>> the applause from members of the house and the senate back in 1951 on this date, april 19th, remarks of general douglas macarthur. he was born in 1880. he passed away in 1964. this is washington today on c-span radio. >> on q & a this weekend on c-span radio journalist and author douglas whistleend, how u.s. taxpayers bank rolled the taliban. >> who is funding the taliban? >> you are in part. >> who else? >> well, i spent time with the afghan finance cell miss a multi-agency group headquartered in the embassy in kabul, and one of their spokespersons told me they figure the total budget is maybe about 500 million to a billion a year, and it comes from a variety of sources,

including gulf state donations from arab states including the opium trade and lots of skims from our development and logistics contracts. >> douglas whisen this sunday 8 p.m. eastern on c-span radio. >> around the country on xm satellite radio 119 and washington today continues. >> our bill puts more money into the hands of small business owners so they can reinvest those funds to retain and create more jobs and grow the businesses. plain and simple. >> how about donald trump? trump sales and leasing, or paris hilton entertainment? what about larry flint publications? not that any of these latter companies have volunteered to show me their tax returns but by all accounts these are the

businesses that will devour the lion's share of the tax breaks in this legislation. >> the debate over the small business tax bill and the comments of congressman javierbesheer and eric cantor. welcome to hour two of washington today here on c-span radio. glad you're with us. republicans in the house ignoring a white house veto throat and mostly along party lines although a handful of democrats supported the measure and the house approving a $46 billion tax cut for most employers. the measure is being viewed as something that is dead on arrival in the u.s. senate. republicans say it would give companies more money to hire workers and democrats say there is no money to pay for this and it would only increase the deficit. so now the debate will continue as each chamber, one controlled by the republicans and the other by the democrats putting on the table a number of votes primarily in this election year to put on the record where each party and each member stands on taxes and the economy.

details are limited but news tonight of an american defense official that a u.s. military helicopter has crashed in southwestern afghanistan, four u.s. troops are on board. officials say the crash is being investigated and the possibility the blackhawk helicopter was taken down by ruled out nor weather also being viewed as a potential factor. details are sketchy at this hour. lawmakers looking into the investigation in the prostitution scandal involving the u.s. secret service agents saying tonight they expect more employees to depart either by resignation or to be fired. the story from ken o'keefe of the "washington post" will be joining us in a couple of moments. a political note, if mitt romney chooses chris christie for the republican ticket, he would find himself in a tie with the president. this according to a new poll from public policy polling and showing that chris christie would help mitt romney tieing the campaign 47% for mitt

romney, 48% of those surveyed say they would vote for the president. it is essentially within the margin of hour. and also a new poll giving the president a slight edge and renewed concerns about many in the poll the country feels the economy is on the wrong track. let's turn to our lead story at this hour, the house today approving legislation backed by the house republican leader eric cantor of virginia that would cut taxes on small businesses cutting them by about 20%. for the second day in a row ignoring a veto threat from the president passing a bill 235-173 and yesterday you may remember the house approving a transportation bill that also mandated the approval of the keystone excel oil pipeline, a bill the president says he would veto if it came to his desk and today's vote overcoming objections that the tax cuts are not paid for and would add about $46 billion to the budget deficit. here is congressman eric cantor, the house republican leader.

>> speaker, he know jobs won't come back until small businesses recover. small businesses have generated over 65% of the new jobs in this country, but the economic downturn, red tape and higher taxes coming from washington have simply made it harder for small business to create jobs. tax policy should encourage economic growth, investment and job creation, not stifle it. we need to stop thinking about what kind of country we want to be, we immediate to stop and think about with a what kind of country we want to be, and we want to be one with lower taxes, more growth, and more jobs. or do we want to be one of more government control and fewer opportunities? this week when every american filed their tax returns, the other party in the senate voted to increase taxes. we should not be taking money out of the hands of those we are

counting onto create jobs. we need to let small business owners keep more of their hard-earned money so they can start hiring again. today, mr. speaker, we'll vote on the small business tax cut act to give every small business with less than 500 employees a 20% tax cut. our bill puts more money into the hands of small business owners so they can reinvest those funds to retain and create more jobs and grow their businesses. plain and simple. according to a study, the small business tax cut act will help create more than 100,000 new jobs a year once fully in place. one third of the firms that benefit from our tax cut are owned by women. one fifth are owned by minorities. our legislation won't just benefit small business owners, it benefits current workers by

boosting wages. mr. speaker, when i talk with small business owners across the country, i hear they need more opportunity to grow. i hear that taxes are stifling away their income. i hear they can't access capital. one business owner in virginia called the small business tax cut a win-win for him and other small business owners in the economy. he said that with more money to invest in his businesses that he could afford to hire more staff, buy new equipment and expand. mr. speaker, while we continue to work toward tax reform that broadens the base, brings down the rates for everybody, and gets rid of loopholes that washington assumes the role of picking winners and losers, we need to take incremental steps to give job creators tax relief right away. this small business tax act is a step in that right direction. >> congressman eric cantor that led the fight for the small

business tax cut bill which did pass the house today. a critic of the legislation along with fellow democrats, representative javier bacerra from california. >> what comes to your mind first, 9 start up, my daughter's martial arts instructor? how about donald trump, trump sales and leasing or paris himt on entertainment? what about larry flint publications? not that any of these latter up cans have volunteered to show me their tax returns but by all accounts these are the businesses that will devour the lion's share of the tax breaks in this legislation. mr. speaker, 3% of the businesses in america will get

56% of the tax breaks provided. the rich and famous will get most of the money. 125,000 millionaires in america will get $58,000 in tax breaks this year alone. in their first year of this tax break. that's how targeted this particular bill is. more than that, what we find is that most americans don't believe that our tax system is fair. they believe that it is skewed towards the very wealthy. hr-9 proves that they are right. 70% of americans believe that the tax system is skewed against them and favors the very wealthy. while paris hilton who has what we understand about five employees based in beverly hills can take advantage of this tax break or donald trump or larry flint or kim kardashian or oprah

winfrey, all small business people, can take advantage and get maybe $58,000 in tax breaks while most small businesses will get barely anything then i think the american public is correct. most are sole proprietor ships. most of those have no employees. under this bill if you're a sole proprietor and have no employees, you get zero of the tax break benefits. now, another example. two companies, both have 500 employees. one company decides to hire more americans, ten more americans put on the payroll. the other company, 500 employees, decides i think it is easier for me to make more money if i take some of those jobs and put them overseas. i am going to fire ten americans here and i am going to start those jobs overseas. outsource those jobs. guess who gets the tax break? the company that hires ten new american employees? no.

they get nothing. the firm that fires ten american employees here and outsources the jobs to another country, that company will get the benefits of this tax break. the american public is correct. today's tax system is skewed towards the wealthy. that's why we have to vote against this legislation. let us have job creation legislation. let us focus on small businesses. this does neither. i urge my colleagues to vote against hr-9. >> the gava he will pounding because time was up and the comments as the house moved ahead primarily along party lines although about a dozen democrats did support the legislation and a handful of republicans opposing it. a $46 billion tax cut for small businesses but as we said earlier it is viewed as dead on arrival in the u.s. senate although senator harry reid was asked about the legislation today here in washington. >> they were asked whether there is room for compromise or room

for middle ground between their version and your version. they didn't have a answer. what's your answer do you believe? >> you talk to the wrong people. senator durbin said this is helped millionaires today, tomorrow, and any other time. their bill is, and i hope you folks do a good job writing about t it is laughable. think of that. half the benefits go to people making more than a mississiplli dollars a year. that's not a small business bill. they can call it that if they want. it doesn't mean it is a small business bill. >> it appears it is dead on arrival in the u.s. senate, the comments of the democratic leader in the senate and the democrats have control of that chamber and harry reid of nevada. the senate is struggling to push forward with a bill to restructure the u.s. postal service. according to tom curry the senate lacked in a court on which a number of amendment it is would be allowed or offered with the postal service and it is heading for financial

collapse writes tom curry and perhaps for a taxpayer bailout whether congress can invert this outcome and save it remains a question and the senate has been debating all this week as it considers a bipartisan agency to restructure the postal service. senator reed warning the senate on the floor those of you holding up this bill because don't like it, you may not like the result of having no bill at all. here is senator joe mansion, democrat of west virginia. >> in our state we know the postal service is at the very core of what makes this country great and what connects us all and in fact, mr. president, the postal service is america. that is why we're willing to come together across party lines to fight hard to preserve the essential services that the postal service provides. we also know that serving rural communities isn't always profitable. private companies won't come in to fill the gap if the postal service leaves. as americans, we need our rural

communities to stay in touch with the rest of this great nation and i am fight along with our delegation to put a stop to these proposed closures. these concerns for the future of the postal service are bringing all west virginia, democrats and republicans alike together for protests, rallies and letter writing campaigns and in communities where they are told the post office may close i am hearing fears, senior that is couldn't get medicine delivered, problems receiving important checks and other financial services, and just as importantly, the loss of the ability to stay connected to the community and to the country as a whole. this note comes from mr. george jones in west virginia in clay county. he writes, few people in this area have access to the internet. they still rely on the post offices to keep them connected to the world. our people still use the post

office. it just makes no sense to cut services to the people who still not only use them but need them. communities where the post office is already closed, i have heard about what is meant to the town, what it means to the town and its residents. this note comes from delores wilson in norton, west virginia, which is in randolph county. our post office was closed last november. we now have cluster boxes which are out there in the weather and our residents are scared to have their prescription drugs mailed to their home or these boxes. our community has been severely affected. we used to see each other getting our mail, our postmaster kept us connected, and would let us know when children were boun and neighbors passed away and we collected funds on the post office to help our neighbors when they fell on hard times or in need. now we don't have this central location. to do that because our community, our small community, no longer has its post office.

mr. president, i have always said that we as a people and a country need to pick our priorities based on our values. in west virginia keeping the postal service in tact is one of the things our people truly care about. that is why i raised very serious concerns about this bill that will close and does nothing to keep the 3,700 post offices open and they're currently on the list for potential closure and including 150 of these proposed closures in west virginia. so today i would like to encourage all of my colleagues, mr. president, to vote for an mdment i have offered that would prohibit any postal facility from being closed for two years. while the postal service figures out better ways, working with the postal service unions, to get their financial house in order. i have offered this amendment because as i have heard from my constituents we simply not can

afford to let these facilities close and the communities that need them most. >> governor joe manchin and senator joe manchin talking about his home state of west virginia as the senate takes up the issue of the postal service. if congress doesn't meet the deadline the postmaster general is threatening to close as many as 200 processing plants and taking other cost saving steps and there remains discord among senators over what saving the postal service would really mean. joining us live from capitol hill is ed o'keefe following this and other stories for the "washington post" and blogs at two chambers, available online at washingtonpost.com. thanks as always for being with us. >> great to be with you. >> begin with the post office story. the senate has been debating it much of this week and so far nothing has happened. >> that's right. said to be working out which amendments to the overall bill they will vote on when they get back to town on tuesday. we were expecting an announcement around 2:15 this afternoon what they would do.

i am told by several they're still talking but that should be no surprise, and it shouldn't be any cause for alarm. this is a very complex issue and one very few up here on the hill that pits senators and members of the house against each other not necessarily along partisan lines but more along economic and geographic lines. you have seen a real collection of rural state senator this is week band together to protect their rural post offices and mail processing facilities and far flung places like he lane a, montana or eastern oregon and very eager to protect that service saying, look, usps, postal service, you claim you need to end saturday plal and close hundreds of facilities across the country. we don't believe you. go back and find another i with a. the postal service and auditors looking for years say this is all they need to do. they need to contract the size of the network because they're simply not as much mail being delivered anymore. >> put a couple of members on

the table. the postal service does say is delivers 560 million pieces of mail each day. under the bill being put forth by senator joe lieberman and ceo sponsored by susan collins it would use about $11 billion from the federal employee retirement system to offer buyouts to the employees and if 100,000 postal workers to retire the postal service could save $8 billion a year. >> that's right. that would be part of a where broader plan to save $22.5 billion by 2016. that's a big chunk and the rest is from closing facilities and ending six-day mail delivery and making other cuts while also going out and trying to find new sources of revenue like offering driver's licenses or hunting licenses at post offices and maybe allowing you to pay a small fee to renew the passport instead of having to go to a central office. other types of things, selling greeting cards and gift cards and other services that could easily be dropped in with the mail and generate a little postage revenue as well. >> if ungd, just elaborate more

on what senator rand paul was trying to do earlier this week tying in aid to egypt to the postal service bill. >> he has been trying to get this attached to several measures and he attempted very quickly to put this onto the bill and senate majority leader bached and said no and others came to the floor later and said allow the amendment proposed and they probably should focus primarily on the actual postal service and not foreign aid. to his credit he has at least six other significant proposed amendments to the postal service bill. among them he would close the post offices and houses set in office buildings. he would end the postal service monopoly on mailboxes. he also would perhaps end the monopoly on first class mail. none of this is expected to get into the final bill. he was serious about offering substantive proposals as have other senators. there are other proposals out there that would cap executive

compensation for the top sex earning postal officials at $200,000 and secretaries and jon tester point out cutting executive pay would help keep a lot of processing facilities open in his home state of montana. there again, he said, look, talking about cutting costs. cut costs at headquarters instead of cutting costs in montana. >> we're talking with etd o'keefe live on capitol hill. he writes for the "washington post." turning to another issue you were writing about earlier on your blog, the president in this case supporting republicans and reed nominating a republican member of the nuclear regulatory commission. what's this story about? >> this is a very interesting story. you may recall back in december that some disagreements between the five members of the nuclear regulatory commission boiled to the surface when they had gone to the white house chief of staff to complain about the democratic chairman, gresry jazzco-and said he miss treated female employees and kept them

out of the loop on policy decisions and including decisions related to yucca mountain. he so happens to be a former aid to harry reid, another democratic lawmaker and has the majority leader's full support. there was a dramatic house oversight and government reform hearing in mid-december where the five commissioners were called before the committee and said what the heck is going on? the four commissioners, two republicans and two democrats basically proceeded to lamb bass him for his behavior. he was sitting in the middle of the witness table and said yo know what they're talking about, this is the first i heard about it. things are going fine. it is a busy year for us. we had to deal with the japanese tsunami and the nuclear safety and we'll sort this out. lawmakers allowed them to work on it. the one woman up for renomination in late june and this is the type of commission that if you don't get renominated by the end of the term, you have to leave, physically leave. you can't keep serving until someone new is named.

he stepped in and said what's the delay, why aren't you renominating her, is it perhaps because she raised concerns about this guy who just so happens to be good friends with the senate majority leader? the white house went outlast night and this morning and said, no, we're going to renominate her but not so fast said harry ed radio. just because they're going to renominate someone doesn't mean we'll vote on her. i don't like her. we'll see if it happens. we could have a proxy battle over the fate of this woman that blew the whistle really on concerns with the nuclear regulatory commission. >> you mean to say there is politics involved. >> that would not forward way of saying it. >> we're talking with ed o'keefe and the other story you posted a short while ago is lawmakers requesting full details into the secret service investigation, full details by may 1st. take you to the white house briefing with jake tapper peppering questions to jake carney. >> this is the second security

breach to take place and the first has to do with the white house crashers for the state dinner. how many incidents like this do there have to be before the president loses confidence in the secret service director? >> i will restate what i said, jake, the president has confidence in director sullivan. he has great appreciation and regard for the men and women of the secret service who perform their duties admirably and at risk to their own lives. that is not to excuse any behavior or activity that was inappropriate. the incident is under investigation. again, i think it is unhelpful, quite a bit, more, jake, this thing is under investigation. this incident -- this incident became happened last week, became public very quickly after

it happened. the investigation was launched immediately, and we're several days into an investigation. i think it is in very much in the interests of everyone and most importantly of the united states and its security service here, the secret service with regards to the mission that it is charged with to allow this investigation to be completed before we make judgments based on conclusions we don't yet have. >> the president talks a lot about accountability, people in the government being held accountable. it seems as though incidents happen in the administration and people are -- >> i know you were covering this yesterday but based on the reports i read that i think you and others filed people have

already been held accountable or held themselves accountable in this very incident that has been under investigation for a few days. i think the swift -- >> the buck stops there. jay, the point is people are in charge of agencies and held accountable for the behavior of the people they are in charge of. >> perhaps it would be in the interests of a complete and thorough and fair investigation not to make determinations about the conclusions of an ainvestigation before they have been reached. it is the president's position. i think it is a position that fits naturally into a general sense of appropriateness and justice and the pursuit of the truth and that is the position we're going to take. >> white house press secretary jay karn by questions from jake

tapper. go back to ed o'keefe also following the story. news from the hill today, more secret service dismissals are likely. >> that's right. lawmakers have been briefed on the situation and say they will not be surprised if we see more remaining eight agents leave the agency by resigning themselves or by being forced out with cause. necessity say the investigation is on going into these three and that the three that left were in supervisory positions and it was easier and more unacceptable for them and he makes a good point. everybody should remember the story of shirley sharon, the low level political appointee who worked at the agriculture department and was fired basically within moments, within hours of an unedited and out of context video surfacing of her

disparaging white farmer when is it was later learned after a thorough investigation she really hadn't done anything wrong. here on the flip side it seems that the director is being allowed to keep his job and carry on an investigation while others in the administration have been fired and then investigations held. talking to the lawmakers tracking this and anyone else familiar with mark sullivan, they would probably pass a law forcing him to keep the job keen if he wanted to go they like him so much up here. they say he is a straight shooter and beyond embarrassed and upset that if he could he would fire them already but he has to follow the letter of the law and the federal personnel policy that's in place. they say you can't hold him responsible because everything we know about the agency and everything we know about him suggests that something like this hasn't happened before. but, they say, if investigations do reveal that indeed stuff like this has happened before, then, yeah, maybe he has to go and

others do as well. >> as you well know there is one narrative many are following tied into the secret service investigation, the director of course who has posted photographs of a woman involved, the woman that brought down the secret service and i am sure his site is getting a lot of attention with the photographs and the gsa investigation. is there a difference between the four hearings this week looking at what happened at gsa and so far nothing within the secret service? >> yeah, there are differences. for one thing the gsa spending scandal they know is part of an institutional problem and even lawmaker admit we have been aware for years to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and we have done investigating and they have written reports and perhaps we haven't been as aggressive on tracking as we should. it is systemic there and brings abuse at a time when there is no tolerance for miss management.