john boehner, we're all thrilled to have you here. [inaudible] john boehner, we're all thrilled -- we know our opposition is rather be met, personally. we're all thrilled to have you here with us to receive this 2010 legislative leadership award, and we need more great leaders like congressman boehner all across america. thank you and goodbye. >> up next, the deputy on land securities secretary spoke at the addison -- apsen security forum. and in a speech by the director of the national counter terrorism center. journal" dan mccue with theon report on the effect of the current housing market on the economy. david savage with a look back at the supreme court recently concluded term. and we will talk with steven camarota about arizona's immigration law. although washington journal" begins like each morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> but tv -- book tv continues in prime time all this week. the efforts to expand social business. and also, a nobel prize-winning economist talks about the 2008 economic collapse and what is next an open ca

john boehner has great influence in the house. he can influence the pace at which the legislation is considered and he could rally the republicans to oppose house legislation. he can try to get his committee chairman to write -- to put inserts into a bill that affect corporations in a way that they would like. he is a good man to influence because he has influence himself. >> in your story that we were reading earlier, -- >> there is a lot more here and we will read some more. what is it about people that come to washington representing the public makes them think that they have to be in limousines, private jets and at resorts? have you ever asked them? >> a big reason is that when you become a lawmaker, you have to swim in a sea of money to become a lawmaker. if youuwant to keep your job, you have to keep swimming in that same see. -- sea. who has the money? people with very lavish lifestyles who can afford to pay for political campaigns. you hang along with those people long enough, and you begin to emulate their lifestyle. i th

it was led by john boehner.from pittsburgh, this is one hour. >> welcome to this session of the annual national righh to life convention. this year, we are faced with great challenges. we also have great opportunities. the threat to unborn children's lives have never been greater. yet there is an awakening across this country about the humanity of unborn children. they see the ultrasound. an unborn child.bortion does to this session is about what people are doing to protect unborn children and to make the government more responsible to protecting unborn children. of course, we are altering one of the leaders in congress of protecting unborn children. i would first like to introduce to you the head table, and myself, i and the co-director of national right to life. to my immediate right is charlene bayshore, the political direction of our convention here attorney general tom corbett -- [applause] you seem to be pretty popular here in pennsylvania. wait a minute. here we go. congressman tim murphy. [applause] repr

i don't think you can do that with john boehner. i think what we are talking about is ambition in the republican ranks. i think eric cantor's ambition is not very well clothed. i won't say it is naked but it is pretty well exposed but as mar as michael steel is concerned, michael steel has had a gas filled year. he had his young donor meeting at the lesbian bondage club in west l.a. you must remember, that caused a stir, and caused the finance chief to leave, chief of staff to leave, political consultant to leechlt he predicted the republicans wouldn't win the house in 2010. it hasn't been sure footing for michael. i don't anybody looks to the party chairs to make foreign defense policy statements. and if it weren't the fourth of july weekend i don't know if the resignation would be news to tell you the truth. >> woodruff: anything about michael steel. >> it was historically inaccurate to say it was barack obama's war. it was stupid. he doesn't make policy. it was terrible all the way around. bill crystal my friend called for his re

john boehner to play golf. city lawyer likes to ski. -- steny hoyer likes to ski and someone else is paying for it. you see people going to these places is someone else picks up the tab. it is easy if your a lawmaker to get someone to pick up the tab. >> you mentioned john boehner and others, but unions give a mega millions of dollars. will their rank-and-file like it if any of these people that we mentioned were doing the limousine, a private jet, resort deal? >>or do they know? what is the lawmakers that are living high. they are emulating the donors. most of the wealthiest donors are corporations. unions to give a lot of money also. we have not seen the same low level of luxury surrounding union related events. i think that there may be a cultural issue there, i am not sure why that is so. >> but they still give leadership pacs and once you have a leadership pac, you can spend the money anyway you want to. but you cannot spend the money on your campaign from a leadership pac. >> that is correct. the law only

boehner circulated a letter. one thing that has touched me during the process is the commitment many of our members have to protecting the lives and insuring our nation's laws reflect a belief in the sanctity of life. i write to you today simply for the purpose of reaffirming probably in that i share this commitment completely, totally, and without equivocation. it is a commitment i have felt deeply the run my life and it is a commitment i will uphold unapologetically if and when i am chosen to be your next majority leader. i have always voted to protect the rights of unborn children and as long as i am an elected official i will continue to do so. as you know, in january 2007 the majority control of the house shifted to the democrats and his republican colleagues elected him their leader as the minority leader. he has been a major impediment to the enhancement to the pro- abortion agenda. [applause] as soon as obama took office in january 2009, mr bohner and mr. cantor coordinated a letter signed by house republ

john boehner didn't suddenly become a great communicator. barack obama didn't suddenly become a brad communicator. the reason the democrats are in trouble is first the reason mark mentioned that unemployment is still very high, the economy is still terrible and maybe trending down. so that's one. but two we had a country that was-- that has no faith in government, 22% of the people think the government does the right thing most of the time. we saw an increase in the role of government in area after area. second, a country that had just come out of a big debt caused recession or fiscal crisis. and we piled on debt. those two things were bound to scare the country and they have. and i don't think the messaging really made a difference. >> the president, and this is a criticism from democrats everywhere, he has run against washington being broken. now that is great if you are an outsider challenger candidate as he was in 2080 seeking the white house. once are you there and are you the head of the democratic party and the democratic administrati

do you believe like chairman boehner that when it came to the problems on wall street that's just an ant that is just a minor problem. do you agree like chairman, ranking member barton, do you think b.p. was the aggrieved party here? that's a set of policies, that is their ideas. i admire them for speaking up and saying what they believe. the president believes we have a clear set of choices to make as a country. do you invest in the people there, as a country in that private sector company, or dow just walk away and say you have to figure it out on your own. >> lehrer: as coincidence would have it, john boehner issued a statement today and i happy to have the statement right here . >> someone in the office is doing good research. >> lehrer: it was about his trip today. he said on president obama's watch more than 3 million americans have lost their jobs. and unemployment is near 10%. the american people continue to ask where are the jobs. but the president keeps whining and indulging in childish partisan attacks. how out of touch can he get, end quote. >> okay, first of all, as cong

minority leader john boehner is telling his fellow congressmen to stop the partying according to the new york post the ohio representative was caught has caught on to his fellow conservative lawmakers talking to the enemy and no i don't mean democrats apparently two republican lawmakers have been spotted having drinks with attractive female lobbyists that's winkie club here in d.c. representative lee terry of nebraska was seen at the capitol hill club in d.c. with a lovely looking lobbyist and reportedly giggling about getting drunk that is until he realized he was being watched and missouri's sam graves has pictures on the internet of him. adding it up with a blonde lobbyist at a d.c. restaurant now these are the only two lawmakers that have been caught in the act so to speak that doesn't mean that there aren't many more that are guilty of this habit it's one of those hush hush issues here in d.c. where politicians will meet up with lobbyists to discuss those very pressing issues either way boehner who called out his conservative lawmakers is very worried about these meetings if the

john boehner made those comments to the pittsburgh tribune review. if you want to see the whole interview, they take it, and you can go to their website. in that interview that he gave to them, he said, we need to look at the american people and explain to them that we are broke. the story goes on inside "the washington times close " to say that besides raising the retirement age for full senate -- social security benefits to 74 people now 50 or younger, representative boehner suggested curbing benefit growth by tying cost of living increases to the consumer price index rather than growth in wages and providing benefits only to those who need them. he went on to say -- steny hoyer made similar comments in a speech he made last month. we covered the speech and we will show you a little bit about what he had to say in a bid. atlanta, georgia, and they come on the democratic line. caller: thank you so much for taking my phone call. but i think it is ridiculous -- hello? i think it is ridiculous for them to -- talking about raising phone call, retirement

boehner: i thank my colleague for yielding. consider, my colleagues, that the president, on february 1 sent up a supplemental spending request to fund our activities for our troops and the state department in afghanistan. for five months, this chamber has wallowed around trying to find a way to bring this bill to the floor. and look at how we've done it. we have a rule that provides for the consideration of this supplemental that self-executes a lot of wasteful spending here in washington right into the rule itself. but if that isn't bad enough, there are four amendments made in order and if any of those or if all four of those amendments were to fail, it's if as if the house hadn't even considered the bill. it's as if this debate we are having right now has never happened. how could such a rule providing for the consideration of an important supplemental spending bill have in there this escape clause that if we don't get our way on at least one of these amendments, then this really didn't happen? this is supposed to be the gre

john boehner sat for an interview?>>> the republican party has to make peace with latinos on immigration, and the republican party has to make peace with latinos, in general. if they do not, they are going to lose the election after election after election. it is that simple. where is john mccain right now? i interviewed in john mccain, not many times, but once in september 2008, and back then, he told me that he was in favor of a path to citizenship, in he considered all undocumented immigrants as cox children. now, spicuzza -- and he considered all undocumented immigrants as god's children. are they not god's children anymore? president barack obama cannot do it anymore. where are the 11 republicans who voted for immigration reform years ago? the republicans are going to lose them, and they will lose the power for many, many generations from now. it is said that latinos are all republicans, but they do not know it. they are against abortion. they are against big government, very suspicious against big government, so

think about what would happen in this country if john boehner was making the decisions. the decisions about what was covered. or mitch mcconnell. that is how it would shake out. we have had these problems over the years where high-profile exhibits cannot -- cannot -- came up with any number of barriers between the funding and the practitioners. you will have greater government control over content. the issue that i wanted to address, sandy, you talked about being connected to the diversity. ron, you talked about the current toxic atmosphere. you'll mentioned -- several of you have mentioned that quality journalism is happening in this country. there is no question about that. the global post and in international areas, there is quality journalism. the question to me is not whether there can be quality journalism, but how as the news media becomes increasingly atomized around the country, how can anyone get a comprehensive view of the world? it used to be that we could pick up the chronicle and hope to find at least as close to a comprehensive review as possible. no longe

. >> and house minority leader john boehner shot back saying republicans are just as concerned about adding to the federal deficit and that president obama, quote, continues to offer only disingenuous attacks, not answers. >>> and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. a pilot in arizona is recovering from minor injuries after his plane clipped an suv during an emergency landing. officials say the pilot was on a test flight after doing repairs on his plane when it started having mechanical problems. the driver of the suv was not hurt. >>> in florida, american airlines is assuring passengers they were never in any danger when damage to one of their plane's wings got progressively worse during a recent flight. a passenger onboard snapped pictures of material peeling back from the wings. he says he alerted a flight attendant but the flight still took off. airline officials insist the tearing is a rare occurrence that does not affect the safety of the flight. >>> it took about eight alabama deputies to corral an alligator discovered in one resident's

>> now you got to the politics of this and you heard leader boehner. he said this isn't about charlie rangel, this is much broader about speaker pelosi because they want to make this a national issue for them to use the republicans in this campaign season and democrats are wary about it. they do not want some distraction in what is already a very tough political environment for them. they do not want this as part of the campaign seasonment and here's why. it is because it is just stinks of washington as usual. here's the group that promised a lot of change in 2006 and 2008. nancy pelosi drained the swamp. and this just reeks of washington as usual. and they don't want that at all in this anti-washington, anti-establishment year. but yes, to your question about the reporting, the leader of the democratic campaign committee has met with charlie rangel twice in recent weeks. that's not just friendly conversation. i'm sure we know that democrats have been eager to push him towards the settlement to resolve this without a public trial. >> meanwhile charlie

the president says congressman john boehner of ohio wants to repeal and replace the president's healthe reform and preserve tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals set to expire at the end of the year. >> they are the same policies that led us into this recession. they won't create jobs. they will kill them. they won't reduce our deficit. they will add a trillion dollars to our deficit. they will take us backward at a time when we need to keep america moving forward. >> reporter: during his weekly radio and web address, the president hailed the financial reform bill passed this week as a victory for consumers and small businesses. >>> many veterans will soon have greater access to medical marijuana. the department of veterans affairs this week is sending out new guidelines to hospitalsed a clinics in 14 states where medical marijuana use is legal, including here in california. the new policy says that veterans can use marijuana for medical treatment, though it cannot be prescribed by the va. in addition, patients who use it will not be denied other pain medication which has been the po

coach was not renewed maradona claiming the argentina football association president hugo come on boehner had lied to him about his future alleging after the world cup quarter final defeat germany condo now had told him he wanted to stay on as coach however hard on this insistence on keeping his entire backroom staff did not please the f.a. and that's why it voted not to renew his contract or also said national team director call it the lardo had worked in the shadows to abstain and told reporters he was proud of his twenty month stint in charge. said look at this stage i can't continue with this but to live with a clear conscience that i pulled myself in suits and tempted to just meet the trojan doner there to fill as in argentina that saw. me while the new crowned tour de france champion alberto contador has decided to leave his team stan are the kazakstan based outfit had offered to extend his steel contador turned them down adding he'll now examine his options as to where to continue his so far lustrous career in three seasons because a star the twenty seven year old has won to these

for instance, john boehner has been out there saying i've got nothing against charlie rangel, but it means that nancy pelosi is bad because she promised to drain the swamp. >> exactly. that was the rallying cry to which the democrats came to power in 2006, that they were going to drain the swamp. so it is now, i think, incumbent on them to prove that they have shown some results on this. because, of course, their argument in this midterm is you don't want to go back to the bad old days of the republicans and their policies. so it's very important for the democrats to prove that some change has taken place. but this week they afountainsed that they will be putting -- announced that they will be putting significant amounts of money into 60 different congressional races. 54 of those are seats that are currently held by democrats. they are playing defense across the map and in places, i think, where they weren't expecting to be nervous. >> isn't the plan, in spending all this money, just to stop the amount of damage? they don't actually expect to be able to win the majority of seats. the

john boehner. fellow leadership colleagues, my colleagues, honored guests, welcome to all of you. first, i would like to thank the previous speakers for their service. it of always good to hear my good friend charlie rangel tell his stories about the korean war. i also want to thank my colleague sam johnson who is a real hero, having flown some 60 two missions of of the skies of korea. 60 years ago today, koreans world -- korean soldiers crossed the parallel that started a war that technically has not ended. the cease-fire of july 1953 ended a bloody struggle that made korea the main battlefield of freedom against communist tyranny. reports of that invasion 60 years ago or still burned in the memories of many americans, just like the news of pearl harbor. even president truman and his military leaders were surprised as they had little reason to expect an invasion on this front during the cold war. but they responded quickly. they put in place the leaders, the troops, the ships and fighters and bomb

republicans need 10 seats to gain control, and everybody claims the expectation in washington, john boehner said that maybe 100 house seats are in play. is lack of a majority -- failing to win the majority and disappointment or defeat for john cornyn? assuming there are republican gains in november, do you expect president obama will reach out more to republicans in 2011? >> i think in terms of the expectations gain, right now we are either leading or tied in eight seats currently held by democrats and all of the seats currently held by republicans, are candidates are leading in. if the election were held today, that would be very good. it is not 10, but eight. i am pleased with the direction we're going in. i think it will be a two-cycle process. if we are elected with a number of reinforcements in 2010, in 2012, there are only nine republican seats up. 23 democrats. we have a structural opportunity there. i am praying for a tsunami. i hope the wave hits. i want to be realistic about expectations. my biggest concern, to be quite honest with you, is going to be the met -- to be the money di

boehner: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. boehner: mr. speaker, the american people are asking where are the jobs. and just this morning we found -- found out that housing starts fell in the month of june to their lowest level in eight months. consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in the last 11 months. we need to get americans back to work and we need to get american businesses back open again. but we're not going to get there if the president continues to take money and freedom away from american employers. whether it's through the stimulus bill, obamacare, the national energy tax, or this natural regulatory bill. with three million jobs lost and unemployment at 9.5% and with trillion dollar deficits it's clear to everyone except the president that his big government agenda is not working. we need to cut spending now in order to help create jobs in america. but we have no budget to clean up the mess. we have no plan to move free trade agreements that could create

after that, john boehner and the gop members talk about their opposition to the opposition parties -- to the democrats' policies. >> and arizona senate primary debates among senator john mccain, hayworth, and jim deakin. the state primary is august 24. that is here on c-span. >> for a snapshot of washington and the 111 congress, and reference guide to every member of the house and senate, supreme court justices, and state governors. order online at c- span.org/store. >> c-span is now available in 100 million homes, bringing you a direct link to public affairs, politics, and history. it is created by america's cable companies. >> president obama warned americans to not make too much of the fact that oil has stopped flowing from the well in the gulf. they may have to be reopened. the president says the new cap will allow up to 80,000 barrels of oil to be capped every day. he spoke to reporters briefly before leaving for the weekend. >> good morning, everybody. a new cap was fitted over the wheel well earlier this week. it is larger and more sophisticated. it is designed to give us great

john boehner.er, my fellow leadership colleagues, my colleagues, honored guests, welcome to all of you. first, i would like to thank the previous speakers for their service. it of always good to hear my good friend charlie rangel tell his stories about the korean war. i also want to thank my colleague sam johnson who is a real hero, having flown some 60 two missions of of the skies of korea. 60 years ago today, koreans world -- korean soldiers crossed the parallel that started a war that technically has not ended. the cease-fire of july 1953 ended a bloody struggle that made korea the main battlefield of freedom against communist tyranny. reports of that invasion 60 years ago or still burned in the memories of many americans, just like the news of pearl harbor. even president truman and his military leaders were surprised as they had little reason to expect an invasion on this front during the cold war. but they responded quickly. they put in place the leaders, the troops, the ships and fighters an

boehner's -- the president's comments in wisconsin about mr. boehner. and i will just refer those comments that mr. boehner equated the financial bill that we passed yesterday, the regulatory reform bill that so many americans are yearning for, he said it was a nuclear weapon to be used on an ant, the problem was an ant. well, my constituents certainly don't think they were ants until they started being walked over by wall street. mr. speaker, at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from tennessee, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. jackson lee: i ask to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: mr. cardoza, i thank you for sharing with us what is not a funny anecdotal story or cartoon. i think from your words you are saying to the american people that their predicament is not a cartoon. and it is interesting when one of my colleagues comes to the floor of the house and poses the question -- what do we say to the unemployed

my colleague from the house, leader painter -- boehner, mitch mcconnell, and mr. steele , thank you for riegger. i would like knowledge that people from the congressional black caucus, and barbara lee here today. john lewis has been called the conscience of the congress, and to date -- and today the challenge is that this injustice has been partially corrected by giving the recognition that we do. it is -- also like to recognize at least two leaders from the african-american community. the clerk of the house [applause] and terry is the ceo of the capital visitors center. thank you, terry. and i do not know where lorraine is. still working. making sure everything is every -- going ok. over the past decade, the slave labor task force work to document the history of slavery constructed walls of the united states capitol. we know that and the contribution of the reid family. it was a dark chapter in our past, and with equality denied, rights reviews, a dream not yet realize, they gave us this house of liberty and the beacon of hope for our nation and indeed the world.

. >> john boehner in the house said maybe 100 seats are in play.unintelligible] assuming there are republican gains in november, do expect more gridlock for 2011? or maybe president obama reaching out more to republicans? >> in terms of the expectations game we're either leading or tied in eight seats held by democrats. and all seats currently held by republicans are candidates. if the election were held today, it would be very good. i am pleased with the direction we're going in. i think it will be a two-cycle process. if we elect a good number of reinforcements in 2010, and in 2012 there are only nine republican seats up, 23 democrats -- that gives us a structural opportunity to turn the corner. i am praying for us in on a tsu. host: you can see the entire interview later today, and online, and as and app for your iphone. huntington, west virginia, go ahead. caller: for the president to rebound -- which is kind of confusing because i have looked at the polls, and i don't see there has been a major drop. i am surprised by c-span for reporting that

boehner who recently did an interview. let's listen to his prescription for social security. >> i think instead of using the wage in fleet were -- and later, increases based on consumer price index. i think that is a more accurate reflection. over time it will have a significant impact on the actuarial soundness of the program. and certainly i think we have to look at the american people and explain to them that we're broke. host: to look at the american people and explain to them that we're broke. he actually had a three-part prescription. talking about targeting the increases to the wage price increase, and also talking about changing the eligibility age to 70, and also finally means testing. three prescriptions. guest: thank you, mr. boehner. what we are mixing up as apples and oranges. right now we have a deficit. we have a commission appointed by the president who says we should look at the deficit. we are not saying look at the solvency of the social security program but for some reason people were saying we are just

[inaudible] >> why do you think john boehner did this? >> they need latinos. the republican party has to make peace with latinos and immigration. if they do not, they are going to lose the election after election. it is that simple. where is john mccain now? i interviewed him once in september, 2008, and back then, he told me he was in favor of this issue, and now he is running a tough primary, so are they not god's children any more? when we need republicans, president barack obama cannot do it alone. the republican party does not make peace on other issues, they are going to lose done, and they are going to lose the power for many generations from now. they used to say all latinos are republicans. they just do not know that, because latinos tend to be more conservative. they are against abortion, very suspicious of big government, so in terms of value, latinos are very concerned. >> you have several quotes, and this is the last of five very good -- of 5. barack obama, 2007. the time to fix our broken immigration system is now. what did you think? >> it was n

accountable for the disaster in the gulf, comparing to the economic crisis to the size of an ant as boehner did and working for wall street reform and portraying it as a bailout and putting tax cuts for millionaires ahead of the unemployed, i'm proud to put our party's middle class record against theirs any day. but our work is not done. we have stood up to wall street, brought access to affordable health care to all americans, reinstated pay-as-you-go on fiscal discipline and gone to bat for job creation in the face of ideological opposition, again and again and again for the last 18 months. democrats can tell working americans with confidence and with pride, we have stood for your interests. and we met crisis with the optimism that defines our country. and it is best -- at its best and can make a great nation even greater. so often, our leaps have come out of the darkest moments. as president obama said and i quote, in the midst of civil war we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another and a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways an american on the moon and explosi

uc democrats trying to focus on things like jonbenet boehner's comment. do you want to put these folks in charge? can that be effective in this climate? >> you see a negative campaign tactics and do you want to go back to the dark ages under bush backs negative campaigning -- under bush backs but -- under bush? there may be republican candidates that give them an opening to make a plausible case. >> chuck robb did win reelection against oliver north. >> but you have those problems. what i think we are seeing from the american people is a sense that government is too bloated and it needs to be cut through at the state and federal level. we are on a trajectory to take the national debt from 40% to 80%. those are not partisan numbers. i think people are rebelling against that. there are some signs that people want to cut government spending have been successful. . . you're seeing some of that with chris christy and bob mcdonnell. the republican program -- you have to cut government spending. it cannot elect them for that reason. -- you cannot elect them for

boehner already calling for the repeal of the reform that just passed on wall street. people don't realize in that reform, you say, look, we have had meat inspection 100 years ago. they didn't like it. people will look back and say, why shouldn't we have some consumer entity looking at whether or not you can give someone a mortgage with no documentation. a teaser rate, no down payment. people don't know that. just like -- people don't know a lot of what is going on in the recovery act. understandably. because this has been -- so much stuff has been flowing our way. and we're facing a bunch of guys who are good guys, but they're all about repeal and repeat. repeal what we're doing and go back. repeal the incentives for industry to invest in solar energy. repeal the health care bill that allows you to keep your kid on your health care policy. pre-existing conditions cannot deny you health care. it is just going to take time. this is july. the election is in november. and i think we're going to have to make our case. i think we can make it. and especially in the context o

mitch mcconnell and john boehner are certainly the establishment leaders in congress and they have to set the tone and have to appeal to both factions in here. i don't know that the establishment side has necessarily one leader. but certainly any of the moderates in the senate, the few that are left, would fit into that wing of the party. but the jim demints and the, of course sarah palin who is active with the tea party movement, i spoke to one senior strategist in the party today and he said listen those guys, they make all the noise, they get all the attention, they get on all the shows. they don't necessarily represent as large of a swath in the party as the attention they get may make many believe. >> lehrer: so the big struggle, the big mission is going to be to put all the republicans back together when humpty-dumpty -- never mind that analogy. anyhow, put them back together, right, come november? >> no doubt about it. and barack obama and nancy pelosi are doing all they can to help that effort because they really do unify around opposition to the president's agenda, to the spe

. >> lehrer: but house republican leader john boehner said it's one more big spending bill that's dragging down the economy. >> for 18 months, we've had a government that believes that change is only possible by passing 2,000 page trillion dollar monstrosities one after another. americans are still asking the question: "where are the jobs?" and all presidt obama has to offer them is more stimulus spending, more debt, higher taxes and more job killing regulations. >> lehrer: the chairman of the federal reserve, ben bernanke, weighed in as well. at a house hearing, he warned against major spending cuts or tax hikes for now. >> in the short-term, i would believe that we ought to maintain a reasonable degree of fiscal support, stimulus for the economy. there are many ways to do that. >> lehrer: bernanke said if a new recession threatens, the fed could take its own stimulus actions- buying government debt or trying to spark new lending to business. for a closer look, greg ip, u.s. economics editor of "the economist" magazine. greg, welcome. corporate earnings, they were higher than expected. wh