>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> we the people of the united states, in order to for a more perfect union -- >> this week on "inside washington," house speaker john boehner, the new congress, and the passion of the tea party faithful. >> i could not be more serious when i say i am not going to vote to increase the national debt. >> the battle lines are drawn. >> we are here to the consideration of h.r. 2, the repeal of the job-killing health care act. >> i am pleased to answer your call. >> former clinton commerce secretary bill daley it takes

over as chief of staff as robert gibbs steps down. >> many of the -- i would not trade this for many the best days you would have on another job. >> without any mental reservation. >> out any mental reservation -- [laughter] >> really, no mental reservation. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> the democrats sought to demonize him during the last election. it didn't work. john boehner is now the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. he has taken loans over the years, but after being kicked out of the republican leadership years ago, he is now third in line for the presidency. >> the people voted to end

business as usual, and today we begin to carry out their instructions. [applause] the american people have hobbled us. they have refreshed our members as to just how to berate the privilege of serving is -- how temporary the privilege of serving is. everything here is on loan from a bend. we will not always get it right and we will not always agree on what is right. my belief is always the weekend disagree without being disagreeable. >> sounds pretty humble there. mark, how about a thumbnail preview? >> i think john boehner had a good week. he had the right tone. the republicans had a less than good week, because they are caught on their attempt to repeal the affordable health care act by breaking their own rules on opening it up for debate to the men and, to -- debate to amend it and doing it

in an orderly fashion. john boehner struck the perfect tone. >> boehner-led house, what will look like, charles? >> as humble as he said. i think he overdid the humility a little bit. he said "dust-to-dust." it is not the kind of thing you introduce into an inaugural address after a landslide, but i guess he was airing on the side of humility. the they are going to tread carefully on anything large grid they will play small ball for quite a while. >> nina, what you think? >> i will not say anything you of not read in a lot of analyses. the tea party balancing -- them will be extremely difficult. i don't think you can play small ball with the national debt. >> evan, give us a sense of the

house of representatives with the john boehner and the speaker's chair. >> the basic republican fantasy is that you can cut taxes and wall off social security and medicare from cutting spending and actually reduce government spending. that is complete fiction. the democrats in dollars in bad -- the democrats indulge in that i hope the press pointed out again and again. >> he has eric cantor as majority leader and kevin mccarthy as majority whip. what challenges does he face from his own party? >> i'd think it is hugely exaggerated in the end, the debt limit is going to be lifted. the only question is what is going to be offered in return. boehner is not a fool. they will look at anything sober and reasonable that can be agreed upon. i am not worried about that.

i think what you are going to see in this house is a talented team of young leaders like paul ryan, the head of the budget committee, who are going to impress on policy, not necessarily as politicians, but extremely impressive on policy. it is going to be a serious republican house. >> you are talking about backtracking. >> john bidder is a grown-up, a legislator, whose job is to -- john boehner is a grown-up and legislator, whose job is to get the job done. that is where he will have trouble in his caucus. there are enough true believers to stop the raising of the debt ceiling. pauperize is considered collaboration, collaboration is the -- compromise is considered collaboration, collaboration is the first cousin to treason. you will find that out on the debt ceiling. jeff a flake of arizona is as committed to cutting the budget

as anyone i've ever known in washington. there is going to be a helluva fight. >> the devil is in the details. everybody says, oh, yeah, cut the budget, we ought to have more affordable health care. but what you said -- but when you get into what is going to be cut, there will be a lot of screaming and i suspect a lack of success in doing much of the job. especially the focus on discretionary spending, a relatively small part of the budget. >> a minute ago we heard a congressman talk about the "job- killing health care act." job-killing is attached to everything the democrats like, apparently. on friday we heard the on implement it is 9.4%. -- heard on employment is 9.4% . >> unemployment will go down a

little bit, but again i washington will still do this -- the game in washington will still be this on a real game. the health-care law is where republicans are right. it is a disaster and it is not working out at all as people had anticipated. there are all sorts of rockp -- all sorts of wrong projections. >> boehner promised to run open doors and to allow democrats to attach amendments, and they'll want to backtrack on that. -- they have already backtrack on that. >> republicans have eliminated the requirement that if you have a tax cut, that has to be accounted for with other budget adjustments. now tax cuts are off the books. you want to cut taxes, it has nothing to do with the deficit.

we know it has a lot to do with the deficit. >> republicans only have control of the house, not the senate, and they don't have control of but white house. they don't have the dilution that -- delusion that newt gingrich had, that he would be prime minister. on the health care repeal, there will be defeated. they are setting the premise for a great debate in the country and this will result in two years. between now and then, nothing large will happen in this country. >> the word on battle lines, next. >> i'm not going to write a blank check on raising the debt limit without saying that we are going to do these things to be fiscally responsible. >> the first default in history cost dearly by in saturday. >> that is alan west, a new congressman from florida, and austin goolsbee.

what about refusal to raise the debt ceiling? >> this will muddle through somehow. >> what will happen if they don't? >> this is what europe is turning itself into a pretzel to try to avoid. wall street, industry -- they cannot have that happen. that is part of the republican constituency, to. >> i keep hearing this new house members say, "i am not going to vote --" >> i would like to hold off until i see -- if he is saying that all i really want is leverage, he is speaking for republicans. >> let me be the lone voice of

dissent. every republican sitting up there are terrified of one thing, a tea party challenge in 2012. that is why mitch mcconnell, circumspect and careful in speech, said that the most important thing he is granted to it in two years is the fee obama. he is talking to the tea party, trying to mollify jim demint. if you think raising the debt ceiling is going to be a walk and the park, you are delusional. it is going to be tough, it is going to be difficult, and it will come down to cutting off the salaries of those in combat in afghanistan, their families, of food stamps, military housing. that is the confrontation they are going to be facing. >> what about in the senate? democrats say they have a plastic to keep republicans from posting their fondest is not -- they have a plan to keep republicans from frosting the

fondest desires. >> listening to the mark, i understand why birds are falling out of the sky. [laughter] and of days -- end of days. oh, yes, the filibuster. i would love democrats to succeed. i want to see its complete abolition. years ago, democrats hold up nominees to the court of appeals, the republicans said to abolish the filibuster. i am among those who want to abolish it. >> there are radicals who want to -- >> not radical enough. >> it would be interesting if they actually had to hold the fort and debate it, and with specific numbers of people -- >> like jimmy stewart. >> it would not be jimmy

stewart. 10 -- >> 10 jimmy stewarts. it is not in the constitution, and was used pretty sparingly until 10 or 15 years ago. now is if you need 8 2/3 vote to get things done. >> how will they get stuff done? >> they will not get rid of the filibuster. if they get rid of this rule that says a single senator can probably stop just about anything, that would be progress. that is an absurd rule that is tied things up. >> make them stand on the floor like jimmy stewart in "mr. smith goes to washington." >> senator, walk up to your leader and say, "i want a hold on that," and nobody knows about it, i think that is the public

business, the public has the right to know, and at the very least, the member has to go to the floor and filibuster. that is what strom thurmond did, that is what robert dole did. they held up for 18, 19 hours. let's have a real filibuster, not this phony -- >> an act of terrorism now. >> the democrats should be really careful what they hope for. it is democrats who are proposing the change of rules. nothing large is going to come out of the congress anyway in the next two years. the republican house is going to stop it. what is likely is that 1023 democrats are up for reelection in 2012 -- is that 23 democrats are up for reelection in 2012. it looks like a republican senate, and then they have the run of the kind as if you abolish the rule. -- run of the congress if you abolish the rule. democrats are being extremely

shortsighted. >> it really is completely undemocratic as it works now. whoever is in charge of to be able to pursue their agenda unless people are willing to stand up and fight against it. i am not proposing to abolish the filibuster. i'm proposing to make it a tool it once was, rare. >> charles' rosy scenario -- lord knows he has a rosy scenario for 2012 -- a republican in the house and president palin to sign it into office. it is nirvana, it really is. >> that is what i said, end of days. >> bill daley as chief of staff. >> this is a guy who understands the issues, understands the players, knows the players, and knows how to make it work. >> that is the president and ceo of the u.s. chamber of commerce.

an interesting, because he is praising the president's decision to make bill daley the next chief of staff. unless i'm mistaken, the chamber spent millions of dollars in the last election opposing the obama agenda. how does that work, evan? >> for us centrists, this good news. as matt bai pointed out, rahm emanuel was the centers, and gene sperling, replacing larry summers, it is a centrist. it is not truly a move to the center, but it might be marginally a move towards not having -- >> what are lefties so upset about daley? >> because it is perceived as a move to the center and they don't have anyone with "right on, suiweetie" if you sp --

views. they were in the clinton administration as tricks editors of the clinton policy of really creating jobs in the most aggressive way possible. i am not -- i don't know if that works and this era as well. we had an electronic bubble of the time. but this administration has not seemed to be as focused on finding hold the avenues of the operation and perhaps penalizing -- finding a whole new avenues of job creation and perhaps penalizing industries that send jobs abroad. >> he is a very smart guidy with what the election was about. he pretends it was a message about being bipartisan and working together. he understands it was a repudiation of the shift to the left. this is a strong signal of the repositioning.

bill daley is the guy who shepherded nafta up through, which is anathema to the union supporters of obama. he publicly opposed financial reform. in 2009, he criticized the administration for its low for a shift. he is a guy who represents exactly the kind of ideological could take that obama understands -- the ideological critique that obama understands it is what harm to them in november. he will not enact an agenda in the next two years the way he did in the past. if he wants to be reelected, he has to go to the center and this is how you signal to move with. >> bill daley is not here to put his ideological and put on the administration. the selection of bill daley says more about barack obama's sense of need. ethical inclination on this administration's part wjla.com

-- the whole inclination on this administration's part is to promote from within. bill daley breaks with that tradition. bill daley is from chicago, but was not part of the obama camp. he opposed barack obama in the 2004 senate primary. he backed a perfectly good candidate, respectable, able candidate, and only backed obama after the primary. he brings insight skills that outside skills. -- inside it skills and outside skills. tom donahue of the chamber of commerce -- wow. he has his ego in check. >> he is the proverbial grown up. >> he is a grown-up. >> robert gibbs is leaving. what would you be looking for to replace him? >> somebody nicer. >> somebody with a sense of humor that does not get the president into too much trouble,

because he reckoned get you into trouble. the best -- because you can get you into trouble. the best secretaries, mike mccurry, had a sense of humor. they also were able to defuse -- >> they did not take themselves too seriously. >> marlin fitzwater was good, and so is mike mccurry, you are absolutely right. both of them understood that the press was an important constituency, and they had a constitutional right to information. >> perhaps do not have the president quite is overexposed as he has been. he has been his own spokesman all the time. you cannot do that to president. >> ice this any change you can believe in? -- is this any change you can believe in? >> it might hit one of the

mistakes obama made was to be too insular in his first two years. he kept the same group of people around him, and did not have many people who disagree fundamentally, and at connections to lots of outside folks. if he replicates the daily appointment -- the daley applied with others, he may have a wider field of winning. >> maybe it is as simple as this asserted this thing -- as disassociateing yourself with congress. congress is like a daily comedy show. now maybe he is going to pull out and let congress misbehave -- >> congressman darrell issa, the chairman of the house oversight and government reform committee, although he backed off a bit, said that this is one of the most corrupt administrations in history. >> that was a foolish statement

-- >> he has got a big drop a. >> subpoena power. >> but his definition of corrupt is not corrected -- not crooked. >> where was the response, mark? >> there was no response. i was amazed that 18 democrats did not run to the microphone and say, wait a minute, mr. chairman, where is the evidence of this? is this an example of a kind of hearing you are going to hold with just baseless charges? none of that happened, which is a reflection, i think, of attention that a lot of democrats feel towards the white house -- the tension that a lot of democrats still towards the white house. >> 9.4% unemployment rate now. >> jumped -- the latest one has been over 50%. i can keep a bounce out of the

lame duck session -- i think he got ia bounce out of a lame duck session. it gave him the aura of someone who, after a shellacking, was on a roll. and the fact that he is completely out of the public eye for two weeks is the best boost his popularity could possibly have had. >> what that says is stay out of sight -- >> he was overexposed. let me inject one note of optimism. i think there will be a deal, not on tax reform wall to wall, but on corporate tax reform. that is the one area were republicans want to do something and i think obama does. i think that is going to happen this year. >> if you look at the last three presidents, they all had a real problems at their first two years. clinton, bush until 9/11, a

struggling, and now this president. none of them have big national experience. bush was governor of a large state, but it is a week and governorship in texas. possibly obama has learned from the first two years. >> evan says he has to distance himself from congress, challenge congress, and charles says he has to work with congress to pass tax reform -- >> on a specific area -- >> he has got to -- nothing is going to happen with congress and the next two years. he is going to start running for president, re-election, on the basis of what he is going to do not in 2013 -- not what is going to happen in the next two years. he has to get a national mandate to do things and the second term. the big things will be tax reform and fixing social security. >> we can get a small area of

tax reform, the corporate tax, and perhaps an advance on social security at the next two years. nothing else. >> spirit of the new year. >> we need radical reform, a new approach, a new perspective, and we needed now. >> that is governor andrew cuomo in new york, calling for a one- year freeze on wage increases and a cap on spending. unfunded liability of pensions, or $2 trillion -- a day of reckoning, charles. >> it is coming soon, and you see it in the blue states, at new york, california, where they have these enormous pension liabilities. it is one of the reasons that fdr did not allow government to unionize. the guy on the other side of the aisle is not a guy whose business or livelihood is online.

you end up with these contracts that over the years have become unaffordable. cuomo beginning his administration with a freeze, people beginning to understand something has to be done, and ultimately, we are going to have to work out a process in which a state can enter into bankruptcy. legally it does not exist yet -- >> the municipalities -- >> a huge crisis coming, because, as charles says, the yen's have this sweetheart deals -- the unions have these sweetheart deals. who owns all that bad debt? banks do. we are going to have the biggest bank bailout ever, because banks have all of this bad state debt. >> here we go again, mark. >> let's get one thing straight -- texas faces a crisis of epic proportions. this is of no respect to

political ideology, boosted caught red state -- blue state, red state. the model is jerry brown in california and andrew cuomo in new york, democratic governors who say that these are the cuts that unnecessary and we are interested in protecting people, protecting programs that help people, and we are the ones to do it. >> jerry brown is probably in the best position. he is not going to run for anything again other than gov. bridge here of the choices, and you pick, but we cannot go into bankruptcy. we are bigger than most countries in the world. >> without mental reservation, that is the last word. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv.