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senator simpson has no problem saying what he thinks with his candor, and he joins me now. alan, nice to have you on the program. >> it's a pleasure. i enjoyed last night. we happened to see each other at a very nice event. and i got to see how effective and skilled you are. >> thank you so much, senator. let me ask you about the events this week. so this week we saw president obama scold congress and particularly republican leadership for not coming up with a plan to raise the $14 trillion debt ceiling. was this the right tactic? can you talk to us about the dangers that we face today? >> well, they're very real. everybody -- i can't tell you in the year that erskine and i worked and the commission, wonderful people both sides of the aisle, whether they voted for it or not isn't the issue. i'll agree deficit denial is dead. how many times congresspersons in office would come up to us and say "save us from ourselves." now that's pretty -- and they're not joking. they can't do it. don't ask me all the reasons. ask them. but reelection is a great thing out there. they don't want t

one experienced voice has been that of retired republican senator alan simpson of wyoming. he was the co-chair of last year's special presidential commission on the debt. >> if we don't get a plan out of this by august 2nd, then hold on tight. >> and "hold on tight" implies what? >> implies inflation. it implies that ñeople who are going to loan us money want more interest first. it will be a different lifestyle for americans, and inflation will eat through the system, and the littlest guys will be the ones most hammered. >> if we don't raise the debt limit, we would probably have a crash in the market and it would be very serious. >> i think we are talking about a moral issue. we do not want to leave our children and our grandchildren with a worse economy and a much harder life than we are enjoying. there's no mystery about the cause of the debt problem. as the number of older americans has gone up, so have the costs of the so-called "entitlements" -- medicare, medicaid and social security. new medical technology drives up health care costs, and two wars have gone unpaid f

senator alan simpson he says that refusing to pay more taxes is bowl crap because you. well you know again this is what david brooks said in an op ed the new york times is a republican. already has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological approach as though their goal governing alternative the members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise no matter how sweet the terms it is on the right the members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars the actual members of this movement have no sense of moral decency and members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name and congressman duncan hunter said this about ronald reagan he said well here it is. how out of whack are republicans that even their savior ronald reagan couldn't get away with it i disagree with that ronald reagan inspired argument that he was a moderate i don't subscribe to was he an amazing individual i mean if he raised an interesting one times on what i'm talking about campaigning i'm talking about getting capturing or you know early. now if

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. >> neil: senator alan simpson, we're going to get the business community's reaction as well as what the markets might do on monday morning. let's say we're still kind of where we are now monday morning or even tomorrow night, as asia opens. what do we do. we know someone who had a chance to react. saudi arabiaen market and has more to do with global slowdowns fears, that's another thing we haven't discussed yet. we will, as charles payne is coming up next. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. and saving money with allstate doesn't stop there... kim and james are what you might call overly protective. especially behind the wheel. nothing wrong with that. in fact, allstate gives them a bonus -- twice a year -- for being safe drivers. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. >> welcome back everybody, neil cavuto at the united states capitol where we're waiting to see what happens the next couple of days. you know, there's actuall

. >>> up next, i spoke with senator alan simpson who co-chaired last year the reduction on the radiot pleased with the deal the former colleagues the urgency of raising the debt ceiling is majorly overblown. listen to this. >> final question if i might for senator simpson. what's the response to those out there saying michele bachmann included we don't want to raise the debt ceiling and that frankly this is a whole chicken little thing that's been created, it's really not going to be as bad as they say it's going to be? >> it will be a different desks of chicken but the last word won't be little. >> clear what he was getting up. >>> next up, speaking about fuel-efficient vehicles in washington. thinking ahead to his daughter getting behind the wheel. let's listen. >> as some of you may know it's only a matter of time until malia gets her learner's permit. so i'm hoping to see one of those models that gets a top speed of 15 miles an hour. >> motivation for all dads out there 20 get to get behind this. that's "hardball" for now. chris matthews will be back on monday. up next, "your bus

. >> reporter: former republican senator alan simpson, who co-chaired the deficit commission, says the american people are rightly disgusted and he's rightly bother ed about republicans undermining any chance of speaker boehner compromising. >> if that's what's going on in my party, it's disguguing to me. >> reporter: a democrat familiar with negotiations said at the most recent meeting there was a growing recognition that they needed to put aside the talking points and get to work. but the clock is t tking. jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >>> mental health professionals are denouncing what they call a potentially dangerous therapy for gay people at a clinic owned by presidential hopeful michele bachmann and her husband. an abc news investigation revealed undercover video shot by a gay rights grououshowing a counselor offering to help the through prayer.e his gay urges that video has prompted questions about whether the bachmann clinic receives medicaid payments for a therapy considered harmful. on capitol hill bachmann refused to respond to the criticism. >> i'm not doing any

. >> reporter: former republican senator alan simpson, who co-chaired the deficit commission, said the american people are rightly disgusted. and he's personally bothered by republicans undermining any chance of speaker boehner >> if that's the stuff that's going on in my party, where the pettiness overcomes the patriotism, it's disgusting to me. >> reporter: and diane, a democrat familiar with negotiations said there was, this evening in that room, a growing recognition they need to put aside the talking points and get to work. but diane, the clock is ticking. >> that's right, jake, thank you. >>> and now we want to tell you about the reaction today from doctors and mental health professionals to the brian ross investigation you saw here last night. it is was a closer look at the company owned by michele bachmann and her husband. and brian had video taken by an outside group showing what was said to a gay client. an approach discredited by professionals and deemed potentially dangerous to those seeking help. and abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross is back here tonight.

. >> i think that's based on the simpson bowles numbers and i think you're having alan simpson on your show later. i very much support what they did, i support what the gang of six tried to do in the senate and i think that's the solution and hopefully what they'll get to and maybe we'll get a vote on-- >> i notice there's been a tit for tat between the two bodies between the house and senate. the house says something and two hours later senate picks up the boehner measurely and the guys in the house, oh, no you didn't. we'll pick up a facsimile of what the senate is looking at, plan, and on and on. >> it's not helpful and folks around the nation are sick and tired of this politics, and that's politics, that's not leadership. and we have a lot of people in washington, who are very, very good at campaigning, unfortunately, don't have as many as good as governing. >> what's your gut say? >> that we will get something worked out. it may look like frankenstein in the end and i think they will keep something together. >> not to compare the two, but the frankenstein in this case, we're told,

. >> reporter: former republican senator alan simpson who co-chaired the deficit commission said themerican people are rightly disgusted and he's personally bothered by republicans undermining any chance of speaker boehner compromising. >> if that's the stuff that's going on in my party, where the pettiness overcomes the patriotism, it's disgusting to me. >> reporter: a democrat familiar with negotiations said at the most recent meeting there is a growing recognition that they needed to put aside the talking points and get to work. but the clock is ticking. jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >>> a suburban, new orleans man arrived home from work toind a horrific scene. his wife and three small daughters were shot to death. the girls were all in one bed with their mother lying across them and at the foot of the bed. at this point police believe it was a case of murder-suicide. >>> overseas where funeral services are set tomorrow for the brother of afghan president hamid karzai. walid karzai was gunned down by a trusted associate yesterday. the taliban claimed responsibility for t

and also co-chaired by alan simpson, former republican senator from wyoming.a plan that reduced the deficits over ten years by about $4 trillion. 2/3 to 3/4 on the spending side, 1/3 on the revenue side. and the gang of six is really an outgrowth. some of the people who served on the deficit commission with erskine bowles and alan simpson. >> we have received -- we have word from the white house that this plan, so far of just six, moves forward, that the president is now willing to agree to a short-term extension on the federal debt ceiling. we listened to him before, what was it, last week in the daily briefing where he derided the whole plan. he said i don't want to kick the can down the road. i want a long-term fix. what is your reaction to the turn around? what do you think, senator, changed the president's mind? >> well, the president sat in negotiations with john boehner in the house and senate, he wanted a big deal, wanted to try to get to $4 trillion in deficit savings. a democrat, we have to be willing to put on the table entitlement programs and we a

a republican like alan simpson who is off the budget commission, has said that it is not the president who is to be faulted for an unwillingness to compromise. there is plenty of movement to entertain spending cuts. the question is whether it's going to be 100% spending cuts of one type or whether there's going to be any balance. it's not that the president and his colleagues have talked about the prospect of raising taxes on middle class families. it's not that they've even talked about raising income tax rates. they've talked about eliminating a special tax break for the owners of corporate jets. >> but those are trivial numbers. you'd have to do a lot more than that. >> even though -- you would ultimately perhaps have to do more. but even corporate jets and hedge fund special treatment is too much revenue increase for the congressional majority. i don't think there should be any confusion here about who's willing to walk a mile to compromise so far. the president has shown that in any of a variety of ways, and the president has never said that it's my way or default. the president w

all of those new house republican members so reckless and in the words of former senator alan simpsonng republican. they're putting pettiness over patriotism and that's unacceptable. >> mike: i've got to tell you when the president used the metaphor about the peas, as a southern boy, that's the best thing we could do is eat our black eyed peas, and whole peas, that's not a punishment, that's a gift. i don't understand, the democrats have gotten the talking points and using the phrase a balanced approach. that's off the fax machine. i understand where it's coming from. the balanced approach means let's raise taxes. >> no, governor it doesn't really mean that. >> mike: elliss. >> the people at the top ought to share some of the burden. we don't want-- >> you don't think-- >> stick it to grandma. >> mike: paying most of the taxes? look, i agree with you, lets he' get rid of the loopholes, let's don't raise the tax rates. that's what people are wanting to do raise tax rates. that's counterproductive. if you want to lower rates and create a situation, you don't have the loopholes and i thi

with le big budget brawl continues, alive this weekend on saturday, with alan simpson and scott walker. and the fellow in the cow by hat. he will be with me is for him to get out of bed is reason enough for our country to take note. we're there. hope you. stock scaring granny with the checks and give federal workers some time off instead? who says the speaker's bill is going south? he has something to say on that. live next. miss gopie is the besr i ever had. she's amang, i love her. [ de ] i'm teaching jasmine ap biology. i knew she had the talent... i always pushed her. [ jasmine ] her class you literally have to think, le it takes so long to do her homework. [ jade ] she's gained the confidence that she can achieve anything. [ jasmine ] i'm going to be aediatrician... and i'm going to make this dream come true. a 100 percent. ♪ it all happened so fast. it was clearly too late for me to do anything as my mercedes collision system automatically kicked in. the next thing i know, the mercedes stopped itself. ♪ watching what mercedes has done in bringing together these sensors in a car w

those times, there is a great lisa myers piece that has all of the retiring senators from 1996, alan simpsonhere talking about how, oh, the partisanship of this new washington, this is washington circa 1996, which is too much to take and can't believe it. >> you know, it's certainly the chase we had knocked down, drag out fights all along. frankly, a lot of the problems started around the 1994 elections. newt gingrich used an approach that worked. took him 16 years to get there, that was, we have to destroy this institution to save it, to bring in a majority. we've had close partisan margins since pt the permanent campaign takes over. so all of those problems back then have been exacerbated until now. but you can go back then and we found solutions to the immigration problem, with ron masoli, a democrat joining. plenty of partisanship. simpson himself said, said i would never come back now. we used to sit down and say, what can we do to help the country jt now it's what can we do to screw the other guys? >> a lot of chatter about a third way, third parties independent run. all of it folks, i

as former senator alan simpson said, when push came to shove, reagan agreed 11 times to a package that included revenue. for the good the country and for the good of compromise. unfortunately, that is what we are not seeing now. on one hand, let's get a big bargain. all the other hand, setting traditions that make it impossible because the number one priority is not reducing the deficit, the number one priority has been protecting the special interest here in washington. let's change that. >> we have two minutes left. we apologize. >> the backup plan -- if you cannot come to an agreement, is there a viable way to avoid this? you do not know the details at this point? >> no. >> madam leader, cut cap and balance? >> we will talk about that later. we want to see what that is because we just heard about it. the balanced budget amendment was a trojan horse. this would be even worse from what i have heard. i have to go see it. we know of that and what was introduced by the republican senators. this one may be even worse. thank you. >> thank you. >> next, obama talks about ways to reduce the

bolwles and formr senator alan simpson asking everybody to take part getting a handle on the debt whichonference us and it's essential and everybody agrees. the question is how do you do it? who gets hurt jt do you as the amendment on flort or the bill on the floor of the house of representatives today, present the wealthiest among us? protect the tax loopholes that exist throughout our code and require a two-thirds vote to repeal any of them. a protection of the best office in america while a majority vote would undermine least well off in our country. i don't think that's the direction americans want to go. >> and i think that's why i think senator coburn's plan was so interesting. he basically said, i'll go for the tax code in opposition to the grover norquist fringe republican group that you're dealing with in the house. senator coburn, i think, is a little more of a statesman in that regard. also the military. >> takes courage. >> and hits entitlements. my kind of conservative at the end of the day. if were you to look at the democrats, specifically if something comes out of the ga

i was watching you earlier today and former senator alan simpson who served on the president's budget commitment along with erskine bowles told you earlier today, and i'm quoting here, the agencies are looking at united states congress are on a mountain and about to give birth to a mouse. in the end, it's the little guy will be hurt if the downgrade takes place. is it the little guy that gets hurt? >> yes, i do notice when we look for signals coming up here, you played some bites, among them the president earlier, who has now changed his talk away from the risk of default to the risk of a credit downgrading because i don't think we're going to be looking at a default. a default would be a nonpayment on a bond holder, some of these extended through social security and medicare beneficiary. i don't see that happening and the president was among the early sort of warners, if you will, saying, look, you don't move on this, we're going to default. so, now they've taken that talk off the table and dialed it down a bit to say the risk of a downgrade is imminent. i think, kelly, that regardle

but let me ask you about what bipartisan folks like bowles, alan simpson, the center for responsible federal budget. i mean they're saying there's simply no way to get at this huge $14 trillion debt just on the spending side, that you have to go after revenues to get to that number. >> i think there's really two parts to that, judy. one is to reduce the overall business tax rate hopefully to make us more competitive globally. as i read president clinton reiterated today just makes sense if it's cheaper to do business here in the united stat, then jobs will be created here. if it's cheaper to keep that cash and to create jobs abroad, that's what businesses will do because it makes economic sense. but again i think the last thing i would think you would want to do when the recovery is is so anemic and when the private sector is sort of sitting on the side lines because they don't know what the costs of doing business are going to be, tax rates, regulatory policy, that i think we need to find a way to relieve that anxiety by saying, you know what? during a fragile economic recovery just

. >> you remember back last year the president had a fiscal commission led by alan simpson, a bipartisan commission to recommend how to deal with long-term deficit reduction and getting debt under control. the whole notion of the gang of six, its creation, was to try to take those recommendations and turn them into legislation that can pass the congress. they've been working behind closed doors. tom coburn the republican from oklahoma left the group, came back to the group now. he it never quite looked like they were going to be able to produce something. to be clear they still haven't produced legislation but the day they emerged with something they never emerged with before whic is an outline of a framework because they saw this august 2 debt limit vote to increase the debt limit as an opportunity to really influence where this conversation is going on the deficit reduction side. >> woodruff: and the president came right out, he's making a regular habit i guess of talking to reporters in the white house press briefing room and he embraced the idea of it. >> he did. first of all he said

incidentally, i want to say for the record former senator alan simpson said -- and i quote -- "ronald reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration. i was here. i was here. i knew him better than anybody in the room. he was a real friend and a total realist as to politics." i yield the floor. mr. mccain: in retrospect, the one thing president reagan said he regretted and he regretted was the agreement that w

. >> alan simpson in "time" magazine says why would i ever sign a pledge based on something that hasn'tven happened yet. >> right. but those who have signed it know that it is first of all, very clear, very direct and can be evaluated by future republican primary voters, and in an era when there is redistricting and tea party primary threats in many different districts and states, this has become a bedrock issue for republicans as they view the debt ceiling issue and whether or not net tax increases are permissible. so whatever room there was this morning has since evaporated and we are at that same loggerheads on this particular question. >> although you certainly get the sense from listening to just my conversation with ryan and listening to what's happening on the hill, there are serious conversations going on right now and deals are being discussed. are being discussed. >> yes, the latest rumor is that the president is now floating an idea of a $3 trillion with no revenue in it, and senate sources have said that they are concerned tha concerned about this possibility. and when there

about 18 months to that fiscal responsibility commission that he set up with erskine bowles and alan simpson. they were broadly in line with each other. at the same time he's saying we're running out of time. keep the momentum going and we'll look for the bigger deal. whether the two things match up, whether you can come up with the sketch, an agreed sketch of this bigger deal in time for the debt ceiling is an open question here. even if the hope can be kept alye. it's not clear that you can get all of these things together to go in $4 trillion of cuts over the next decades. they're obviously feeling much better about this whole process many the white house. >> of course, the mcconnell, he said that mitch mcconnell and harry reid's proposal is a fail safe if they can't get this all done. when the books on this and you're one of the prime authors, when the books are written on this, richard, we may go back to why the president, why this white house did not fully embrace simpson-bowles back when they had the opportunity and whether we would have had a very different outcome and a very differe

he chose alan simpson, former republican senator. they submit ad -- submitted a statement to the budget committee. that statement was this country faces the most predictable economic crisis in its history. we've got to act, they told us. and they said when could this crisis happen? mr. bowles said it could happen within two years. not our children and grandchildren. he said two years, maybe a little sooner, maybe a little later, and alan simpson popped up as cochairman of the committee and he said i think it could be one year. in other words, some sort of economic crisis like we had in 2007-2008 or something that could put our economy in a tailspin. it's that serious. and the debt trajectory path we're on is unsustainable, and tomorrow i have to say tomorrow will mark the 800th day that this senate has not had a budget we're spending -- we're borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar we spend and we have gone this long without a budget. there is no plan apparently to present one. a chairman of the budget committee where i'm ranking repu

chaired bier sin bowles and alan simpson, and the 11 members of that commission, ems of members of this body currently serving senators, republican and democrat, who came together around a plan that would make $4 trillion in savings over the next decade. i think we should do no less than that. and i think the plan that we should be working on in detail now should include all four major areas where we have to have savings. reductions in discretionary domestic spending, reform to our entitlement programs, reductions in pentagon spending, and increases in federal revenue through tax reform. all four of these have to be on the table. in my view, our values ask no less than that. as we work through a recovery, we need to continue to invest in education, in infrastructure, in innovation, but we also need to responsibly put together a bipartisan path that will take on the sacred cows of this institution and of america's tax code. just three weeks ago we had more than 70 senators cast votes end to the $6 billion in needless ethanol subdisissments i hope that was an opening door towards a recogn

the president appointed deficit commission co-chaired by erskine bowles and by former senator alan simpsonf the 18 commission members recommended a path forward on deficit reduction that added up to roughly $4 trillion over ten years, roughly two-thirds of it on the spending side, a third on the revenue side. they did not call for raising tax rates. they did call for broadening the tax base and eliminating a number of so-called tax expenditures. so it turns out we have about $15 trillion worth of tax expenditures, tax breaks and credits, all kinds of things, add up to about $15 trillion over the next ten years. and if we could find maybe 10% of those to reduce, we could have a deficit reduction deal that did 4, four and a half trillion dollars without raising the rates. jon: what about waste? it's my understanding you're an advocate of reducing waste in the federal budget. how much could you squeeze? >> a lot of people are fearful on the medicare and medicaid side. folks, democrats, republicans and independents are concerned about savaging medicare and medicaid. there's something that the

what alan simpson said, it's not about republicans, it's not about democrats, it's about money and therican people are suffering. in 2012, americans are going to remember this and they are going to vote. >> another thing that they said, tea party leadership was about patriotism. are there are going to be consequences? huge consequences for republicans but after john boehner's performance. his performance was over the top. >> as a tea party supporter and i talk to tea party members they believe they are standing on principles. working in washington, d.c. you have to compromise. >> until i heard the republicans say there was going to be deal i thought they were so rigid, but i'm glad there is going to be a deal because i think they realize if there is no deal, throw the bums out. >> harris: it's not the first time they --. >> heather: i want if they believe they have been listening anymore. >> i think people we're engaged and they learning a lot and how things work in capitol hill. >> things are not working primarily because of people who want to say take it or leave it. people that are

incidentally, i want to say for the record former senator alan simpson said -- and i quote -- "ronald reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration. i was here. i was here. i knew him better than anybody in the room. he was a real friend and a total realist as to politics." i yield the floor. mr. mccain: in retrospect, the one thing president reagan said he regretted and he regretted was the agreement that was made with the democratic leadership that we would cut spending by $3 and increase taxes for $1 for every cut in spending. that was the ironclad agreement. and guess what happened? we increased spending, and we did -- excuse me. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. mccain: and the fact is we raised taxes and did not cut spending, and that was a direct violation of the commitment he got from the democratic leadership. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the >> there was a vote earlier in the senate on the debt and deficit measure put forth by harry reid. it failed to move forward. needed 60 votes and only have 50. the senate h

the deficit commission was chaired by former republican senator alan simpson. all of that work is being ignored right now. and the so-called gang of six here did an outstanding job, in my judgment, of helping to put together a bipartisan plan which actually included revenue and, i think, some 20-some republican senators were prepared to support a thoughtful, balanced plan that had both revenues as well as cuts. so we can find common ground here. we need to find that common ground here. over the last year we've seen a number of bipartisan plans put forward on the debt limit. i think that the effort of the gang of six really exemplified the best tradition of the senate, where a group of members reach across the aisle and worked with each other to tackle the tough issues. that's how we got a budget deal in 1990. that's how we got a budget deal in 1997. we have done this before, and we did it growing our economy, creating 23 million new jobs, creating a surplus of $5.6 trillion. and had we stayed on that course, we would next year be paying down the debt of our nat

the deficit commission was chaired by former republican senator alan simpson. all of that work is being ignored right now. and the so-called gang of six here did an outstanding job, in my judgment, of helping to put together a bipartisan plan which actually included revenue and, i think, some 20-some republican senators were prepared to support a thoughtful, balanced plan that had both revenues as well as cuts. so we can find common ground here. we need to find that common ground here. over the last year we've seen a number of bipartisan plans put forward on the debt limit. i think that the effort of the gang of six really exemplified the best tradition of the senate, where a group of members reach across the aisle and worked with each other to tackle the tough issues. that's how we got a budget deal in 1990. that's how we got a budget deal in 1997. we have done this before, and we did it growing our economy, creating 23 million new jobs, creating a surplus of $5.6 trillion. and had we stayed on that course, we would next year be paying down the debt of our nat

if you ask people like alan simpson, they will say they spent on roads and bridges.not say, we took this unfunded wars. but that is where the budget swelling came from. host: one question, is your guest some social security and medicare has no fraud and abuse? millions are cheating or liberal system. guest: if there is fraud, i support cutting it. but we're talking about cutting the cost of living increase for social security, means testing it, cutting medicare benefits, increasing copays, increasing the retirement age -- which would be a huge benefit cut to people over the course of their lifetime. host: bob, republican. good morning. caller: i have been watching this stuff on sosa security and everything. i have been on it for good number of years. most of the money that comes through, some people do not make that much on social security. if they end up cutting are putting their fingers in it, so to speak, some of these people do not make a lot of money in social security and depend on this to pay for their medical bills and their food and rent and everything else.

as alan simpson said, when push came to shove, reagan agreed 11 times to packages that included revenue. for the good of the country and the good of compromise. unfortunately, that is what we are not seeing now. let's get a big bargain -- a bargain and setting petitioned the make it impossible because the number one priority has been protecting the special interests in washington. let's change that. >> we have two minutes before we have to go vote. i apologize but reactive -- >> if you guys cannot come to a rigid and agreement, -- you do not know the details? >> now. >> it is outrageous. we will talk about that later. i want to see what it does. we just heard about it. as bad as their so-called balanced budget amendment was, it was a trojan horse to bring in the ryan plan. this is worse. from what we know of it, this is even worse. >> the topic of the debt negotiations came upon the house floor as members were wrapping up for the weekend during a colloquy between eric cantor. this is about 25 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will yield back. the chair recognizes the gentl

place we feel like we've lost sight of all of that and in that conversation you're talking about, alan simpson was should big part, gary hart, a number f people, it was abundantly clear, blindingly obvious to the people in that room that you couldn't approach this problem by drawint cight lines and saying no, you can't press this or touch that.e if they knew everybody was going to have to give a little bit here in order to make this work in some of that line drawing ist the way to get past. on >> a comment on two elements of what my colleagues alluded to. what's dhaka at social securityn those in our party said keepff your hands off social security. prram so i know it a strong and important program it is.hildre beyond by wife raise our children and our parents toy retreat to the dignity in theirn later years had the assurancesby of medicare. but if you think social security on paper is solvent you what to think again because there's t $3 trillion owed to the trust fund by the federal government i and yet social security isn't responsible for the shortfalldol because we've taken those dollars a