setting the stage for adramatic battle in the coming months. >> president obama has been searching for a grand bargain, a long range plan on taxes and spending that would by definition tackle social security and medicare. we want to look at the short term and the budget negotiations that start next week. joining us is zack carter. thanks for being part of our program. where do things stand now and what needs to get done in mid december? >> the if democrats and republicans don't go to agreement in mid december, the government will run down once again. the government has been running on these informal continuing resolutions for some years now. we actually haven't had a real formal budget. for the democrats if this is the best chance they have for getting away with the sequester, or get the deal to cut medicare or social which they have been gunning for for several years now. >> the leader is senator patty measurey, give up the social insurance spending? >> there's been a lot of discussion between patty murray and paul ryan about how they want to cut spending, they're being nice to each o