for more let's bring in congressman peter defazio of oregon. congressman, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> i congratulate you for the fight. i don't believe these polls and i think generationally we're on the verge of doing something very damaging to this country. where are we at this hour, congressman? >> well, we ground them to a halt. seems that they're trying to just make a procedural change and they think they can capture enough votes to adopt the rule, move forward with the bill. i hope not. this is bigger than a procedural change. it's bigger than the change in the estate tax that you're going to hear from anthony wiener from new york, who is leading the charge today on the floor. we confronted the speaker, and said, we need a much better package. we need something that represents democratic values. we have something more fiscally responsible that is more targeted that'll put more people to work and we were told we'd have a caucus tonight. go back into caucus, discuss it, just like last week when i got a near unanimou

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president has not spoken to him about this, nor said this to him about any of this, but congressman peter defazio of oregon is tonight saying that the mr. obama is, quote, making phone calls, saying this is the end of his presidency if he doesn't get this the bad deal, end quote. that, the context for the fifth story tonight, after blasting senate democrats for caving to president obama's deal with the gop and a two-year extension of the bush tax cuts for the richest americans, and a lower estate tax even than president bush had. house democrats are now standing their ground. at least until tomorrow, when they're expected to cave too. today's vote was in the senate, 81-19, an overwhelming and bipartisan majority. five republicans on the right joined 14 democrats on the left in imposing the bill including senator jim demint. demint, however, not opposing the bill with any of his trademark stalling tactics, tactics he only unleashed after his no vote. his actual stalling on further votes for don't ask, don't tell and the s.t.a.r.t. treaty leading senate majority leader reid to warn that he will cal

>> a headliner is a democrat who's against the deal, congressman peter defazio of oregon, thank you for joining us again for a second night in a row. >> thanks. appreciate the opportunity. >> yeah. we have been pestering you regularly. you state your case so clearly. you have been leading the revolt trying to prevent the extension of tax cuts to everyone. do you have any chance of succeeding? >> well, today, they had begun the process of moving the legislation forward and then they abruptly canceled or recessed the house. we've been noticed now to go back in. a number of us met on the floor with the speaker after they figured out they didn't have the votes to push forward. and said we wanted more of an opportunity to change this bill. not just targeting the estate tax, but looking at all the high income tax cuts, getting rid of the very troublesome provision of robbing $111 billion from social security trust fund. >> yeah. we have been pestering you regularly. you state your case so clearly. you have been leading the revolt trying to prevent the extension of tax cuts to everyone. do you

>> tonight's headliner, democratic congressman peter defazio of oregon still begs to differ. welcome back. >> yeah, i don't think it's quite a done deal yet. last week we had a nearly unanimous vote in opposition of the package. there are no significant changes in the senate. we're tussling with our leadership now over what amendments we might be allowed to offer. i think some have a prospect of actually winning. >> most of the focus is on the estate tax. is that where you're looking to offer amendments? >> i'd like to do more. the estate tax is nearly a consensus. there's a growing concern over the social security provisions. we're going to basically deprive social security of $120 billion of income. now it's going to become another program that needs to get allocations by borrowing by the federal government. bad idea. >> you've been kind of a stick in the mud on a lot of issues that the president wanted. some people are wondering whether you're really a republican. >> if we had done my version of the stimulus, enough investment to do a transportation plan and rebuild the cr

in fact, congressman peter defazio said -- quote -- "they've opened the floodgates and personally i'm investigating articles of impeachment against certain justices." if that's the standard, a president would have to raise nominees hydrophonically in the white house base fment they had any hopes of surviving on the bench. you cannot -- base fment they hapossibly hope toraise the impd with the wrong answer on that embarrassment question in confirmation. article iv is an open demand for senators to engage in pure conjecture. if senators can simply assume embarrassment to remove a nominee, there is no standard of proof. our day is over. and there's no standard of removal. threl a just serve at your pleasure, just as madison feared. it's preslice what adams worried -- it's precisely what adams worried about, uncertain wishes and imagination as a substitute for proof. i want to conclude before i sit down and i rest this case for the defense and before my voice gives out. i want to address one thing about this case. and that is the fact that judge porteous didn't testify and some of you may

congressman from the state of vermont, peter welsh, i applause him, and peter defazio. we can do better. we can do better than we are doing. let me be frank, we are not going to do better unless the american people stand up and help us. we are going to need a lot of phone calls, e-mails, and messages, so that all of our colleagues in the house and senate understand the american people do not want to see their kids having to pay off the debt occurred by giving tax breaks to billionaires. mr. president, this agreement, you know, doesn't come out of the blue. it comes within a context that i think frightens many people in the country. i think many americans have a sinking feeling that there is something very, very wrong in our country today. i know that my father game to this country at the age of 17 without a penny in his pocket. and became the proudest american that you can ever see. didn't have much of an education. but he knew that this country gave him a great opportunity. and that is the american story. that's what it's all about. millions and millions of families wh

in fact, congressman peter defazio said -- quote -- "they've opened the floodgates and personally i'm investigating articles of impeachment against certain justices." if that's the standard, a president would have to raise nominees hydrophonically in the white house base fment they had any hopes of surviving on the bench. you cannot -- base fment they hapossibly hope toraise the impd with the wrong answer on that embarrassment question in confirmation. article iv is an open demand for senators to engage in pure conjecture. if senators can simply assume embarrassment to remove a nominee, there is no standard of proof. our day is over. and there's no standard of removal. threl a just serve at your pleasure, just as madison feared. it's preslice what adams worried -- it's precisely what adams worried about, uncertain wishes and imagination as a substitute for proof. i want to conclude before i sit down and i rest this case for the defense and before my voice gives out. i want to address one thing about this case. and that is the fact that judge porteous didn't testify and some of you may

i think peter defazio said yesterday that obama should have considered all the transportation projects that will not be funded. there's a lot obama could have done and the fact that obama agreed to extent these -- upper level taxes. that is something they didn't want for a long time. they are really upset about this. >> host: one caller said this is a lot of rhetoric from democrats in the house and senate. when it comes down to what will they be voting yes and if not where will vote come from? is this likely to pass through the house? >> anything could happen. at the end of the day it will probably pass but they won't like it. the democratic caucus did want a full extension of the tax cut. a lot of those people lost reelection so they are not beholden to nancy pelosi any more. they can do whatever they want and are coming back next year. most republicans think the deal goes through. >> let's move on to the other headline coming out of the house. chairman faces changes with republican steering committee to the leader. what is the latest on who will chair the committee's 4 republicans? >

in fact, congressman peter defazio said -- quote -- "they've opened the floodgates and personally i'm investigating articles of impeachment against certain justices." if that's the standard, a president would have to raise nominees hydrophonically in the white house base fment they had any hopes of surviving on the bench. you cannot -- base fment they ha