earlier i spoke to white house communications director dan pfeiffer. >> thanks for joining me. normally i would think parties in meltdown with each other is good for the white house but not today, right? this can't be helpful. >> it's harmful. because we are running out of time. we have just a little more than 100 hours until we hit the august 2nd deadline. and we're spending hour after hour here waiting for the republicans to twist arms for a vote that is essentially irrelevant. because as soon as they pass it, if they are able to, the senate will vote it down and we'll have to get right back to the table and get something done. >> and it's pretty worrying, i would have thought for speaker boehner that he doesn't seem to have control of his party today. there's a sense the tea party element of the republicans are driving this delay. yesterday we saw senator mccain calling them "hobbits". they're in some kind of fee briel meltdown here. but that's really not helpful to the american people. i mean, at the moment as things stand, do you actually have any hope of doing a deal? >>

i want to bring in dan pfeiffer. thanks for joining me. normally, i would think that republicans in a meltdown with each other is a good thing for the white house. not today, right? this can't be helpful. >> no, it's harmful because we are running out of time. we have a little more than 100 hours before we hit the august 2nd deadline. we are spending hour after hour waiting for the republicans to twist arms for a vote that is irrelevant. as soon as they pass it, if they are able to, the senate will vote it down and we have to get back to the table. >> it's worrying that speaker boehner doesn't have control of his party today. there's a sense the tea party element of the republicans driving this delay. yesterday, we saw senator mccain calling them hobbits. they are in a meltdown here. it's not helpful to the american people. at the moment, as things stand, do you have any hope of doing a deal? >> absolutely we do. the deal is not that hard. everyone knows what we need to do here. make spending cuts that democrats and republicans agree to. w

. >> final question, dan pfeiffer, obviously a default is unprecedented. the first in the history of america and the first for any president. does the president have sleepless nights about this? it could be a catastrophe for his administration. >> this is an unthinkable situation that we could actually be in a place where on 12:01, august 3, we may not be able to pay the bills. this isn't about new spending. this is about paying for spending we have done. paying for tax cuts from ten years ago. paying for wars. paying for other things that have run out. this is serious. tremendous effects on the overall economy. we have to get this done. it's dangerous to be playing games with something so important. >> dan pfeiffer, thank you very much. >> thank you, piers. price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor. so, you've been double crossed by other travel sites and now you want to try the real deal. yes, is it true that name your own price... ...got even easier? affirmative. we'll show you other people's winning hotel bids. so i'll know how much to bid... ...and save up to 60% i'm

today, white house communications director dan pfeiffer said this to cbs radio. i want to you listen to it if you can. i know you're outside and there is a bit of a demonstration going on outside about immigration. but try listen to this. >> we are seven days away from an unprecedented financial event in this country's history. one that could potentially put us toward a depression because the house republicans led by speaker bainler are unwilling to compromise one inch. >> do you think house republicans are leading the country toward a potential depression? >> i think that we are seeing a very uncompromising position. we're seeing a high way or the highway approach. the president has tried to compromise. he has done it in a series of negotiations. i want to point out we remain engaged after the majority leader walk away. after the speaker walked away. the speaker walk away a second time. so i think the president has made clear, he is anxious to look for the reasonable compromise where we can agree. i think we need to see some movement on the other side. there's t

with us this hour, white house communications director dan pfeiffer. from the hill, republican senators mike crapo and john thune plus democratic congressman chris van hollen and tea party freshman. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. five days to go, they have already missed every deadline and if they don't reach agreement, who is going to get paid and who won't? treasury secretary tim geithner meets with the white house. dan, how do you make those assessments? clearly very unlikely at this stage that everything is going to be done, signed, sealed and delivered by august 2nd. how do you decide, clearly the bond holders get paid. once you have paid that, what do you do about social security, medicare payments, veterans, other salaries? >> reporter: well, i think there is still time to get this done. we're wasting critical time in the house right now as they spend day after day and hour after hour working on a bill that we know is dead on arrival in the senate. the treasury department will make those decisions about what we do. but we stil

carney saying this morning there is no deal we are not close to a deal but communications director dan pfeiffer for the white house is the one who knows how to communicate as he tweeted potest believes we need a balanced approach that includes revenues. that's right in order to balance the government's reckless spending we need to take more of your money never mind that the government has laid off one hundred forty two thousand workers in the past year and we are starting to see the return of massive layoffs as cisco lockheed martin and borders announced twenty three layoffs and by just this past week something you're doing isn't working mr president and doing more is well einstein's definition of insanity comes to mind doing the same thing and expecting different results that's right in order to balance the government's excuse me in order to balance the government's textbooks sometimes we see the police state out of control turned into something intended to generate revenue for the government stories of police abuse and corruption abound these days and all too often we run into situations like

we'll ask dan pfeiffer why this didn't happen a few weeks ago. will the president really get out his veto plan? and still to come, daily rundown geek fest. we're looking at which party is most likely to win senate majority in 2012 with two of the best, charlie and stu. i told you yesterday, you never know what is going to happen. we don't see him publicly. but who's to say that doesn't change? you're watching daily rundown only on msnbc. honey, i can't walk any faster. [ female announcer ] oscar mayer deli fresh turkey comes in a clear pack... [ cellphone beeps ] [ jeff ] ooh. thanks hun! [ female announcer ] ...so the freshness you see is what you taste. ♪ it doesn't get better than this ♪ 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'

. >> the white house communications director dan pfeiffer tweeted that the servers on capitol hill crashed after the president made that plea for people to get in touch with their congressional representatives. after the president's speech, house speaker john boehner spoke for roughly five minutes and he came out against president obama's proposals. >> president obama came to congress in january and requested business as usual. he had another routine increase in the national debt, but we in the house said, not so fast. here is was the president asking for the largest debt increase in american history, on the heels of the largest spending binge in american history. and here's what we got for that massive spending binge, a new health care bill that most americans never asked for, a stimulus bill that is more effective at producing material for late night comedians than it was in producing jobs. and a national debt that has got son out of hand, it it sparked a crisis without precedent in my lifetime or yours. >> speaker boehner said he would bring the new republican plan that was unveiled tod

and dan pfeiffer responded, we cannot ask the middle class and seniors to bear all the costs and budget cuts. >>> joining me now, house republican whip, kevin mccarthy of california. if i am out there listening to all of this, i want to stan gul awful you. why can you not get this deal? it looks like a bargaining ploy? >> i don't think so. you would not increase taxes on the small business, which is what the president wants to do. you had an negotiation with cantor and kyl and biden. so what he's saying, let's go there, there's no taxes, and there are cuts right there, but why don't you also get a balanced budget. >> you could also being looking at trying to help with medicare, and the republicans say they want to do. take a look at medicaid and look at social security in exchange, it seems to me what has occurred or what has reported to have occurred is speaker boehner went along with the idea that you would end the tax cuts for the wealthy u.s.iest among us, and n overhaul with tax reform and what is wrong with that? >> a lot of things are wrong with it. who are you going to tax for s

and dan pfeiffer going so far as to telling news that the america issen 0 the verge of an unprecedented financial storm. >> one that could potentially put us back through the depression, because the house republicans, led by speaker boehner are unwilling to compromise one inch. >> now, some of the aides to speaker boehner believes there is wiggle room in the president's veto, legislation, says that his advisors would recommend a veto, didn't say in fact there was a veto threat. a top official told me it's unequivocal, he would veto, et cetera only got a short term debt ceiling. the president doesn't like that, it would replay the debate in a few months. the bottom line, if it's the end of the week, they may try any of these, may come back. >> bret: chief white house correspondent ed henry on the white house lawn. thank you. we're in the final of this horse race, senior analyst brit hume is here to tell us. >> hello, bret. president obama is in serious trouble and he knows it, that's why he's eager for a grand bargain on deficits and debt that would at least get that issue off the table

white house communications director dan pfeiffer sent out a series of almost panicked tweets, shooting down reports of a deal. anyone reporting a $3 trillion deal without revenues is incorrect. potus believes we need a balanced approach that includes revenues. there is no offer of a plan with no revenue. lots of misinformed, anonymous aides talking. then, not trying to be dense, but how would you do taxes in the middle of the year? and then, there are lots of bad rumors and worse reporting today. which of course makes it like most days in washington. here is the president on npr today discussing yesterday's quickly passing fad, the bipartisan gang of six proposal that realists have declared impossible to legislate before the deadline on the debt ceiling on august 2. >>> tomorrow morning, president obama will hold a town hall on the, quote, ongoing efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction. he will continue to make his case to the american people that he has bent over backwards. in fact, you can expect to hear that actual phrase from the president in his dealings with rep

that said, big battle last night on the tweets between dan pfeiffer the communications director for the president, and the spokesperson for eric cantor who are fighting back and forth on position. this is going to be waged behind the scenes and i think there will be some sort of agreement. the question is, how short term a deal this is going to be and what it's going to mean moving forward because it's clearly a pretty poisonous atmosphere here in washington. >> to the point that president obama had a fund-raiser that he's canceled. i guess we're going to see a lot of that kind of thing this week, events that have been canceled that have nothing to do with the debt ceiling. i think the general public will be very frustrated if legislators are doing nothing, anything other than working on a solution no this. >> i think you are right on target with that, ali. because the president did have two fund-raisers scheduled and he has canceled. they were on the schedule for the weekend and then canceled as of yesterday. cnn confirmed they are not taking place tonight. the president will be in fro

white house communications director dan pfeiffer. senator chuck schumer. budget chairman paul ryan. ranking budget member chris van hollen. >>> plus, from fires to floods to oil spills. natural and man-made disasters wreaking havoc across the country. with us, agriculture secretary tom vilsack. >>> i will sentence you to one year in the orange county jail, imposing a $1,000 fine on each count. >> casey anthony will not walk from court today a free woman but she will be released from jail next week for time served and for good behavior. >>> and blastoff or bust? the latest on the "atlantis" launch and the future of the space program with former nasa administrator sean o'keefe. >>> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. we are expecting president obama will come into the briefing room at any moment. there is the president. let's go to the briefing room. >> all the congressional leaders from both chambers, from both parties, and i have to say that i thought it was a very constructive meeting. people were frank. we discussed the various options available to us. everybody reco

speaker boehner writing -- out of the white house, communications director dan pfeiffer responded -- joining me now to try to make sense of where things stand, house republican whip, kevin mccarthy of california. if i am out there listening to all of this, i want to strangle all of you. why can you not get this deal? this looks to me like a strategic bargaining ploy rather than where we're actually going to end up from speaker boehner. >> i don't see that at all. boehn boehner's been very clear there are no votes for a tax increase. you look at the jobs data, only 18,000 jobs. canada has fewer people that live in california created more jobs than america. you would not increase taxes on the small business, which is what the president wants to do. all that boehner said was you've had a negotiation with cantor, with kyl, with biden. they've gotten to $2.4 trillion in cuts. so what he's saying is, let's go there. there's no taxes, there's cuts right there. why don't you also get a balanced budget. >> you could also being looking at trying to help with medicare, and the republicans say t

but, on the other hand, whether you have a top white house aide in dan pfeiffer today telling cbs radiot if nothing here passes we could have a financial depression, the d word, depression, that makes a lot of people in this town think that in the end, even if the president doesn't like something like the boehner bill he is going to have to sign something to prevent this kind of disaster, shep. >> shepard: ed henry live at the white house. thanks. as that debt ceiling deadline approaches. there is one thing we can now count on. the national debt clock will keep ticking away in new york no matter what happens in d.c. that's the word from the "wall street journal" which is owned by the parent company of this here channel. the folks who oversee the clock tell the journal they are ready for any scenario come august the 2nd. in fact, they say if the debt stops rising, they can stop the clock. a new terror alert for americans as fox reports tonight. the united states state department has put out a global travel warning. officials are now saying the death of usama bin laden has raised the risk

dan pfeiffer saying that both parties have made real progress.he said that the president will make the case today that everyone needs to "reject the politics of least resistance and really take on this challenge." we'll see. >> that statement came into cnn here live on the air, dan. what i'm wondering from the president, he has been criticized for getting in on this issue whole heartedly at the last minute. is that going to play, have any effect and does it help that he is holding these meetings today or do you think that this has gone on too far? >> well, look, certainly, they hope that this will help. a lot more optimism a few days ago before speaker boehner essentially rejected this grander deal. the president has been criticized all along for not getting actively involved and then sort of jumping in at the last minute. the white house says, listen, just because you don't see what's happening doesn't mean that the president isn't involved. there have been a lot of phone calls going back and forth and a lot happening behind the scenes that you

we'll ask white house communications director dan pfeiffer. >>> plus, chuck schumer, and paul ryan, chrisfor the democrats on what's going on on both sides of the aisle. and we have the end of an era. we talk to a former nasa administrator as america's space shuttle program comes to an end. >>> now to the 2012 presidential race. michele bachmann is out with her first iowa campaign ad. here it is. >> as a sdeendent of generations of iowans, i was born and raised in waterloo. as a mom of five, a foster parent and former tax lawyer, now a small business job creator, i know that we can't keep spending money that we don't have. that's why i fought against the wasteful bailout, against the stimulus. i will not vote to increase the debt ceiling. >> the latest new hampshire polls show bachmann is gaining on romney in the granite state. romney with 35%, bachmann at 12%, getting an eight-point jump from 4% before. but she's still above ron paul as well as giuliani, perry coming in at 4%, pawlenty and palin right behind them. a half million dollar haul -- $18.5 million haul is what romney had in the

chris, i was on a call, on the record conference call, with the white house this afternoon, with dan pfeiffer and jason fuhrman, and i asked him that question. can there be any package without revenues? the president's position, he talked about last week, no, there will not be. seems right now john boehner doesn't have 218 votes for almost anything. no matter the deals. whether $10 trillion or $100 million. you're going to need democratic votes. the democrats i don't think will go along way package if there are just cuts, particularly if there are benefit cuts to medicare and social security and no revenue. there's still a lot of negotiations to be played out and in the meantime, day by day, the republicans are working intransigent and willing to play with fire, because you agree at least half of the members of the house republicans do want to blow up government. it's like blowing up the village to save the village. >> you're laughing. are you happy with your party being the party of mrs. o'leary's cow? basically starting the fire that was just mentioned. we've started it but helped put it ou

and dan pfeiffer was here, and there's a lot of this in politics, forget it, mr.peaker, we don't care about your plan, the president would veto. let's listen. >> the fate of the boehner bill is largely irrelevant. it can't pass the senate and the president won't sign it, so we're basically wasting critical days with a ticking clock on what's essentially at best a political statement. >> i think that is -- that probably is at best a political statement in the sense that if a plan gets to this president's desk that increases the debt ceiling and averts default and it's anywhere close to anything he's outlined, "a," as president of the country and, "b," as a candidate for re-election, he's going to sign it, right? >> yeah, he's going to want to do it. the big problem is they want to avoid another vote. they just don't want to go through it again six months down the line. i was talking to a senior democratic aide today who outlined for me four completely different scenarios under which actually reid's bill, which is different from boehner's bill, but not that differen

you had dan pfeiffer from the white house, they're on a media blitz and trying to get something done.kets, they want certainty and a deal and no deal and people walking away from deals, that language isn't helpful, and certainly not a depression. >> it speaks to washington but not the markets. >> certainly, all about washington. >> speaker boehner's plan is coming up for a vote tomorrow assuming he gets it rewritten. members of his own party are waiting to see if they'll vote. democrats have been pretty quiet on it, do you think they're waiting to see if the plan fails before they act? >> absolutely. the democrat ii is take tact han that way the whole time. we could see momentum building for that in the coming day, that's why we haven't heard from democrats. >> a lot of democrats on the hill keeping their powder dry while they're waiting to see what happens with boehner's bill. >> exactly. >> jackie, you wrote the debate over spending seems to be a lost opportunity. i want to listen to mitch mcconnell and then we can talk about it. >> the situation the president described last night b

white house communications director dan pfeiffer responded with this.e president believes that now is the moment to rise above the cynicism and show the american people we can still do big things." so he will make the case to congressional leaders that we must reject politics of least resistance and take on this critical challenge. joining us now is the senate's top republican, who will be a key participant at today's talks. senator mitch mcconnell. welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> glad to be here. >> bret: let's start with what happened and from your perspective, where do things stand now ahead of the meeting tonight at the white house? >> unfortunately, as the speaker said, the white house and congressional democrats are insisting on big tax increases as a condition to do anything on the spending side. bret, we believe the president is right back in december -- was right in december when he signed the two-year extension of the current tax rates that raising taxes in the middle of the economic situation we're in is a terrible idea. just look at th

plouffe this morning and also dan pfeiffer tweeting, were talking about the boehner bill and how it would mean dealing with the debt ceiling over the christmas holiday season, which is an important time for the economy. is this new narrative, then, suggesting that the administration would embrace some sort of two-stage plan if it's past the holiday season? >> no. we've always said we need to extend this to 2013. there are mechanisms, mitch mcconnell, speaking of the republican senate leader, had a proposal that would have created cycles of lifting the debt ceiling, but it would have made clear the whole idea of his proposal was to ensure that the debt ceiling -- there would be no doubt that the debt ceiling would be raised in order for the united states to pay its bills into 2013. so, there are different ways to do this. our objection is to any proposal that puts us through this three-ring circus again in any short period of time, because it's already had significant negative impact on the economy. it would only have even more and more severe negative impact on the economy. the reason why

here's white house communications director dan pfeiffer speaking on "john king usa." >> spoke to thereasury secretary before i came over here who said to me that we're still planning for august 2nd being the day. and the fact is, there's no reason we have to get to august 1st. congress has to do its job, stop with the political statements in the house right now. we need to get in a room, compromise and move on. that's what the american people want. that's why they're filling up phone lines and fax machines and bringing down websites. >> i'm not surprised they're trying to find more time and space because they're doing everything they can at the treasury to make sure they can push it and do it -- >> some have accused of treasury secretary of lying, saying -- >> no. >> it's plungeble. >> perhaps. >> white house communications director dan pfeiffer did have choice words for congress as well. angry voters jamming the switchboards, crashing servers on capitol hill demanding lawmakers try to solve this debt ceiling crisis. here's a look. >> good morning, speaker boehner's office. how may i

here's what spokesman dan pfeiffer had to say.the budget cuts. we need a balanced approach that asks the very wealthiest and special interests to pay their fair share as well and we can believe that the american people agree with that. cnn congressional correspondent, kate bolduan joins us from washington. break it down for us, the republicans and the democrats are on obviously different sides here. >> they are and they have been all along. it's in this issue of taxes and tax increases, in terms of new revenue is not a new issue, but did have their sights set on this so-called grand deal. it was somewhere in the area of deficit savings in $4 trillion, it was going to likely come with a very hefty $1 trillion in new revenue. a very tall order as it was going to call for new revenue, in terms of tax increases, as well as significant changes to medicare and social security. very important issue to democrats and republicans. and what we're seeing now, susan, is basically that the talks over this grand deal have effectively broken down

. >> reporter: dan fiv -- dan pfeiffer i -- that was a scare tactic. bill: he continues one that could potentially put is towards a depression because the house republicans led by speaker boehner are unwilling to compromise one inch. that word defor example scares the heck out of anyone. >> reporter: he's talking about a default if we do not pay the government check. if the government check bounces. that's hard target of august 2 has in fact become a soft target. it's more like august 10 because a great deal of extra tax money came in which gives us more money to spread around and spread out that target date a little longer. so it's a soft target date of august 2. bill: some people say sit could be late august or september or october. >> reporter: we are assuming that ben bernanke would allow the treasury to bounce a check, that would do nothing. he would stand by, the treasury bounces a check and we default. i submit that is out of the question. there is no way a chairman of the federal reserve of the united states of america would allow that to happe

take a listen to what communications director dan pfeiffer had to say. >> we are spending hour afteror the republicans to twist arms for a vote that is essentially irrelevant, because as soon as they pass it, if they are able to, the senate will vote it down and we will have to get back to the table and get something done. >> reporter: the mood here at the white house, according to a senior administration official, is one of frustration. they saw yesterday as essentially wasted time, that the clock continues to tick and that there was no big movement that took place. and one official here at the white house confirming that the president has been getting no sleep at all. as he really tries to figure out what are the options that they have available to them to prevent the nation from going into default. >> dan lothian at the white house, thanks. >>> as dan just mentioned next hour, we will hear from president obama, he is due to speak on the debt crisis. the rapidly approaching deadline. so 10:20 eastern, we will carry that live. >>> allan chernoff is at the new york stock exchange whe

days and days and days, it could be a full scale calamity and one of the president's top aides, dan pfeifferould have a financial depression if in fact the u.s. defaults next tuesday. and, so, a lot of republicans on the hill have been saying, look, these are scare tactics and is not true and they are exaggerating the situation and trying to maybe even manufacture a crisises. but, when you have tim geithner, the treasury secretary saying, look, folks, we are getting closer and closer here and starting to see signs around the world, maybe in the international markets, that some of those dire predictions could -- i express could, come true and, frankly we don't know the real answer yet because we have not been through a crisis quite like this. and so a lot of this is just predictions and forecasts the but the fact of the matter is as we get closer and closer, sooner or later we'll find out how bad it might get. martha: it is interesting, the treasury markets have not responded in a way that they are showing fear at this moment, the dow industrials down 99 points now and they have been roughed

i think on cbs radio this morn dan pfeiffer said if congress does not act by august 2nd this could lead to a depression. is this your position, that we might have a depression in america? >> depression, what i know, what, economic experts have said is that, and again, republican and democrat, jim baker, ronald reagan, all sorts, have said that a default on our obligations would produce an economic calamity. how that, how you demean that obviously depend on how long it lasts and what the ongoing implications of that would be. we don't believe it comes to pass. . . >> release it. it's the last week, release it. >> we have shown a lot of late on what we were proposing. >> to where? >> from the podium right here. [laughter] and from the roosevelt room. you know, certainly the speaker of the house can address or his people can address what their last offer was. they claim they walked away from the table because of the 400 billion. >> if they threw it out there and -- >> i care never if you were here. the president stood here on friday night and went into great detail. you should look at the