senator baucus. >> thank you, not in chairwomen. a couple things. on senator donnelly's point, it's always struck me how farmers and ranchers have better if of life because they know they can't control their fate as much his son and they can erroneously. you can't control the weather, you can't control the price with costs. we can't take what she got because you got to manage it as well as you possibly can and it's very, very difficult and it's kind of humbling. gives a sense of life and gives a sense of life and importance. i think a lot of people in the city could a little arrogant to think they can control anything and they obviously can't. i don't know if you saw it, a super bowl ad, part of the code basically farmers and ranchers. it is very powerful. the main point was there is just a powerful respect for farmers and ranchers. i hear it's all about us who did see it, just to take that to heart because it's so important. in our state, madam chairwoman, agriculture is the number one industry. one out of five montanans income is dependent upon ag

and chairman max baucus and others democrats tore into the head of the government group overseeing the i mplementation of obamacare. and these are democrats questioning the senior on obamacare. >> mr. chairman, we have this kind of implementation we're not going to fulfill the goal what we said when we laboriously put together. >> and the affordable is based on the cost of the workers individual coverage not the cost of family coverage, so we're going to have millions of spouses and dependents in a kind of regulatory no-man's land. >> are you artificially raising the cost to all taxpayers by trying to lure people on to the exchange as opposed to giving them this option that is mandated by federal law implemented in 2014? >> no. >> you're sure of that? >> yes. >> so if this committee asked

major does this to the president's campaign when you were poor this is competition among big money baucus to land the most sold off of the most exposed will especially tight and she's going to check the city's house. as you can imagine the competition for diplomatic post is tough especially in safe and wealthy countries somewhere in western europe and asia a recent study by two professors of international relations at pennsylvania state university looked at available information on president obama's donors direct political contributions and the positions that they received and they concluded that those whose political connections to president obama were measured in dollars for the administration service had an increased chance of representing the united states and western europe and a smaller chance of serving in say central asia or sub-saharan africa donors and advisers involved in the diplomatic selection process say the competition this year has been so tight that those who have raised less than a million dollars are for the most part unlikely to be considered so what is the quote unqu

cayman islands and tax havens and now for the president and m baucus to give mr. a pass, i suppose you could say now it's great news for the caymans off the hook politically. i think it ought to bother people that the standard has mr. obama said, gets pushed aside. >> in the phoniness of the kaymans issue and the phony outrage. what else have we learned about the-- what jack lew knows or thinks about taxes, finance, other things? >> well, a yes man, he believes in ethe president's policy eliminating deductions and raise taxes keep government spending. he doesn't support a skwes star, glass-steagall, this is the president's agenda. >> paul: why would we expect anything different? don't we expect that of the nominee. >> we expect that of this president which is to say usually treasury secretaries represent the american economy. this treasury secretary is going to represent the public sector, not the entire private economy and when he goes up there on capitol hill as mary suggests, he's going to be defending barack obama's public sector agenda. if that's what his exp

a polling survey shows baucus in trouble among democratic voters in his state. he leads 54-35.en the sequester cuts and the gun safety debate firefighters and police officers are becoming common place at the white house for political purposes. i'm happy to report that is not the case with this story. today the vice president biden awarded the medal of valor to 18 distinguished men and women. four of the resipingents died in the line of duty. >> thank god for you. you are from different backgrounds but you are the glue that binds commune tease together at time of stress. >> michael: and we second a sir sere thank you too from this war room. and there's a new player in the sports arena naming game and they do not mess around. the geo group, a private prison corporation purchased the naming rights to florida atlantic's sports arena. a sign of the growing influence and the name of a national industry. they will jam thousands of hot drunk floridians in to watch a violent sport seems like a good way to drum up a few more jailbirds. coming up juana summers will tell us where the seque

he's been called mat baucus, the one man caucus.n hogan the north dakota senator taken money from the energy industry. john horner of texas many taking none less than $400,000. >> there are jobs in montana. the governor of montana wants this, they want the jobs there. they're not paying a lot of attention. we're going to speaking to some people who are may go more attention to the environmental impact of this. there's a watchdog group called oil change international. we're joined today by steve increase man and by a rancher. i ewe up in new york city. gentlemen, thanks for being on "the young turks." >> thanks for having us. >> thank you. >> benjamin, i want to talk about the ranching. what is it about this pipeline and how will it affect your life and the life of people who do what you do? what are the impacts on your business? >> well, the first impact's going to be the immediate impacts of construction on the land itself, so for example what folks from where i'm from in the sand hills were concerned about was the impacts on that

. >> democrat max baucus chair of the senate finance committee told a local station back home the presidentrs some responsibility to fix this. >> the white house recommended it frankly. back if august of 2011. so now we are feeling the effects of it. i don't want to say the president solely is to blame. he is not. >> there is no sign of a deal. some officials say it's fait accompli that the cuts will kick in, or a couple weeks before they come together. >> bret: ed henry live on the north lawn. thanks. here is a minority opinion getting traction in d.c. what if the sequester isn't the end of the world? what if it's not a bad thing? chief political correspondent carl cameron looks at that argument. >> these cuths are not smart, not fair. >> six business days and counting to $85 billion in across-the-board federal spending reduction. defense faces 8% cut. other agencies have to reduce spending 5-6%. part of the $3.6 trillion federal budget for this year alone. the $85 billion sequester cut amount to a tiny slice. only 2.4%. since world war ii, government spending averaged 20% of the annual u.

baucus: madam president, i have two matters. first i ask consent that the following staff of the finance committee be allowed the senate floor for the remainder of the 2013 calendar year: melanie riner, eric hanson, swarta velarupely, anderson heiman, tyler efilsizer, erin chowa, elizabeth karyn and peter sokolov. poeup without objection. mr. baucus: i'd like to take a moment to speak on another topic that is important to me and that is our veterans. the veterans jobs caucus organized a day of action today to draw attention to veterans' unemployment. and i'm very proud to help shine a light on it. jobs must be our number-one priority. there's no better place to start than with our veterans. with the war in iraq coming to an end and afghanistan winding down, we have a responsibility to make sure every single one of these men and women returns home to a paycheck, not an unemployment check. i urge my colleagues to join me in declaring war on veterans ' unemployment. let's work together to make sure every american veteran has the go

baucus: thank you. madam president, i respect my rankinranking member's attempt o alter the leader's bill. however, i think time is at a premium. we need to consider the reid legislation today. recommitting the bill to the finance committee will delay a solution to the sequestration cuts for weeks, if not months. i believe most members believe we should address the issue here and now. there's no time to waste. we will have full opportunity to discuss additional deficit-reduction ideas in the coming weeks when we consider the budget resolution, the continuing resolution, and the extension of the debt limit. i agree we need to cut our debt to get our fiscal house i housen order. we know there are places to trim the fat in federal programs. to give families and businesses certainty, we must agree on a balanced, comprehensive plan to cut the debt that includes both revenue and spending cuts. the math will not work any other way. a long-term, balanced plan will bridge the budget battles and make real progres

mark begich in alaska, mark pryor in arkansas, mary landrieu, max baucus, kay hagan, and tim johnsonre all looking at potentially tough races in states mitt romney won as will the democrat who runs for jay rockefeller's seat in west virginia. nor is it a cake walk in the few blue states either. for example in iowa, minnesota where you have democrats running for the senate. conservatives see a big opportunity. they took a look at this front page story in the washington times today. quote, obama agenda is risky for red state democrats. guy cecil has good news for democrats. he pulled a rabbit, rather a donkey, out of his hat last year when the democrats gained seats. actually gained seats in a year that looked like a sure loser for democrats. that's his job, to pull off another miracle and hang onto the senate. maggie haberman is at politico, a senior politico reporter. this is important, although it's a year and a half off, people want to know how obama is going to make it. is he going to put points on the board, immigration reform, something on gun safety. he likes to talk about hims

, the republican leader in the senate, republican orrin hatch of utah, and democratic senator max baucus of montana. all cited by "the new york times" as suspects in that mysterious migration of half a billion dollars from taxpayers over to the bottom line of drug companies, especially the pharmaceutical giant amgen. would it surprise you to learn that over the past five years, amgen has been one of the top ten donors to mcconnell, baucus, and hatch? as for our president -- by attending a fundraiser on the average of every 60 hours during his bid for a second term, he once again broke the record for bringing home the bacon. although the money power that controls congress could thwart everything obama proposed in his state of the union address, there was not a single word in that speech about taming the power of private money over public policy. and so it goes. the golden rule of politics. he who has the gold, rules. can we do anything about it? my two guests think we can. they say that if anybody should own the politicians, we the people should. dan cantor is a former community and union

obamacare was essentially called the baucus bill.as patterning off massachusetts and the computers are not matching the archaic computers of the irs. how about figuring that out in advance. you go to these virtual universe and try to order a policy and it doesn't match with what the rest of the federal government is. that sounds like the postal service. >> because the expedia.com version of the exchanges, we're like, okay, i'm this age and blah blah. they're supposed to be linked up to social security and government agencies and this guy, the main backer is saying, they're archaic. how are you going to do it? why didn't we think of that in 2010. >> the cb. released a report that the subsidies to the exchanges are approximately 29% than they originally thought. that's as of right now. so, imagine what they're going to be a year from now. and where is the money coming from? >> there is a question whether some of these dems are trying to put distance between themselves and the law because a lot of these guys are up for reelection in 201

i thought the question posed by senator baucus was interesting and i was on the other side. the question senator hatch has posed earlier and the secretary of the treasury there are rules having been a staff person i've had the same balance that you will be facing the the treasury is different. i think it is a different job than the chiefs of staff of the context of what the ranking member and the chairman were talking about and it has to do with taking the public positions. it's not about meeting with foreign leaders or president, it's about being willing to have the courage of your convictions and to talk about these issues and a time when the country's in trouble and i think that we are in trouble in our levels and the weakest recovery that we've had in our history in terms of getting out of this economic doldrums and i think that it requires the secretary of the treasury because i think that this is quoted as saying from senator hatch no more responsible positions. this is it. we talked about tax reform earlier and i have three quick questions for you which may be the kin

baucus: mr. president i ask consent that there be ten minutes remaining for debate equally divided in the usual form on the lew nomination, that following the use or yielding back of time the senate proceed to vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president early today i spoke in support of jack lew's nomination to be the next treasury secretary. over the last six hours or so, some have come to the senate floor to question mr. lew's character claiming he has not been forthcoming throughout his confirmation. let me remind my colleagues that mr. lew participated in one of the most thorough reviews of any candidate for this position. a process that included hours of interviews and the examination of six years of tax records and more than 700 questions for the record. in comparison, the committee asked secretary geithner only 289 questions. only. secretary paulson 81. secretary snowe 75 questions. th

. >> dakota cu baucus talked abou in a well-known tax haven. >> i don't know why it was organized. i was not involved in setting up the fund. >> did you pay taxes on that investment? >> i reported all income related to the investment on my tax forms. i paid all of my taxes. >> he went on to say he lost money on the investment. nevertheless last year the owe bam pma campaign talked about te money. they would stop the self-inflicted wounds to the economy. republicans said president obama must lead. >> i hear the president talking about raising money through tax reform. to me if you get economic growth you will get new revenue but the old fashioned way. that ought to be the goal. >> other conservatives including jeff sessions are angry about lieu's testimony when served as budget director. >> i think it is an accurate statement our current spending will not be increasing the debt. we have stopped spending money we don't have. we can't wish the national debt away. >> sessions is so mad he accused lew of deliberate sessions. it could lead to fireworks on the senate floor. >> mike i eman

project, senator max baucus from montana. my friend from montana has said over and over again that the same thing t that all of us know and that is that keystone is about problems and that every day we delay the keystone pipeline is another day we delay creating american jobs. and so i want to thank not only senator baucus but all of the senators who have joined us here today. again, senator landrieu from louisiana; senator cornyn from texas; senator boozman from arkansas; senator manchin from west virginia; senator barrasso from wyoming; senator begich from alaska; and as you've just heard, senator murkowski from alaska. we've made the environmental case. the environmental case is stronger with the pipeline project than without it. every single state on the route is supporting the project. and i think, as senator murkowski so well concluded for us, it is about energy, it is about jobs, it is about tax revenue that we need to close the deficit and address the debt without raising taxes. it is about energy independence and ene

. >> max baucus asked lew about investing in a fund based in well-known tax haven. >> why is the investthe cayman islands? >> i don't know why it was organized. i was not involved setting up the fund. >> did you pay taxes on that investment? >> i reported all income related to the investment on my tax forms. paid my taxes. >> lou lou lost money on the investment -- lew lost money on the investment. but they attacked him for sheltering of money in the caymans. >> on the second term priority, key republican said president obama must lead. >> to me if you get economic growth you get revenue. >> jeff sessions are angry about lew's testimony in 2011 when he served as budget director. >> senator, i think it's accurate statement that the current spending will not be increasing the debt. we have sat spending money we don't have. we can't wish the national debt away. >> sessions is so mad he sent a letter to colleagues. it might not be enough to stop the nomination in the committee but it could lead to fireworks on the senate floor. bret? >> bret: we will follow that. mike emanuel live on the hi

momentary lapse of candor there from senator baucus.question because where are these democrats? they're hiding. they're under their desks hoping nobody else has to make the admission that senator baucus did. but i think that there is a huge missed opportunity for the republicans. where is paul ryan? i mean, he used to be the great educator on all matters fiscal. the real problem here, which is the entitlement crisis and you just don't really -- >> gretchen: that's what we were talking about earlier is that these cuts are paltry compared to what many people in this nation believe needs to happen which is entitlement reform. you bring up a great point about where are some of these republicans? are they still getting lost in the shuffle in this messaging game? because keep in mind, the president won the messaging game before the end of the year with regard to taxes. the republicans had to acquiesce on that. taxes went up. now he's using the same messaging to go up against the republicans with the same simple message to the american people,

was about to say during that interview, before that piece petered out there at the end there, max baucusequester, so the republican party was e-mailing that out to reporters earlier today. but when pressed on this issue, wolf and kate, the white house has basically said that the congress should adopt what the senate democrats proposed last week, and that is basically a package that includes a lot of spending cut, but also some tax increases. that is something that the republicans have set up on capitol hill is a nonstarter and i asked a top gop aide earlier this afternoon whether or not there's been any new outreach from the white house, some kind of outreach to prevent this sequester from taking effect, and that top aide told me, wolf, there's been no old outreach, no new outreach, quote, no anything. so we're still heading towards the end of next week when these sequester cuts take effect, wolf. >> nine days to go. jim acosta at the white house, thank you. >>> so it looks like former democratic congressman jesse jackson jr. will have to do prison time. today both jackson and his wife p

. >> reporter: chairman max baucus asked about investing in a fund in a well-known tax haven. >> whythe investment in the cayman islands. >> senator, i don't know why it was organized. i was not involved in setting up the fund. >> did you pay taxes on the investment? >> i reported all income related to the investment on my tax forms. i paid all the taxes. >>>> he lost money on the investment, and nevertheless, the obama am cane attacked mitt romney for investments and shelters money. lew urged congress to stop the sequester suggesting cuts pose self-inflicted wounds to the economy. on a second term priority, one said president obama must lead. >> i hear the president talking about raising revenue through tax reform. to me, if you get economic growth, it's new revenue, but the old-fashioned way. that ought to be the goal. >> conservatives like jeff sessions are angry about lew's testimony in 2011 as budget director. >> senator, i think it's an accurate statement our current spending will not increase the debt. we stopped spends money that we don't have. we just can't wish the debt awa

this is what senator baucus, the chairman of the committee, said to mr. lew -- quote -- "i'm going to ask you, it's clear you would be a great staffer. i'm not talking about being a great courageous staffer and telling the president what you think and don't think. i'm talking about something else. i'm talking about the public perception, the public misdemeanor representing the united states around the world, across the country and around the world to be able to influence policy in a way that makes sense, most of us would tend to grie -- agree with, the policies we would tend to agree with. we may differ along the edges, but most everybody in this room agrees that needs to be done. that's what i am getting at." so even the chairman of the finance committee, democratic chairman, senator baucus certainly raised some questions about the nomination. madam chairman, i appreciate the opportunity to speak. i look forward to senator governor kaine's remarks and i would yield the floor. mr. kaine: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. m

. >> sean: first of all, it was max baucus and bob woodward that said that the president requested the sequester point one. point two my question to you is simple. barack obama because you said what he said isn't-- >> and by the republican party, sequester is a provision of the-- >> congressman, relax. >> the republicans are responsible for the. >> sean: rah, rah, rah, i've got it i know you're a broken record. let me get you my question. >> you're a broken record. >> sean: here is my question. barack obama said in 2008 when he was running for office that george bush was irresponsible and unpatriotic for when he became president we had 10 trillion dollars in debt. >> you want to ask me about-- >> we now have 16 trillion. and 16 trillion in debt, congressman. >> i'm had here to speak myself. you want to talk about-- okay. >> sean: i want to ask you, here is my question. >> i've got an answer for snu go ahead. >> you want to talk about the 16 trillion, let's close loopholes on large corporations and say that yachts and jets should not be something you can write off. say that exxon-mobile

what he is showing now is that he doesn't want another episode where mack baucus spends eight monthsitting around with a couple of republicans pleading to get one of their votes and eventually they all trickle off. and, you know, he was also not involved at all during the health care. certainly he was sending people down, but he wasn't picking up the phone, you know, and calling down there like he did today, though certainly he had some phone conversations with olympia snowe. >> sure. >> that obviously didn't pan out. but that's what this is. he is saying this is not going to be a 14-month affair. we know where we are. we're going to do this or we're not going to do it. but we're not going to drag it out for 14 months. >> susan, the president says that he'll work with anybody. i mean, he is calling republican senators, trying to get something to move on immigration. doesn't this put rubio in somewhat of a box? one day he says it's dead on arrival, the next day he says we're making progress, had a good conversation with the president. >> this was a great move by the president strategi

. >> first of all it was max baucus and bob woodward who requested the sequester. point one., my question to you is very simple. barack obama you said what he said was-- >> here is my question, here is my question. >> by the republican party. >> sean: congressman. >> sequester was a republican-- the republicans are responsible for the-- >> rah, rah, rah, i know you're a broken record. let me give you my question. >> you're a broken record. >> sean: that was part of my heated exchange with congressman keith ellison on the program rlast night. and getting attention on the blogosphere. and he ranted and at times incoherent when i asked him about the looming sequester and pressed him on the president's role in the growing debt crisis that's when he started grasping at straws. take a look at this. >> is it immoral to-- >> you are immoral. >> sean: for 16 1/2-- i'm immoral, what did i do that's immoral? i didn't do anything that's immoral. >> you say things that aren't true. >> sean: give me one example, sir. >> well, to try to say that it is -- that it is the president's fault, th

the floor as an amendment to whatever comes out of the judiciary committee because people like max baucuss up in 2014, maybe people like michael bennett -- i don't want to put, but some of the red or purple state senators from pro-gun states want the opportunity. think mark warner in virginia. to vote against a gun control measure. so that they have some credibility in their eyes to tell voters i'm pro-gun. i'm just for the background check. >> cafeteria options. >> on foreign policy, we have a new secretary of state taking over today just as veep biden in his meetings with french president hollande in paris talk about the possibility of one-on-one bilateral talks with iran. let's take a look at what joe biden had to say. >> when and if the supreme leader and the iranians are prepared to discuss the essence of what is at the core of these embargoes, we're prepared to discuss. we're prepared to meet with them individually. >> iran, of course, a big topic in the chuck hagel confirmation hearings. a big source of dispute and wig conversations and negotiation with israel. john kerry over the