biggs. my question is, what was the deficit when the last deficit projections was put in by president bush? just before president obama took office, everybody is talking about the debt and the deficit, but what president obama has initiated is less, based on what we need. he put in the minimal amount to get the country going, but all we hear about is the deficit, the debt, the deficit, the debt. what did president bush by his last year when he left in january 2010? he put in something, and who is going to pay for the wars? who is going to pay -- you talk about medicare, but there is not medicare. it is medicare advantage. the ceo score it had lower for republicans. when they finally come out with the numbers. it was three times the amount that they had originally said it would be. what president obama did is cut out the waist and abuse in medicare advantage. host: we'll leave it there. andrew, go ahead. guest: one point i think i made early on, i don't hold current deficits against the obama

caller: i take exception with what andrew biggs said.uch a security -- so security is solid until 2037. -- social security is solid until 2037. what's our law makers and congress and the past presidents have not been really good stewards of our money. they have borrowed our payroll taxes for other programs and then they put treasury bonds and now people -- i would like for him to answer what i said. guest: social security does have a trust fund which consists of a special issue non tradable government bonds. when social security runs a surplus, that cash to goes to the rest of the budget, which spends it. they are a function of the retirement of baby boomers, lager lifespans, if your work for supporting this program. that is driving rising cost break the trust fund bonds will be honored. it will be paid back by the federal government. they need to raise taxes, cutting other spending or running a budget deficit. we face the same burden with or without a trust fund. i am not saying that we should default on the trust fund. the costs are in

talking to us about that is andrew biggs of the american enterprise institute and christian weller. andrew biggs, for the sake of this discussion, tell us the difference between the deficit and debt and how they're related. guest: the deficit is the shortfall of the federal government on an annual basis. the cbo says that we're going to run a deficit of about $1.50 trillion. that means we're spending $1.50 trillion more than we're taking in in taxes. the-you see accumulated deficits from all prior years plus interest, including fisher. when you looked -- including this year. it will give a scale of the ratio of the two and the country's capacity to carry that debt. host: christian weller, your thoughts about the relationship between the debt and the deficit? guest: at this point, the numbers are theory. we do not really have to run for the exit at this point. there clearly is a message here underlying what we get from the congressional budget office that we ultimately have to get a handle on the situation. we're looking only 22020, 10 years out. the picture does not get all that muc

we have andy biggs who is resident scholar of the american enterprise institute for public policy research. and formerly principal deputy commissioner of the social security administration. and house majority leader steny hoyer. now in his 15th term representing the fifth district of maryland. let's start if we might have questions -- >> i don't have a question but i want to apologize because i'm going to have to leave because as i've told my other panelists, i have a meeting in southern maryland about an hour and a half from here. at 6:30. so it's a little more than an hour and a half. but i want to thank all the panelists. i think one of the things that you saw -- and you have a variety of different shades of conservative to progressive liberal -- whatever you want to call it on this panel. but i think you see an almost unanimity of view on, a, the scope of the problem. and the places where we need to look. and so i feel very comfortable that the answers they give for the most part -- novelli will be here to protect me on the healthcare bill. which i do believe is going to bring down cos

. >> this morning we'll talk with christian weller from the center of progress and drue biggs.a

biggs, andrew, but maybe we'll do that in the future. don ketti, thank you for your leadership. this is not a town meeting. if it were every seat here would be filled. indeed, when i held a town meeting on health care, there were 1,500 people in the auditorium and the subject we were discussing was not as important adds the subject we're discussing today. it was not, perhaps, as consequential, certainly in the long term as the subject we discuss today. and i want to congratulate those with this entire effort to indicate our public and to look for solutions. it's easy to lament reality, what is. it's difficult to say what should be and how we're going to get there. we're here to discuss what i believe is america's single most pressing challenge. putting our fiscal house in order. america's accumulation of debt is a common danger and one that ought to engage the best efforts of liberals and queverts -- conservatives alike. because while all of us here have our own view of the prop proper role of government, facts do not have ideal zpwi. to a government that does nothing that pay f

>> andrew biggs, go ahead. the insurance company will remain in business. they'll become more like regulated ultilities rather than free standing business enterprises in terms of what they can do and what the charge will be more prescribed by the government than has been in the past. there has been an undue emphasis in the insurance company's roll in this issue. you see a lot of the profits. health insurancer earns a profit of a very low percentage. total profits nationwide are around $12 billion a year. but total healthcare spending going through the companies over $1 trillion. we could see limb nate profits for health insurance and it would make no discernable difference in the amount of healthcare in the fanl time this is morning, china hints at currency, provided a visit this month by the chinese leader goes smoothly. christian, china holds a lot of the u.s. debt. they are adjusting of their currency stharks going to have an effect on our debt? implet over time, it will have an affect. we have to be real is tick. this eventually will come to an end. eve

we have andy biggs and house majority leader steny hoyer, now in his 15th term representing the fifth district of maryland. let's start if we have questions. >> i do not have a question, but i want to apologize, because i am going to have to leave. i have a meeting in southern maryland about an hour and half from here. i want to thank all the panelists. i think one of the things that you saw, and you have a variety of different shades of conservative to progressive liberal, whatever you want to call it on this panel. i think you see an almost unanimity of views on the scope of the problem and the places where we need to look. i feel very comfortable that the answers they give for the most part -- novelli will be here to protect me on the health care bill, which i do believe is going to bring down costs. david is right, it will only do that if congress has the courage to make the determinations that we said we were going to make. i apologize, and i thank you for your hospitality and leadership of this effort. thank you all very much. [applause] >> if you have a question, please stand,

. >> reporter: little was said today, though about the biggs controversy of the past month. governor bob mcdonnell's proclamation of april as confederate history month set off a national outcry when his original version failed to mention slavery and devastateding impact. still african-american lawmakers put a brief spotlight on the issue. they wore black ribbons in honor of their ancestors and asked for this special acknowledgement. >> mr. speaker, i ask that we adjourn today that we do so in the honor and the memory of the thousands of slaves who play an important role in the building of the wealth of this commonwealth. >> that request was quickly approved. >> favor that motion say aye. >> aye. >> those opposed? >> reporter: julie carey, news4, virginia. >>> there could be one unusual complication during the senate vote if there is a tie ', if the tiebreaker lieutenant governor bowling won't be there to settle things. he has been stuck in europe because of the volcanic ash. >>> coming up tonight, spirit airline is on the defensive and there is an announcement today from tha

deficit hawks like robert biggs by were quoted in washington times said this, the basic challenge is political and we've gotten to a situation where the spending promises we made can't be financed with the levels of taxation we've agreed upon. getting out of that dynamic requires either cutting back on the spending promises or raising taxes. those are politically explosive choices. will the president have to consider raising taxes on the middle class if he's going to be serious about taking on the debt? >> david, as you know, the president does not support raising taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year. the president recognizes that our deficits are too high and they're going to have to come down overtime. look what he's done when he came into office. he came in and cut taxes as he should have on 95% of working families, provided incentives to business to stimulate private investment. he's committed to bring the deficits down. he's outlined a very hard ambitious set of proposals that will cut our deficits by more than half a share of our economy over the next four years. he

it was a hard time to get a stable position, we moved from an economy that built the bigge biggest infrastructurend to one that built new systems and new problems. there were more people trying to figure out where they fit in. more people that lived in confidence and optimism in the face of change. it's true that we see some of that today. since this country was born in reaction to abusive power by government, if you remember, that's what the boston tea party was about. it was about no taxation without representation. it was not about representation by people you didn't vote for and don't agree with but can vote out in the next election. and so a part of being an american has always been banging away at the government. you know when i was a young man in politics in arkansas, any time federal government did something we didn't agree with, we would have a standard saying, it was the only institution in america that could mess up a two-car parade. everyone said stuff like that. in the decade of the 90's and beginning in the 80's, there was a run-up of more seriousness of the government and its emplo