closer to catastrophic default. how many times does he have to throw red meat to the extreme right in his caucus to please them. enough already. let's get moving and get something real done. >> as lawmakers scramble to rewrite their plans, what are the chances of an 11th hour rescue? and will the president sign a short-term deal after all. this hour president obama's top economic advisor gene spurling. senate budget committee chairman kent conrad, and who will get the last word, the man himself, lawrence o'donnell. as american's wondser what is washington thinking, people are getting angry out there. ♪ raise the debt ceiling >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in new york. all eyes are focused on washington where the speaker of the house is being whip sawed today between his tea party caucus opposing any compromise

and the congressional budget office now downgrading john boehner's revenue projections. where does the president factor in as time runs out? joining us from the white house gene spurling. gene, what happens next? now we know that both the harry reid plan and john boehner's plan have been downgraded, if you will by the congressional budget office. neither would produce the amount of money expected. will the president at this point sign a short-term deal if a 30-day emergency extension, whatever, just to keep things going while these issues are resolved? >> you know, andrea, the real issue is not the congressional budget office scoring of either plan or even the vote count on either plan. the real issue is we're at stalemate. we've got two plans that have almost no prospect of passing both houses. so for all the discussions about what might hypothetically come to the president's desk, the real focus should be on that we're at stalemate, we need to

find the type of compromise that the president's talked about. we need something that has a down payment on deficit reduction that doesn't allow anybody to get everything that they want. but also takes away the cloud of uncertainty that hangs on our economy right now because of the prospect of default. the one thing the president has been clear on is just continuing that prospect of default. kicking that can down the road five, six months so that cloud of economic uncertainty still hangs over our economy is just not acceptable. so, we're doing everything we can. we're looking for every opportunity to find that bipartisan compromise and that's what we have to ask from everyone in both houses. >> this is what the republican leader mitch mcconnell had to say on the senate floor about what the president should do next. >> yesterday afternoon in the white house issued a statement of administration policy what

said that when the legislation speaker boehner is now revising reaches the president's desk, unnamed senior advisors will recommend that the president veto it. now i have a question for those senior advisors, what about this legislation is so offensive that you'd rather see the nation default on its obligations than have the president sign it into law? >> what is the answer to that again? >> reporter: first of all it really is a moot point. there are well over 50 democrats who have already said many the senate they're not passing that legislation. and my question for you to ask senator mcconnell is that the republican leader of the senate mcconnell put forward a plan that would allow us to take away the specter of default for two years. this president said that that was a bill he would sign. the question for him is why can't he get other republicans to join him in a bill he's proposed what the president

would sign? it doesn't have the deficit reduction would we would like. at least it would take away the cloud of uncertainty of our first default away from this economy for the next couple of years. that would be very important. so what we really need is not all the focus on two bills that are never going to reach the president's desk as much as where's the compromise, where's the common ground. that is what every person out in the voting public, the watching public, the investing public is asking. >> gene, the view from the hill has been that the action is moved up there. that there are private conversations with the white house has sidelined. is the president intimately involved in these negotiations at this stage or is it really being decided behind the scenes between democrats and republicans on the hill? >> there is no question this administration and this president and the vice president are very, very doochly involved at all points. whether it's looking for the

openings for a possible compromise. we are looking for every discussion. not every discussion's going to be public. but we're not looking for public statements. we're looking for progress. how we get democrats and republicans together on something that we think would preferably have an important downpayment on deficit reduction. leave a strong will to have stronger tax reform and entitle reform to bring down our deficit even more. and make clear that we are not going to keep using the threat of default by anyone as a way of getting their way on the budget and we take that cloud of economic uncertainty off our economy for the foreseeable future. >> gene, what about reports that the tax receipts that have been coming in are higher than expected pace now give you some more leeway that august 2nd is not a drop dead date? >> that's just not the case. on august 2nd, we run out of

borrowing authority. america would be on the cusp of default for the first time in our history. checks go out on august 3rd. on august 4th, $87 billion of t bills mature. this is not a game that we can play. and it's not constructive or helpful for people to suggest otherwise. we know august 2nd is when we run out of borrowing authority. we have a 220-year tradition in this country of having an impeccable credit rating beyond reproach. no one should even open the door to putting that under question. >> gene, i'm about to interview jim clyburn from the house democratic leadership. he and others have suggested that the president just say if this does boil down to the deadline expiring, that he's invoking the 14th amendment and do it on his own. i know you all have said that that's not -- that's a nonstarter. we've heard that directly from other white house officials. but at this hour is that still a

nonstarter or is it the exit strategy at the end of the day? >> you know, andrea, everybody's looking for an off ramp. everybody wants to decide there's extra cash or you know, you can use the constitution. what everybody at home is saying is just do your job. just compromise like everyone else does. andrea, you know that there have been great bipartisan agreements to bring down our deficit to save social security in 1983, 1990 and 1997, none of them involved anyone using the threat of a default to get them done. people did their job. they compromised that's what we need now. time is running out, but we still have time. that's where the focus needs to be. >> gene sperling, thank you very much. good to see you. >> thank you. with us now south carolina democrat jim clyburn is assistant minority leader. congressman you heard what gene said. you had suggest that had the 14th amendment should be an

option. the president is shutting that down. >> well, i still believe that the it's an option. if the president were to get a bill that he finds objectionable, something that extends this thing for three days or 30 days or even six months, i do believe we'll be postponing the inevitable. and we'll find ourselves right back in this kwaug mire down the road. so i believe that if he were to get a bill like that, he ought to sit right along a veto message an executive order. and he should take the pen that he uses to veto that legislation to sign an executive order doing this under the 14th amendment. that is an option that i think ought to be last resort.

but that's a much better option than signing a 30-day or even a six-month extension. >> congressman, doesn't that set up democrats, the white house to be blamed republicans can say we've given you a deal and it's your fault that the government is defaulting? >> well, you know, i'm a little bit of a restaurant of history. and there are a lot of real big things that have been gone in this country by executive order. president truman up until this point my favorite president of all times. integrated the armed services by executive order. couldn't get the congress to do it. there seemed to be little support for it my hometown senator left the democratic party buzz he did it and ran for president as a states rider. but the president did it. it was a bold move and as far as

i can tell people like colin powell are very thankful that president truman did what he did. >> in the current case let me ask you about the whip count you were the whip and still a great vote counter are you and steny hoyer and nancy pelosi going to give john boehner an exit strategy with some democrat votes since it's clear he doesn't have enough votes just relying on republicans? >> if he were to come to the floor with a bipartisan bill, i think he would get bipartisan support. right now he's running this on his own within his own caucus. he is not involving nancy pelosi or steny hoyer or yours truly in what he's doing. and so i'm never going to ask members of our caucus to vote to have severe cuts in medicare, medicaid, social security.

we should never balance the budget on the backs of the vulnerable. and when i read what he is proposing, these cuts are deep for senior citizens and other vulnerables in our society and we as democrats are not going to do that. that's why many of us have been touting senator reid's proposal because he moves to according to cbo $ .2 trillion in cuts over ten years. but he has taken the revenue raises out of it to satisfy the republicans. he has taken the social security,

the decline in median family incomes for his tannic americans down 66% for african-americans down 53%. and for whites down 16% in the recession. so the gap is really widening now to extraordinary -- historic proportions. >> absolutely. >> how do you combat that in a time of declining government spending? >> well, you can combat that by dealing with what there is to spend. the problem we have here and you can see it in the republican legislation, they continue to give tax cuts to tupper 2% and put all these cuts in services and programs to the other 98%.

that's how the gap continues to get wider. if we were to up the taxes as we say down south on those people who are the wealthy, we would begin to see the gap close. we are widening this gap with the kind of legislation that they're coming forward with and i can't find a better example of what's that doing. you're laying off teachers, firemen, if you stop the building and construction workers can't get work. we can't do infrastructure. these are the people who depend upon those kinds of programs to make a living. so the gap will get wider. so that's why we ought to have some fairness in this proposal. that's why we've been saying we want to see the debt ceiling lifted. we want to see the deficits

and the debt paid down. we want to do it with compassion and fairness so we won't continue to see the gap between the haves and the have little widen. >> thank you so much, jim clyburn, thank you for joining us today. up next, another point of view entirely. tea party caucus member republican paul brown of georgia. also this hour, senate budget chairman kent conrad. but first, if the debt debate and the lack of action has you hot urn the collar, you're not alone. here's d.c. rapper and comedian remmy with his message to washington. ♪ we're all going to default

are you anxious to protect your family with life insurance... but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a

price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save.

quite a caucusç meeting today.

house speaker john boehner told his kchbs to get their blank in line behind his debt ceiling bill. republican congressman paul brown from kbrae is a tea party caucus member and joins us from the hill. congressman, were you there when the speaker went off on his members today? >> we had a very interesting conference this morning. >> sounds interesting. >> john boehner's trying to get this bill passed. he's doing everything he can. >> sure. >> he's going to work hard to do so. >> in telling people to lun up it sounds as though he's saying get behind me, i need your help. he was really cracking the whip. >> well, he believes that this bill is the way to go and the way we need to be heading forward to try to solve the debt ceiling problem and the debt problem of america. i will not vote for this bill because i don't think we should be raising the debt ceiling at all. we need to be doing what a business does when it becomes overextended. the federal government is broke. we are overextended. we need to do what a business would do.

that means lore our borrowing limit. start finding ways to pay off the debt. try to cut expenses across the board in every nook and krany of the federal expenditures. and then we need to raise revenue. my democrat colleagues want to raise taxes, that's going to take away jobs. we need to raise tax payers and not taxes. we need to put some stability out there in the economic environment so the small businesses around this country will start hiring people and we'll have a greater economy that we can pay down this debt that's exactly what i'm fighting for here in washington. >> congressman, not for me to dairy water for the speaker here, there aren't any taxes in his bill, so what's wrong 4 his bill? why won't you vote for it? he's asking for your support as a matter of loyalty. his speakership could be on the >> i don't agree with that comment. i don't think his speakership is on the line at all. i just disagree with this particular bill. i respect him.

he's a very honorable man. he's working hard to foster what he believes in. i introduced a bill to lower the debt ceiling not raise it. and i just think raising the debt ceiling is not the way to go. we need to lore it. we need to pay off the debt. we need to deal with the debt and we need to create a stronger economy. we just disagree on the tactics here. we both want to get to the same end result. that's to create jobs out in the -- throughout america. >> congressman, when you talk about lowering the debt ceiling, the debt ceiling is being raised to pay for money that has been appropriated by this congress and previous congresss. but in particular by this congress. you're paying for what has already been charged not for future expenses. >> well, andrea, the thing is when someone is over extend and broke they don't continue paying for expensive automobiles. they sell the expensive automobiles and buy a cheaper one. they don't continue paying for country club dues. they drop out of the country

club. we need to pay down the debt. we need to create a strong economy. create jobs and raising the debt ceiling is just going to make it worse long-term in my opinion. that's the reason that i think we need to go back to the drawing board. we need to do everything we can to cut expenses across the board to the federal government. so that we can put this financial house back in order. we cannot continue this fiscal fiasco here in washington. we've got to pay down the debt and stop creating more. so that's the reason -- >> is there any difference in the version boehner and harry reid are looking ?@á? reid has $2.2 trillion in cuts and doesn't raise taxes. is there any version you would suppo support? >> andrea, i've proposed over $7 billion worth of cuts in the appropriations bills.

the thing is if l the accounting gimmicks and the budgetary tricks that barack obama and harry reid are giving us are just that. we can't have anymore of that. we need to be truthful with american people. they deserve is truth. i'm voting for america. i'm voting for a strong economic future for america for my kids and grand kids. i believe firmly that we've got to deal with this debt. we cannot continue to create more and more. barack obama, nancy pelosi, harry reid have created more debt in the last congress while i was here i voted against all that stuff. is the stimulus bill which has been an abject failure. bush's first staunch on tarp and obama's second, i disagree with all that. we've got to get headed in a good financial direction and to do that, we have to deal with the debt. we cannot create more. we've got to start cutting across the board in every aspect of the federal government. not only the discretionary

spening, but the nondiscretionary spending. we have to look at all of it. we have to have a whole different process in washington in my opinion. we've got to make huge cuts and send powers back to the states and people leave dollars many the hand of job creators so they can can expand their businesses. buy inventory and create a strong economy. that's what i'm fighting for here in washington. >> we're going to have to leave it there. thank you very much. >> thank you. up next, a big play from mitt romney in ohio. stay with us.ç i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry !

specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

we're following the latest developments in the investigation surrounding the mass murder in norway. police found more explosives on is suspect's farm. authorities believe that he used the land as a cover while making bombs for the deadly attacks. these explosionives were safely detonated. the bullets fired during the mass killing were designed to disintegrate inside the body causing massive internal damage. doctors working on the tragedy call the wounds suffered by the

victims absolutely horrible. new york city's bell of hope rang today in remembrance of the victims of this tragedy. the bell at saint paul's chapel was a grift from the uk k after 9/11. debt showdown with lawrence o'donnell who could have saved us a lot of trouble if we had just listened to him back then.

somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier.

all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. our debt ceiling is now $14.3 trillion. it will need to be raised in the coming year. this by the way is a challenge for boehner in the house. >> that was lawrence o'donnell of course on election night last year predicting exactly what happened. a rough road ahead for the new house speaker on the debt ceiling with the tea party freshman. if you're such a good forecaster lawrence, what's going to happen next? get out your crystal ball. >> that was easy to predict by listening to the tea party people. number one they don't know there is a debt ceiling. when they find out what a debt

ceiling, they're not going to like it and not vote for an increase. i just heard the greatest thing you have now sbrood intthe record on this show the single stupidest thing said -- not by me. >> by anyone in the debt ceiling debate, representative paul brown has)a bill to lower the debt ceiling and he now achieves the prize for stupidest idea of the year. just breast taking. >> it would require having money evaporate or just erase money we've already spent. >> it's the kind of thing that dumbfounds me beyond my ability to respond. can. >> what does the president do now? >> we're getting closer to the minute to the o'donnell plan. which is the reagan plan, the bush plan of best bushes, it be clinton plan, it is the one page bill, you've seen these, this is what a debt ceiling increase looks like, they're work on many hundred page bills to work on the debt ceiling.

it's normally one page, one sentence section 3101, you change a number. that's it. we're getting to the point where as you get to the one minute to midnight mark here, that's all they're going to know how to do. that's all they're going to have time to do. so they're going to then the question is going to be what's the date on it? is it going to be a temporary increase in the debt ceil chg is president says he doesn't want or the one that goes over past the election. the president can veto anything they do. can veto it -- >> he can pay a heavy price for it. >> no. because it takes ten minutes to do this in both bodies. we have done this before by voice vote without even recording votes. these are the easiest things you can possibly do in government. at 11:00 p.m. on the night before the crashing of the debt ceiling he could veto anything they did and say to them, get something back to me within the

hour and they can. >> there are very smart people that have written about this that say this could all hapáen sooner rather than later you could have the worst possible scenario. a debt ceiling that is increased in some degree of spending cuts, but a downgrade which is going to end up costing the federal government $100 billion a year anyway in higher interest payments and every home owner and car payment person. everyone in america also paying higher interest rates. >> so the downgrade is something that is more likely at this stage, more likely than the default. we don't have to have the default. there are ways out of it. one page, one sentence gets you out of it. we used to design it, when i was working in the senate, you would design it as we want to do this at a very last possible minute. the reason you wanted to do it at the last minute is everyone knew, i better not tamper with it. it's the last minute. we'd better pass this one sentence. >> speak of the lst minute and last word every night, just one

little footnote here. you were there then, i was there then. george mitchell was being honored in washington by tom daschle. he said in six years as majority leader he and bob dole never agreed on everything, but they never had a cross word in public or private. six years of working together majority leader, minority leader. >> and we raised the debt ceiling in those days with only democratic votes. when it was his turn, when he was in the leadership to raise the debt ceiling, he would raise the debt ceiling. >> lawrence, we'll have much or on all of this on "last word." thank you for being here. "last word" every night at 8:00. why is mitt romney in ohio today? the presumed 2012 republican front runner is outside columbus, ohio, today, not iowa, not new hampshire. he'sç talking jobs.

we're talking jobs today, we're talking ohio. but what is the strategy here? >> well, look, the campaign will tell you this is an intentional strategy. they say they're not ignoring the early states but they're trying to run a national campaign versus president obama. they want to make fast in swing states in. they've been moved fast lining up endorsements. >> and it would be a very smart strategy if he is trying to be the presumptive front runner. down the road there are others rick perry and others who are likely to try to challenge him. >> well, that's right. their hope today is to hammer home the point about jobs and try to play on governor romney's perceived strengths. from ohio -- we're talking rock

crushers. he's going to make his speech today focussing on what perceives president obama's failure pushing back against china in particular for things like encroaching on intellectual property rights, trade imbalances things like that which he thinks can help him in swing states like ohio. >> it's clearly important issues, red meat issues in ohio. thanks so much. we look forward to more of your reporting with team romney out there in ohio. for more on romney's strategy we're joined by politico's senior political writer. what a pleasure to be directly across the table from you. >> thanks for having me. >> this is a big play for romney to go to ohio a general election strategy. >> that's right. everything you're seeing about him right now is maintain front runner status. play the part. look presidential. make people think they can count on you. it is a bit risky. you have rick perry looking to come up out of nowhere

u51eeñ the end of august. at some point some people may be resentful that he's not engaged in the early states. >> one of the reasons he wants people to think of himself as the presumptive nominee is what he said at a fundraiser in virginia. there he is. it is the home state of bob mcdonell who is somebody is on the short list. he talked about three sitting governors on the -- one senator and two governors on the short list. of a possible vice presidential -- isn't he jumping the gun a little bit. >> a little bit. that's what voters look at you measuring the drapes and they don't like that. i think they're feeling in team romney everything is getting drowned out by the debt ceiling discussion. not much is breaking through. i do think especially post ames as we start moving toward the fall he is going to have to start looking to recalibrate a bit and engage in early states or you will start seeing resentment. >> we should point out he

mentioned mark rubio and chris christie. >> that's correct. that's right. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. also making headlines today, the mayor of kandahar is the second elected official to be assassinated in afghanistan in only two weeks. president car save's half brother was the first. officials say that the mayor was killed today inside a government compound by a suicide bomber. britain has officially recognized libya's main opposition group as the legitimate government. meanwhile in tripoli the convicted lockerbie bomber was spotted in a featured seat at a progadhafi rally. he was released from a scottish prison on so-called compassionate grounds nearly two years ago after his lawyers argued that he was dying of prostate cancer. he's apaurptly still very much with us. 270 people died on pan am flight 103 over scotland more than 22 years ago. and ground zero first

responders sufferingç from cancr will not be compensated by the government for their illness. a federal medical team reports there is not enough evidence to show a cause and effect connection linking their cancer directly to their exposure to dust and debris. the finding means as of now they do not qualify for federal benefits for their treatment. the united nations says that a plane carrying ten tons of nutritional supplements is now on its way finally to famine stricken somalia. this airlift is only a fraction of what's needed to respond to the crisis. in kenya alone an estimated 2.4 million people are going hungry. the number expected to jump to 3.5 million in just the next few months. judith rowgan is the president of the rockefeller foundation and just return from the region and joins me now. thank you so much. i'd like to talk about the famine. you're at rockefeller taking a much broader view, the causes as well. but how do we deal with this

crisis? >> the prediction is as many as 800,000 people may die unless these airlifts are more frequent and more effective. the thing that's so tragic is these events could be averted. we really understand the impacts of climate change. there's wonderful work on making more drought resistant seeds. there's wonderful work on making plants that actually almost hibernate in drought and so they wait for water to come and the think grow again. all of these things are available. but right now we have protectionist eu and u.s. policies so we give food aid only for the food grown here and so that's caused some of the delay. various aid agencies sort of tuszling with each other overwho's on first. and nobody really paying attention to the long-term architecture of building resilience for people in this region. >> rockefellerç foundation has big footprint in africa trying to change this. what can you do from the private sector, from the nonprofit

sector to try to breakthrough all these obstacles? >> the nonprofit sector is one of the major funders along with development agencies with regard to water and security and food and security in africa. rockefeller's building on a 50-year history credited with creating a green revolution in asia 50 years ago by really working through the whole system better seeds, better water and soil management. better output markets developed. all of these things saved a billion lives in asia. it is entirely doable in africa. so we are collaborating with the gates foundation, the british aid agency, and others to create something called an alliance for green revolution in africa that's hard at work to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future. >> is there anything more that the u.s. and united nations should be doing? what should american policymakers be looking for? >> i do think that american policymakers are going to have to confront our protectionist

policies. the eu will as well around food aid. we cannot protect our farmers by saying that we will only ship american grown food. once we have these increasing number of humanitarian crises. because of climate change they will grow. so we need a kind of global governance and architecture that will really figure it out. not that we shouldn't use some of our food, obviously, we have plentiful food and we should do that. but can't only do that or we don't promote self-sufficiency in the region which is going to be part of the solution. >> judith roaden, the president of the rockefeller foundation. thank you so very óuch. >> thank you, andrea. and what is happening behind the scene tons debt ceiling negotiations? senate budget chairman kent conrad joins us next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ jeff ] ooh. thanks hun! [ female announcer ] ...so the freshness you see is what you taste. ♪ it doesn't get better than this ♪

hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts coming up on

"news nation." post traumatic stress is an age old problem facing soldiers, now the pentagon has a new method to treat it and it involves your smart phone. also i'm going the talk to a 61-year-old woman who has done nothing another athlete has done before. and today's gut check makeup ads featuring christie turlington and julia roberts in britain are under fire. now britain has pulled theç ad. all that and much more ahead on "news nation." what is happening behind the scenes to try to avoid default. if anyone would know it's kent conrad. senator thanks so much. when you were behind the scenes, we had our own behind the scenes inside washington shoot today. i think we were talking to my leader, at least, brian williams at one point earlier today. what are you seeing behind the scenes? are there negotiations going on that we don't know about? >> well, certainly there are. you know the situation here,

andrea. look, we are getting closer and closer to a moment that is critically important to the country. and so there are a lot of talks underway. i think increasingly there is the understanding that just kicking this can down the road another time is not going to work. that doing the kinds of things that are necessary are going to take time. that means there needs to be a downpayment. that also means we're going to need some additional time to do fundamental tax reform. reform of the entitlements to get a package as big as what is required. we cannot be dealing with the package speaker's talking about $850 billion. we've got to have a package of at least $4 trillion at the end of the day. >> senator, if there's progress on these talks -- if there's some progress on these talks should the president sign a short-term deal, a brief extension while this comes

together why this tries to gel? >> no. i don't think that's the first preference. that would create more uncertainty in the markets. i don't think that's the first preference. first preference is to get a process agreed to that getstous the big deal with a significant down payment. >> and with john boehner telling his caucus today get your you know what in line, he doesn't have the çvotes. he can't come up with 217 votes. how does this all come together? does something first have to start many the house or is there a way that harry reid's plan or some change expanded harry reid plan can begin to be seen in both houses? i'm not clear what the road map is. >> you know, it's -- i don't think we have a precise road map at this moment. i think it is very clear that leader reid has got the guts of what can ultimately get across the finish line here. that is over $2 trillion of

savings now with a process to get us much more. 'cause at the end of the day this cannot just be about extending the debt limit. we've got to fundamentally deal with the debt of the united states. and these smaller packages are not going to solve that problem. >> senator, just briefly you've been one of the real hawks against budget gimmicks. a lot of people criticize harry reid's plan because they say these defense savings r.n. real. >> no. let's be clear. o and b and cbo score those savings as real. on the other hand, all of the bipartisan groups that have put together packages have not counted overseas contingency operations or war costs as part of savings on the theory that no budget is going to determine what you actually spend when you're in conflict. so, if you take that out, you still have a bigger package under leader reid than you have under speaker boehner and you

have a way forward to get to a much bigger package. look, fundamental tax reform and fundamental entitlement reform is not a job. it's not a six-month job. that is going to take us well into next year. >> sure. >> but it's got to be done. it's got to be done. >> senator kent conrad, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> this programç note. follow nbc crews all week at inside congress and find more info at insidecongress.msnbc.com. don't miss the hour long "dateline" special which airs sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal.

for the efficient absorption my body needs. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk. woman: scholarship! woman: honey go get him. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

our girl's an architect. our boy's a genius. we are awesome parents! biddly-boop. [ male announcer ] if you find a lower rate on a room you've booked, we won't just match it. we'll give you $50 towards your next trip. [ gnome ] it's go time.

gee, which political story will be making headlines the next 24 hours. the managing editor of ç

postpolitics.com joins us live. john boehner, a very tough caucus meeting. >> this is the biggest moment of the boehner speakership, but we may look back on this and say this this is the defining moment of the boehner speakership. can he get to 217? we know there's right around 220. how many democrats vote for it? i would say there's positive signs for speaker boehner, two members we thought were hard nos now appear to be maybes. that's not yes but it's moving in the right direction for the speaker. >> pretty much assumed, chris, you and i would think the boehner bill will not be the last act here, but the harry reid compromise plan, however it evolves, can't even get to the floor, won't get to the floor. they won't bring it up until after they have vented on the house side and voted on bainer. >> absolutely. >> all the action is on the house side. i think the senate is basically -- they are basically waiting to see what the house

does. can john boehner get the bill through? if he does you'll be looking at harry reid looking at the boehner bill, trying to take the boehner bill, the reid bill and combine them and just a reminder we have six days left before we default on the loans, an incredibly serious situation. >> was the mistake for the white house and treasury to be talking about apocalypse now when apocalypse hasn't happened yet? >> i think it makes it harder for a lot of regular people out there, andrea, who aren't following this minute by minute to grasp the stakes and the consequences because we haven't seen the markets collapse. they have gone down, but we haven't seen them collapse. it makes it harder to say that this is urgent. it has to happen. >> chris cillizza on top of it all, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, my friend. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, republican senators john thune and mike crapo joining us on the show. my colleague thomas roberts is in for tamron çhall. >> coming up in the next hour, speaker john boehner has a tough

message for republicans telling them they need to get in line and get behind his debt bill. i'm going to get reaction from republican senator roy blunt, plus the very latest from the white house. plus, we are just one year away from the kickoff to the 2012 summer games. we bring you a live report from london with peter alexander where the olympic countdown is just about to get under way. well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water.

it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers.

or will soon, you're starting a whole new journey. and, like many people, you're probably wondering, where do i go from here? consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call now for a free information kit and guide to medicare to get started. basically, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. a medicare supplement insurance plan helps cover some of those expenses. and that can save you up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. plus, you can keep any doctor who accepts medicare patients.

together with medicare, an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan could be the kind of coverage you're looking for. in fact, it could make a world of difference. call now for your free medicare guide and information kit about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts sitting in for tamron hall. "newsnation" following the developing standoff on capitol hill over the debt ceiling. six days away from the default, and neither side seems willing to budge. right now house speaker john boehner is frantically trying to tweak his plan to hustle the votes, while issuing a stern warning to members of his own party. earlier today behind closed doors boehner told house republicans to get your [ bleep ] in line behind his bill in response to the growing list of republicans who are coming outç against that plan. senate