the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to tkhrupbd 111 -- calendar number 111, s. 846. the presiding officer: the clerk will report.

the clerk: s. 846, a bill to designate the united states courthouse located at 80 lafayette street in jefferson city, missouri as christopher s. bond united states courthouse. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements relating to this matter be placed in the record at the appropriate place. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i note here that this courthouse is going to be named for our longtime colleague, kent bond. that's very nice. he was a fine man. he served his state in many different ways. he was a governor, a very popular governor. he served as the ranking member of the intelligence committee and served that admirably. but for one thing that he and i

talked about on a number of occasions, when he was governor of the state of missouri, he rescinded an order that had been issued by his predecessor, a man by the name of boggs, governor boggs, which was an extermination order against all the mormons in missouri, extermination meaning to kill them all. some of them were killed and worked their way out of missouri. that extermination order remained in effect until bond came along. as a matter of principle, he thought that was the wrong thing to do. for that and other reasons, i have fond memories of our friend kit bond. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the environment and public works committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1406 and the senate proceed now to that matter. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1406, a bill to designate the united states

courthouse under construction at 510 19th street bakersfield, california, at the myron, done know van crocker united states -- dono have van courthouse. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, any statements relating to this matter be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer:. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent h.r. 1309 be discharged from the committee on banking and it be returned to the house of representatives pursuant to the message of july 25, 2011, requesting its return. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i'm told there is a bill at the desk due for its first reading. t the presiding officer: the clerk will read the bill. the clerk: s. 1420, a bill to require the united states government prioritize all obligations on the debt held by the public, social security benefits, and military pay in the event of the debt limit is reached and for other purposes.

mr. reid: mr. president, i now ask for its second reading and that's for purpose of placing this bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14 but now i object to my own request. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. reid: ask consent the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m., july 27. that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to day, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business for an hour with senators permitted speak spore up to ten minutes each with the time equally dwaided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half.

mr. reid: mr. president, if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that we adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

senator harry reid's debt reduction plan raises the debt limit through next year's election democrat and republican leaders briefed reporters today on the latest in the debt and deficit reduction negotiations. we will hear first from senate majority leader harry reid who says speaker john boehner's plan would cause a credit downgrade and will be dead on arrival in the senate. at the white house was also threatened to veto the house republican that limit measure. we also hear from senate republican leaders to believe senator reid's debt proposal comes from the wrong direction

and should be defeated. these briefings are about ten minutes each. >> it is a $2.7 trillion increase in the debt ceiling with highly suspect spending reductions features. just to give you a little history, and you can go back to 1972, and 38 times we've raised the debt ceiling for six months or less. during ronald reagan's reelection campaign and before we raised the debt ceiling three times. this is an extraordinary request on the part of the president to ask us to raise the debt ceiling $2.7 trillion. and he has really been quite candid as to the reason for that. he said he wants to get it passed his election. most of us i think all of us think it's we more important to do the right thing for the country than it is the right thing for his election.

and so, it's a statement of the obvious but we believe the proposal wasn't a serious effort to deficit and debt and should be defeated, and we need to the engage with the president, the only person in america who can sign a bill into law and get a bipartisan solution that can pass the house, passed the senate and be signed by the president. >> i want to correct one thing for the record. i made the same mistake others have made in deleting those who said that the rye and budget, the house passed budget used the same accounting gimmicks that of the league proposal was encountering all of the money that we are going to save by not continuing operations and iraq and afghanistan for the next ten years at their current level. that that was also in the rhine and budget. as it turns out, the rise in

budget receives $2.2 trillion in savings without using that accounting gimmick triet compared to the president's 2011 number, the ryan budget saves $6.2 trillion without using that accounting gimmick. with the ryan budget does -- if you look through the various charts and pages of it -- it also has various comparisons, including pretty much the obligatory comparison to what is called the current law budget that cbo scores, and in that he compared because that's what cbo does the oco cost for the overseas contingency operation cost, but he did not utilize that in order to achieve the savings in his budget. so i had made the same mistakes others had in assuming what we were told was correct. paul ryan made it clear no, that wasn't correct. when we criticized the bill that the majority leader has brought up for use in over a trillion dollars in savings from that oco account, i think we are correct

in asserting that it's not a good way to account for savings and second, that it was not used by the house of representatives when they passed their budget. >> i believe the converse has two objectives this week in a time we are borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar that we spend. we want to make certain we make a significant step to reduce the spending so washington can stop spending money that we don't have it number two, we want to make sure the united states government honors its obligations. we do not want to be known as the country that pays its bills out of a cigar box. we believe we can do both at one time. and each of us here has co-sponsored one or more measures to do that. the house of representatives is considering still another way to permit our government to reduce its spending and honor its obligations. we look forward to working with the president and democratic

leaders to make sure that we honor both of those objectives. the president addressed the nation and to me it was much more of a campaign speech than anything else. we heard scare tactics, class warfare, a lot of tested phrases, but we didn't hear from the president a plan, a solution, and the president to me seems to be clinging on to the status quo of raising taxes and spending more money and this is the time we need leadership, we don't need a campaign. >> when the president rejected the bipartisan proposal made to him by to deal with the impending debt limit, the senator gladly moved back over here to congress and congress is doing its job first in the house and now the senate after that to deal with our unsustainable debt, and the potential for a future crisis.

we've said all along there are three criteria as by which the decision or votes will be judged. one is no default. second is no tax increases on the job creators during a 9.2% unemployment, much worse than of the country. and third, no smoking mirrors. real solutions to our unsustainable debt. unfortunately, the read proposal in the senate that we will be voting on does not pass the blue smoking mirrors test, and we will be working to defeat it so we can take up reform and cuts. >> did you have the advance for people -- as i said earlier, we think the proposal goes in the wrong direction and hopefully sometime soon we will have an opportunity to demonstrate that.

>> senator reid says the plan wouldn't be about to pass because the arrival. it came out against the plan but if it is a prospect in the chamber stomach americans for tax reform which as been the gold standard of the tax issue endorsed in the proposal jester de. we believe it has broad support and we do everything we can to help our friends in the house and i'm optimistic they will deal to do that. >> [inaudible] >> i don't have to remind your about a week away from august august 2nd. we need to get an outcome. to get an outcome the republican house, democratic senate, democratic president can reach an agreement. we have i felt pretty close sunday after into getting there

and we have to get together and get a solution. we cannot get a perfect solution from my point of view controlling all of the house of representatives. sallai prepared to accept something less than perfect because it is not achievable. what i would like to see and i think most members would like to see as progress made on reducing spending, creating a joint committee that gives a real opportunity, and i don't want to chastise you but this is not a commission, you ought to quit calling it a commission. this is a joint committee of congress. it's in both bills, both of the reid bill and the boehner bill. with an expedited procedure and disclosing type of mechanism to act. and it has a real chance of an outcome on entitlement reform and tax reform. so we are trying to get a

result, and we know we can't get a result without something that's passed the republican house and democratic senate and be signed by the president. i'm going to take one more. >> would you accept a deal that raises the debt limit only once before election day or could you accept the last trace option where the president -- >> critical of my members are comfortable with a the way the speaker said this at that we would be happy to raise the debt ceiling up to roughly the amount of deficit reduction that would be reflected in that amount of increase in the debt ceiling. ..

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> to encourage them to sort our plan. senate plan is a reasonable middle ground. democrats like it because it protects middle class. it prevents damaging cuts for security, medicare, and

medicaid. republicans should support it because it contains the two things they've asked for all along. it does not gain revenues, the amount of cuts meets the amount of the debt ceiling increase. it was written for the tea party, not the american people. democrats will not vote for it. democrats will not vote for it. it's dead on arrival of the senate, if they get it out of the house. the tea party is in the driver's seat with the house republicans now. that's a very, very scary thought. that's why i hope my republican colleagues will think long and hard about what direction they want to move. they can either support the tea party and their plan which has no chance of passing, or they can work with us to forge a responsible approach.

so i say to my friends, as we say on the other side of the aisle, let's get this done. let's do what we need to do to work this out. this is so very, very important to the american people. if this debt limit is not increased, every american will have a tax increase. every american. rich and poor, middle class, otherwise. we need to work together. that's what the american people want. that's my -- what i've expressed time and time again. i was a lawyer, i practiced law, i compromiseed then to get the cases settled and avoid trial. many years as a legislator, i have learned a long time ago that legislation is the art of compromise. and it's too bad people on the other side of this capitol don't know those words.

>> boehner wanting to avoid a default? >> i believe that the speaker would like to avoid a default, but he sure has a funny way of showing it. he's been uncompromising and he has based on the right wing direction that cox has taken, unless he decides to step back and be on base and not driven by the right-wing idealogues, that's where we are headed. [inaudible question] >> pardon me? >> [inaudible question becomes >> i haven't decide. it's been offered, i have an opportunity for consideration. i'll have another visit with the

republicans leader soon to see what ideas he has. [inaudible question] >> for those of you couldn't hear, are there talks going on? we just had a vote here on a judge. and republican senator who i respect them all, this one i really respect a lot. very nice man. knowledgeable. knows what's going on around here. came to us and said i appreciate what you are doing. you are trying to work something out. i appreciate that. he didn't say he was going to vote for my bill. i think when we have conversations like that, it gives me hope. even though leader mcconnell are very -- we all seem to agree

a lot on the floor. we all get along. we spent time together over the weekend. i told them today a few minutes ago, any input that you have to your republican friends, visit with them. i only have half of that. i ask each one of them to reach out to the republican colleague. is there any way that the gang of six can be worked into the framework some way that will allow them to be more positive in what they have >> over the weekend i asked them, my friends all came back, no republicans are willing to step out. the gang of six attended all of those meetings. i'm open to compromise, but there are certain principals we will not violate. we are not going to bash social security, medicare, medicaid, the republicans have hung tight on no revenues. fine. we are not going to have a short term extension to the debt.

because it would mean that we would come back in early october and be right where we are again. the same thing, same deal. one republican house remember is -- has said that he would like to have this debate every two weeks. not two months with every two weeks. we're not going to have a short term extension. there's no discussions regarding that. we will not do that. the president won't agree to that, and my caucus will not agree to it. >> when your bill is up next, do you think there will be plenty discussion? >> there are further discussions going on right now. i'm open for come proprize. but we have given the republicans what they wanted. dollar for dollar to increase the debt limit. i think it's funny, one the

things they complained about was $1 trillion was not real. well, economist all over the country, all over the world, recognize the importance of doing what we've done. cbo, omb, scores that actually for more than $1 trillion. we have in our billion $1 trillion. and the ryan budget contained $1 trillion for winding down the war in iraq, heritage foundation part of the substantial deficit reduction. majority leader canton acknowledged and counting the savings towards the deficit reduction. cbo, closing down troops could save more than a trillion. we have given them basically everything they have asked for. $2.7 trillion. dollar for dollar, there's no revenues. it's hard. >> we're hearing information

based on reports. >> no, in my caucus, somebody had an ipad. they read more stuff today. i don't have it. they read it just a short time ago. the rating agencies are nervous. in fact, it was a congressional hearing today. again, i don't have that. the person testifying today that the one thing the market demand is certainly, certainly debating this in is a few weeks is no certainty. >> yes? [inaudible question] >> that's an excellent question. we've tried. we've tried our best to have a trigger with some of the stuff that president obama worked on with the republicans. they worked on the trigger. they could never get there. because it would be so unfair,

that the committee did not arrive at a positive conclusion. that's the trigger would be all -- that's really unfair. because we can't get from here to for after having already $2.7 trillion into the pot. we can't do that with more cuts. >> we have -- as i indicated earlier, something has a proposal. gang of six talked about something like that. i would be happy to take a look at it. last question. >> you stated no short-term extension. and in the house, [inaudible] >> question is where is the room for compromise? we've talked about that here today. i can't negotiate what i have no authority to do here in front of

everybody. but are there considerations going on? it seems a little unusual here we are asking what we can compromise. we already have. we've done that. people aren't interested in deals, they are interested in solution. on the floor over here, we put on the floor here is a solution. we're willing to resolve the ideas, and even with bad ideas that help move down the road. thanks. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> we're goinged by kay hutter, of "boomer congressional lawmakers." what are they saying the about

the proposals the leaders have unvailed? >> as you said, there's two now. unthat's been unvailed by speaker john boehner, and one by harry reid. they are both putting spins, saying they are confident to have the votes. that's remains to be scene. the biggest test in some ways comes tomorrow when speaker boehner puts his proposal on the floor. there's a certain amount, or a fair amount of pushback, from conservatives republicans that have concerns with the proposal. it remains to be scene that there's enough votes. >> what sort of concerns do republicans have on speaker boehner's plans? >> the republican committee which is a group of 170 roughly conservative republicans. their leadership had a press conference earlier today. you know, they talked about, you know, having some questions

about whether the plan actually goes farther enough. a lot of conservative members don't want any kind of debt limit increase really at all. so they are concerned that the spending cuts that are being coupled with it don't go far enough? >> assuming their boehner plan comes to the house, will it get support with mad rat democrat d- moderate democrats? >> i talked earlier. you may recall there were five democrats that supported the cut, cap, and balance. i spoke with one of them who told me that he was not planning, definitely not planning to support the boehner proposal tomorrow in the house. he described at kicking the can down the road further and said it wasn't -- he didn't consider it to be serious, but it will only go through the end of the year. he is definitely a no. i talked to another democrat, jason of pennsylvania, who is a blue dog democrat. he said he was undecided on the

plan. so it kind of -- i would say if there's any democratic support, it would be in the single digit? >> what about in the senate? how is the body received so far senator majority reid's proposal? >> among the democrats, it seems like there is at least a fair amount of support for senator reid's proposal. however, in the senate, it would take probably 60 votes which would require, you know, a handful of republicans to come on board as well. and it remains to be scene whether there would be -- seems unlikely -- there would be the republican support needed to get the 60 votes. in the senate, what's interesting is that they are sort of waiting to see what happened to the boehner plan. senator reid has yet to file cloture. if boehner doesn't get his plan through, especially with the deadline looming, that could generate some support with the

reproposal over here in the senate among republicans who might be concerned the reid plan would be the only option left standing and to avoid a default. >> and the debt discussions continue on capitol hill. update from kate hunter with bloomberg government. thanks for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> we just heard also bit about the concerns of conservative republicans in the house. congress jim jordan, the chairman of the republican study committee today said he thinks speaker boehner lacks the gop votes to pass the spending in the house. it does not cut enough spending. this is about 30 minutes. >> thank you, everybody. especially my colleague for being here today. we do have a lot of folks speaking. it would be okay if any member of congress committed that

unusual offense of having an unspoken thought. and in any case, if we can all try to keep our comments brief so we can get to the q and a saks. although the president's speak last night didn't give me a great deal of cause for confidence, i still hope he will drop the insistence on the huge tax increase, drop his opposition to pursuing balanced budget. at this late stage in the process, it's obvious now to everybody that it is possible, increasingly possible, he will not have raised the debt ceiling by august 2. if august 2 does, indeed, passed. we believe it's absolutely essential that the federal government have a plan for prioritizing the payments that can and should and really must be made using the resources that the government will have. especially ongoing tax

resources. some of us have been making this argument for many, many months now. unfortunately, the administration has persisted in denying that it can or will prioritize payments in the scenario. instead, they have persisted in predict default. implying they will choose to default on our bonds. in a letter that secretary geithner said in may, this would be an unprecedented event in america history. the fault would inflict catastrophic damage or our country, significantly decreases growth and increasing unemployment. president obama said if investors around the world thought the full faith and credit thought the united states was not being backed up, it could unrival the entire financial system. it could have a worse recession and worse financial crisis.

the fact is, entirely within the power of this administration, to avoid that very scenario, regardless of whether or not we raise the debt limit prior to august 2. these are scare tactics. they have been penalty to intimidate congressional republicans into voting for package that the administration wants. frankly, it's unresponsible and it's dangerous. the administration should not be threatening to make the debt ceiling impasse more disruptive than it needs to be. now there are published reports that the treasury officials are calling big bank executives and assuring them privately that if the debt limit is not raised they, the treasury department, will nevertheless ensure there's no default on our bonds. it's all well and good for the administration to provide that assurance to friends on wall street. i think we provided that assurance to senior citizens around the country. that's why we are introducing

the bill that we are unvailing today, ensuring the full faith and credit of the united states and recollecting american's soldiers and seniors act. i'm delighted as it this moment, we have 31 co-sponsors in the senate. the number has been growing consistently. what our bill would do is it would instruct the treasury secretary in the event that the debt ceiling is not raised, to make certain obligations priority so they will be paid in full, on time, and without delay. the three priorities are simple. first it's interest on our debt so that we will not default on our debt and not sponge the economy into chaos. second, social security payments because millions of senior citizens, including my parents, depend on the social security payment that they've earned by virtue of their own prior contribution to the system and finally the payroll for active duty military personnel. because men and women who are risking their lives for us should not have to worry about whether their families will

receive their income in a timely fashion. now as this chart illustrates, there are far more than enough resources for the administration to make these payments and frankly many others. for the period from august 3 to august 31st, the revenue will be at least $173 billion, perhaps much more, and the combined cost of paying the interest on our debt, social security payments, and active duty military pay will be about $81 billion. less than half of the revenue coming in during the month of august. these numbers are not made up by somebody in my office. these are the numbers provided by the bipartisan policy center and confirmed by many other sources. let me close by saying this, this bill is not, and it's not meant to be a substitute for raising the debt limit. i and i suspect most the folks on the stage have actually voted

in favor of raising the debt limit, provided we put our government on a path to the balanced budget. what this bill is all about is minimizing whatever disruption might occur if the debt limit is not raised prior to august 2nd. i continue to hope this legislation never needs to be implemented, but it would be irresponsible to be unprepared or worse, unwilling, to minimize the potential for disruption. at this time, i'd like to introduce the chairman of the rnc, congressman jim jordan. >> let me just be real quick and say there's not money in the month of august to make sure that bondholders get paid, social security recipients get their check, and the men and women that wear our uniform and protect our country gets paid. this bill spelling out that in particular. i think as the senator indicated when you have the president of the united states continuing to

try to scare people instead of doing what i think is appropriate for a president of this great country which is reassure people of what the facts are. it's critical to bring this bill guard at this particular time. i want to commend senator toomey and his colleagues, as well as our house colleagues here. many of them have sponsored similar legislation already in the house. we think it's just important to reensure the american people there is enough money in the month of august to take care of the things that need to be paid for. we are committed to do that. at this late hours, it looks like there maybe a chance that we get past august 2nd. we think it's critical that the bill will introduced and passed in both houses and sent to the president. >> senator vitter. >> thank you very much, pat, for your leadership. i've been working with pat and others were months on this concept. and obviously right now it's particularly important and timely. again the idea is simple.

for months we've heard about u.s. government default. there is absolutely no reason that ever has to happen no matter what. and this bill will make that clear and ensure that. more recently with social security checks not going out to seniors. there is absolutely no reason that should ever happen. this bill will make that clear and ensure that. that's been similar talk about military pay. again, there is absolutely no reason, no matter what, the checks have been disrupted. this bill will make that clear and inshore that. i think we owe all of those groups to put the seniors on top of that list that reassurance. and the fact that quite frankly, they have been scared in tactics over this battle is very unfortunate. but we owe them that priority, and we owe them that reassurance. the next is congressman swagger

from arizona. >> thank you, senator. i stand in front of you being partially one of those people that's been very frustrated with almost the disengenerous use of language. how often have we heard the word default? that's if we don't pay the interest on the coupon. on the bonds. when we attempt for the administration to scare our seniors. the reality we demonstrate, we have enough cash flow. it would have been a much more honest discussion, and much more genuine and interesting to have the discussion about the 1/3 of federal spending that existing from borrowing. why this is so important. it's believed that the administration may probably have this type of authority. but we'll step up, offer the language, so the administration might stop playing disingenuous games with the language. thank you. >> i think we'll move on to

senator demint. >> did you make it? >> how about second? >> that would be many. fill me in, senator. i can never do that. so it was somewhat disconcerting to hear the president spook last night primarily to what he was opposed to instead of what he was in favor of. which is phased to do to the deadline of august 2nd. we still have yet to have his answer to the fiscal problem. my colleagues join us in saying what we're looking for is a solution rather than a deal. the how was representative did that. the house of representatives last week listens to the american public when we passed under the speaker boehner a balanced approach and bipartisan approach when we cut federal spending, placing caps on it, of course, pacing the balance end of it, the balanced budget in

the final lynch pin. that is the first step. when it went over to the senate, they did not vote no, they postponed the vote. not engage in any debate and put it off to another day. we are still encouraged the other day may come. until that day comes, we have legislation that is here before us. how do we prioritize the debt? to make sure the seniors and other bills are paid? that is why i join with senator toomey in the legislation. now i look to the other senator that is here, mike lee. >> we all know it's wise to plan the best, but prepare for the worst. that's what this bill does. i commend senator toomey and representative jordan and senator vitter and others who have brought this forward. because this is something that allows us to avoid having america's senior citizens be used as pawns in this game to try to avoid what some people

are improperly referring to as a default. i want to echo again the one plan that has been put forward to raise the debt limit. to address this problem. it was put forward by essentialing the same group here. it was passed in the house of representative with the support of five democrats in the house. when it came over to the senate, it was denied an opportunity for a vote. it's not just an up or down vote, but any opportunity for meaningful debate and discussion or full blown amendment process. we think this is unfortunate. we also think there's no coincidence that it a day after it passed in the house. and people were in support of the cut, cap, and balance as it was described in the polls, along the lines it was passed in the house of representatives. we think that's still the plan. it's the only plan that's got support in the cc and outside

groups across the country. we are preparing for the worse in the event that unfortunately if we reach or pass the august 2nd deadline. this will make sure our senior citizens and our troops and those who have pressured our debt instruments are not used as pawns to force a deal that isn't wise for the american people and that might make our credit rating worse. at this point, i'll turn the time over to representative from south carolina. >> thanks, mike. real briefly, one the criticisms you've heard is that treasury can't do it. it's point to write 80 million checks a month. the first is what have the trajection been doing. he should have been working on this. i think what we are hearing now, the private discussions that we're hearing taking place between him and the banking leaders, he has been working on how to do this and he does have the ability to prioritize the

interest payments and i would imagine social security as well. i think it's another red herring from the administration that they cannot do this. i'll turn it over to senator paul. >> make no mistake, if there is a crisis on august 2nd, if there's a decline, there's some kind of reaction, the blame and the responsibility for this lies squarely on the shoulders of the president. at any point in the last six months, he could take default off of the table. he can look at the numbers, he could reassure the markets that he will pay the interest on the debt, he should reassure the senior citizens that he will pay their checks, and he should reassure the soldiers. if something happens august 2nd, the blame and responsibility lies squarely on his shoulders. :

settled and helpful in clearing up this mess. this legislation is one more serious attempt to reassure the american people that we will help clean up the mess and we are just calling on the president to finally leave and be a constructive voice in this instead of trying to continue to scare the american people. >> senator tom coburn.

>> in representative steve sutherland. >> over the seven months i've been here and the months preceding being sworn in, i've claimed that washington is broken. i think the american people and the world of large have seen the broken this as far as the solutions that we've put forward but i tell you, last week when we passed the cut cap and balance bipartisan support, i believe the key component to that was the balanced budget amendment. i will tell you fiscal responsibility for a crown, the crown jewel right in the middle would be a balanced budget amendment that is sent out to the states and let the american people choose the exercising of freedom, choose how they want their capital to operate. and i will tell you the reason that that is the crown jewel is because that is in line with what every american family has to do. every small business including those that my family operates

and what every state has to do. so i urge all of the decision makers here of this capital, do with over 85% of americans want. the opportunity to set the stage for a balanced budget amendment to be enacted and be adhered to in this nation's capital, to put a constraint on the city that has 175 billion coming into the treasury each month, but continues writing checks out of over $300 billion. that doesn't work in the american family or small business, and as i have alluded to numerous times again, that finally it's walking around that my grandparents and my parents taught me by the age of ten. thank you. >> senator johnson? >> well, like steve i recognize as a freshman housebroken washington is, which is why may 25th and sent a letter to

president obama signed by 22 of my senate republican colleagues it's very irresponsible for this president to be scary if the markets and the american people the way he was doing. a very irresponsible to assume he's getting increasing the debt ceiling without actually fixing the problem. a very irresponsible not to have a plan b to reality we're finding out it has been pretty irresponsible. the responsible thing right now is to pass this piece of legislation. i want to talk a little bit about the macronumbers, the annual numbers because we can see on a monthly basis we can cover the essentials services, but the president's own budget. if we don't pass that increase what does that mean? we have to live within our means and on an annual basis the president's budget would be 1.6 or $2.6 trillion. to put it in context that is $800 billion more than we spend just ten years ago under bill clinton by $1.8 trillion. it covers the debt by

256 billion, 100% of social security which is about 760 billion, yet still leaves $1.6 trillion for all other central services and again that only 200 billion less than spent just ten years ago so this does not have to be a crisis as long as we plan for it and unfortunately this administration has not made those plans and that is unfortunate. >> does anybody find it ironic that last night you had a speech from the president of the united states spreading and gloom and doom and fear and political attacks, and today you have a group of republican senators and congressmen just trying to reassure america it seems like there's been a juxtaposition here. in any yvette, back in march, it was clear that our military in fear of our military since they

would have to work in the shutdown, it became obvious the filed a bill to try to force to make sure the military never had to worry for a second about whether or not they would be paid. since then, the president has taken to skilling others like our seniors and schering potentially scary people who hold our indebtedness that they might actually not get paid. that is irresponsible. and i agree with of the republican icon who in essence said last night, that's chris matthews, that she came out and gave a political speech that was inappropriate. we want to assure america the money is there to do the things we must do. it's irresponsible for the president to say i've got over $100 billion left from t.a.r.p. assets that i don't want to touch. i would rather scare the seniors

and got over 100 billion from this, that and the other but i don't want to touch those proceeds from the stimulus, for example. it's irresponsible. this bill -- and i tell you, on the loved being able to deal with pat and the organization that was concerned about creating new jobs, but it is even better dealing with them as an ally downhaul. so i appreciate the work that was put into this bill. if you read it coming you would see that there are findings that are separate from says these are equal prairies. this says in the findings that if you look at the underlining what we come to would find social security is a separate. seniors don't have to worry. there's $2.6 trillion in the social security trust fund and treasury notes and just as 1985 and just as in 1996, there's a

shortfall for covering the checks the treasury notes within that were sold and a 96 the wall said that it can only be used to pay the benefits and expenses of social security. this points that out to help reassure america we are going to be good for our debt, good for our obligations of those who were counting on getting the check from the government, and then we are going to work the rest of this out. don't worry. any time scare tactics are used you need to grab your wallet because something isn't right. i'm glad to stand with you come and at this point, senator barrasso. then richard deutsch -- nugent. okay. then jeff lander. >> i will be brief in telling you about my support for this

deal. i like to use my language of what our actions speak louder than our words, something the president doesn't seem to like to do but i will tell you i try to answer a quick question probably many of you have and that is what is the impact of the president's speech on the american people? one of the first got this morning was from a lady in my district and she said you know, i listened to the president last night, and as a good american, i have, you know, the intent of falling through on his request and that is to contact my member of congress. sallai trademark kunin contacting you by e-mail. now that i've contacted you, but me tell you i'd like you to support, cut cap and balance, plain and simple. thank you. >> from south carolina, there's a philosophical difference between the folks over at the white house who think we ought to spend a revenue problem. they want to tax americans more so they can spend more of americans tax dollars. then you've got a philosophical difference of men and women standing up on this stage and

within the halls of congress and really americans all across the briefly and who understand and know we have a spending problem. spending a trillion and have more than we are bringing in annually third year in a row. $13.3 trillion. it's dangerous to leader of the crossroads of history. so we want to take the easy route in the middle chamberlain route of appeasement in the queen debt ceiling that kicks the can past of the election which is the president wants, or do we want to take the hard way that winston churchill route that says we are going to fight you on the beaches and in the air to make structural changes we passed the cut cap and balance to ensure the american people we want to change business as usual and the needs of really what we think are the

most crucial in this country to appease the american people and let them understand we are going to take care of your needs while we work out the long term solution to the problems that we face. washington was looking for a deal. america is looking for a solution. >> thinks of righetti. any questions? >> why are these obligations more important than the other legal obligations of the government? >> for the reasons we signed during the comment. first of all many of us believed it would be very important to choose to default on our debt for the kind of economic path that could ensue. the social security is simply a very vitally important program millions of american seniors and many feel the special obligation to the men and women who are literally risking their lives in life fighting war that are under way right now. this is not the only thing that can be paid.

there's a great deal of other expenses that can be paid. we felt that the rice to the highest level of unemployment importance should be prioritized. >> who should get paid and who shouldn't get paid? >> we ought to get a solution to the problem and i think everybody on this platform voted for a solution are advocates of that, namely that we put our budget on the path to balance. then we need to never have to go there. if the president refuses to come along with putting that in place, then there is a danger we will cross the august 2nd deadline. in that case, these are the priorities. and i will say there's room for other payments to be made. it is not our intent to specify every last dollar but rather to identify the vitally important programs and avoid default on our debt. >> can i she did because the issue of hands which of you plan to vote against your speaker's plan?

and why? [laughter] >> i was hoping we would focus more on the issue at the end but if you want to comment on that. >> , we appreciate speaker's hard work and keeping the tax increases out of the plan but if you look at this it's about a 7 billion reduction in spending from what we are currently at. we advocate something more in the plan in the budget plan to house passed. we also have real concerns about the commission. the 12 member commission. six democrats and one republican decided to raise taxes you can't keep off the floor it comes to the floor. so we think there are problems with this plan but most importantly as has been said by others, we think the plan that has been drafted and put in the bill floor and been debated and passed by congress and supported in a bipartisan fashion would prevent a downgrade and fix the problem. we think that plan pre-the comics good sense and we want to add the one the american people support so we actually like that

plan much better. that's why we support it. >> let me also answer with regards to why these priorities, we said these are equal. the reason i think they are priorities is these are the people the president tried to scare and frankly if the president comes out with another group that he tries to scare, you will probably see our group say we need to reassure them, too. let's get them in there so they don't have to worry. we were emphasizing their groups. he's tried to scare that shouldn't be scared. >> i have a follow-up. you said you oppose the plan. how many other conservatives you think are opposed to the plan and do you think there are enough to prevent it from happening? >> i'm confident as of this morning there were not 218 republicans in support of the plan. >> if that were the only plan would to be moved moved to

support it? >> [inaudible] the plan may be the only thing given the time frame. >> given the time frame it hasn't passed one house of congress yet. there's another plan that has, so how was that further down the road to become law than what we passed last year? i have yet to figure that out. 62 and do you think there is anything to convince you? >> i think everyone on the stage is unclear. using the balanced budget amendment for the states, we are willing to look at it. but the key is getting that structural change that will fix the problem. jeff duncan said it best colin quote washington wants a deal americans want a solution. we know this would be the solution, actually fix the problem and put in place those that address the long-term need. that's why we are for it. >> i didn't understand to not get paid under your plan. >> because it isn't specified.

this specifies the top priorities equally weighted, avoid default on the debt by paying the interest on the bond holders and the benefits of the social security beneficiaries on time as scheduled and the active-duty military personnel. that means tens of hundreds or billions of dollars left over certainly hundreds of billions depending on the timeframe and we would lead to the discretion of the administration for whatever short period of time this went into. thank you very much. >> spend a press conference held by the republican committee. a caucus meeting of more than 170 conservative lawmakers. a headline in congressional quarterly. the challenge should party's right? the article goes on to say the specific cause of the unhappiness of the republican rights vary the the opposition

is sufficient to raise doubts the house will pass the proposal when it is slated to come for a vote tomorrow. a spokesman for speaker boehner says the house republican leaders are working right now to rewrite the deficit reduction plan after receiving an estimate that will not cut spending as much as advertised. we are going to hear from speaker boehner about his proposal won a couple of minutes.

the house rules committee that was meeting about speaker boehner's debt ceiling bill recessed subject to the call of the chair without passing the rule that would allow the congressman boehner's bill to come to the house floor. the congressional budget office is as that of mr. boehner's bill came back with about $850 billion in savings over ten years instead of $1.2 trillion. speaker boehner spoke to reporters earlier today about his plan. >> good morning, everyone. i think i made it pretty clear last night, the president is looking for a blank check. we have a bill that is a

reasonable approach, negotiated with the senate leadership that really is common sense. there's more cuts and spending of and you have an increase in the debt limit real tasks and a real process for cutting spending before the end of this year. and it provides for i think the best effort to get a balanced budget amendment and act in the constitution. it's reasonable, it's responsible, it can pass the house and it can pass the senate, and i hope the president will consider signing it into law. >> good morning. >> the president spent ten to 15 minutes last night on tv and there are a lot of words in there, but what the words didn't say this with the president is for. there was no evidence that he has a plan. he doesn't like our plan, but he has not put a plan for word yet. there were a lot of words and focus on the politics here. the president spent a lot of

time talking about millionaires, billionaires', corporate jet owners, things that have nothing to do with the debate right now. and at this point, you know, we have got about three options here. one is to wait, do nothing and go past august 2nd and bring on the possible default, which i for one am not for or is the speaker of any of us standing up here. another is to go with harry reid's plan which is as the speaker said a blank check, something we as republicans don't believe most americans think ought to happen. that cuts spending continue the way it has and helps promote the economic policies of the obama administration that it rex this economy. third, we have our option on the table. it's consistent with our commitment to say we are going to change the system here, stop spending money we don't have and start focusing on the getting people back to work in this country, doing something about the unemployment that is now

still over 9%. >> last night when you listen to the president's political speech you watched this leadership from the republicans sit down after our hour, trying to get to a bipartisan agreement. it's difficult to ever have any agreement with someone if you are buying a house or car and make an offer and no one ever counters or tells you what they want to read saw what happened is the president lost perspective because he couldn't produce a plan or make an agreement. the founding fathers set down the house and the senate had to get together to make a decision to weight that is what transpired over the weekend. from those talks we put together a bill. the bills that had provisions that the house and the republicans were looking for. the bill that had provisions that harry reid and mcconnell were looking for. this is what the american people have been asking for. this is the opportunity to move this country forward.

we look forward to moving this bill off the floor of the house on to the senate and to the president's desk. remember what the president did not say last night. he did not say he would veto it. >> the president's speech last night i believe was historic. i do not recall the last time a president of the united states used a nationally televised address not to tell the american people what he was for, but to tell the american people what he was against. seven days out from his august 2nd deadline, there is still no plan to deal with the debt crisis from the president. what we heard from the president again was a call for balance, but there is a tale of two balances. the president's idea of balance is republicans, want you to raise taxes on small businesses and american families to pay for

my spending spree. house republicans idea of balance, mr. president, we will raise the debt ceiling but only if you agree to cut the credit cards. nothing has changed in this the date. i also found it quite interesting that the president would quote thomas jefferson, elude to ronald reagan, both of whom supported a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, and the president of the united states last night was silent on the issues that could solve this problem once and for all. again, mr. president, we've heard it before. we know you want to get this done before the next election but it's not about the next election, it's about the next generation. >> i'm excited that the house is going to be voting on the balanced budget amendment on thursday and will be the first time that we have voted on the

balanced budget amendment since 1997. and in the -- one of the polls last week showed 74% of americans support this amendment, and what was the most impressive is that two-thirds of democrats support a balanced budget amendment. there is broad bipartisan support for moving forward on a balanced budget amendment. and we are going to be taking action this week. when thomas jefferson after they finished the constitution he said if i can make one change, it would be to limit the federal government's ability to borrow money. over 200 years later, i am excited that we are going to make thomas jefferson's dream a reality. >> mr. mccarthy come can you talk a little about how [inaudible] conservative members have problems with the plan of not --

[inaudible] >> we lay out the bill to them and take from the cut cap and balance the framework and try to stay with it. when you look at the cat that is proposed and the challenge about how the government grows quickly the last three years the discretionary grew. in this bill you have a vote for a balanced budget in the future to be we are also going to have one this week. we will not give up that fight. we will continue that fight. we have current kutz going forward it's not the bill the house republicans would write if we could fight one thing and one thing only. this is a bipartisan bill we sat down with harry reid and harry reid made agreements to it. that is what the american people last four. that is why we are moving forward. this moves us in the right direction. at the end of the day the government would spend less and taxes on the provision and there will be a vote to put it once and for all a balanced budget to

the states. >> [inaudible] >> there's a lot of big recipes out there they don't like to share with you as a secret weapon. >> [inaudible] well, i think the package of the discretionary cuts israel. next year's spending on the discretionary side will be lower than this year's spending. that is a big step in the right direction and we have put caps in place. i don't have the number of my fingertips. all we know is it is going to be less than it was last year. >> some members said last night more spending than -- is that correct? >> i'd much rather have the

house republican budget, but remember, this bill was a product of a bipartisan discussion and a bipartisan negotiation. that's why it's not exactly everything that we want it to be. >> [inaudible] >> listen, this was negotiated in a bipartisan process between both houses and i think we are going to have work to do to get it passed, but i think we can do it. >> [inaudible] even if the plan doesn't reach [inaudible] >> i do believe this plan is enough. remember in the second stage in the tried select committee history of it required to find the cuts of at least

$1.8 trillion. they can do far more, but i do think that it's time for the congress to do its work and the first step in this process is to make sure we pass this in the house and i would ask all of my colleagues but democrats and republicans to look at the common sense plan as common sense forward that will avoid a default and put america's fiscal house in order. >> thanks, everybody. [inaudible conversations]

beginning with a hearing for the joint chiefs of staff chairman nominee, martin dempsey. then the senate intelligence committee questions the man picked to head the national counterterrorism center. and the senate banking committee holds a confirmation hearing for several financial regulators.