are working on to extend the tax relief for american families so that they can keep more of their hard earned money. that is there.

some of the things the president claimed to be for our there. i want to cut government spending. that is what i hear at home in wyoming every weekend. that is how it has ended up. we can do these things by not raising taxes on anyone. in our economic times, we have 8.6% unemployment. overall, people want smaller government and not larger government. they want lower taxes and not higher taxes. >> you are the new policy chairman in the gop hierarchy. can you describe what that entails compared to your previous position. >> to make sure other members of the conference have credible, reliable information in a timely way so that they can make decisions regarding policy on

bills on the floor and bills coming up an overall policy on jobs and debt and things we are focused on. specific issues like the keystone pipeline, which is being debated in the senate and the house related to jobs. you have the specifics of the issue and how it relates to overall aims -- themes. i spent a lot of time on health care and policy and messaging as a physician who has practiced for 25 years. i have given my opinion each week on the senate floor. i have focused on regulations. anyone who runs a small business knows they are burdensome and time consuming. all of these regulations coming

out from this administration. that is having an impact. that is why it is harder for our economy to grow. >> jon kyl is retiring. there will be a move to replace him in 2013. is there any chance you would run for the number three spot because another senator has not ruled out the possibility of running for jon kyl's spot. >> we just had our elections on tuesday. i will not take over this job until the end of january. >> do you have any idea why the public has such a low impression of congress right now? >> what they do is see a lot of arguing and bickering and they do not see places where we actually get along. it seems the president wants to

run against a do nothing congress. even when there are things we all want to accomplish, he tries not to look at those. one is the tree -- the free trade agreements with colombia and panama. he finally approved of them and they never had a signing ceremony. there was bipartisan support of those free trade agreements, overwhelming support and no signing ceremony. that would have stepped on the president post a message of a do nothing congress. we have worked cooperatively to get things done and the public does not see that. i had a bipartisan bill was mark udall from colorado. it had to do with the use of land, federal land. we got it through the house and the senate. we would have welcomed the signing ceremony. there was not going to be one. it would have shown the

cooperation of republicans and democrats. >> if i could follow up on one point and taking back to that moment when the senator steps down from leadership. he gave a speech about the culture of congress and the climate and the partisanship. was there any point in that speech where you think he has got something in there was a place where you thought you needed to adjust? >> i have an incredible respect for lamar alexander. he was a governor for two terms. he has a lot more wisdom than i have. i have only been in the senate floor four years. people on both sides of the aisle said, lamar, you are right. most people see the 20% that we disagree on. that is what they are seeing mostly at home. i want to continue to find

solutions and work in bipartisan ways on our economy, on jobs, on energy. the pipeline is a big one where we have bipartisan support. republicans and democrats like it. the unions like it. there were and i'm angeles who opposed it. -- environmentalists who oppose it. they have a huge impact on his election. >> i cannot tell you how many times over the course of the last several years that callers to c-span have repeated senator mcconnell's statement early in the obama presents it that he wished to see him as a one-term president. that was a catch phrase that has stuck in the public's consciousness. can you talk about verbalizing

what might be a truce in politics and the challenges it presents in reaching compromise perception ofc's politics. >> that is generally the feeling up there. we can get more done along our own approach, smaller government versus big government, less spending versus more spending, less taxes versus higher taxes. >> legislation is passed through compromise. by setting that as your i object, does that not suggests - it will now- your ob -- your object, does that not suggest you will not compromise? >> finding a 80% that we agree

on and the 20% that we don't agree on, let's put that aside. we have bills passed through that are about things we agree on. the reauthorization of the faa. those things went through with not a lot of fanfare and not a lot of attention paid on them. the focus is on the areas where the disagreements are so that they can score political points. >> your wyoming counterpart in the house endorsed mitt romney? >> i have not endorsed anyone. i watched the debate this weekend and the issues being discussed. i do not plan on getting involved in the contested primary. >> a lot of people are talking about newt gingrich and his ssurge in the polls.

a lot of people say newt gingrich cannot beat president obama and can hurt the republicans. >> anyone who is nominated will be a strong conservative voice. obama inherited a bad administration -- a bad situation and he has made it worse. his policies have made it hard for small businesses to create jobs. >> is there a candidate that can beat president obama? >> any of the candidates will be better than president obama in the white house. it is hard to know what will happen on election day. we will have a victory by any of our republican candidates. >> do you think this many days have been a good thing? >> look dead john mccain winning new hampshire -- in there --

look at john mccain sitting there when the new hampshire and just sitting there answering questions. the candidates seem better honed in with their skills. come the fall, will have prepared whoever our nominee is to be that much more formidable to president obama. >> a telephone town hall meeting. it had the advantage of letting people stay at their homes. is there a downside to that where you are not actually having the kind of face to face contact these candidates would usually have schlepping through the snow and making small groups of people and coming face to face with how people are struggling right now? have we lost something if we go to teleconferencing instead of

face to face? >> face to face is good. that is why i go to wyoming to go to where the people are. as football game, go there early. go to tilt its parties and visit with people. just my wife and i. no staffers, to be able to hear what people have to say. for people unable to get out, the telephone town house in yoming -- a large state -- they cannot all come to town hall meetings. it is a good way for me to do it. in terms of being in the living rooms and in iowa and really have folks be able to question and follow up and not have people running out the door, that helps the candidate so that people can make better decisions. >> alan simpson, a former

senator with wyoming has had a public feud with grover norquist. he has criticized people who have signed and continue to sign and abide by the grover norquist tax pledge. who is right in that debate? do you need tax revenue? are you a signatory of the grover norquist pledge? >> i have not signed the pledge. i have never signed the pledge. i really do not like tax raises. we need more tax revenue. we can get it by putting more people back to work. we had a chance to meet with bernanke from the fed this week. he said we are better to broaden the base than to raise the rates. i agree. that is the way to fiscal stability. there are lots of things we can do that are not raising taxes on

anybody at this time. i got a note from senator samson yesterday. we talk frequency -- frequently. i know him well. anothernother i -want-- wyoming treasure. >> don't republicans have to get all low, whether it is some kind of revenue closing loopholes? otherwise, democrats are not going to reform medicare. >> number 1 is to close the loophole. you do not want anyone taking advantage of something that seems unfair to many. that is not raising rates. it is lowering rates and increasing revenue and eliminating the loopholes. that is the big problem. americans do not believe we are taxed too little -- taxed too little. they believe we spent too much.

senator toomey brought forward some revenue ideas that would have raised revenue. i supported what his efforts were. revenue is on the table in these discussions. you do need to take a look at the big items, medicare, medicaid, social security, and how to deal with that. talk about people working together. just yesterday, paul ryan came out with ron wyden on a new proposal on medicare. there are things we can do. some of these things and ideas that came out of the simpson- bowles commission, they picked up on an advance. i met with alice rivlin one week ago, five or six of us.

i talked to p diminishing by phone about the proposal -- another senator by phone about the proposal. you need to deal with these big entitlements if you are really going to get our fiscal house in order. the numbers are so large when you talk about a $15 trillion debt. you borrow $4 billion a day. the numbers are so large. we are borrowing $3 million every minute to keep up with the spending. >> do you think there is any possibility of a big deal or a mini deal in 2012? >> this past year would have been the year to do it. you had a bipartisan control going back to the ronald reagan, tip o'neil days. you could at had an agreement. i am sorry it did not get done.

the sooner we do it, the sooner we send a message to the world that our fiscal house is in order. >> polls suggest that the democratic argument they started the year with and have stuck with relentlessly -- that the rich need to contribute more to the financial situation -- has got some traction in the polls. are you hearing any of this from your constituents in wyoming, concern that most of the country is not doing well but the top 1% is doing well? is it is somehow fair that they do more? >> the president keeps talking about -- the words he is going to use our divisive words in terms of our country. i am concerned about that. we want everyone to do well. we want all americans to have incredible opportunities to be able to do everything in their

potential. the question is, how do we do that. we are spending 25% of the growth and national product -- gross national product. the president, after the so- called stimulus bill that i believe failed -- $800 billion gone where the unemployment rate was supposed to stay at 8%. it has been over 8% for 34 bonds in a row. we need to get back to 34 months info- for a row. people say, i would pay more taxes if the money would actually be used to pay off the debt so that our kids would not be saddled under this huge debt. until you actually get a balanced budget amendment and we are starting to pay off the

debt, i do not believe the extra money i sent to washington will be well spent. people think less than half of the dollars -- less than 60% of the money they send in taxes actually gets spent -- less than 50% of the money they send in taxes actually gets spent well. >> as a physician, surgeon -- when you first came to the senate, were you surprised to see there was this provision that limits the -- doc fix passes, we will have two years. where is this money going to come from? >> it is back from 1997 when they said doctors would no

spend only so much money on medicare. now they say, they spend so much more than that so we will cut what we pay in taking care of patients on medicare. the next year, the camelot and said, we will cut your payments. they said, we will not cut it this year, -- the next year, they came along and said, we will cut your payments. they said, we will not cut this year, but we will cut next year. it is hard enough for doctors to see a medicare patient already. how did this happen? why wasn't this included in this so-called health care law that president obama and the democrats forced down the throats of the american people. there is money to pay for 15 more irs agents to make sure people have purchased insurance. there is not enough money in the health-care law to pay for

doctors. one of the accounting tricks and health-care gimmicks was that they accounted for saying that the way the blast would work is if we phrase -- freeze in this number. every member who voted for that in the senate knew it was fake. yesterday voted for it. here we are, two years after the health care law has been signed and they have not fixed the problem. the president made a lot of promises in the health-care law. their premiums would go down. now they have gone up. half of americans will not be able to keep what they haven't they like it. that is why i go to the senate floor every week with a doctor's second opinion. there is one more glitz of a stake in the health-care law that comes out every week. i was on the senate floor again

and it was about the early retirement program. the $5 billion they put into it was supposed to be a bridge to 2014. all of the money has been spent. who got most of it? half of it went to 20 companies and unions. general motors and union employees that over $300 million. >> you have been outspoken on the environment and energy. i want to ask you what a lot of democrats say is the leading issue, climate change. it is climate change real and is its man-made? manmade? >> the question is, does the climate change? the climate does change. the question is, is its man- made? -- is it man-made?

is you are going to focus on that, you say, what is the best way to deal with this. with 8.6% unemployment, we need to deal with the economy. we need to use all of the sources of energy we have. oil, gas, coal, uranium for nuclear power, the renewables and a more efficient use of energy. >> what is the one thing you would really like to see get done next year? >> i would like to see americans get back to work by having more focus on jobs. the president continues to take his eye off of that ball. he has continued to take his eye off of that ball. we need to take away the regulations that make it more

difficult for the private sector to create jobs. >> thanks for being with us this week. happy holidays. >> we are back. after talking with senator john barrasso of wyoming, who has a new job. let me ask you both about this year, the last half of this year. it has been about gearing up for the 2012 elections. are there clear winners and losers about who gets to go home and say what to their constituents after we have seen this over the last few months? >> the incumbents are be used -- are the losers because the congressional approval ratings are so low. there is so much angst out there that we do not know which

party is going to take the brunt of it. the debt battle and another government shut down show b down just recently. there will be a lot of jockeying. there will not be a lot of big deals in 2012. they will just do what they have to do like spending bills and other must have stuff. >> a lot of this year was a reaction to the last two years. you will see that continued. just absolute discipline and focus on the republican argument that it is spending and not taxes. they will win that in the bargain that goes through this weekend. democrats look like they are abandoning taxing the surcharge on the bricks. -- the rich.

the public is still looking through what looks there. publicgot to respond to concerns about that. >> the democrats have been equally focused in their message this year. both sides have been focused and have not strayed off of their messaging and parlor -- and policy purses. what does policies look like- -- and their policy pursuits. what does policy look like? >> the deficit and jobs. both sides will be talking about its endlessly -- it endlessly. mitch mcconnell has said, i have many faults, but discipline is not one of them.

he will be talking about those things over and over again throughout 2012. >> he was one of the few republicans not to sign grover norquist's tax pledge. what is the message to there? >> physicians have a special role in congress in the last few conferences. even though he was in the wyoming senate, he has a particular skill set. you are not a lawyer. he has a separate set of concerns. it is interesting to see how the physician members of congress have functioned. bill frist leaped over a lot of other people because he brought another skill set to the job. >> another think coming up this here is the supreme court review of the healthcare lob -- another thing coming up this year is the

supreme court review of the health-care law. >> we have talked to a lot of republicans who are optimistic about 2013. they make the premonition that they will have the white house and both chambers of congress. one thing they will deal with is repealing health care reform. it is hard to do when you get into the details of it and what you would keep and what you would throw out. the decision will be the biggest events of 2012. >> the democrats are also counting their numbers suggesting they have a shot of taking the majority. >> their fund raising has been quite impressive. when you look at their approval numbers, it is an uphill battle. getting out of debt, like the campaign committee has, it is

possible. >> it is the time of year to do the year into reviews. when you look back on congress, what would be prescription be? >> it is fair to say a lot of anguish among members who have been here a long time. they came here to do something and they see the prospect extending through the election of being able to do nothing. >> i would say frustration. we have seen the president talked repeatedly about his frustration. congress is frustrated with them. there has been little deal making in terms of bipartisan big deals only when they had to let the last second. that is why congressional approval ratings are so low. >> thank you for being here. we appreciate your time. >> next, historians discuss the

c-span series, "the contenders." after that, president obama talks to troops at fort bragg and then remarks from senator john mccain about the situation in iraq. >> sometimes, i think it would be best for government to stay completely out of sports. when congress gets involved, the hearings are television shows designed to give the congressman and women involved exposure. john feinstein on the intersection of sports and government. >> sports is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country. it has a huge effect on the lives of people as fans, in terms of raising money for universities or higher education.