending. it's bringing tax rates up to what it was for the wealthy in the clinton era. >> are you confident now with the disappointment you have in this deal, the disappointment you have in how the president handled himself in this deal, didn't get some of what you would have liked, some of what he said he would fight for? are you confident now you will get a better deal in round two. when the super committee has to come up with 1.5 trillion. the republicans say the only way they're going to support it is if there's no revenues. >> i think two things have happened. the vice president spoke to us today. the president and vice president learned some lessons about this about being more aggressive when

you're dealing with. >> do you think he's going to campaign in 2012 saying i want to raise your taxes? >> no, i think he's going to campaign on closing loopholes. clearly in the public arena, the conservatives they're kind of radicals in the house really did see that the public really wasn't on their side. they dug, in but it's pretty clear from polling numbers, it's pretty clear that their extremism and their willing to shut the government down and see the country go into default. turned the public against them, i think those two factors, the president learning lessons, and the public beginning to turn away from this kind of radical republicanism will service him in the fall. >> you're going to vote yes tomorrow. assuming this gets to the president and he signs it before the deadline, do you have any choice here? did you have to vote? >> absolutely i have a choice, there are things about it i didn't like. of course. what happened in ohio was more

about job loss than anything else. we lost several hundred thousand jobs from the last two years of the bush administration, a year and a half into the obama administration, and that's clearly what caused our major losses in ohio in 2010. >> we appreciate your time tonight. keith ellison is a part of the progressive caucus. the caucus said no, no, no. why? >> well, because this deal basically violates core american values. this deal calls for spending cut s on things that could really get our economy started again. these young people who take advantage of these loans are the scientists and innovators of tomorrow. people who can help create jobs. it was going in the wrong direction. it was retraction airy on the foot of a recession, in which we

still have 10% unemployment. exactly the wrong way to good. we voted no because it violated our core principles. >> if it's the wrong way to going and your leader, nancy pelosi borrowing a line from manny hawkins, a satan sandwich. why didn't she vote no? >> she wanted to make sure that -- she was concerned about the default issue and i think that when you are in leadership as she is, in may be certain responsibilities, the fact is she didn't whip it, she didn't come in and ask any of us to vote for it, she told us this was a conscience vote and my conscience told me to vote no, so did 95 other democrats in our caucus, say this is not the right thing for america. >> when all this started several weeks ago the president of the united states said he wanted a big deal, he wanted to take this off the table through 2013, and he would insist on a balanced approach.

he meant that if you're going to get a lot of spending cuts and a lot of pain, democrats felt like he wanted revenue increases, this deal doesn't have that, no guarantee of that, are you disappointed in the president? >> well, you know, the president wanted all the right thing, and even fought for the right things, athe the end of the day, he didn't get the deal he wanted. so i'm not here to be upset with the president. it was the tea party and the radical republicans who caused this zbh i don't mean to interrupt you, but you call them -- the tea party you're right, you called them radical republicans. i'll leave that judgment to you and the american people. the republicans control one chamber. >> right. >> there's a house of representatives, a democratic senate and the presidency. you can't say just the republicans did this, they don't have enough power. >> well, yes, they do have quite a bit of power, they're the majority in the house and they have a cloture approved number in the senate. so they are wielding a big stick. at the end of the day, the president has to sign or not

sign what's in front of him. his choices were allow default or what i prefer, use the constitutional and executive function to safeguard the public debt. he had very few options at the end of the day, i wish the president would have been able to get a better result. i'm not going to join those who want to criticize the president here. i think he had the right values, fought for themming didn't get them, but he wanted those right things, that's why i still call myself an obama supporter. >> this is round one of what is a two-act play, of the sense of going-forward in the super committee, you're gracious in what you're saying. what are you expecting to see of the president when we get into round two, and the super committee, and they start talking about, well, we may have to go into social security and medicare? we may have to -- if the republicans will push back when the president says i want some revenues, where are your red lines in round two.

>> social security, medicare, medicaid, also job creation. i hope the president starts this fight early. he shouldn't wait until he has very few options, he should get after this thing early and enlist the power of the american people as he did only a few days ago. i think it's the right thing for him to do to not wait and wait and wait until the options have run out, and he can either sign something or not. but i think that the thing is for him to get after it early, demand that we get revenue, demand that the wealthiest and most privileged among us help our country out, it's the patriotic thing to do, but not wait and bring the offensive now. >> keith ellison, democrat of minnesota. advice for president obama as we head into round two. in round one, 269 to 161. 66 republicans voted no, 269 to 161 means this, the compromise plan to raise the debt ceiling of the united states, to let the

government borrow more money along with it, the legislation now moves from the house to the senate. the senate plans to vote tomorrow. it's at midnight tomorrow that the united states government runs out of the authority to borrow more money. still, a second act of the legislative process to play out here. when we come back, more on tonight's dramatic breaking news. as this hugely important vote was playing out on the floor of the representatives, a dramatic surprise. the return of the democratic congresswoman, gabrielle giffords, shot at point blank range just a few months ago. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

you know that comes with a private island. really? no. it comes with a hat. you see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow. [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's okay. i've played a pilot before. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal worker's union.

energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. in servicing clients that serve our country. my name is marjorie reyes. i'm a chief warrant officer. i am very grateful and appreciative that quicken loans can offer service members va loans. it was very important

for me to be able to close and refinance my home quickly. i wanted to lower my mortgage payment. quicken loans guided me through every step of the process. the whole experience was amazing! [ tony ] serving those who serve us all... one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. a live picture from the floor of the united states senate. tomorrow at noon, the senate plans to vote on the package that tonight cleared the house of representatives. you see the vote there, 269-161 was the vote on the house side. this package calls for an increase in the debt limit immediately. $917 billion in spending cuts to be implemented immediately. then there's a second round, 1.5 trillion in deficit reduction and increasing the debt ceiling if a super committee of the congress comes up with a plan

that is acceptable to both the house and senate to do those additional spending cuts. or perhaps possibly tax increases, what we have tonight is this house vote, and with it, proof of how the conservative house majority has changed the debate in washington. a democratic president yes. a democratic senate, yes? the tea party led republican congress that now holds the speaker's gavel started the year saying spending and deficit reduction would be a top priority. one of their heroes saying today, no, this compromise plan is not perfect, but it makes a very important statement. >> we are spending less money next year on this treasury spending than we spent last year. you haven't heard that kind of a statement before around this town. we have a long ways to go. this does not fix our problems, but we really do believe that the value of this republican majority has been to change this culture. >> change this culture.