in a meeting with the republican conference, speaker john boehner vowed to fight for spending cuts. the president says he isn't going to have a debate with us over the debt ceiling. he also says he's not going to cut spending with along with the debt limit hike. citing a poll by david winston says that any increase in the nation's debt limit must be accompanied by spending cuts. texas senator john correspond anyo cornyn threatened a partial government shutdown. the coming deadlines will be the next flash points in our ongoing fight to bring fiscal sanity to washington. it may be necessary to shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well-being of our country, rather than plod along the path of greece, italy and spain. president obama needs to take note and put forth a plan

immediately. and pat tume voiced the same sentiment in week earlier on "morning joe." >> our opportunity is on the debt ceiling. the president made it very clear. he doesn't want to have a discussion about it, because he knows this is where we have lev range. we republicans need to tolerate a temporary partial government shutdown which is what it could mean and insist we will get off the road to greece. >> i don't doubt that 72% want to see the spending cuts. which way do you think the public sentiment swings if there is a government shutdown? >> i think that pat toomey is confused. it's a continuing resolution. if they don't fund the continuing resolution, the government will shut down. if they don't lift the debt ceiling, the economy shuts down. not only the u.s. dme, maybe the world economy, and the consequences are drastic. bottom line on this, michael, and you know this, nobody should be threatening or rattling

sabers, everyone, president obama, harry reid, everyone knows we need significant spending cuts. it's about time be act maturely, find out the spending cuts we need to make are done in the least onerous way. we also need to raise more revenue. the fiscal cliff raised 600 billion in revenue. we need to raise another $600 billion in revenue and need to find a way to dos that as well. >> do you agree with that sentiment? constantly hear from people who say the spending is out of control and if this is spun as republicans standing up to all of the spending and saying enough is enough, i think the wind could be at the gop's back. >> well, i don't know if the wind is at their back. governor, nice to see you again. >> nice to see you. >> i would tell you, spending is the problem. where we missed the boat was by resisting on the tax side so long that it became all about

the taxes that the spending got lost. as the governor correctly points this fiscal cliff deal only raises $600 billion over ten years, $60 billion a year, and if you look at the sandy package that's coming up, that's $60 billion. that money is already spent and we're still borrowing $ trillion. the governor hits the right tone, people have been afraid to look for the common ground. i happen to be a simpson bowles supporter. we need the big deal to fix the country. >> many people don't appreciate the fact, don't understand the fact when we talk about the debt ceiling, we're talking about bills accrued. this gets complicated in the messaging is my point. >> sure. but i think it will be clear to the american public by the time the debt ceiling -- it will be clear. wall street will make it clear, banking community will make it clear. what the ramifications are to americans by not lifting the debt ceiling. are you right, mike. all this is about as the

president said is paying for the bills that congress has already voted to fund. and it's not lifting the debt ceiling to pay for future spending, it's to pay for the bills we've already accrued. but regardless of that. regardless of that, people want us to get together and do something. that's why i was sad to see steve decide not to run for re-electi re-election. we need republicans, more republicans that will stand in and say, yes, spending is the issue. we have to realize we need to have reasonable revenue in the mix. we have to look at everything. when it comes to spending, defense can't be a sacred cow. we need legitimate entitlement reform. i was on "the cycle" one of msnbc's shows, and i suggested raising medicare since we're living longer isn't necessarily a bad idea. the three progressive hosts, would you have thought i proposed treason to the american government. >> congressman, let me ask you

about your next endeavor. politico pointed out, the republican party has a primary problem. gop primary voters have become so conservative, they are nominating candidates that are losing winnable elections. these should have been walk overs for republicans and would have given them a majority. christine o'donnell. ken buck, sharon angle, todd akin and richard murdoch. you add in that the right-leaning gop election for ate has attracted fringy candidates who led at different points. a quick walk down memory lane and revisit these names and faces. donald trump, michelle back mown. rick perry, her maine cain, newt gingrich, rick santorum. what do they have in common? they were leading in the polls. what's your prescription for the primary problem? >> my next endeavor, the nonpaying one, will be to head

up the republican main street partnership to give comfort and cover to center right republicans and center left i guess democrats to stand up from the fringe groups on the right and left who have the courage to do the right thing. if governor rendell and i were in charge, we would have fixed this thing. >> thank you, steve la tourette and governor rendell. >> thank you. happy new year. the house got around to voting on an aid package for the victims of hurricane sandy. the conservative club for growth promised to punish anyone who voted it. and 67 republicans voted it down. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

welcome back to "hardball." after a week which democrats and republicans were livid that they pulled the plug on hurricane sandy aid, the house voted on it

today. overwhelmly approved $10 billion for flood insurance. >> reporter:. but not before a number of said it was about time. >> this is not a handout. not going we are looking forward to favor. >> this action by house republican leadership is too little, too late. >> these are human beings, human beings. children. that have been completely displaced. and it's up to us to get them back on their feet. >> this is a total, total disaster in helping those people that we are pompously saying and uponty if i indicating saying we're helping them. what's our jobs? we're not doing anybody any favors, that's why we were sent here. try it once in a while. democracy. you may like it. >> still, the bill hasty critics on the right. the club for growth encouraged republicans to vote against the

aid and 67 members of congress, all republicans, voted no. joining me now barney keller and ron allen, author and msnbc contributor. what is the nation of the opposition of the club for growth to the aid package? >> i should say that the club wants the victims of sandy to get the relief that they need from the government. but, unfortunately, what happens is that every time the government has a disaster relief bill, what they do, they come up with a big spending bill, it's not paid for, there is no accountability or oversight and it's loaded with pork. that's what we saw with the senate bill and what we'll seeing in forward. another big spending bill isn't paid for, not offset with anything. >> i was confused about this. the house version did not have pork. we can agree on that, right? >> the bill that passed today was an extension of flood insurance. wasn't paid for. again, pork is one of the many issues in the big senate bill that governor christie and

others were upset about. and members of congress. >> barney, let me show i'm clear. if this were a funding bill for nails to be used in shingles for people's roofs, would you have still been against it on the basis that there was no offset? it's the offset, not the nature of what it was that drives your opposition, is that true? >> well, no. not entirely true. in today's bill, the nature was it wasn't offset. the offset is one of the many things. we think the bill could be parcelled out to smaller chunks. no reason that the government has to go appropriate $10 billion in one day. we don't know if the money is going to sandy victims. the flood insurance program itself is broken. people should ask why, people are paying premiums, but the fund doesn't have enough money to pay out the claims. these are fundamental problems and every time we get into a disaster, we do the exact same thing. keep kicking the can down the road and asking our children to pay for it that's what we're doing right now. >> let me ask ron reagan to

weigh in after the senate passed an earlier version, senator john mccain and tom coburn talked about questionable things. $2 million to repair damage over mumps in washington, d.c. $15 million for nasa facilities, though nasa itself has called damage minimal. all of the provisions were stripped from the bill that the house approved today. it was pork free. what do you make of this? >> as far as provisions being in there in the first place, unfortunately, that's how sausages are made in washington, d.c. let's remember, we're talking about an appropriation that is some 10,000 million dollars. you cited less than $200 million out of the $10,000 million questionable. it was stripped out. even if it wasn't stripped out. even if that was the price you would pay for greasing the skids

of government to get needed aid to people, i would argue it is necessary that you must do that. it's unfortunate, but we must do that. you want to have a discussion about flood insurance or what fema does, how it does it, how effectively it does it, that's fine. but you don't do it when have you thousands of people in desperate need. you don't hold those people hostage in a sense to your ideological predispositions, that's an ugly, thuggish way to do business. >> barney, he is saying when the house is on fire, put the water on it and then sort this out. >> that's not entirely fair. the reason the house broken up the sandy relief bill to three different parts, they want a $33 billion appropriation to go toward future daiser mitigation projects. i don't know how that $33 billion is supposed to grease the skids of washington. i guess i can think of a couple of different ways, but, again, we can't keep adding money to the debt that we don't have.

we can't keep borrowing money from china to pay for it. >> is there something wrong with disaster mitigation? future disaster mitigation? i think that would probably be a good idea given what happened in hurricane sandy. >> how building levees five years in the future in new york helps a person looking for disaster relief right now. perhaps you can explain that to me. >> what's wrong with thinking ahead? why are you so upset that the government would spend money without any offset. you must have been furious about the wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> we're furious about all of the profligate spending that went on. that's why we exist. >> was this your position on katrina? >> yeah, we opposed the katrina relief bill. it wasn't offset. look what happened with hurricane katrina the relief bill, passed a huge spending bill. wasn't offset. no accountability, and afterward we heard stories about fema trailers being left untouched in

new orleans, why people were starving in the streets. again -- >> if i can make an additional point, reflecting on the first segment of the program there are votes and there are key votes, club for growth says this is a key vote, which means it factors in. barney, correct me if i'm wrong, it factors into the rating that it gives to members. >> that's right. >> this plays a role in primary season. this is the sort of thing where if you voted for that, you got lesser of a score for the club for growth. you haves increased the odds you will draw a republican opponent in the next mid term election. >> i understand. that is the threat. but playing that sort of game when you have people in need seems to be strangely ugly and puts republican candidates -- for get democrats -- they have to tote the club for growth and not vote their positions. i am guessing many republicans

wanted to help people, but they thought they couldn't because they could help peopwould pay d. >> i would say that problem with republicans is they don't act like republicans. people send them to washington to cut taxes and limit government. after the fiscal cliff deal, if they voted for the sandy bill, they would have voted to increase taxes and expand government. the republican party if they are serious about saving the country from the debt crisis. i'm a young guy. but i can remember when the national debt was $14.6 trillion last august and now it's over $16 trillion. >> ron, final word. >> the republican administration that proceeded the obama administration is responsible for most of our debt. >> absolutely they are. >> indeed. we helped get rid of a lot of that -- >> common ground. >> you don't hold people who are suffering hostage.

not the right way to go. >> thank you, we appreciate you both. up next, michele bachmann trying to do something that failed the previous 33 times attempted. that's next in "the side show." if you want to follow me on twitter, you just need to figure out how to spell smerkonish. chatted, chewed, ...yellowed. and over all those years, your teeth...have yellowed. fact is, if you're not whitening, you're yellowing. crest 3d white whitestrips remove over ten years of stains by going below the enamel surface. and, they whiten 25 times better than a leading whitening toothpaste. crest whitestrips. life opens up when you do. hi victor! mom? i know you got to go in a minute but this is a real quick meal, that's perfect for two! campbell's chunky beef with country vegetables, poured over rice! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

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back to "hardball." now to the side show. first photo op, now photo shopped. nancy pelosi is proud that the house democratic caucus has more female members than any previous session. a photooff the congresswomen took price lace on the house st yesterday. this photo was pose posted on her flikr account. a case of the photo shop.

these four women were not present. today, pelosi could ask if the photo could really be taken as an accurate historical record. >> it's an accurate historical record of who the women of democrat democratic congress are. it was freezing cold and everyone had to get back into the building to greet constituents, family members to get ready to go to the floor. it wasn't like we had the rest of the day to stand there. >> evidently they were running a tight ship. next out with the old, out with the old news. any guesses what the first bill introduced in the 113th congress happened to be about? house republicans have done this 33 times before. michele bachmann behind it this time. broke the news on twitter yesterday, saying "i introduced the first bill of the 113th congress to repeal obama care in

its entirety." somehow i just don't think the 34th time will be the charm. next, everybody's dream to walk into a deli and find out a sandwich has been named after you, right? not in this case. if the words total baloney sum up how you feel about how the congress asked. order the congressional sandwich special. mostly a balloooney sandwich. how the sandwich made the menu. >> listening to the nonsense and waiting for congress as we always do, waiting, waiting, waiting, we had ordered baloney, and i thought we need to do a baloney sandwich. >> the congressional sandwich is a limited time offer. has capitol hill seen the last of barney frank? apparently, frank is game to prolong things a bit. on "morning joe" frank broke the

news that he wants to take on the position of interim senator when john kerry becomes secretary of state. >> a month ago, a few weeks ago, i sad i wasn't interested, which it's like are you about toed graduate and it's like you have to go to summer school. but the deal now means that february, march and april are going to be among the most important months in american financial -- >> so you are considering? >> in fact, i won't be coy. not anything i've ever been good at. i told the government that i would now like frankly to do that. >> frank's version of summer school would last until a special election takes place, most likely this summer. up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg.

hot bread. the ceo of panera with advice on

how small business owners can make lots of dough. time to make money on "your business." ♪ what's the name of the game hi, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg. welcome to a new year of "your business." we're starting off the show talking about one of the biggest trends in business.

game-ification. most of have you heard the term, but aren't sure how it makes your customers be more engaged. it's more than a loyalty program. it's a whole new way of thinking how customers interact with your business. there's facebook, there's youtube, there's angry birds, and twitter. just to name a few of the big digital time grabbers. with so much out there, vying for people's attention, what can a small business do to get noticed? >> we're a daily newspaper. we've been here since 1938. >> silas lyons is editor of the search light record in northern california. when he was working on editing the online version, he wasn't worried. >> we're growing audience pretty rapidly. hitting under