>> this morning, congressional richard cohen richard correspondence on the latest on the debt ceiling negotiations. then we will hear from representative mike pompeo and congressman tim ryan on the debt ceiling and deficit debate. w j" is next. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> the debate continues on capitol hill this morning over the debt cereal -- ceiling crisis. senate kills it. that's the leading story. in the saturday post from denver, g.o.p. hits wall in senate. debt plan is rejected, setting up weekend wrangling. and in the atlanta journal

constitution, plan ok'ed then k.o.'d two hours after the house passes a debt bill. the senate killed it. good morning. and welcome to the "washington journal." today is saturday, july 30, and for the first 45 minutes of the program, we're going to be talking about what you've been saying to your elected representatives, to your senators and congressmen. have you been in touch with them? and have you made any financial contributions supporting their position on the debt ceiling debate? call the numbers on you screen -- host: if you've called us in the last 30 days, today is the day to put down the phone and pick this keyboards. you can send us a message electronically by e-mail.

the address is -- or on twitter -- so let's take a look at some of the stories that are dominating the headlines this morning, particularly dealing with the debt ceiling debate and last night's vote in the house. boehner bill squeaks through. shift to the right was needed for passage in the right. senate sent to defeat bill as focus turns to reid talks. they write that signs emerged friday that such a deal could in fact win bipartisan support. senator scott brown left a private meeting saying he would vote for reid debt ceiling plan just as he had supported g.o.p. versions. another republican, maine said she would reveal plans and hope they would work through their differences by the time tuesday rolls around. i thinking me pretty good will

have happened, said senator bob corker. it's going to happen. unfortunately, there's going from to be some theater before it does. also in the papers this morning, the lead story in "the washington post" house passed debt bill hits wall in senate. laurie montgomery and paul cane right heading into the final weekend before the treasury expects to begin running short of cash to pay the nation's bill, harry reid introduced a new version to grant the government additional borrowing authority into 2013, setting up a crucial vote shortly after midnight saturday. democrats conceded they still lacked a vote --

host: he wanted the white house at the table and expressed frustration that president obama had rejected an emerging compromise between the two senate leaders last weekend. -- host: we're going to go to the phones and see what you have to say about the contact you had with your senator or present tiff on the house side -- representative on the house side to talk about their position on the debt ceiling. have you done anything to let them know by the phone, twitter? e-mail? have you sent the a check by saying how much you support their position? we go to massachusetts on our line for democrats. donald, you're on the

"washington journal." guest: yes, my representative is steven lynch in massachusetts. i bid him to protect medicare, it's, -- social security and yield as much as he can, but they have to protect the social programs at all costs and to me, the republicans are only interested in eliminating all these social safety nets that we have been placed as of now. host: were you able to get through a person in your representative? guest: -- caller: i called him all the time. i'm a regular caller to my congressman. host: did you have a problem getting through the phone lines? they've been jammed. guest: caller: it's been tough but now somehow, i managed to get in. so anyway, they've been deluged with calls and, you know, massachusetts is a heavy --

heavily democratic state except for scott brown and i think the entire congressional slate in massachusetts is about protecting the social programs. host: next up, charlotte, north carolina. travis on our line for independents. you're on the "washington journal." caller: yes. i called my congressman patrick mchenry and i was wondering why he wasn't supporting ron paul's solution for this for cutting spending and not raising taxes. ron paul of course, the presidential candidate. host: and when you talk to him, were you able to talk to a person or did you have to leave a message or what? caller: i e-mailed him because their phones were jammed. and i wasn't expecting that from this area. we're in a small rural area. but apparently, people are

getting involved finally. host: ok. well, thank you very much for your call. we're going to hear from speaker boehner who was on the house floor on friday, plugging his budget balancing amendment. -- rule that was added to his legislations. he says the senate hasn't done anything and that he stuck his neck out a mile to try and get this -- trying try and get his amendment passed in the house. >> and my completion, i can tell you i've worked with the president and the administration since the beginning of this year to avoid being in this spot. i have offered ideas. i've negotiated. not one time. not one time did the administration ever put any plan on the table. all they would do was criticize of what i put out there. i stuck my neck out a mile to try to get in agreement with the president of the united states.

i stuck my neck out a mile. and i put revenues on the table. in order to try to come to an agreement to avert us to being where we are, but a lot of people in this town can never say yes. a lot of people can never say yes. this house has acted. and it is time for the administration and time for our completion across the aisle, put something on the table! tell us where you are! [cheers and applause] host: speaker boehner talking on the house floor last night about his balance budget amendment rule. it was added to his legislation. this took place before last night's vote in the house of representatives. next up, pennsylvania. jeff on our line for republicans. jeff, you're on the "washington journal." caller: hi. good morning. host: jeff, have you been in contact with your representative or senator and what's been the

response? caller: no, i have not. i've just been glued to the c-span, trying to get every bit of this discussion and what i was taken from it is that republicans done want to tax. democrats do. the compromise should be by them . i have a question for you. who does the owners fall on to compromise? are the republicans? because they're in the majority? expected to compromise? or the democrats? because they're minority? and the minority in the house. i don't really know and i'm buggered by this whole hang-up here. i can't believe that, you know, the democrats think that raising taxes is the solution when it's a pittance to what we owe. it wouldn't do anything. what we need is a fundamental change in the way this country behaves.

there's no way we should be running unconstrained and without a budget. host: jeff, do you plan on reaching out now that the action for lack of a better term has moved to the senate for about the next 24 hours. how dow plan on reaching out to either one of your senators in pennsylvania and letting them know how you feel and seeing if that has any influence? caller: i doubt it would have any influence but yes, i am feeling more incline to reach out and get my voice heard by somebody out there. it seems to fall on deaf ears because their agenda is slated. republicans don't want to cut taxes. the democrats got to raise taxes. and to me in this struggle -- struggling economy, i don't care if it's the rich or middle class joe, raising tax is not the way to go. host: in indiana. joe from indiana.

caller: my representative is andre carson. i will definitely leave him an e-mail to the democratic line if they can reach a compromise, that would be great but protect their social program that the democrats have always believed in. and you know, this tea party is trying to run the entire show and -- well, they are running it and they will not compromise because they want this president to look as bad as they possibly can make host: next up, is from kobe, texas, john on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: hey, how are you doing? i definitely contacted our representative via e-mail and, you know, i wanted to let him know that we are absolutely mobilized out here in frisco, texas, to basically constrain the tyrannical federal government. and, you know, this huge black welfare state that it's basically supporting.

i mean, we've spent 70 degrees doing nothing but destroying the black family and making it impossible -- host: john, let me stop you right there. are you saying that plaque families are the only ones that are on -- black families are the only ones on welfare? caller: i'm saying black families are the highest performance of people as a society, if you look at the number of people that work and what they do. they're primarily overrepresentative in government jobs and they are overrepresentative in -- host: john, i think you need to go back and check your facts. i don't think that's true. next up, maryland, christine on our line. caller: good morning. i'm a longtime viewer and first-time caller. i'm a little nervous. i did contact my representative christopher van holland. i also e-mailed the white house and senator reid. i personally think that in order to get rid of the theater that

they ought to just go ahead and let president obama sign the executive order for article 14. just cut this whole debate off and take the wind out of its sails of the tea party and just sign article 14 and have it done and go ahead and have a clean debate on the budget and just let the -- be taken care of clean, simple, article 14. thank you. host: a lot of viewers and listeners have been getting in touch with their congressmen and senators via facebook. and if you want to join our conversation for -- on facebook, you can go to our facebook page. facebook.com/c-span and tell us your thoughts on the debt ceiling and what you've been doing to try and get in touch with your congressman or senator

and let them know how you feel about their position on the debt ceiling. back to the phones, steve on our independents line. caller: i contacted both tim johnson and dick durbin with one-word e-mail. i think it's important. it's "compromise." that's the only thing i can say right now. if these guys don't get off their you know what, and do that, then we're all in big trouble. host: where do you think that that compromise needs to start? in which house? in the senate? does the president need get involved with this? caller: obviously now with this filibuster, the compromise needs start there. they can have no debate while this filibuster is going on and that's ridiculous at this point in time. it's simply asinine. host: last night, it a news

conference, majority leader harry reid talked about compromise and criticized the republican efforts to filibuster his debt plan. this is what he had to say. >> >> tonight a bipartisan party rejected the boehner short-term plan. clearly, we've seen something we've even a lot in the senate but this time, the country's attention is focused on it, a filibuster. a filibuster to prevent us from moving forward on this legislation. the vote that i put forth is a compromise. we would have changed it more but as i indicated on the floor, we had no one to negotiate with. it really is a worst possible time in conducting a filibuster. they're forcing us to wait until tomorrow morning at -- let's see. today's still friday? until sunday morning at 1:00 a.m. to have this vote.

our economy hangs on the balance and unless there is a compromise or they accept my bill, we're headed for economic disaster. it's time for the republicans to shep forward. host: carmel, indiana, on our line for republicans. you're on the "washington journal." caller: hello? host: hello. caller: hi. i'm on the air, i suppose. one thing i'm upset very much about is this so-called republicans who is conservative and stole ronald reagan, the greatest movie star -- president carter, the president that i knew as i came in india, i'm 75, and he created the most debt in the world anybody can hear. then they brought the champion, bush. bush -- the whole war. we were left with the largest debt.

i'm a republican. i agree to elect mr. obama. he got the champions. and it's ok to spend the money for -- host: in the meantime, sir -- caller: they have created nothing but messes. host: in the meantime, have you made an attempt to get in touch with your congressman or senator to let them know? caller: yes, i did contact them for the last 70 years and they just gave me lip service and they hardly understand what i am talking about. host: chris in danville, virginia. on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: i've been watching the coverage and yeah, i've been shooting e-mails back and forth to my representatives and honestly, the only thing that i've been able to figure out so far, the other side's not willing to compromise. they're not willing to talk.

they're being to be and act like children. and as a democrat and trusting my country and my government and knowing that this entire country was founded on the ability to talk, they're not willing to talk. they're willing to be babies. it's time to grow up, put the big boy pants on and agree to something so we don't -- save financial collapse, and, you know, in the meantime, consider adding a few little laws that would actually open up some much-needed revenue to our country for example like gay marriage. i mean, the several budget committees have come out with studies stating that it would come up with $9.7 billion and maybe a little bit more. i haven't been able to look it up recently. host: you say you've been sending e-mails back and forth to your representatives. have they responded to the e-mails? caller: everybody from the democratics side has responded

to me but as far as the republicans side, i get the usual rejection letter. we're not going to consider. we're not going to negotiate. we are going to hold stand firm on our policies. host: but they are -- caller: as a resident of the commonwealth of virginia, that's kind of disheartening, you know? >> and we'll leave it there. in this morning's "new york daily news," this headline. "keep pressure on washington." save the country on the lawmakers. this is talking about the president's address that he made yesterday where he encouraged voters and citizens of the united states to get in touch with their representatives by twitter. this is what the president had to say. >> if you want to see a bipartisan compromise, a bill that could pass on both houses of congress and that i can sign, let your members of congress know. make a phone call, send an e-mail, tweet. keep the pressure on washington. and we can get past this.

and for my part, our administration will be continuing to work with democrats and republicans all weekend long until we find a solution. the time for putting party first is over. the time for compromise on behalf of the american people is now. and i'm confident that we can solve this problem and i'm confident that we will solve this problem. host: following that story in the "new york daily news" this morning says spam twitter followers annoyed by spam not everyone was a fan of the presidential spam. by late yesterday the president lost more than 40,000 followers. many of the twitterers took to their social platform to voice their aans over the barrage of partisan tweets. back to the phones on whether or not you've contacted your local representatives to talk about the position regarding the debt ceiling.

don, you're on the "washington journal." caller: yes, sir. something everybody needs to look at. there's only going to be one party that wins on this whole deal. if they raise the interest rates. it's going to be the banks. it's the same party that got us into this mess. they stole millions of dollars. none of them went to jail. now they're wanting another chunk of change. i just don't know. everybody keeps talking about compromise. i'd say the house, the senate, and the white house are compromised -- aren't compromised. crooked. that's the bottom line. host: have you been in touch with your elected officials to let them know how you feel? caller: how in the heck are you going to know if anybody's really elected anymore with these voting machines? host: be that as it may, have you talked to your representatives? caller: no. no. host: do you plan to? caller: i'm not going to waste

my breath on them. it's nothing but a skip. they get these hollywood people -- well, you say like lou dobbs just went to hollywood to work. they get the >> is writers. it's all worked out. host: tom in saddlebrook, new jersey, on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: yes. a couple of things. number one, this is why you don't elect a newbie president who cannot lead, who leads from behind, who does not put anything down on paper and begs the american people to of the problem by call their representatives. where is the president? he's not there. secondly, you cut off a guy from texas who is making a point that you did not agree with. and therefore, you cut him off, which i didn't think was right. let people say what they want to say and don't control it because you don't agree with it. host: tom, are you finished? caller: yep. host: let's move on to dallas,

texas. ester on our line for democrats. you're on the "washington journal." caller: yes. i called yesterday -- day before yesterday. host: did you get through? caller: yes, i did. host: ester, you're violating our 30-day rule and i'm going to have to let you go. let's move to gilbert, arizona. b.j. on our line for independence. go ahead. caller: yes. well, with regard to calling our representatives, i've tried, but i got to tell you, the lines were just completely jammed for days now. it's just unbelievable. but i got to tell you something. i got to leave. i'm president of a corporation. we're putting in another 300 jobs. none of which we literally have to leave the state of arizona

because we cannot if the tea party people have essentially taken over whole chunks of this state and it is disaster. they have absolutely pillaged our colleges, our community colleges, our schools on our levels. we can't even get employees from any other state practically to come here to arizona because well, out of this 300 employees that will be hiring, roughly 40 will have ph.d.'s. another 40 will be college grads. and the rest will be some college or really highly skilled people. host: we're going to leave it there, b.j. in gilbert, arizona. in addition to the president

yesterday talking about citizens tweeting and calling their representatives and senators, other groups have been running ads asking you to get involved in the conversation either for or against the debt ceiling debate. one of those groups is the americans united and they've been running this ad. we're going to let you take a look. >> if congress doesn't act by tuesday, america won't be able to pay all of its bills, social security checks, military pay, all could be at ring. because the congressman want to protect tax breaks for millionaires, oil companies and corporate jets. so the check you or your family depends on doesn't arrive, thank congressman cadder. tell him to stop holding the interest for subordinate americans hostage. host: jan?

colorado springs, colorado on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: yes. the reason why i called in on the republican line is because i voted for republicans up until the time of sarah palin. so the tea party has really put me off. i asked to contact doug lanborn. he's my representative. they're not really honest about the pledge. they never seem to know anything. but i have a son-in-law in afghanistan and my sister works as physical therapist with a young man who just lost his leg last year in iraq. now if a man can give his legs up for this country, why can't the wealthy give up some of the tax loopholes, spread a little bit of this around. it is unbelievable the fact -- we don't even have to raise taxes on anybody. just make them pay their taxes. a lot of republicans and small businesses pay their taxes but the super rich don't. and i don't think people understand the kind of tax loophole that is are in

shelters. host: we're moving on to foster in centerville, georgia, on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: hi. how are you doing? i'm just wondering now, now we actually elected people to go to congress to balance the budget and pay the bills but do they realize instead of making an amendment, do they already have the authority to pay the bills? host: well now have you let your representative or senator know how you feel about this? caller: we certainly have. me and my girlfriend got together and we got up a sheet with all the republicans representatives. we called all the numbers for all the candidates around. we could not get through. not only could we not get through, we only put some information on the 2003s on the internet. we could not do that either. has it ever dawned on them that they can pay the bills? they took the money. we have the money. the money came in the trivia account and other accounts. they took the money from one account to pay other bills, let's say, and they pay the

money back. they raise the 2%. they pay their fair taxes like the rest of us could do. did i ever dawn on them that the budget can be balanced? >> we'll leave it there. we're going to show you another ad put out by a group encouraging citizens to get involved the conversation. this is from america's grassroots coalition on not raising the debt ceiling on children. >> times have been tough around our house. >> there's some friends and i decided to help out. lemonade! her mom and dad say the national debt is over $14 trillion. i had to do something. dad said there's $130,000 for family. we don't have that kind of money. >> wow. we're going to need more cups. >> we're going to need more lemonade. >> please don't raise the debt ceiling. >> or we'll have to raise the price of lemonade. >> lemonade, anyone? >> we're talking about whether or not you've contacted your elected representative regarding

the debt ceiling crisis and if so, how did they respond? our next call, brunswick, ohio, jim on our line for independents. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i'm calling, number one, i tried to call my representatives here in medinah, ohio, and the best i could do is get a nice young lady who basically patted me on the head and tell me thank you for the call and that she would, you know, pass on my message. so that's about the best i can do here. we can't seem to get through to anybody here. i think that, you know, we even wrote letter which we received no response for. the other thing that bothers me is i'm 60 years old. i'm disabled completely the only thing i live on is social security and my medicare and there's lots of possibly checks

-- what do people like me supposed to do? we can't go to work. i've got a stroke. i have seizures. i hate to cry on the phone to everybody, but, you know, it's something i can't do is to work and without that money, nobody's going to care that they don't send the checks. they are going to kick me out on the streets and that's the kind of thing that really bothers me. host: jim inthe headline, senate gop and it is down to the wire. senate democrats hope for a better deal. we are talking about your contact with your elected representatives regarding the debt crisis. on the republican line.

caller: i contacted my representatives and was able to talk to one of his financial aid. he was very responsive. i expressed concern that the federal deposit insurance corp. currently insolvent, if they did not raise the debt ceiling, would the treasury department be able to continue to protect our deposits in the bank. they revealed a something that i thought was very interesting. she expressed concerns over raising the debt limit politicized if you will. they were thinking about some type of legislation where congress would turn over the authority to raise the debt limit to the federal reserve. this would be a way for both sides to save space. it is run by professionals.

they are very interested in seeing that the debt limit is raised and would be able to do so if they had the authority before the deadline. host: san diego, california. this is what was written in an e-mail. how can any citizen possible risk -- senate person risked their seat -- democrat line. caller: i heard a guy talk about his social security. i do not know who wants to cut the social security checks by $7,000.

how can they do that? host: have you tried to get in touch with any of your representatives? caller: yes, the republicans. i am sure i will not get anything out of them. no response. host: republican line, georgia. caller: thanks. i love c-span. i have been in touch with my congressman. i spoke with him last night into this morning. i think he is the greatest congressmen in history. he is a true taxpayer champion. i am working really hard to elect mitt romney president. host: did you speak to him directly? caller: i spoke with him

directly after he was on fox last night. i have a cell phone number. he is one of the greatest if not the greatest congressman for the taxpayers in the history of this wonderful country. i love your coverage on c-span. host: how did you get his cell phone number? caller: i was as campaign manager. host: you are an insider. next caller, mary. caller: i cannot get to any of the representatives. this administration does not listen to the american people. the you ever hear of the media's support? you have a-of you on republicans now matter what they do. i am fed up for people making

excuses for obama. this is the economy of obama. he owns it. it is a fact. the ceo of ge pays no taxes. host: we have a tweet. hong he says you cannot get a hold of any of them. maybe the staff needs to work overtime. bill, have you been able to get your representative to let them know how you feel in washington? caller: i have been trying and am completely unsuccessful. i hear a lot of people use terms

like tax breaks. i do not think most americans understand how much money you pay two taxes. some are still paying. it seems like scare tactics to get people to have this frenzy over what is going on. the actual ability for us to pay our debt is still there. if we were to look at the government and say, it is not their money but our money, what can we do? how do we protect, grow, stop wasting it? host: we will leave it there. in the financial times this morning, here is the headline. they write that congress and the white house may find a way to

avert catastrophe, but the fact that america has been brought to the brink of default, jeopardize in its own fragile economic recovery and threatening to trigger a new global financial crisis is soliciting a wave of souls inching about the state of the u.s. political system. forethoughts on getting in contact with your elected official regarding the debt crisis. next up is maryland on our line for democrats. caller: hello.

i wanted to say that i do not think the republicans are ever going to compromise. they have entered into a can contractual agreement. they cannot compromise, because they would be in breach of contract with some companies that help them get elected. i tried to speak to my congressman. i did not get through to house speaker john boehner. host: what about sending an e- mail or treat. caller: it came back as an error. i tried several times. people keep talking about spending, but when push came into office, we had a deficit. nobody talks about how much spending went on there.

and they keep talking about jobs. taxpayers are giving people jobs. how come we have millions of people unemployed? people need to check the census bureau. how can you say that black people are responsible for all of this welfare? we only consistent 70% of the population. host: we will leave it there. in the "wall street journal" they have their players that they feel are big in the debt ceiling trauma. individual senators have a lot of power to drum up support. here are key players to watch in the opinion of the wall street journal. on the category of republicans on the fence, they have orrin

hatch of utah.

and it also lists an independent from vermont . that inread more about today's "wall street journal. " new jersey, for republicans. caller: i constantly contact my representatives of the time. on november 1, i got this letter. he will be pleased to know i strongly support a public plan option and believe it is a

critical component of any health care package. i called the very strong opposition. i appreciate you taking the time to express your views regarding this issue. please be assured that i will keep your views in mind. i called the office yesterday, and they would not let me talk. they must have been very busy. they said they want to protect social security and medicare. our representatives from new jersey -- how will they consider my views? i called and said, if he loses the next election, he can think president obama, harry reid, nancy pelosi, who says you have

to pass the bill to find out what is in it. host: in the business section of this morning's new york post, they write in an extraordinary group meeting yesterday with 20 large banks that serve as primary dealers, executives want to outline a game plan to deal with the auction and maturing debt. that is should washington not agree on a plan to raise the borrowing limit.

they say that the timothy ner tried to rally people yesterday in a meeting. next caller. caller: they say they are trying to work on it, but people voted both sides in. there is no middle class in a more, just the high end the low. host: our last call from this segment comes from the independent line in indiana. go ahead. caller: i wanted to make a comment.

it was about black people only been in welfare. they should come to indiana and see how our system is, not just black citizens but hispanic citizens that have taken over our community. host: we are not talking about that this morning. have you talked to your congressperson? caller: yes, they do not answer the phones. host: we would like to thank all of the callers that got through to our lines and were able to let us know their contacts with the officials regarding the debt crisis. we will take a break. later on in the program, we will speak with two members of congress to speak about their involvement in the debt

negotiations, how they voted in last night's vote, but first coming up after this break, we will talk about the debt and the associations and the acts in congress with the senior congressional reporter. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> visit charleston this weekend on pick -- book tv and american history tv. confederate charleston author on south carolina's secession from the union. today at 5:15 p.m. eastern. american history tv on c-span3. the story of douglas from the

city's festival. discover more about the unique history in the literary life this weekend along with plantation life and the catastrophic 1886 earthquake. charleston, south carolina, this weekend on c-span2 and 3. >> if you're asking me to be direct with you on a political situation, i will not say that the left is always wrong or right, i will tell you what i have to think. we will see if we can agree. i will try to give you my honest assessment of what is taking place. >> sunday on the controversial comments that resulted from his firing on national public radio. his new book is "muzzled." it is sunday on "q&a."

from the libertarian freedom fest, they are matching today's business leaders to counterparts. many examined -- this weekend on "after words" 7 c i agents were killed with a bomb. also how teddy roosevelt's life with shaped in a dakota as a rancher. go to book tv dot org. >> early may, the president asked if i would be willing to serve an additional two years. >> congress approved and president obama signed into law, legislation to allow the fbi chief to remain in his post and extra two years.

learn more about j. edgar hoover online at the c-span video library. search, what, clip, and a share, washington your way. "washington journal" continues. host: richard cohen joins us to talk about the latest on the developments in the negotiations. he talks about where they have been, where they are going. on the wall street journal, the boehner bill squeaks through. back to the "wall street journal" mcconnell likely holds the key to the deal. take us through the past, present, in future.

guest: past months when speaker boehner took office, he was preparing republicans for what he thought would be very difficult in raising the debt ceiling. we know the treasury secretary says it needs to be raised high since tuesday. the work by the house finally culminated in a vote last evening around 6:00, in which the house narrowly was without a single democratic vote. to raise the debt ceiling but with a condition of spending cuts. now the bill must go to the senate. it has done nothing to this point. it has three days to get it all

done and the pressure is on. the senate has an unusual procedures and has a key -- at 1:00 in the morning, sunday morning. they will try to end the debate on what is senator reid's proposal or an amended version of it. there is a need for 60 votes to end the debate. only 53 democrats, and we will need seven republicans voting on the debate. if they do not have a good boat,

then we will have problems. who is sitting in the driver's seat? guest: they both play an important role. in the senate, senator harry reid received to the house passed bill and the first thing he did is get the senate on what was a party line vote to stay -- say no to a bill. senator reid driving the process offered his alternative. in doing that, senator reid invited all senators,

especially republican leader mcconnell to reach out to him a. he needs republicans and from the logical way for this to proceed is for republicans to channel their views through senator mcconnell, the republican leader. senator reid asked for a straight up or down vote. senator mcconnell said, no, we want to go through the normal process where it takes 60 votes to end the filibuster, correct? guest: then senator reid can pass his alternative solely with democratic votes.

they want to use the procedures in which they can keep talking senator mcconnell, it takes 60 votes to virtually do anything in the senate. that is the case here as well. host: the president says he endorses the read and mcconnell. and can be modified. let us see what he had to say yes today and then we will get your response. >> there are multiple ways to resolve this problem. senator reid has introduced a plan in the senate to introduce cuts agreed upon by both parties. senator rick -- mitch mcconnell, a republican, offered a solution that can get us through this. there are plenty of compromises we can make to either of these plants to get them passed through the house and the senate and would allow me to sign them

into law. host: what is the likelihood that the senate will work together in a way that the president is proposing to get this bill passed? guest: that is the $64,000 question. the leaders in congress of both parties have said for weeks or months that they will work together to ensure that something is done and that they will a avoid a default, which would result in an increase in the federal rates. and they say they will cooperate, and we will see that sunday morning. the house would have to approve the changes.

all of the tot remains very divisive in both parties. host: we are talking about the latest of elements in the debt ceiling negotiations. we would like you to get involved in the conversation. the numbers to call are at the bottom of the screen. debose a call or send an e-mail or eight tweet -- a tweet. our first call is on the democratic line. caller: can they explain what they will be cutting and what they will be capping in the bill? guest: that is a very good

question. you have not heard much, because all of the proposals are similar in intent they make the so-called spending cuts, but they did it through a device called a spending cap, which would reduce overall spending by trillions of dollars over the next 10 years. it is only a general kappa that would reduce overall spending and be left up to congress to figure out where specific cuts

will be made. it is too hard to reach a agreement to make the cuts specific. all three of these proposals work off of the concept of cap. some of the numbers are fairly similar to each other. even with all of the harsh rhetoric, when you look at the specific proposals, they are not rather specific. host: our next call comes from tampa, fla. on our line for democrats. virginia? caller: i have been in touch with my representatives.

i have an e-mail from the office of president obama. i am considering changing my party, because i am very disgusted with what the republicans are trying to do. they need a compromise. we need to protect the benefits of a veterans and our elderly. and whomever is going to support social security -- host: do you see or hear a lot of people talking across party lines because of what they feel for their representatives here in washington? guest: public opinion is very

negative on both parties. some of voters say -- can i play off briefly from a call from tampa? she is talking correctly about partisanship. last evening the pact -- the house passed the bill and it went to the senate. the first thing the senate did was to have a party line vote essentially in the senate saying notice speaker boehner's built their that happened last night. what will the house do today? they will have a vote on a proposal that senator reid laid out, in which the republican- controlled house will say to

senator reid's alternative. so you have this reflex motion in both parties to say to the other party. and at a time where there is a need, there is going to be a deal, eventually they will have to say yes to each other. but we are not there yet. host: next up, kan., on our line for independents. caller: one thing i have heard no discussion on clause tea partyers talking about my raising on the wealthiest americans because that would deprive them in reinvesting that money back into the economy. that has not happened. if they're still using the same argument today that we cannot raise the taxes because it would impair the investment, these people are giving themselves bonuses or sending the money

overseas, what ever they are doing with it, it is not going back to the purpose of not raising the taxes to begin with. if not heard any conversation on any network or newspaper on this, and and this argument for not raising the taxes on the wealthy as. guest: good point. the reality goes back to the point i made a moment ago. all three of the proposals include no additional revenues. no tax increase, no elimination of tax breaks, that is the assumption in each of the three proposals. there had been earlier some discussion of increased revenues. we do not want to say tax increases, but increased revenues were discussed fairly intensively in detail during the negotiations between president

obama and house speaker boehner. they reached a tentative agreement in their discussions which ultimately fell apart. but in their discussions, they did agree to a number, i think a hundred billion dollars of increase revenues over 10 years. -- $800 billion of increased revenues over 10 years. those negotiations collapsed and that was pretty much the end of discussions of increased revenue. host: massachusetts, you are on the "washington journal." caller: it is very unfortunate that this ferry politically divisive debate has hung up over the debt ceiling, because it is much of an illusion. congressman ron paul running for president has pointed out that the federal reserve holds $1.6 trillion of treasury debt, from

its quantitative easing purchases. since the fed is a quasi-branch of the government, this debt is really money that the government chose to itself. this could be canceled. if this $1.6 trillion was canceled, it reduce the outstanding debt by a corresponding amount to a level well below the debt ceiling. as a result, it would buy a lot of time for both political parties to pull back from the brink and have a careful debate to consider the best solutions for the debt and deficit going forward. guest: there is obviously the issue of not only the amount of debt that the nation have party has, how much credit is still available, something that is strictly technical -- pretty technical. the politicians and leaders and

members of congress, they pretty much have decided they will go with treasury secretary geithner, and g-8 said that the credit runs out, there is no more available next tuesday. the caller is correct -- there are different views of it, but that view is pretty much has been cast aside because it is really -- even those who say there is additional money available, it is a matter of days or a few weeks. so what has happened essentially is that the treasury department deadline has become an action- forcing mechanism. not much happens in washington without a deadline. host: in the "new york post" this morning, they talked about mapping out an action plan. they show secretary geithner dressed up as a football coach. under geithner's game plan, they

prepare banks for all-out blitz is -- does it sound like the administration has decided that congress is not going to come to an agreement by august 2nd and it is time to lay out a plan be to get past that date? guest: they have to be prepared at the treasury debt apartment and throughout government for all options. they have tried to do it very quietly, very cautiously. they have not gone public in describing their options in part because they do not want to alarm people about what might be the consequences. and they want to create the impression that this option b

is that we do not have to worry about it. that congress will raise the debt ceiling as the leaders of congress have said and we are going to see whether option a works. host: wally on the subject, option b, have you heard of any discussions going on between secretary geithner or the people in the treasury and their international counterparts to keep the international market steady as the congress and the president continue to work through this? guest: we can be certain those discussions are taking place and that u.s. officials have tried to reassure leaders are around the country of public officials as well as private sector bankers and financiers. treasury department is assuring them that everything will be fine. look, it is not the congress

whether there will be progress, to make sure that everything will be fine. if there is not action by monday morning, there will be reasons -- i want to be careful i put this. there will not be much time yet to make sure that come monday morning, if congress has not move this along, there will be cause for concern on monday morning. host: richard cohen is our guest for the next 22 minutes. he is a senior congressional reporter with "congressional quarterly." wanted on a line for democrats, ohio. -- wanda on the line for democrats, a high of. caller: i have paid my taxes and now i am very low-income. i do not get any assistance but i am worried about my money.

i really do not understand all these things. they seem to be above my head. but there was a young senator that was on c-span about three nights ago, i did not get his name, he was a democrat from virginia. his statement was, first of all, we are americans but we're not republicans or democrats. if we do not do our job, we should be fired. and you know something? i agree with that. guest: that gets to a couple of points i have made. interesting comments from the caller. one, wanda is an example of how the public is getting pretty disenchanted with what is going on in congress. the lack of action, and number two, she is talking to the

extent that wanda cited that democratic senator from virginia, maybe that was mark warner, who talked about the need for bipartisanship. yes, some members talk about the need bark -- for bipartisanship, and there even have been including centers, some bipartisan, but we have not seen the results out of that bipartisan proposal. there is no serious bipartisan proposal that have come to the senate or house floors. host: the senate and house will be back in action later on today. this -- the house gavels in at noon. you'll be able to watch it here on c-span. the senate is in at 1:00 in the afternoon for you can watch them live on c-span2.

ryan on our line for independents. caller: a quick comment on one of the previous callers about businesses and people investing, businesses reinvesting. i think that more than raising the taxes, is the uncertainty that the community faces right now, the health care bill, and if you watched the president address the chamber of commerce, it seems clear that the business community is not a big fan of the current administration. also, i wanted to comment on the fact that -- host: ryan, we will leave it

there. guest: the businesses had been urging congress to work the problem out and to get it resolved. and they made the point that the uncertainty in congress is bad for business. i think that this point from business was reinforced by the discouraging news yesterday that the economy is very weak. growth came and in the second quarter of this year at 1.3%, lower than expected, lower than is necessary to create jobs. and the overall growth rate for the past six months is less than 1%. again, it is a number, but that number suggests a lot of pain in the country. all lot of people looking for work who are unemployed. businesses that are not moving

at full tilt. the country frankly is hurting economically. that underscores this. host: the "wall street journal" put out this chart talking about key players to watch as the debt ceiling drama moves into the senate floor. under a category that they have republicans on the fence, they list one at -- orrin hatch, lindsey graham, richard lugar, marco rubio, and bob corker of tennessee. the uc is similar thread or a similar pattern to the voting -- do you see a similar threat or pattern to these centers and why they would be on the fence? guest: i see two separate groups in that list of republican senators who you mentioned. one of our the hard-liners among senate republicans who are not

likely to be part of any bipartisan deal. they really objected, some hard- liners who have said no even as speaker boehner's proposal, and they would include orrin hatch yesterday, and there were 6 republicans who actually supported harry reid in saying no to the republic -- to the boehner proposal. they said no to boehner because there were more conservative. there are hardliners among senate republicans and there are also a separate group including, you mentioned senator lugar and senator corker of tennessee. they are trying to reach some kind of bipartisan agreement and they would be in a group that to

reach 60 to end debate, they would be the kind of republicans who would be part of the necessary group of republicans to reach some kind of bipartisan agreement. there two groups in the senate. host: we'll get back to other groups in a second bid we have an e-mail from an unidentified viewer. guest: good question. i will respond to what the republicans say. there is some truth to this, the republicans point out that in the house they pass something called cut, cap, and balance. that is the proposal they say

that they prefer. the house republicans passed last week and it went to the senate. as senate democrats, under the majority leader immediately said -- passed a motion saying, no, so then the republicans say, we are pulling back. the bill that house republicans passed this week does not go as far as their bill from last week. it's a small matter of degree, obviously. the bill this week, while men may not reach quite as far as last week's proposal, it is still unattractive to democratic votes. host: back to the phones to continue our conversation with richard cohen. our next call comes from eileen on a line from republicans in new jersey. caller: it is a pleasure to have

you on the show. it is very interesting. my one comment before i ask the question -- everyone involved with our government needs to go back and read washington's farewell address concerning factions. this is exactly what you're seeing right now. i think that is probably what washington envisioned could happen with factions, with our parties. one of the things i am hearing is a gdp all the time. in the past, we used the focus on gnp, gross national product. we looked at gdp for third world nations. why are we focusing on gdp versus gnp? is a dealing with the fact that our manufacturing has gone out the window in is going to other parts of the world and we're just focusing on services? and i know one person called

about our gross rate was of little over 1%? it is under 1%. we have a lot of outsourcing taking place. and jobs are being created but they are going out of the country. could you comment on that? guest: the caller is correct. the government has used this unit -- this new measure of economic growth, gdp, gross domestic product instead of gross national product. this is taking place, my knowledge is limited, but this is a change that has been made going back quite a few years under presidents of the party. i do not think that there is anything sinister in the use of gdp reference instead of gnp. no matter what measure you use,

eileen is correct is that the economy is very weak. less than 1% growth in the first six months of this year. the public is unhappy because there is not enough jobs and not enough -- a lot of pessimism about where the country is heading. host: in addition to being the senior congressional reporter for "congressional quarterly," he has written books. is the co-author of of of the allman knocked of american politics -- he is the co-author of "the almanac of american politics." also "changing course in washington." back to the phones. eric on a line for democrats, you are on the "washington journal."

, andr: i am a veteran si be sure happens to be my congressman. schuler is my congressman. what is going happen to us if we do not reached the debt ceiling? in for anybody who is on that kind of stuff, that is what i like to know. instead of having the filibusters, i would even let heath become a quarterback and into the situation as timothy geithner said, let's get

republicans and democrats on the field. guest: the caller raises a good question, we do not know the answer. if the government runs out of money, does not have sufficient money to pay its bills, because there is no increase in the day it ceiling, we do not know -- in the debt ceiling -- we know that there are some areas that government officials, the white house and in congress, have said some bills will be paid. in all likelihood, the bondholders in this country and overseas will be paid because if they are not, there would be a big crisis. there also been suggestions by some that social security recipients should be paid. there been suggestions by others that the members of the active military should be paid.

has anyone said that veterans should be paid no matter what? not necessarily. should schoolteachers, should local school boards receive money, highways, should welfare recipients? it is uncertain who would not get money if the government no longer had sufficient money to borrow. these are the kinds of questions that have been thought about but it really little public discussion because as the treasury department does not want to alarm the public that this might happen. host: earlier we talked about republicans on the fence. this is from the "wall street journal." the listed also democrats on the fence. they listed these. guest: there are differences among republicans and also among

some democrats. having said that, there was one key vote in the house yesterday and in the senate. on each of those two votes, the democrats voted unanimously. we have not seen those differences play out. if there is a compromise agreement, a bipartisan agreement, in all likelihood some democrats in the house and the senate would oppose it and some republicans in the house and senate would oppose it. we are not there yet. but if the viewers are staying tuned to the next few days, if they start to see some democrats and some republicans separately saying i am not going there, that may be a good sign that an agreement is moving forward in a bipartisan way. host: the senate has already

voted to table the boehner bill. we expect that the house later today will turn down the read bill. -- reid bill. how does congress move forward in the next 24 to 48 hours? guest: it is time for the adults to step florida's they have said. if they do it in a bipartisan way, it will have to be done quietly and in back rooms over there. a few blocks away in the capitol building, so we are not going to see it. and there have been some discussions. the leaders in both parties have said and their staff and spokesmen have said that there have been some quiet discussions among the leaders, boehner, ried in particular, and if there is to be in agreement, it would be those to taking the lead.

on the one hand, they are quietly talking to each other and reaching out to each other. on the other hand, publicly, they are still faring grenades at each other. host: when we talk about "adults" being in the room, does that include the vice-president of the president? or is this something that has to be worked out between house leaders in the senate leaders without the kids sing or distraction of the administration? -- kibbutzing or the destruction of the administration? guest: the president has been actively involved in negotiations with speaker boehner. those discussions ended a week ago, but they have had an impact. bayh's president biden several weeks ago led a bipartisan group of leaders to try to do some of

the initial discussions. it was not -- it did not end up with a final package, but it helped to set some of the framework which helps to explain why there is some agreement in the general approach of these three proposals. host: next up is lansing, kan., wayne, you are on the "washington journal" with richard cohen. caller: i should have been on the independent line but i will take that. the major powers of the world thought over what they had, and we're going to be fighting over what nobody else has. i'm afraid that if someone does not come up with something will soon, you can call it what everyone, but there's not want to be much choice to fight ever. guest: there is reason to be discouraged these days with the

politics and economics. to some extent, there are problems obviously with the economy around the world. i would say some spots are better than others, some growth areas, but to the extent that the u.s. economy is weak, that clearly does have an impact around the world. host: as we take a look it the national debt in the trillions of dollars provided by the washington post, we will take our next call from new hampshire. on a power line for democrats. -- our line for democrats. caller: right after the congressional vote on cut, cap, and balance, the revised version, the interviewer was speaking with a couple of the

new republican congressmen. one of them was actually proud that they were holding the stock market hostage. he was happy that the stock market was down. he would be just as happy, he said, if it dropped another 700 points. it is just ridiculous that these new tea party guys are just holding everything hostage just to get this debt ceiling thing done. the republicans are saying live within their means. half of the people out there do not have means to live within any more. we got double whammyed, once from the stock market, and now the politicians are sticking it to us. the little guys are not going anywhere. there are -- there is absolutely no give on the republican side. cut, cap, and balance has

absolutely no give. guest: many people have investments in the stock market. many of them obviously through mutual funds. most of those people this past week saw the value of their accounts go down. not radically, but the stock market dropped a few percentage points in the past week. if there is an agreement, i suppose the stock market will go up and people will make back some of their money. but yes, those who have investments and retirement funds, they lost a little this week. in terms of his comment about tea party members, there are a lot of them in congress, 87 fresh members, not all the marty party members, but many of the republicans were elected and

they tried to act on the promises. when you get that many, they have an impact. they have carried through in many cases with their promises and what they view as a mandate to change how washington works. it could lead to reduced spending. host: from the "new york times," how they voted. 87% of the freshmen voted yes, 13% voted no. non-freshman, 93% voted yes, 7% voted no. guest: those are accurate figures. there are some differences, but i think those numbers are interesting, but to me, most

republicans are together on this. regardless of their backgrounds. host: calling from virginia beach, you are on the "washington journal." caller: a couple of comments. fdr, when they brought social security into existence, it was supposed to be a guarantee for our seniors. it seems now that that becomes a hammer to threaten people with. i have a bad taste in my mouth for both parties. secondly, we keep hearing the euphemism, revenue, which is applied word for tax increases. we also hear the euphemism, holding the country hostage. we were designed to be a divided government. we have three branches. my question to those talking about a hostage taking, if not now, when? when will we have the important

discussion of cutting? and they've already downgraded us to aa, whereas movies and the other are paid for theirs. and the other are paid for there is. host: we will leave it there. guest: i am not an expert in how the ratings have done. some of the servicers have warned that they may and warned that they will lower the ratings. and this is been noted by the members of congress. they worried that -- a worry that the big agencies follow through, if they determine that our credit rating should be reduced, that have bad effects and among other things it would

-- a lowering of our credit rating would increase the cost of interest rates and finance generally. host: richard cohen has been our guest. thank you for being on the program. in 45 minutes, we will be talking with tim ryan of ohio. coming up after this break, representative mike pompeo of kansas joins us to continue our discussion on the debt debate. first we will take a look at some of this week's news to the eyes of political cartooning.

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congress, there is a preview on the youtube channel. become a subscriber. it is free. watch the entire library of congress documentary and hundreds of other timely bid use online at youtube. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are continuing our discussion this morning about the debt debate in the upcoming august 2 deadline. joining us is representative mike pompeo, republican of kansas. welcome to the program. you were on the fence about speaker boehner's plan and last nine you voted for. what changed your mind? guest: i became convinced that this was the right thing for america. we needed to put forward a plan that had real spending reductions. i became convinced that these were possible and real. we could for the first time in

decades reduce our nation's discretionary spending. and when we got an opportunity to vote on a balanced budget amendment as part of that, i said, that is something i could support. the senate rejected it last night but i hope to reconsider. host: when you're still on the fence, did you have any face-to- face discussions with the speaker? guest: i did. i had the chance to speak with a lot my peers in congress. i came to congress from the business world. i know how rita balance sheet and i know what it means to have debt at this kind of level. there is a lot of work to do. we're not going to be able to get all of that during this set of discussions. the question for me was, is this as much as we can get? is this as far as we can go toward putting america's fiscal house in order? during those discussions, i came to the judgment that this was

the right path for us to go down in the house of representatives. host: last night the senate tabled speaker boehner's plan became over. today when the house goes into session, they are expected to vote on the majority leader's plan and is expected to be defeated. with those two mileposts sat there, where does congress move from here to get the debt ceiling debate solved and move on? guest: i do not know precisely how this unfolds over the next day or two. i hope that it will. i believe that america has an obligation to pay its bills. we have to take care of those commitments that were made. but those commitments were made by folks here before me. they put us on a path that -- both republicans and democrats, by the way, and i for one cannot

support anything that simply extends the credit card without beginning to fix the spending addiction that america is suffering from. in kansas, we have enormous unemployment. we know that if we continue to take this many resources from the private sector, then we will have big government and no jobs. and that's the place we are today. i cannot support anything that takes the can down the road. host: we're talking with representative mike pompeo about the debt debate and the upcoming august 2 deadline. if you like to get involved, give us a call. the numbers are on the screen. as always, you can reach us by e-mail and twitter. we want to show kent conrad on the senate floor yesterday arguing that a constitutional amendment provision in the house

debt ceiling bill absolutely guarantees that the bill is going to fail in the senate. we will take a look and then we would get your response. >> no serious person can fail to understand that putting an amendment to the constitution of the united states that is deeply flawed into that package absolutely guarantees that it cannot pass in this chamber. that would take a two-thirds vote. i do not believe it would even command a simple majority here. host: mike pompeo, your thoughts about what kent conrad had to say. is the balanced budget amendment to make or break to you? guest: you hear the difference between people who had been here too long and those who have just arrived. i consider myself a very serious

person and he suggests that i am not. i came at this with very serious intent. i am deeply troubled at the state of all our fiscal house. there were many democrats who supported a balanced budget amendment before. this is not a partisan affair. it is simply common sense that you have to balance the budget. the state of kansas does it. families do it. churches do it. there is nothing radical about putting it in the constitution that you would just and the money that you have. i look at him and recognize that his time has come. host: our first call for mike pompeo comes from westmont, virginia. rosy. caller: i was wondering what's

the person is going to do with their rent and stuff. i think the senators need to get together and get the package that will pass some people have their income coming in. if we do not pay our rent and stuff, we have no where to live. you need to discuss something so that a deal can be made. guest: i appreciate that comment. i certainly hope that we confine resolution, too. with respect to social security payments, have sponsored legislation that would require that treasury department to prioritize social security payment should we move past august 2nd into the weeks following and we do not have resolution to the debt ceiling issue. we know that the government collects a lot of money every day, from american taxpayers.

if social security checks to not go out next week, call the white house. they have the resources and the money. it is available free if they do not make such security payments on august 3, it is because they chose not to do so. host: franken on line for independents. caller: had we cut our military spending after the cold war, we still would of been spending seven times more than the rest of the industrialized world. we probably would not be in this situation. the tax cuts that we have had over the past 30 years have not lead to any type of productive results. it just seems that you are fighting over things and you do not want to do anything that may raise revenue. after world war ii, we had a situation where we were charging

90% in taxes on the ridge trying to make up for the problems that we have. now we have super problems and you do not want to raise taxes at all. guest: frank, thanks for your questions. is the case that i'm opposed to raising taxes. i do not believe that we have a problem with the amount of revenue we are collecting. we're just saying yes to too many things. i do want to talk about the cold war. i was in the army from 1986- 1991. i was serving in east germany patrolling the border when the berlin wall came down. i know exactly what happened when the cold war ended. and it is the case that our department of defense has waste and fraud and we need to attack that. as someone who is a former soldier, i know what is there. indeed, one of the very first

acts i took as a new member of congress was to put an amendment on the floor to end the debate over house resolution no. 1 which would reduce this spending and the department of tents for a program that i thought made no sense. i agree that we have to do national security right but not one penny more. host: you have a background in the aerospace industry. on camera, we have a list of projected revenues of $172 billion that would be not a enough to pay these bills it the debt ceiling is not raised three number three on that his defense vendors. guest: there will definitely be prioritization. there is a question about how much and win with respect to tax load. but there is no doubt that shortly after august 2, there will have to be choices made about which invoices get paid. i hope we do not get to that point. is my expectation that we will

find a solution, which is what the american people are looking for, in the next couple of days that avoids that. but we cannot do is leave the next generation and the worst place. the president believes that we can raise a little more revenue and we can just are a little bit more money. i believe it is time for america to do the right thing and began to put its house back on the right fiscal trajectory. we're not asking to solve all these problems. we do not tackle the things that will save medicare. save medicaid and social security. we do not even begin to tackle this is part of the discussion. we're simply talking about discretionary spending. host: on this list of priorities of people they get paid, should the debt ceiling not get rates, veterans affairs is on the list. but they are no. 10, and number

nine is military pays. would you like to see them higher on the list? who would you move down? guest: i like to see them move up higher on the list. one of the things that we know is that if we have soldiers in harm's way, but they and their families must be taken care of. there are plenty of resources to take care of that. but i do not want to plot over that. it is absolutely the case that it will be incredibly difficult decisions to make in the weeks and days ahead. there'll be folks who are depending on the things that come from the federal government in the short term. so we have to get a solution in the next few days. host: representative mike pompeo as in his first term representing the fourth district of kansas. next is our line for democrats -- republicans, i'm sorry. caller: i am a retired military

person. i spent 27 years in the united states army. i am concerned about what is going on in this country. as i talk to people who come back from overseas now, the first question out of their mouth is, what happened to my country? we go fight for the freedom and we come home and find out the freedom is not here. things like the military retirees at federal income tax hike. mind -- but nothing was said by either side when this happened. we are getting all wonder in my minds what is going on. this administration that we have, the obama administration, has not put very much effort into our military people. it has us very concerned. when you see people like dan jones criticizing the people

from the republicans, calling them evil, out to get as, devils. and i am talking about the tea party. van joneses and admitted communist. -- is an admitted communist. guest: i did not serve as long as you and i want to thank you for your service. we have to make sure that we take care of people who of sacrifice so much. in awe of the people who enter military service today. they know they will be in harm's day. the nation has two fundamental tasks. the government is supposed to keep us safe and the second duty is to get out of the way. when it comes to making sure we do national security right, i'm someone who thinks we should

spend every penny that it takes but we have to do it in a way that is fiscally sound. host: a tweet. guest: people paying into the systems, we have made commitments. i believe that if you make a promise to someone, you ought to keep it. in social security in particular, my father is in his 80's and my son is in his 20's. my father is going to be fine and get his benefits. the system will be around for him. i am very worried about that system being around for my son. i love to see it transition where the federal government took in less resources and the it next generation could take care of themselves. but what we cannot do is what the president has put forward.

the president has said that it is fine. let's leave it alone and not touch medicaid or social security. let's let them continue on their current path. that is irresponsible and we have to do everything we can to provide a fiscal trajectory that allows those programs to continue. host: mike pompeo mentioned that he patrolled the iron curtain before the fall of the berlin wall. he did not mention that he graduated first in his class at west point and went on to harvard law school. we will take another call on our line for democrats. dolores. caller: i have a question because we are shipping jobs overseas and we're buying china's products and we get more and more in debt in -- to china. something should be done to bring the jobs back home because that is where the revenue is

falling down. we have shipped all of our jobs over there so that the people here in the united states to not have any work. all of the jobs have been shipped over. then we have the people who come in here illegally and take our jobs, and the government still is not doing much about that. and they are not paying taxes. they are going out to the welfare office and getting welfare. they are also taking their money and sending it back home. when they make enough money to live high on the hog back home, they go back home. i happen to know that one of our companies put a place in mexico and yet they turn around and they still come back over here and they still want to work over here in our country because they want it free. we have a bunch of people here they want freedom of the united states, they want to live in our

country, but we have thought, my brothers had thought, my father has taught, my uncle, my grandfathers fought for the freedom of this country, and i think that this is ridiculous. the whole united states people hostage what you make this debate. guest: thank you for the call. i appreciate the talk about jobs. that is at the center of this. they are competing visions on this. seven months ago, i was running a company that was manufacturing and it sold equipment to the oil and gas industry. before that, i had a machine check top. i know exactly what it takes to create jobs in america. we are up against the president who is the anti-president -- anti-business president and the entire history of the united states. every step he has taken is something that has destroyed jobs.

we had 2.5 million jobs lost since he was lost, 1.8 million since the stimulus plan for what we can do to create jobs in america is simple. at the federal level, we create an environment to invest capital in the country. lowering taxes would encourage businesses to grow companies here. we tell our regulators, we want safe drinking water and clean air, but we do not need to destroy industry in america and send it to mexico and china because of these burdensome regulations. it cost us to have the 9.2% unemployment that we have here today and i came here to put the federal government back in a place where folks will want to invest and grow and americans can go back to work. host: in the "washington post" this morning, talking about state and local cutbacks.

it up to restrict growth to an anemic levels. your thoughts. guest: it is devastating. we cannot have growth of 0.4% and hope to have job replacements any where close to what america needs. you talk about the states and the impact on states. that has been a long time coming. the states do not have the benefit of a printing press like we have at the federal government. they have to balance their

budget. we have delayed that pain with the stimulus plan. we sent money down to the states and attended for years that states did not have to do difficult things and make good decisions for their own balance sheets. it is not a retraction to to the size of state government. the governments have gotten too big as well and they are starting to do the right thing. you see what happens in wisconsin and ohio and now kansas where we have governors working hard to create environments where people want to grow businesses again. host: next tuesday all on our line for republicans. -- next is dale on our line for republicans. caller: my question -- i am 47. i am on medicare. and medicaid and social security. one of my daughters is on social

security and medicaid. iraq and what i am trying to ask you is, they put our stuff on the table and shoveled it around like it was nothing, to push it from one side to the other side. my question is, when that senator got shot, everyone agreed that there would be no more and name calling, downgrading, or anything like that. and that they would work together as a body. well now, we are in a situation where we have got deadline august the second, and has everyone forgotten what they said live on tv on channel 5, on c-span, that they would agree

not to do name-calling? and that they would agree to work together as a body? because everything really boils down, the bible says that when the body of christ is full, that is when god is going to come and take us out of here. host: we will leave it there. guest: i'd do my best every day to not engage in name-calling. it is important. we have deep, deep policy issues facing our country. so it is not about this president as a person or any senator as a person. it is about the policies that they undertaken their vision about what they think is the right course for america. on that we have an obligation to fight them and evade and make argument for why it is that i believe that the american people said on november 2nd of last year, enough. enough spending, stop.

let's make the federal government the humble organization that it needs to be. go back and read the history of our founding fathers and they fought vigorously, deep debates about this very same set of issues. how big should the federal government be? the government broke a promise back at the new deal. it moved from those constitutional moorings and we need to get back to the right place. the debate this weekend is sincere and i think both parties deeply believe that things that they talk about. i think that they are honest. we just have competing visions for what the federal government ought not look like. host: c.j. since this e-mail -- sends this e-mail. r. the freshman class, a

freshman republicans, are they testing the leadership of speaker boehner and representative eric cantor? guest: i do not see it that way. the freshman class came in with a different mandate from the american people -- from the american people. elections have consequences. we're still living to the consequences of the election of 2006 and 2008. they were very different elections where the people sent a very different group of people to washington, d.c. the freshman class has come here with a deep conviction of what we ought to guest: there were many folks trying to do the work of conservative leadership. i don't think it breaks out freshman at verses those who have been there a little bit longer you see a disproportionate number of folks

who came here, like me, from the business world who want to come here and to our best and america back in the place it is supposed to be. i am 47 years old and i hope to get back to the private sector before too terribly long. host: there is a significant number of freshman republicans who identified themselves as part of the tea party movement. part of the criticism has been that they are more faithful to the tea party than they are trying to work within their party's system here in washington on capitol hill. what would you say to that? guest: i think that misunderstand what happened last november. i have heard folks say that. the tea party sentiment is something that i fully embrace. this notion of liberty and limited government is a thing that i hear when i talk to folks who are self-identified members of the tea party.

those are the people i go to church with. those of the people i work with. these are people who recognize that folks in washington, d.c. have lost their way over the last decade. when folks say you are beholden to the tea party, i think the truth is is that we are committed to a vision of a smaller government host: our next call for mike pompeo, democrats line. caller: good morning, i have a couple of comments. i heard buddy thinks this medicare, medicaid is free. -- everybody thinks this medicare, medicaid is free. medicare costs my wife and i $86 per month for it for us to get medicaid, costs us $300 per month. how is that fair to us?

i was watching c-span yesterday and on the republican side, you see these young kids running around in the house. that is no place for kids. with the seriousness of the business we have at hand. it is uncalled for. let the big boys to see what is going on. if is no place for kids. guest: with respect to medicare, one of the things that is driving the enormous projections of deficits are entitlement programs. they take up an enormous amount of the federal budget. when you read the reports, we

are 15-years away from bankrupting the medicare program your payment every month will be far insufficient to make sure that you continue to receive that benefit. it is one of the reasons that republicans have taken a very serious approach to resolving the crisis, that medicare crisis, which will be upon us before we know it. when we pass the budget plan as best year, we said we would take care of folks 55 and older. we also said we will not allow a 15-member board of un elected people to decide her fate and the medical treatment that you will or will not get. we put forth a plan the to make sure that medicare is around for you and the next generation. i hope we can get democrats to join us on that host: plan was theeid's

only plan, would you vote for it? guest: i will oppose it this afternoon. if that is the only no plan, i only n and i suspect we will improve on that a great deal and will get this thing resolved. host: you called president obama irresponsible and reckless. is there anything he can do to regain respect from republicans? >> it is not about respect. i respect that he is doing his level best just as i do every day when i come into work. what i hope he will do is begin to do things differently. let me give you a first and example. in south-central kansas we make jets. when the general aviation aircraft and commercial airplanes. that was the business i was in for many years. this president goes on the air and instead of presenting a plan, he talks about fat cat

corporations building airplanes. the folks impacted by the kind of irresponsible language are welders and mechanics and union workers and suppliers and restaurant owners in south- central kansas that rely on manufacturing of general aviation aircraft. it is a fundamental misconception about how economies work. if you continue to mock an industry that is the last jewell in the american manufacturing crown it will leave -- we should hold these people up as paragons of examples. they created a tool for people to fly around in and instead, the president just talks about them being corporate fat cats while he flies around in air force one.

host: we will go back to the telephones. our next call is on the republican line from orlando, florida. caller: good morning, gentlemen. thank you for taking my call. we all need to get along. we have to. obama need to bring us together like the leader that we voted him in to be. also, this is like the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. that was all about financial. congratulations, al qaeda, we gave you the greatest gift. you divided and conquered. i am in the tea party and the way i see it, we are all in the tea party. you have to opt out. i am tired of being insulted. what your not sure question was.

i would agree that we should not insult anyone. i tried not to insult anyone for my entire campaign. i have heard haverail against those who participate in the tea party. i find that not the way political discourse should be. i talked to folks across the aisle all the time. there are debates within our own party over what that right course of action is. i do this respectfully every day and you should do it as intelligently as you can. you should do what you think you were elected to do. i think that is what you see taking place today. i think it is healthy. both parties used to say yes to everything. that is how we got here. today we see people who say we have to back away from that. i'm thankful what the american people did on november 2, 2010.

host: do you consider yourself a member of the tea party? guest: yes, i embrace the principles as the mainstream tea party -- freedom, liberty, and small government. i consider myself to be part of that host: baltimore, maryland, on our line for democrats. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am excited to get a chance to speak with c-span. i have watched for years and this is the first time i had a chance to speak. you just mentioned civility. as a democrat, i find that a little strange. i recall when president obama was addressing congress and joe wilson from south carolina insult him and yelled out an insult in a joint session of congress. i hope the congressman will condemn that.

on the issue of the budget, cut, cap, and balance, they call it, what will the congress and cut? can he imagine what would happen to people if you woke up tomorrow and took $1 trillion from this fragile economy and what the results would be? i don't respect tea party members. they ran around and all of this debt was being built up by bush and never heard anything from them. they came on the scene when the black guy became president. guest: i find your last comment outrageous, to suggest that folks who believe in small government and freedom have a racial motivation. i find that at lawrence.

abhorrence. t. i represent people who have lots of different views. can i imagine what would happen to market the federal government dropped $1 trillion from the economy? i can. business people would begin to invest again. all of a sudden, people would say their taxes are low and i have more money to spend on my family or can give to charity. i can absolutely imagine what it would look like if the government took in $1 trillion less. if the stimulus had been done differently, the president's version of economic growth -- growth was the best -- if i bring the money to washington, d.c. and run for the political process and decide what to get it -- and decided what to get

it, the economy will grow. he thought we would not have employment over 8% but we know how that ended. i can absolutely imagine what would happen if we took that money out of the system. i don't think we would have 1.3% gdp growth or 44 million people on food stamps today. host: if you were starting from scratch and trying to put together a plan to reduce the deficit and avoid having to deal with the debt increase, are there one or two members of the house on the other side of the aisle that you would be willing to reach over to that you think you could work with to try to set something up that would solve the crisis? guest: i think we find lots of

good will on the other side. i have only been here for seven months so i have not had an opportunity to develop relationships with even those on my side of the aisle. i sit on the energy and commerce committee. there are good people over there trying to help make america more energy independence and some of those folks think we can't do this. -- things we can do this. there are folks over there, for sure. it does not fall on democratic and republican lines and we did not get here because republicans were the party of small government in the past 20 years. we spend too much as well. host: our line for independence, calling out of kansas city, missouri. caller: 94 cspan. -- thank you for cspan.

host: he is a representative. he is not a senator yet. caller: you have medicare and medicaid -- is your salary up or being cut? what about your retirement? i think you are all playing games, democrats and republicans and that is why i am independent. i believe everybody should be an independent. guest: we certainly need to do our nation's business regardless of whether we have a d or an r behind our name.

you talked about cutting in different places. we have to cut everywhere. since i have been here, we have reduced the number -- the amount of money our offices spend for legislative business. we have now done it twice. i would love to take on this challenge and go back in the private sector and take nothing from the federal government. i did not come here for that. i came here because i think we are at an inflection point. i hope i can be part of tipping it back in the right direction. so we can all watching c-span as much, no offense intended. there is so much focus in washington, d.c. that people have to take time out of their ordinary day to know they nuances of what is going on in washington, d.c. i would rather have them at their city council meeting or their school board meetings.

if i had my way, washington, d.c. would be so much smaller. to watch.e's plenty we will tell you more about that in a second. we want to take this last call for representatives pompeo, from columbus ohio, go ahead. caller: thank you. this is the first time i have never called into cspan. -- i have ever called into cspan. have they ever thought -- people are not going to propose the eggs. every time i hear him talk, he is talking about how he wants to

see tax cuts to the corporations' and people that own jets. he also does not want to put everything on the backs of the middle class. why can't they come to some kind of agreement over some of those proposals that he has said he is willing to accept? guest: i hope we hacan come to some kind of agreement. the proposals put forth by the house of representatives i think begin to put us down the right path. they don't fix all of our nation's ills. we got here over 40 years or 60 years. low-tech as a little while to get out of this. we are at an important point. we cannot spare this challenge in the face and step back from

it. we have to push through and push forward. we have to begin to do the right thing. for america. host: rep mike pompeo, thank you for being on the program. and just a few minutes, we will continue our discussion on the debt debate with representative tim ryan, a democrat from ohio. first, it is charleston weekend book-tv and's book t cspan 3's american history tv. join us as will appear at rare book collections and talk with local authors on book-tv and as we visit historic sites and learn about the charleston passed on american history tv. that is book-tv on cspan to an american history television on c-span for a.

for more information on charleston weekend and other cities, go to our website come c-span.org/local content. we will be right back after this break. ♪ " with titles like "slandered "and demonic," it is your chance to contact m coulter. -- ann coulter. >> the supreme court is now available as and and and e-book and tells the story of the court through the justices. we have interviews with current and retired justices. this includes an interview with the newest supreme court justice, elena kagan.

he could watch multimedia clips from all the justices. it is available now or ever e- books are sold. the cspan networks, we provide coverage of politics, public affairs, nonfiction books, and american history all available on television, radio, online, and social media networking sites and find our content any time through the cspan video library and we take cspan on the road with local content of vehicles bringing our resources to your community. it is watching your way, the cspan networks now available in more than 100 million homes, free to buy cable and provided as a public service. >> that figure that is removing the veil of ignorance from human understanding, that is an american invention. that is not a classical statue but it is classical for what it is all about th if you.

>> if you missed our latest documentary, the notified of all the videos we post and hundreds of other timely that is on line youtube.com/cspan. "washington journal" continues. host: we continue our discussion on the debt debate with tim ryan. welcome to the program. guest: good to be here. host: you have said you don't like either plan and the house or the senate. tell us why and what you would propose to replace them? guest: the fact that there is no revenues on the table -- i feel like we're debating two republican plans. no revenue and it is ambiguous as to when the cuts will come. any short-term cuts will hurt

the recovery that we are in. in both instances, it is unfair and that economics. host: revenues is another word for taxes. who would use tax and how much? guest: no one in the short term but i think we start with the top 1%. they have had a really good 20 or 30 year run. they have made a lot of money if you look at their real income in the late 1970's it was about 9% of the total real income in the country and now it is 25%. to have these discussions where we will cut discretionary spending and pell grants and head starts in early investment research and that the same time not ask the top 1% to be a part of solving the problem, i think that is irresponsible. i think you start there, nothing now because of the economy, and down the road, you let it kick

in. host: earlier on the program, which hadmike pompeo and represents a district that includes companies that produce corporate jets. he says it is not fair to target them for tax increases. what are your thoughts? guest: is not fair to tax someone for corporate jets but it is okay to cut pell grants? that is so unbalanced that it is not funny. if you have enough money to purchase a corporate jet, you will by the corporate jet regardless of much of what is happening around you. when you are looking at these investments we're starting to cut, down the road it makes us look competitive as a country. everyone is ok with all these caps and cutting discretionary spending but if you go to the

corporate jets and oil companies or the top 1% cycle all of a sudden, it is class warfare. host: we're talking with representative tim ryan, a member of the house budget committee. we're talking about the debt debate and we would like you to get involved if you have not called in the last 30 days. you can also send us massey via email and twitter. we want to show part of the president's radio address that will be played later this morning. he says the parties are not that far apart and must -- compromise by tuesday. >> the parties are not that far apart we are in agreement about

how much spending money to cut to reduce the deficit and we agree of a process to tackle tax reform entitlement reform. there are plenty of ways out of this mess but there is very little time. we need to reach a compromise by tuesday so that our country will have the ability to pay its bills on. thai bills like social security checks and veterans' benefits and contracts we have signed with thousands of american businesses. if we don't come up for the first time ever, we could lose our country's triple a credit rating not because we did not have the capacity to pay our bills s but because we did not have a political system to match it. for those who reflexively opposed tax increases on anybody, a lower credit rating could be a tax increase on everybody. we would all pay higher interest rates on mortgages, car loans, and credit cards. host: representative tim ryan, go ahead guest: i think he has articulate where we are.

there does need to be compromise. there is a level of frustration that we are compromising between two republican plans right now. at some point, it looks like they will need democratic votes in the house to get this thing passed. there is no democratic values represented. in the plan. the only thing worse than both of these plants is a default. i think the president clearly articulated what that would look like with higher interest rates throughout the economy. that is a bad deal all the way around. it will be an interesting couple of days. host: the republicans say the president has not presented a plan of his own. guest: that is pretty disingenuous. the president has sat down with them and bent over backwards. his suggestions have been to the right of most americans and to the right of most republicans.

still, john boehner walk er comeic cantor walked out. the president has clearly showed an enormous amount of patience and history will judge him as one of the most patient presidents that we have had a net long time. host: representative tim ryan is in his fifth term representing the 17th district of ohio. our first call for the representative comes from illinois on airline for republicans. caller: good morning. this is in reference to the corporate tax break on corporate aircraft. break ort a tax subsidy that was passed by congress and wasn't the purpose of that to serve as an inducement to get businesses to

spend money buying jets in order to prop up the american small jet airline industry? with respect to paying taxes and you made the reference that corporations can afford it, i also recall a number of years ago there was a luxury tax that was passed because the rich could afford to buy yachts and they could obviously pay that tax. the consequence of that tax was that it really hurt the yacht- building industry. it roundup in bill loss of how many thousands of job. guest: when was this? caller: it was sometime either in the late 1980's or early 1990's. it was a luxury tax that was a democratic idea that was passed. it was great -- it greatly damaged that industry and many

people lost their jobs. congress quickly reversed itself and got rid of that tax. guest: this is the debate we're having. is there anyone in the country that can help us get more revenue in the coffers? you don't want to tax corporate jet owners and you don't want to tax yacht owners, and you don't want to tax the top 1%. i am not here because i hate rich people. our country is in dire consequences. if we don't have the guts to ask somebody who owns a yacht or owns a corporate jet to help us out here, who will we ask? this all needs to be balanced out with the cuts coming in. why aren't people calling about cutting programs and head start

programs and the investment we need to make to be competitive? i have sympathy for many people but ultimately, i think the person who has the capacity and the wealth and the wherewithal to buy a yacht is going to buy the yacht regardless of any external circumstances that are happening. host: our next call comes from yucca valley, calif., are democratic line. caller: good morning. thet it a contradiction for government to regulate businesses? money is collected by the government from the american people specifically for retirement as a security and they appear to be combing old with all the other deaths -- cote mingled with all the other debt. guest: the government passed to provide some regulatory function.

there has to be a cop on the beach watching what is going on. one of the problems we got into was the complete collapse of the financial industry. there were not enough, beat watching what was going on and patrolling was going on. we've got to get away from the idea that the government has absolutely no role and responsibility. it has some role and some responsibility. if you want to get back to what we need to talk about and that is job creation, you need sound markets that are regulated by the government. the government is not perfect but, my goodness, we just have to look back over the last couple of years to see if somebody is not taking -- looking at the private sector, especially wall street, things get out of control rather quickly. host: here is a tweet --

instead of issuing palle grants, let the college endowments cover the cost of the programs. guest: that is starting to micromanage. people left money for those endowments for certain purposes and we don't know what they are. pell grants has been proven to be a good program that increases participation in colleges. it can reduce the burden for middle-class families. let's invest in this. we can't agree on investing on making college more affordable tax that we are going to be competitive, pell grants are key to invest in. >host: our next call. caller: representative brian, --

rep ryan, we are getting two-one and a balance of trade issues. when i go back to these trade agreements that we set up and balance them out? if it means import duties to equalize things, do that as revenue. why go after the small people in the country? this is wrong. guest: i think you hit the nail right on the head. one issue i have been pushing for the last seven years and finally got a vote on a tour the tail end of the last congress is the issue of china's currency manipulation. there is one thing we can do that is bipartisan that would stimulate job creation and investment in the united states which is dealing with the fact that china manipulates their currency. they get 25%-40% advantage on

their products that come into the united states. we pass this bill with almost 380 votes in the congress. that was probably the most substantive bipartisan vote we had last year. currency is china's a prominent one and one that needs to be dealt with immediately. i think we should address that issue with balance of trade. we send $1 billion per day out of our country primarily for the gas tank to other countries. that contributes to the balance of trade. energy independence policies is a portfolio that drives investment back to the united states and creates jobs in the united states. it would not only create jobs -- host: burlington, n.c., on airline for republicans. caller: good morning.

i'm a registered republican. i have been a democrat and an independent and now online -- and now i'm i'm a registered republican because i have been dissatisfied with everyone involved. guest: it sounds like it. caller: this is my personal opinion -- we need to get back to a total capitalistic economy. we need to quit picking winners and losers. we need to cut out all the subsidies. let the companies led by their bottom line. this is a republican speaking, sir. there has got to be spending cuts. there has got to the caps on spending and there has got to be a balanced budget amendment because there is no discipline in washington. if you have a cut off line like that have in my home, we will have to live within our means.

guest: are you on medicare? caller: no, i am not, i am working individual. >guest: will you be on medicare? caller: eventually. guest: if you go to the paul ryan plan, you would pay $6,000 more out of pocket. caller: i understand that but when you have a certain amount of money and you are trying to protect a program that for everyone there has to be balanced. guest: i agree with balance. these two plans that we are debating now are not balanced plants. there are enough loopholes in the tax code that you could drive a truck through them. one of the propositions is to start closing down some of those tax expenditures were big corporations are benefiting from it. there are huge loopholes that businesses are benefiting from.

if we have true tax reform, we can close those tax loopholes and in many instances lower everybody's tax rate. i would be for an increase on the top 1% of the people to help solve this problem. the tax incentives in the tax code right now are costing us trillions of dollars. et --.here is a twea guest: i think that could be on the table for overall tax reform. there are some exemptions and that for the poor. you don't want to have people to have an additional tax on the poor who spend a greater percentage of their income in the marketplace. they're spending more on food and clothing and the necessities so they would get

hit harder with a sales tax. we need to have tax reform and everything needs to be on the table. my fundamental principle is that the folks who are benefiting most from being in america, the court system, the transportation system, the military, all the benefits of being in the united states that allow you to come here and make a lot of money, we can keep business taxes low wants to start making millions of dollars per year, you need to help us continue to reinvest into this system and train our work force and make sure we have research and development and make sure we are on the cutting edge of innovation around the world. if there is the principle of fairness and the tax code, i would welcome that. host: our next call comes from south carolina, our line for democrats. caller: i am calling because i am concerned about the way this

situation is being handled in our congress about the budget and the debt ceiling. i cannot understand how the past president was able to raise the debt ceiling seven or eight times and even under ronald reagan, 17 times, and now they're is a real system -- and now there's a real necessity and it is a big problem and no one can see eye to eye on what needs to be done. we and our small town are fighting everything to have food on our table. there are people sitting up there making thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money. they are paid by us and yet they cannot seem to come together to help us. i don't understand how much disrespect when president and/or in a -- endure in a term.

eric cantor and rand paul are disrespectful to the president. joe wilson was disrespectful to the president. how can we sit here and hard about the republicans or the democrats when we the american people are the ones being held hostage to this debt ceiling increase. guest: i agree. most presidents in the last few years have endured a great deal of disrespectful talk and accusations all across the board. your level of frustration is something you can feel across the country right now. no one is addressing the issue of jobs. that is the number-one issue when i am home that people talk about, not just creating jobs, but the level of underemployment, the level of people in northeast ohio who had

a good manufacturing job making $25 per hour and had good benefits and now they are working a job paying $11 per hour and that has been happening for the last couple of decades. we have seen wages stagnant for 30 years. i think the level of the problems within our political system have been because of the economic insecurity of people across the country. he saw the election in 2006 and obama in 2008 and the tea party movement in 2010. the single thread between all of those movements has been the economic insecurity in the country. we have to get back on how we can create jobs. we have a 20% unemployment rate in construction. let's get these people back to work. these are investments that need to get done anyway.

we have people who need to go to work. let's make the decision as a country to say to make this investment and rebuild america now. that will help business and get average people back to work that it will jump-start the economy. host: if there is no form -- if there is a new form of the john boehner bill and that stands between the government defaulting are not, would you vote for those bills? guest: if it comes to economic collapse, i would be inclined to support the reid bill. i am upset with the fact that the wealthiest are not being asked to sacrifice a single thing. 2011, we are at the brink of collapse, and no one in washington, d.c. has the guts to go at somebody who makes $1 million per year who and maybe

possibly help us solve this problem. to me, it is disgusting. host: the reid bill will come up in the house later today, will you vote for it? guest: no. host: next is our line for republicans. caller: common sense tells you that when you raise taxes on corporations -- guest: i have not said one time to raise taxes on corporations. i said to raise money on individuals. caller: when you raise the taxes on small business and corporations, they turn around and pass it down to the cost of doing business to the poor people and the middle class. if you're going to appoint a commission, you should let john boehner picked the democrats and harry reid pick the republicans.

when they form a commission, the republicans loaded up the far right and services and the democrats loaded up the far left liberals and nothing gets done. guest: i think that is a great idea. that is not a bad way to go about it. that should certainly be entertained. i am for keeping business taxes low. in order for us to be competitive, we need to reduce our corporate tax rate. i think we should lead business flow of blood money flow within businesses and lead business make these investments. when you make a lot of money off the business environment in the united states, the stability we have here, one to benefit from all that and make a lot of money, you have an obligation to

help keep that system going. i like the idea of keeping business taxes low but ultimately when you start making money, you have to help us out. host: ohio, on our line for independents. caller: good morning. host: where is mentor, ohio? caller: near cleveland. host: that is not an representative brian's district? caller: no, it isn't. if you're serious about setting sells security, just take the $500 billion that you took out of medicare for obama care and put it back into cells -- into medicare. cap the pensions at 500,000 -- $5,000 per month.

take the money out of your pension fund and pay for obama care. guest: obama care is paid for. the congressional budget office said obama care was not only paid for but in the first 10 years, it will reduce the deficit by $160 billion and in the second year -- second 10 years, $3 trillion. we have to find savings in medicare program because there was so much abuse going on especially with the private insurers within medicare. there is a lot of ways to the medicare program. it is a system that is not coordinated enough in so many different ways. that will provide savings in the long run. obama care is saving us, according to the congressional budget office, $1.30 trillion in

the second 10 years. as far as social security, it is probably one of the easiest problems to fix. it is figuring out how to do it. they could do means testing or revenue. we can fix that one. host: new york, on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i am heartsick to see what is going on in this country. i am 56 years old and disabled. i don't know if my check will come in on tuesday. i don't know if i will be living outside because they will cut hud. when is the last time that republicans voted for a federal income tax? guest: good question. host: we will leave it there. we will move on to clarksville, mississippi, republican line.

caller: i am on medicare and have always been on it. this year, i was on medicaid for two years because i had irreversible health problems. i worked for 35 years. i worked as a hair stylist on my feet every day. i feel like i deserve it. i agree with obama to a certain point. there is a lot of stuff slipping through the cracks in this country. i know there is a lot of it in mississippi and the states around me. i don't know why things can't be detected more easily. host: give us an example of something that is slipping toward the cracks. caller: many people are on welfare and medicaid that do not deserve it. there are people who have four and five kids -- when i was

employed, i heard this from people's mouth -- they are letting their cousins and other people claim their children and they get welfare checks and each child in that home. a mother does not work and all of them are on medicare and so they get all three health programs. when i was on medicaid, i got free health services. guest: there is no tolerance for any kind of fraud for any programs that we have in the united states. anybody caught scanning the federal government whether it is medicare or any other program should be prosecuted. it is cheating the taxpayer. having said that, i worry a heckuva lot more about the

corporate welfare going on in the united states of america with complete catering to the top 1%, the people who avoid paying taxes who are making hundreds of millions of dollars. hedge fund managers pay 15% in taxes while we cannot bend their arm to give up more of their income. it is costing us billions and trillions of dollars over time. anybody who is running a scam on the government needs to be prosecuted. how do we have the complete economic collapse in 2008? not one person has been prosecuted yet. they all got away scot-free. that is also throwing gas on the fire will level of frustration in this country. people are sitting at home thinking that if they committed a crime they would be

prosecuted. schemes and nozi one got prosecuted. whether as welfare or anything else, people should be prosecuted. that is sometimes the focus. it is a distraction to the complete trillion dollar stand going on on wall street. host: in "the new york times" --- your thoughts? guest: that is what i said earlier. host: that the only solution to

the debt crisis will come out of the senate? guest: it may be. the house is not compromised at all. here we are two or three days before we get the deadline and they want to amend the constitution of the united states. c'mon, this has only happened 26 times in our history and you want us to have this as a partisan negotiation? host: is there somebody on the other side of the aisle in the house that you can reach across and say you can put together something that will not satisfy everybody but something you think you can get through the house and the senate? is there one republican that might be able to help you? guest: i have a lot of republican friends. all reasonable guys and i consider myself a reasonable person. the issue with many members in

the republican caucus is the fear of having republican primary and have a tea party candidate come in and somehow question your loyalty for trying to be a part of a solution. many members of congress are afraid from the republican side to get involved. the best example is new gingrich on medicare when he commented that the medicare proposal was not cracked up to everything it could be. he did a two-step and get yanked into the republican line. that is what is happening in all these districts and it becomes very difficult. even speaker john boehner was a very reasonable person -- he was chair of the education committee from ohio -- he is a reasonable guy early on, he tried very hard with the president to try to

strike a deal. he continued to get yanked back into the tea party wing of the republican party. host: have you had a chance to talk to the speaker? guest: no, i have not. all the negotiations are going on within the republican caucus. host: waterloo, iowa, an airline for democrats, you are up next. caller: we sat here and watched the republicans do everything off budget throughout the entire bush administration. they racked up all these bills. never have they even implied that they ever intended to pay for any of it. that is still the boat we are in. guest: that is contributing to

the level of frustration. many of these guys in leadership from the speaker on downward here when this money was spent on the two wars, the prescription drug bill that was not paid for, all this borrowed money, the bush tax cuts which reduced revenue coming into the treasury and now those same people in charge when the bills coming due and they say they don't want to pay it now. i think that is a level of frustration. it is important when we talk about job creation and different philosophies of how we put people back to work, our republican friends will say that if you just cut taxes on the wealthy and give the corporate jet honor their tax break and give the oil companies their tax break and reduce taxes that it will stimulate economic growth

these policies have been in place since george bush came into office. we have had very little economic growth. the regulation and lower taxes have gotten us into the spot we are in now. the country have to take a step back and look at which philosophies work here. president clinton came in and made some sacrifices and key investments even when republicans came in. newt gingrich came in and there were investments being made to research and those kind of things. 20 million new jobs were created. the bottom 20% had a dramatic increase in wages. there was a reduction in poverty, expansion, growth. compare that to the george bush voodoo economics that was paddled in this country for 30

years, there is no comparison. host: next of this st. louis, missouri, on our line for independents. caller: a couple of things happened last year that are for more than coincidental that got us in this mess. five republican-appointed to supreme court justices threw out campaign finance laws and because the richest could spend on limited anonymous amounts on negative advertising, that is how we got stuck with this tea party. this has nothing to do with spending. john boehner and obama had agreed last week and on $3 trillion in spending cuts. until it got to raising taxes on the rich, that's when john boehner walked out. he knew the tea party would not go for this. we should knock down this dead a little bit but it is the jobs

that we lost and trillions of dollars in tax revenues which the republicans don't want to talk about guest: you hit the nail on the head. you talk about the business community in many ways funding the campaigns. under a dark cloud because no one knows where the money is coming from because of the supreme court ruling. this put the tea party folks into congress. it is interesting to see the reaction from the business community. the chamber of commerce act -- advocated for raising the debt ceiling. if you want to have economic growth, one of the roles of the government is to provide a stable environment and that means a stable tax environment so you know what will happen and stable funding environment so that these appropriations bills get passed in time for people to know that the money is actually

coming. all that business money that was spent to put tea party folks in and provide a good business climate has actually destabilize the business climate. in addition, the john boehner proposal wants to have this discussion again in six months. the want to continue that dark cloud over the economy and the destabilizing effects which is a terrible idea. host: here is a tweet -- guest: there is plenty of responsibility to go around. when you compare what was going on on wall street and the other recklessness that was going on, the no regulations, folks who knew this would not end well and we had a prediction for years before it collapsed that it was going to collapse.