caller: good morning. although i'm on the democratic line, i would like to state that on the conservative liberal. capitalistic social is democrat. -- socialist democrat. and beyond that, i think it is a joke. i think we have not gone far enough with the regulation. i think we should be regulate football and hockey. those guys are terribly restricted, don't you think? host: hockey, you said? you said d regulate the sports industry? caller: yes, those poor guys get out on the field and they keep calling fouls on them and whatever else. i think that is a good metaphor for the whole thing. guest: in terms of your

political characterization, i would call my heart -- myself a bleeding heart conservative. but certainly, the analogy with hockey, it might be a little different because there we have the best of all worlds, pure competition there. certainly, when you have that level of intense competition, we do want to rely on the private sector and the market for that. host: clifford winston, author of "last exit, privatization and deregulation of the u.s. transportation system" and is a senior fellow in the senior economic study program at the brookings institution. thank you for being with us this morning. that is all for "washington journal" today. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] . .

at 1:00 eastern we will be live with today's white house briefingéí with robert krebs. reporters are likely to ask about the wikileaks and other issues facing the white house. the senate continues work on expanding food and drug administration oversight.

both bodies will discuss federal spending this budget year. and expiring bush administration tax cuts. >> take a look at the new members of congress with the c- span video library. find the complete list under the congress tab. could is all free on your computer any time. it is washington your way. >> president obama live at 11:35. now a more detailed look at this morning headline. it is from this morning's " washington journal." it is about 45 minutes. the newspapers the wikileaks information went to. "the new york times" said it got this from a source that had information about the cables given to wikileaks and now starting to trickle out on line.

many stories. let's get started with this. looking at the implications of this, the story goes on to say --

looking at what the cables had to say, going down to another "new york times" article. in talks about in late may of 2000 and is valid defense minister made a visit to the congressional delegation to send a pointed message to the president. we will get to more of that story in a moment. but let's look at what this reveals about the role of

american diplomats. the question this morning is, does this release hurt u.s. diplomacy? this piece is called boring the line between two and diplomat. -- blurring the line. let's get to the phones to hear your opinions. does the wikileaks released hurt diplomacy? been up from baltimore. id -- independent line. caller: i do think the release will hurt american in a sense that these types of questions posed by information released impact our national security. they become an embarrassment to america. because of problems diplomatically in terms of what

people can expect. and they can essentials the undermine the way diplomats do business. i think that's we shouldook much harder at prosecuting the release of this information, and that we should have reason to expect that professional media organizations will take into consideration the impact on a countries national security in the building these types of information. and i think we should be more aggressive and more upset with what the publishers, wikileaks, are doing. host: would you like to see the prosecution ofhe person who actually leaked these documents from the united states or also prosecution of julian assange and the people that wikileaks? caller: i think the latter. obviously the person who is alleged to have leaked this information is actually going through the court martial process. we should expect some

discernment from the professionals at wikileaks. just because we have information doesn't mean we should publish it. they have said that they think the truth -- the truth is arrived at by having a discussion on the content of these leaks. that may be the case, but the truth has to be weighed against the damage it can do. and i think that prosecution certainly should be assessed very carefully and probably gone forward on something like this. ho: let us leave it there. let us go to hank, independent caller from michigan. caller: thank you for c-span. host: go right ahead. you are live on the air. the caller: i want to say to the president -- i love this guy and hes a tough man, he is smart, but wikileaks, that is the job for the cia.

i am tired of this by showing up doing things that he just wants to do, and puts our soldiers, our brave americans over there fighting. it is a sacrifice and it weakens our national security. host: our first caller mentioned the possibility of prosecution for julian assange, the founder of wikileaks. let us look at where this information may initially have come from. "the new york times" said the possibility of a large number of diplomatic cables may become public has been discussed since may.

let's go on to kentucky. jeffrey on our democrats' line bucaller: i don't think he ought to be prosecuted because the united states of america should not do anything they should be ashamed of. host: do you think this will help -- hurt u.s. diplomacy or position overseas? caller: the united states believes it can run the whole world. you cannot do that. if you don't want something published, don't say it. that is justike me talking about somebody. if i'm not man enough to stand behind what i say i should say it. that is the way the united states ought to be. they want to take over everything. i am a citizen and i love the united states but they are wrong on this issue. host: ok. let's take a look at what some

of the cables show what these releasesevealed. here are a couple of book points from a "the new york times." and eventual collapse of north korea. united states considered commercial inducements to china. when american diplomats pressed otr countries to refund of detainees the bickering players in "let's make a deal." jumping down to another one --

let's get to arizona. brian, republican. what do you think? caller: i think there is no question that there is the potential it could hurt u.s. diplomacy diplomacy by its very nature involves a thousand different subtleties. and diplomacy deserves to be private. at least within boundaries that are established by the different oups that are involvein it. again, i feel there is no question that there is of the potential for it to be destructive, not just to our country but the entire world.

host: talking about one story in "the new york times" looking at the role of u.s. diplomats. this is a continuation of that. hawaii. quite early there. mark, democrs' line.

the think it hurts u.s. diplomacy? caller: i believe what private manning did was born of the reality that he was watching our nation's diplomatic process being subverted by certain intentions and objectives that were contrary to this nation's principles and as a result the expos this information to wikileaks, who had every right to show it to the world because in fact all they are are a whistle-blower website that allows people to expose truth of things that are taking place within the government or business, to illustrate to the public things that need to change. if we don't have that, we have secrecy and we will have much more corruption. what he was doing was the right thing. however, in the united states army, you did take an oath and you make a promise. t in reality when you are put in a position to be turned into something that is contrary to what your government promised you as a soldier and a make you a warrior of death and destruction when they use pretense such as democracy and

rebuilding when in fact really what they are doing is deroying and they are doing it for reasons that are also based on pretense. when you understand that you can't really facilitate that process and be of good conscience. i think it is the most wakening process this nation could possibly be -- i think it is a gift that we are being allowed to face our own guilt because our policy makers and our negotiators and state department and our president and leaders have been basically not only lying to the world but if we don't realize that every intelligence service in the world does in fact know about -- they are not surprised when they hear these things. this is about the american public being exposed to these things. host: we will leave it there. let us look in "the new york post" had lied. headline. that is what "the new york post close what is going well. let us look at "the guardian," one of the newspapers internationally that had access

to these cables and see how they are covering its. -- it. of the top stores pulling out of this, king of the oil from saudi arabia repeatedly urged the united states to attack iran to destroy its nuclear program, according to u.s. diplomatic cables leaked. go to savannah, georgia. dad, democratic caller. caller: how are you? i do think it will hurt u.s. diplomacy in the future. just because it, it's kind of puts arica's face -- i don't know, not in a good position. i do think in the future, other

countries will look at us and say, a little bit high schoolish where people are talking behind each other behind each oth's back. it really does not bring anything to the table, because in the and we still just need to talk with each other and come to some sort of conclusion. that is basically it. there is really no point to wikileaks -- because it was what is occurring in the future instead of -- but just that america must shed its mouth sometimes. host: let us go to "the washington post." many of the insights are not surprising by themselves.

it will continue that story as it jumps to another page. information that they may already know but now coming fithand from government sources. "the washingtonost" asking how people got the information. in a story that talk about how people can get access to this and how tightly controlled really is a disinformation, if it is considered to be important or classified or secret information. the piece goes on to say that hillary clinton -- and this is actually quoting from army private bradley manning's conversation online.

this is from a chat that "the washington post" got a hold of. before we go to more calls, let us take a look at what is being done to brand future breaches. the pentagon ordered the disabling of a feature on all classified computer systems that allows materials to be copied on a fund drive. -- someone drive.

myrtle beach, south carolina. john, good morning but caller: i have been fascinated by some of the responses. i think wikileaks should be given the metal -- medal of freedom. we should know more about our government after george bush ended cheney took us into war on false intelligence. it would have been nice to know if the american public knew all of this intelligence that was given us was bogus and they were depending on somebody to give us intelligence on iraq. if i could speak about saudi arabia, that would sort of be a win-win situation, for us to go in and bomb iran, excuse me, and it would almost invariably close of the strait of hormuz where most of the world's oil comes

through. what would that do? it would make will go to $200 or $300 a barrel. it would not be a bad thing for saudi aria to triple their income and also annihilate one of their competitors who has a lot of the world's oil underneath the ground. i am a little cynical about saudi arabia saying we are against them. once again, there is no proof that irais making a bomb. of course, we will not hear that from our national media but basically there is no proof that iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. host: let us take a look at this from "the new york times." king abdullah of saudi arabia -- vladimir putin and a prime minister of italy have

developed an extraordinary alliance according to diplomats. let's go to our next caller. michael from pennsylvania. a democratic caller. good morning. caller: good one. actually, i wanted to to to be commenting on what the gentleman from south carolina mentioned a moment ago which did i think is the most embarrassing thing. it shows that the united states is still being manipulated by saudi arabia, still pulling the globaltrings. the big puppeteer on the stage. it was our reason for going into iran and iraq. they don't care about anybody but saudi arabia and kuwait and dubai and unfortunately they are using our military. what really amazes me is how many countries on the planet that don't have their own

military and are doing so well economically. we are just being manipulated. our military is being used and manipulated. it does go back to the bush years. and dick cheney. but big oil, a big problem. thank you very much, c-spa host: riley, independent line in texas. caller: good morning. i think that wikileaks has really done nothing wrong. ihink they provide a service that we all need at one time or another. private manning ought to have his but put in a sling. i worked for intelligence in the military and there were severe consequences for us to do that. host: with your insight, do you think this will hurt u.s. diplomacy, this leak? caller: i really don't because all nations are aware that we each do it. we are all aware of that. i am surprised that it has taken the military this kind of

incident for them to initiat the safeguards that wouldn't allow access to a special compartment information and downloading and copying it. i have a comment about pakistan. i think we need to give pakistan a little looser unleash in taking care of some of our, batting in afghanistan. they know the area. they know the people. they have a huge interest in making sure that the area does not get destabilized. i think they are better tfitted for fighting back part of the war. host: let's take a look at issues surrounding iran. we had a couple of callers mentioned at the rand. this is from "the new york times."

the new york times agreed not to publish the text of the actual cable.

laureate -- maury, republican bill caller: appreciate c-span. i think it hurts us definitely. by leaking the stuff out. i think we need to take a closer look at the man who released it, the soldier. i recently seen a report where he said the reason he believed that was because he had a break up with his bfriend. and the air went into making days of legal in the military now. and (we don't need more of that stuff in there. because this is whacomes from its. host: let us talk in moment with andrew from "the new york times" who joins us to talk about this information that has come out that "the new york times" reported on an initially from wikileaks. thank you for joining us. what is the most relevant -- regulatory information? guest: i think part of that may depend on which part of the world is of most interest to

you. certainly the information about iran and the way various nations who we might have thought are at loggerheads are actually working and cooperating with each other trying to deal with the idea of a nuclear iran. host: we will take a look at what "the new york times" has. fears of a nuclear iran. seldom does ever heard in public. "the new york times" has quotes from a lot of people, the king of bahrain, e crown prince of the united arab emirates. it sounds like they are expressing concerns. guest: they clearly are, and they are trying to come up with various and narrows to deal with that problem. host: what else has come out that is of interest? you said it had been friends on the part of the world you are interested in.

guest: for those of you who are interested in the guantanamo detainees, you can see just how difficult it is to place the detainees and other nations. even nations who said publicly they will help of the united states closed get mel -- gtmo, that it is easier said than done. back over in china, there are difficulties on numerous levels, including threats with seemingly chinese-backed viruses and affecting western computer systems. host: what do you make of and what does "the new york times" report on the bling of lines between what a diplomat and a spy -- blurring of lines.

>> we will leave this "washington journal" to go live to the british house of commo. >> including the new growth review on today and a program of reforms and following yesterday's announcement by european finance ministers, i would like to take the first opportunity to update the house about the irish situation and the u.k.'s involvement. copies of their reformer or made available earlier today. mr. speaker, we should take a moment to recognize the significance of this and a practical demonstration of this government's commitment to transparency and independent forecasting. today it is the first time the house will engaged, a and it was

available to members to read two hours before the statement. this is also the forecast, i did new independent chair with other members of the budget responsibility committee, stephen nickell, and gramm parker whose apartments were approved by a select committee members by both sides of this house. as result, i am sure the country can have full confidence in the independence of these forecasts. the economic report published today includes 150 pages of information and unprecedented level of detail and transparency, much of its of the kind available to previous governments, but never before published. her i would like to think the budget irresponsibility committee where their hearts work and putting together this forecast. i hope we now entrenched this major improvement in the making of fiscal responsibility.

while today's speakers are course independent, and we must treat them with a degree of caution that one should treat any economic forecast. indeed they are explicit about this, illustrating the uncertainty surrounding any economic forecast with the use of charts, rather than claiming and valuable certainty my previous assessors asserted when they provided their forecasts. the only thing that was infallible was that the political forecasts were usually wrong. with that caution in mind, let me turn to the forecast. after the deepest recession since the war, the greatest budget deficit and the biggest banking crisis of our lifetime, a recovery was going to be more challenging than the previous recessions, but the message for office for budget responsibility is that britain's economic recovery is on track.

the economy is growing and jobs are being graded and the deficit is falling. -- jobs are being created and the deficit is falling. employment and g.d.p. are high year in every quarter and in every year than in the june forecast. at a time when markets are gripped by fears about government finances of crossed europe, today we see the government was absolutely right to take a divisive -- decisive action to take the britain economy out of the financial danger zone. britain is on course to grow the economy and balance the votes. something some people repeatedly said it could not have been. let me take the house. the detail of the forecast. the forecast the economy are brought in line with those produced in the june budget, despite the challenge and international conditions. i also points out there very

similar to the european commission forecasts, which also happen to be published today. and it is forecasted that britain will grow faster than germany, france, japan, the united states of america and the european union. the forecast real gdp growth of 1.8% this year, 2.1% next year. 2.6% in 2012. 2.7% in 2015. growth this year is not expected to be considerably tighter than was forecast in june. and some of this improvement is likely to be permanent since some of it made a tporary impact to stop building. as a result of its forecast of the rate of growth all be 0.2 percentage points below the forecast in june. they also predict above trend growth for the full year after that.

and the level of gdp is forecast to be around half a percent higher next year than was forecast in june and indeed higher throughout the whole forecast time. mr. speaker, some have made predictions of the so-called double-dip recessions. while it is pointed out that the growth has been volatile but this is a common characteristic of post-recession recovery, the central view is there will be no double-dip recession. the forecast is for growth texture of more than 2%. and they expect the slowest quarter of growth will be 0.3% rising back to 0.7% by the leader quarter of next year. rthey also forecast inflation ball all, 3.2% in 2010 to 1.9% in 2012. crucially the forecasts of gradual rebalancing of the economy as we move away from an

economy built on debt to an economy where it reinvest in exports. again, something some people said would not happen. and they expect more demand come --o come from british investment. this new model of sustainable economic growth will rebalance the economy towards investment and exports and away from an unhealthy dependence on private debt and public deficit. it will bring to an end to the unsustainable situation where family saw less and less each year so they ended up in the worst in the report today darling money to pay for increasingly expensive houses. employment is forecast to grow in every year of this

parliament. total employment is expected to rise from 29 million to 30.1 million, over 1 million additional new jobs. and on unemployment banks to faster than expected growth in the economy, the rate is slightly lower this year at 7.9% instead of 8.1%. the forecast for the unemployment rate is unchanged from the june budget at 8%. they predict a gradual decrease in unemployment with a rate falling every year. at the end of the parliament year we are forecast to report just about 6%, half a million fewer unemployed people and at the beginning of this parliament. the trend is similar to that of the internationally recognized labor forecast measure of unemployment. however, the level is expected to be high year. this revision is mainly due to a change in the wake of clothes

from her allowance will give place as a result of the new high in assessments. and in other words, more people are going to go on to jsa's. this will create a welfare system that encourages people to seek work and reduce costs to the taxpayer. in each year, fewer people are expected to be on both of these out of work benefits than in the june forecast. i can also tell the forecasts that they have now recalculated estimates for the reduction in headcount in the public sector. in june the forecast of the reduction in headcount of 490,000 over the next four years. in the latest forecast

assessment bridgette assessment has come down to 160,000 reduction. -- and the latest forecast the assessment has downtown 160,000. the heck are reduction still need to take place and will happen over four years. the forecast is private sector job creation will far outweigh the reduction and public-sector employment. it is in line with the employment trends in the 1990's. the most important point is this. the lesson of what is happening all around us in europe is that that unless we deal decisively with a record budget deficit,

many thousands of more jobwill be put at risk in the private and public sector. mr. speaker, let me summarize the forecast for the public finances, which shows that britain is decisively in dealing with its debt. barrowing this year is expected to be 1 billion pounds less than forecast in june. -- borrowing this year is expected to be 1 billion pounds less than forecasted in june. government debt as a share of gdp is expected to people low 70% in 2013. the debt ratio is expected to peak at a low point compared to june, just below 70%. on the central forecast we will meet the fiscal mandate to eliminate the structural current budget deficit when year early in 2014. at the same is true to get debt

falling as a percentage of gdp. the government has a quite rigid a wider merger -- has all wider mandate for managing this. in both cases the mandate is met. mr. speaker, it is clear that our decisive actions have proved to the world that britain can live within her means. this government has taken britain out of the financial dangers and said our economy on the path to recovery. that is not only the judgment of the zero vr, it is the judgment of the imf, the european commission, the bank of england and all the major business organizations in this country. already our efforts are paying off. today's forecast shows the cost of servicing the government's debt has come down. it is predicted we will save 19

billion pounds in interest payments between now and the end of forecasts time. this is 19 billion that will no longer be paid british taxpayers to private bondholders and foreign governments. it is 19 billion pounds that would have been wasted and will now be saved. this is an uncertain world but the british recovery is on track. employment is growing. 1 million more jobs are being created. the deficit is set to fall. the plan is working. we will stick to the course, and that is only too well confidence to flourish in growth to return. i urge those who seriously suggest that when they see what is happening to our neighbors across europe that we should abandon the the size of plan we're following and are more and spend more to think again. what they propose would be disastrous to the british economy. it will put us back in the international line we have worked so hard to escape from. it would mean higher deficits

and job loss and we should reject that path. stability is a necessary condition growth but not enough. our economy's competitiveness has been in decline for over a decade. that is why we have already announced annual reductions in corporation tax, cut the small companies rate, expanded loan guarantees, invested in an apprenticeship and promoted exports through a major trade mission. let me set out some of the other things that we are announcing today to support growth and the rebalancing of our economy. i set out a plan to reduce the main rate or a corporation tax to 24%. -- asset at a plan to reduce corporation tax to 24% sen.

the proposed to make the u.k. and even more attractive location for international business by reforming the outdated and complex rules for control of foreign companies. we have seen a steady stream of companies cut that left the u.k. over the years. we're not content to sit by and watch our competitors reach away on our corporate tax state undermined. n.y. another tax issue a corporal -- of crucial importance intellectual property. for a long time we have argued we should increase incentives the ability to develop new products in this country. to encourage businesses to invest in the u.k., we can confirm that we will introduce from april 2013, although or 10% corporate tax rate on properties that are newly commercialized. i can tell the house that the results of this measure, glaxo smithkline will announce a new

500 million pound investment program in the uk. including new manufacturing, a 50 billion down -- 50 million pound venture-capital plan. and build a new biopharmaceutical plants in this country. in total they estimate of 1000 new jobs will be created in the u.k. over the lifetime of these projects. and today we are also launching across government growth review. this will be determined forensic examination of however government can do more to remove growth opportunities. too often the national inclination is an opposite direction, creating new regulations and putting up barriers and mormaking life more difficult. together with the business department, the treasury will

lead an intensive program of work, including all parts of governments. we will identify requirements that can benefit the whole economy, specific priority will be given to improvement of the planning system in support for the exporters of. at the same time we will begin a new sector by sector focus on removing barriers of growth and opportunity predict opening at new opportunities. -- and opening new opportunities. pricked by bricks we will remove the barriers that are holding britain back. -- bricks by bricks we will remove the barriers that are holding britain back. i attended the european meetings in brussels yesterday. we agreed a three-year package

for ireland's fourth 85 billion euros, which is warranted to safeguard financial stability. of that 35 billion euros, copy used -- 35 billion will be used to support the banking sector with 10 billion going to a canadian bank recapitalization and 50 billion will be used for sovereign debt support. ireland will contribute 17.5 billion towards the so bragtotal package. the terms of the imf loan will be determined over the coming weeks. in principle the bilateral loan is for 3.2 5 billion pounds. the rate of interest on the loan will be similar to their rates levied by the imf and the euro zone. this loan to ireland is in

britain's national interest. it will help arkoses economic partners manage their with the difficult conditions. i should also tell the house that the euro zone finance ministers met without me to discuss a permanent financial stability facility, and i made it clear as a subsequent meeting pet the u.k. will not be part of that. the u.k. will not be part of a permanent bailout mechanism, and the european financial stability mechanism agreed under the previous government and day and of which we are parts, will cease to exist when that permit it euros on mechanism is put in place. when we came into office britain was in the financial pages own. the economy was on stable. our public finances were out of control. >> the chancellor must be heard. >> our economy was unstable.

the finances work out of control. we took decisive action. the independent office for budget responsibility has confirmed that the british recovery is on track. our public finances are under control. 1 million jobs are set to be created. today we took further measures to secure growth and promote stability. britain is on the mend, and i commend this statement for the house. >> mr. speaker, let's move to reality. here's what the ovr says. as we discussed in chapters 3 and 4, past experience and common sense suggest that the central forecast for economy and the public finances are almost certain to be role. there are upside and downside

risk to both. the only question is on which side of wrong that actually fall. this government has committed our country to our rate of fiscal consolidation that has only been attempted twice in living memory. on both occasions by countries that benefit from strong growth and a benign global environment. no country has attempted to cut so quickly so deeply of good and ireland. we have the highest fiscal deficit in the g-20. not true. the u.s. has a personal lehigh year in fiscal deficit. the plan to reduce it by less than half over the next five years. -- they plan to reduce it by less than half over the next five years. japan cuts by less than a quarter. the chancellor has talked chosen to take an unprecedented gamble with people's lives and the

country's future. he has done so on the basis of fundamental defeat -- deceit. the ovr expos that deceit last year and they have exposed it today. all of those stories claiming their constituents that things were worse than they expected and said they have never had it so good, will he tell them they will have to find a new excuse? nothing in his statement today can high death mask that it is the balanced approach of my right hon. friend that solid growth return at the beginning of the year. small growth return at the beginning of the year and the recovery growing momentum and a < million people growing --

claiming it out of work benefits than previously projected. that was the previous chancellor not this one. this is an approach to it that this government has rejected. the reckless gamble that member support is still to come. the chancellor is in the casino but has lost a bundle will get. it is the ovr's judgment of the future that matters more than their resizerevised forecast ofe year that is almost over. they are explicit. they expect a slow recovery next year as spending cuts begin to take effect.

looking beyond next year, the forecast for growth over the next four years is reduced to an average of 2.4%. this compares to the 3.1% average growth of the recessions in the 1980's and 99 k.i.a.'s. this growth was driven largely by growth in the financial sector and in public services, both of which will not be in a position to help this time. low growth means -- no growth means fewer jobs. unemployment will rise next year. no wonder the conservatives level of government association pointed out last week the front- loading cuts in local authorities will lead to 140,000 job losses next year, much higher than originally expected.

the increase on january 4 will cost 215,000 jobs. over three times as many as the proposed increase on national insurance, which it called a tax on jobs. the chancellor tells us of public-sector jobs will be protected by his decision to cut welfare benefits, but this works both ways. can he tell the house what additional hit to private sector jobs is from those welfare changes? the families up and down this country, a jobless recovery will be no recovery at all. this government has no interest in protecting jobs, no alternative measures. worst of all, no plan for jobs. indeed just last week, a growth plan actually trunkshrunk. there will be a debate. there will be a discussion.

the government's plan relies on a huge increase in exports. let's hope to materialize. it is it a gambla gamble. -- let's hope they materialize. exports need markets and there's nothing suggest that the global economic climate will assist us in achieving of boost to growth. he has abolished investment allowances from manufacturing to pay for a cut in corporation tax. a tax that would give 1 billion pounds to the banks. can he tell us what sense there is in helping companies that make large profits but little investments at the expense of businesses that will invest heavily in the uk? we were very pleased to hear his

announcement on the patent office. we were very pleased because it was our proposal. it was lord dyson that are due this in cabinet. and that is why it was in last year's report. and it was an excellent proposal. it was a labor proposal. here is i -- here is our idea. they will give an 80 million pound loan to the market. there is an idea they can chew over a for the next four months. the chancellor talk about developments on ireland. we support the financial assistance offered to ireland, at the lessons cannot be ignored. a slower pace of consolidation might have been ireland's best bet at encouraging growth.

that is a lesson for us as well. the chancellor's analytical ability was demonstrated in his 2008 article that has been quietly posted. here he is again in 2008 confident that ireland were not be affected by definition of crisis that was just emerging. and here is what the chancellor said. ireland now has a future fund assets fl to provide security against future shocks and liabilities. their public finances are well placed. their competitiveness has risen. their institutions are strong growth. -- are stronger. he was wrong a lot ireland, and he is wrong about the uk. -- wrong about ireland and he is wrong about the uk. >> yes, well, the first point i

made is that the icing the chancellor made the mistake of writing at his reply before he saw the forecast today. he predicted it all, somehow they're being lowered growth when in fact growth is higher in every quarter and in every year than the june forecast. in i assumed he wrote his statement before the european commission forecasts because he had a whole list of countries. the european commission forecasts of a the next few years we will grow more quickly than germany and france s, the united states of america, japan, the euro zone and the eu average. you might as well start with the most accurate forecast for the economy. as i say, it is not much of an analysis of what they've said today. of course, he skated over the

fact that because of a welter changes we introduced, we have been able to introduce the head count reduction, which any deficit-reduction program, assuming the one he will propose, as required. he should at least acknowledge that the welfare changes to achieve that, and his party leader calls them very important choices about whether they will support welfare reform or would rather see a higher public sector dop losses. -- job losses. he said he did not believe in the rebalancing of the economy. the assumptions for exports and investment i made were pitiful. they are the estimates made by pimm independent body, whose members were -- that their appointment ratified by the select committee. he accused me of having no

alternative measures. [laughter] as far as i can tell the have a blank sheet of paper as the new economic policy. they talked about the importance of protecting intellectual property and supporting the fourth of bonds and then praised the work of james dyson, who last time i checked with someone we consulted rather than him. lord drayson also had some interesting things to say. since -- i should also welcomed by the way -- >> members really must calm down. the noise and the chamber was off-putting. the public notice it, sodalite. let's put an end to it. so goes of the chancellor.

>> on ireland's i do of course welcome the support that opposition has given to the decision we have taken to offer a bilateral loans. we have will have to bring legislation before the house. -- we will have to bring legislation before the house. i should have mentioned that sweden and denmark have also provided bilateral loans. i come back to the point, which is that this forecasts shows a million new jobs being created over the next four or five years. it shows the economy rebalancing. all he could come up with is that he renad an editorial last week, and i note that that is how he does his homework. he photocopies of articles from "the ft." . .

>> is a but chancellor worried about that and will he consider measures to address it? >> it is something that we will

want to address. it has the same duration of returning to its sort of average that it was before the recession came. think all of the parties of the house and the government will want to find ways to encourage saving more effectively than was in the case in the past and address that particular problem. >> what is the forecast for the gap between the richest and poorest in britain by 2015? does the chancellor and the obr expect that to grow? >> i am not aware that the obr made that forecast. obviously, everything we're doing, whether it is increasing provision for some of the poorest two-year-olds terms of free and tertiary care for their people premium, are encouraged -- of health care and pupil

premium -- >> with the make all liquidity available -- will they make all liquidity available, as they should do? >> the european central bank is independent. i will not speak for them. what i said about the european financial stability mechanism is that we now have a verbal agreement that that mechanism will not formed a permanent part of the bailout mechanism that euro wants to put -- the euro's own wants to put in place. we will not be part of that bailout mechanism. it would require consent for any change. >> i thank the chancellor for his statement. it can ask him what assurances he has received from ireland to

ensure that the multi-billion- loan will not be given to allow a fire sale of assets they now own? can he indicate what progress he has made with the northern ireland executive on regard to the corporate tax so that we can compete fairly with a nation that has a 12.5% corporation tax attached to it? >> on the irish bank restructuring package, this is now going to take several weeks, at least, to put in place. we are very aware, of course, of the interconnectedness of the banking systems of ireland, northern ireland, and local uk that is one of the reasons why we are making this bilateral contribution. that is why we're discussing the banking package. i certainly am conscious that some of the irish banks of

significant assets in the u.k. and we have very real interest in the future of that. it is why, my honorable friend the financial secretary, -- why he came to ireland earlier this week. i want the treasury and secretary of state to remain in close contact with members from northern ireland. on a corporation tax -- this has been genuinely a matter of debate. i do not think that has been secret. it has been in the newspapers. in the european union, some member states wanted to attach a condition to arlen's or petition tax rate -- ireland's corporation tax rate. it is a real challenge for companies in northern ireland with that will 0.5% and corporation tax rate. -- with that 0.5% corporation tax rate. i took a position which was, it is not really for other member states to dictate the tax rates

of sovereign nations, even when they are seeking international assistance. the level -- the rate that tax is levied by the irish government should be a matter for the irish government and the irish parliament. if the shoe was on the other foot, we would not want to be accepting decisions imposed on this parliament about tax rates. this should be a matter for the elected parliament of the country. i do not deny it is a challenge for the northern ireland -- for northern ireland, -- that will 0.5% rate. -- for northern ireland, about 12.5% rate. >> will this not create new opportunities for tax avoidance? >> i can assure that we will seek to avoid that -- tax avoidance. it is there to keep pace with

the changes in corporate tax regimes, which have been introduced in many other countries. ireland is just one that we've been talking about. you see this in belgium and the netherlands, where they also made corporate tax changes to attract international companies. we have to keep pace with those changes. that is why we are taking the measures that we are. >> george mahmudi. >> the chancellor -- george moody. >> official said this is because of a lack of serious content. -- officials say that this is because of a lack of serious content. >> we have published a series of documents. some of them on corporate tax reform, some on intellectual property, and some on the budget -- that is what the white

paper does. proposes measures that will then be legislated for. we'll have measures to address the competitiveness of british industry that will specifically look at things like the competition regime, the approach we take to attracting inward investment, how we improve our employment elie doebele and alike, and look at specific fixes -- how we improve our theoyment outlook and like, and look at specific fixes. he is welcome to be involved. >> isn't the strength of these forecasts that they were prepared by individualx/ >> that is a very significant feature of what is happening today. it is completely unprecedented for a chancellor to present a forecast that has been produced

independently by pple verified by the all-party treasury select committee who have their own separate press conference. members have had a couple of hours to look at these documents. if you think back to a couple of years ago and the numbers that were rattled off, you had no opportunity to look at those documents. it was the chancellor's judgment, rather than an independent judgment. i think this is a major improvement to the fiscal policy making in this country. i hope when it comes to the house of commons it will have all-party support. >> why is the irish bank worth saving yet northern rock was not? among the irish banks are getting capital -- >> the irish banks are getting, in many cases, a capital injection. we had poorly regulated banks.

we're improving our regulation system. frankly, if the honorable member does not think we should be supporting the irish banking system, then the impact of his proposals would be very severe. >> he called this slow growth in the, -- in the coming years. does he agree that private- sector led growth is exactly what the u.k. needs after the bubble tt was previously burst? >> i think he makes an extremely good point. what is actually happening here is a rebalancing of the economy. the shadow chancellor, i hear he is muttering away about what he calls low growth. it is actually more rapid, according to the european commission forecast, then germany, france, the u.s.a., japan, the eu average, the euro

zone average, and i am not sure what his proposals are that would increase that growth rate. if you have some, now is the time to produce them. >> most public-sector cuts will take place in the north. any jobs that are created -- not likely to be many -- will be in the south. is this policy unbalanced? >> in the last decade, in the government that he was a member of, for every 10 jobs created in the southeast, only one was created in the midlands and the north. that is the situation we inherited and it is the situation we're trying to change. we want is the export and investment increase. we are aiming for a more geographically-balance model of economic growth. i can tell you that announcements like the one today and the events that follow will help that. for the third time ever, there

is a tax cut for new employees specifically directed at regions outside of the south. >> my right honorable friend did never tires of reminding those opposite that this recession, like all previous post-war recessions, it is a recession built on debt. you cannot borrow your way out of debt. >> i can assure my honorable friend that i will not tire of reminding the opposition of that. as i come forward with new economic policy, -- they come forward with new economic policy, i would be happy to examine it, but there is nothing to examine. >> he sees private sector growth being driven by investment and export. in the obie our's report today reportl be our -- obr's today, we see dramatic uncertainties in the euro zone.

if this does not turn out to be as expected, where does the chancellor see private-sector growth coming from? >> the first point i would make is that, of course, one of the primary tasks of the obr is to address whether we will hit the fiscal mandates. they're not a matter of controversy. they show what we've done to get the british finances under control. under this scenario that is volunteered, they say that this the mandates will be met under those conditions. it helps the fiscal forecast rather than perverts it because the tax base is more focused for consumption. >> when the books are balance, will the chancellor seriously look at reducing the overall burden of taxation? it is just far too high. >> i would say to my honorable friend that i am the leader in trying to reduce the tax burden

and reduce taxes. i have always believed the best way to achieve this is stable public finances. otherwise you cut them one year and have to put them up the next. i am a fiscal conservative as well as a tax-cutting conservative. >> i refer to the center he came to my honorable friend. chancellor, through the obr, is suggesting there will be 8% growth in business investment, yet [unintelligible] it suggested will increase by 6% in the next four years. according to the government of the bank of england, there are real doubts about whether the euro area or in the united states will deliver the sort of export growth that has been suggested. it is not -- is not the chancellor just a little bit worried about the of the present in these estimates?

is he concerned that they will be delivered -- about the optimism in these estimates? is he concerned that there will be delivered on in the next four years? among these are independent forecasts -- >> these are independent forecasts. he is not in anyone's pocket. it is totally independent. i believe he is on the treasury select committeee interviewed the man for this job. he passed him. these are not my estimates. these are other people's estimates. they made the forecast. he says there is scant evidence. that is not what the office for but responsibility believes. they are independent. -- for budget her responsibility believes. -- that is not what the office for budget responsibility believed. they are independent. >> is a taxpayer support ending up supporting professional bond

and equity holders in banks? this has been one of the most difficult issues we have had to wrestle with. it is not possible to hold the senior shareholders responsible for taking a hair cut, which did happen in some of the u.s. bank rescues, with pretty disastrous effects. that is whthat decision was taken. some shareholders will suffer losses as i think is appropriate. >> given that the newest year for production in the report suggests that growth will

surpass the previous predictions. it was 2.6%, 2.3% trend, 2.1%. what hope can we have that predictions are want to be any more reliable? is it not the case, in fact, that growth will not rise as much as predicted? >> i said right at the beginning of my remarks that these are economic forecasts, that we should treat them with the caution that one should treat all economic forecasts. i it least explicitly acknowledge that. these have been independently produced. these are central forecast. this is not a forecast come hell or high water. it is in line with most independent commentators, forecasters, happens to be close

to the european commission numbers which were produced today and were not available to the obr or british government until today. we had -- have confidence that they are part of a people who look to the u.k. and see it growing sustainably over the coming years and the jobs being created. >> all talk is of cuts. with spending still rising, despite these so-called cuts and with that as a proportion of gdp rising to a staggering 70%, will my right honorable frien remind the house of the coin a phrase, there is no alternative to further massive efficiency savings, particularly in health? >> i certainly agree with my honorable friend that an essential part of this program of a public expenditure is that

we get greater productivity in the public services. he is the former chair of that committee and has much to offer. treasury is engaging with him on this, i hope, and will engage further with him in the coming months. he is absolutely right. when there is less money available, if you do not have reform, then we will have a deterioration in the service. that is why we have to back reforms. that is why we're supporting those reforms. >> the office of budget responsibility is forecasting a relatively sluggish medium-term which, it says, reflects the impact of the government's fiscal consolidation. can the chancellor confirmed that it follows that, if the government's fiscal consolidation, have been less severe, and the medium-term outlook would be less sluggish? in other words, he has cut too

far, too fast? >> the short answer is no. obviously, what we have inherited was a very deep recession, a major banking crisis and a record fiscal deficit. i thought that, once i was assured across the parties that this was common ground, that we should use the link to address the fiscal deficit. the letter o the letter be the latter are -- the obr did produce a comparison to the current and previous government plans. over time, it was a much more sustainable path to growth and would avoid the downside risk of a major fiscal event, which, frankly, a major loss of confidence in the u.k. pick

aboutnot having to worry the uk's credit worthiness of their, unlike some other countries in the european union -- out there, unlike some other countries in the european union. we have sustainable growth and jobs being created. >> thank you, mr. speaker. could the chancellor tell us his assessment of what would happen if we ignored the imf -- you -- the imf-eu and moved toward putting our own house in order? >> would happen if you actually did this tomorrow? if the shadow chancellor bought out tomorrow and told me to adopt his plan and the u.k.

would back off its fiscal consolidation program, it would take much longer. we're with the u.k. be within 30 minutes after that statement? >> the number of losses of jobs in the public sector has been revised downward. i'm very concerned that the $18 billion -- about the 18 billion pounds. was that an explicit decision a policy by the chancellor? does he think that is fair? >> a, i do, of course, think this pending review was fair. at i said at the time, if they would produce an actual spending review, maybe we could compare, but they do not want to do that. i said to the budget and spending a rebuke that i would make you a code decision to try to seek further -- and the

spending review that i would try to make further changes. this is a challenge that anyone doing my job would face. we need to reduce the cuts in departments. that is what we were able to do. >> norman? >> may i congratulate the office of budget responsibility on a fairly transparent, comprehensive, an excellent report, which i think is up first in this country. can you give us an assessment of any remaining threats that you seek a final stanza -- financial stability from the ural zone countries? >> of course there is a concern about the high deficits in the euro zone. let us hope that the action taken yesterday to stabilize ireland and also the clarification that era's own ministers offered about the future permanent bailout mechanism and the involvement of

private sector credit within that will help achieve that. that is certainly what the intention was yesterday. >> they will announce proposals for cuts will likely loss of 400 jobs. this will have a devastating effect on my constituents. it will also lead to a loss of confidence by those who have jobs that they will have jobs in the future. this might well lead to grow up and on their part to spend money in the economy? -- economy. is the concern that could affect the new jobs and future growth? >> i have enormous sympathy with anyone who faces a job loss. what i would say is we're creating economic conditions where they will be -- there will be able to find a new job, i hope. we expect a 1 million new jobs

to be created over the coming year. i would make this observation to the honorable lady, who i think was the parliamentary private secretary to the previous chancellor. if the government had been reelected, they would be cutting billions and billions of pounds from public spending this year, next year, in the years ahead. that was in the budget. if she was able to find a way of many billions pounds without damaging local government, she should say so. and i welcomed the reform -- >> i welcome the reform. will this be scrutinized? >> the short answer is yes. one specific thing we want to look at is how government should

be helping businesses grow. that includes procurement. government spends too much of its money on the largest companies in the country. not enough within the smaller. that is one of the things we're trying to improve. >> on public sector jobs, the chancellor says that the numbers are up. some projections show that this is front loading. will the chancellor look at [unintelligible] so that we do not see those jobs losses next year? >> i said at the time it was a challenging settlement. i have removed some of the ring fencing to allow the maximum flexibility to deal with that. this country was borrowing 1 pound for every four it was spending.

we can see what happens to countries with high budget deficit and no plan to deal with them. the labour party wants to put forward a plan to reduce local deficit. >> we welcome the announcement he made. can you tell us more about the tax competitive measures you are doing to help the country? >> i have made no announcements. i can certainly say no more. >> we're looking at two is a civic things -- to do specific things that we believe will help encourage large multinationals -- two as of the things that we believe will help bridge a large

american nationals -- two specific things that we believe will help multinationals come to the u.k. countries are being aggressive in trying to attract companies. these tax measures will make as one of the most competitive places in the world to locate headquarters. on the patent and lower corporation tax rate -- this announcement is just one of many from companies that depend on that to power their business. it will make is very competitive to other countries. >> mr. speaker, obr has confirm that we will borrow 1 billion pounds less. apparently we could not afford

to make it 80 million pound loan. the chancellor has deliberately [unintelligible] these policies are now damaging the british economy. >> i think that was one that was prepared earlier. first of all, the u.k. growth is forecast to be higher than germany, france, or many other european countries, and the united states of america. it is also a case that the forecast in question creates a million jobs. when it comes to the sovereign loan to ireland, that is of a totally different nature from industrial support. it will be set out in terms brought before the house of commons. it is 3.25 billion pounds, not the number he gave. >> he has 34 -- reinforced the

need for exports to help our recovery. what can he do to personally help reverse the situation whereby we currently export more to southern ireland than we do to all of the brick countries put together -- bric countries put together? >> that is one of the focuses of foreign and trade policy. we have tried to increase our exports to those countries. the prime minister laid -- led major trade delegates visits to india and china. business secretary was recently in russia. i think a trip has been proposed for brazil. referring to those countries and other important emerging economies like indonesia and turkey, we are seeking to expand our exports. we do not want to export less to anyone in those areas, we just

want to increase our exports to emerging areas. >> we know that the deficit was paid to avoid a depression, a chance that would not fade. first and foremost, profit, jobs, growth statutes. secondly, taxation. thirdly, savings over a longer time. this will cast millions of work. it will be -- who these will be unnecessary. >> that was a complete load of nonsense. what is independent forecasts shows is that we're creating a million jobs. the economy is growing more quickly open next couple of years and most of our european

competitors. the situation was absolutely catastrophic. people were calling into question britain's ability to pay. if that is the situation we have inherited, we have done many things, in the last six months, and to make sure the british economy is on the mend. >> i am sure the whole house welcomes this chart which shows there is almost no probability of a double-dipped recession. with the chancellor agree with that forecast? -- would the chancellor agree with that forecast? >> it is, of course, an independent forecasts. while i have the right to disagree, i have not exercised that right today. >> what were the things offered

to end housing targets? does the chance cannot accept that a private-sector- lod -- will the chancellor not except that a private-sector led -- >> that is one of the sectors we're looking at as set out in the review published today. if i can just correct him, the capital investment program is actually higher than the program from the march budget. if he is not aware of that, so be it. >> mr. speaker, i welcome my right honorable friend's statement today, particularly the forecast where it sees projected public-sector job losses dropping. based on that 490,000 figure,

previously, price waterhouse coopers projected 1 million jobs, would he like to comment on the reduced impact on private-sector unemployment as a result of the new projected job losses and the public sector? >> of course, the projection is made for private sector employment as well. it takes into account all of the potential impacts on that and finds that a net 1.1 million jobs are going to be created. there will be 30 million people on unemployment at the end of the parliament, rather than 29 million the day. >> [unintelligible] what other cultivating measures is he considering? >> we have created the regional growth fund to look at areas in need of support and investment.

we havbeen able to announce some significant transport investment in other parts of our country. you mentioned the national tax reduction outside of the southeast and southeastern area. i am trying to create a more geographically-balanced economy than i found when i took the job. >> it is clear from the response that the party opposite is still in denial of the huge deficit they have created. i congratulate, mr. speaker, my right honorable friend for creating a viable and workable, transparent plan. could i go back to the permane fiscal stability facility? what will happen if another euro zone country requires a bailout? >> first of all, i don't know my

honorable friend for his comments. i would say this about -- i'd thank my honorable friend for is common. i would say that the bilateral loan -- there is a very specific, and i stress the word specific, circumstance that would lead us to support ireland for the interconnectedness of our economies. i also said that the european financial stability mechanism -- the eu fund -- was something that the previous government had signed up to that the u.k. could not block its use because it operated under to and the -- under qmb. i think that this mechanism will disappear in 2013. we have taken a bad situation and make it a lot better. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can the chancellor tell whether

ireland's fiscal consolidation has been successful? >> i think the point i would make -- ireland has had to take some incredibly difficult decisions to deal with its this goal deficit. it has announced, with the support of all the major parties, with the exception of sin fein, that it will have to take further austerity measures. we should have some respect for the incredibly difficult situation that ireland finds itself in and actually take some comfort that we, in this house, are able, because of the measures we a taken in our public finances, to help this country. we're on the firing line -- not in the firing line in the way we did -- we might have been in this party had not won the

election. >> despite the extensive naysaying from the party opposite, is of the chancellor aware of this recent report -- is the chancellor aware of this recent report that businesses and the northwest are looking to expand -- in the northwest are looking to expand? what will be the expectation for job creation? >> we have a. boyd that increase in the small company rate at the previous government wanted to introduce even in the recovery. we have been able to avoid damaging part of the jobs tax. the forecast is for jobs to be created in the private sector, across the country, including in the northwest. frankly, as one could see, the labor party wanted to talk down the economy. it is no wonder they were

rejected at the election. >> he is talking a complete load of nonsense, as he put it earlier. looking across the irish sea, what does he -- a private sector recovery has not happened in ireland. why should it be different here? >> if the honorable gentleman cannot tell the difference between those situations, then maybe he should not turn up at these events. i would just make this observation -- this is an independent report, produced by an individual. from the opposition front bench about the independence of the office about it responsibility. we set this up on an independent basis, giving up four members

of the treasury the select committees and rights to approve or reject the appointment of the members of the committee. we will see whether opposition members, including those on the front bench, support this legislation when it comes before parliament. at the moment, it does not sound like it will, but perhaps they will change their mind. >> is my right honorable friend as concerned as i and that the prospective regulations proposed by the retail distribution review, might actually result in a loss of jobs? >> i know there are a number of concerns that have been raised about the review of this area. they are an independent regulator. these have been drawn to their attention. >> does this apparent good news mean that the government can now [unintelligible]

by scrapping plans to hike university tuition fees. or is it pure ideology? is that what it is about? >> this issue is about the hypocrisy of the labour party. they set up that report he was in the cabinet that agreed to that. they're all now walking away from it. it is absolutely pathetic. >> the predict on page 118, table 4.21, that we will save $19 billion in -- 19 billion pounds in interest payments. of these the right choices? do we have this 19 billion to spend on schools, rather than putting in the pocket of private

government or bondholders? >> he is absolutely right. this is one of the issues that is less commented on, but a very relevant. we are reducing the debt interest payments that we inherited from the party opposite. we had a situation where the debt interest, the money that we have to pay out to those we have borrowed from -- that bill is coming down by 19 billion pounds. we would otherwise have followed the leader baathist -- the labour's plan. we have other plans for taxpayer money. >> read the then lend to ireland to repay the ecp -- rather than lend to ireland to repay the ecp -- ecb, might it not bit more sense to help ireland

deleveraging by purchasing some assets directly? >> that we say this to my honorable friend -- let me say this to my honorable friend. i think this had to be part of a coordinated international effort with the imf and the other european member states. we have taken apart in that. we have our own the -- i do not think coming out with our own unilateral package would of been particularly easy with the imf organizing international effort. i've said earlier that we will, of course, want to look at the impact of the bank reorganization and banking reorganization in the ireland and some of the assets that are managed in the u.k.. i will keep the house informed about that. >> i welcome my right honorable friend's statement today. in particular, the investments

to a new facility that the university -- at the university. with the chancellor agree with me that, by putting something into the science bget and coming to this house today and presenting figures of growth and stability for the u.k. economy, this is setting out a clear message to the rest of the world that the u.k. and east midlands is an excellent place to invest? >> i completely agree with my honorable friend, who was a powerful champion of the east midlands and her constituency in a few months that chia's been here. she welcomes -- that she has been here. she welcomed this announcement. of course, the support for job creation in the east midlands and across the country would not be there if we have a fundamentally unstable economy like the kind that we inherited in may.

>> what steps are being taken to maintain low interest rates? >> the bank of england's monetary policy committee sets the interest rates. it is independent in doing so. the purpose, in part, of the measures we are taking to reduce the deficit has been to give the monastery policy committee the maximum flexibility and freedom -- monetary policy committee the maximum flexibility and freedom to stimulate the mind -- stimulate the demand in the economy. that has enabled them to keep interest rates low, which has been a help to the economy. >> turning to the corporation tax reform -- can the chancellor confirmed that it will make the u.k. more attractive as a holding company jurisdiction and help make us a preeminent

headquartered as much as the financial center? >> i think they will help to do that. my friend is right. they will help the u.k. be an attractive place to international companies to create jobs in. also, that changes to the patent regime will help a number of sectors, for example, pharmaceuticals. pfizer is a big employer near dover. i hope it will benefit fromhe announcements we have made. >> with the -- was the gentleman present and sitting here and character close the -- >> a live picture from the white house where president obama is expected to announce a two-year pay freeze for all federal employees. the chair of the bipartisan that commission has proposed a three- year pay freeze for most federal employees. the president willake his

statement shortly. we will have live coverage when that begins here on c-span. secretary of state hillary clinton will deliver a statement to the press. the obama administration's is ordering government agencies to review the procedure for classified documents, in the wake of the release of thousands of documents. robert gibbs -- reporters will ask him about the wikileaks release and a number of other issues. that is after the secretary of state clinton's statement. c-span2 will be live as energy secretary steven chu talks about energy dependence on foreign oil at the national press club at 1:00 even -- 1:00 eastern. look at the new members of congress did find a complete list on the c-span video library. every new member is listed with their district map, their campaign finances, in any

appearance on c-span. it is all free, on your computer, any time. it is washington, your way. >> one of the new members of the house next year is della croce -- delaware democrat john carney. he is an energy company executive. he has been delawares finance secretary and lieutenant governor. another new member is a republican representing florida's eastern panhandle, a funeral home owner who defeated the incumbent. congress returns to the lame- duck session today at 2:00 p.m. eastern. we will be live as the house takes up nine bills, including an extension of the medicare rates for doctors. the senate will continue work on expanding fda oversight of food recalls. it will discuss federal spending, -- they will discuss federal spending and the expiring tax cuts. we're standing by live for an

announcement of obama's -- 4 obama announcements -- for obama's announcement. >> thank you for joining us. began after a break for the thanksgiving holiday. what is the biggest item? guest: tax cut certainly. democrats and republicansnd both parties -- bodies punted on tax cuts for a while and will now have to start looking at i did to extend them and about how they should and where they can get votes. republicans consistently said they don't think taxes should be raised on anybody. democrats said they said and the tax cuts for the upper bracket, which republicans have not been so happy about. but it looks like congress is going to move toward some sor of temporary eension, which will kind of give both the president and congress a victory but what republicans have to deal with -- it is still a

democratic congress right now, so that will be a tough thing to wrap their arms around and the coming weeks but also things like the dream act which would provide some sort of temporary residency for people who went to hi school here and went to college here afterward. there is also stopgap funding for the federal government. so, a lot of things these next couple of days. host: the issue of the bush era tax cuts. look like the house will take up this week. nanc pelosi, the speaker, looking at getting it on the agenda and talked about. but can it gain any traction? or is this more than talking? guest: it is tough. the speaker indicated she is bearing republicans to vote against it. speaker john boehner in waiting -- says he will take this dare. it looks like republicans are signaling that they will try to

stop that. although it is not clear whether they were able to. but republicans say they think there are enough democrats who want to support the extending of the upper bracket tax cuts. it has to go somewhere. congress has punted on this for a while and it needs to go somewhere the next couple of days but the senate will be a big challenge. host: tell us about the senate? guest: it is looking more like in the republican direction, looking like it wants to extend the entire gamut of tax cuts. this is going to be a tough thing in the last couple of weeks, and republicans tried to pressure democrats into doing this before the eleion and some democrats thought they should do it before the election but clearly they didn't and now they face this tough situation. host: "the new york times" caucus section has a piece talking about the president's religious acquit republic ngssional leaders. -- president's relationship with republican congressional leaders.

the meeting tomorrow between the gentlemen, what is expected to come out of that, and is this a moment that is more symbolic or will we get some content from it? guest: we can look atwo angles. mr. boehner and mr. mcconnell. mr. boehner -- both of them spent a year bashing the president obama. these three men really don't have much of a relationship. mr. mcconnell and mr. boehner, with the present. mr. mcconnell served in the senate and mr. boehner had limited interactions with him. what could come up is a whole slew of things. anything from taxes, to cutting spending, or earmark reform. host: jake sherman is our guest from politico. you can join our conversation --

congressman ranl faces censure. "the new york times" and others reported that he is seeking a reprimanrather than censure. what will we hear about this? the censure could come as early as this week. guest: he is expected to be censured. the ethics committee indicated that that is the punishment they recommend. republicans are certainly by and large going to go along with this. most democrats zigging it will become a political problem for the house of representatives to deal with. mr. rangel says he will try to lobby some of his comments for a lesser punishment. he argues censure is too much. it does not fit the crime. he is asking for a lesser punishment. it is not clear whether he will get one. it does not look likely he will get anything less than censure at this point. host: how much of the fallout

might we see this week? guest: if people vote against it, they could expect to hear about it in the next election, that is for sure. a difficult situation for all lawmakers to punish one of their own. it's collected to the phone. don, democrats' line. calling from new jersey. caller: my question is, the cost of living increase for seniors was knocked down the last two times. president obama about a month ago stated he was out to get us a $250 rebate. it is supposed to go to the congress and senate. when it to know if he knows anything about this. guest: i will -- i could give a clue about what congress will do. republicans have been in a stand tight spending mode and it is not likely this spending will come up. republicans have signaled they are not totally open to the

czech mr. obama proposed. but anything could happen. this goes to a larger argument republicans want to try to cut spending and a campaign on that and indicated that will be the priority in th coming weeks and months. >> let us hear from libby, a republan from tennessee. good morning. caller: yes. host: yoare on with jake sherma from politico. caller: i have a couple of comments, if that is ok. host: go right ahead. caller: i am a republican but i am an american first, ok? and i think charlie rangel should be tried by the house and convicted by the senate, that is the first thing. the second thing is, when you are in war, you don't leak anything to enemies, ok, or anybody else. that is where americans need to wake up and forget about all of this mess about being republicans or democrats. host: she mentions wikileaks.

we have been talking about this, all of the cables that have been released. do you expect to hear that come up as a topic debated on the hill this week? guest: i think people will start calling for hearings, which will have bn almost immediately. people already hinted hearings need to take place. this is one of the issues that will catch fire on the hill and the ball will start talking about it, ways congress can tighten the intelligence community and prevent this from happening. when republicans take over they are planning a lot of investigations and hearings. darrell eisa- issa from california, would not be rprised if the ways in, peter king of new york, these are kinds of the things they will talk about. host: don't ask the-don't tell. senator lynsey graham tried to dampen hopes of don't ask-don't

tell opponents. guest: that seems like it is a pretty apt observation. the house has already taken action and they will tell you this is one of the many things that have taken action on that the senate has not picked up. certainly it does look unlikely. and a lot of things going on, -- tax cuts, dream act, things that need to come up and are a lot more pressing, but not look what this will be taken up any time soon. host: we will see a report from the pentagon talking about don't ask the best don't tell and our hearing scheduled later this week. well there be new dialogue? we got some indications of what the report will show. guest: if the report is

favorable for appeal, as the indicated it will be, it will put things behind the train of the repeal. this is what a lot of people said they were waiting for, this report it certainly could shift the dynamics of the help. but still it does not get around the fact there are things they need to do and eight little amount of time before the recess. host: when do you think about the timing? guest: we reported the senate could stay through christmas leave and house wants to come back into session the first week of january. we could legitimately see just one week off for congress, which would be quite stunning, and a lot of work. it's got a story you co-authored in "politico -- host: atory you'd call offered in "politico. guest: it is kind of a bid by house republicans. it indicates they want to get to work as soon as they get their new members. they will be sworn in the first

week in january and it went to begin cutting spending and legislating as soon as the new congress begins. host: never joins us from north carolina. caller: thank you for taking my call. i had a daughter in law in new york city who has been laid off from her job as a social worker. i am interested in knowing what the status is of extending unemployment benefits but this christmas season it would seem to be a win-win situation to have -- how many people, and million people or 10 million be bought on unemployment right now? if each of them just spent $10 duri the christmas season, that is a billion dollars going into the cash flow strain. i am an online retailer so i think about those things. been: certainly it has one of the pressing issues of congress, and republicans have stood on the floor late at night trying to block on unfunded benefits from being extended. these