night, but in tend the end, the congress acted responsibly and now we can turn the conversation to where it belongs to gaining jobs and preparing the economy to prepare for the future and that is what the president is looking forward to do, and this whole debate was disturbing for everybody and time to put it behind us and shouldn't have taken as long as it did and now it is time to move forward. >> you said and every democrat agrees that he didn't get the deal he wanted, but where did you win and lose in this? >> well, the american people did win, because we brought down the deficit in the first step and a process in place to discuss entitlement reforms and sources of revenue and further cuts in the second tranche, and the president looks forward to having that debate, and the fact that we will have a bipartisan commission set up to have that

conversation, and the fact that we have triggers that both sides will not want to see go off is a way of ensuring that we really do have a conversation over the next few months and looking forward to that. another part of the bill that was a priority of the president is that he did not want to stee programs for medicare or medicaid or social security or s-chip or the earned income tax credit or any of the programs suffer, and they have all been protected. and that was also very important to the president. furthermore, he said, yes, he would have preferred a grand bargain to have greater cuts and additional revenue, but what he would not do is to see us bring down the deficit on the backs of elderly, poor, working families, the disabled and this bill also protects them, so yes, it is not perfect, but it goes a very important step in the right direction and we have a lot work to do, and it is heartening to see that we were able to get

congress in a bipartisan basis through the house this evening to pass this important bill. we will move on to the senate, and i know that the president is looking forward to signing it as soon as it comes over and get back to discussing what the american people want to hear about which is how we are going to rebuild the economy. >> i mean the problem that you have is even if the deal goes through the senate tomorrow, the president has emerged weak and looks like browbeat en by the republic republicans and there are no tax increases which a vast majority of the americans believe it does merit tax increases. >> i e would interrupt you -- >> let me finish, and allow me to finish, but not just the republican party, but the tea party who are claiming and in my view understandably a victory here, because they have campaigned steadfastly againstt any tax increases and they can stand aside and say, well, we won. >> well, you know, no, it is not first of all a matter of political winners and lose

eshes, but it is about keeping the focus where it belongs on the american people lt and what is at risk here is calamitous if we had not acted. >> finally on a more positive note i think for everybody, extraordinary scenes when congresswoman gabrielle giffords arrived in the house and got a standing ovation. what did you make of that? >> well, it was extraordinary. i still have goosebumps and it shows just the womcongresswoman cheer commitment to sheer commitment to focus on what she felt in her heart was good for the country. she is a role model for everyone and so proud of her to make this effort, and you are right, it was a silver lining in what is a messy process. >> valerie jarrett, thank you very much. >> thank you, piers. the senate is expected to vote tomorrow at noon on the debt deal, a nd joining me now s jeff sessions, a ranking member of the budget committee. senator sessions, how will you be voting tomorrow? >> i have decided i will not

vote for the bill. although, i really respect the people who have worked on it and the fact that it does take some real progress towards reducing spending, although, far less than we need, but as the ranking republican on the budget committee, they put in language that really undermines our ability to even have a budget next year. it would be the third consecutive year without a budget. so, for me, that was a defining moment. >> and people are saying that the tea party are the victors in all of this, and that they shoved the president into a corner, turned the debt ceiling which is normally a routine thing into a big scandal, and also pushed speaker boehner into a corner and browbeat him, and some argue stabbed him in the back. what do you say of that? >> no, the tea party movement represented a spontaneous movement of american shock and concern over the spending going on in washington. we cannot possibly justify

members of congress can't that they are borrowing 42 cents of every dollar spent. this is irresponsible so they demanded change, and elected a lot of new people. they have been called terrorists. i would say they put some terror in the hearts of big spenders. they are people who care about america, and i think that they have helped to move us from a discussion of how much we can spend into how much can we actually save and how can we get the spending and debt under control? >> i mean, the fascinating aspect of the tea party is their emerging political power, and no question th question, they have been at the forefront of the last two weeks, and as a republican, are you concerned about that, or do you embrace it? >> i embrace it. they are fundamentally correct, piers, in my view, and that is that congress is running up too much debt. we have been irresponsible, and the government is exceeding the

constitutional limited role, and that, i believe, fundamentally ekt c. n correct. and now all of them don't understand the niceties of congress, but the house passed a budget that would have reduced spending $6 trillion, and they have now come forward with a compromise that represented really $1 trillion in certain cuts and maybe 2.1 or 2.4 total reduction and they accepted that, most of the members. so this is not an unreasonable position. they love america. they are worried about the future of the country, and rightly they should be worried, i think. >> senator sessions, thank you very much. >> thank you. . >> the whole of washington is talking about the miraculous recover of congresswoman gabrielle giffords after the assassination attempt that could have killed her. joining us is dr. sanjay gupta,

and what an extraordinary moment that was. tear-je tear-jerking, wasn't it? >> well, from a medical perspective and neuro perspective, nearly 2/3 of the people who have this type of gunshot wounds to the head don't survive, and now nine months later not only alive, but able to cast a vote here on the floor. so it is remarkable in a medical and overall sense, piers. >> i mean, are you surprised that she was even able to do this and do you know what her current condition really is? can she converse with people, and have normal conversation? >> when you think of cognition overall, piers, it is two ways to divide it. first is comprehension and ability to understand things, and i can tell you that we did a whole investigation into this, and she was able to comprehend things almost always since the time of the injury, so that the comprehension has never been a factor, and more of her expression to your question, piers, that has been tough. she speaks in more of one or

two-word sentences and difficulty expressing through the written word or gestures, but obviously something that improves over time. the last time that they gave a full report on her was a month ago and she seems to have improved since then, and piers, if you look at the video closely, you will see, she is getting help certainly in standing. and someone's hand is around her waist, and her right arm does not move. the left arm moves well, but the right arm which is affected by injuries on the left side of the brain does not move, and that is sort of expekted. i am sure that is part of her ongoing now outpatient rehabilitation, piers. >> from a therapeutic point of view, sanjay, would something like today with the outpouring of emotion and everything else, would that be seen as a good thing for her? >> well, i think so. when you talk about rehab they talk about the things that you might expect. for example, she used to be right handed, but because the right side of the body is no longer as strong, she has to learn to write with the left

hand. things like that, and those are tangible things, but the idea that you can get rehabilitation by actually finally get back to work so to speak interacting with the colleagues and getting that emotional support is a big part of it. as doctors we like to get the patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible, because we believe they can improve and recover and rehabilitate themselves better when they are around their friends and their family. so, this is certainly a really good demonstration of that tonight, piers. >> it certainly was a wonderful moment. sanjay, thank you very much. >> thank you. and coming up, did the tea party stab john boehner in the back? and what could the deal cost you? i will ask dave ramsey. [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today!

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the debt battle has been an ugly spectacle of the democrats battling republicans anp republicans battling democrats and republicans battling republicans and democrats battling democrats. and wis the tea party a big winner in all of this? joining me is connie mack, and

you voted on a deal with bipartisan support and saved america from going into catastrophic default and i only assume that you are quite happy for the country to go into catastrophic default? >> well, then you would have assumed wrong obviously. my point is this, that we now have over about $14.5 trillion of debt. and with this bill that passed today, we are assured to have over $17 trillion in debt, and none of the cuts in the bills are cuts off of real numbers. they are all cuts off of increases in spending, and what i have heard over and over again from my constituents, people around the state, and all over the country that have been calling my office, they are saying enough is enough. we want a solution, and we don't want a deal or a compromise. we want to solve the problem. so my vote was for solving the problem. and this bill did not do that. >> the problem is that any sensible economist around the world says that you cannot get america out of this catastrophic

debt is now in without raising taxation, and you are implaque bli opposed to this? >> well, again, i am saying that if all economists, and i don't believe that is correct, because there are plenty of economists who say if you raise taxes right now, you would kill any growth that we might be having. look, we have a problem in the country -- >> and you don't have any? >> and why is because of too much overregulation and too much taxation. so we should lower taxes and make sure we cut spending. i don't know who the e con milss are that you are talking to, but most people would agree that if you want the businesses to create jobs -- >> well, let's start with, congressman start with -- >> and wait a second, businesses want to create jobs, because that is how they make more money. and if they want to do that you don't tax them more, but you tax them lez. >> i am sure you have heard of paul krugman for example and he won a nobel prize for economics. >> well, i'm sure that there are a lot of other economists on the other side, but are you telling

me that you think that america that we should raise taxes, and in a time when an economic turndown? i don't think that most people would think that raising taxes at a time right now, and in fact, the president has said so, and the vice president has said so, and democrats and republicans have said, this is not a time to raise taxes. so, those economists are on the outside looking in, and the rest of us are saying, how do we create jobs? and the way we create jobs is by cutting regulations, and cutting taxes, and then we have got to get the fiscal house in order here in washington. with this bill that passed today, we are looking at over $20 trillion after ten years of debt, if the federal government was an individual, that individual couldn't get a credit card because their debt to income ratio is so out of whack. >> well, the real problem, congressman, is that actually the reality is that the american people are watching these farcical scenes in washington and believe it is a complete disconnect between the politicians today in america,

and all of the ordinary members of the public, because what they have seen over the last 11, 12 years is a dysfunctional series of administrations taking the economy in this country into the cart. >> i agree with you 100%, and that is why for up until now all we have been sdeen doing is spe more and taxing more, and that is not the way for ward. the only way forward is to cut spending. right now we spend 7.5% more a year every year? so, if you try to take that from 7.5% to say 6.0%, that is considered a cut in washington. no one back home would believe that if they got an increase year after year, and if the you took a little bit from that, that would be a cut. we need to get serious, and the people out in america are saying, tell us the truth, give us a solution. let's not have some deal or bargain in washington. let's have a solution to the problem which is the debt and the deficit.

>> finally, congressman, presumably, you believe that speaker boehner should now resign given that he has authorized this terrible deal? >> of course, i don't believe that. i think that the speaker has done as good a job he has done considering the circumstances. he had a president unwilling or unable to sit down at the table and put up his own plan. he had to work with senate that had no plan and no idea of its own, and then he had to work through the different factions of the conference, and i think that the ek spespeaker has done i support, and i think that is what happens all of the time in washington. >> if you think he has done such a great job, why did you stab him in the back? >> come on, don't be ridiculous like that because you are just making your show a joke? >> for what? >> for saying things like that, piers. >> well, i don't agree, because i believe that this was such an

important deal, and the american people were so desperate for a deal to be done with bipartisan support that the continual reluctance of the characters like you from the tea party side feel you have had your fun and turned the debt ceiling issue into a scandal that never should have been a scandal and brought the country to economic knees by having done so and the right thing now is to take one for the team and move along in a bipartisan way and not the try to stop this process going ahead, and that is not my show being a joke -- >> well, when you say things like stabbing the speaker in the back, and i don't see that is helping the show. >> and the -- excuse me. >> well, the real scandal here is that year after year after year we have been spending more money than we bring in, and to continue to let washington whether it is republicans or democrats to spend more than they bring in to rack up $14,

$17, or $20 trillion in debt with no way to stop the spending, that is the problem. so, all of these other things that they pale in comparison to what are we going the do about controlling the debt and the deficit. >> but, when you are a few hours away from the first-ever default in american history, and the disaster that would bring not just to america's economy, but to the world's and your leader does a deal with the democrats which has massive wide bipartisan support, and you still refuse to sign up to it, you are stabbing him in the back, metaphorically, and not really, and not doing wit a knife, but effectively, that is what you are doing. >> in fact, what i am doing is to fight for what i believe is right, and i think that the american people recognize that what we need to be doing is cutting spending. now you might not agree with that and others may not agree with that, but that is what i believe and most americans believe that the way we move this country forward is by getting the debt and deficit under control.

we can't have $20 trillion of debt, and no way that the country can continue with that kind of debt. we need a which to cut it. i have put forward a plan and done something that the president and the democrats didn't do in the senate, i put a plan out there and presented it to the conference and the country, and so, you know, i think that i'm speaking here with a little bit of authority that i'm not just saying no, i am offering ideas as well. >> congressman mack, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> president obama is facing fierce criticism from the base and coming up, i will ask arianna huffington why she believes this whole thing is a breakdown of the political system. very much. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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arianna huffington has called the debt battle a breakdown of the political system and she joins me now. why do you say that?

>> i say that, piers, because here we have a major crisis in the country, a growth crisis. and which means that the jobs crisis and a debt crisis, we do not have a debt ceiling crisis and that is a completely manufactured crisis that we spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to resolve. and in the process, we have made the e kconomy worse, because we have reduced demand at a time when the economy is so fragile and last quarter we grew by 1.3%, and the unemployment at 9.2%, and almost 29 million people unemployed or underemploy and nothing in the deal that makes the economy any better, and absolutely nothing at all. that is a truly dysfunctional system if after all of the debate, if after all of the effort, that is what we have ended with. >> what is extraordinary is that nancy pelosi said earlier it was a satan sandwich with satan fries on the side to describe the deal, and what kind of deal

is that for goodness sake? why should the american people have to put up with a satan sandwich with satan fries. >> i thought it was another congressman who said that and did nancy pelosi say that, too? >> apparently, yeah. >> well, that is spraz iurprisi because she is careful and circumspect in what she says. well, there are a enormous amount of people in the country, republicans and democrats, who do not believe that this is making the economy better. it is like we have a stalled car, the economy and instead of trying to start it with jumper cables we are taking out the gas tank, and that what we are doing. and the president wasted precious time and i listened to valerie jarrett trying to defend him, but the bottom of the line is that he wasted all of the time instead of using the bully pulpit to convince the american people that it would not grow the economy and never resolve the debt crisis, and instead, he

adopted the republican and the tea party framework that makes the american people believe that the only solution to our problems is spending cuts in the middle of what could become a double-dip recession. >> apparently, it was congressman cleaver, emanuel cleaver, who apparently first said the satan sandwich line, and it was nancy pelosi who repeated it so it is the same. and now let's come to the winners and the losers here, arianna, because the real winners are the tea party members who inflamed this into a huge scandal when you say as the debt ceiling issue comes up all of the time without any problem normally, and they have had control over the speaker john boehner, haven't they, because they have pushed him back on the original vote, so that the tea party, really, they have been calling the shots with both sides? >> well, the tea party was allowed to call the shots. there was a vacuum of leadership, and into that vacuum stands the tea party who without any economic theory to back up

the solutions they were offering. but if it had been real leadership on the other side, this would not have happened. i really liked what bill clinton suggested president obama should have done which is basically appeal to the 14th amendment, the constitutional option, and raise the debt ceiling and refuse to be held hostage, and more important refuse to allow the economy and the lives of the american people to be held hostage by a party that simply does not understand economics. >> on your splendid website you are launching today huffpostwomen and huffpostparents, and get real here, what is the deal that the house passed today and the senate will pass tomorrow will do for families in america? >> well, that is the problem, piers. it is going to make their lives harder, and that is why we launched with a powerful and moving story with amanda

fairbanks about how many college students right now who cannot afford the pay their debts are actually resorting to prostitution, and literally selling themselves in order to pay their college debts. and the stories are so moving and powerful, and you read about the african-american student from college who takes a train to greenwich to sleep with a guy who is helping her to pay her college loan, and the reality is that the average college debt for a student graduating in 2011 is $22,000, and when you come out of college and you can't find a job, and that is a bleak future that so many of the young people are facing right now, and that is the american dream that we are betraying. as an immigrant into the country, i feel that, that's the ultimate betrayal. >> arianna, obviously, you are greek, and you were born in athens, and greece has been through a complete financial collapse, and do you fear that

america, despite all of the protestations to the contrary that america could go through the same thing that greece has been through? >> well, i'm ultimately an optimist, and i believe that as we saw with the congresswoman giffords today, there is an incredible resilience to american spirit, and we can overcome all obstacles, but we actually do need to come together, and not just to talk about shared sacrifice, but to actually en dullge in some shared sacrifice that we make the lives of average americans better. >> arianna huffington, as always, a great pleasure. thank you very much. >> thank you so much. next, one of the country's leading ceos and would he have accepted higher taxation, and later what you need to know about the debt deal and your money. i will ask dave ramsey.