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you can critique it, but it is essentially what was offered by a commission in 1999 headed by alice rivlin. >> it is completely and listed to think you will do with this -- completelynrealistic to think he will do this without tax increases. . >> democrats have not offered -- the republicans have offered to cut $6.60 trillion. in the end, it would obviously have to be a deal where taxes are included, but the democrats have done nototng but demagogue the plan and destroy it, leaving us with what? the obama administration budget, defeated 97-0 in the senate because it is so embarrassing. >> you are saying that republicans are going to face up to reality and raise taxes? >> the republicans are opening the debate by saying we start by cutting completely out of control spending -- >> endorsing higher taxes? >> of course i am endorsing higher taxes. i have done it for years and i did a month ago. we are historically much higher than we were for the last 50 years. 25% of gdp. historic averages 19. you have to start their trade in the end, you have to have tax it -- you have to start there. in the

i liked the proposal by former republican senator pete domenici and alice rivlin, a democratic formerudget official. they have the idea of premium support for seniors. but they allow you to go into the marketplace and shop for what you might want for health care insurance. if you do not find what you want, you can fall back on traditional medicare. i think that would make many seniors a lot more comfortable. it would not apply to anyone who is over 55. >> you mentioned that the gang of six is now the gang of five. while they continue to meet and talk with other senators in a bipartisan solution, they are pretty much on ice as far as an agreement anytime soon. i wonder if you still see the prospect for a deal of the scope that they were trying to work on, $4 trillion over a decade, along the framework erskine bowles and alan simpson came up with last year, or do you see a smaller deal, half that amount, whatever can be agreed on in what is a short period of time between now and august 2? >> i think it all depends on president obama. if president obama decides if he wants to embrace a p

the directors including alice rivlin, the cbo first director, robert reischauer, rudolph penner, and douglas holtz-eakin. author of the "honest numbers: power in policymaking." this is two hours. >> issues that we're having about issues of national important. i'm described so many people from diverse backgrounds through organizations bound, i'm sure, by the singular attraction to discussions of the federal budget are with us this afternoon. before we move on, i want to just pass on a couple of thank yous. the first is to georgetown university prez -- press which is a co-sponsor and the house budget committee for lets us use their hearing room. it's an appropriate forum for the discussion about debt. i don't have to spend much time why this is a timely talking. we were treated to a near government shutdown. by early august, it will be necessary to increase the debt limit, in order to prevent the unprecedented default in the debt. in longer term, of course, the levels of debt that we have are unsustainable, making it imperative that something be done about them. there appears to be con

to my immediate right is alice rivlin. she is a visiting professor at the public policy institute at georgetown university, a senior fellow not economic studies program in brookings and literally almost done it all. she's a former director of omb, vice chair of the federal reserve board, co-chair of the task force on debt reduction, and also on president obama's debt commission. in 2008, she was named one of the greatest public servants of the last 25 years, but there's a single line in her bio that represents her greatest accomplish wants. she's the founding director of the congressional budget office that she served at from 1975 to 1983. to her right is rudolph penner, an institute fellow at the urban institute holding the chair and public policy. he was a managing director of the barrens group, a pmg company, been affiliated with the american enterprise institute and held positions at omb, hud, and home of add providers. he was on the cbo from 1983-87. next to him is the vice chair and also one of two trustees the socia

this is why be bipartisan policy center chaired by former senator pete domenici and alice rivlin recommended eliminating the tax exemption. it would be appropriate for the senate to hold hearings on this tax exemption. what is the cost of the tax subsidy? the most sophisticated analysis to date was done by the non- partisan tax foundation, which values the subsidy at $3 billion a year and $32 billion over the window. the loan that was overpriced by 400 basis points was made possible by this tax subsidy and a failure to adequately and evaluate the risk. when credit unions seek to expand their business lending powers and become the equivalent of banks, lacking expanded lending powers to the tax exemption is a matter of tax equity. thank you for convening this important hearing. as a community banker, i feel the direct impact of creating commercial lending. i am grateful to provide my perspective. we coat -- we strongly encourage this committee to reject the calls for tax subsidized credit unions. it will not measurably expand small business credit or expand -- or create jobs. i looked over to

made is that he is more in favor of the pete domenici, a former budget committee chairman, and alice rivlin's plan, which is a similar approach to paul ryan's, in that it transforms medicare, but it allows people to stay in a traditional program if they don't find a choice they like in the private market. he said he would be more in favor of that kind of choice. for republicans, that is a much safer place to be, because then when democrats say you want to end medicare as we know it, they say, no, we want to leave medicare as you know it, but also give people a better choice that they can opt for. so politically that's probably where we're going to see a lot of republicans end up. >> for democrats, joe, is that something they could agree to? >> you've heard some democrats say they're open to sort of minor changes in medicare and medicaid, but not the more fundamental changes that republicans are talking about. so they're carving out space for themselves to agree to some changes on the entitlement side, but they seem nowhere near endorsing any sort of large-scale changes at this point. >> joe s

pete dough minute neech chi, republican, co-chaired something with alice rivlin the democrat, he donet to the levels that it needs to be reduced without having some revenue in the mix. and the revenue we're talking about isn't coming out of the pockets of middle class families that are struggling. it's coming out of folks who are doing extraordinarily well and are enjoying the lowest tax rates since before i was born. if you're -- if you are a wealthy ceo or a health -- hedge fund manager in america right now your taxes are lower than they have ever been. they're lower than they've been since the 1950s. and you can afford it. you'll still be able to ride on your corporate jet, you'll just have to pay a little more. and if we -- i just want to emphasize what i said earlier. if we do not have revenues, that means there are a bunch of kids who are not getting college scholarships. if we do not have those revenues, then the kinds of cuts that would be required might compromise the national weather service. it means that we would not be funding critical medical research. it means that food

he is more in favor of the pete domenici -- former budget committee chairman -- domenici and alice rivlin's plan which is a similar approach to paul ryan's, in that it transforms medicare but it allows people to stay in the traditional program if they do not find a choice they like in the private market. he says he would be more in favor of that kind of approach. politically for republicans, that is a much safer place to be. then when democrats say you want to end medicare as we know it, they say, no, we want to leave medicare as we know it ,but also give people a better choice that they can opt for. that may be where a lot of republicans end up. >> but politically for democrats, joe, that's something they could agree to. >> you've heard some democrats in recent days say they are open to minor changes in medicare and medicaid. but not the more fundamental changes that the republicans are talking about. so they are carving out a little bit of place for changes in the entitlement side. but they seem nowhere near enforcing any sort of large- scale changes at this point. >> joe schatz, a senior

alice rivlin and i made a crack at this. they call it the rivlin-ryan plan which is to save medicare and medicaid, the biggest drivers of debt in the future. we thought that had that included the fiscal commission plan that would have been a substantial improvement. you can't fix this problem. you just can't fix this problem if you don't deal with health care entitlements. not dealing with health care entitlement means you're not fixing the problem. so if you fix the health care entitlement that's a huge step in the right direction that brings people on. >> i agree we need to fix the retirement and health care is a central question here having spent the last year's survive the political campaign accused of having cut $500 million in health care i know what that's like and we do need to move beyond that into a world we are having a rational conversation. i think my own view is the folks in my town hall would think well of the balance the debt and deficit commission struck a around revenue and the cuts made to the discretionar

news sunday" -- at 3:00 p.m., on cnn "state of the union," austin goals we -- austan goolsbee and alice rivlin0 p.m., on cbs "face the nation," the host interviews nancy pelosi and governor haley barbour. the network tv talk shows are brought to you as a public service by the networks and c- span. 1:00 p.m., "this week," 2:00, 1:00 p.m., "this week," 2:00, "fox news sunday," 3:00, "state of the union," and 4:00, "face the nation." >> during his three terms as speaker of the house in the 1890's, he changed the structure of the house. >> he was impugned as a tyrant because the overturned a longstanding custom in the house. the minority would be on equal footing with the majority. >> tonight, james grant, on his new biography. c-span's "q&a." you can download this and other programs as podcasts online. this weekend on american history tv, eileen shanahan talks about her sex discrimination lawsuit against the paper. we will look back in 50 years at america's failed attempt to overthrow the castro regime at the bay of pigs. it a complete schedule online -- get the complete schedule on line. "washin

we have people highly respected -- alice rivlin, a democrat, was not only the vice president of the reserve board -- board but also former cbo director and the democrats. we have been diminishing -- i think -- pete domenici. they cut to 97 deal that led to the balanced budget. i think we have substantial credibility. on top of that, some fries and like, when you sit comparisons made and the testimony on capitol hill, a lot of the ideas we put forth -- alice has testified and pete testified, probably over the last five weeks we have seen probably 100 staff members or members themselves and the house and senate. we've got a good reception and we will see if we can continue to be useful. host: from indiana, on the independent line. good morning. caller: i have heard every politician and even this gentleman addressed cutting and the cutting you are talking about is a from people who put the money into the pot. you talk about entitlements. if he went into the bank and deposit and money, do you think he would be entitled to get the money back in some way or fashion? but we put money into these pr

alice rivlin who served as budget director under president bill clinton said it best -- "there is no mystery about what we ought to do. we just need to get on with it." mr. president, we just need to get on with it, but that hasn't happened. and despite the president's own recognition of the single biggest driver of our federal debt and despite the warning sirens from economists and even the medicare trustees, the president has yet to submit a single proposal to address this urgent problem. others in positions of leadership have also decided to ignore these critical warnings about medicare and its looming insolvency and threat to our fiscal house. they have rejected any proposals for -- quote -- "changing medicare as we know it." well, this category of people are the do-nothings. i wonder if i could just ask for two more minutes? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coats: unanimous consent for that. thank you. let me -- let me skip forward here. this has not happened. despite the president's own recognition of it, we have not taken this plan forward. there are do-nothings w

there was a nice report written the day before yesterday by alice rivlin and one of george bush's assistant secretaries for the treasury. they said the same thing, but in much more detail and frankly, mr. president, reading that was very, very frightening. those risks are simply not worth take. today middle-class families in america are struggling to survive economically. they're living paycheck to paycheck in many instances. meanwhile, republicans walked away from the negotiations, and why did they walk away from the negotiations? it would have cut the deficit and avoided a catastrophic default? they did it in order to protect tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. awl that's all it is. leans republicans are will be to -- republicans are willing to risk our economy. meanwhile, average americans are struggling to find work here at home. republicans are willing to risk our economy and to protect tax breaks for owners of corporate jets and yachts and oil companies while the average american is struggle to afford gas for their car. republicans are willing to risk our economy to protect

policy centers debt reduction tax force chaired by former senator domenici and former omb director alice rivlin recommended eliminating the exemption and it would be appropriate for the senate to hold hearings on the credit union tax exemption. what is the cost of the tax subsidy? the most comprehensive and sophisticated was done by the nonpartisan tax foundation which values the subsidy at $3 billion a year and $32 billion over a 10 year budget window. the credit union loan i mentioned earlier that was underprice by 400 basis points was surely made possible by this tax subsidy and perhaps also the failure to adequately evaluate the risk. the case for repealing the credit union tax exemption stands on its own. when credit unions seek to expand their business lending powers and become the equivalent of banks, linking expanded lending powers to the repeal of the tax exemption is a matter of tax equity. thank you again for convening this important hearing chairman johnson. as if many banker i feel a direct impact credit union commercial lending so i'm grateful for the opportunity to provide my per

alice rivlin and i made a crack at this. they call it the rivlin-ryan plan which is to save medicare and medicaid, the biggest drivers of debt in the future. we thought that had that included the fiscal commission plan that would have been a substantial improvement. you can't fix this problem. you just can't fix this problem if you don't deal with health care entitlements. not dealing with health care entitlement means you're not fixing the problem. so if you fix the health care entitlement that's a huge step in the right direction that brings people on. >> i agree we need to fix the retirement and health care is a central question here having spent the last year's survive the political campaign accused of having cut $500 million in health care i know what that's like and we do need to move beyond that into a world we are having a rational conversation. i think my own view is the folks in my town hall would think well of the balance the debt and deficit commission struck a around revenue and the cuts made to the discretionar

. >> alice rivlin, brookings. let me make a general comment about dodd-frank, although much to admire in it. dodd-frank, and this conversation and others about regulation are very focused on the end stage, on the crisis itself and what do we do if we ever get in that situation again. and that's admirable. but the fundamental problem was, there was too much borrowing in the united states. and very lax lending standards, and it wasn't just housing. it was credit cards. it was auto loans. it was commercial real estate. it was everything. we were enormously over borrowed. and i would like to little bit of analysis from michael and others about what do we do to avoid bad again, without going to extremes? martin said one of the dangers of the consumer protection agency is that it might limit access to credit. for heavens sake, we need to limit access to credit, that's the whole point. we don't need to overdo it. and it isn't just a question of poor people, as often the conversations well, not all poor people should own