annual legislative branch spending bill. in about 45 minutes, we will discuss federal spending and the debt limit talks with senator tom coburn, a member of the so- called gang of six. and a look at the democrats' effort to win back the house with the chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee, steve isr ael. ael.

host: we will have two guests this mourn. we would like to hear what you think on this friday morning. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] host: good friday morning to you. here is the "wall street journal here is the "wall street journal headline." you can send us comments via e-mail.

lots of ways to get involved this morning. as you can see, this headline, "greece gets new bail out as u.s. nears brink." many other headlines suggesting hot tempers around the capitol. tensions surface in "the washington post" this morning. joining us is the washington editor of "the fiscal times." you have the most straight-forward headline this morning, i see. what can you tell us about where things stand right now? things stand right now? guest: it looks as if obama and john boehner are trying to revive their grand bargain norks that fell apart -- bargain negotiations that fell apart a couple weeks ago. they are trying to patch things up with a goal of $3 trillion in

deficit reduction over the next decade. it is a plan that clearly will excite the republican conservative base and is a major disappointment so far for liberal democrats. what they are talking about, really, is a package of cuts, mostly cuts in areas including government agencies, elimination of farm subsidies, reduction in pension benefits, medicare savings, defense cuts, on and on and on. but with no promise of immediate increases in tax revenues. so the balanced approach that president obama has promised his base, one that would have both revenue increases and spending cuts, is not materializing. there is talk of doing longer

term tax reform, which would include reducing tax rates, eliminating certain deductions and write-offs with the hope of raising tax revenues down the road. there is no assurance of that. there are certainly no tax revenues in the foreseeable future. host: to understand that $3 trillion figure, did they calculate the cuts? guest: no, we're talking mostly cuts. that's why you mention, harry reid and barbara mikulski, and many senate democrats in particular are very upset about this. they had an unhappy, tense meeting with jack lu yesterday afternoon.

lu is the white house budget editor. he didn't do much to reassure the democrats that they weren't being led down the path of huge spending cuts and very little in revenue. host: they are careful to say nothing has been agreed to at this point, but if they do announce a deal between the president and the speaker, is there any guarantee congress and the two bodies will find the votes for it? guest: that's a good question. the answer is, absolutely not. there is no guarantee that if boehner and the president walk up to a microphone together and announce that a deal has been reached either today or over the weekend, that that will guarantee passage of the house and the senate.

you have to look at the challenges that the leadership faces in getting any deal through. it's most problem matic probably -- problematic probably in the house. we can't county on a lot of the republicans. as we discussed, democrats are weary of this deal and feel the president may be abandoning his base in search of a deal with the republicans. host: and so it continues. thank you for bringing us up to speeds. guest: my pleasure. host: eric panin talked about?

of the anger between the senior democrats. the headline this morning, jack lu, who we were just talking about, "why don't i know about this?" quote, "i'm the senate majority leader. why don't i know about this deal?" reid demanded as soon as the director of the office of management and budget walked into the historic mansfield room for a meeting with the senate democrats. lew shot back, "if there's a deal, then the president doesn't know about t. the vice president doesn't know about it, and i don't know about it."

senators john f. kerry, barbara mikulski, and others demanded that lew explain what the president was doing. the american people were with them on tax increases for the rich. the nogse negotiation of shared sacrifice. why give up now. for 35 minutes the cross-examination went on with few details offered. when lew walked, mikulski turned to her colleagues and said, "i haven't seen a meeting like this in my 35 years in congress." we'd like to hear where you stand on this topic right now. we begin with a call from louisiana. terry, you are on the air. go ahead, please.

you are on the air. caller: what i can't understand, they want to cut out medicare and medicaid and disability. as it stands now, i have been disabled since 2001. if they cut my disability we're going to be on the street. i mean, we don't have no choice. host: terry, i don't think anyone is talking about cutting it out. if they reduced it, would you be in the same situation? caller: yes, ma'am. host: what's your message to washington? caller: to get off their keaster and do what's right for the elderly and disabled. we're the ones that brought them where they are now because when

we was working and younger, i mean, it was our taxes that helped them out. host: scott, independent, in iowa, good morning. iowa, good morning. you are on. caller: good morning. i have one question. i read a book called "the fair tax book." why has nobody in congress talked about this? why don't they drop the i.r.s., get rid of all this crap they are going through, and get a flat tax. that way it is fair to everybody. when you buy something you, then you pay the flat tax, and it will raise more revenue than this country would ever think about or argue over. they would have more money than they know what to do with. all they need to do is get rid of this arguing and have a flat tax. it is what the american people

years ago said they prefer to have. host: that was scott from mason city, iowa. washington has a chart they call the menu of budget possibilities. we are hearing so many choices. senator co-burn is here. here are a comparison of four. the $4 trillion deal called the grooned bargain which comprises any or all of the options for $4 trillion in savings. the $3 trillion deal, and the $2.5 trillion deal, and the $1.5 trillion deal called "the fallback deal." let's look at the tax changes. that caller was in favor of more flat tax. two of the tax plans have a thorough tax overhaul in them. the two smaller ones do not. for the caller concerned about

medicare changes, cuts to medicare raising the eligibility age to 67, the two largest plans, the $4 trillion and $3 trillion have that. the two smaller plans do not. you can find those at "the washington post."-- you can find those at washingtonpost.com. l caller: my area down here, we have no jobs. we've people laid off. we give back to this tax cut. you got people all on disability here. you got them on medicare.

and people under the age when you are supposed to get medicare. i am on medicare. they are trying to cut this area of medicaid, too, and that shouldn't even be allowed. host: if you were elected to congress, how do you think you could make a difference in ways people here have not. caller: i would vote for a flat tax rate. if you go to the store and buy something, you pay that flat tax and nothing else. host: go ahead. caller: if i was president i would have let those bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2010 and i would have apologized to people that made $250,000 or less, but i would have explained that -- and i wish that obama

had the backbone and -- to stand up and do something a little outrageous like i'm suggesting. he probably will do at the end of 2012 anyway, but i think two years too late. putting himself in a position to have to negotiate with these republicans who don't want to negotiate. but we need to raise taxes and preferably on people making $250,000. we'll probably have to negotiate that number up to a million to millionaires and billionaires. i know millionaires. i mow people who are probably multieye multieye millionaires, and they simply -- it would not phase them, susan, in the least to raise their taxes. to raise their taxes. their lifestyle, if they had pay whatever it was, $100,000, $200,000, $1 million more in taxes per year, it would not change their lifestyle.

they wouldn't feel it or know it. there are so many peoples there are so many peoples families, and i know some of these families, that would not be phased at all by raising their taxes. and likely, to hope up medicare, sell it to the public like a monthly premium like the private insurers, and you could raise so much revenue by having healthy people come into the system. susan, god bless. thank you for c-span. i hope we can change this country. host: president obama, go big on the debt sale. my number one focus is getting our economy back to a place where businesses can grow and hire. extending tax relief for middle class families and putting construction workers back on the job rebuilding roads and highways. in the past few months they have said, we are willing to cut historic limits in order to reduce our deficit. rpt president obama also said

about raising revenues. it is a position that's been taken by everyone from warren buffet to bill o'reilly. it is a position taken in the senate by republicans that are working on a promising plan of their own he writes "right now we have the opportunity to do something big and meaningful." we go to north carolina. we continue our take-off of the wall street journal headline, "america nears the brink." caller: i don't care. they can keep my disability, they can keep my pension. i'll just work like my mom and dad and everybody else did, until i die 678 that's just how it is. it is. like i heard a guy say on the military channel, the stuff

that's happened to him because of world war ii. you just have to suck it up and deal with it. that's how it is. this is a country. this ain't the damn entitlement -- ain't no such thing as an entitlement. we're just lucky we have the bill of rights and the damn constitution. that's all i got to say. host: bernard, republican in north carolina. caller: my wife is on social security. we still have to get our checks we still have to get our checks on the second and third of august. we have to live on that. host: next caller. caller: good morning, susan. i've been a democrat for 31

years. i'm 62. in all that time i have never voted for a republican. but i tell you, i'm not going to vote for anyone that tries to tear apart social security or social programs period. it is about time that the rich got up there and got to bat and give up a little bit of their money. now they have it easy. i remember when 1961 was. we had a 91% marginal tax rate. these people are pitching about a little tiny bit of tax. come on peerges get real -- come on, people. get real. caller: i would like to say of all the callers that called in this morning, we all agree about 90% of everything, left and right side of the aisle. the person who understands this

morning, joe. thousands of years people have worked until they died. worked until they died. at least around the ones that love them and support them. i'm as conservative as we get. we have a marxist president. i'm not interested in changing anything in social security or anything in medicare. let's remember the republicans created medicare. the democrats lie about how we want to tear it down? you got to be kidding me. they have no plan. they can't come up with anything that reforms medicare. we know it is going bankrupt, and the republicans want to save it. they paint us as the people that want to throw grandma off the cliff? i'm oh, i'm going to get off the air. the democrats in modern day are so intellectually dishonest. the nogs information age is here and it will show them for what they are. this president is destroying the party by being so narcissistic that he is throwing the whole country off. his own party won't agree with him. yet he sticks to his guns. that's the most narcissistic

president we have had. thank you, joe, for calling in and telling the truth. thank you c-span. thank you c-span. host: oush facebook page, if you are a user of that social networking service looks like this. we already have comments coming in. put it on the screen, please. we will show people that you, too, can log into facebook and show the comment. we will include it in the conversation, if we can, with the senator. next up is a call from michigan. this is fred, independent. go ahead, please. fred, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm 64 years old. all my life i've heard from people in michigan. i'm not from any other area, i'm raised in michigan. about people telling me about

about people telling me about other people they know that are receiving social security, food stamps, welfare, medicaid, i will li legally. -- illegally. and people know this. is there a possibility way they can set up a reward program for turning these people in? host: thanks, fred. next up is cedar creek lake, texas. this is betty. what do you think about what's going on in washington over the debt debate? >> i think that all of the big officials up there, their salaries should be frozen and give social security a raise. we cannot live on what we get. i think obama is trying to phase us out. he gets raises and he's not doing nothing. host: debt uncertainty puts states at risk. the federal debt ceiling is already complicating life for state and local government.

maryland is post porningeponing maryland is post porningeponing a bond sale for friday after that state was warned its credit rating would be put in a downgrade. in california, "california solicits loan bids. california plans to borrow $5 billion from private investors billion from private investors next week to protect itself in case the federal government defaults on its debt." bill lockyer said, "the state needs to act in case talks in washington about the federal get ceiling remain at an impasse." we would like to hear what you have been -- what you think about what you have heard this morning.

caller: i am appalled at what the tea party republicans have done since they took over. they have not a clue what it is like out here for us, ok? my husband has been employed by the same company for going on 35 years. he paid into his medicare. he paid into his social security, ok? we have to work 80 hours a week just to pay our bills. you might want to ask tom coburn and any other crazy tea party republican, what happens if we do default? do they still get their benefits that we taxpayers paid their salaries, paid their health care, paid their retirement. they paid their curby lifestyle. we default, and we get screwed.

then com coburn and the rest of the crazy tea party people, do they still get their pay checks? does it affect them in anyway -- any way whatsoever? come out here in the real world and find out what it is like. this is insane. president obama i love you to death. i respect you so much. everything you have accomplished. accomplished. but when you are dealing with an insane child, you need to put them in a corner and keep them there until they shut their mouth. host: the manager of standard & poors finance rating is the guy that's going to make the call on u.s. debt. david beers has an economics

degree. here is what they write. "if american debt is downgraded, a a prime mover is likely to be david t. beers, a longtime david t. beers, a longtime standard & poor's executive with a moustache who is unpolicy jevt jetic about the impact of his company's decisions on government's ability to borrow. government's ability to borrow. if you want -- because so many other interest rates are pegged to the cost of borrowing, a downgrade could be felt by all americans. next is newcastle, connecticut. frank. caller: they are talking about saving $4 trillion over 10

years. why isn't there more of a concerted effort to find the $4 trillion missing in the pentagon and they could have $4 trillion in their could havers right now? also, why aren't we hearing more about what they are going to do? they are talking about shared sacrifice. i don't see any shared sacrifice from president obama and the congress. why aren't they paying for their own hospital zation and whatever? i used fob a democrat, but i found out that democrats and republicans are wolves in the same sheep's clothing. i think the majority of the working people in this country ought to send a message and all register independent. thank you. host: johny depp, as he calls himself on twitter, writes "i hate when taxes and spending are used as a political ammo.

guess what, you will be taxed and the government will spend the money." "this sounds like the brinks heist in the 1950's when they just stomped in and took all the money." are you kid kg me? they are splitting up the stolen money and doing a spin job through the media. here is what the -- >> it is not enough to wait for a solution to materialize. whatever you want to call that, it is not a solution. the republicans have laid out a responsible and detailed cut forward. the senate should not pass. it is already clear that the

house has bipartisan support and i'm hopeful the senate will do so as well. the ball continues to be in the president's court, and it has been there for some time. the way to avoid detaught and prevent a downgrade of our credit rating, we're doing a great job to jump start the economy, i think he needs to step up and work with us on the spending cuts and reforms that the american people are demanding. host: we have about 10 more minutes to take your telephone minutes to take your telephone calls on this topic and then senator coburn will be with us followed by congressman steve israel. tony is up, a democrat. caller: good morning. i am so disgusted in the whole matter. over the past few months i am speechless. the president dragged this on all summer trying to get us to

the brink. the brink. we always have to make decisions in a rush. he could have gone to -- he and joe biden, the moron in chief, came to this, and then boehner sits there and gives the vote. all they have to do is take the pressure away and then seriously call the president out to work this out. there is no work to be doing this thing. it is like a salesman coming to your house and telling you, "i can only make you the deal today." this is ridiculous. we have grown-ups that i don't know how they find their way to work in the morning. thank you. host: "the battle over reducing medicare's cost for prescription drugs flared up on capitol hill as lawmakers continued to debate

cuts that could hinder the program's growth. democrats say drug prices are still higher here than in europe. herb kohl, wisconsin democrat, released a statement saying the average price of prescription drugs in the united states is 33% higher than other developed countries." and this from twitter, someone calling himself "revelation news." "the entire debt scagse situation is a joke. the entire economy is based on debt. >> you have so many callers that will say what i'm going to say. they are talking about all these republicans and democrats are talking about, ok, we need to dut spending. that's more or less what it is. we have 370,000 federal employees. some of them make $100,000. take some money from them and

take money from their pension plans. for example, we have many ex-presidents of the united states of america. they get $200,000 a year. that's like $20,000 a month. what would the average person do with $20,000 a month? take half of that $20,000 and drop it to $2,000. i'm sure they can survive. they are all multieye million nares. they need to take money from those people instead of taking money from people on social security that are doing like $900 a month. there is a big difference between $900 a month and $20,000 a month. if there -- there are many ways this government can cut spending and they are not even trying. host: pat e-mails us. how does this economy help us? how does this economy help us? with annual deficits over $1

trillion we would have to raise the debt ceiling an additional $7 trillion over the next decade. we are not near the brink. we are on the edge. salem county, new jersey is um salem county, new jersey is um next. -- up next. lester is on the air. caller: i am about as left as you can get. i am intrigued by buddy romer. he doesn't want to take any money out from big business and -- people in salem county, you know me, you will see the sign for buddy romer. if he's a real man and not flash in the pan, this is what i'm going to do. host: lester, thanks. this is a call from carl, a democrat. good morning, carl. caller: hello. i just am appalled about the guy

you read about the rating agencies and the guy you asked who has to protect his reputation. those are the same people that gave triple-a to the junk mortgage. these people are crooks. i haven't figure tigged it out -- i haven't figured it out yet. host: james is a republican. we can hear you. what's your comment? caller: i'm on slsss. host: james, i'm sorry. when you call in and leave the

television on, the delay gets confusing for you and also for us. georgia. you are on the air. caller: i am a single parent with four children and i live on disability. i depend on it. not because i want to but because i have to. i have worked all my life and put into social security. it is just not write for president obama to do that to all of us, not just me, but to other people in my situation this depend on this. this depend on this. i mean, if this happens on the third, i mean, my power could get shut off, my cable, my phone, because i live month-to-month on this check. it is not right. they can take this money from other places to get this budget balanced. he needs to get with the congress and senate and he needs

to get with it right now. he's not playing right with government funds. it is not fair to all these other americans. they keep borrowing the money from social security and every time they think, well, this is there. we'll put it k back. we never put the money back. now we're in a bind. host:: fiat the majority share holder, and the government recovered $11.2 billion of the $12.5 it had committed to the chrysler rescue. about $1.3 it cost the taxpayers. also from the washington times, mexican cartel members nabbed in money probe in that paper this morning. morning. u.s.a. today is telling us,

president "gas reverses." "gas costs reverse course, climb up ." up ." and in washington there is talk of an f.a.a. furlough. "the washington post" suggests if it happens it would affect nearly 1,000 in the f -- in the washington region. 432,000 workers would be furloughed nationwide. however, air traffic controllers would remain on the job. they sought to reassure the identifying public would not be compromised if the stalemate results in a partial shutdown, according to secretary ray lahood. good morning.

are you a democrat and you are on the air. caller: yes, thank you. i am speaking to the people who were bashing president obama. it is not his fault we are in the position that we are in. it is the last president. and to say that he is cutting all medicaid, he's not cutting all medicaid. he's not cutting it all together. and on top of that they are saying that -- force host: ok. thank you for your participation. there is app an article in "the new york times" about the postal service. it says "if it were not for the postal service, this would not

be a major issue. mail delivery could be cut back to three days aweek within 20 years. the situations at the postal service is dire." one example of the debate in washington. this is the anniversary of the first battle of the civil war, the battle of manassas. we are spending the whole week on c-span3, history tv, and among the things we will be doing is take you to manassas battlefield. part of a full civil war weekend. a couple more minutes left for senator coburn. this is troy, new york.

our republican line. caller: i am a life-long republican, and i'm shocked at the debt we got in because of the bush tax cuts. and i am a fan of president bush. i was like how the heck did this happen? now you still have my republican party singing the same old song. all obama is asking for is to do away with the corporate tax breaks. i'm going, you should even be doing more than that. everybody realizes that the bush tax cuts is what got us -- what is it, $1 trillion a year? i believe in obama. he said bush got us here. that's the case. the republicans, my party, is telling me, don't look at that, and that we have to give corpgs if -- corporations big breaks if

we want to get out of this problem. we got into this problem with those breaks in place. i don't see how continuing them is going to solve the problem. host: thank you, fred. " "i think at this point everyone is getting off on the ego trip of destablizing the biggest economy in the world. i don't think it is even about politics anymore as much as the raw feeling of power resulting raw feeling of power resulting from the one actions having an effect on so many people." "it was politicians, not citizens, that ran up the debt. the g.o.p. took control of the g.o.p. took control of congress by promising jobs but neglected to say that the jobs were overseas." caller: ma'am, thank you for

taking my call. i just want to say a couple quick things about the proposed cuts to medicaid. i'm a former republican. i was injured at work 11 years ago severely. i have a seven-inch steel rod in my spine and i've had to have a my spine and i've had to have a double-fusion operation. my medicaid has left its mark. that's more than a little poverty. they are talking about consulting medicaid. i don't see how medicaid default can occur. i have been active on the legal immigration we have in this country. just to give you an example last night, there is a statistic online where 18 states, the funding they give to illegal aliens, their entire budget deficit for their state will not

be there, except for the money they give to illegal aliens. it is stuff like that. we should have dealt with this problem for illegal aliens a long time ago. host: thank you. we will let you go, because we're out of time. we have a short show. 9:00 eastern is our out time. the house of representatives is back in session. many people have called about congress and money. that debate happens on the floor today. we'll take a short break and be back with senator tom coburn. >> the "l.a. times" calls it required tv viewing.

it solves a mystery that even nicklas cage can't conjure. the library of congress, behind the skis of the world's -- behind-the-scenes of the world's largest library. sunday at 9:00 eastern time. in the garden of the beast, erik larson covered the rise and fall of hitler. >> i stumbled upon the first ambassador. >> a story of politics, intrigue in nazi germany. sunday on "q & a." >> if you want to be informed of what is going on, it is not so hard.

c-span has a digital arkife that goes back to 1987 where you can basically watch anything that happens -- happened in the house or senate chambers right there on your screen. there are sources of information that were unimaginable 20 years ago. >> the c-span video library makes it easy to follow washington with economy rooms and the house and senate chambers. all searchable, shareable, and free. the peabody award-winning c-span video library. it is washington your way. >> this weekend on book tv, literacy, humor. malcolmx and barack obama. the life and career of barack obama senior. and what do you do with your and what do you do with your stolen moon rocks?