about the fighter aircraft and tanks that will be sent to the muslim brotherhood in egypt. it seems to me that ought to be put on hold, seeing it was a deal done by the previous egyptian administration. it looks guest: i am going to dodge the question and a little bit because i have only been here one day. i have been appointed to the armed services committee. i have not had a meeting with him yet. and met with the chair back in december. i am looking forward to that. i do not have enough data to answer that question. i remember an interview with the president in the fall where they asked him what was going on in egypt. the interviewer said, are they friends or foes? to my surprise, the president said, we do not know. the thing that is the case. i do not know whether i want to

say -- egypt has been a very important element in the stability of the middle east over the past 25 years. it is hard to calibrate. -- california gregoire they are, where they're going. the president of egypt was proposing sweeping constitutional changes a few weeks ago. it is very unclear. whether you freeze the kind of aid at this point or slowdown is a very legitimate question. host: the news of the morning, latest unemployment rate remains unchanged. 7.8%. the economy adding 155,000 jobs in december. this from the bureau of labor

statistics. reaction? guest: the unemployment rate is too high. i do not think that is the number we should focus on. we should focus on the number of new jobs. the unemployment rate can take up or down depending how many people are looking for work. it is not necessarily directly a reflection of the improvement of the economy. 155,000 is okay, not great. it takes 80,000 or 90,000 jobs -- i cannot remember the exact number -- just to break-even. it is in the plus territory, but it is not great. i spent eight years, 24 hours a day thinking about economic development. there is no one thing that you can do. there is no one simple answer. some people say, it is just a

lower taxes. in my experience, you've got to do a lot of things. i have a friend up in maine who used to say, there is no silver bullet. .here is often silver buckshot we've got to look at regulation. yet got to look at the mess of our tax code. it is time for a comprehensive rewrite. there is not a comprehensive look of the tax code since 1986. my view is that we should are to start with a blank sheet of paper, get rid of all exemptions and deductions and tax expenditures. simplify it, lower the rates, and go from there. right now the only people who like it or the accountants and lawyers. host: you are calling from massachusetts, neighboring state, when the of the job --

barney frank said he is interested in serving in the senate on an interim basis. comment? guest: what he noted is that this is going to be an important 3 or four months. the idea of having somebody in that seed with some experience and knowledge of the issues make some sense. it is going to be a democrat appointed to that seat. i would not presume to suggest to the governor who he should appoint. the idea of having somebody who could step in with a great deal of knowledge and background is not wholly rational. i have also heard that my friend michael dukakis was being considered for the seat in there. he is a wonderful guy who i think would make a real

contribution. that will be up to governor patrick. it is going to be an important period. even if it is interim, that one vote could be important. host: and facebook, it, president obama thought raising the debt ceiling was a bad idea -- facebook comment, president obama thought raising the debt ceiling was a bad idea when bush was president and said he would not vote for it, but later voted present. guest: with this a filibuster debate that is going on now in the senate between the republicans and democrats, if you go back and read the comments, they were reversed in 2005 when the democrats were filibustering george bush's traditional nominations. i think it is important to do these things on their merits.

i think senator obama's vote was a mistake. if there is any truth in this town, it is that there is no dearth of blame to go around. host: how much time did you take to consider the caucus? guest: i did not make a decision during the campaign. i was asked a question almost exclusively by washington journalists. i was virtually never ask the question by people in maine. most people in maine did not care. they said, go down there and try to get something done. one guy yelled across the diner, i did not care who you caucus with. -- do not care who you caucus with. i am with you all the way. the first question was, could i

be entirely independent, not join either caucus and be a free agent. that had some appeal, but based on my study of the senate rules, presidents, talking to knowledgeable people, that would have been almost impossible. i wouldn't have been very effective. then the question was, if you're going to caucus, which side. it was made easier because the democrats were in the majority. that may pragmatic sense. finally, the important thing to me was determining whether the democrats or republicans would allow me to be independent, would tolerate my not always being a dependable party line vote. i talked to joe lieberman, independent from connecticut.

i talk to george mitchell, former majority leader from maine. a really determined -- i would be allowed to be independent. i had a lengthy conversation with harry reid. i became a short -- i assured myself -- assured myself that if i do not vote the party line, i am not going to lose my committee assignments. that was the decision i made. it was not an easy one. caucusing, from my point of view -- i did not have to sign anything. there is no blood oath. it is that is who i am going to be meeting with. but i am going to call it as i see it.

host: senator angus king, justin is on the phone, las vegas. caller: can you support in remarks as a way to get congressman to talk to each other again -- earmarks as a way to get congressmen to talk to each other again? guest: earmarks and corker are in the same category. -- pork are in teh samhe same category. the idea of these tiny things going into a larger appropriations bill that nobody knows about or sees i do not think is a good idea. i think this process should be opened. there should be a justification for it. it should be part of an open process. the second part of your

question, getting congressman to talk to each other is really important. one of the problems here -- i did not know if you're watching earlier, but i mentioned that i work here almost 40 years ago -- is relationships. one of the things that has changed is that the airline service is so much better, everyone goes home for the weekend. families are back home. the relationships are not built. that is one of the things that makes it hard to get anything done. i am convinced that this fiscal cliff negotiation that occurred over the weekend and was largely based on the fact that joe biden had been in the senate for something like 35 years -- 38 years, i think. and he knew mitch mcconnell. they talk to each other without a lot of nonsense.

those relationships are crucial. it sounds silly to talk about, how does the congress function as a reflection of where people have their families and where they live, but i think it is a reality. host: next caller is on our line for independents from massachusetts. caller: congratulations, senator, on being elected to the u.s. senate. a couple of things i like to bring to your attention. i may c-span -- i am a c-span junie. -- junkie. nothing is ever getting done, because it seems like there's always one person, preferably the one from connecticut -- i am sorry, kentucky -- that always

seems that he wants to block everything that is going on, and at crazy amendments to some bill but could not mean anything. all those things add up to not getting anything done in the senate. i hope that we can change these rules a little bit so we can have some progress in the senate and not just have everything go dead and nothing happens. guest: i am absolutely with you. i do not know the extent to which i will be able to have an influence on that, but i was fortunate enough to be appointed to the rules committee, the committee that deals with these kinds of things, that also deals with campaign finance reform, something i am interested in. the filibuster yesterday that you had to go to the floor and stand up and talk. -- used to be that you had to go to the floor and stand up and talk.

now all you have to do is call the majority leader and say, we object. the talking filibuster says that if you want to filibuster, come to the floor and talk. that is the way it has historically been done. more recently, there has been this of the screen filibuster where it is not really clear who is behind it or why. it is impeding our ability to get anything done. the senate was created to slow the process down, but not to stop it. not to freeze it. i am a great believer in the senate as a protector of minority rights in small states, but not to the point that we cannot get anything done. particularly with the problems facing the country, we've got to

be able to move forward. i am with you. you may have seen earlier, harry reid yesterday talk about discussions he is having with mitch mcconnell. i am certainly interested in following those discussions, and public money was something. if they do not, i hope we can put it to a vote early in this session and try to make a change. host: when you ran for governor, you defeated the former governor, and susan collins, who is now your colleague. guestguest: i did defeat joe br. and also susan collins. she was elected to the u.s. senate in 1996. will become good friends. she was most gracious. -- we have become good friends.

she was most gracious. she is a very able senator, very smart, and absolutely ferocious when she gets into an issue. host: did senator snowesnowe give you any advice? guest: paradise was, stay the course. -- her advice was, stay the course. when you walk into one of these situations, it is kind of daunting. it struck me in the middle of the campaign. georgealso georgia m mitchell's. those are some very big shoes.

it is encouraging, exciting, and challenging. host: entitlements and spending, and want to get your comments. [video clip] >> as the president pointed out, health care entitlement programs. but as i said, taxes cannot go high enough to keep pace with the amount of money the projected to spend on them without crushing our economy. the best way to reform these programs is to make them work better. that is not exploding because these programs exist. it is exploding because they are inefficient. they were created in a different era. the era of black and white tv. they should be updated for the age of the ipad. we should want to fix them, not

just because you want to lower the debt, but because we want to strengthen and improve these programs themselves. host: how do you do that? guest: of wonder if that is the first time that the word ipad has been used on the floor of the united states senate. he is right. he is not entirely right, but i think is right generally that spending has to be part of this equation. historically it as an 20% of gdp. 3% of gdp is a very large number. we have got to look at all of these issues. we have got to look at everything. the biggest problem -- there is an awful lot of confusion between social security and medicare peopl.

social security is in relatively good shape. that was modified back in the 1980's. they understood the actuarial impact of the changes taking place. a social security can be set on an actual early sound course for the next 75 years with relatively small changes. -- actuarially sound course for the next 75 years with relatively small changes. healthcare cost growth is what is sinking us. how that is what we have to focus on. we've got to talk about how we pay for health care. our whole system is based on fee-for-service. you cannot get paid to keep me healthy.

you cannot get paid to council me about my eating habits are smoking habits. i think we need to move towards a system that compensates the medical system for help instead of .... -- illness. there are some pilot programs in the affordable care act the talk about changing the way we compensate for health care that may haven a long onerun more influence and importance to the health care system and parts of the affordable care act of god and all the publicity. -- than parts of the affordable care act that have gotten all the publicity. the drug benefit that is in medicare was passed without a dime of funding. it just happened.

very large expenditure. the bill that created it prohibited the federal government from negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies for good prices on volume. think of the volumes of drugs that medicare is buying. that is ridiculous. va negotiates. medicated negotiates. -- medicaid negotiates. it would save the taxpayers a lot of money and put medicare on more steady footing. fundamentally, we of got to be talking about, how do we slow down the growth of health-care spending. host: now senator from maine, angus king, independent, thank you for stopping by. we're going to look at the latest unemployment numbers.

the rates staying essentially unchanged at 7.8%. will be joined by the senior editor for national public radio, maryland geewax. it is friday morning, january 4. we'll be back in a moment. >> >> it is true that a people's history is a result of how it is synthesizing the work of a great many other historians. what had happened in the 1960's with the counterculture was that a whole new generation of young historians had come up. they were reevaluating all aspects of our past. >> martin duberman, saturday

night at 10:00 eastern. >> roger williams, while he was member of the clergy, was also incredibly trained and learned in civil law, and worked coarser cook in the british parliament in the star chamber. his views of separation of church and state argued in texts like this. this is where we really see roger williams talking about the idea of freedom of religion. he is very much showing at this point why he is different and why his thinking is different and why rhode island will be different from massachusetts.

he was creating a land where people could come to worship as they chose, and would always be protected by civil law. this did not sit well with england or with massachusetts. by an act of parliament, all of the copies of this were said to be burned. luckily, this copy was not. >> more from rhode island state capital, . behind-the-scenes, the history of literary life of providence. saturday at noon eastern. sunday at 5:00 on c-span3. >> on fridays, we look at america by the numbers. q. what to look the latest unemployment rate, which has remained unchanged -- we want to

look at the latest unemployment rate, which has remained unchanged, 7.8%. guest: the economy has enough underlying momentum that it was able to withstand the fiscal cliff, all this controversy in washington, as well as hurricane sandy. there was some pretty big-waits on the economy, and yet is still continued -- weight on the economy, and yet it still continued dto churto churn ahea. every month, we have traded on average 153,000 jobs. -- created on average 153,000 jobs. host: in a country with well over 3 million americans, they're more than 12,000,002 are currently out of work. almost 5 million long-term unemployed.

the discouraged worker, about 1.1 million. guest: it is good that the economy kept churning along, but it is bad the we have such a lousy economy. we believe to create something like 350,000 -- we need to create something like 350,000 jobs to get unemployment down to 6%. we're falling short every single month. it is a recovery. we were in such a deep hole that it has been really difficult to dig out of this whole. -- hole. if you're looking and reasons for optimism, you can look at this and say, good. if you're one of those 12 million people who does not have a job, this is a disappointing report because it is not stronger. it is not enough to start to jobs werel the lost. host: if you are unemployed or

underemployed, call us at 202- 585-3882. for those of you who are unemployed, we're dividing our phone lines regionally. you can send us an e-mail or join us on our facebook page or twitter d.com/cspanwj. when do you think you'll get to the point that we're creating these 300,000 or 400,000 jobs? guest: there is a pretty consistent story here. health care is good. as the affordable health care act kicks in, there will be more people with insurance. there is good reason to believe that we will see continued growth in health care jobs. well that is great, health care

jobs is not an engine of growth the way that manufacturing jobs would be. what you're looking for is when we will have that turnaround when construction really comes back, manufacturing really comes back. you have seen some hints of that. there are numbers in here that are somewhat encouraging. new home construction is up. this report shows that building construction is up. all those have been great in 2012 -- autos have been great in 2012. when the year began in january of 2012, the average age of a car on the road was nearly 11 years old. there were a lot of people other who really need to get a new car. -- out there who really needed to get a new car. maybe those manufacturing jobs

will continue to grow. aerospace, if we can get the sequestration settled and figured out, we should be able to see more jobs in those kinds of industries. there is a reason for hope for 2013. honestly, if congress continues to push the political crises where we go into another debt ceiling crisis, it is possible it could still be derailed. if there is not a giant political crisis, there should be good reason to think that jobs will pick up in 2013. host: marilyn geewax for a long sr. business editor for npr. our line for unemployed. caller: do you think that

allowing companies -- i know the government cannot do much in a way of drafting policy or legislation that prevents companies from using a backdrop checks and credit history cannot hire people -- i will be honest with you. -- do not hire people -- i will be honest with you. in our current situation, maybe doing something in the way of incentivizing companies to hire people with these histories, with and that helped to bring these unemployment numbers up? -- wouldn't that help to bring these unemployment numbers up? guest: to have touched on a big issue here. there are a lot of people -- we have got 3.6 million job

openings right now. there are lots of jobs that could be filled, if people have the right training or the right resonates. let's say that your credit history is bad. that works against you. -- resumes. let's say that your credit history is bad. that works in against you. they cannot get into these millions of open jobs because of that happened in then t past. how do we get these workers trained, and how to get employers to be open to hiring them. there are a lot of economists who are saying it is a problem of technology. they're all these software programs that scan through resumes and if they see some and they do not like, they throw it out and do not give you a chance.

employers need to stop with the automatically running every resonators and software and say, that is bad, that is bad. go back through the pile and take a closer look. call the person in. is there credit scored damage for a good reason? -- their credit score damaged for a good reason? there are many economists who are concerned about this issue of mismatch between what employers want, and what the available work force actually is, and how to get those two to match up better. it is a challenge for business. i am not so sure there is any specific thing government could do about that. but many business groups, chambers of commerce could encourage employers to be more reasonable when looking at applicants. host: you can also join us on

twitter, #abtn. on our line for unemployed workers. how long have you been out of work? caller: three years. host: what did you do? caller: aircraft mechanic. host: what have you been doing since then? caller: nothing. out of this 150,000 some odd jobs and has been created, how many of those are 40 hours a week with full benefits? host: in your job search, have you found any of those jobs? caller: no. host: how much did you make before you got laid off? caller: $38 an hour. host: have you been getting a plymouth benefits? -- unemployment benefits? caller: barely surviving.

unemployment benefits. guest: they are really pointing out key issues on these calls. so many of the jobs that are being traded are low wage. when you look at what was created this year, food services. there were more people with more money to spend because unemployment got a little bit better. so that went out to eat. there were more vacations taken this year, more dining experiences. $38 an hour, you're talking about jobs at amusement parks and hospitality, restaurants, bars. those are jobs that tend to not have benefits, tend to not have 40 or schedules, or lousy hours, working in the evening. it is not a $38 an hour job. thisis where we're seeing

-- on the one and you have these low-paying jobs in restaurants, nurse's aides and things like that the to not pay a whole lot. and then you have job openings for doctors, very high pay. engineers, accountants. but it is the metal workers, the people who make $20 to $40 an hour, those are they the people of had a hard time regenerating. -- those are the people that have had a hard time regenerating. not enough in the middle. host: the bureau of labor statistics, digging further into the numbers, we can show you some of the findings. mining and logging,

transportation and warehousing, financial activities, as well as professional and business services. also the area of the government. host: big government layoffs happened about two years ago. government is still continuing to shrink. overall, it is not a growth sector in terms of jobs. the giant layoffs and a lot of industries, we're not seeing them -- in a lot of other industries, we are not seeing them. i asked someone who tracks unemployment about layoffs. he said, we have not seen massive layoffs -- remember back in 2008 and 2009, tens of thousands of people would get laid off every day. and now if you do have a job,

you are fairly secure. he was saying that when he looks through the data they collect, they are not seeing these kinds of mass firings and insecurity for works that we saw -- workers that we saw. host: people are keeping their jobs on average five and a half years. a big we're also not in hiring mode. host: will businesses resort to part-time workers as a result of the obamacare rules being too costly, from rightwing. guest: it is to be expected that we will see more people renting, more job mobility, more employers -- employees will be

less committed to staying in one place for a long time. they want to keep getting raises. people will stay mobil and look for new opportunities. from a business point of view, you may not want to commit to a worker. you may think, we do not know where we are going with obamacare. let me have part-time workers and see how the recovery plays out. on both ends, the employer and employee, there may be more validity than what we used to have reviewed by house, get a job, and stay in it until the retired. host: the senior business editor for npr is our guest. when is joining us. caller: i like to discuss trickle-down economics. you see how the democrats and republicans, they always are at

odds with each other. how are they going to be able to create jobs if they are not getting along now? guest: well, it is a new congress. we have to try to be optimistic until proven otherwise. we have a new congress that just took office yesterday. the 113th can start with a fresh slate. maybe the have learned some lessons from what happened in this whole big mess during december with the fiscal cliff debate. one can only hope that they realize that is not a great way to go forward. maybe they will work with coming up with solutions to some of the spending problems in a more orderly fashion. we will have to see how it plays out. host: the unemployed rate in the country unchanged, 7.8%. the economy adding 155,000 jobs

in december. ron is joining us from washington state, out of work. how long have you been unemployed? 3 weeks. i was a supervisor at a small remanufacturing bilmill for 37 years. i am 57. host: what is your strategy? caller: my game plan is to try to get into the trucking industry. it appears for my age and experience i have but that is the best way for me to try to get to retirement age and still earn somewhat of a decent living. host: thanks for sharing your story. guest: am sorry about your job

loss. that is a very tough situation to be in. the trucking industry has been hiring people. i have heard of $60,000 a year jobs that are going begging because they cannot get people to work as trackers. -- truckers. hiring welders, typesetters, -- typefitters, people with skill and willingness to move to where the job is. it is tough at 57 to yank your life up, but there are opportunities if you are able or willing to make some moves. in north dakota, the unemployment rate has been running around 3.1%. they're desperate for workers, truckers, people who can contribute to where the energy industry is right now. things like what you are talking

about here, to have to pick yourself up and start over again -- 57 can feel pretty old. on the other hand, you have got 10 more years of working life ahead of you before you can get your full social security benefits. you've got to not given, if you can help it, and try to find the energy and commitment to start over again. there are jobs out there, but it is not easy to change. host: one of our viewer saying, with weak demand in a number of key sectors, what is happening with the retraining effort? guest: that is something congress will have to work out again. that tends to be on the spending side. i think that the community colleges in this country are really trying hard to pick up

some of the slack and work with businesses to come up with training programs. the one thing that everyone has learned some lessons about is the nonsensical student loans, taking out a bunch of student loans, going to community college and never finishing or never getting a degree or taking clauses that do not lead to a job. -- classes that do not lead to a job. congress will probably try to consolidate and rationalize federal funding for job training programs. students have learned some hard lessons about, to not just take out loans without really thinking it through. make sure that what you are studying actually to employment. -- leads to employment. host: you're talking to those of you who are out of work as well, including daniel in kansas.

please go ahead. caller: i work at a meat packing factory back in 2009. they laid a bunch of us off. i have had medical problems before then. i went ahead and work. i was offered a job at walmart. the credit bureau did a credit check. they told me to comment, be ready for work. i showed up, they told me my credit score was not high enough. now i am even fighting for disability. there is no jobs here in kansas. guest: this is why we have 12 million people unemployed.

between physical, medical problems -- that recession of 2008 and 2009 brought so many people not only out of their jobs, but out of their medical insurance. problems that people had, even things like dental problems, all sorts of physical difficulties of people did not have insurance or money to take care of -- a five years later, we often look at these numbers -- it is not that they are sitting at home, eating popcorn and watching television. a lot of people cannot get back into the workforce because of these kinds of reasons. medical problems, bills of piled up because of the recession and they hurt their credit scores. you have a backlog of problems that of shoved a lot of people to the sidelines. this comes back to that point where if job creation picks up

enough, maybe employers will stop looking for that perfect employee and go back through those resumes and say, maybe he does not have a perfect chris gore, the work with him. -- credit score, but work with him. these credit scores are so readily available now that it is tough to get past the problems you had for five years ago. host: scott is on the air with marilyn geewax of national public radio. caller: i am curious why none of the commentators are ignoring the great growth in productivity in this country. the fact that in the last 15

years, a third of the people are no longer needed her to raise the foodstuff to raise a family. everyone seems to be ignoring the effects of robots and computers. that is a big difference between this unemployment era and previous ones. the jobs are not coming back. there is not as many people needed to produce the cars, the foodstuffs, and everything else. -- else, as there was 50 years ago. more and more of the bulk of the country is being generated by capital equipment instead of manual labor. guest: productivity has dramatically increased.

i have a little tablet with me here. the technology but is and i fingertips, that is where i would go to a librarian who would jump -- at my fingertips, that is where iw ould hav woulda librarian -- who would hvae a johave a job -- and ask, can you help me find this. this makes it easier for me to be a productive journalist. on the other hand, it does take away jobs. the theory of that is that as workers become more productive, they should generate far more profits for their bosses. they should get bigger raises, and they should be able to buy bigger homes, which causes are to be in need for construction workers and landscapers and furniture makers. there should be gains to the

economy in general and workers become more productive. -- when workers become more productive. the problem is that both productivity gains have come -- and not the same proportion of the gains from that have gone to workers. a lot of the gains have been in the form of higher corporate earnings. it has not yet really filtered out into the average person. that is something that everybody is watching. is it a matter of time until these productivity gains start to trickle down? does it start to infuse the economy with lots more life, or not? right now we're waiting to see, what do all these massive productivity gains mean for the overall standard of living? host: to our radio audience,

we're looking at the latest unemployment rates. the figure for the month of december, 7.8%. our guest is marilyn geewax of national public radio. mary says on twitter, if you happen to socialize in the right circles, you can get that job. gregg is out of work, joining us from bradenton, florida. caller: my credit is not that good trade but i do not understand -- good. but i do not understand what your credit has to do with getting a job. you put everything on the internet. i have been unemployed for a year. i have even owned my own business at one time.

i do not understand why somebody would not hire you because you .ave bad credit carr host: what about point from mary, who says it is about who you know? caller: i am working on that. i may be getting employed by the end of this month, doing something i really do not know what to do, but it is a job. host: thanks for the call. guest: now we collet trendy networking. this idea -- trendcall it trendy networking. this idea that people would rather hire someone that they know, networking?

if you talk to anybody -- netw orking, if you talk to anybody, they all say the same thing. go around and talk to people in person. : your friends. ask around -- call on your friends. ask around. if you know somebody, tried to reach out to that person to help get you in front of a potential employer instead of filling out a form on line. host: a comment, while we have traded $1.55000 jobs, most of low-paying -- 155,000 jobs, most are low-paying. guest: actually, lots of good jobs are being traded. the jobs that are going begging .ight now -- created th

the jobs that going begging right now, the ones the require a lot of education and specialization, those tend to be going begging. there are opportunities there. it takes a lot of schooling an effort to get yourself where you're in position to take those jobs. -- and effort to get yourself where you're in a position to take those jobs. if you want to be a waitress, you can probably find a job. if you want to be a brain surgeon, you can probably find a job. if you want to be an aircraft mechanic making $38 an hour, that can be a lot tougher. there is one thing that is helping with that, this energy resurgence. we're seeing an awful lot of energy jobs being created because of this process the

people referred to as a fracking. and conventional means of extracting oil and gas. -- unconvential means of extracting oil and gas. another area that is doing pretty well is spinoffs from agriculture. if we have a somewhat normal year in terms of whetheather ths agricultureverage purchase o sector. there are some points of hope within that structure is generally true that the low- paying jobs -- structure. it is generally true that low- paying jobs and high-paying jobs are where the action is right now. host: marlin is joining us from illinois.

caller: i have been out of work. i am constantly hearing, they're not hiring skilled people. i went back and earned a master's degree in computer science and mathematics. i am still unable to get an appropriate position. host: what have you been doing? caller: i have been adamant teaching and tutoring in math. -- adjunct teaching and tutoring in math. it is part time, and there are no benefits. guest: probably the best thing in a case like that is to keep doing those kinds of part-time jobs. a lot of times, things start out as internships or adjunct. those things can help create

those networks that lead to jobs. the overall jobs picture is not great. we have 12 million people looking for work right now. the unemployment rate is still 7.8%. that is very high by historical standards. it peaked in october of 2009 at 10%. 2009 is an awful long time ago. that is a tough job market. it is a hard time still for an awful lot of people. host: one of our viewers as has this on twitter, but are employers willing to hire technical workers over age 50? guest: that is another tough

one. it is hard to figure out how to combat prejudice against older workers. it is true that a lot of people see someone coming in that is older and they think, maybe they're going to be a little slower to pick up things, maybe they're going to want to work a few years and then retire. many employers have preconceived notions about what workers over 50 can do. they think, i will just wait until the perfect person comes along. if we can get stronger job growth and they do not feel like they're in so much of a position to dismiss -- you are too old, you are to this or that -- we need that strong underlying job growth to make employers be a

little more open to suggestions from applicants. host: john is out of work. joining us from the sword. -- don i is out of work. joining us from missouri. caller: how does the government actually come up with their unemployment rate number? going off the amount of folks were drawing unemployment? there are tons of people who are unemployed were not able to draw unemployment and lumber. hos-- any longer. guest: the government has an establishment that is a business establishment of reporting. bosses tell them what their payrolls are. and then there is a household people.where they call a peopl

they tried to take all these numbers together -- try to take all these numbers e together. there are always revisions. none of this is perfect. there is no way in a country of 250 million people to have a perfect picture of the -- 350 million people to of a perfect picture of the job market. you can see this general trend. things have gotten better, but we still have a long way to go. host: what is a good unemployment number? guest: you are never going to have zero unemployment. people change jobs, you move. there's always a certain amount of turn in the job market. into a's job market,

we do not have to get to zero, zero have got to get way down from 7.8%. -- but we have tog to get way down from 7.8%. it would help if our lawmakers would provide more certainty. how many government spending cuts that will become harder going to get our deficit under control -- are there going to be, are we going to get our deficit under control? if we can get that certainty out of washington, there could be a lot more kohl opened up for hiring. we need to get that certainty. host: marilyn geewax, thank you very much. we're keeping an eye on house of

representatives. the issue of the day will be dealing with hurricane sandy relief funding. that'll be coming up today. the house will be gavelling in in a couple of minutes. a joint session, as lawmakers, the electoral college votes. is president biden will be presiding over that. 1:00 eastern time. check out all of our schedule information at c-span.org. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] he honorable jo ann emerson to act as speaker pro tempore on this

day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. loving god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. we thank you for the joy, excitement, and ceremony of yesterday when the 113th congress convened. it was a celebration of the ongoing american experiment of participatory democratcy. today begins if not in full force the work of the congress when the difficulties facing our nation and some communities especially come into focus. we ask again an abunsance of your wisdom for the members of the people's house. may we be forever grateful for

the blessings our nation enjoys and appropriately generous with what we have to help those among us who are in need. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the pofrle of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. garrett: i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore:

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from new york, mr. king. mr. king: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. garrett: announce that the list of co-sponsors to the slayings submitted this morning should be treated as original

co-sponsors, reflecting their intent and in fact should be on the legislation when it was introduced late last night. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's statement will appear in the record. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise. mr. garrett: first of all, madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair lays before the house a privileged concurrent resolution. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 3, resolved, that when the senate recesses or adjourns on any day from friday, january 4, 2013, through monday, january 21, 2013, on a motion offered

pursuant to this concurrent resolution by its majority leader or his designee, it stand recessed or adjourned until 12:noone on monday, january 21, 2013, or such other time on that day as may be specified by its majority leader or his designee in the motion to recess or adjourn or until the time of any reassembly pursuant to section 2 of this concurrent resolution which ever occurs first. and that when the house adjourns on any legislative day from friday, january 4, 2013, through saturday, january 5, 2013, on a motion offered pursuant to this concurrent resolution by its majority leader or his designee, it stand added -- adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday, january 14, 2013, or until the time of any reassembly pursuant to section 2 of this concurrent resolution whichever occurs first. section 2, the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the house or their

respective designees acting jointly after consultation with the minority leader of the senate and the minority leader of the senate -- of the house shall notify the members of the senate and house respectively to reassemble at such place and time as they may designate if in their opinion the public interest shall warrant it. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed. without objection, a the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. now for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. garrett: back to the beginning. at this time i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 41. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 41, a bill to temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the federal emergency management agency for carrying out the national flood insurance program. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett, and the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: specifically, let's be clear on the record,

with regard to h.r. 41 i seek unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. garrett: at which time, at this time i yield myself just a couple minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. garrett: thank you. i rise today to continue the process of this house of speaking to aid and help those american citizens who have been devastated by hurricane sandy. this storm has left literally millions without power. thousands without homes. and the total area destroyed. the legislation before us today is simple. it temporarily increases fema's borrowing authority for carrying out the national flood insurance program. this legislation is really vital to ensure that the homeowners in my state of new jersey as well as in new york and connecticut and any other affected areas will be able to continue to have their contractual flood insurance policy with nfib honored. by temporarily increasing this borrowing authority, it will provide to both homeowners and insurance companies handleling

the claims the federal government will meet its contractual obligations. people who have been devastated by the form will be able to continue to move forward with their lives. i want to thank the gentleman from new york, mr. grimm, who led a group of members and other volunteers to help clean and repair some of these devastated areas. i was pleased to personally join the gentleman in their volunteer activity. while we witnessed much devastation and destruction, we also saw determination and friendly faces of local residents and volunteers from across the country who are committed to restoring and rebuilding this area. so while it's easy for members to come to the floor and vote for a piece of legislation to help the area, it's more difficult to be on the ground physically working, scrubbing, lifting, building, and cleaning. while the congress can and does help, it is the hard work, grit, and determination of the citizens of the area and volunteers and workers from all over the country that will be the driving force in this area. to conclude, i commend the gentleman from new york, mr. grimm, for his efforts and the others around who volunteer in

this effort to look forward to continue to work with him and others in the area, both here and in congress, for the people of new jersey, new york, connecticut, and the affected area. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: thank you, madam chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. meeks: madam speaker, i'm pleased that today on this floor, though it may be late, we'll finally act on a piece of legislation that's vital to superstorm sandy's disaster relief legislation to increase the borrowing authority by fema on behalf of the national flood insurance program. by increasing financing by $9.7 billion, this bill will enable the provisions of the central relief of 120,000 flood victims who have waited for far too long for the payment on their claims. i support today's bill as an important step for recovery from superstorm sandy. when taken as a whole the

house's actions today i believe still are slow, 67, 68 days have gone by. now we have some commitments, but we are moving forward and i'm hopeful that we'll get the full entitlement that the individuals from new york, new jersey, connecticut vitally need. some of the programs, of course, that need funding include army corps of engineers who will work to protect new york and new jersey and connecticut's sewer lines and coastal communities and small business administrations. but let me, before i yield back my time, let me take some special time to thank mr. garrett. i want to thank every member of the new york, connecticut, and

new jersey delegation for working collectively together to try to make sure that our people, because this is an issue that affects the american people, that our people receive the kind of aid that he they need. i particularly want to say to my friend, mr. grim, and mr. king, new york, and i have seen several times they worked together collectively with our governor-working as a member as an elected officials to come together to the aid of people who need today. aid from a terrible storm. so i'm hopeful as we move forward we do what we need to do by january 15 that we get certain things done and finally the people of this region receive the kind of aid that it needs. i resume the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i thank the gentleman for his comments. and also recognize that this legislation helps not only his people in his neck of the woods but across the country as we resume the money and the glad insurance program. with that i yield now to the gentleman from texas, the

chairman of the financial services committee, mr. hensarling. the speaker pro tempore: how much time? mr. garrett: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. hensarling: there is no doubt that hurricane sandy rendered unspeakable damage to both lives and property on our east coast. it represents truly one of the great natural disasters of recent history. for millions of our fellow citizens, the devastation has been unseek speakable and unfathomable. it is time, obviously, to rebuild homes, buildings, and lives. for the victims who paid for flood insurance policies with the national flood insurance program, their claims need to be paid and paid now. madam speaker, the tragic reality the national flood insurance program is broke. it is beyond broke. it is now taxpayer bailout broke. regrettably not unlike our nation broke. trillions in debt. debt to the chinese, the

shameful bill sent to our children and grandchildren. so right here, right now, madam speaker, members are faced with a tragic choice of not paying contractual claims to victims who pay premiums or adding $9.7 billionle to an an insane national debt that threatens our national security, our economic well-being, and our children's future. emergency bills like this should not come to the floor without offsets to pay for it or structural reforms to ensure that taxpayer bailouts are never needed again. regrettably, less than 24 hours into a new congress, there is simply not time for this. as many in this body know i have long been critical of the national flood insurance program. for more than four decades this experiment in government provided flood insurance has proven to be ineffective,

inefficient, and costly to hardworking american taxpayers. last congress we passed a re-authorization bill with modest reforms to begin eliminating outdated subsidies and get the program -- will the gentleman yield an additional 30 seconds. mr. garrett: i yield 30 seconds. mr. hensarling: outdated subsidies and get the program on a path towards actuarial soundness. but sandy has hit before many of these provisions could take effect. as chairman of the financial services committee, i wish to inform all members in this congress, our committee will take up legislation to transition to a private, innovative, competitive, sustainable flood insurance market, one that serves the needs of all of our countrymen, but ends the unsustainable taxpayer bailouts once and for all. a great physical tragedy of today should never become an even greater fiscal tragedy for our children tomorrow. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: two minutes to the

gentlelady from new york, miss carolyn maloney. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mrs. maloney: i thank the gentleman for his leadership and yielding. the victims of superstorm sandy can wait no longer. haven't they suffered and waited long enough? the people who we represent who sent taos washington to serve and who are now not nearly -- not merely crying out for help, they are screaming for assistance, demand that we act without further delay and pass this bill to immediately increase the borrowing authority of fema and carry out the intended purpose of the national flood insurance program that help is embarrassingly lacking. there are hundreds of claim

payments that will be delayed and not paid this bill will temporarily increase borrowing authority by $89.7 billion. much more is -- by $9.7 billion." much -- much more is needed. funds for katrina which passed this house in less than two weeks. we have been waiting for 11 weeks. for 11 weeks. funds for ike and ambiguous tave -- and gustav passed very quickly. again, the northeast corridor has been waiting 11 weeks. it should not take much imagination to appreciate what it's like at this moment for those who have been waiting, affected by the flooding cause pid the superstorm. for 11 weeks they have been waiting while this body sat on a bill that should have long ago been signed, sealed and its help delivered to those in desperate need. they wait for the billions that

they need to rebuild. they need it to make sure this doesn't happen with floods in the future. many wait shivering in the cold of new york where temperatures are again below freezing. they are in homeless shelters and hotels work friends, they are waiting, this body needs to act and needs to act today, it is long overdue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. -- >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york. mr. king: this is the first necessary step that's needed to provide assistance and relief

and aid to the people of new york, new jersey, and connecticut require after the most devastating storm in the history of our region. in many ways, one of the top two or three, unfortunately, most severe storms in the history of our nation. this legislation is essential because people are suffering. people are suffering and the suffering increases each day. as i said, this is the first major step we are take, hopefully this will be concluded and prth process will be completed on january 15. i want to thank the leadership of both parties for coming together on this. i want to emphasize that this legislation is vital. this is not a handout. this is not something we're looking for as a favor. what we're asking for is to be treated the same as victims in all the storms, all the natural disasters have been treated. and i think it's important to lay out, this is part of a process. in the legislation that was originally going to be introduced in this house, there was never an earmark in the bill, never any extraneous

spending in the bill. i think it's important to realize this. this bill is always, always, the house of representatives bill was always targeted toward victims of hurricane sandy. it does not go beyond that. it's important to lay that out. it's also important to realize that again as we are talking here today and as the vote goes forward, as we go forward until january 15, the real suffering that's out there. and these people, their homes, my own neighborhood, homes are devastated. there's a woman who lost two sons in 9/11, she lost her home now. this is a crisis of unimaginable portions. if you saw the suffering that's going on, if you saw the people who don't have food and shelter, you'd realize how horrible this is. it's important to report put past recriminations behind us. all us americans, democrats, they have set that motto and that tone.

let's follow their example. let's go forward standing as one. i urge my colleagues to strongly support this legislation today and also as we go forward and january 15. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. >> i would like to call up the man who has been a leader in this from the beginning, the honorable mr. frank pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the young gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank my colleague from new york. this action by the house republican leadership is too little, too late. i have to say i'm still very upset, i think it's deplorable that the speaker did not bring this bill up and the whole package that addresses hurricane sandy relief in the lame duck session in the last two days of congress. it would have been passed, he would have signed it, we would have started to rebuild the shore. now we have another delay.

it's nine week, 10 weeks, whatever it is, i have no idea what the senate is going to do my understanding is that the senate is mired in filibuster over the next three weeks and isn't coming back until after the inauguration. that means we could be waiting another three weeks. the rest of the package which is the most important part of it, might not come up until we return after a week's break. we're going to be on recess then we come back on the 15th and hopefully the rest of the package comes out that day. that means we have three separate votes on this package that could have been passed and signed into law over the last couple of days. three separate votes. it is not acceptable, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. >> two minutes to the gentleman.

>> the devastation unleashed by sandy, the impacted communities are in dire need of comprehensive assistance. nowhere is this more evident than in the sheer magnitude of the housing damage and the subsequent housing need. according to governor christie's office sandy damaged or destroyed 346,000 housing units. of that number, 72,397 were covered by the national flood insurance program whose owners have submitted claims and are awaiting the insurance payout for comprehensive repairs. thus far only 18% have received funds pursuant to their claims. over 80% of the constituents are waiting, in limbo, an intolerable situation that's

making a bad situation worse. moreover, madam speaker, throughout the region, there are a toe toofl 115,000 insurance claims related to sandy. many of them are waiting as well. this is must-pass legislation. we have an obligation, we have a duty, meet this compelling need and contractual obligation this legislation takes us in that direction and again i want to thank chairman garrett for his leadership. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i want to thank mr. garrett for making sure we included on this bill every member of the new york, new jersey, connecticut delegation as sponsors of the bill. every member of the committee, and i want to thank the ranking member, ms. waters, for agreeing to be an original co-sponsor on this bill. it shows we are all working at

this together. i want to thank mr. garrett for his letting all the delegates to be part of this bill. now i would like to yield two minutes to the distinguished whip of the democratic conference, the individual who walked with me on rockaway beach, steny hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hoyer: i want to congratulate all the members who represent new york, new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania, and other jurisdictions who have been united in a bipartisan way to say, let us reach out, let us act now to help those who have been savaged by sandy. mr. speaker, madam speaker, i rise in support of this bill that will help ensure flood

insurance benefits will be available for those still struggling to recover from superstorm sandy. but i agree with frank pallone. while it is never too late to do the right thing it is late that we are doing this thing. and we are doing only the bare minimum because the flood insurance will expire. the senate hopefully can act by annapolis concept. hopefully. on this small portion. but as we did in katrina, we should have acted almost immediately. to meet the pain and suffering and loss of the citizens, our fellow citizens, who are the victims of sandy but should not have been the victims of our delay. i support the legislation and i urge the speaker and all of us on both sides of the aisle to

ensure that on the 15th of this month we act for the balance of the initial dollars that will be available. to assist those who have had this loss. i will be supportive on the 15th and i know that the people of connecticut, of new jersey, of new york, and of pennsylvania and of america will hold the speaker and all of us to the promise that no later than the 15th of this month some 11 days from today, that we will make a full contribution to those people. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i yield to the gentleman who recognizes that there have been no victims affected by the delay here. >> it's been 70 days and the residents of our -- of the northeast have been -- many have been living in misery and

heartache. i'm pleased that we're taking this step to support the national flood insurance program which has met the needs of americans across our nation. when there's been flooding crises. mr. frelinghuysen: we in the northeast have been facing this crisis for 70 days. i'm glad that this essential program is going to be supported. there are about 125,000, from what i understand, sandy related claims that could be met by raising this cap and i think it's good that we're about to do that. this, as others have said, is the first step of what we need to do to rebuild lives, put aside the misery that so many families and businesses have been suffering for this length of time. it's the right step. on january 15 we'll be considering a much larger supplemental. total of $60 billion, which will meet the needs, not all

the needs of connecticut, new jersey and new york and he region, but their considerable needs. but the flood, national flood insurance program is a good program. it needs support. this is a good first step. let's get about it, let's do it in a bipartisan manner and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i yield one minute to the gentleman, -- the gentlewoman from new york, ms. nydia velazquez. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. velazquez: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. hurricane sandy has devastated new york and thousands and thousands of my constituents lost their home and their businesses and it is a shame, an embarrassment, for this institution that the house republican leadership continues playing games with this

essential assistance, more than two months after the storm struck. it is in indefensible. that as americans continue to suffer from sandy's impact that the house majority could not get their act together to bring the entire senate-passed package to a vote. talk about fiddling while new york city burns. this is also the case with today's legislation. while i fully support provide feeg ma with additional funding, it is just another sign of the majority's dysfunction. with fema just days away from being unable to pay flood claims that republicans argued among themselves about what to do, that is a sad situation. today we're taking care, 10 more seconds. about flood insurance. what about small businesses. they just create -- they're job

createors in our community, they are getting nothing. we as an institution come together when there's natural disaster across this nation my constituents deserve nothing less. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york who has led the effort on the ground, putting the shoulder to the grindstone to help restore some of these people's homes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. . mr. grimm: aid like to take just 15 seconds to tell chairman garrett that as much as i appreciate him bringing this bill to the floor today, he came to my district with his wife, came to midland beach, within one of the homes, several of the homes that were completely devastated, pulling out moldy sheet rock and bringing a little hope to

people in complete despair, for that i will be eternally grateful and i do thank my chairman for that compassion and letting the people even joilt side of his own district -- even outside his own district know that he cares about them. i called someone from this morning in staten island and they have a teenage son and they haven't been back in their home since the storm. i asked, how are your sons doing? they are doing great, but dillon, he hasn't gone back to the house to help with the construction because he gets choked up. and it's that that i want to emphasize here. these are human beings, human beings. children that have been completely displaced. and it's up to us to get them back on their feet. so today is one of those steps that i'm proud to be a part of and tell dillon that he's going

to be ok and we are going to get him back in his house. i would ask that as we go forward with the other parts of sandy relief, that my colleagues will stand with me and tell dillon he's going to be ok and we'll get him back in his house. with that again i want to thank all of my colleagues across the aisle it's been a pleasure to work with you, we have a lot of work to do. i want to thank chairman garrett one last time. thank you chairman, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i yield two minutes to the distinguished ranking member from the appropriations committee, the hard fighter, one and only nita lowey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mrs. lowey: i thank the distinguished, distinguished ranking member, mr. meeks, for your elegance as always. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of this legislation and i'd like to thank chairman garrett for introducing this legislation and for his efforts to bring it to the floor with bipartisan support. the national flood insurance program has hit its limit. without an increase in

borrowing authority, it will be unable to play for claims as early as next week and that means that 120,000 flood insurance claims payments will be delayed nearly all of which are due to hurricane sandy. however, this bill is just not enough, it's not adequate. in december the senate passed an emergency assistance package to aid in the sandy recovery which included this legislation . earlier this week i expected as did my colleagues that the house would vote on a complete emergency assistance package to aid those in connecticut, new jersey, new york who have lost homes, businesses, their livelihoods. sadly, the 112th congress ended without action. and now we are starting over on an important legislation which is absolutely critical to help storm affected areas that should have and could have. we know that. there's no reason it wasn't

signed in 2012. however, we have now been promised a vote on the sandy emergency assistance by january 15. families in my district and throughout the region are looking to congress and asking, why are you making it so difficult for us to rebuild? why are you making us wait to rebuild? today's legislation is a start. only a first step toward providing relief for those who suffered as a result of hurricane sandy. we don't need a piecemeal approach. that's not the way the congress acts. we need a comprehensive sandy recovery bill passed today. we hold you to your commitment, january 15, not a day later. we need this complete bill. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: at this time i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey who has seen firsthand the

devastation to the state. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker, and i thank chairman garrett for yielding time. it's been 68 days since hurricane sandy devastated the northeast and over two months of suffering for my constituents. mr. runyan: while it is unfortunately long overdue, i'm pleased we are here acting to help the people of new jersey recover. this hurricane has cost billions of dollars in new jersey. uprooting individuals and families from their homes, forcing which ises -- businesses to close, and resulting in job loss and revenue loss. my constituents need help now. i have witnessed firsthand the devastation in seaside heights, normandy beach, and others and i can say these places looked like war zones after the storm. whole communities have been wiped out. governor kristi estimated the damage in message message to be over $36 billion.

i applaud his swift action on sandy recovery and join him with all local and state federal leaders in new jersey to ensure all relief funds get to new jersey families as quickly as possible. the program we are voting on today, i urge passage of the essential legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: at this time i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey, member of the ways and means committee, mr. bill pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for one minute. mr. pascrell: you would think, madam chair, that we are having a sadie hawkins dance here today. we are patting each other on the back. the real sponsor of this legislation, the people have been hurt. and let's be honest about it. it took only 10 days after katrina for the president to sign $60 billion in katrina aid. passed by the congress of the united states. how dare you come to this floor and make people think everything is ok.

in fact, one of the gentlemen from new jersey said we have not waited at all. well, the insurance runs out in one week. what are we going to do? wait for one week and then act? we won't even be here. who the heck are you kidding? so we all come together very nicely this morning for breakfast and eggs. and we know what has happened over the last 10 days. this is a total, total disaster in helping those people that we are purposely saying today pontificating about we are helping them. isn't that wonderful? what's our jobs? we are not doing anybody any favors. that's why we were sent here. try it once in a while, democracy. you may like it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett. mr. garrett: at this point i yield two minutes to the gentleman who realizes it's not

just what we do on the floor but the volunteering, dedication to help these people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. westmoreland: i want to say that i support this bill. not because i support the increased borrowing that we are doing for our flood insurance program of $9.7 billion, but it is a contractual agreement that we owe to these policyholders to pay these claims. it's not their fault that we in the government do not -- are not good managers of our money. in 1968, when this policy and this program was put into place, they had a borrowing authority of $1.5 billion. it wasn't until katrina that we raised that borrowing authority up to $20 billion. we still owe $20 billion. we are now raising that borrowing authority to $30 billion. in 2017, which is 4 1/2 years

away, the borrowing authority goes back to $1.5 billion. not sure we'll address that at 11:59 on september 30 of 2017. but i would like to ask both sides, on both sides of the aisle, let's start working on that now. this cost to the government is $1,763 for every policyholder that has flood insurance. the average premium is about $600. we have paid people 10 and 20 and 30 times for claims that live in the same house in the same flood plain. i had an amendment to the flood insurance bill that said, if you had two claims due to flood and you did not take the payout, then you would have to pay a rate based premium.

it didn't pass. we've got to get into reality wham this flood insurance program is for. it's mandatory. if you have a government backed loan and live in a flood plain that's likely to flood in 100 years, you have to have the insurance. but we need to make sure -- mr. garrett: additional 15 seconds. mr. westmoreland: we need to make sure that we are doing is something that can manage itself and us not continually having to raise the borrowing authority for this part of our government. with that, i do support the bill. it's a congressional obligation that we have to these policyholders and i ask for everyone to support it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: yes. at this time i'd like to bring up the ranking member of the foreign affairs committee, the honorable eliot engel from the great state of new york. the speaker pro tempore: how much time? mr. meeks: one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. mr. engel: i thank my friend from new york and i rise in strong support of this

legislation. i must say tuesday night when i found out that we were not taking this legislation up in the previous congress, was as angry as i have been since i have been a member of congress. in the last 20 years this is the longest people affected by natural disasters have waited for congress to provide them for needed relief. it's really not acceptable. i have voted for aid for all areas of the country, wherever there's been a national disaster, and the northeast now deserves the same. i would remind my colleagues that new york has been a donor state. we give more to the federal government than we take back. now we need help. and politics should not be played with the help that we need. we should be supporting the entire package. i'm sorry we are not voting for the entire package today. as was mentioned before, we now have to wait for the senate to pass whatever we passed. this could have been gone tuesday night. the aid would have been speeding to the people. this is simply not acceptable and i hope there is no further

delay. my constituents are suffering. the people of new york, new jersey, connecticut are suffering. congress needs to get out of the way now and send not only this $9.7 billion insurance flooding but the enshire package. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i yield 15 seconds to set the record straight. with regard to the legislation before us, which is a flood insurance program, the aid under this program is going and has been going to the recipients in the affected area, because there was funding in this program before. what we are doing right now is to make sure that at that will -- that aid will continue to go to those people who have contracts for insurance. with that i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, also very familiar with the devastation that it caused to the constituents. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam chair i rise today in strong support of the legislation. indeed, as was intimated in a

moment ago in the summer of 2011 my district was struck by hurricanes irene and lee. we came together as a body to support my constituents. with their assistance provided, we are in the process of rebuilding, still rebuilding i might add. now we come together in the wake of this devastating natural disaster, sandy. my state along with our neighboring states were struck again. and making certain that our communities have the resourcers they need has brought me to the floor today again to advocate for new york families, business, and farms. mr. gibbs: today's clote is a step forward. it exists for circumstances like this, but more remains. we must come together at the outset of this legislative session to agrees both the immediate recovery needs and long-term rebuilding efforts. i'm committed to this reyoifer effort. i'm proud of the bipartisan work our delegations have achieved to date. we need to continue that. i want to thank the gentleman from new jersey for bringing this bill to the floor today. i urge my colleagues to

supports it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. garrett: can the clerk identify the time remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey has 4 3/4 minutes remaining. the gentleman from new york has 6 3/4 minutes remaining. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the jam new jersey is recognized for one minute without objection. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. andrews: madam speaker, the delay in helping the victims of hurricane sandy is obviously inexcusable and and unjust. it's equally obvious that the time has come to do what we can to help solve the problem. that's why i'm for the passage of this bill today. it will in fact help flood insurance claims be honored and paid so people can go ba their work of rebuilding their homes. we have heard about the january 15 vote that's coming

the bill we will not vote on today, the pork we will not vote on today is in fact the pork that was in this bill from

the senate. i hope we will negotiate a clean bill that only teals with the men and women and families on the eastern seaboard that need to be taken care of. i think that think president's responsibility and our responsibility and the senate's responsibility when we do emergency supplementals to make them only about the emergency. i believe today we are buying a little time. for people on the eastern seaboard who are suffering, that time is running out and all of our leaders need to make sure that the next vote, the vote on january 15, as the previous speaker said, will be a vote that in fact will be prenegotiated that will run through the senate and that in fact will deal only with the people suffering on the eastern seaboard. i yield to the gentleman. >> --

mr. king: i think it's important to point out that the house bill never contained any of those. >> the gentleman is right. had -- mr. issa: if we had passed what should have been the house bill, the senate would have taken that up, although they had left town, we could have done this in the previous congress. the gentleman has been a champion at making sure that's understand. -- understood. i want to make sure that now we know that when the next disaster occur well, need to make sure, we owe them that. i want to thank the quelt from new york for working so hard to make sure we get to a clean bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i yield to ms. kaptur for the pup of a unanimous consent request.

ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman and ask unanimous consent to place remarks in the record in support of hurricane sandry relief. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i support this bill today because the fund would otherwise run dry next week. but it does not excuse the ka louseness of the house leadership oh the other night in taking the relief off the table. mr. nadler: now we're told we'll get a vote on the 15th, i hope they're as good as their word, but even so, we have to wait on the senate. that action delayed relief to long suffering people and business owners whose businesses are going under, the

homeowners suffering from mold, all of this was delayed by at least three weeks, maybe longer. on top of the fact that we have gone already nine weeks after katrina, after -- nine weeks. after katrina it was 10 days. the leadership of the house should be condemned for this i hope we have the determination to make sure that this comes to a vote on the 15th, that it advances and that the senate is induced to match it quickly. that would be the least that decrency would demand. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: recognizing that some on the other side of the aisle can't take yes for an answer, i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i yield one minute to the gentleman, mr. sires. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sires: i was thinking maybe there's a bias against the northeast of this country.

you know, devastation can happen to any state. and no one state has the money to make sure that those people who were injured in this storm can move forward. i would remind all those members that are not here supporting this bill that this could happen to your state. you know, as i sat here and supported alabama, i supported mississippi, i supported texas, i was hoping that by now the northeast part of this country would have -- congress would have acted. it's been 77 days. those people are hurting. people in my district still can't get back to their homes. here we are in the last congress, we just didn't do anything about it. now we're moving forward and hopefully january 15 we can get the rest of this money so those people who are suffering in all these states that were hit by this storm can get their lives back together again.

i thank the gentleman and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman -- does the gentleman from new jersey continue to reserve? the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: i yield one minute for his floor debate, the gentleman from new york, sean patrick maloney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. maloney: my name is sean patrick maloney, and i'm new here. i don't know all the rules of washington but it seems like the rule here is to put off tomorrow what should be done today even while americans are suffering. i learned a long time ago from my mom and dad and our parish priest a much better rule. it's tchailed golden rule. americans of all parties live by it. people of new york, new jersey, and the hudson valley live by it. the owners of the small hardware store live by it.

they led storm victims through their darkened store during the storm. they didn't make their neighbors wait 68 days for help, they didn't say they could do more later, they acted, with speed. with caring. this new congress can start anew today. we can act with speed and caring. we don't need to wait. i urge my colleagues to bring this additional relief to the floor as soon as possible. and support the bill today. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. does the gentleman from new jersey -- mr. garrett: i continue to reserve. how much time is remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 2 3/4 remaining. mr. meeks: i yield 30 seconds to the gentlelady from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentleman very much and thank the proponent of this legislation. i come from the gulf region.

we lost thousands and thousands and thousands through hurricanes. hurricane ike saw this congress give us $3 billion. i stand here today to remind you that a police officer died a 13-year-old died with debris falling on her and a mother saw her two children drawn from her hand and drowned in hurricane sandy. it is long overdue. i stand here as someone who has been a beneficiary, who has cried with those who have lost, demand that this money be passed today but more importantly i demand we pass the total amount of money right now today. let's help the american people. let's help those impacted by sandy, let's help my fellow americans. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. does the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- does the gentleman from new york have additional speakers? mr. meeks: i have one additional speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i have no other speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from new jersey has the right to close. mr. meeks: i yield one minute to the ranking member of the financial services committee a fighter for the people, the honorable maxine watts of the state of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. waters: thank you so much, congressman meeks. i am so proud of members of congress of both sides of the aisle who have been real adro cats, who have been on television, who have been fighting. members on the on site side of the aisle criticized their own leadership for the delay. i am from california, i have witnessed earthquake disaster. i have been involved with trying to help with katrina and making sure that the people who were the victims of katrina were compensated, were taken care of. this was unconscionable that this has had to take so long. i watched congressman meeks up in rockaway, i watched the people who cried, who begged for help, who begged for assistance.

this is so late in coming. i support this bill today. i am one of the co-authors of the flood insurance re-authorization bill along with mrs. biggert who re-authorized flood insurance for another five years, let's put the money in it. let's do what's right. let's take care of this the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks, has 1 1/4 minutes remaining, the gentleman from new jersey has 2 1/4 minutes remaining. mr. meeks: i yield myself the remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. meeks: it's 70 days. unprecedented that this region has not been treated like the other regions when they were in need of help. it's 70 days. now we're going with this bill today. what we we're receiving is a promissory note. a promissory note that on january 15, we'll be able to say to the people from new york, new jersey, and

connecticut that were victimized by the storm, that their united states congress, their house of representatives, are going to be by their side. so we have a promissory note. i'm concerned until the promissory note has been put into the bank and stamped that it has sufficient funds. and in this case, it's got to be put in the bank and stamped that we have votes that are necessary for the people of this region. they've been suffering. they have suffered long enough. they need to hear from their government. that their government is with them like it has been with everybody else in this country. wherever the disaster may be. we have to support them. i say to this congress, let's make sure as we put forth this promissory note, we cannot go back home, i don't think a democrat or republican can go back home after january 15 and say that the promissory check

has bounced, has insufficient funds. we have to come back collectively and say to the people that are suffering, that they in fact have been helped by their government, by their people and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the jell from new jersey is recognized for 2 1/4 minutes. mr. garrett: i thank you, madam chair and thank all those who came to the floor to speak on what have of this. our heart goes out to the family the mom the dads, the little children, the senior citizen who was lost everything, home that was been inundated with water so it's not recognizable anymore. homes that have to be totally knocked down, refurbished, stripped down to their studs again and started from their foundation back up again. home that was been washed out to sea and will never be seen again. homes that have been destroyed, trees that have crashed through

homes. electricity that had been out for weeks. our heart goes out to the people who have suffered so much, for so long and who continue to suffer. i commend members on both sides of the aisle for coming to the floor today to support this legislation. i thank also those people, the volunteers who took it upon themselves without any government mandate or edict or pay or what have you to go out and so rescue these people and work for these people tai in and day out. from the begin, the o.e.m. people, the management people, the fire department, the rescue squad, rank and file folks who came out and tried to help and continue to do so, that run the food banks. groups like samaritan purse to be out there on the front lines and support these people in their hour of need. i extend an invitation to every single member of congress who has come to the floor and said that they too support these people, to put on their work shoes and their work boots and their jackets and to get out of this congress and to get out of this city and to go into the affected area and not just give

speeches and not just pass legislation of other people's money but to actually come to our state and join us in the field and actually do the work that's necessary to get done. so i extend that invitation to each and every one and i look forward to hearing from each and every one of you. i ask for your support of this legislation and i also extend an invitation to ms. watters to work furthermore on the legislation with regard to flood insurance because we heard the number earlier. s that nonsustainable program, we're taking in something like 75 cents an paying out about $1 in claims. that can't go on. we need to work together on this. i look forward to that and i look for a yes vote on this legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind all persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the house and that any manifestation of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation of house rules. now the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 41?

those in favor say aye.

in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal which the chair will put de novo. the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the journal stands approved.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from washington rise? >> madam speaker.

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: by direction i send to the house a resolution. and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will reminority resolution. the clerk: resolution 17, appointing certain members to committees. resolved that the following named members be and are hereby elected. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: i ask that the resolution be considered as read. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to concurrent resolution, the chair announces the speaker's appointment of two members on the house to count electoral votes, the gentlewoman from michigan, candice miller and the gentleman from pennsylvania, robert brady. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the house stands in recess until approximately 1

>> i am pleased that our new members will be here to bear witness to that. a few weeks ago i came before you bring forth our 49 members together. we saw the beautiful diversity in every possible way, gender, geography, philosophy -- in

every possible way -- ethnicity, of course and now they are members of congress with constituents. and they will have a representative of voting on the floor today. the vote has been taken, it will be recorded but it was there. yesterday on the floor, i presented several issues i think we can work together on to extend the hand of friendship to the republicans. let's work together for good job creation and good paying jobs. ,colleagues,

a high honor to welcome you to the 113th congress. to our newest members of congress, it is a special privilege and honor to welcome you and your families and extend congratulation to the newest members of congress, welcome. to reach this day, each of us has been strengthened by our faith and our families. with a full and grateful heart, i want to thank my family -- my husband of 49 years, paul pelosi, our children, nancy corinne, christine, jacqueline, paul, and alexandra, our grandchildren, who are represented today by our granddaughter madeleine, and i have to include the d'alesandro family of baltimore in that gratitude as well. and i must thank my constituents in san francisco for giving me the privilege of representing that beautiful and diverse city in the congress of the united states. they come here as representatives, independent representatives of their districts. their job description and their job title or one and the same, rep. how they do that, honoring their conscience, the constitution and their constituents is how they

make their decisions about their votes. these 49 new members, they are personal manifestations of the american dream in their own lives and their parents' lives of crossing the threshold into being part of the american dream. that has two parts -- the dream part of the and the american part of it. it is not just the economics. it's certainly is important but it is about who we are as a country, promoting our values, keeping the world at peace, and respecting the judgment of the american people about how they make their personal decisions in their lives, respecting their creativity, honoring our country's founders' commitment to the future in every way.

we have a responsibility to honor those commitments now. it is, again, a pretty exciting time. electing these 49 new members represents a sea change in the congress. the republicans have a large number of new members. i think it was 25 or 35. there is a big number of new people. i think back to when i was knew that most people come here to see how we can work together first and foremost and how we can find our common ground, how can stand our ground when we don't find common ground. we want a higher, a better ground for the american people. the reason we are calling this earlier is because of the vote on the floor on sandy. we're disappointed that the package did not -- that was passed in the senate in a bar partisan was not taken up by the

majority by the republican leadership earlier in the previous congress that just ended. now they are saying we will take up today, 1/6 of the package and hopefully that will go through today and in a couple of weeks, we can vote on it further. for one who has experience natural disasters in your district, it is important the confidence people have and the public response to their personal plight be upheld. i am also disappointed that the last congress did not pass a violence against women act. since we're talking about what they did not do. i will have to leave to go to the floor to send the, let me take any questions you may have. >> or any of your fellow

democrats concerned that the president may have lost leverage? >> no, i think most of our members -- we're never unanimous but we do have consensus -- most of our members know that the president has leverage on the next hurdles we face. we had to get over this hurdle and while there had been some ideas preferred that the republicans wanted certain things, there was a strong democratic vote in the house to pass this bill. it was necessary to get those kinds of objections out of the way. i think by and large we don't want to be up against the wall at the last minute of the last day. the fact is, by and large, members understand why it was

important not to go over the fiscal cliff. >> what about the constitutional obligations? >> in speaking to all of you, i have made my view very clear on that subject. i would do it in a second. i am not the president of united states. sometimes i think the administration gears up more clearly when you say it publicly than when you say privately. >> 72% of the debt camerican people think the debt ceiling talk should be accompanied by spending cuts. >> democrats are not saying we are not having spending cuts. we have all agreed to over $1 trillion in cuts in the budget control act. we all know this has to be in three parts -- revenue to reduce

the deficit, growth to bring money into the treasury, and cuts in establishing our priorities in a way that does not harm our future growth. for example, cuts in education and investment in innovation which i think are a false economy because they reduce the possibilities for growth rather than increase them. none of us is saying we will not talk about spending cuts. >> it has said -- it has been set up as the republicans want bigger spending cuts. >> i think that is a complete manifestation of the philosophy at work on the republican side. if you do not believe in a public role, if you do not heed the call of president washington that a political party should not be at war with their own government, then you

would disagree with what the republicans are doing. they deem to the ryan budget passed yesterday, it practically direct that all the things that the public role plays a part in -- clean air, public safety, public education, public housing, health, medicare, medicaid, social security -- forget about it. if you think there should be more spending than reaching the debt limit, you do that a couple of times and pretty soon, you have no public investments. in the future. ] i think it is a very bad idea. i think there has to be some maturity that has to be here about the fact that by and large, many of the -- some of the debt that has been incurred was incurred by congress, much of it in the bush years, two and

pay for workers, prescription drugs that gave away the store to the pharmaceutical companies, job bills that did not produce jobs -- they have created this problem and they are saying we are not paying our bills. that is just not right. i think that is inappropriate conversation for us to have. this is about who we are as a society, as a country, as an economy and the rest. i think it is really important for the american people to have a clear understanding of what is at stake and some of the buzz words that the republican put out there. of course, everybody thinks we should have spending cuts and we have all subscribed to that. we should subject every dollar whether it is domestic or whatever to the harsh scrutiny as to whether the taxpayers is getting his or her dollars

worth. >> what about the second tranche of funding for hurricane sandy and republicans say that some of the funds in the $33 billion might not going -- night -- might not be going directly to hurricane sandy. >> i am concerned that whatever passes here, passes in the united states senate. in the interest of confidence- building and comfort to those affected by loss of life or home or a job or community or character of their community, that would have been important to pass that bill. why did that have to wait until after the fiscal cliff bill which was being delay? they did say to the members from the bridge and that if they agreed to a bifurcation, that

they would take up the $27 billion so some of their members could look decent and vote for assistance to people in need of public assistance, natural disaster assistance, and the others who did not want to go for the $33 billion, they just needed a fewer number of republicans and democrats i did not think they should take the deal but here we are with $9 billion today and hopefully that will pass. i would hope that whatever minor concerns they have about this that or the other thing in the bill, the major initiative of being there for the american people in time of natural disaster, as we have been with katrina, the midwest, california, all of these places that we should be there for them. in fact, this is a long list the

leg and any natural disaster assistance since last year. hurricane irene affected by large part of the north east as well. it was the same region but a broader swath of the east coast of our country. i hope at the end of the day, enough republicans would understand what our responsibility is, to honor the social compact we have. this has to be the last question >> your office put out a photograph of all the female members of the house. john boehner put out another photo of the ones that were not there yet and photoshopped in a few more of them. is that an accurate historical record? >> it is an accurate record of the freezing cold and our members have been waiting a long time for everyone to arrive.

they had to get back into the building to reach constituents and family members to get ready to go to the floor. it was not likely have the rest of the day to stand there but it was an accurate representative of the 61 democratic members of congress. not only were they women, but that reflected a beautiful diversity of our country. women from every community as well as every religious faith. we were pretty excited about that. thank you for asking about it. we got a lot of response back from the country and the one i love is when they said "can the women in congress hear what people are saying across the country?" thank you all very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> minority leader nancy pelosi

wrapping up her first weekly briefing since her reelection yesterday as the democratic leader. the house approved $9.7 billion in aid for hurricane sandy victims and that goes to the senate for approval. leader nancy pelosi will surely joined her colleagues for a joint session with the senate for the final step in the election process. they will conduct the count of the electoral college belts and that will start at 1:00 p.m. eastern and we will have live coverage here on c-span. -2. the unemployment numbers remained unchanged to enter the jobs numbers were released this provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to shield. it is critical that we continue the policies building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of a deep hole that was caused by the

severe recession that began in december, 2007. house speaker john bender said too many americans are still out of work and washington has too much debt. our federal government is a drag on economic growth and job creation. it has burdened every american with a $50,000 share of debt and rising. we need to work together to solve these problems and the house will pass real spending cuts, meaningful reforms of the internal programs that are driving this deeper into debt and a more fair and clear tax code. for more details on the jobs report, go to c-span.org. a joint session of congress is coming up at 1:00 p.m. eastern but right now, remarks from a member of the senate budget committee and he looks ahead at the senate cost 113th congress agenda.

guest: to come back and find yourself in the house of representatives is a surreal experience. it is pretty exciting and it is an important time. i am delighted to be here and looking forward to getting to work. host: why do you want to be in the senate? >> olympia snowe said she was

leaving because she could not get anything done. she was totally frustrated and the system was not working. i thought i am an independent and i governed as an independent and i have background in trying to bring parsons together. maybe we need to try it a different way. that's what provoked me to jump into this election. host: let me share this with you -- she talked about the filibuster issue. that will be one of the big administrative issues he will face in the u.s. senate.

guest: 1 lyndon johnson was majority leader, i think it dealt with one filibuster and harry reid has dealt with 386. it is a totally different situation and my concern is that we've got to get something done. we've got problems facing this country and we cannot just lock up. up in maine, they say the old engine has seized up and won't go. we cannot have our political system seized up at the very time that we are facing some serious problems. i think is one of things that absolutely has to be addressed. it has to be addressed in a balanced way. i had the unique experience of going around as an independent and talking to 30 senators one on one or the last couple of weeks and hearing from both republicans and democrats their

view of this issue. the republicans say that they have used the filibuster a lot but it is because the democrats have not allow us to amend legislation. we have not been involved in the formation of legislation so we had used a filibuster to defend ourselves. i think has to be a package that involves filibuster reform but also opening up legislation to amendment. the democrats will tell you that the reason we limit amendments is the republicans put in these amendments that are poison pills to embarrass us. it is like the hatfields and mccoys, everybody forgot who fired the first shot. we've got to make the system work. otherwise, we cannot deal with the serious problems facing the country. host: you met with 30 senators? guest: i have. it struck as sensible. in a situation like the u.s. senate, essentially a committee of 100, you got to have

relationships and you've got to meet people. there was a week of orientation that we had after the election, an official session of committees and talking about where to live and what the rules are and all those kind of things. i took that occasion to meet with as many senators one on one and my wife and i came down for a week in mid-december. i met with 11 republicans and 19 democrats and it was a very illuminating conversation. i will try to meet them all in the next month or so. host: you met with the president of the senate but this is what senator harry reid had to say yesterday on the senate floor. >> in the waning weeks of the last congress, priorities matter. i believe this matter warrants

additional debate in the 113th congress which just started. i will reserve the right of all senators to oppose changes to the senate rules and not acquiesce to carry over all the roles from the last congress. it is my attention that the senate will reset -- recess today and i want this important role discussion to continue. i am confident that we can come to agreement allows the senate to work more efficiently. host: can fixing the filibuster happen? guest: i hope he is right and i know those sessions are going on. over the last month, there have been discussions involving carl levin and chuck schumer and lamar alexander. there is a lot of talk about how to do something like this. my concern is that it turns into something real that will help

the system in the senate to move forward. you cannot get to any of these major problems whether it is health care or the deficit or reforming the tax code unless the institution itself works. i think that is why these discussions are so important i am delighted to know and was aware of these discussions are going on. i hope they can come to some arrangement. i cannot handicap it but i think it will be tough. i think it is necessary. host: you are at the white house about to meet with the vice president joe biden and you told a newspaper -- guest: it was funny, we were going to have lunch, my wife and i and my brother-in-law who is a lawyer in boston, and we were sitting in the waiting room in the west wing and had an upper limit for lunch with the vice president and a voice in the doorway said, king-herman party

of four -- and it was the vice- president of the united states. joe biden came to the senate the same year i came in as a staff member. he was 29 years old at the time. we are roughly the same age. he had to wait a few months to be sworn in because he was too young under the constitution to be a united states senator. >host: this is the scene yesterday at the mock the swearing in. guest: i leaned over to him and said "thank you for what you did over the weekend." i think he was the indispensable man over the weekend to bring these discussions to fruition. that was my comments. he is a gregarious guy. it goes back to what i said at the beginning -- the fact that he was able to step in and complete those negotiations was in large

measure based on his relationship with mitch mcconnell going back 25 or 30 years. i think that is so important to get things done. host: what a crowd you had. how many can for your swearing index guest: i've got two grandchildren and three of my five children and mary's brothers -- we had the whole gang. host: is that and aunt that he was talking to? guest: he was definitely working the crowd. my aunt hattie was here who was a state senator in virginia for many years. he had a chat with her. that is my son, and this, and his wife cricket, my daughter emily, little judge, my grandson, a model -- my wonderful wife mary, that is my sister bunny who lives in

hampton, virginia. we had the whole gang. it was a pretty neat day in someone's life host: we'll take your phone calls with independent senator angus king of maine. this is from pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: good morning. i have two comments -- why is the senate and house -- dealing with the lobbyists? why do we have to negotiate with the lobbyists before anything gets done? why cannot you just pass -- instead of a multitude -- a bill with a multitude of amendments, only if the amendment adheres to the bill itself, no other amendments should be added onto

that, thank you. guest: as far as the lobbyists, i don't think there is a lot of negotiation with them. they represent all manner of groups. a lobbyist has a negative connotation but it can be somebody representing a business interest for a whole group of businesses but it can also be somebody representing the girl scouts or environmental groups or citizen groups across the country. it is a way you get information. they don't tell you what to do but they provide information and often, you get the best information when you have conflicting people who are competing to give you different points of view and then you can listen and to your contest -- and listen to your constituents and you get information from all kinds of places. you cannot cut off citizen access to the legislature whether it is organized or not. in terms of amendments, i agree, i don't think we should have amendments that are irrelevant.

that has nothing to do with the bill at hand. on the other hand, the amendment process is important is that is how you improve a bill. that is how you improve the quality of the bill. one of my life principles is that all of us had better thoughts than one of us. it is through a process of discussion and listening to different ideas and accepting amendments that you end up with the best results. sometimes, i think the caller is right, the amendment process can be abused. it is an important part of the process because you got to assume that whatever comes out in the first stages can always be adjusted. host: this is from our facebook page --

guest: you have a caller in the last segment about the debt limitthere is confusion. the debt limit does not look forward, it looks back. the debt limit is creating the opportunity to pay the deficit that the country has already incurred, that the country has already incurred. to take the debt limit hostage, i think is inappropriate, because it puts at risk the full faith and credit of united states which would have catastrophic consequences to our economy. if you go back to 2011 when there was this long argument about the debt limit, you can look at the job creation and growth of gdp. it took a hit. you can see it rather clearly.

i believe in talking to many of my colleagues, and i have come to this more recently, but i think there needs to be some kind of balanced budget amendment to provide discipline for spending. but i am not sure the debt limit is the appropriate place because the stakes are so high for the overall u.s. economy. as a matter of fact, spending is going down slightly and the deficit is going down slightly, in 2012. but the gap is still too great. that is what we have to focus on, the gap between revenues and spending so that we can make some sense to this fiscal situation. because it is a really unfair to our kids. that is what bothers me about it more than anything. >host: a graduate from dartmouth college. you're no stranger to a television station, are you? guest: i used to do what you're

doing in the state of maine. i was the host of a show called "maine watch," and public affairs show. i ultimately left that in the early 1990's and ran for governor as an independent. host: roger from seattle, republican line. caller: i have a question with regard to illegal immigration. i was wondering if any economist has done a side-by- side comparison to the cost of making illegal immigration, making those immigrants legal, thereby supporting the growing aging population through taxes and what effect that might have. to me, it seems a little more pragmatic, looking at an overall view, a kind of like ronald reagan did and marco rubio and people like that. guest: i do not have a

comprehensive answer to immigration except that i think we need to look at it seriously and i hope that this might be the year. i think we have a tremendous opportunity here to add to the vitality of our economy. the problem that i think a lot of people have, and used the term mean your first sentence, illegal immigration. you do not want to reward illegal activity. on the other hand, there are a lot of kids who are here, young people who are here that did not do anything illegal. they were just born here. that is the so-called dream act, it allows those people if they go to college, if they serve in the military, to have a path to citizenship. that is a place to start. then we need to talk about those people who are here illegally and figure out how to deal with that in a comprehensive and humane way. you know, this is a country of immigrants, except for the native americans, everybody

here -- you, i, steve, everybody else watching this morning came here from somewhere else. some legally. i expect some not so legally. i have no idea how my ancestors got here. i'd think it is time to address this issue at the hope that this congress might find time to do so. host: how high to the debt ceiling go? guest: i think it should go as high as it needs to go in order to accommodate what has already been committed. then we need to start scaling it back. i mean, i do not want to come across, because they said the duke -- debt ceiling should not be a hostage -- i am h. hoch on this issue. i am a simpson-bowles kind of guy. we have really got to address this. i am not sure the debt ceiling is the appropriate place to do it because you're playing russian roulette with the u.s. and perhaps even the world economy. i understand the frustration of

people to say, well, we do not do that, how are we going to do it? there has got to be some of the pressure involved in forcing these changes. see, what happened last weekend with this fiscal cliff and the bill that passed? it was fine, but it is a tiny part of the solution to this debt problem. it really did not do much. what happened this past weekend was the easy part. the hard part is going to be serious spending cuts and perhaps some additional revenue, not from raising rates but from rebuilding the tax code in a more fair and rational way and bringing the debt down. host: we have been going through a number of opinion pieces this morning. this is from the "new york times." the battle of the budget --

guest: i think that is an overstatement. i think there is a much narrower debate going on, and that is what is the appropriate and size of government? you can break it down into the numbers. right now, the government, the federal government, is spending about 23% of gdp, it of gross domestic product. the revenues are about 16% of

gdp. the difference between the 60% and 23%, that is the deficit, and that is what is killing us. almost $1 trillion a year. that is what we have to rein in. i really think the debate between the parties is really about what is the appropriate size, and maybe there are some echoes of republican resistance to the new deal and those kinds of things, but coming in know, that assumes the republicans "are monolith" in the democrats are "manalich." i think they're people who would soon it revealed a new deal, but many others feel it is an important part of the legacy of this country. i think it is important to focus on at the numbers, the gap, and how we bring them together. you go back to historic levels for the past 50 or 60 years, expenditures were around 20% of gdp. taxes were about 80% to 19%. there were small deficits, smaller deficits, and

occasionally, of course, at the end of the clinton administration there were actually some surpluses. we need to return to some level of balance. we're going to continue to have this argument about what is the proper level of social support, health care, and those things? host: senator king, independent from maine --we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. you can join us on facebook or twitter. lee is joining us from massachusetts, independent wine. caller: i would like to know the congress in yourself would do about the fighter aircraft and tanks that will be sent to the muslim brotherhood in egypt -- it seems to me that that should be put on hold, seeing it was a deal done by the previous egyptian administration and it looks like we're just throwing more gasoline on the flames of the fire. guest: well, i am going to dodge

the question a little bit because i have only been here one day. i have been appointed to the armed services committee, which i have not had a meeting with them yet, but i met with senator carl levin, the chair, back in december. i am looking forward to that. but i do not really have enough data to answer that question. i mean, i remember an interview with the president back in the fall when they asked about what was going on in egypt. the interviewer said, are they friends or foes? to my surprise, the president said, we do not know. i think that is the case. i do not know whether i want to say, ok, we put it all on hold, but at least i think it should be very thoroughly in carefully reviewed. he did has been a very important element in the stability of the middle east over the past 25 years or so, and it is very hard to calibrate now sort of where they are,

where they are going. i mean, you know, the president of egypt a few weeks ago is proposing sweeping the institutional changes. there was a lot of reaction. he has pulled back on that somewhat. i think it is very unclear. whether you freeze that kind of aid at this point or at least slow down i think is a very legitimate question. i suspect is the one i will have an opportunity to learn more about in the deliberations of the armed services. host: the latest unemployment rate remains unchanged, 7.8%. the economy adding about 155,000 jobs in december. this is from the bureau of labor statistics at the department of labour. reaction -- guest: well, the end of women rate is too high. i do not think that is the number we should focus on -- the unemployment rate is too high. i do not think that is the number we should focus on. we should look at jobs. it is not necessarily a reflection of a direct

improvement in the economy. 155,000 is ok, not great. as we say in maine, pre-ok. it takes up to 90,000 jobs a month just to break even. just to get to sort of a flat level. so it is in the plus territory but it is not great. you know, i spent eight years, 24 hours a day, thinking about economic development. i can tell you there's no one thing you can do. there is no one supplant the. some people suggest lower taxes or cleanup regulations. in my experience, you have got to do a lot of things. in fact, a friend of mine up in maine used to say there's no silver bullet, there is often a silver buckshot. lots of solutions. we have to look at trade policy, regulation -- which i am very

concerned about. we certainly have to look at the mess of our tax code. i think it is time for a comprehensive rewrite. there has not been a real one since 1986. my view is we should start with a blank sheet of paper, get rid of exemptions and deductions, and sybil lafayette, lower the rate -- simplify it, lower the rate, and from there. now, the only people that like it are the accountants and lawyers. host: there was a call from massachusetts, and neighboring state, one day out of a job. congressman barney frank is saying he is interested in serving the u.s. senate on an interim basis, meaning he will not run for the seat being left vacant by senator kerry. but he would like to serve for three or four months until massachusetts holds the special election. guest: what he noted is that this is going to be an important

three or four months. the idea of having somebody in that seat with some experience and knowledge of the issues, experience in congress, to me, makes some sense. it is going to be a democrat that is appointed to that seat. the governor is a democrat. i would not present to suggest that the governor, who he could appoint, but the idea of having somebody who could step in with a great deal of knowledge and background is not irrational. i also heard that my friend michael pappas was being considered. -- michael dukakis was being considered. that is going to be up to governor patrick, but it is going to be an important time. even if it is interim, that one vote could be important. host: linda says this on our facebook page --

host: of course he retracted that statement, saying it was a mistake. guest: that is a good example. in the filibuster debate going on now in that the senate between republicans and democrats, if you go back and read the arguments, they were all rivers in 2005 when the democrats were filibustering towards worship's traditions nominations -- and they were up in arms in 2005. it is important to do these things on their merits. i think senator obama's vote was a mistake. but if there's any truth in this town, it is that there is no blame to go around. host: how much time did you take to consider whether dukakis went to the republicans are the democrats? guest: i did not make a decision

during the campaign. i was probably ask the question a hundred times. interestingly, i was asked the question almost exclusively by washington journalists. i was virtually never ask the question by people in maine. a few times, maybe half a dozen. but most people did not care. they just said go down there and try to get something done. one man yelled at me across the diner, i do not care who you caucus with, and i am with you all the way. fortunately there was a reporter from the "boston globe" there to her that, so that was kind of need. i did give it a lot of thought after the election. it was a three-step process. the first question was, could i be entirely independent? you know, not to join either, this and just be a free agent. that had some appeal, based upon my study of the senate rules, talking to knowledgeable people, that really would have been almost impossible.

not very effective. that would not have been fair to maine. then the question was, ok, if you're going to caucus, which side? the democrats were in the majority. they had more committee slots and more control over what goes on on the floor. that just made a pragmatic sense. finally though, the important thing to me was determining whether the democrats or the republicans, whichever the case but in this case the democrats, would allow me to be in there, would tolerate my not always being, you know, a party-line, a dependable party line vote? i talked to joe lieberman, an independent from connecticut who is laughed -- left to bernie sanders. the and a former majority leader from the democrats, an old friend of mine. i really determined that i would be allowed to be independent. finally, i had a lengthy conversation with harry reid. and i became assured -- i

assured myself and i have reasonable confidence that, you know, i do not vote the party line on some issue, i am not going to lose my committee assignments. that was how the decision was made. it was not an easy one, but i think in the end, had to go one way or the other. but caucusing, from my point of view, i did not have to sign anything. there's no blood oath. there is no document. nothing, that is who i am going to be meeting with, but i am going to call them as i see them. that is why i am here. i will make my own decisions independently based upon the best information that i can have the time. >host: las vegas, democrats line, good morning. caller: i want to know if you can support bringing back earmarks to get congressman to talk to each other again? guest: bringing back earmarks as a way to get congressman to talk

to each other? earlier on this program, there was a lot of talk about pork, and that is kind of in the same category with earmarks. one person's earmarked or pork is somebody else's essential program. the idea of these tiny things going into large appropriations bill the nobody knows about or seize, i do not think that is a good idea. this process should be open. people should know and there should be a justification for it. it should be part of an open process. but you are right, i mean, the second part of your question, getting congressman to talk to each other is really important. one of the problems here, and i do not know if you're watching earlier in the program but i mentioned that i work here almost 40 years ago -- it was 40 years ago, as a matter of fact. relationships. one of the things that has

changed is the airline services is so much better, everybody goes home for the weekend. most congressmen and senators families are back home in texas, colorado, or las vegas, georgia. so the relationships are not built. it is one of the things that makes it hard to get anything done. i am convinced that this fiscal cliff negotiation that occurred over the weekend between joe biden and mitch mcconnell was largely based that joe biden had been in the senate for something like 38 years and that he knew mitch mcconnell and they could talk to each other without a lot of nonsense in between and they could get right down to it. those relationships are crucial. it sounds silly to talk about, well, how does congress function as a reflection of where people have their families and where they live, but i really think it is a reality bu. host: independent line, massachusetts. caller: good morning.

congratulations, senator, on being elected to the u.s. senate. a couple things i would like to bring to your attention. one is an associate c-span junkie and i watch the senate all the time. it is a habit the republicans have on blocking bills by just objecting and that the bill stays dead for a long time. that is one reason i think they should change some of the rules, because nothing is ever getting done. it seems like there's always one person, preferably the one from connecticut -- not an advocate, ky. it always seems he wants to block everything that is going on or at crazy amendments to some bills that did not mean anything. all those things add up to not getting what is done in the senate. so i wish you would just keep your mind on that and hope we can change the rules a little bit so we can have some progress in the senate, not having

everything go dead and nothing happens. guest: thank you for the call. yes absolutely with you. that is my number one priority. i do not know the extent to which i will have an influence on that, but i was fortunate enough to be appointed to the rules committee, the committee that deals with these kinds of things. it also deals with campaign finance reform which is something i am very interested in as well. you are right, the problem is the filibuster used to be that you had to go to the floor and stand up and talk. everybody could see you and what you're doing. now you just have to call the majority leader and say we object, 60 votes, and it is kind of a quiet filibuster. i am interested in the proposal, and you'll hear this term in the next couple of weeks, all the talking filibuster. it says, you want a filibuster? come to the floor and hold the floor and talk. that is how it was historically done through the nation's history. more recently, there has been at

this sort of off the screen filibuster we're it is not clear who is behind it or why. it really is -- you are absolutely right, it is impeding our ability to get anything done. the senate was created to slow the process down but not to stop it, not to freeze it. i am a great believer in the senate as a protector of minority rights and small states but not to the point where we literally cannot get anything done. particularly with the problems facing the country, we have got to be of the move forward. i am with you, i am hoping we're going to be able to change some rules. you may have seen harry reid yesterday talked about discussions he is having with mitch mcconnell. i am certainly interested in following those discussions and hope they come up with something and they do not, i hope we can put it to a vote early in the session.

try to make a change. host: i have a note about maine politics. there was the former governor -- guest: olivia snow is married to jack mckernan, my predecessor as governor. i did defeat joe brennan, a former governor and former congressman. and also, susan collins. in spite of that, she was elected to the u.s. senate in 1996. we have become good friends. she was my sponsor yesterday. she walked down the aisle with me to the swearing in. she's a very able senator, very smart, and absolutely ferocious when she gets into an issue. host: did senator snowe give you any advice? guest: i had a lengthy

conversation with her right after the election. her advice was to stay the course. be strong. even though it is frustrating, stay at it. when you walk into one of these situations, it is the sort of a daunting. it struck me in the middle of the campaign -- i have not really thought about running for olympia snowe's seat. it is also george mitchell and ed muskey's seat. those are some very big shoes, and it is a little daunting. it is also encouraging, exciting, and challenging. host: a comment about entitlement spending. this is for mitch mcconnell -- [video clip] >> with taxes off the table, we have to achieve a balanced plan by focusing on the spending side

of the equation. particularly, as the president pointed out, health care entitlement programs. because, as i said, taxes simply cannot go high enough to keep pace with the amount of money we have projected to spend on them without crushing our economy. and the best way to reform these programs is to make them work better. the debt is not exploding because these programs exist. it is exploding because they are inefficient. they were created in a different era, the era of black and white tv. they should be updated with the age of the ipad. and we should want to fix them, not just because we want to lower the debt but because we want to strengthen and improve these programs themselves. host: back to our earlier point -- how do you do that? guest: first, i wonder that is the first time the word ipad was used on the floor of the u.s. senate? that was kind of interesting.

he is right, not entirely right, but i think he's right generally that spending has to be a part of this equation, a significant part of it. we're now spending 23% of gdp. historically it has been about 20%. that is a big number. 3% of gdp is a very large number. so we have got to look at all these issues. the mean, we have got to look at everything. the biggest problem -- there is often a confusion between social security and medicare. people put them together. social security is in relatively good shape. social security was modified back in 1980's. they take account of the retirement of the baby boomers. they understood the actuarial impact of the changes that are taking place right now. and social security can be set on and actually sound course for the next 75 years. relatively small changes,

relatively small. that does not mean they are not noticeable. but that is fairly straightforward. medicare is were the real problem is. medicare is not sustainable, not because there is anything wrong with medicare, but because of the underlying growth and the cost of health care. i mean, health care cost growth is what is sinking as at state government levels, local government, individual families, federal government. that is what we have to focus on. and i think we have got to talk about how we pay for health care. because right now, our system is based on a fee-for-service but you're my position, you get paid for doing so. you do not get paid to keep me healthy. you do not get paid to counselee about my eating habits are my smoking habits. i think we need to move toward a system that compensates the medical system for health instead of the list. interestingly, this is a very interesting point, there are some pilot programs in the affordable care act that talk about changing the way we

compensate for health care that i think, in the long run -- we have a couple of them happening in maine -- in the long run, may have more influence and more importance to the health-care system than the parts of the affordable care act that have gone all the publicity. that is what we really need to talk about. the other thing sector -- the senator mentioned is that, for example, the drug benefit in medicare that was passed during the bush administration was passed without a dime of funding. no funding at all. no tax, no nothing. it just happened. very large expenditure. and the bill that created it prohibited the federal government from negotiating with the firm citigroup companies for good prices -- with the farm lisagor companies for good prices. that is ridiculous. va negotiates, medicate

negotiates. why shouldn't medicare giddy va price -- get the va price, for exhibit? it would help put medicare on a more steady footing. that is not the whole deal, but it is real money. fundamentally, we have to talk about how we slow down the growth of health care spending. host: angus king, independent. thank you for stopping by on this friday morning. hope to see you seen -- soon. >> you can see that segment >> you can see that session on the c-span and video library. the house is in session today. senators head over to the house chambers for a joint session certifying the election. that will start at 1:00 p.m.

eastern, and we will have live coverage on c-span. the associated press reports barney frank would like to serve as a temporary successor to massachusetts senator john kerry, who was nominated as secretary of state. frank said he had asked governor deval patrick to appoint him to the seat. "coach, put me in," said the 32- year veteran of the house. next, on the agenda of the 113th congress cannot on today's " washington journal." >> we want to welcome back senator john hoeven the republican of north dakota. the former governor of the state. as you begin 113th congress,

will it be different from the last one? guest: we face real challenge and we need to have bipartisan solution to address. we're working on the debt ceiling right now and we've got to find ways to address the deficit and debt and reduce spending. that means coming together in a bipartisan way with real solutions for the american people. host: let me dig down deeper in that. in an editorial he posted yesterday, republican leader mitch mcconnell said we need to avoid these 11th hour fights? how do you get to bipartisanship with your democratic colleagues? guest: it is a challenge. i hope that the work we went through on the fiscal cliff, going to that deadline, demonstrated to everybody in the house and senate as well as the administration that look, that's not the way to do business. let's get after it and get it

done and let's get it done before the deadline. we're already working on it but the key is, people are going to have to recognize that it takes bipartisanship but it also takes real solutions. we have got to find ways to reduce our spending and reform entitlement. we also need progrowth tax reform as well. we need those things and we have -- each side has to give to get a real solution. host: the house and president said this last week, he's not going to be part of this fight. you guys congress racked up these bills. it's up to you to figure out a way to pay for them. guest: he is responsible as president is to lead. that means working with congress on real solution and coming up agreement on debt ceiling is a huge part of that and it goes exactly what we have to do. if you look at simpson-bowls and ideas to address our debt and get our economy back on track, it involves not only progrowth tax reform but it also involves entitlement reform and

balancing budget and controlling spending. all of those things go into addressing the debt limit the right way. the president has to be a big part working on that. host: has he been a leader? is the president is leader? guest: he needs to be more engaged and he needs to work with congress in a very hope way and he has to tell not only congress but the people of this great country exactly what he believes the right plan is to reduce spending, to reform entitlements and to join us and put those things in place. host: let me go back to what senator mcconnell said and put specifics to these words. he said, we simply cannot increase the nation's borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt. guest: i think that's what i said. host: what programs. where do you cut? guest: let me give you an example. i'm on the agricultural

committee. in the senate we passed a farm bill that provides more than $20 billion in reductions at the same time we put a new five year farm bill with better insurance in place. a similar plan passed the house ag committee but the full plan did not get through the house. that's one example where we're improving the farm policy and at the same time finding savings. the other thing is when you put a five year plan in place, you create certainty. that certainty stimulates investment and investment stimulates economic growth. that not only putting people back to work but growing economy, economic growth creates real revenue to address our deficit. host: should there be means testing on social security? guest: i think we're going to have to look at a number of things in terms of the entitlement programs including means testing. when you talk about means

testing, you probably going to have to look at medicare. for upper income people, we are going to have to do some means testing in medicare. in social security, what we've talked about -- even the president come forward on this -- which is good, that's looking at chained c.p.i. looking at the index. we have to do it in a way with we make sure we protect current recipients, particularly low income. i think that's one of the kind of bipartisan reform that we're working on for social security. i think for means testing, that's where looking at something along those lines for medicare. host: should tax loopholes to be changed or adjusted for large corporations? guest: sure we need tax reform. one thing that we did do addressing the fiscal cliff and obviously much more needs to be done, we did make the lower tax rates permanent. that permanency is important to create certainty to get economic growth and get business

investment. yes, we do need to address the deductions and closing loopholes. but we have to keep our rates down. it can't be just raising taxes. it's about making simpler fairer tax code that stimulates business growth. host: when you talk to your constituents what's the number one question you get about washington and the politics in this town? guest: why can't you guys get together and do what i said. have a big plan and put it in place that does all of these things. progrowth tax reform, entitlement reform and reducing spending, balancing the budget so that we get on a long term trajectory for growth and job creation and make sure we're strong. host: you can joining us on facebook or twitter. you can send us an e-mail or give us a phone call. senator hoeven, why is it so hard to get to that point? why can't democrats and republicans bridge the divide

and reach a compromise? guest: it reflects the debate going on in the country and in between bigger government, higher taxes and more spending versus more limited government. lower taxes and more of growth in the private sector. you see that in the country and that's reflected in the representatives. host: did the election provide any clarity on that? guest: actually the election, we stayed pretty much status quo. you've got a republican majority in the house, you're got a democrat majority in the senate and you've got democratic administration. the democrats controls two- thirds of the government. which is why the president has to step up and provide leadership on these key issue that's helps the congress bridge this divide, which isn't just in the congress but the people of this country saying,

these are different views of how we governor. we've got to come to come together and get the job done. host: you had a lot of interaction with the president? has the republican leadership had close interaction on a personal level with the president? guest: no, we need presidential leadership to join with us. host: let's go to mel joining us from clay pool, indiana, go ahead please. caller: good morning. i think there's one thing that they could possibly do to help balance the budget and that was -- the whole group everybody including the president, be willing to take a tax cut -- i'm sorry a wage cut.

guest: since i've been in the senate, which is now two years, we have reduced the senate pay and the budget from the senate offices. we're going to have to continue to find those kind of savings not only for the senators of congress but across government as we talked about earlier. we've got to find ways to reduce spending. host: let's go to benton, illinois, good morning to you, democrats line. caller: yes. i want to make a comment about the payroll taxes that everybody is having suchal fit about paying 6.2 now. i can remember, i'm 74 years old, i can remember paying 13% of payroll taxes for social security, which i'm on and they're talking about reducing? after i paid this kind of money.

i get a little upset about it. another thing i wanted to comment about, this last bill that was paid, i didn't pay too much attention to the pork that was ended until it got to nascar. i'm a nascar fan from several years back but to subsidize nascar for improvement to their racetracks. give me a break. this is the kind of pork that we certainly do not need. these people make so much money, they don't know what to do with it half the time. host: thanks for the call. also related twitter comment from our viewer are you going to reject the pork in the sandy bill that's voted in the house today. guest: she made a couple points. first the payroll tax that you pay, that's the funding of social security so people pay into social security system which is retirement system and then they have social security when they retire.

what happened was, several years ago, as part of the negotiations going back to 2010, that was reduced to 4.2% as part of the effort to stimulate the economy. it's just reverting to the 6.2% that historically has been at and again, that is funding for social security, which obviously we need to keep sound and make sure it's there for the long term. that's not an increase, that's what the rate always been and it just reverted after the two year tax holiday or reduction in the social security payment into the system. the other point about nascar and the fiscal stimulus legislation, in that legislation, there were a number of tax credits which were extended, is a tax credit nascar was able to use.

that was existing tax program that rather than allowing it to drop away, it was extended i think -- we have to look at all of those kind of things and figure out where we can save. you and i talked about earlier. we need tax reform to address those kind of things as well as any pork any of these things. we have to make sure that the work we do is done in an open transparent way so that the things do get funded are things that the american people know about and they feel fair. host: you represent a world stage. here is a headline for -- guest: we have got to do

something. that meansnot just a discussion about guns, but looking at violence in our society. whether the video games, movies, security, what we can do in our schools or other areas, it's got to be done in a thoughtful way with bipartisan support. host: if all that is the on the table and there's an agreement on mental health, would you support any restrictions on the high-powered rifle or magazine clips used in the most recent shootings? guest: i will have to see what the recommendations to solutions are? one of the things senator lieberman and others have talked about is having a commission on violence where you look at these things in a comprehensive way and do it on a

bipartisan basis, so you have a thoughtful dialogue, open and transparent, the public sees what's going on, and the recommendations. host: do you support the nra? are you a member? guest: yes. host: now to the phone. good morning. caller: my question has to do with budgets. the house has sent a budget to the senate. the senate has failed to act on that. they have had no budget of their own. the president presented his budget to the house which was defeated 14-0 with no democratic support. what will it take to get the senate to pass a budget? everybody's talking about deficit control. that all begins with having a budget. guest: we not only need a budget, we need a balanced budget amendment to the

constitution, which i have always supported. we have to not only get our budget through the senate, which i am pushing to do. the republicans are not the majority, so we have to get to push a balanced budget through the senate as well as the house. but we have to have a balanced budget amendment. host: john hoeven spent 10 years as governor of north dakota. what's the better job? guest: i would say being governor most. of the senators here, who were former governors, will tell you the same king, because you can set an agenda and go after it and you have a lot of control? on how you put that in place and work to get it done. here, it's tougher. however, i came to this job because i believe our country faces real challenges, as we have been discussing, but i want to be part of the solutions for the american people. i believe in this country and i believe we can do great things.

we have to buckle down in a bipartisan way and get this done. it's not easy and does not happen in the short term. it's a long-term proposition, but we have to get it done. that is worth doing. that's why i am here and will continue serving my state. host: you have a new colleague, heidi heitkamp, many republicans thought they would pick up that seat, landed in democratic hands. guest: i have known her many years. we worked together on a range of issues. i will meet twitter again this morning after i leave here. we have had discussions on anything from energy to health care. your husband is a doctor. she's very knowledgeable about health care and has talked with me some ideas i look for to working with her on. i've spoken to her about some things i want to do to stimulate energy in this country. i look forward to welcoming her to the senate.

host: what piece of advice do you have? guest: i want to be careful about giving anyone advice. i would just say we need bipartisanship. i think she and i will work together to be part of the solution on these issues in a bipartisan way. host: this -- guest: i think we need reforms. you and i just talked about them and i have already given a couple specific examples. in medicare, i think we need to look at some means testing for upper-income individuals and we need to look at the indexing. i think we can make these reforms to entitlements in a way where we are not changing them for people who are at or near retirement but for the future recipients. i think you can get support from republicans and democrats to do it and broad public support, because for seniors at

or near retirement, they know the program will not be changed for them, but for younger people they will support the reforms because they know we have to make reforms to save the program and make sure they are there when they retire, when they need medicare. that's how you do at. -- it. there are specific examples. host: west palm beach florida, with senator john hoeven of north carolina. caller: good morning. i have a comment and question. i think it's very important that you explain the difference between the debt limit and deficit reduction. they are two separate things. the debt limit is you have to authorize the money to pay for what you have spent. deficit reduction is what we are going to do going forward. my question is for the senator,

they want to change social security to a chained cpi. what other programs, that, -- debt -- raises, what else do they have a theory like this? what state are you from that it's going down? and what is our alternative? guest: no question we have to find reductions in the growth of health care costs. that will take reforms, everything from cutting out fraud, waste, and abuse, to creating a system that incentivizes the right kind of behavior is on the part of consumers. we must find ways to control the growing cost of health care, no question about it. as far as the chained cpi, the idea is you apply that across all of government for all of these different inflators to

have a more realistic assessments of the inflation rate. as far as the difference between the debt and deficit, the deficit is what creates the debt. each year we have a deficit. in other words, when we spend more than we take in each year, that adds to the debt. we are at the point where the debt ceiling need to be raised. what we did the last time this came up was replaced the budget control act and said that for any $1 increase in the debt limit, we've got to have a $1 deduction in spending, because we've got to get our fiscal house in order. that's what we are talking about as we go into the debt ceiling discussion. by law, the house and senate

meets on january 6, but this year, congress changed it. a let doo electors met last month. today those votes will be candid. no surprises here. the unofficial vote as the president at 332, mitt romney at 206, 270 votes needed to become president. during us is -- joining us is reid wilson. under the constitution, this has to happen, so we will see it unfold today. >> it is the pomp and circumstance, and when we step into the ballot box, we did not vote for the president, we vote

for the people who will be voting for the president. those are determined by the number of representatives in congress that every state has, add two for senatoers, and they meet in december. they cast six ballots. they put them all in a box that end up coming here to the u.s. capitol, where they are brought in ceremonially in two mahogany boxes. vice-president biden will preside over the ceremony. those votes will be read in alphabetical order. mitt romney will jump out into an early lead, and when they end up counting the votes, they will be handed to various clarkerk. this year it senator charles

schumer and senator lamar alexander will represent the sun that. -- will represent the senate. they will then announce the final count, which will be around 3324 president obama, duel added 64 mitt romney, and then at the end of the day they will declare president obama a formal winner. >> who else should viewers keep on eye? >> this is one of the great peoples when we see moment rooting the outcome. vice president biden will preside as the president of the senate. boehner will have to sit there while the votes for obama are

read. those are the main players, and then the four tally clerks. >> many speculated the possibility of an electoral tie. saw how close the vote was in 2000 that gave al gore a popular vote victory, but the electoral vote count and torched the bush whinney as the 43rd president. we talk about them role of the electoral college, whether or not it remains relevant. the speaker of the house and over to the event today. >> it is relevant today as elbers get to bmeet the ectors themselves. whether or not is the right means to pick a president is up to other people who make those

laws, but here it is today with the pomp and circumstance. it seems counting all the votes themselves would involve a lot more math. he cameras from the cann aon of a spinning. one possible scenario having the electoral vote not by state but by congressional district. can you explain? >> two states already do that. if obama wins one congressional district in alaska, but loses the whole state as a whole, he gets that electoral vote. if republicans were to win debt northeastern district of maine,

they would get one vote and the democrats would get the other three. there are some republicans who look at the landscape right now and they think the party all of a sudden has a tough task for the 270 votes it takes to win the presidency. what they might do and there are a couple of bills pending in various legislatures is to take some state who typically vote democratic at the presidential level and are now under republican control and create that same sort of district scenario, so instead of nebraska, a usually very red state, splitting the vote, maybe we talk about a state like michigan or wisconsin, pennsylvania. all three states that have carried by democrats since 1972. if republicans are able to divvy up those electoral votes, then

you have mitt romney winning five or six votes in a state .ike wisconsin, pennsylvania, mitt romney won that the vast majority of the district's mayor. in michigan, there, too. instead of a bomb coming out of the states with all the electoral votes, now you have a scenario where romney would be leaving those states with maybe 20 or 23 electoral votes. that would be a big dent in the path for the democrats to 270. >> we are about three minutes away before the start of the session. we want to welcome our radio audience as we prepare for the start of this session. inside the house chamber, john

boehner is in place. here is the order. the sergeant at arms will announce the arrival of the senate, and then pages will carry two mahogany boxes. that will be followed by members of the senate on the rush. then the president of the senate, vice-president joe biden, will take his place to the speaker's right, and call the joint session to order. the voting will begin, with tabulation under way. no surprises, but this is a once in every four years event that showcases the unity in congress when it comes to these very procedural, important constitutional defense, like the state of the union address. >> right. i think i see the vice president's motorcade sitting under the steps. everybody is in place. >> including a number of

senators arriving from the san that to the house side. -- from the senate to the house side. the you expect there will be significant changes in the years to come? >> i think the republicans will try. these efforts come from republicans in washington who are trying to seek this path toward 270 electoral votes. one of the first things that state legislatures do when they flip party control is the tinker with the election law. over the last decade, you saw the opening up of early voting days and absentees. the republicans took over and we started talking about voter i.d. all. the voting rights act will be a big issue in front of the

supreme court. i expect some effort to change the way we conduct elections thanks to these republican majorities in key states. >> eric cantor just walking by. the vice president, his murder tied -- his murder case -- his mootorcade outside the u.s. capitol. >> this is the great pomp and circumstance of a couple of days. we saw the swearing-in ceremonies yesterday. i loved this c-span footage of john boehner walking back and forth between the flags. his hands have to be sore by now, shaking so many hands. this is the part we get every four years.

>> as somebody who has followed the electoral college, has the system worked since 1787? >> that is a big question. in a lot of cases, it has. in very few cases there have been elected for roles chosen by voters to cast their ballots for one specific person, and end up casting a ballot for somebody else. they are called faithless to let taurus -- faithless electors. there was a republican in washington state in 1976 who instead of voting for gerald ford ended up casting a ballot for ronald reagan. the vice-presidential -- the former candidate who had lost a primary to gerald ford who would end up going on to win in 1980.

there are these faithless electors. if there is any deviation, it is going to come from faithless elector tos. there were republicans who were making noises about voting for ron paul or another candidate as well. the states have a law against faceless -- faithless elctors. there are some states who do not, and we may see a change here. i would not be surprising to see at least one ron paul vote coming out today.

let me go back and, a discussion of changes to the electoral college system, and the summary is there has always been talk of changing the system. >> it is difficult, and we have not seen any changes yet. you can imagine what happened if republicans went forward with their plan to change. you could expect democrats to raise holy heck if some change like that were to come down. there is no guarantee any of these governors would sign a bill like that to change the way their states allocate electoral votes. rick snyder, the governor of michigan, is not terribly

partisan. scott walker, who is facing a tough election fight, may decide he does not want to educate the democratic base. >> we are watching the procession led by the senate democratic leader harry reid. this will be beginning momentarily. set upunding fallethers this system. >> it was supposed to allow right-thinking people, the cream of the societal crop, to cast ballots for the right candidate. if the people had chosen the incorrect candidate, the thinking went back and the electors would stop the

unqualified person from becoming president. that is the way it was set up. as they were looking for the cream of the crop, it is interesting to note the statute in the constitution does not allow a federal office holder to be an electors. >> reid wilson, thanks very much for being with us. the speaker of the house is welcoming vice-president joe biden. live coverage from the u.s. house of representatives, the joint session as the electoral count gets under why certifying the election.

seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received

29 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 29 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of georgia seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received 16 votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received 16 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, certificate of electoral vote for the state of hawaii seems to bing are in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received four votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received four votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of idaho seems to be regular in form and

authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney from the commonwealth of massachusetts received four votes for president and paul ryan for the state of wisconsin received four votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of illinois seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received 20 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 20 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of indiana seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received 11 votes for president, and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received 11 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the

certificate of the electoral vote of the state of iowa seems to be regular in form and authentic. it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received six votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received six votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of kansas seems to be regular in form in authentic and it appears that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received six votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received six votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the commonwealth of kentucky seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears there from that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received eight votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received eight votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of louisiana seems to be regular in form and authentic. it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received eight votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received eight votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of maine seems to be regular in form and authentic. it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received four votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received four votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of maryland seems to be regular in form and anunthen tick and it appears there from that barack obama of the state of illinois received 10 voteser to president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 10 votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the commonwealth of massachusetts seems to be regular in form and authentic tnd a appears therefrom that barack obama from the state of illinois received 11 votes for president and joseph biden from the state of delaware receives 11 votes for vice president. mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of michigan seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama from the state of illinois received 16 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 16 vets for vice president -- votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate on the electoral vote of the state of minnesota seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama from the state of illinois received 10 votes for president and joseph biden from the state of delaware received 10 votes for

vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of electoral vote of the state of mississippi seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears that mitt romney from the commonwealth of massachusetts received six votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received six votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of missouri seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears that mitt romney from the commonwealth of massachusetts received 10 votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received 10 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of montana seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received three votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received three votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of nebraska seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received five votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received five votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of electoral vote of the state of nevada seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received six votes for president and joseph biden of the state of dollar received six votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new hampshire seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received four votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received four votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new jersey seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received 14 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 14 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new mexico seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received five votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received five votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the great state of new york seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefore that barack obama of the state of illinois received 29 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 29 votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of north carolina seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commob wealth of massachusetts received 15 votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received 15 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of north dakota seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney from the commonwealth of massachusetts received three votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received three votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of ohio seems to be regular in form and authentic it and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received 18 votes for president and joe biden of the state of delaware received 18 votes for vice

president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of oklahoma seems to be in regular form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received seven votes for vice president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received seven votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of electoral vote of the state of oregon seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears there from that barack obama of the state of illinois received seven votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received seven votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of electoral vote of the commonwealth of pennsylvania seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears there from that barack obama of the state of illinois received 20 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 20 votes for vice

president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of rhode island seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received four votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received four votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of south carolina seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received nine votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received nine votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of south dakota seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the common bealt of -- commonwealth of massachusetts received three votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received three votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the great state of tennessee seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received 11 votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received 11 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of electoral vote of the state of texas seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received 38 votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received 38 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of utah seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commob wealth of massachusetts received six votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received six votes for vice president.

>> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of vermont seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received three votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received three votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the commonwealth of virginia seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received 13 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 13 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of electoral vote of the state of washington seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received 12 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received

12 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of west virginia seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears there from that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received five votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received five votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of wisconsin seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that barack obama of the state of illinois received 10 votes for president and joseph biden of the state of delaware received 10 votes for vice president. >> mr. president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of wyoming seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that mitt romney of the commonwealth of massachusetts received three votes for president and paul ryan of the state of wisconsin received three votes for vice president.

members of congress, the certificates having been read, the tellers will ascertain and deliver the results to the president of the senate. >> the undersigned charles e. shumer of new york, lamar alexander of tennessee, tellers on the part of the senate, candice miller of michigan, robert a. brady of pennsylvania, tellers on the part of the house of representatives, report the following as the result of the ascertainment in counting of the electoral vote for president and vice president of the united states for the term beginning on the 20th day of january, 2013. vice president biden: the state of the vote for president of the united states as delivered to the president of the senate is as follows. the whole number of the electers to vote for the president of the united states is 538 of which a

majority is 270. barack obama of the state of illinois has received for president of the united states 332 votes. mitt romney of the state of massachusetts has received 206 votes. the state of the vote for vice president of the united states is delivered to the president in the senate is as follows. the whole number of electorals appointed to vote for vice president of the united states is 538 and the majority of which is 270. joseph biden of the state of delaware has received for vice president of the united states 332 votes. paul ryan of the state of wisconsin has received 206 votes. this announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president, vice president of the united states. each for the term beginning on the 20th day of january, 2013, and shall be entered together with a list of votes in the journal of the senate and the house of representatives.

the purpose of the joint session having been concluded, pursuant to the senate concurrent resolution 1 -- excuse me, 1 of the 113th congress, the chair declares the joint session dissolved.

the speaker: pursuant to senate concurrent resolution 1, the 113th congress, the electoral vote will be spread at-large upon the journal. the chair lays before the house the following personal request.

the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. clyburn of south carolina for today. the speaker: without objection, the request is granted. yesterday's announcement under clause 5-b of rule 20 should have indicated the whole number of the house is 430.

the speaker pro tempore: the speaker: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> mr. speaker, pursuant to senate concurrent resolution 3, 113th congress, i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. pursuant to senate concurrent resolution 3, the 113th congress, the house stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday, january 14, 2013.

>> in the inauguration of the president will be monday, january 21. we will have live coverage on the c-span network. coming up, we will go live to a briefing with senator charles schumer. we expect he will make remarks on the aid to the victims of hurricane sandy. live coverage starts at 2:00 eastern. we will have it for you here on c-span. while you wait, your phone calls from "washington journal." host: we begin with "the washington times." john boehner returns as speaker. john boehnerde, the keeps a job some might ask why he wants. john boehner is 63 years old, from ohio. there was a warning shot from conservative members of the

house. he points out a group of dissident republicans failed on thursday to push representative john boehner to a second ballot in his election as speaker. five short of what would have been needed to force a second ballot. it came as a tumultuous moment for john boehner with sharp criticism towards his handling of the fiscal cliff legislation and scratching the vote on hurricane sandy and the relief

bill. that bill will be coming to the floor of the house later this morning. this is an editorial from "the washington times. " the editorial concludes with these words. we will get to your phone calls. will this congress be any different? that is our question today. democrats line, from georgia. caller: john boehner allowed the house to vote its will. you have people on the republican side wanting to get

their checks who got voted out. you have to go. republicans and democrats, everyone gets unemployment and social security. the republicans try to make it seem a play -- make it seem like it is just democrats. we protect veterans rights, democrats and republicans. you have to work together. republicans seem like they're trying to protect the interests of big business. if they want to cut medicare and social security, why do they not say it? president obama does not say it. he knows it is not the will of the people. host: we're asking the question with a yes or no. will this congress be any different? you can add your voice and comments during the course of the next 45 minutes.

we're joined from indiana on the line for independents. go ahead. caller: i was thinking maybe the suits need to quit putting money in their pockets and start spending it on what it needs to be spent on and quit going on vacations and do their jobs. host: thanks for the call. lucy from virginia on the republican line. caller: will this congress the difference? i certainly hope so. i hope the latest perceived will also be different -- i hope the way it is perceived will also be different. i hope and pray people will realize how serious it is, this $16 trillion debt. the democrats do not seem to be bothered by it. if this country is to survive and be strong, we need to reduce

the debt. we need to work together to cause that to happen. i commend john boehner for his leadership and sincerity. i hope people are going to trust that the only way for this country to recover economically is for us to allow the economy to grow and reduce the deficit. host: thank you for the call. there are legislative issues on the agenda today. there was a ruckus over the issue of hurricane sandy in the $60 billion supplemental appropriations to help the hurricane victims along the coast of new york, new jersey, and connecticut. davis said house republicans are

moving quickly to win approval this week of $97 billion in increased financing to pay for flood insurance claims. the measure would temporarily raise the bar for the flood insurance program expected to hit its ceiling next week. congressman garrett, a fiscal conservative, is the lead sponsor. john boehner seems eager to show purpose after being dressed down for failing to respond to the crisis. we will have live coverage at 10:00 as the house convenes and then coverage of the joint session this afternoon as the house and senate take up their other constitutional duty, which is certifying the election of president obama and vice president biden. good morning on the democrats' line.

caller: i am hoping president obama will stick to what he has said and not allow them to gut social security, medicare, and medicaid. i am hoping we can get to the point where he can find a way to go around them with another fiscal cliff. we cannot have this. thank you. host: the front page of the "washington post." there is a photograph of the democratic leader of the house, nancy pelosi, as she joined other democratic female lawmakers at the capitol. there are 20 new members of the senate who are women. the former house speaker had this to say about the issue of bipartisanship as she congratulated speaker john boehner for his own reelection. [video clip]

>> i know we will not always agree, but i hope we will find common ground that is a higher and better place for our country. surely we can be touched by the better angels of our nature. surely we can be touched by the better angels of our nature. so beautifully expressed by president lincoln. host: this is from the "washington journal." let me show you a portion of what they are riding on the editorial page.

will this congress be different? clay is joining us from amarillo, texas, on the independent line. caller: thanks for letting me come on to your program and giving me my point of view on the congress. congress will not do anything different. what do our votes really count

for? special interest groups and lobbyists usurp our powers. influences' congress. i think congress is reacting out of fear right now. if something does not change, there is going to be a change coming, regardless of whether they want it or not. the american people are fed up with the lines -- with a whole situation of what congress has become. they need to cooperate, do what they get paid for, past legislative laws beneficial to the american people. we are the american people. we count. they do not seem to think so. host: thanks for the call. bill king has this on our twitter page. this story was available online

at rolecall.com. he secured the votes to retain the gavel but not without the trauma of the congress. the speaker remains the face of the republican party for the next few years, but there is no sign that the rankcor is behind him and there is evidence he is in for even a rougher road ahead. judy joins us from garland, texas, on the democrats' line. caller: hello. i really hope congress is better this term. they really need to vote their conscience and not a party line. i blame democrats and

republicans. it is not just one party. host: what is your prescription for reform? caller: i think once they get the american people back to work, i do not think the middle class would like a tax hike. the way the economy is now, people cannot afford it. host: john joins us next from illinois. go ahead. caller: one thing that concerns me is they want to pass a bill for sandy, which i think is great. they put all this pork into its. why not stick with the issue? this is part of the problem with the way things are run. the democrat caller was wanting president obama to skirt around congress. that is not the way we do things in this country. it is very disturbing. i am retired now.

i am a republican out of chicago. i do not agree with the way they do things. it seems illegal and totally wrong. that is what i wanted to say. host: a lot of ceremony yesterday as members of congress and family members were on hand for the swearing in of the new members from 87 new members of the house. there are 30 new members of the senate. there were these remarks by the speaker of the house, john boehner. [video clip] >> we were sent here not to be something, but to do something. [applause] as of late to call it, doing the right thing. -- as i like to call it, doing the right thing. it is a big job that comes with big challenges.

our government has built up too much debt. our economy has not produced enough jobs. at $16 trillion and rising, our national debt is weakening things. the american dream is in peril as long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt. we consider the economy free. jobs will come home. the economy will come back. we do this not just to boost gdp or reduce unemployment, but to secure for our children a future of freedom and opportunity. nothing is more important. host: the comments of the speaker of the house yesterday from the house floor as he took the gavel again for a second

two-year term. the headline yesterday. there is this from our twitter page. windier says the congress is different. the tone is not. -- one viewer says the congress is different. the town is not. we're joined by a political reporter on the phone. let me begin with the question we're asking our viewers. let me get your assessment on whether you think the tone and legislative agenda will be different. guest: i think if you look at the immediate legislative agenda, it is kind of deja vu all over again. we just finished a big battle over the fiscal cliff. but we're running up against the debt ceiling in another couple of months. this could be even a nastier fight then we just saw. democrats say they will not deal on the debt limit like they did

in the summer of 2011. republicans say we have to cut spending and get our finances in order. how they resolve this in the next two months will be an interesting dynamic to watch. in terms of the actual tone and nature of the congress, you have got a lot of democrats that will say you have gotten rid of some of the tea brand -- tea party firebrand republicans. hopefully that will make for a more cooperative environment. there are new members of the congress that ran on being cooperative, bipartisan, problem solvers. it is still a divided congress. we have a democratic senate and a republican house who do not see eye to eye on much of anything. the partisan nature of congress

will be different now. host: let's look at the numbers and how they voted. these are the nine or 10 republicans that voted for someone other than the speaker of the house. the congressman from texas voted "present." what message does this send? guest: this is a message to the speaker they are not satisfied with the leadership. that is the comment you would have gotten from any of the members voted present or for someone who is not john boehner. we have had the freshman republican that voted for eric cantor. eric cantor said this is a message we are not happy with the leadership right now. it is important to remember he was still elected speaker.

he got the majority behind him. i think there is still tension, especially among the conservative plank of the congress, that is not going away quickly or easily. they are loud and eager to make themselves known. that will be a problem for the speaker. host: one of the first orders of business yesterday with the new chairs, what happened as congress began dealing with some of the rules of the new congress? guest: the first thing was to deal with the rules package for the 113th congress. this is a system by which they set of rules to make sure, to help govern the house. there were some provisions on how to run the house. there were also provisions

democrats pointed out like authorizing additional money for the defense of marriage act in court, which they love the criticized earlier in the day. host: what else are you looking for today as congress convenes? the hurricane sandy vote will be first this morning. in the joint session this afternoon. guest: the major item will be the sandy vote. there was serious wreck this earlier in the week. everyone had been focusing on the fiscal cliff vote. the news came the vote scheduled on sending aid to the states hit by hurricane sandy had been pulled from the floor. it was almost a sure thing they would vote on it. it infuriated republicans. democrats as well. speaker john boehner who got a serious unlashing from governor chris christie of new jersey

away only he can. this is the first tranche of the eighth congress hopes to send. is about $9 billion in flood insurance funding. they hope to pass it quickly. the senate said when they receive it from the house, they will take it up by unanimous consent. the house hopes to pass $51 billion in additional funding on january 15. host: thank you for joining us on c-span. her work is available online at politico.com. back to some of your comments. this is from our twitter page. from our facebook page --

online at cbsnews.com, issues facing congress. first, the fiscal issues. the new congress will have to address the issues left on the table from the 112th congress. the second big agenda is immigration. something the president said will be a top priority in the next year. umber three is in control. those are the top five issues facing the new congress. robert is joining us from florida on the independent line. caller: on behalf of many independents and many voters that now have voters remorse, if they have not felt that it, it will occur.

the difficulty of our leadership, just take a picture of a triangle. executive, legislative, judicial. right now, we have a fractured triangle. certainly on behalf of the president. part of the triangle is damaged by the senate. the record shows the republican congress has effectively presented numerous job-related legislature to the senate and many other stock got bills -- other stopgap bills, what you

want to call leadership out of control. it is forcing many of our businessmen not to hire. host: for several decades, he was the junior senator from massachusetts, overshadowed by senator ted kennedy who passed away in 2009. the picture this morning showing the swearing in of the current junior senator how quickly will become the senior senator with the expectation senator john kerry will be approved by the senate to be the next secretary of state. that will set another special election in massachusetts. it was another massachusetts politician who came up in the conversation about bipartisanship. in one of his final interviews before he passed away in 1993, tip o'neill sat down with us to talk about bipartisanship has bill clinton was taking over.

this is from a november, 1992, interview. [video clip] >> congress are begging to be able to work with the president. george bush never allowed them to work with him. he always tried to blame them for everything. he took pride in effec -- he took pride in the 39 vetoes he had pai. george bush wanted to chip the program. when they finally passed and he signed it, it was weak legislation of no value. i do not see clinton, i see tom foley and members of congress wanted to work together. everyone wants to get the economy back on its feet. everyone wants to get america straighten out. it is in tough shape. it is in tough shape.