hour and paul ryan is voicing opposition to it on a republican conference call, it tows the line between long-term deficit cutting and spending. >> we can cut back on what we do not need but we have to make sure that everyone is paying their fair share for the things we could need. warren buffett is doing fine and i'm doing fine, we to not need the tax breaks, you need them. you are the ones who have seen your wages stall. >> joining us from washington is the man with all the answers, thank you for joining the program. >> maybe some of the answers. >> all the answers we need. walk us through the budget proposal and give us your analysis, is this a real honest to goodness budget that anybody expects to see passing on capitol hill? >> i do have the answer to that. it's no. nobody expects to see it get past this year. you can call it the st.

augustine budget, that is what the president is saying here, let's have deficit reduction and not have it right now. take a look at the specifics that are in this and you get a sense that it's a budget that envisions about a $1.3 trillion budget shortfall starting in 2012 and that goes to $901 billion by 2013 and the deficit will be at 3% of gdp. there's deficit cutting, about $1 trillion worth and $1.5 trillion from ending the tax cuts for the rich and the wars from afghan stan. and there's stimulus in here. some spending to jump start the

sk economy. the president at community college in northern virginia highlighted this one, $8 billion in community college to career fund to train two million workers the white house is saying it's the right mix of spending and deficit cutting over the long-term while raising tax on the rich and the president just said a few moments ago, this is not class warfare, this is common sense this is what we have to do to get the nation out of the hole that it's in. but as you point out republicans are a attacking it as nonserious document that does not get the deficit under control. >> i think that gimmick is what we will hear across the news channels today. how effective do you think this is as a campaign message? >> it's the message of his reform budget. the administration concluded during the debt ceiling talks that he was not going to be able to negotiate to a compromise to

the republicans he would have to beat them at the polls. it's healthy to talk about that we are going have a debate about the tax cuts and tax heights in election year, the bush tax cuts are spiexpiring this december. >> this is what happens whether it's a democrat or republican, when they do the budget, the third year, we as democrats we say it's a gimmick and the republicans say it and that sets up the fight for the whole year. the president felt liberated in some ways after this fight over the summer, if republicans are not going to work with me, i'll do what i want to do. and this sets out, as steve said, it's everything that he has been talking about from the job act and so forth. when it was called a gimmick, that is not in an election year, it will be interesting, romney said he would expand defense

spending. it's na gimmick, it will be a difference in priorities. what are the priorities and republicans will have to continue to fund those tax breaks for millionaires and oil companies. >> and now the buffett rule is front and center and the republican has to respond. >> the gop has to worry about what happened last summer and last december. the democrats in the senate are not going to do a budget. the congress is supposed to produce a blue print, the house will do it and the senate won't. we have flying blind, so this is of concern we want the process to be more on track rather than being a complete campaign document. >> republicans accuse of it being a gimmick, there's a reason for that, karen, it is. >> of course it is.

>> this is what you expect. it's all a campaign document and anybody who takes it seriously, except as a campaign document, is wasting their time. >> let's listen to what jeff sessions had to say about some of the things in the president's budget. >> we are on a debt course that is going to bankrupt this country. everyone is telling us that, republicans and democrats and economyists and the president's budget may cut a bit here but increases otherwise. he will announce new policemrog for students that will encourage their turn out. >> the college student program interesting. this is obviouslily we are talking about the electoral map, is this helping them?

>> everything that is in the proposals is supported by a majority of americans and everything that republicans have presented is increasingly losing support among americans. so again, setting up the fight over the next year. it would be nice to think we could get a budget done but that will not happen, we will get the payroll tax cuts done and the pay fors done but the rest of the year will be more of a ideological battle of the role of government and spending. the president is on solid ground, he has deficit reduction. it was the idea of you have to do short-term things to keep the growth going and do long-term things to cut the deficit. >> that is what i'm talking about talking about gimmicks, there's supposedly $4 trillion of deficit reduction, but at the end it says that the deficit will go up another $9 trillion.

who do you believe? >> i do not think that you can just run on platitudes the democrats and republicans are under pressure to deliver something. >> and they are going to in march, paul ryan has been tweaking his medicare plan, to make it more palatable, there's fuzzy math if we are holding everyone's feet to the fire, the $1 trillion to the august deal is counted toward this budget and 850 billion from the wars in iraq and afghan stan, which some say should not be included. >> your panelists are talking about a ideological fight we will have all year and we will continue to have it after november unless someone wins by a pretty big margin and they are able to take the white house and hold both chambers to get what they want done. what we have seen so far is that a narrowlily divided washington

which reflects the people out there is not capable of wrestling with the big questions of where we are going as a country. we get into partisan fights and not get out. we are stuck on the questions of taxes and spending and the republicans and democrats are not capable of ironing it out themselves. if we see a big win for one side or the other, you'll see something happen after that. if not we will be in a muddle for a long time. >> what are you saying is this a long drawn out a-tonal opener to hopeful to music thereafter. >> this will be going on for a very long time. no reason to fear that anybody has anything to say that will change it. >> the severely conservative mitt romney as he tries to clarify his c pac speech, does

saying the word conservative more than 20 times make you a conservative. former rnc chair, michael steele will weigh in on that next on "now."

my path to conservativeism came from my family, i know conservatism because i lived it. a conservative era, conservatives, conservatism, conservatism, conservative, conservatism, conservative, conservatism, conservatives, conservatives, conservatives.

. . conservatives that was mitt romney using conservative or some vacationer of -- variation or it. chairman steele, is mitt romney a conservative? >> i don't know, i guess if you say it enough times somebody will believe it. that has been the problem here all along. saying the word does not necessarily make it so. and i think that for the governor, one of the things that people have always said was we do not feel it. we don't believe it. it's not authentic as a relationship. >> i believe you sir said the man -- the brother just cant bake the cake. >> can't bake that cake, i have heard that. i have heard that. brother can't bake the cake. >> chairman steele, what is the

meaning of the sweater that you are wearing, should we read something into that? >> no, i'm, look, i'm a brother looking for a cigar, book and a fireplace. >> aren't we all. let's talk about mitt romney's problem here, he won the main caucus and the c pac straw poll and ron paul is contesting it saying that the cpac poll was rigged. he cannot win here, how is he going forward we are looking at gallup tracking polls and showing romney at 34% santorum close behind. >> he has not been able to close the deal with the base of the party. you'll have states like florida and maybe, you know, arizona coming up that will show, you know, a cross section of the base supporti ining him, when y

are breaking it down, he is lagging in the one area that he needs the most and that is that trust with the base that they will follow him into this fight. look, you can settle on anything, but at the end of the day, when you are called to march up that hill, to storm ththe castle and you have half your troops around, that is a recipe for losing. the reality is for them, how do we galvanize these folks. i do not see the formulation for these folks that is a big opening for santorum now. >> we talk about romney with the foot and mouth disease, the severe conservative thing was weird. the rest was tone deaf. >> as a conservative, i tried saying liberal, liberal, liberal 26 times and it did not take. there's a new ppp poll out today that has santorum up in michigan

by i think 11 points. there's a serious problem there. it's not simply that he is not been able to close the deal. it's that so many people in the republican party that will not let him. >> and that is what i think is the threat of santorum. that is why i'm interesting in the ppp poll, it was a national one, and it put santorum up 15. wee we -- we knew that romney had a problem getting past 35%. with a few places he nudged slightly above it. the one thing he has going for him is the person who merged as his chief conservative rival, whoever it has been has been incompetent as a candidate. newt gingrich and rick perry, unable to remember three things at once. it's herman cain not able to get past 9-9-9. and now you have santorum who is not flashy, who is not dazzling,

who lost by 18 points in his last election campaign. now that had he has their attention, he is a competent candidate and communicate the party's message, in the way that those guys never could. >> there's another problem that the republicans, the candidates are ignoring. santorum tapped into it. i saw it happen in two how and eig -- in 2008, romney has all this attention of trying to say, i'm going to be the nominee, and he is not hearing that the voters are saying we tell you who will be the nominee. that is how i read the results. people saying slow your roll buddy. >> romney used to be tied or a bit behind, now he is six or seven points behind obama. this is not just hurting romney for the nomination, it's hurting him for the general election. >> stick around, it will change. >> just keep saying that, mark,

keep saying it. >> what does mitt romney's camp, santorum raised $2 million and romney raised $56 million and now there's fear that santorum is surging and could take it away. >> one of the realities of this this season is what we hoped would be in play. the big money was not necessarily all you needed to stay in the game. that if you had a message, if you had a way to connect with the base and the voters out there, you could compete in this primary process and i think that all of the candidates including those that had the ball and dropped it up to that point have shown that. and i think the point that both mark and karen make right now is the salient one for the campaign. they are now up against someone who that you cannot throw the ugly up against. you cannot tear him down like you did newt. the earmark argument, people will not bite into that too

much, because that was washington at the time. he has moved on and he is talking about going in a direction that the base wants to go in and that is the problem that romney faces. >> and santorum has, you get the sense, that he would be saying the things he is, saying regardless of whether he was running or not. and you do not get that idea with romney. does he campaign have legs, newt gingrich. let's play out his ad. >> 2012 is the most important election in the country since 1860. look at that, newt gingrich in short sleeves looking over the harbor. what do you make of it? >> i have watched newt for 30 years. he is the same today as he was 30 years ago and it's no more

sincere today than this was 30 years ago. the man is a opportunity ift, pure and simple. >> that is a more positive message. ironic since he has criticized those that live in high rises -- >> after closing the tiffany's account. >> exactly. what do you make of him? >> i love the spunk and fight. that is what he brings to the table. mark knows him very well. obviously, having been in the field with him for a long time. and knows the guy before and now. but i think in terms of what newt has to do and i wrote a piece recently for b.e.t, my whisp whisper in his ear was get focused on what you need to do to run a campaign. maybe this is the beginning of that. i don't know, it may be too little too late. we will see.

all eyes and and energy is on this guy called santorum and i think that will be a difficult hill for mitt to overcome because of the kind of momentum, and look at arizona and michigan. i think there's potential upset there is with respect to santorum's campaign. >> we have said the word conservative eight times in eight minutes. so america, make of that what you will. we will be back with more on the 2012 race next on "now" follow the wings. what do you get when you combine the home depot with this weekend?

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responding to occupy wall street protesters that turned up at her cpac speech this weekend, will this shape up to be a battle between the occupy group and the tea party? do you feel the message is diminished or do you feel they will dominate the 2012 election the way they did in 2010? >> i don't know if they will dominate. i think they will be a factor. sarah palin will have a role to play for sure. i think there should be less between the tension between occupy and tea party and how they can coalesce about the idea that big business is getting too big and the government is too big, there's common issues that they can begin to talk about. but does a leader like sarah palin find a way to tie them together. yeah, there were occupy protesters there, but underneath that you have serious discussions about what this

country and he economy will look like. and there's an opportunity for those kind of leaders whether they are conservatives or liberals that could come around and try you to galvanize people and put on the government. >> i do not predict the future, but the idea that sarah palin can merge the two groups seems to be wishful thinking. but never say never. >> right. >> when we talk about the occupy movement, we know they have a big rally planned in early may, organized labor said they will not strike on that day. where do you think the movement goes in terms of its power, do you see it diminishing and i pose the same question? the >> the power is to galvanize and mobilize. i think that occupy has done for the national agenda, which the tea party did, put their issue forefront. that is what the president is framing his campaign around

>> and his budget. >> yeah, but now they have to mobilize and register people to vote. anyone at the rallies, make sure that people register to vote. they need to transfer that to power at the ballot box. >> which shows that they may have a influence on the political process. >> they have engaged in a level of activism. they changed about the conversation. i think it's because of their activism, we have to stock act and disclose act -- >> you are -- >> they have pushed to make certain things, the foreclosure investigation, they pushed to make things happen. >> we have the stock act beca e because -- >> i'm going to cut everyone off there. we are going to talk about the stock act after the break. michael steele, thank you for joining us, >> thank you. >> we are looking forward to the day that the brother, whichever

brother can bake the cake and we hope you can find a fireplace and what was it? >> a cigar. being accountable or going through the motions, what capitol hill says about d.c., all that next on "now."e twin tylenol: we are? nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. wheeeeeeeeeeeee! whee! whee! wheeeeeeeee!

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version of the stock act, it's expected to go to the senate. it's an effort to curb insider trading in congress. what are you making of the efforts of congress trying to show it's not as bad as it is. and trying to fix the bad ways. >> the backdrop of which it's playing out answers the question. it's fairly legitimate what they are trying do here, i think it might actually improve congress from a ethical standpoint but we are talking about yet another showdown playing out over the payroll tax cut extension, so the entire story of the last few years has been one of confrontation, which i think, there are reasons for that confrontation, there are pro found reasons why the republican party has gone this direction, if you are a tea party believer you are happy about it, but if you share the view that you want

the strong social safety net, you are happy your party is standing its ground. but if you are the detached swing voter you are saying this is one crisis after another and the stock act will not change it. >> it's the gop fighting with itself. the house gop stripped the bill of something the senate wanted. so this is the house gop versus the senate gop. >> it's important to note that maplight shows that john boehner and eric cantor received more money from securities and investments industry. $830,000 went to boehner and $629,000 went to boehner. stripping the house bill of that investment -- i'll let you go. >> if you look at the numbers in 2007 and 2008, nancy pelosi was a leading recipient.

that 10% that approves of congress, do you think those were staff? >> they were not paying attention when they answered the questions. >> you think of the investigation of bachus for buying options and betting on a broad decline after a closed door meeting with paulson and ben bernanke. how is that not -- >> mark is not going to like this. part of the reason for the investigations is the ethics draining of the swamp that pelosi put in place, where they decided getting serious about ethics investigations. >> i agree with that actually. >> you do? >> absolutely. >> you cannot have the ethics investigations toil away and she knew when she did it of course you'll catch republicans and democrats, and i'll say one more thing. pelosi recognized and the people

are pushing, it's not just the stock act, it's got to be the disclosure and the constitutional amendment if we are going to have real change, and i feel like, there's real momentum putting the pressure on congress, because when those members went home and had nothing to show for their time in washington people are like what have you been doing. we may get these things, maybe watered down but we will get things. >> here is the problem, all the things that you named. stock act, disclose, all that stuff, they are bandaids. the solution, the real change, let me tell you what that looks like, it's called term limits. until we get rid of professional politicians this both parties they will continue to use government to advance their own self interest. that is the essence of the corruption problem, that is why congress has a 10% approval

rating. >> term limits will make it worse, if someone is term limited in the last six is months of the house, they will get as rich as possible. we saw that in the early 20th century. >> they are doing it now and they are not running for re-election. >> the term limits idea come along every time there's an economic downturn. in the '90s, there was a movement for that. and isn't there something to be said for people who actually understand how congress works? who understand the basics? and what i think of is the debt ceiling showdown this summer, it was high stakes could have had terrible consequences and i you think that half of them did not know what it was but they were opposed to it. >> there's a case to be made for people spending more time in washington, working with each other, living with each other, having drinks with each other. those are building blocks for

compromise and for making the wheels of government move forward. >> i don't know that it's necessarily spending more time together, but certainly spending more time together that is not about partisan fighting and actually about let's sit down and figure out what can we agree on, let's move that piece, that is not how washington s part of the frustration that boehner had was that the tea party members said, we don't wear, blow it up, that is great for us. that is what we campaign oed on and he knew it would not work. >> most of the congress had 75% of the members as freshman. those were the ones that managed to keep this country from having a civil war for five can dedeca >> the compromise is less likely

to come from the freshman. >> it's easier to compromise if you do not have to live with the consequences in the next term. >> but we still live in the country. >> you still live in the united states of america, you have to live under the laws that you pass. i am not sure i buy that >> the consequences of the last generation would be the ones were that 1995, and we had the government shut down of 1995 and we had the debt ceiling showdown and the lowering of the credit rating. and the budget was balanced under clinton. >> maybe it's not about term limits, but a lifetime tenure, did i not say that. the compromise on birth control creates problems with the catholic church and republicans, but will it benefit the president politically? this new at&t 4g lte is fast. hey. did you guys hear... ...that mary got engaged?

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they have groups like the catholic health association a catholic charities that are the groups saying this is sufficient. i think we can say, this is probably sufficient. >> it was a political solution in a practical way, i'm not sure how it works. this argument, i think, will continue, though i suspect it will continue legislatively and in the courts. >> you just heard columnists on "morning joe" earlier today, we are still talking about it three days after the president announced an a commendation for religion groups, why is it still an issue, karen is part of a reproductive rights group. there was a lot of back pedaling at the end of the week. if you listen to the debate among the catholic community,

it's not going away. i wonder is this in service? as republicans wrap their arms around this is this in service when it comes election day? >> i'll say i'm a catholic, so i come at this from a number of directions. i do not think that the republican party wants to line up with the vatican, 59% of catholic women agree with the president. how is mitt romney going to get those voters and particularly look how far the republicans went. we were talking about the catholic church and then marco rubio goes over the cliff and says how about all employers say they don't want to have it. what they do not seem to understand in the new culture wars is how we think of contraception, they do not have an understanding of what is happening and how we live our lives and again, i see them more lined up with the institution of

the vatican and the church which is not where people are. >> the institution versus the individual which under mine as lot of the conservative argument. this has expanded to not just about religious institutions covering contraception and all private employers, how do you make that a winning argument when you are having the numbers saying that the majority of people feel that it should be covered? >> i'm not a catholic t catholic church is the first line of defense for the survival of civil liberties in the country right now. here is why. when the government can tell the catholic church the baptist church, any other church, we do not care what your beliefs are, here is what you'll do, you have effectively repealed the first amendment, if they do that, press freedom will be next. >> here is where i you push back on you, this says no house

office woreship and now, you cannot even talk to your employees about it, we will make sure it's available. what about the liberties of a woman that works at a catholic hospital, who is not a catholic, should the church trampel on her? >> just saying that we will not make you do it, but we will make you facilitate something that we know, b know, but do not care -- >> i would say, that the thing we are seeing in the last couple of days, it's not just religious employers, it's all private employers, the right has said, it may not necessarily just be the catholic church, we are talking about small businesses any private employer. >> if you do not want the government between you and your doctor, that makes sense. do you want the government there? >> i do not want my boss tell g ing me how to live my life.

>> there's a broader issue here, when the compromise came out, you had catholics that said, we are okay with this now. you had the catholic health association, for instance, which is run by a nun and then you had the bishops say, still not enough. what reminds me of what happened with health care reform, the catholics in the house came aboard, and the bishops said no. and what i think of is karl rove, 10 or 15 years ago looked at the numbers and said, for the vision i have, the catholics are the key block. they have grown a close relationship with the bishops and one of the things that stupak said, it showed him that the bishops were not so much interested in abortion in a issue as they were in sinking health care reform and cooperating with republican are on that and i'm seeing something similar here, a compromise was

struck and it was acceptable to many catholics and the bishops are saying no. that is the split here, the catholics verses the bishops. >> the republicans have to remember, that it was close, 54% of catholics voted for obama in 2008. the question is, how many of those catholics will defect from obama or abandon obama over this issue? and i'm not sure they will. >> we are talking about true swing voters and there's a lot of data around this, the people that obama and the republican nominee have to win over is women independent women, they tend to be younger and one quarter minority, this is a group of the -- >> and yet, the younger demographic has the lowest level of support for abortion. >> we are not talking about abortion here. we are talking about contra sepgz. >> the majority of americans have supported access to contraception. this is a don't and don't tell issue in the catholic church,

98% of women who say they have used contraception, women and the men they are sleeping be by the way. it's happening. that is what the priests at the grassroots level understand is look, i don't know what to know, let's not talk about it. when the bishops come out like this, to steve's point, you create a divide, yeah, main line catholics say they agree with the compromise if you will and when they go vote, they are like screw that, i do not want the bishop telling me withhat to do. >> they have come out and compromised >> no they have not. >> and in the eyes of agreement -- >> read the text of the proposed final rule that went into effect, there's not one single word changed. >> if you look at the optics of what happened over the course of the last week, a huge amount of pressure, they changed their position and now the goal posts seem to be moving again. if you are talking about looking at 2012, this is good for the

white house as complicated and messy has it has been. it's not the end of the debate. we will see how it plays out over the coming weeks. coming up. what now? the news of whitney houston's death inspires a bitter sweet night at the grammys. what do you get when you combine the home depot with this weekend? the cure for cabin fever. because with get-it-done savings on everything we need... we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... or an updated bathroom... or a brand-new look. so let's hit those orange aisles, and make today the day, we make a big difference, no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot maximize your budget with great buys, like mosaic tile, just $4.98 per square foot.

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welcome back, time for "who now -- what now? the entertainment community is trying come to grips with the passing of whitney houston. we talk about the pressure that is on the entertainment industry. we lost amy winehouse, whitney had a difficult time with drugs

and substance abuse but that amount of public criticism makes what can be a difficult time worse, as being a star getting older and you have this struggle for media attention and record sales and all the rest. >> she was addicted of course you have to change your surroundings, you cannot expect to be that person and still hang out in that lifestyle and think you'll be able to be faithful to your recovery, that is unfortunately so sad, she clearly failed in her recovery several times in terms of drinking and drugs. it sounds like that may be what was at play here. it's sad. >> what is the most important thing to remember is the amazing voice. my saying is that whitney's voice makes an athiest believe in god, it was so stunning we

can rehash her life, and it's sad, but you'll not see that voice and that talent for a long time. adele is great, but she is not whitney houston. >> fighting words. she came from a gospel background. adele had an incredible night at the grammys and i know mark wants to talk about adele, we probably should go on to someone who doesn't remind me of adele at all, scott walker in wisconsin. >> nicely done. >> trying skate over the topics. wisconsin governor scott walker is confident he will win his recall election and he will help the republicans win the state in november too. he thinks what is happening there, so goes the country, mark is this >> he got a tremendous response at cpac, because he is the front

line of fighting for restoration of fiscal sanity. >> he is -- >> taking that and -- >> do you think he is auditioning for vp. wisconsin is a good state to try to target, do you think it's a effort? >> that depend on a recall effort. >> i think he could survive the recall, some of the early polls show he may be likely to survive it. but look around the country, look at john kasich's support. you see that it has turned against them. >> the tea can be bitter if it brews too long. thank you to our panel, that is

all for "now." i'll have a new panel tomorrow. but until then, can you can follow us on the good old twitter machine. andrea mitchell reports is coming up next. [ barks ] [ cat meows ] [ woman ] ♪ i just want to be okay

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," new election year spending proposed and attack c-- a tax increase on th rich. >> i do not need a tax break, we to not need to provide additional tax breaks for folks doing really well. that is not tax warfare, that is common sense. >> while republicans protect their tax cuts and try to blame the white house for deficits. >> it lays out his plan for the future and it's utterly irresponsible. >> decision 2012, romney wins cpac and maine, how r