♪ touch me >> and if it isn't nunns, it's kids. ♪ feel me ♪ touch me >> so much for hiding your junk. now it's out of the closet and on to mouse pads and panties. >> it you touch my junk -- >> jeanne moos, cnn. >> thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer. john king usa starts right now. >> thanks, wolf. good evening, everyone. congress is back from its break. washington is crackling with debates over tax cuts, whether to repeal the military's don't ask don't tell policy and whether to ratify a major noounk arms treaty with russia. when the house of representatives convened today, this was the first order of business. >> this resolution provides for legislation to prohibit the creation and sale of so-called animal crush videos.

these videos depict small animals being slowly crushed to death by women using their bare feet or while wearing high heels. >> important? absolutely. but first out of the box after a huge election message from the american people? over on the senate side, though, proof that sometimes smp pole tigs do listen. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell stunned many of his colleagues in both parties by announcing he will support a moratorium on earmarks. those spending projects members slip into legislation. it's a conservative message. >> nearly every day that the senate has been in session for the past two years i have come down to this very spot and said that democrats were ignoring the wishes of the american people. when it comes to earmarks, i won't be guilty of the same thing. >> republicans will push their earmark ban in the next session of congress. the one that starts in january, and that's one issue where president obama is on the same page with them. what about the rest of this

session, the so-called lame-duck meeting? well, democrats use their final week controlling both chambers of congress to repeal don't ask don't tell, pass immigration reform, and end the bush tax cuts for wealthy americans or in the words of the liberal washington post columnist today, will democrats be "lame and spineless and avoid the controversial issues?" senator, let's get straight to that question. if you look at the unfinished business of the current congress, it includes -- putting money into campaigns to disclose publicly their campaign spending. don't ask don't tell, the repeal of the president says he supports. most democrats support. some republicans support. the dream act, if it came to the country as a young child as an illegal imgrant, if you go through college and become a good member of society, you could get status here in the united states. what do do with the bush tax cuts and perhaps a $250 payment to social security recipients

because they have to cost of living increase. if democrats don't go that entire list, are they as e.j. writes today "shameless?" >> i think we should go through most of the list. democrats -- every one of those issues you mentioned, john, is an issue that the public overwhelmingly supports and every one of those issues is an issue that republicans filibustered because they were the party through the election. s it was a political strategy that worked for them, but it clearly didn't work for the american people. unemployment benefits, extending those, clearly don't ask don't tell. the public is clearly on the side of changing that policy, of why should we continue to train people at very expense ily in the military and then show them the door? because of that, i think all of these issues we can move forward on. >> so when you go into the democratic caucus and say, you know, my state -- you're up in two years. we'll get your thoughts on that too. my state has sent a message. we can't touch don't ask, don't tell. i don't want to be accused of raising taxes right now. are you going to borrow a term that was used in the campaign just ended, tell your colleagues

to man up? >> i don't use that term. i think it's clear. i mean, i'm proud of every one of those positions. it's essentially the republicans, there are two minds here. they talk about the deficit all the time. let's get rid of earmarks because we have to balance the budget, but then they want to give a $700 billion tax cut to their wealthiesto contributors and the wealthiest people in the country. >> we had a poll out today that showed that 70% of the american public said that this last midterm election was about "a rejection of democratic policies." if that's the case, don't you have to respond to that? >> of course, we do, gloria, but rejection of democratic policies, meaning what? the tax cuts for small business, for health care, or rejection of extending unemployment compensation, or rejection of don't ask don't tell? i don't think so. you start asking specific questions about health care, you get a very different answer. you know you have been polling

for -- i don't know. we do the right thing. the right thing is extending unemployment bets fits. the right thing is not to blow another hole in the budget as they've done for ten years by giving more tax breaks to millionaires. >> are you 100% confident on that point if you can convince harry reid, your leader, and the other democrats to make that fight, are you 100% confident that the president will have your back? >> i think the president will have my back. the president has been in this position for months and months and months. i think ultimately republicans don't want to go home and say, wait, i chose a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires instead of balancing the budget. i want to send this debt on to my grandchildren instead of cutting -- instead of giving tax braets breaks for the wealthiest. i think in the end we win that argument. >> senator, there has to be some kind of middle ground, you know that, in order to -- unless you just want everything -- >> it continues to shift. the nilgdz middle ground now -- the middle ground initially was we end the tax cuts. well, then we end the tax cuts

and -- the middle ground keeps shifting. let's do the right thing here, dana, instead of always looking for the compromise. i'm up in 2012 for re-election, and i'm proud of these positions because they're the right things for the country. there's a new reality according to -- >> what is the new reality? general colin powell is larry king's guest tonight, and he has recorded the interview a while ago, and here's a take of what happened to the president of the united states. let's listen to general powell. >> they're losing focus on president obama. and we look at the election results, as he said, he got shellaced. i think it was a real body blow that he has to reflect and figure out how to come back. sdroo did the president take a body blow here? >> i don't know, use the term -- colin powell said body blow. the president said shellacing. we were beat badly. i understand that. i also understand what doing the right thing is, and i don't

think the voters went to the polls and voted ted strickland out of office because they want to give more tax cuts for the richest people in this country and they want to block unemployment insurance for people who have earned it. it's called insurance, not unemployment. >> senator, you are a smart. you have been around for a long time. what do you take as the lesson? you say -- but it's not. what is it? >> i think it's partly -- i mean, i think we didn't focus enough on jobs, clearly. i think the health care was the right thing to do. it took way too long to do it. the focus should have been more on jobs all along. i think we know that. i think we did the right thing. the recovery act created three million jobs. >> we're moving forward? >> i want to work with republicans. i want to work with my new jersey senator rob portman on figuring out job creation, but i don't want to do it -- >> let me show our viewers the results of that race. >> tax cuts for the wealthy and deregulation of wall street, that's what got us into, this and if that's their argument, that's not what the public is saying. >> 57% of ohioans voted for rob

portman against his opponent lee fisher where are your state is viewed by many as the bellweather. if they don't win in politics, they don't win the presidency. president obama carried it in 2008. convincingly, elected a republican senator there. sharon brown, you're one of the people, i think to use e.j.'s word from "the post" this morning,ure one of the people that's not afraid to stand up four your position. sometimes in politics others get a little squishy. when you look at the 2010 map and you look at the senator up in florida, in pennsylvania, your seat in ohio, in missouri, in michigan, in wisconsin, a lot of big bellweather swing states up there, will they stand up -- the house will pass a repeal of obama care. that won't pass the senate, obviously. when they come back and say let's do this and they try to take pieces away, are you open to some of that, or will you say hell no? >> i'm open to fixing the 1099. i'm not open to -- there's bumper stickers coming up before the election to bring back --

vote republican. i don't think people -- let me give you another number. barack obama in 20 got more than 2.9 million votes in ohio. the entire republicans, all 18 of them, running for congress in ohio, you know, good year for them and got a total of fewer than 2.1 million votes. don't give me this that this is all of a sudden to do everything that john boehner wants to do. it wasn't a mandate for when barack obama was elected in 2008. >> is this just about getting unemployment -- the unemployment number down and nothing else about policy? >> it's way more than that. of course. i want to repeal ask don't tell. that's a problem for our military. >> in the election -- >> the election, of course, it was about jobs. you know, when -- you know, the governor in ohio, there were 400,000 jobs lost during his four years. it was mostly because of bush economic policies, but he paid the price. i understand that's the way politics works. so does ted strickland, the outgoing governor understands

that. >> before we let you go, i want to ask about earmarks. >> you got $84 million in earmarks that you sponsored or co-sponsored. are you going to continue to do that, or is the pressure coming now from republicans and mitch mcconnell's decision to say no more? >> i don't know what they're going to do in reality. what i want to do is continue to work with rob portman as i did with george voinovich. >> they have udahl and the democratic caucus so far. i assume governor mansion will be with them, but if these new democrats coming in are with them, do you see any pressure, or do you think -- >> i also know what doing the right thing is about, and earmarks, so long they're transparent and dp through the process, they help hospitals, they help clinics, they help educational establishments. they can be a good thing for our country, and mitch mcconnell knows that. he did it for years. i think that debate will go on, but basically the republicans are using it because they don't realliment to deal with the suggest -- the real budget issues that we face. the earmarks, as you know, are such a small percentage of the

budget. >> all right. senator brown clearly has energy for the lame-duck in the next -- thanks for coming in. we'll talk more about this republican push to swear off ear marks. is it a bold move or political show boating? also, sarah palin is a big hit for -- her new show is, anyway. she's no snooki. has all the answers. so td ameritrade doesn't give me just one person. questions about retirement? i talk to their retirement account specialists. bonds? grab the phone. fixed-income specialist. td ameritrade knows investors sometimes need real, live help. not just one broker... a whole team there to help... to help decide what's right for me. people with answers at td ameritrade. get up to $500 when you open an account. ♪ ♪

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>> what a nighttime shot. beautiful shot at night of the capitol. right there today where mitch mcconnell surprised a lot of people by calling for a moratorium on earmarks, those spending projects members of congress slip into legislation. two democrats also jumping on board the band ear marks bandwagon. the thing is we should be honest about this, when it comes to reducing the deficit, eliminating all ear marks would only make a tiny, tiny drop. joining us now to talk this over from houston, cnn political contributor roland martin, john avalon. he is a senior political columnist for the daily beast.com, and in atlanta eric aircraftson, the conservative blog red state.com. eric, this has been one of your

criticisms of mitch mccobble for a long time. that the establishment would not give in, would not listen to the conservative base and ban these ir marks. maybe it's not a lot of money, but it is symbolically important. i want you to listen quickly to mitch mcconnell today on the floor. >> banning ear marks is another small but important symbolic step that we can take to show that we're serious, another step on the way to serious and sustained cuts in spending, and to debt. >> is eric aircraftson going to sign up for the mitch mcconnell fan club? >> no, but this is a step in the right direction. i'm impressed and however much it pains me to say something nice about mitch mcconnell tonight,ly do so. he had his pulse on where the tea party was, when i suspect he knew the inevitable outcome and decided to be with the majority, but, john, would i say it's a mischaracterization to say this is a small drop in the bucket. yes, earmarks are very small, but what they lead to, as tom coburn is they're a gateway drug to larger government, larger pieces of legislation that are loaded up with earmarks in order in order to get members of

congress to pass the bigger pieces of legislation. sdoo that's an important point. we'll watch as this goes forward and whether this is a first step of a diet. you need to take a first step. in fiscal year 2010, appropriations bills contain nearly 9,499 earmarks worth just shy of $16 billion. now, what earmark supporters say, well, if we don't specify where the money goes, the executive branch will pass a big bill, and they'll spend it the way they want to spend it, and it could be, could be, a step towards some reduction, yes? >> yes. this is a step in the right direction, and mitch mcconnell deserves a lot of credit for this. he was dragging his feet, but he heard the message. not only the conservative base, but i think the vast majority of the american people who understand there's something crooked about anonymous ear marks, and they've been sending this message for a long time, and i think it's great that he is taking this message to step forward not only for mitch mcconnell, and the republican party, but for the whole congress. >> roland, is the next test, i guess, if you will save millions through earmarks, many people have looked at the bigger picture of the deficit sxsd, okay, fine, we have to cut

pentagon spend and cut this. the left is in screaming that you can't touchdown social security and medicare, and the right screaming saying absolutely don't put any revenue or tax increases on the table. what's the next big test? >> well, look, there's no doubt that you are going to see the next step has to be discretionary spending. the left, they are not going to like that, but there's going to have to be some tightening there. you also have seen secretary of defense bob gates order not only the massive review of pentagon contracts, but also making it clear what we simply cannot afford. he has been fighting many of the generals there who simply don't want to scale back in those areas, because he sees a train that is coming, that if he doesn't do it, somebody else is going to do it, because if you see senator mcconnell cave on this issue, you can expect to see other folks cave, but here's the one thing you must watch out for, john, and we always see it. members of congress start saying, oh, no, you can't cut that because that means jobs.

le the one thing we have to own up, whenever they throw out jobs, that causes everybody to pause and freeze and stops them from making necessary cuts. >> i want to shift subjects here. you thought you were being book odd john king usa, but really this is our edition of "family feud." alisamurkowski, and she's likely leading in the count of votes. they haven't counted them all up yet, but she's had a long-running feud with sarah palin, and tonight she did an interview william katie couric. 2008, that was what some would say the scene of the crime. sarah palin's interview. listen to lisa on the question is sarah palin ready to be president? >> i just do not think that she has those leadership qualities that intellectual curiosity that allows for building good and great policies. you know, she was my governor for two years, and i don't think that she enjoyed governing.

[ cat meowing ] >> look, she's right. look, at the end of the day, sarah palin quit as governor of alaska. okay? i understand the lawsuits, but she quit. she also has said herself that, you know what, it's great for her to sit here and be able to have no accountability, to offer her thoughts and things on those lines on twitter and facebook, and so, look, i understand what senator mckouski is saying. she is a better view of sarah palin than many of us do because she was there in alaska. >> i don't think we can discount the animosity between the clans there. there's a lot of that there. it would not surprise me if sarah palin's tlc show goes a long way towards rehabilitating herself. i'm not sure she's going to run in 2012, but i wouldn't take anything lisa said about sarah palin to be any truth. >> let's listen to one -- let's

listen to one snip et from last night. perhaps sarah palin knew she was booked with katie couric when she said this. >> you know, having every word, every action scrutinized and in some cases mocked, i can handle it. i kind of have asked for it, right? >> we don't reward their continued bad behavior. yes, yes. >> if i'm tempted to kind of say, oh, here comes another shot, why us, todd reminds me all the time, man, why not us? we can handle it. >> she seemed to know it was coming, tom. >> she signed up for this. i mean, you know, now she's entering reality show-ville and it's a further step towards celebrity. in the case of lags lass you have a hatfield and mccaughey situation between these two political dynasties, but i think lisa was telling the truth that she saw it, and when somebody steps away from the elected responsibility and opportunity of governing, you open yourself up for that and attack. it's not an unfair criticism

being inflicted upon you. it's something you knew was coming down the pike because of actions you took. >> man up. who watched? show of hands. show of hands. who watched? >> john -- >> nope. >> i front of it was on. >> yeah, i guarantee i didn't watch that show. spoo maybe next week. thank you for coming in. for toes that did watch, it had 4.9 million viewers, which is a pretty good audience. the number one on tlc for a premier show, i believe, but the reason we made the snooki thing, want quite as many viewers as "jersey shore's" second season. coming up, some are saying the president's trip to asia was a bad trip. that's just ahead. also, new words. there's a new list out, the top words of 2010, and refudiate is on it. a few others from the campaign as well. stay right here for that top ten list. you won't want to miss it. and there's a question for me tonight because he doesn't understand this washington thing. i have allegedly been here a long time. he wants to know about freshman orientation. we'll talk to two new members of congress about their orientation

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welcome back. let's go to joe johns for the news you need to know right now. >> hey, john. homeland security officials are trying to tamp down a public revolt against the invasive new body imageing machines and security patdowns that some u.s. airports. in san diego a traveller named john refused and recorded his refusal to either go through a scanner that sees beneath his clothing or a pat-down of his groin area. he posted the video on-line. his phone canal are a is pointing at the ceiling, but you hear his voice and the security

guards. . >> today homeland security secretary january defended the enhanced screening measures. >> i think as the traveling public recognizes, we need to keep unauthorized liquids, powders and gels off of aircraft just as we need to keep unauthorized metal objects off of aircraft. we're doing this. airports in europe are doing this. it's just the next generation of travel security. >> so i was going to try to think up a joke to talk about this, but they don't like jokes in the airport. >> no, they don't like jokes in the airport. you know, aye had to do the scan thing a couple of times. they have you do this, and i always apologize. i know they say they destroy the image. this is going to be a big issue for the new congress. is this over the line or not?

i want to show, joe, before we go a look at what's coming in the new congress. an interesting group of people coming. now, remember, the people in town this week for orientation are the new people. the people you see debating are the current congress. there will be 16 new members, 13 republicans, three democrats, plus we're still waiting to see the alaska senate race, whether it's the incumbent or another new face in joe miller. that count is nott done yet. we'll have a much more newness in the house. 49 new members. 85 republicans. nine democrats. there are six pending house races, meaning they're still counting the results in six more house races. those numbers will change a little bit. what's interesting is that about half of these people coming never held office before. 61% of the freshman class held political office before, but 49% did not. what did they do? well, about 3% were involved in ramplging or farming. one was a pilot involved in aviation. 10% 234 business. 8% in merl or other public service. 13% are lawyers. 3% construction and engineering business.

4% medical, including a retired opt that molgs who just won a seat up in the new york suburbs. an interesting group of people, joe. not all members of congress, which i think not all politicians, excuse me, which i think is healthy for the debate to have some fresh people who this is all new. >> still a lot of lawyers. >> still a lot of lawyers. there's probably some grim yasing at home for that. my pools for the lawyers for that one. coming up, the president's asia trip and george w. bush's interview. in today's business world? our professors know. because they've been there. and they work closely with business leaders to develop curriculum to meet the needs of top businesses. which means when our graduates walk in the room, they're not only prepared... they're prepared to lead. devry university's keller graduate school of management. learn how to grow the business of you at keller.edu. [ man ] i thought our family business would always be boots. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag.

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prosecutes obama is back there his trip to asia, notable for what the president didn't get. no deal with the g20 to help manufacturing or no free trade agreement with south korea. we spoke with cnn when the trip began. he is here to compare notes that it's over. you write in a column, you wrote at the end of the trip that there were some successes in terms of the conversation that needs to be had about the long-term china challenge, but that perhaps this trip was marketed in a wrong way by the white house. you wrote this. "doubtless by his political advisors, obama cast his trip to asia as about jobs, jobs, jobs. if the president was truly craft aing trade trip, someone sent him to the wrong places. only one of the countries he visited, japan, is among the top six destinations for u.s. exports. he could have saved a lot of fuel and travelled to canada and mexico." is that what you think, this was marketed wrong, but some successes? >> well, look, clearly the idea of this being about jobs and trade was an afterthought. clearly, this was constructed as

an trip where the president would inform american leadership in asia, inassure rising asian powers that the u.s. would not abandon them to a chinese-dominated asia. after the midterm they decided, oh, we're going to explain this is all about getting american exports up, getting jobs. well, look, canada and mexico by 20 times as much from the united states as india does. ten times as much as south korea does. our biggest trading partners are canada, mexico, germany, the united kingdom. that would have been the trade trip. this was an asia trip, and the purpose of the trip was clearly more geopolitical, and at that level, forget the p.r. and the spin. at that level i believe it worked. i talked to a lot of people in az wra. i was in asia myself last week, and i think there was a sense that obama was giving the asian countries the signal that the united states is here for the long haul, it's seriously committed to asia, and, in fact,

is going to rebalance its foreign policy to devote more time, energy, and attention to asia. >> did we see any evidence that the leaders were either testing him or that the leaders viewed him as somewhat reduced in stature because of the republican rout here in the domestic elections? >> most of the leaders in asia are pretty seasoned, and they understand that the president had unilateral authority on foreign policy and, therefore, domestic losses don't necessarily translate into a weakened international condition. i think their main concern when i talk to them is two-fold. one, small -- a smaller part of it is obama weakened politically? the larger one is the united states on a slow growth trajectory that is going to make it less powerful, its model less attractive, and its budget conditions such that it will not be able to play the political and military role in asia? in other words, their big concern is not about obama. it's about the united states. if the united states is not

strong, healthy, and vibrant, it cannot be the kind of balancing power in the asia pacific that india and japan and south korea are looking for. >> you mentioned that the paramount objective of the global economy getting growth restarted here in the united states and around the world is still a hangover, if you will, from the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. our candy crowley sat down with george w. bush to talk about his new book "decision points "sxoi she asked him shouldn't he have seen it coming, have done more at the beginning of the crisis so that it didn't get so deep? listen to this. >> i don't think anybody really saw the size of the catastrophe. >> doesn't that kind of make you think what's your people's job, to help me do this? >> i don't think our job is to overregulate an economy. our job was to provide reasonable regulation at which we tried to do, but wrp thwarted by the congress. i'm want trying to pass the blame on to anybody, but i think it's difficult for a president or an administration to see the size and scope of a downturn.

>> that a fair assessment in your view, or if they didn't see the size and the scope, were they looking in the wrong places? >> well, i think it's fair to say that nobody saw the size and scope of this crisis. everybody underestimated the down side risk. the place where i would -- you never know when you're going to have these kind of problems, but you want to create -- you want to keep the economy with some comfortable margin for error, and where the bush administration really let us down, i think, is in collapsing that margin for error. we took the federal budget, which bush inherited with a structural surplus, structural surpluses as far as the eye could see, and then he made three big decisions. one was the series of tax cuts, massive tax cuts, prescription drugs for the elderly, and two wars, and he paid for none of it. he, instead, borrowed money, and we went from a structural surplus to a massive structural deficit, so that when the

recession hit, we had no money in the bank. we had to run up these enormous debts, these enormous deficits because we started off in a weak position. the chinese government, by contrast, saved for a rainy day. they had a surplus going into the crisis. they were able to spend and spend effectively. that's where i think george bush deserves most, and, frankly, that i think is the single most negative part about his presidency, more than anything else. he took the united states -- a united states that was in structural budget surplus and put us into a structural deficit, and we're still trying to pay the price for it. >> you mentioned the two wars. let me stay focused on those, but shift our focus more to the administration of the wars, not the financial impact, but you mentioned those two wars, and he didn't pay for them. one of the criticisms that we've talked about this before is when the united states made the decision to invade iraq, a lot of the critics say it took its eye off the ball in the fight against al qaeda and the nation building in afghanistan. president bush says, no, not his fault. listen. >> what happened in afghanistan

was that our nato allies turned out -- some of them turned out not to be willing to fight, and, therefore, my -- our assumption that we had ample troops, u.s. and afghan -- and nato troops, turned out to be a not true assumption, and so we adjusted, and i completely disagree with the take eye off the ball. i found that to be empty political rhetoric. >> empty political rhetoric. it was a nato shortcoming, not a u.s. shortcoming in after san? >> i think if you look at the statements of the time, secretary rumsfeld believed very, very strongly in a very light foot. he wanted to get in and get out as quickly as possible. he didn't want to have troops on the ground. look, it's a respectable point of view. it was a way of thinking about a fast lethal operation. not doing nation building. not getting bogged down in operation. you know, there are still people who believe that that was --

that would have been the right approach. that clearly was the approach the administration took in afghanistan and also in iraq. don't forget, many of the problems in iraq happen for precisely the same reason. it is, however, in both cases after a while and after years of failure that president bush in the case of iraq and president obama in the case of afghanistan decided, you know what, this ain't working and we've got to put more troops in. i think, you know, president bush is, in a sense, not giving enough credit to the fact that there was a credible military strategy laid out and detailed by donald rumsfeld, which was to have a very light footprint. >> as always, thanks for your time. >> pleasure. >> pleasure is mine. thank you, sir. when we come back, top headlines. plus, the top ten list from 2010 that will take you a mile under sea and to sarah palin's alaska.

zimplt welcome back. joe johns back with more news you need to know right now. hey there. >> hey, john, there is a rare event at the white house tomorrow. a living soldier will be awarded the medal of honor. army staff sergeant giunta was recommended only hours after a bloody ambush and firefight in afghanistan in 2007, and for better or worse, sarah palin has made her mark on the english language. the new oxford american dictionary chose her term "refudiate" as their 2010 word of the year. we were just trying to come up with all the words that george w. bush seemed to create when he was in the white house. >> don't misunderestimate sarah palin's impact on the english language. that's one. that's in the dictionary.

this is the global language monitor. the top ten list, joe, for 2010 words and 2010 phrases. let's walk through this here. david letterman routine here. let's start with the top words. now here are the top ten. you are watching them as home. let's put them in order. a little easier this way. number ten, simlexity. some come from the campaign. shellacing. snowmageddon. refudiat. the mare ti. vuvuzela. you remember that? and spillcam. that's pretty cool. those are the top words. what about the top phrases. these are some from the top ten. man up, huge in the campaign, joe, right? that's getting use around here. how many teachable moments do we have here at cnn? >> a lot. they all occur on television. >> the tea party, obviously, a big phrase in the campaign because it was so much an anger and rage. a lot of action newsinger and

rage during the election campaign. i'm very tempted over here with my friend, the wall, to talk about teachable moments and action newsinger and rage. i'm not going to go there. i'm going to walk back over here, right? >> absolutely. i couldn't agree with you more. >> absolutely. always fun to do the top ten list. a lot of learning to be done there too. when we come back, we'll also learn from two brand new members of the united states congress. congressman and congresswoman elect at the moment. we'll talk to them when we come back. very interesting. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote.

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>> with me now, two future members of the incoming congress here in washington for freshman orientation. republican tim scott of south carolina and democrat terry sewell of alabama. thank you for joining us. i know you're both very busy getting your orientation. as you begin your work, i want to share a number from our new polling at cnn and see, first, if you agree with this number.

we ask people the republican victories in the u.s. house races were a mandate for republican policies. only 17% said that. a rejection of democratic policies, 70% said that. ms. sewell, for the democrat first, is that how you viewed the election where the republicans took control of the house, even though they came to washington as a rejection of democratic policies? >> no, i don't, actually. i think it's more of a rejection of the economy. i think that voters reacted to the fact that this economy has been turning around, but it's turning around too slowly. i know for me whether it's a democratically controlled house or a republican controlled house, my mission basically stays the same, and that's to represent the seventh congressional district to the best of my ability sdwroosh mr. scott, if 17%, only 17% of the american people think this is a republican mandate, that should give you some pause, no? >> i think what it says is simply this. if the american people are tired of the partisan politics, whether you are democrat or republican, the american people want the focus on them. they want a government that stays within the boxing, and what they want is a return back

to free markets limiting the role of in theirs lives and not spending money you don't have. >> let's focus on a couple of issues and see if i can get a democrat or republican to agree or disagree. one of the big issues in the republican pledge to america was the obama health care plan. ms. sewell, do you believe that significant changes need to be made in the health care law, or do you think it should be left alone? >> i think that the health care bill, while not a perfect bill, was a great step in the right direction. i think that i look forward to actually working to tinker with some of the provisions, but i think overall providing better access to quality health care, especially in my district, has been very beneficial. >> mr. scott, you want to go significantly further than tinkering, correct? >> absolutely. what we need is a patient, senate approach to have supreme court access, and it cannot be run by the deposit. it has to be a private sector response to the needs of the community, and if we do that, we will find that we'll reduce the costs, get rid of the bureaucracy, and we'll have the ability to maintain the best health care system in the entire

world wrrn. >> another big issue is whether or not to extend the bush tax cuts. >> we have to make the bush tax cuts permanent. the truth is that if we're looking for a recovery in the private sector, it's going to take a couple of things. certainty and predictability. what we have right now is trillions of dollars we need a ten-year snap make good decisio. without the bush tax cuts being permanent, it allows uncertainty and a lack of predictability to be the words that will govern not having a recovery at all. >> i personally think that we really have to protect the middle-class. that should be the guiding principles for the tax cut and whether or not we should extend them. >> protecting the middle-class will take for us to allow the bush tax cuts to be universally applied to all american citizens. what we don't need is a class war. we cannot afford to tell those who have ability to invest back into the job markets that we cannot invest because, bush tax cuts are gone.

>> the fact of the matter is that we are existing right now under the bush tax cuts. and while recovery has been happening it's been happening very slowly. so i actually just question the premise of whether or not additional tax cuts for the rich would actually benefit. >> i would tell you though that the federal government -- jumping in to the private sector in a way that they're buying private assets does not allow for the -- the economy to recover. if we want an economic recovery, economic freedom, we have to allow the private sector to respond to the needs of the economy and not the government. >> i will let john respond. >> you two -- hard for me to believe you are not members of congress. pretty good, both warmed pretty quickly. >> you said you wanted us to debate. >> one of the questions you each face, two two african-americans in the congress whether or not to join the congressional black caucus. i want to share with you one more republican african-american elected mr. allen west of florida, he has been quite critical. i want to share his view of the

caucus. he called it liberal and said policies were too far to the left and not helpful to inner city communities. here's what allen west said. >> i think they have the monolithic viewpoint. when you look at the failures in the cities, social welfare and programs, my neighborhood what it used to be and what it is now, look at detroit, look at chicago. this is not the recipe for success. >> mr. scott, do you share that view, is the black caucus out of touch and actually hurting america's inner cities? >> what i do know, inner cities of america are not receiving assistance it needs because it cannot come fruf the government. if we are going to see an opportunity, we need to promote entrepreneurship, a private sector response to challenges. if we want to find a way to see the cities where i grew up, prospering we have to focus attention for allowing, private and public schools to compete in communities. i don't hear that being addressed in the cbc. >> do you believe that, ms.

sewell, i was in selma, the mayor was complaining it was forgotten by washington? >> the mandate from my district is pretty clear. that is that they need economic opportunities brought to the 7th congressional district, selma, birmingham, tuscaloosa. i will be joining the cbc, my vote will be dependent on what is in the best interest of my constituents. >> let me ask you each what it is like, like the first day of high school when you find where your locker, is giving you a new congressional blackberry, new congressional cell phone, teaching you the rules, what you can, cannot do in a conversation th the lobbyist, where the gift ban kicks in. what's most interesting thing you learn when you go through orientation? >> well, for me it's been -- it's been that there are so many things that bind us. i look forward to joining the next session. i think there are so many commonalities. it's not as, as black and white or democrat/republican as i think the media tries to portray.

>> someone said today what you don't know can hurt you. and that's what we need to realize. so it is very important for us to understand the rules that will govern us. we are trying to find a way to restore the american people's confidence and trust in elected officials with the respect we abide by the rules and understand the rules we're in a better position to say to the american people we are listening and abiding by the rules. >> you know what, john. i agree with that. >> great police to end it. ms. self. ms. sewell and tim scott. appreciate your time today. thank you both. >> thanks. did anyone ever give you a hard time when you were the new kid in class. next pete dominique looks at freshman hazing. ♪ ♪

across the country when the economy tumbled, jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 200,000 americans keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, increasing our lending commitment this year to $10 billion and giving businesses the opportunity to ask for a second review if they feel their loan should have been approved. this is how recoveries happen. everyone doing their part. this is the way forward.

one person who wishes he was a new member of congress, pete dominique, up in new york tonight. you would love to serve the people in the congress, wouldn't you? >> you know, you are always frying to get me to run for some office, john king. i would be a terrible representative for the american people. you have got to stop or might start to believe you. >> i disagree. you listen. that is the number one test of leadership. someone who listens. >> sorry, i didn't hear that. >> funny man. >> john, my question, i was the senior who didn't haze the freshman. so i think that, you know, the more experienced congressmen should welcome. i have a cup ideouple ideas for workshops they may want to teach. do you have time? >> i have been here in town, 22 years. i know how the haze thing works. listen.

>> ha-ha. ♪ >> assume the position. >> a seance, right. >> i see. that is frightening. >> that's enough. >> is that a clip. >> that's enough of that. stop that right here. >> is that a clip from john boehner's dc "after dark." >> having fun with "animal house." a classic. no disrespect. a little humor. what's on your list? >> will they gain the freshman 15. thought you let off the two new congressmen without asking them the question. >> next time. i'll bring them back. >> thinking soon to be former speaker could teach never give up. an interesting workshop. senator vitter could teach forgiving and forgetting. and president clinton teaching the intern trap, you know how scary that can be. lastly, john, my question to you, when duo the freshmen star meeting the lobbyists today,