unfairness piece on the consumer side. there's an incredible focus at the level on making sure that institutions are sound and the banks don't fail. i appreciate that. these things aren't mutually exclusive and if you look where the regulation focused are on the institutions sound without looking at unfair products being made and sold, we have the crash. this requires both things as we have federal regulations over banks and institutions. this particular bureau's mission is to make sure products marketed and products and services sold are done fairly and transparently. that's the basis of a good market. a good, healthy, functioning market. i'm encouraged by these regulations. they will help consumers get back on their feet and be able to compete fairly which they haven't been in the marketplace pushing products out. >> massachusetts state attorney general martha coakley, thank

you so much for talking to viewsers. we appreciate your time. come back again. >> my pleasure. see you soon. >> coming up next, a look at the news of the day from capitol hill. a live simultaneous cast of c-span radio's washington today. live now on c-span3. p. i asked a simple question. you're the director of the omb. does your budget call for spending more money. >> our budget is a more honest budget that looks at what's happening in a business as usual basis. each year we pass the amt. >> will the witness answer the

simple question? i just asked a simple question. >> it's a more accurate reflection of what we're going to spend. >> will it spend more or less? >> just some of the exchanges earlier today on capitol hill as members of the president's administration provide details to members of congress on the 2013 spending blueprint. that exchange with senator jeff sessions, republican of alabama, and the acting director of the office of management and budget, jeffrey zions before the senate budget committee. welcome to hour one of "washington today" on c-span radio. thanks for being with us. a new poll out showing that rick santorum and mitt romney essentially tied in the race. this is the latest from the abc news/"washington post" poll. the survey shows rick santorum is increasing his popularity a week and a day before the next round of primaries that will take place in -- the next debate that will take place in two weeks before the next round of primaries in arizona and in

michigan. a couple of new ads on the air in michigan. we'll have more on that later in the program. meanwhile, the hill newspaper reporting they could extend the payroll tax cuts and emergency benefits and the medicare reimbursement rate for doctors. the sources say lawmakers on both sides of capitol hill showing, quote, real signs of progress on a package to extend the tax cut without paying for it. the negotiations include senate republicans as well. let's turn our attention to the budget, and among those testifying on capitol hill, defense secretary leon panetta as well as the nation's top general, army general martin dempsey, both saying that the military can can withstand the present tremor $614 billion saying it will ensure that the u.s. does have an advantage worldwide with acceptable risks to forces and missions over the next 12 months. overall it's about $525 billion

for military spending, another $88.5 billion for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. the president today assuring the chinese vice president that the u.s. welcomes beijing's rise in the worm offering aa warm welcome at the white house today, despite sharp policy differences over issues like syria, iran and economic issues. we'll have more on this later in the program. let's begin with that exchange before the senate budget committee as senator jeff sessions takes aim at the present spending plan that will increase the deficit according to the congressional budget office by a trillion dollars this year and for the foreseeable future. here's more from today's session with the white house budget direct director, jeffrey zions. >> isn't it true that the current law, which included the budget control act, the

legislation that passed as far as raising the debt limit that your budget spending more money than congress proposed to spend during the budget control act process over the next ten years? >> we have $5 trillion in deficit reduction. >> do you propose to spend more money over the next ten years than the budget control act current law would cause us to spend? >> we have a much more honest baseline. a baseline that has sgr, amt, not patched year-over-year extended through the period of time. >> you don't pay for the str, the dock fix. that's not paid for. let's go back to the simple question i asked you. does your plan spend more money over the next ten years than the agreement in current law that we reached just last august? >> the baseline here -- >> yes or no. >> what we have to focus on here is the bottom line, and we're

taking deficits down to 2.8% of gdp. >> you're not answering my question. i asked a simple question. you're the director of the omb. does your budget call for spending more money -- >> our budget is a more honest budget that looks at what's happening in a business as usual basis. each year we pass the amt. >> will the witness not answer a simple question? i just asked a simple question. >> it's a more accurate reflection of what we're going to spend. >> will it spend more or less? >> it will spend -- it will actually spend less money because of the deficit reduction that we have, and a baseline that reflects the current policy. >> because of deficit reduction that -- that can be assumed that's caused by increased taxes. let's go back to that question. when you proposed -- your budget proposes eliminating the sequester, the $1.2 trillion in

spending cuts we all agreed to last year, difficult as it was, that's a $1.2 trillion increase in spending, is it not? >> no, it isn't. >> why is it not? current law is to reduce the projected spending rate by $1.2 trillion. you eliminate that. that means you intend on to spend that, do you not? >> this is a very important point. the president is not proposing the sequester go away. the sequester is a very important foreseen function for us to do deficit reduction. the sequester is replaced with a balanced approach to deficit reduction. >> they're replacing the sequester. >> it's bad policy. it's bad policy on the defense side, $500 billion of required -- >> we've looked at the numbers in your budget. your budget increases spending by 1$1.5 trillion more than the

budget agreement last year, and it's in a lot of different places. you do make cuts in some places out there, but your net is to increase spending more than the current law. that is not the path we need to be on, and the increase in taxes you propose almost $2 trillion is used to pay for that spending. >> i want to be crystal clear here. we are complying by the bca. there will be $2 trillion of deficit reduction from the bca. you've brought up taxes a few times. we absolutely believe in a balanced approach. >> let me ask you this. if you are incorrect, if you are incorrect in saying that you do not increase spending more than current law, would you consider resigning your office? >> let me go back to the balanced -- >> have we looked at the numbers? are you that confident in your -- >> i'm confident that with our baseline, which accurately reflects current policy and

business as usual, that we have deficit reduction of more than $4 trillion and we do it in a balanced wait. for every $2.50 of spending cuts, there's $1 of revenue. that's a good, balanced approach. >> mr. zients, there is no spending cuts in this budget. this budget increases spending. surely you know that. it increases taxes. so to say you cut $2.50 in spending for every dollar in tax increase is beyond the pale. >> we have $360 billion of cuts from health care. we have $270 billion of cuts from other mandatory programs. we have savings from oco that cbo scores. in total it's $2.50 of spending cuts for every dollar of revenue. that's a balanced approach. that's the approach that we should have. >> mr. chairman, this budget taxes more and it spends more.

it does not alter the debt course of america, and i am disappointed that we can't get an honest response to these difficult questions at this point time in our history. >> just a portion of the hearing earlier today before the senate budget committee. you're hearing from senator jeff sessions a republican of alabama and the acting director of the office of management and budget jeffrey zients. one of a number of hearings today and all week as members appear before various presidential committees outlining the 2013 spending plan. you heard senator sessions go after the omb director on the issue of this spending package that does increase spending and the ongoing debate about taxes. well, while that was happening, there's also the ongoing discussion on capitol hill about the payroll tax cut for middle class families and individuals. the deadline is the end of this month, quickly approaching february 29th. if congress fails to approve the extension, it means the taxes for many americans will go up

meaning that if you earn about $50,000 a year, you would pay an additional $40 per paycheck. the president using that argument as he spoke to reporters over at the white house about the need to keep the payroll tax cut in place through the end of this year. we should point out discussions continue tonight on capitol hill, and there appears to be a compromise between democrats and republicans. paul cain is writing about this for the washington post. he'll join us with more details. here's the president at the white house. >> last december when we had this same fight, your voices made all the difference. we asked folks to tell what it was like, what it would be like if they lost $40 out of every paycheck. we wanted to make sure that people understood this is not just an abstract argument. this is concrete. this makes a difference in the lives of folks all across the country in very important ways. tens of thousands of working americans flooded us with

stories. some of them are here with me today. their feedback is pretty unanimous. allowing this tax cut to expire would make people's lives harder right now. it would make their choices more difficult. it's $40 less for groceries to feed kids and $40 less for the medications you depend on, $40 less to cover bills and the rent, $40 less to take care of an elder parent or to donate to a church or a charity. when gas prices are on the rise again, because as the economy strengthens, global demand for oil increases, and if we start seeing significant increases in gas prices, losing that $40 could not come at a worse time. one local entrepreneur named terry. when is terry? he's right here. he told us that $40 would cover the gas that gets him to his day

job or alternatively the internet service that his small business depends on. he has to make a choice to fill up my gas tank to get to work, or do i give up my entrepreneurial dream. $40, he wrote, means a check of a lot. means aa heck of a lot. that's what this debate is all about. this is what's at stake for millions of americans. this is why it matters to people. it matters a heck of a lot. i'm asking the american people to keep their stories coming. tell us what $40 means to you. if you tweet it, use the hash tag $40. call, tweet, write your congressman, write your senators, tell them do not let up until this thing gets done. don't let taxes go up on 160 million working americans. don't let millions of americans out there looking for work right now and the economy is starting to improve and they don't have a

job yet, don't leave them without a lifeline in terms of cutting off their unemployment insurance. when a plane is finally lifting off the ground, you don't ease up off the throttle. you keep the throttle on full. you keep going. and our plane is up there, but we're not at cruising altitude yet. after all extending this tax cut in the unemployment insurance is the least of what we should be doing for working americans. it's just a start. we need to rebuild an economy where middle class folks can focus on more than just getting by, and folks who want to get in the middle class have those ladders to get into the middle class. we have to rebuild an economy where the middle class thrives and more americans have a chance to earn their way into it. an economy not to last. >> the comments of the president and the eisenhower executive office building earlier today, again his push for extending the payroll tax holiday through the end of this year.

joining us live from capitol hill is paul cain writing about this from "the washington post." thank you for being with us. >> no problem, receive. anytime. >> where do things stand? we heard there's an agreement. we heard from house republicans they won't insist democrats find a way to pay for this tax holiday, which means on average another $80 per month if you make $50,000 a year. >> yeah. i think yesterday's news that came out was that republicans had sort of given on it. there's three pieces of this legislative package that obama is in search of, and the republicans are begin in to democratic demands on the payroll tax holiday. that's the $40 every two weeks that obama is talking about. more than 80 bucks a month for the average worker. the other two pieces, though, as we've been focusing so much on this payroll tax part, the other two pieces are also important. it looks as if the negotiators,

not the leadership fighting above the -- fighting above all this beneath the surface there, there have been negotiators, senator maximum baucus, democrat from montana and dave camp and republican house member from michigan. they're close to a deal on the other two pieces of this, which is extending unemployment benefits and assuring that medicare payment -- medicare rates for doctors did not get slashed. both of which also expire at the same time, february 29th. it will -- you know, if all three of those come together as it appears that they're doing, you could have this package possibly voted on by the end of the week by both chambers. john boehner, the speaker, has to brief his rank and file on this tonight and give them a sense of where things stand as long as they get a green light. i think you'll begin to see this package come together. once the republicans gave in on

the tax side of it, all they were trying to do for the last few days is find the appropriate amount of offsetting cuts for the other two provisions which were much smaller and made it easier to find those provisions. >> one key player in this process has been senator mitch mcconnell, republican from kentucky, the senate republican leader. to put it bluntly he's coy about how to proceed on this. >> yeah. everybody tried to get him to -- today he did a press conference as he does every tuesday after a meeting, luncheon meeting, senate republicans and he got asked several different ways how he stood on the idea of letting the payroll tax get through. he just really wouldn't answer the question, and at one point asked a different way how he would respond. he just said, you know, i'm not going to respond to that. i've already been asked that one way or another by several other people. another reporter chimed in can i try it a different way, and he basically said no and gave these

questions to any other reporter any other topic. the presumption is, however, if this is moving in the direction toward a deal, generally deals don't happen in this congress unless mitch mcconnell signs off behind the scenes. if mcconnell was vehemently opposed to where thinks were headed and this would fall apart rather than coming together. >> what's changed in the republican caucus? we heard last december we support the tax cuts. we want to figure out a way to pay r for them. that resulted in the compromise extending it for two months and now it appears as if democrats are going to get this without any way to pay for it. >> i think that the -- they got pummeled so badly in december for about two weeks as the republicans looked as if they were obstructing -- blocking the

tax cut for the middle class. i think there was a real shift inside their own thinking here, and it was a moment where they realized a chief of staff to a freshman republican who on he -- over that weekend and right before christmas on sunday he had been telling me about how they were ready to fight, fight, fight. by that friday when they had completely given up and given into the democratic demands, he also said to me, he said, well, i think we learned our limitations. they don't control the whole place. they can't get everything they want, and i think there was a real, you know -- they touched the stove on -- right before christmas, and he they got burnt and they realized that for the first time. >> in fact, you write in the "washington post" that it was speaker boehner's worst political crisis of his tenure. >> yeah, without question.

fl there were divisions within the basic ranks of the house republicans. there was open public division between mcconnell who signed off on doing a short-term deal and certainly eric cantor, boehner's number two, who was the most public opponent of a two-month deal. then there was boehner sort of sitting in the middle wobbles back and forth very unsteady. and he eventually made the call. you know what, guys? we're going to punt on this for two months, and they're making the call again to sort of punt on the payroll tax here. i think they just want to get this beyond that. they want to get this behind them and then try to focus the rest of the seat this year on issues more on the wheelhouse. they sort of got out on the tax issue, which is a very odd position for congressional republicans to have been considering they're such the party of low taxes for the last

30 years. instead this time around they fell on the wrong side of it. >> let me follow-up and remind the audience we're talking to paul cain who joins us live and he writes for "the washington post." with this issue behind congressional democrats and republicans and extension and the medicare doc fix and extension of unemployment benefits, where do the republicans go, most notably house republicans? >> they really want to go to -- they want to finally promote an intense jobs agenda. they feel a lot like 2011 was a year spent chasing after debt and deficits. while they think the help needs to rein in the debt, they feel like their message it to rein in jobs got lost in the shuffle. they call this the energy and infrastructure bill. it would lead to more drilling

for oil and natural gas. that keystone pipeline that people fought a lot about in december. it's included in this bill that boehner is bringing forward as well as a lot of infrastructure projects. now, this bill is no slam dunk to get through the house. it has its own problems because there are a lot of conservative that is still see it, even though there are no earmarks in this bill, they see it as a big bill. they have some problems here. they have regional issues because it doesn't fund the act all that well, so the northeast corridor republicans, which a bunch of whom won in 2010 there to to support it. boehner has a lot of worked to just the next few days to get this thing cooked fully. you'll see more efforts on some tax proposals that they want to get back to, just sort of business tax cuts, those sorts

of things that are more about bread and butter for families rather than the sort of hard-to-envision $15 trillion, $16 trillion federal debt athth people just -- while they're worried about it, they don't go on to bed worried about it every night like unemployment and such. >> paul cain is joining us live on capitol hill. thanks very much for being with us. >> anytime, steve. >> this is "washington today" on c-span radio heard coast to coast. in the next half hour more on the budget and taxes and the defense secretary testifying on capitol hill defending cutbacks for the pentagon budget. in the next hour a look back at the 2006 senate race in which rick santorum lost. the impact that may or may not have in the 2012 presidential bid showing that rick santorum is either dead even or ahead nationally in a poll that came out over the weekend showing

that he is in the lead in michigan, a key state for rick santorum and mitt romney, who was born and raised in michigan. the washington times has a story about a visit here by the chinese vice president who today was welcomed not only by the president but vice president joe biden and secretary of state hillary clinton. a lot of policy differences including differences over syria, iran, and economic and trade issues, but the associated press pointing out that the u.s. today reiterated the long-standing concerns over human rights which obama described as a critical issue and said the two countries need to work together anded u.s. welcomes beijing's rise in the world. this visit is coming on the 40th anniversary of president richard nixon's historic trip to china back in february of 1962. secretary of hillary clinton hosting a luncheon for the chinese vice president. here's a portion of what she had to say. >> it's an honor to welcome all

of you to the state department this afternoon. it's always good to have vice president biden here, and we are particularly pleased to have our very special guest of honor. i'd also like to recognize the talented chef who has prepared this delicious lunch for us fusing the flavors of chinese and american cuisine. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> this year marks the 40th anniversary of president nixon's

historic trip to china. we are very pleased that dr. kissinger is here with us, who along with him was instrumental in transforming the relationship between our two countries. >> today cooperation between the united states and china is imperative to address the many vehicl vexing challenges we face to proliferation and climate change to promoting global economic security. now, developing the habits of cooperation is not easy. we have a lot of work to do.

we are both committed to building a lasting framework of trust that will support a cooperative partnership for the next 40 years and beyond. >> when the vice president first came to the united states on an exchange program over 25 years ago to iowa. he will travel there tomorrow to see some old friends. that visit illustrates how important the bonds between our

people are. that's why we support programs like 100,000 strong to send more american students to study in china. many more people-to-people exchang exchanges.

>> it is a great pleasure to welcome the vice president and to celebrate the relationship between our governments and peoples. it is my great honor to introduce vice president biden. >> the comments and applause of secretary of state hillary clinton. we'll hear from vice president biden and his counterpart. we went to china daily, which is the english version of the chinese newspaper carrying this headline the u.s. is getting a chance to meet the chinese strp. he's 58 years old and arrived at andrews air force base yesterday and he'll be traveling to iowa this week. in 1985 he spent some time in iowa studying the agriculture and pork industry in that state. so he's heading back to where he lived and with a family that he lived with to get a perspective