former republican senator alan simpson, and erskine bowles, bill clinton's former chief of staff. it's a "fox news sunday" exclusive. then, the debate over financial reform heads for a senate showdown. we'll talk with the senate g.o.p. leader, mitch mcconnell. and in arizona, should authorities be able to check the i.d. of anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant? we'll ask our sunday regulars whether this crackdown goes too far. all right now on "fox news sunday." and hello again from fox news in washington. the president's debt commission holds its first meeting tuesday and his job couldn't be tougher. finding some way both parties will accept to cut the trillion-dollar deficit that is stretched to the end of this decade. joining us now are the two cochairs of the commission, former republican senator alan simpson and erskine bowles, who was chief of staff to bill clinton. gentlemen, let's start with the size of the problem. according to the non-partisan congressional budget office, under the obama budget plan, by 2020, the national debt will be 90% of the u.s. economy, th

alan simpson and eric bowles.e represented for nearly 20 years and rose to the post of the public wit and took the lead on contentious issues such as social security reform. as white house chief of staff under president clinton mr. bowles helped broker the budget deal that paved the way for the nation's first balanced budget in 30 years. we have fought president obama for establishing this commission and especially credit him for choosing these two great americans as co-chairs will. they've already demonstrated the orie team and are leading the way on a bipartisanship that we so desperately need. who better to direct the discussion than leslie stahl of cbs news. please welcome alan simpson bowles and leslie. [applause] ♪ >> hello, everyone, thanks for coming. first i want to ask alan, how is your me? [laughter] [inaudible] [laughter] [inaudible] erskine hasn't been sympathetic at all. [laughter] >> i durham all over washington. >> can now we have dispensed with the funnies because our topic this kind of heavy. so,

alan simpson and former white house chief of staff. the bipartisan commission which sat down for the first time today. and then, janet napolitano on arizona's controversial new law against illegal immigration. send me your thoughts. you can find me on twitter at mitchell reports. not that long ago, many families were priced out of an overheated housing market. but the times have changed. get the facts at remax.com. today, the dream of owning a home seems more attainable than ever. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. take things as they come? ♪ i've got an idea. or improvise? ♪ maxwell house custom-roasts each bean... for a full-flavored cup of coffee. so you can be good to the last drop. i think we need more cups, mom. >>> our friends in the media will ask me and others once a week or once a day about what we're willing to rule out or rule in when it comes to the recommendations of the commission. that's an old washington game. we're not playing that game. i'm not going to say what's in. i'm not going to s

a former clinton white house chief of statue and former republican senator alan simpson. congress must act on the commission proposals at the end of the year. we did not pass statutory commission. i was for statutory commission. we did not pass it. president obama did what he could do in the face of that failure to set up a commission, and both majority leader reid and speaker pelosi and myself -- i schedule legislation -- have pledged that we will put on the floor between december 1 and december 31 the results of the commission. the results are not gaurn feed. -- guaranteed. you need 14 out of 18 votes on the commission to make a recommendation. that's an extraordinarily high bar. whether it can be reached given the membership of the commission is problematic. the greenspan commission had great difficulty in 19 2 in reaching a conclusion as well. it was jim baker in the white house that finally got a conclusion reached so that we could address social security. to get to that point, that point being where we have a recommendation, both republicans and democrats have to co

the republican co-chairman of the committee is the former republican senator alan simpson of wyominghe recounted his days in congress when all the time people talked about balancing the budget but kept spending money. >> both parties have done nothing to stem this unstemable tide. i was in that senate for 18 years and the cry to me was always, al, go bring home the bacon. well, the pig has died. >> the pig has died from alan simpson a reference there's no more money to spend on pork. we'll be back in a minute and ask the senators the tough choices. what should our government do? cut spending, raise taxes. can democrats and republicans get together? we'll talk about it in a minute. arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number of pills... compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day. ♪ 'cause band-aid®'s stuck on me ♪ [ female announcer ] moms trust band-aid® brand to heal the hurt better than store brands. ♪ i am stuck on band-aid® brand ♪ ♪ 'cause band-aid® helps heal me! ♪ ♪ and

the co-chairs alan simpson and erskine bowles were with us. is this the way to go? is it going to make a dent? >> congress has extreme difficulty making progress on a single front at a time, much less multiple fronts simultaneously. this commission is not a statutory commission, therefore that means that congress didn't buy in and there's no guaranteed vote. it's got a goal to try to be able to balance the budget without interest by 2015. it also needs to focus on how to stabilize debt to gdp at a sustainable level. and most importantly, it needs to engage the american people with the facts, the truth and the tough choices. and we'll see whether it will do that. >> let me ask you this, david. everybody talks about the tax plan and there's all this debate. you know, few people like to pay taxes, obviously. i mean, but everybody know that we pay taxes for the health of the country, and to create services. but do you believe that the tax revenue that's being spoken about right now in terms of race raizing taxes on the highest earnings is enough money? is that really go

dale bumpers, alan simpson, bill bradley, paul simon among others. bob dole was a part of that group resigned in somewhat different circumstances. and i think that you can look back on this they had pretty good lives after the senate. simpson back on the stage in his late seventies for the deficit commission. and there's a fine irony here. if you go back to the careers in the 50's they were framed by these norms that erich talked about. and the notion of the intercom all of its revolving around reciprocity in one form or another, trading apprentice should now for influence leader. being able to hussein willing to work hard so you would have the -- you would see the fruits of that labour. i was trying to think about if you could be a maverick today the way paul douglas or william proxmire was in the 1950's what would be a maverick if you don't have a very strong norms, how can you differ from the norms. and in many ways the senate -- we will talk about more until tomorrow -- but the one that alvan sets off as a highly polarized partisan center and the

please welcome alan simpson, erskine bowles, and lesley stahl. [applause] >> hello, everyone.hanks for coming. first i want to ask alan, how is your niece? -- have is your knee? it is new, and it is seven weeks old. it is healing. i have not had a drink. erskine has not been sympathetic at all. >> now that we have dispensed with the funnies, our topic is kind of heavy. senator simpson, let me just are often ask you whether the word "doable" is going to be factored into your deliberation. if it becomes pretty clear that there is a solution that is obvious, will you just toss it out there? or will the idea of whether this can fly politically be woven in to everything you do? >> let me just thank pete peterson. that wonderful man has been working with me. we worked on social security. he is more than all the things you see. there is a deaconess to him called patriotism. that is where he springs from -- there is a deepness to him. when we got the call, joe biden called and said i have a real deal for you. i said sure, joe, i have heard that for 30 years from you. he said my co-cha

you have alan simpson and erskine were here, what advice would you give them? >> there is an important reason with a commissioned work and others don't. if you have a commission which starts off and deliberate right point and gives it to congress, you get immediate reaction from the congress about all things. when you explain it to them, it doesn't make sense but they take a position. what has evolved is that we recognize this is a controversial issue and unless we have a bipartisan agreement, it would not work. what happened was bob ball who was an important analyst and social security commissioner many years ago -- he was tip o'neill's man on the commission. k)ñi was president reagan and jm baker's man on the commission. the two of us worked together exceptionally well. we kept our superiors fully informed as to what was going on. as the commission made progress and was coming to agreement, we brought the key political people involved to make certain that we could get support. at the end of the day, we can together with dissenting votes. bob ball and didecide

alan simpson voted with me all the time -- voted against me all the time betty told good jokes so i cut him some slack. erskine bowles is one of the ablest human beings on the planet. he served me as the head of the small business administration as the deputy chief staff, my chief of staff, he got the last budget agreement, he got the children health insurance program, the biggest increase in health care since medicare. he'd been great at the university of north carolina and he ran the effort i did for the un and the tsunami relief reconstruction. these people are release marked the -- really smart and they are able. they will know immediately what pressures the president and both parties in congress will be under. they are good enough to disregard the politics and smart enough to take them into account. if everybody jumps hands and jump together. >> you are better than on the one -- you'd better than anyone will remember the impact of ross perot on american politics. he did meet -- make people aware of the fiscal crisis that this country faces. was the fact that ross perot was in that

it has 18 members, 10 democrats and eight republicans, bipartisan cochairs, erskine bowles and alan simpson, the senate republican whip. the rope for will be submitted by december 1 of this year and importantly, the commission is coupled with firm commitments from congressional leaders to bring the panel's recommendations to a vote before the 111th congress adjourns, if 14 of the eight team members can agree. with these commitments, president's executive order is as close as we could get to the statutory commission senator gregg and i have proposed. it is going to take a lot of hard work and real dedication and difficult choices, but i am hopeful that this commission will come up with a bipartisan plan this year to address this nation's long-term budget crisis. with that, i wouldn't turn to senator gregg to make his opening remarks and then turned to individual members for their spirit again, i want to say to senator gregg, it's we appreciate the leadership you have given this country. we could not ask for more. >> thank you, senator conrad, and thank you for those kind words, and there rec

one of my best friends is alan simpson, former republican senator from wyoming. he and i get together and talk about how republicans and democrats rarely talk anymore. in washington, washington has become a much more polarized place than ever before. when i am on tock shoulders -- talk shows, very often pitted against the conservatives, the producer speaks into my ear and they say, we want you -- during station breaks they say, we want you to be angrier because that helps us sell products or gets people to stop surfing through the channels. when they see a very angry debate. we need to talk more with each other. republicans and democrats, most republicans feel and want to ultimately the same thing that ever one else wants, and all democrats won. we want good jobs, an economy -- and all democrats want. the one good jobs, an economy that is working well. i can tell you that a man who is not in washington and nema lager, but keeps careful tabs -- any longer, but keeps careful tabs on washington, this polarization keeps things out of control and does not reflect our

participants include cochairs of that commission, erskine bowles and alan simpson. michigan. terry on the independent line. caller: some of the things i find ironic is the idea that all they are talking about is fraud and things like this, but some of this is insider-trading also, isn't it? host: do you think it is? caller: martha stewart was thrown in jail because she move money out when she found out it was going bad. you sell me a stock, i am long run it and you are on the short side but you have more information than i have. isn't that insider trading? it is not just the federal government that we have to watch and have trouble with. this goes from federal, to state, all the way down to your local governments. in some of our areas around here, you can buy your property and own it but then they dictate the size of the house you have to build. so, we've got 300 or $400,000 homes, or what they say is 300,000 or $400,000 homes, and how are they supposed to pay for that and by $40,000 cars and people pay for it working at places like wal-mart making maybe $9 or $10 an hour? h

dale bumpers, alan simpson, bill bradley, paul simon among others.bob dole was a part of that group resigned in somewhat different circumstances. and i think that you can look back on this they had pretty good lives after the senate. simpson back on the stage in his late seventies for the deficit commission. and there's a fine irony here. if you go back to the careers in the 50's they were framed by these norms that erich talked about. and the notion of the intercom all of its revolving around reciprocity in one form or another, trading apprentice should now for influence leader. being able to hussein willing to work hard so you would have the -- you would see the fruits of that labour. i was trying to think about if you could be a maverick today the way paul douglas or william proxmire was in the 1950's what would be a maverick if you don't have a very strong norms, how can you differ from the norms. and in many ways the senate -- we will talk about more until tomorrow -- but the one that alvan sets off as a highly polarized partisan center and the

bowles, who was the head of the small business administration under president clinton, as well as alan simpson, former united states senator from wyoming who chaired this commission. and we're going to start in just a couple of weeks our inquiry and debate on what to do about our national debt. and it is one that's long overdue. but i think if we're honest about this, we realize it will take some thoughtful consideration and some time to come up with an approach that really deals with the debt in a humane and sensible way but doesn't stop our recovery in this recession. so we're tasked with doing that. senator baucus is a member of that commission as well. we'll spend some time together talking about it i'm sure. and we have to report by the end of the year. in the meantime, we'll be watching the appropriations bills that come through here to cut the waste out of the spending, if there is some, in some of these agencies and i'm sure we can find some. in the meantime, let's not really make the unemployed across america the vick tills of this debate. -- the victims of this debate. let us give th

it has 18 members, 10 democrats and eight republicans, bipartisan cochairs, erskine bowles and alan simpson, the senate republican whip. the rope for will be submitted by december 1 of this year and importantly, the commission is coupled with firm commitments from congressional leaders to bring the panel's recommendations to a vote before the 111th congress adjourns, if 14 of the eight team members can agree. with these commitments, president's executive order is as close as we could get to the statutory commission senator gregg and i have proposed. it is going to take a lot of hard work and real dedication and difficult choices, but i am hopeful that this commission will come up with a bipartisan plan this year to address this nation's long-term budget crisis. with that, i wouldn't turn to senator gregg to make his opening remarks and then turned to individual members for their spirit again, i want to say to senator gregg, it's we appreciate the leadership you have given this country. we could not ask for more. >> thank you, senator conrad, and thank you for those kind words, and there rec

one of my best friends is alan simpson, former republican senator from wyoming. he and i get together and talk about how republicans and democrats rarely talk anymore. in washington, washington has become a much more polarized place than ever before. when i am on tock shoulders -- talk shows, very often pitted against the conservatives, the producer speaks into my ear and they say, we want you -- during station breaks they say, we want you to be angrier because that helps us sell products or gets people to stop surfing through the channels. when they see a very angry debate. we need to talk more with each other. republicans and democrats, most republicans feel and want to ultimately the same thing that ever one else wants, and all democrats won. we want good jobs, an economy -- and all democrats want. the one good jobs, an economy that is working well. i can tell you that a man who is not in washington and nema lager, but keeps careful tabs -- any longer, but keeps careful tabs on washington, this polarization keeps things out of control and does not reflect our

one of my best friends is alan simpson, former republican senator from wyoming. he and i get together and talk about how republicans and democrats rarely talk anymore. in washington, washington has become a much more polarized place than ever before. when i am on tock shoulders -- talk shows, very often pitted against the conservatives, the producer speaks into my ear and they say, we want you -- during station breaks they say, we want you to be angrier because that helps us sell products or gets people to stop surfing through the channels. when they see a very angry debate. we need to talk more with each other. republicans and democrats, most republicans feel and want to ultimately the same thing that ever one else wants, and all democrats won. we want good jobs, an economy -- and all democrats want. the one good jobs, an economy that is working well. i can tell you that a man who is not in washington and nema lager, but keeps careful tabs -- any longer, but keeps careful tabs on washington, this polarization keeps things out of control and does not reflect our

please welcome alan simpson, erskine bowles, and lesley stahl. [applause] >> hello, everyone.hanks for coming. first i want to ask alan, how is your niece? -- have is your knee? it is new, and it is seven weeks old. it is healing. i have not had a drink. erskine has not been sympathetic at all. >> now that we have dispensed with the funnies, our topic is kind of heavy. senator simpson, let me just are often ask you whether the word "doable" is going to be factored into your deliberation. if it becomes pretty clear that there is a solution that is obvious, will you just toss it out there? or will the idea of whether this can fly politically be woven in to everything you do? >> let me just thank pete peterson. that wonderful man has been working with me. we worked on social security. he is more than all the things you see. there is a deaconess to him called patriotism. that is where he springs from -- there is a deepness to him. when we got the call, joe biden called and said i have a real deal for you. i said sure, joe, i have heard that for 30 years from you. he said my co-cha

dale bumpers, alan simpson, bill bradley, paul simon among others.bob dole was a part of that group resigned in somewhat different circumstances. and i think that you can look back on this they had pretty good lives after the senate. simpson back on the stage in his late seventies for the deficit commission. and there's a fine irony here. if you go back to the careers in the 50's they were framed by these norms that erich talked about. and the notion of the intercom all of its revolving around reciprocity in one form or another, trading apprentice should now for influence leader. being able to hussein willing to work hard so you would have the -- you would see the fruits of that labour. i was trying to think about if you could be a maverick today the way paul douglas or william proxmire was in the 1950's what would be a maverick if you don't have a very strong norms, how can you differ from the norms. and in many ways the senate -- we will talk about more until tomorrow -- but the one that alvan sets off as a highly polarized partisan center and the