hoyer: and, mr. speaker, i am pleased to now yield to somebody who has not served with him for 85 years but has served with him for a very significant time on the extraordinarily important energy and commerce committee, my friend from texas, mr. barton. mr. barton: thank you, congressman hoyer. it has been my pleasure to serve for 26 years on the energy and commerce committee with the distinguished gentleman who is having his 85th birthday. what some of our newer members may not know is what a gentleman chairman dingell is and the uniqueness of his character is that he will impact his wisdom to those of us in the opposition party and encourage us to then go out and use it against him knowing that he is smart enough, tough enough and effective enough to beat us at our own game. he is truly a paragon of this congress and will go down in my estimation in history as one of the top 10 congressmen or women of all time. i want to extend him my warmest 85th birthday wishes and get him to guarantee that as lo

hoyer: i'll continue to yield. mr. cantor: i know the gentleman likes to focus on the hstry before, but every time the gentleman says, job lost here, jobs lost there, to posit again, there have been 1.7 million jobs lost since the stimulus bill we feel didn't need to do the stimulus bill because now we are stuck with over $800 billion in additional debt with now unemployment today at 9.2%. so again, question whether we're on the right policies here and we're spending the dollars we need to be spending. maybe we shouldn't spend it. maybe we should let it be invested in the private sector. i would end by saying again, the deficit is a real problem. we got a $1.6 trillion deficit this queer, largest in the history, and third consecutive year of trillion-dollars of deficit. i say to the gentleman, mr. speaker, we can't tolerate that. the president shouldn't tolerate that. the american people have no patience anymore. that's why we need to get to work trying -- try to lower the hyperbole and get the job done. i yield back.

joining me now is house minority whip sten steny hoyer. you said there will be no vote for the boehner bill. is that still the case tonight? >> i believe it the democrats have clearly made a determination that this is a bad bill, a bad bill for the country. it doesn't represent any kind of a compromise. it doesn't represent any result of discussions that have occurred over the last months. this is simply a republican bill to seek additional cuts which we need to make but we need to make those in a fashion that will not hurt people, will not undermine the operations of government while at the same time bringing down the debt and deficit. but what we really see here, anderson, in my opinion is the party of no not being able to agree even with itself much less with those it shares responsibility with in the congress of the united states and with the president of the united states. and it does so at a time of great risk to america and to america's families. and that's deeply unfortunate. >> what do you make of what is going on in the republica

. >> congressman hoyer, the new republican plan, the boehnor plan, would call for two votes, meaningy would require a vote, a painful vote, politically painful vote for everyone on the debt ceiling during an election year. of playing politics with this debt ceiling recently because the president says he doesn't want to have a vote during an election year, he wants the next debt increase after the election year. if the president is playing politics by saying he doesn't want a vote during an election year, aren't the republicans playing politics specifically by saying they do want to put the democrats and the president through another debt ceiling vote in an election year? >> i think it's very obvious that's exactly what they are doing, and as a matter of fact, their rhetoric is to put president obama in a bad spot. i disagree with chuck schumer, by the way, he said what democrats get out of this is raising the debt limit. that's not what democrats get out of it, that's what america gets out of it, a responsible country that pays its bills and protects the financial stability of our co

but the question is not whether john boehner can survive or whether steny hoyer can survive.he issue is will the best interest of america survive? will we have the courage to act responsibly so that america is and is perceived by the rest of the world as the leader they thought it was and want it to be. >> congressman hoyer, appreciate your time on a busy night. thank you. >>> up next, how the white house is reacting to what's going on just up the avenue and congressman joe walsh one of the no votes tonight on speaker boehner's bill. ♪ ♪ i like your messy hair ♪ i like the clothes you wear ♪ i like the way you sing ♪ and when you dance with me ♪ you always make me smile [ male announcer ] we believe you're at your best when you can relax and be yourself. and at thousands of newly refreshed holiday inn hotels, you always can. holiday inn. stay you. and now stay rewarded with vacation pay. stay two weekend nights and get a $75 prepaid card. [ indistinct conversations ] [ hissing ] agents, what did we learn here today? that lint balls are extremely flammable! well, yeah. and tha

hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comment. given the fact that this is, as the gentleman pointed out, this crisis has been known for us for over five, six months now that we were going to confront this. i understand that in the cut, cap and balance pledge that has been future forward -- i don't know whether it's going to be put forward in the legislation -- but the pledge says that your side or the people -- excuse me -- people who signed the pledge, whatever side they're on, are going to oppose any debt limit increase unless all three of the following conditions had been met. one, cut substantial cuts in spending that would reduce the deficit next year and thereafter. seems to me that we passed a budget through this house that does that. it doesn't reach balance, of course, until some 30 years from now. but secondly it says as a condition for voting for debt extension that unforcible spending cuts will put it on a path toward a balanced budget. we had discussions in the white house on cuts and what they apply to, a percentage

joining us, democratic whip steny hoyer.ongressman hoyer, a pleasure to see you again. >> dylan good to be with you. >> any chance that anything, whether it's the gang of six plan or anything that's being bandied about has a chance of passing the house of representatives? >> i certainly hope something has a chance of passing the house of representatives. we're fiddling, frankly, while the debt and the default is about to burn us badly, and burn the american people badly. and we need get about doing our business. unfortunately, as you just observed, and as i just said, we're fiddling while rome is burning, in the sense that the piece of legislation on our floor now has zero chance of passage. it was introduced at the last minute last friday. it was printed just this weekend. nobody's probably fully understood what it does, and it can't pass and won't pass the senate. we're wasting time. we have 14 days until the secretary of the treasury tells us american will run out of its ability to pray its bills. that will have reverbera

hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank mr. berman for yielding and i thank ms. ros-lehtinen for bringing this resolution to the floor and i'm pleased to join my colleague and friend, mr. cantor, in strong support of this resolution. . i believe there's only one lasting solution to the israeli-palestinian conflict, a future of two states two people living this security and peace with one another. such a solution is in the best interest of regional peace and in the best interest of both parties. that's why i strongly believe ep suring the long-term viability of the jewish democratic state of israel also requires supporting a homeland for the palestinian people. history teaches us that in conflicts such as this up with, peace must be negotiated. it cannot and will not be imposed from outside. or else it will rest on an unstable and temporary foundation. that is why i strongly oppose palestinian efforts to impose a solution to the conflict at the united nations as well as palestinian efforts to unilaterally declare statehood. i'm

hoyer: it's not. mr. cantor: i say to the gentleman, week after week we brought bills to the floor, yes, that deal with our fiscal situation, that cut spending. because we've got to address that. just like people address it in their homes, their families, their businesses. but we brought numerous bills week after week to the floor that go to the root of the cause of uncertainty in the business community in this country and that is washington's overly aggressive and burdensome regulatory reach. we have got to get back to a growth posture, mr. speaker. and that means cut spending, lower taxes, and implement a balanced and sensible pro-growth regulatory system. as well as finally hopefully returning to a monetary policy that promotes a strong dollar. i yield back. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding back. first of all of course i didn't say, i don't think anybody wants their taxes raised, including me. i'd like to have all the prices for things i buy cut in half. 50% off sale. we all like that. i l

grover norquist responded this morning to steny hoyer on our air. take a listen. >> hoyer is wrong. the answer is the people who made this commitment not to raise taxes made it clear they're not raising taxes and boehner and the other republicans have said that independent of the pledge. there's certain things you could do techniqcally and not violate the pledge but the americans would understand is a tax release. americans for tax reform reject any effort to reduce or not continue the 2001-2003 bush tax cuts. >> the question now becomes did grover norquist say unequivocally did any non-extension of the bush tax cuts equal a tax raise. seems like there is wiggle room there. why is that important? house republicans said repeatedly they will not allow tax increases to be part of a debt reduction deal. if there is leeway there, forever grover is not saying unequivocally, not the bush tax cuts, maybe there will be a vote. >> will this give people on the hill whiplash? >> reporter: there's so many different trains, no one knows what will get in the station. no one knows. on health care a

and steny hoyer and nancy pelosi have to sell this.them to a large number of members of the democratic caucus. >> i had henry cuellar on, democratic congressman from texas. this is not somebody thought of as somebody in the bernie sanders wing of the party. i asked him does he trust this president to make the deal. i asked him again do you trust the president to make this deal. he said i trust my legislative leadership, nancy pelosi. real disconnect. they haven't been in the room. that's a problem for some democrats. >> the president has lost a lot of altitude with democrats in the house and the senate. the factlosi has street cred with them. if steny hoyer says you have to take this one, at the end of the day most of them will stick. but it's going to be hard. if they had it all nailed down, they would be out there. >> this is not new for presidents. george w. bush was not always on the same page as tom delay and hastert. how much of it is par for the course dealing with a re-election and how much of this is something different? >> th

donna edwards and other liberals aggressively challenged hoyer on that.na edwards apologized to hoyer, said i apologize for the tone but not for the substance of what was said. they are unified publicly, house democrats. that is important. people try to forget the house minority like the house minority doesn't matter. but boehner will need 60, 70, 80, 90 democrats. probably a hundred won't vote for the debt ceiling no matter what. >> with those hundred republicans, that won't vote for the debt ceiling no matter what, is it a fact that there may not be the willingness to cut a deal no matter what on the republican side of this? and maybe the strategy of the white house and the president is, to put everything on the table and force them to say no, no matter what you do, we don't want to anyway. which will really make the american public understand. these people don't care about running the country or default. it is about ideology, not about the economy. >> the white house would be happy. they would appear like they are the adults and republicans are the chi

tonight, steny hoyer is with us and chris van hollen and bernie sanders. they're here with their version an how this is going down and how it's going to get solved. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the bill's not perfect. i never said watz perfect. >> even the tan man knows his bill is no good. he was embarrassed by his own caucus tonight. but is senator reid's plan any better? former labor secretary robert reich knows the answer. constitutional scholar michelle bachman doesn't understand the 14th amendment. >> he would be making spending decisions and tax decisions. clearly that's unconstitutional. >> we'll review the document for her. and while republicans hold the economy hostage, nobody's thinking about putting americans back to work. tonight, my commentary on how washington and big business need to start hiring. good to have you with us tonight, folks. it's an unbelievable day of news coming out of washington, d.c. house speaker john boehner, i guess you could say is finding out the hard way that a stiff drink and round of golf just isn't

hoyer: mr. speaker, ladies and gentlemen of this house, i am pleased to rise with my colleague and dear friend, barbara lee, to focus on an issue that all too frequently is ignored. i rise to speak as we are engaged in an extraordinarily important discussion, debate, and responsibility. that responsibility is to ensure that america pays its bills. that america's creditworthiness is not put at risk. that america which has incurred obligations meets those obligations. to individuals and to others. as we have made policies which have cost money and it is now necessary first to pay the bills that we have already incurred. but as we engage in that debate and discussion, we must remember that there are in our country one child out of every five who is living in poverty. who is worried about proper food. proper housing, proper medical care. children who are in fact at risk. we now in america the richest nation on the face of the earth have the largest number of people living in poverty that we have had

hoyer: mr. speaker, my colleagues, our neighbors, our friends sent us here to be responsible and to come to the aid of our country at a time of crisis. our couny is at such a time now. our people confront uncertainty and fear and they're looking to us, looking to us for the courage to compromise and act to prevent default and to prevent gridlock and irresponsibility. yesterday we learned that investors in american stocks lost more than $400 billion when just a few days ago speaker boehner said he could not compromise with president obama. now we're standing -- notwithstanding the remarks of my friend from california, the chairman of the rules committee, who talks about a bipartisan compromise, i tell my friend, you have not moved a single centimeter towards compromise with our side of the aisle. not a single centimeter. and what do we see in the united states senate, my friends? we see a majority leader of the united states senate who has the president with him, so, yes, you control 1/3 and you

hoyer: it's not. mr.antor: i say to the gentleman, week after week we brought bills to the floor, yes, that deal with our fiscal situation, that cut spending. because we've got to address that. just like people address it in their homes, their families, their businesses. but we brought numerous bills week after week to the floor that go to the root of the cause of uncertainty in the business community in this country and that is washington's overly aressive and burdensome regulatory reach. we have got to get back to a growth posture, mr. speaker. and that means cut spending, lower taxes, and implement a balanced and sensible pro-growth regulatory system. as well as finally hopefully returning to a monetary policy that promotes a strong dollar. i yield back. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding back. first of all of course i didn't say, i don't think anybody wants their taxes raised, including me. i'd like to have all the prices for things i buy cut in half. 50% off sale. we all like that. i like

. >> less than 40 minutes after congressman hoyer praised the development, norquist appeared on this to clarify that though allowing the bush tax cuts to expire may not technically violate his pledge, that does not mean republicans should actually do it. >> now, hoyer is wrong. there are certain things you could do technically and not violate the pledge, but that the general public would clearly understand is a tax increase. so i can be clear, americans for tax reform would oppose any effort to weaken, reduce, or not continue the 2001-2003 bush tax cuts. >> when reporters asked republican leadership if they would exploit the pledge technicality, "the washington post" editorial board had exposed, they said, of course, absolutely not. >> i'm saying if you raise tax rates, that is violating a tax pledge. when we keep raising taxes in washington, for efemerral promises of spending cuts that never happen later, that's not goodment >> i have never voted for raising taxes, and i don't have to. >> but boehner doesn't have to vote for raising taxes in rtd for taxes to go up. as a matter of fa

do you want me dealing with steny hoyer or do you want me dealing with you?e. and so i am not completely trashing them here. buchanan's pumping his fist. i understand that the, but as more than one person said over the past couple of weeks, they're two steps through the process, one is having the guts to stare down your opponent, and i say this as a lawyer who sat through a lot of mediations and sat through a lot of negotiations, the first thing is that you have to stare down your opponent, and when you opponent blinks, as the president has, the president's blinked. you're going to win. you can have a victory on the battlefie battlefield, but if you don't convert that to -- if they don't take boehner's bill, then reid's bill comes up. what happens? >> what actually occurred yesterday where eric cantor got up and said you have two options, you can pass this bill or be forced to vote on harry reid's bill. they played a video segment from the movie "the town." allan west said i'm going to drive this car, they're trying to motivate this caucus. and west supports

first majority whip steny hoyer. >> even within their own party, it is deeply divided party, divided against their leadership, angry at their leadership, and a party that has divided itself, has difficulty working with the president and with us and that's unfortunate and the country is the poorer for it. >> i don't buy this notion of e default. to me that's a false choice. default means you can't service your debt, you can't pay off your debt, anderson, and there's plenty of government revenues to do that. one of the things that's been harmful in this debate is there's been this obsession with august 2nd, august 2nd. we need to get this right. we need a balanced budget amendment. if it takes us a few days more to make sure we get it right, let's do it. >> so congressman walsh doesn't sound too wired. maybe he hasn't read the new reports, say, from credit suisse which says if the u.s. eventually defaults on its payments stocks could fall 30% in the next year and the economy could contract 5% over the same period and every month that there's a stalemate, 1% comes off the u.s. gross dom

deal. >> hoyer is wrong.e people have made this commitment not to raise taxes have made it clear they're not raising taxes and boehner and the other republicans have said that independent of the pledge. there's certain things you could do technically and not violate the pledge but the general public would clearly understand is a tax increase. so i can be clear, americans for tax reform would oppose any effort to weaken, reduce or not continue the 2001-2003 bush tax cuts and any changes of taxes should be kept separate from the budget deal. this is not some change that's taken place, atr has always made it very clear we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or not continue the bush tax cuts or any existing tax cuts. clearly, they need to continue, and not to continue them would be seen by the american people as a very dramatic tax increase and republicans have made it clear, that's off the table and we support that effort. >> grover norquist, thanks so much for coming on. >>> thomas roberts up next. regenerist

steny hoyer, democrat. democrat number two in the senate, dick durbin and, john boehner speaker of the house. on the republican side, the people who are a problem, mitch mcconnell, certainly eric cantor, certainly -- well, leave it at that. perhaps pelosi. we just don't know. fascinating stuff. >>> coming up, what are president obama's options if he doesn't get a deal? look at a deep perhaps by august 2nd. what if he doesn't get a deal? can we bypass congress under the 14th amendment and keep the country going by executive power and force the country to meet its bills? we'll hear from a brilliant columnist says. hear what she says. this is not radical. this is constitutional. >>> you're watching "hardball," this is not radical. this is constitutional. >>> you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. >>> talk about strange bedfellows? south carolina democrat jim demint teamed up with maine moderate olympia snow to call for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. they pushed for this in an op-ed in to

. >> joining me now is maryland congressman steny hoyer, the house democratic whip. reports indicate that the democratic caucus was taken aback by the reports that the president is seeking a $4 trillion deal and that medicaid and social security are on the table. were you and your colleagues caught offguard? >> i don't know if we were caught offguard. i think the caucus is clearly concerned about, a, getting the debt limit so that we don't default on america's bills. and we stabilize the economy and continue to grow the economy. and we are also very focused on making sure that medicare beneficiaries and social security beneficiaries are not adversely affected. we do want to see the deficit brought down and the debt addressed. but i think they want to have assurances that social security recipients and medicare recipients will be unharmed by any effort that we make. but i think they understand that we've got to work all focus on the fact that in a very short period of time, america is not going to be able to pay its bills, and that will have a very bad consequence on

he is not involving nancy pelosi or steny hoyer or yours truly in what he's doing.nd 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 yo

joining me now, house whip steny hoyer.trong difference of opinion i guess among those on the hill, congressman. maybe not as bad as we've been led to believe, or so i was just told. >> there is a strong disagreement and congressman king does not review the views of his leadership on either the senate side or the house side where they all believe that not meeting our obligations on tuesday will have great adverse ramifications for every american family, and it will be immediate. the american families have already lost as a result of the, what i would say game playing, the politicization of this issue, have already lost $400 billion in net worth since mr. boehner walked out of the hearing, out of the agreement with president obama. and would not pursue those obviously because he couldn't get his party to the agree, which we have seen over the last full 36 hours. >> congressman, i just saw speaker boehner walk behind you, perhaps going to initiate this voted. where are we headed? tell the american people whants about to unfol

which didn't make some folks happy, although the number twos are there, including cantor and steny hoyer who is the guy who has to whip votes for the president to get a deal through if nancy pelosi doesn't support it. this is about boehner and obama. the july 22nd, not a hard deadline but august 2nd is. turning to the race for 2012. news in the second quarter. mitt romney reporting he raised just over $18 million in the second quarter. 12.6 million in cash on hand. let's put this $18 million number in perspective. less than the 20 million plus he raised in the first full quarter of 2007. in fact he raised 23 million that time. good news for romney. he dominates in new hampshire. in a new poll 35% of likely republican primary voters say they will vote for romney. michelle bachmann is the only other candidate in double digits. bad news in the poll for jon huntsman. 2% of the vote. hundredsman can't catch a break in the endorsement game. his former chief of staff, utah congressman and future senator is endorsing mitt romney calling him more lectable. interesting number for you this morning

joining us now live from capitol hill, house minority whip steny hoyer of maryland. congressman, great to have you with us tonight. it has been a whirlwind of news. i'll just ask you straight up, what can you tell us at this hour? where are we? >> i think what we're seeing, ed, is a stark example of why we could not no matter what we did come to a compromise with the republicans. their leader wanted to do that. but the party of no is saying no to their own deal. the party of no is putting at risk the american taxpayer, the american family and america itself. i think the american public has a right to be enraged as i am about the dysfunctional spectacle that they see with america on the brink of -- in the first time in history being unable to pay what it owes. i said on the floor that is not only a bad policy, it's an immoral policy. i would hope in the next few hours that we can come together, democrats and republicans, not as a partisan effort, as is now occurring. every democrat is going to propose this bill that john boehner offered. it's a bad bill. it's a bad de

what they do, what steny hoyer would do and others i'm sure are doing, is tell democrats, make them put7 on the board. they get 217 they need 217, not 218, a couple vacancies, 217 a couple conservative democrats who will be released say it's okay. >> you think the reason the democrats have this confidence they tell everybody together hoyer got the commitment from dan borns, mike ross, say i won't be 217 for boehner. >> i think that's probably what happened. i think that's a reasonable thing to ask. that was often asked of democrats. i remember during the reagan presidency. >> lot of blue dog. >> were asked don't be the one to pull it over. >> the bull wivells back then. tom davis, the other side of this, the getting to yes for boehner on this, all this drama, how many of these republicans on the fence on this, are sitting there going, yeah okay, i'm going to get stuck voting for this, but what if it does die in the senate, how much of that do you think is a calculation for some of these guys nervous about voting for this? >> that's part of it. also, if you cut an agreement with the sena

hoyer: i'll continue to yield. mr. cantor: i know the gentleman likes to focus on the hstry before, but ever time the gentleman says, job lost here, jobs lost there, to posit again, there have been 1.7 million jobs lost since the stimul bill we feel didn't need to do the stimulus bill because now we are stuck with over $800 billion in additional debt with now unemployment today at 9.2%. so again, question whether we're on the right policies here and we're spending the dollars we need to be spending. maybe we shouldn't spend it. maybe we should let it be invested in the private sector. i would end by saying again, the deficit is a real problem. we got a $1.6 trillion deficit this queer, largest in the history, and third consecutive year of trillion-dollars of deficit. i say to the gentleman, mr. speaker, we can't tolerate that. the president shouldn't tolerate that. the american people have no patience anymore. that's why we need to get to work trying -- try to lower the hyperbole and get the job done. i yield back. mr.

last night on the last word with lawrence o'donnell, steny hoyer told lawrence what he thinks about mixing taxes into the debate over raising the debt ceiling. >> very unfortunate that the republicans continue to pursue this particularly when mr. boehner and the president have reached an agreement tentatively on two different occasions. and mr. boehner has walked away. frankly the republicans have walked intentionally more than barry bonds. and the fact of the matter is that we need to come to an agreement, the senate, senator reid has offered exactly what they asked for. mr. cantor said we have no taxes in our bill. he was very pumped up about that to tell his constituents, that the richest people in america were not going to have to pay anything towards solving this problem. but frankly, the senate is prepared to offer that, because they feel very strongly responsible step to take is to make sure that america is able to pay its bills on august 3rd. >> don't miss "last word" with lawrence o'donnell, week nights at 8:00 p.m. on msnbc, the place for politics. >>> the man suspected in friday

hoyer: i yield to my friend, the majority leader. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman from maryland and if i could, to the gentleman, update him as well as all of our colleagues on the house's schedule for this weekend and the upcoming week. and i thank him. to say to the gentleman, the house will now meet in pro forma session only tomorrow. therefore no votes are expected in the house on sunday. but given the critical fiscal and economic situation, however, members should be prepared to return to washington quickly if needed. we may only be able to assure a few hours' notice at most. lastly i'd say to the gentleman, the house will be in legislative session on monday and first votes are expected as early as noon. and i thank the gentleman and yield back. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his information. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on -- the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing h.r. 2

. >>> and come up this hour, i'll be speaking with steny hoyer. >>> plus, the long-anticipated drawdownn afghanistan begins. you're going to find out how many american troops in this initial withdrawal are coming out right away. and president obama joked he was calling for pizza. but in the end, delivering a personal message for america's final space shuttle crew. stick around. you're in the "situation room." woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting expensive. 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. that's how it is with alzheimer's disease. she needs help from me. and her medication. the exelon patch -- it releases medication continuously for twenty-four hours. she uses one exelon patch daily for the treatment of mild to moderate alzheimer's symptoms. [ female announcer ] it cannot change the course of the disease. hospitalization and rarely death have been

you see the minority leader nancy pelosi and steny hoyer feel like this is one of those times where they have become relevant again in washington. they have some power and they are making a lot of demand for it whether they stick to those demands i think is up in the air. they are trying to extract as much as they can. >> what have you heard about the talks that are happening behind closed doors? is there detailed negotiations and they are giving behind closed doors but then they come out in public and say no? >> in the talks, both leaders realize they will have to make compromises. that is a sense i get from sources inside the room. both parties are under a lot of. pressure the white house and speaker john boehner have indicated great concern over what would happen to the economy if the company -- of the country did not raise the debt ceiling by the deadline. you have 9.2% unemployment that can out on friday. that ratchets up the pressure on both parties since nobody wants to see a down turn. >> the president meets this evening with democratic republican leaders at the white house. afte

hoyer: it's not. mr. cantor: i say to the gentleman, week after week we brought bills to the floor, yes, that deal with our fiscal situation, that cut spending. because we've got to address that. just like people address it in their homes, their families, their businesses. but we brought numerous bills week after week to the floor that go to the root of the cause of uncertainty in the business community in this country and that is washington's overly aggressive and burdensome regulatory reach. we have got to get back to a growth posture, mr. speaker. and that means cut spending, lower taxes, and implement a balanced and sensible pro-growth regulatory system. as well as finally hopefully returning to a monetary policy that promotes a strong dollar. i yield back. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding back. first of all of course i didn't say, i don't think anybody wants their taxes raised, including me. i'd like to have all the prices for things i buy cut in half. 50% off sale. we all like that. i l

of the world here that have gone in for twenty first century missiles have aligned ourselves with hoyer moral values and i really went for this and that's fearless to me if i can be used to ourself if i go to him here you know international law was created to protect people ok and to avoid these kinds of things ok i mean i'll ask you the same question i mean he nato intervention i'll take the word aggression out if you want intervention here because the mission creep that we've seen over the last few months can i create a viable libya that is sovereign and not dependent upon outside forces like other countries that make up nato particularly the united states. the native tongue of the same region which he was close to would you be un go ahead jim go ahead what what you will have in libya if nato succeeds or half succeed is a nato peace and it will be that kind of conditional peace it will not be a peace arrived at by the libyan people because nato will have presented itself to nato nato encompasses something like between seventy five and eighty eighty percent of world military spending t

hoyer. i don't think -- to call balancing your budget a republican policy, then the whole world, except the government, operates on a republican policy, and i don't think he wts to vender that ground to us. but the truth is everyone else, including business and human beings, they are forced to go and follow a balanced budget. you know, if you went to your banker -- and i talked to a community banker yesterday, and you said, i need a line of credit for a million dolrs for my business next year, he said, wel you maxed out all your credit cards, you've already borrowed more than you can afford to pay, and you're missing payments, why do you think that we should -- and the only way you can make your payments is when you borrow money from me to make your interest payments. you're in a position where it's untenable for your business. we're not going to loanou the money. that is the issue that the american businessman and the american that sits at their breakfast table talks about finances. the onl

hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend, the ranking member of the budget committee, mr. van hollen, for yielding. the american public are rightfully very distressed with the congress of the united states. they're distressed that a time of great challenge and great risk thank, that we fiddle while the debt threatens -- risk, that we fiddle while the debt threatens to burn us, to place our country in the position of being adjudged uncredit worthy. that is not worthy of this congress or any one of us that serves in this congress. we have 14 days according to the secretary of treasury until such time as america will be unable to pay its obligations. whether to foreigners or to people in this country. that is not a situation that will be looked at positively by the financial sector or by any one of our constituents whose ability to save, to have a 401-k that is stable, to purchase an automobile or a refrigerator or send their kid to college will be put at risk because of increased interest rates, not on

. >> bret: we should point out that the house minority whip steny hoyer was going to be a guest to getlarity on that side from the house and he was called to the white house and canceled on us. we welcome him back sometimes. jonah, your take where we were today? >> it's a mess. fog of war is the only thing that comes to mind. hard to figure out what the heck was going on, on the hill today. and i have people telling me that diametrically opposed things with absolute confidence several times today. it seems to me -- mara take is more important than mine. but the fund me tall problem is the same. both sides have to turn the keys at the same time. the republicans who i think have a better case on this know that if you pass, if you pass the tax part first, you never get the spending cuts. we have been down that road before. they can't get burned again not with tea party guys on the tree line watching everything going on. >> but if you put cuts up front you never get revenue. >> the "cut, cap and balance" plan that passed the house with 234 votes will be dealt with in the senate tomorrow. t

i am not worried about nancy pelosi and stanley hoyer -- stenny hoyer.is the natural lines of the mainstream media, liberal interest groups, and the democratic party. it is just a natural force of life that is center-right nation, a 2-1 ratio of conservatives to liberals according to gallup, has to do with every day. i met this drudge guy in 1995 and had nothing better to do then latched on for dear life. i started to watch and become part of what we now know to be the new media. that was 1995. every single story that was broken, every single story, had to withstand the absolute weight of abc, cbs, nbc, cnn, and all the newspapers. we were guilty until proven innocent. the republicans and conservatives are bad guys. the democrats are for the environment and the children. i remember when i was on that team, the benefits i got from it. i was waking up at three in the afternoon. i was not really contributing to society in any appreciable way. now that i am starting to see it the other way, it is like constantly swimming upstream. so i remember watching when

congressman steny hoyer of maryland here.five days remaining to a potential default of the treasury. the house of representatives just begun the debate there over this legislation to raise the debt ceiling. now this is the plan today put forth by the speaker of the house john boehner, and at last report boehner continues to twist arms among his own republicans to win enough vote to pass this thing. let's bring in joe johns here in washington. joe, let's just both listen to speaker boehner. this is when he spoke just a short time ago. >> the bill is not perfect. i've never said it was perfect. nobody in my caucus believes it's perfect, but what this bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end this crisis in a bipartisan way to send it to the senate where it can receive action. >> joe johns, just so we are all on the same page as succinctly as you possibly can, what does the boehner plan offer? >> okay. i will keep it short, okay, so just stay with me. >> okay. >> it's got two steps. there's a debt limit increase, and it w

van hollen. >> both harry reid and steny hoyer were invoked.i assure you neither never voted for this kind of twisted version of a constitutional balanced budget amendment. this is an effort to manipulate the constitution, to stack the deck in certain ways. it has two devices to do that. one is to require a supermajority vote to raise revenue. the other device is putting on this 18% cap. those were not in any balanced budget amendment supported by steny hoyer and harry reid. that is what makes this provision especially perverse. you can have a good debate on the issue of a garden variety balanced budget amendment. this is not that. again, what this does, and let us be very clear, it creates a supermajority requirement to close corporate tax loopholes for the purpose of deficit reduction. we keep hearing the statement that 49 states have balanced budget amendments. only 10 by our count write into their constitution a limitation that requires two-thirds or more of a vote to raise revenue. what that does is immediately tilt the playing field. the