that is not only counterintuitive but i think it will not work. therefore, in the short term, i still think we need, as i said in my speech, to ensure the growth of our economy. you will not solve the deficit problem if you do not have the growing economy. no matter what you do, you cannot cut yourself to a balanced budget. you have to have a growing economy. if that is true, the is able sine qua non. we set the environment in 1993 for venture-capital lists and others to exploit our economy and therefore increase revenues. that is the key. i happen to believe the recovery and reinvestment act was a critical step to take.

had we not taken it, this deficit level might be higher, not lower. >> in an april 14 report by goldman sachs on historical physical consolidations across the world, they found that the vast majority of consolidations consisted mainly of spending cuts, in addition to some tax revenue. but those physical consolidations happened almost unilaterally after a change in government. what are your thoughts on this congresses and this administration's courage to step in and make the cuts that may be almost universally viewed as unhealthy or unwanted. >> let me say i do not want to curse words with you. as you know, budget projections

are on what current policy is. frankly, what cuts are certainly appropriate, what is critical is restraints. we need to restrain some of the growth of our spending. i have been in congress 29 years. this is my 30th year. i have served 20 of those years with a republican president.

nobody in this room was alive when another president had four years of surplus other than bill clinton. is that totally attributable to his policies? it is not. we had extraordinary growth in the economy. in the '80s, we were worried about the world going past as a very quickly. in the '90s, we can't -- we went past the world pretty quickly because of our entrepreneurial growth. the president is the only person who can stop spending. i cannot stop spending in its tracks. if i have to hundred 17 people boating with me i can do that. no senator can do that unless they have 49, or in the case of the senate, 59 other senators voting for them.

but the president can stop spending in its tracks. no president from the time i have served, which is a little longer than you may have been born -- pretty close. no president in the 30 years i have been in congress has had a veto overridden on an appropriation bill to spend more money. the only bill i remember being overridden was ronald reagan, when he sent back a bill to us which said you are not spending enough on defense. that was overridden pretty handily. >> let us take one last question back here. >> could you please address, as the gentleman earlier articulated, that some

retirement -- some entitlement changes, such as raising the retirement age -- >> how did you preface that? >> an earlier gentleman started to address this. reform the entitlements in a way that impacts some american people. >> thank you. were you through? as i said in my speech, i think, and i hope you got that, was that i think we need to make sure that those who are in most need are protected. as we look at entitlement programs, we have to look at entitlement programs in the context of assuring those most in need of entitlement help get it. but that is what i have talked

about in terms which are very controversial, and i understand that. some people on my staff do not want to say it. i said it. there you go. i agree with your premise, making sure those most in need affected by entitlements are not adversely affected by any performs or restraints. let me thank third wave for giving me this opportunity. let me thank all of you for being here. much more than that, for covering this issue in this sense that it is a very real, important issue that must be dealt with now. for those of you who are advocates of dealing with this challenge now, whether in the private sector or in academia or in any other forum. thank you all very much. [applause] host [captioning performed by

national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> sunday, the canadian prime minister hold a news conference at the g 20 summit in canada. he is the host of the summit. leaders of a number of companies -- of countries are attending, including the united states. the g-20 summit is focused on the global financial crisis and ways to cut high debt levels. watch the news conference live, sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. after that, live coverage of president obama's news conference as he leaves the summit in canada. those start sunday at 6:00 eastern, also on c-span. >> next, a supreme court nominee elena kagan and associate justice antonin scalia on campaign finance.

>> these expenditures would corrupt the federal system. congress has a self interest. we are suspicious of congressional action in the first amendment area precisely because we are -- at least i am. i doubt that one can expect a body of incumbents to draw election restrictions that do not favor incumbents. is that excessively cynical of me? i do not think so. >> i think justice scalia is wrong. in fact, corporate and union money go overwhelmingly to incumbents. this may be the single most self-denying thing congress has ever done. if you look at the last election cycle and look at corporate tax money and ask for it goes, it goes 10 times more to incumbents and challengers. in the prior election cycle, even more than that, and for an

obvious reason. when corporations plate in the political process, they want winners. they want people who will produce outcomes. they know the way to get those outcomes is to invest in incumbents. that is what they do, in double digits times more than they invest in challengers. i think that rationale, which is undoubtedly true in many contexts, simply is not the case. >> next week, watch the confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee elena kagan on our networks and at c- span.org. watch replace every night at 9:00 eastern on c-span 2. >> in his weekly address, president obama outlined some of the provisions in the financial regulations bill passed by house and senate negotiators on friday. they include the creation of an independent consumer agency to oversee mortgages, credit-card

agreements, anddother financial products. he is followed by the gop weekly address, delivered by house budget committee senior republican paul ryan, who criticizes democrats for failing to pass a budget resolution. >> this weekend, i'm traveling to toronto to meet with members of the g-20. there, i hope we can build on the progress we made at last coordinating our global financial reform efforts to make sure a crisis like the one from which we are still recovering never happens again. we've made great progress toward passing such reform here at home. as i speak, we are on the cusp of enacting the toughest financial reforms since the great depression. i don't have to tell you why these reforms are so important. we're still digging ourselves out of an economic crisis that happened largely because there wasn't strong enough oversight on wall street. we can't build a strong economy in america over the long-run without ending this status quo, and laying a new foundation for growth and prosperity. that's what the wall street reforms currently making their

way through congress will help us do -- reforms that represent 90% of what i proposed when i took up this fight. we'll put in place the strongest consumer financial protections in american history, and create an independent agency with an independent director and an independent budget to enforce them. credit card companies will no longer be able to mislead you with pages and pages of fine print. you will no longer be subject to all kinds of hidden fees and penalties, or the predatory practices of unscrupulous lenders. instead, we'll make sure credit card companies and mortgage companies play by the rules. and you'll be empowered with easy-to-understand forms, and the clear and concise information you need to make the financial decisions that are best for you and your family. wall street reform will also strengthen our economy in a number of other ways. we'll make our financial system more transparent by bringing the kinds of complex trades that helped trigger this crisis -- trades in a $600 trillion derivatives market -- finally into the light of day. we'll enact what's called the

volcker rule to make sure banks protected by a safety net like the fdic can't engage in risky trades for their own profit. we'll create what's called a resolution authority to help wind down firms whose collapse would threaten our entire financial system. put simply, we'll end the days of taxpayer-funded bailouts, and help make sure main street is never again held responsible for wall street's mistakes. beyond these reforms, we also need to address another piece of unfinished business. we need to impose a fee on the banks that were the biggest beneficiaries of taxpayer assistance at the height of our financial crisis -- so we can recover every dime of taxpayer money. getting this far on wall street reform hasn't been easy. there are those who've fought tooth and nail to preserve the status quo. in recent months, they've spent millions of dollars and hired an army of lobbyists to stop reform dead in its tracks. but because we refused to back down, and kept fighting, we now

stand on the verge of victory. and i urge congress to take us over the finish line, and send me a reform bill i can sign into law, so we can empower our people with consumer protections, and help prevent a financial crisis like this from ever happening again. >> hello i'm paul ryan i work for the people of wisconsin's 1st congressional district and i serve as the top republican on the house budget committee. yes, congress does have a budget committee, but i'm afraid it hasn't been very busy this year. in fact, this week the house majority leader announced that democrats are canceling this year's budget. instead of reining in out-of- control spending that has pushed our national debt past $13 trillion, democrats have made clear their intention to raise taxes on middle-class families to fuel their continued spending spree. talk about a recipe for disaster: democrats are offering no budget, no priorities, and no restraints -- yet all their taxing, borrowing, and spending continues unchecked. with this budget failure - a first in the modern era - democrats are missing a critical opportunity to provide the fiscal discipline economists

say is needed to create private-sector jobs and boost our economy. this unprecedented budget collapse also sends a clear signal to american families struggling to meet their own budgets that washington still doesn't recognize the severity of its spending problem. democrats say their decision is about what's best for the future of our country. it's not. with the political season upon us, democratic leaders believe it's better to take a pass than to pass a budget. while americans ask "where are the jobs?," they seem content to simply run out the clock and let their borrowing binge continue to drain resources from our economy. the debt is on track to exceed the size of our entire economy in the next 18 months. we have run out of road to kick the can down. if this is really about the future of our country, then leaders should make the tough choices hey promised they would, put moral obligation be p