no movement at all from the president or from senator carl levin.ital expenditures are way down. companies are refusing to hire in this environment. there's a huge level of uncertainty. liz: there's a danger for republicans, they don't want to be looked at as tax collectors for a growing welfare state. that's the danger for the g.o.p. in caving right here. stuart: you have got it. it used to be the best investment you could make was a single family home in a good neighborhood. that's what you always thought. buy a house, you will do okay. but people don't think like that anymore. here's the latest poll from rasmussen. the question was is buying a home the best investment most families can make? 48% either said no or they're not sure. you know, company, that's a huge shift in the way we look at what used to be the ultimate investment, the middle america made to earn them some money and see them through retirement. it's changed. liz: you know i'm not surprised at this because it is basically an investment. they are thinking a home should be regarded a

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you very much, christiane and alex. >>> we're joined now by senate armed services committee chair carl levin and peter king of new york. thank you both for joining us this morning. i'm going to start with you, senator levin. how serious is this situation in israel? >> well, it's very serious and hamas is obviously making it serious. they decided they'll attack israel with rockets and israel has decided as every country i think would decide, they're going to defend themselves. >> and do you believe this will escalate. >> it could escalate, and i think the potential is there, however, president obama and others are doing their very best to see if they can't turn hamas' attacks off and the role of iron dome here should always be, remember, it's a very critical weapon system. >> which can to protect. >> protects israel against these rockets with a 90% success rate and the president and congress here are entitled to, i believe, a lot of credit for providing that system to israel. it's a very effective system. >> congressman king, i want to ask you whether you believe this will turn into a ground

chairman of the armed services committee carl levin. and chairman of the house homeland security committee, new york republican peter king. then where does america stand on the verge of a second obama term in office? the economy, the fiscal cliff talks, the president's priorities in the next four years. our roundtable is here. david brooks of "the new york times." msnbc's reverend al sharpton. former ceo of hewlett-packard carly fiorina >> historian and film maker ken burns. and nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. and we'll hear from new york congressman, gregory meeks, as we check in on some of the hardest-hit victims of hurricane sandy and see how they offered thanks this weekend while surrounded by destruction. >>> from nbc news in washington, the world's longest-running television program, this is "meet the press." with david gregory. >>> president obama doing his part for the economy over the weekend out holiday shopping as part of small business saturday, picking up several children's book at an independent bo

wording that exempted american citizens and that was something that the sponsors of the bill carl levin and john mccain as well as the obama white house decided not to do really really interesting that happened. we saw last week even though this bill has passed it was signed into law on new year's eve when a whole lot of us were you know out celebrating the new year. it we're starting to see both republicans and democrats in congress even as recent as last week sort of retake interest in this matter retake interest in the n.d.a. and perhaps talking about. doing some things in the future to change it but mark udall are already trying to to make an amendment to take out some of the controversial aspect of it that wasn't put into place why is it that these lawmakers are taking this up again i'm not sure why i mean i think that if you and we're really you know this is a long document the n.d.a. we're only talking about two sections section ten twenty one section ten twenty two which in essence allows the executive branch. to strip an american citizen of their constitutional rights to due pr

robert byrd and ted kennedy and carl levin led the opposition to it but for the most part, it was a rush in judgment. host: our line for republicans is next. caller: good morning, good morning -- host: turn your television down. it will help. caller: good morning, i would first like to say that i feel sorry that mitt romney, a man of great moral and president obama had to go through so many difficult during the time of campaigning and they will have set the standard to work on. i really want to know -- we know this country is divided and when the senators come with an issue, are they informed on both sides well enough to make a decision? one of the things that is coming before us is that tax on the people making the most money. will they have to take a look at that? some say it will work and another side says it will not work. the american people don't know which side will work. guest: i think the senators will be well informed. i think the caller is certainly right about the divisions in the country. i think that's why the restoration of the senate, the senate becoming, again, and effec

democrat and chairman of the senate committee of armed services carl levin says america needs to play the middle. >> i think we have to be cautious. we doesn't want to see a democratically elected auto krat take the place of an unelected dictator which is the case before that. on the other hand there are real pluses here. >> they will push the white house to take a side. they need to condemn morsi and condemn him now. >> this is not what taxpayers expect and our dollars will be directly related to the progress toward democracy which he promised the people of egypt when your party was elected president. rye nouns t renounce the statement he just made. if the judiciary is flawed in some way they can be cured over time. to assume this kind of power is unacceptable to this: >> the white house hasn't yet responded to el bardi's plea but they will address the situation today. >>> the weather update with maria molina. hope you had a great holiday. you have a storm we are keeping an eye on through the southeast. >> hope you had a good holiday as well. that's right. we have a new storm system

i talked to senator carl levin, snorch senator in michigan where my dad lives and the next things weback from the army secretary saying we'd like to perform the symphony. >> i was kind of worried what i would see and i was so grateful when i opened the score and saw that it was a total piece of music, very accessible, very melodic, ne-yo romantic. it has a special meaning when you sit down and you play something and you know exactly what's behind it. >> so the first movement of my symphony is about the sadness of that period, the extreme sadness and sorrow of the holocaust and the terrible loss of life. the second movement is sort of being geared for war. and the third movement is the warfare itself. the boys going to omaha beach and invading germany. at the end of that movement i have a victory march. [ applause ] wonderful. >> he certainly does deserve that salute. one of our many heroes who we should be honoring today. >>> the anglican church has a new leader but where does the new archbishop of canterbury stand on same-sex marriage and other hot button issues and what does this m

i talked to senator carl levin, senator from michigan where my dad lives.or levin wrote a letter to the defense department, and the next thing we knew we had a letter back from the army secretary saying we would like to perform this symphony. >> i was kind of worried what i was see and i was so grateful when i opened the score and saw that it was a tonal piece of music, very accessible, very melodic, neoromantic. it has a special meaning when you sit down and you play something and you know exactly what's behind it. ♪ >> so the first movement of my symphony is about the sadness of that period, the extreme sadness and sorrow of the holocaust and the terrible loss of life. the second movement is sort of being geared for war. and the third movement is the warfare itself. the boys going to omaha beach and invading germany. the end of that movement i have a victory march. [ applause ] >> wonderful. >> very nice. congratulations. >>> new details are still trickling in in the after math of david petraeus's interview. next a provocative theory on how all of this ma

democrats like senator carl levin are still sticking to raise tax rates on the rich. the president will hit the road this week again demanding higher tax rates on people making more than $250,000 a year. there has been some movement on the republican side, bill. bill: let's get to democrats in a moment. i want to be clear on this what these republicans are talking about is revenue. that is tax reform. there is a big difference between that and a tax rate being changed. explain that. >> that is correct. what the republicans want to do, certainly senator corker this morning said, cap deductions. $50,000. that is all the deductions you can take. that is how you bring in more revenue from wealthy people. as opposed to raising being at that rates. income tax rates on the rich, that is the president's proposal. there has been shift on how you get more money out of wealthy people. bill: we heard from leading republicans on this mitt romney campaigned on that but what have leading democrats said about entitlement reform on medicare, medicaid, social security? >> you have used

be speaking with nancy pelosi, but also republican congressman peter king and democratic senator carl levin. it's "this week" later this morning right here on abc. >> bianna, over to you. >> martha filling in on "this week." >>> now a new twist in the bizarre crime story involving tech titan john mcafee. he's the man who made a fortune by creating anti-virus software a lot of us use to protect our computers. he is now on the run in belize wanted in connection with a murder. abc's john muller is here with the latest on this strange saga. john? >> it gets stranger by the day. he certainly knows a thing or two about the internet. now the eccentric international man of mystery appears to be reaching out from hiding by blog, a blog that says police in belize have been harassing him long before he became the person of interest in his neighbor's murder. tech titan paranoid man on the run and now perhaps mysterious blogger, the john mcafee saga getting stranger by the day with a new blog claiming to be mcafee's own word. the anti-virus software pioneer is still in hiding. wanted to for questioning

qf carl levin -- you have carl levin. you have mary lender prior in arkansas. you have kagan in north carolina you have a seat that can be contested. to me, what that argument says is the senate, i don't think is going to be the obstacle to the grand bargain. it is the 140 republican votes that speaker boehner will have to get together. and actually, how does barack obama held boehner? -- help boehner? >> and another seat in 2014, mitch mcconnell's seat. whether in the primary or the general election, he is really concerned. he has been raising some the like a million dollars a quarter in the off-year for the last year-and-a-half or so. he hired rand paul's campaign manager. he is seriously preparing for the contest. >> he made the comment to our colleague, major garrett, that our top priority is stopping barack obama. and they did it, and congressional approval rating went on to historic lows. talking about statements being made when television cameras are on, one thing about this polarization that we have where all we do is we only watch msnbc or with only wa

democrats in the senate hold the line here or whether they say, we need to do something about a carl levineems to think you can't push this through with the nuclear option. you need to get two-thirds on board. >> this is what happened when they last considered this in 2010 where you had the gray beards of the institution say no, this is supposed to be the [ inaudible ] for the house and chris dodds go to the floor and say this cannot happened. what happens with gray beards is they usually leave. >> or get grayer. >> we have a new class of senate democrats coming in and saying there is a legal and constitutional basis for doing this. the thing that i think gets confused here, is that they're not doing away with the filibuster. what reid is trying to do -- >> i think they should do. >> well, you can make -- you can have the argument because a lot of reproductive rights groups would be more cauckau -- cautio about them. have them show up and get 40 votes. >> if you try to break a filibuster there's a quorum call and you have to get a quorum assembled in the senate. people don't realize gettin

the man asking the questions is senator carl levin. >> okay, you're trying to sell [ bleep ] deal andsparks, should goldman sachs being able to sold -- by the way, it sold a lot after that date, should go

carl levin, the democratic senator and chair of the armed services committee said automatic cuts to government spending could impact public safety. >> i think you should be worried if you have a defense job and we all ought to be worried whether we are dependent upon other aspects of the federal budget. whether we're worried about the regulation of our food safety, whether we're worried about our borders being secure, whether we're worried about fbi being supported, it's all affected by sequestration. >> joining me now, cnbc washington reporter eamon javers. you heard the numbers we just ran down. what is the short-term tangible consequence if we don't get action on the fiscal cliff. >> cote is right, it does cause uncertainly. life is uncertain and so they know that there's going to be this issue and that washington is going to wrestle with it. in the short term, the very short term, i think actually some of the hype around the fiscal cliff is a little overblown, particularly because the first couple of days or week or so after we go over the fiscal cliff we won't see all that many impacts. a

. >>> now let me turn to carl levin, chairman of course of the armed services committee in the senate. senator, to egypt. how concerned are you? is morsi a partner of the united states, or a problem? >> yes. >> he's both? >> some of both, yeah. but even though there's great concern, i think we have to be very cautious. we don't obviously want to see a democratically elected autocrat take the place of an undemocratically elected dictator. on the other hand, there are some real pluses possible here. if egypt takes some real responsibility for making the cease-fire work, we'll stop those missiles from going through the tunnels in gaza, and they seem to be moving in that direction. that can make a real difference in terms of what's going on in gaza and their attacks on israel, which have been the cause of the whole thing. >> what would you like to see the president say, to put a brake on morsi seizing power? what words does the president have to use to say we're not going back to mubarak? >> he has to express those concerns and say, obviously, we want this change to not just be democratic

senator carl levin said it is not fair to hold her responsible for the original talking points sinceid not produce them and the intelligence community stood by them. >> gretchen: there is no shock there. democrats will support susan rice. >> brian: i was stunned by yesterday. >> gretchen: this entire thing is a political football. this is what it is all about and i would add to the equation do we also have the f.b.i. and the secretary of defense and the director of the cia potentially playing that political football game? that would be a huge problem if it were more than just politics. mr. 1: they play hard ball in washington on everything . and unfortunately for susan rice her charm offensive back fire wanted to make nice and made things worse and here is the problem for her going forward. if the administration places her name in confirmation. senators graham and ayotte would place holds on her name. senates have 53 democrats . coming up in january they will have 55 and they need 60. and they need five republicans g to get on board and that could be tough sleeding. >> b <> rian: it

back in the real world senator carl levin democrat of michigan about general petraeus' testimony. >> by the way fox news. way down the conspiracy rathole about oh, you know, does the president control general petraeus' penis? is that the point? >> jill kelley made a couple of trips to the white house. did you see those? that's a little interesting. >> stephanie: that's not who was having the affair with petraeus. it was the other. >> paula broadwell. >> stephanie: that's a conspiracy theory. they knew about the affair and used it to blackmail him so he would tell the administration line on benghazi. [ whatever! ] >> stephanie: they lost me somewhere. representative nancy pelosi. >> what happens in his life is not my business. what happens on the internet as i think -- is i think stupid. but there was a decision -- those are the decisions he made. i think he did something that wasn't good and he made the honorable decision to resign. >> stephanie: all right. so as we -- as we tiptoe up to the fiscal cliff the boehner -- >> i believe that we can do this and avert the fiscal cliff right

here's democratic senator carl levin on "meet the press." >> the key is whether the republicans will move away from the rigid position which has been the grover norquist pledge that they signed that they will not go away for additional revenues. >> the gop rejecting the decade-old pledge. here's what norquist said about cham bliss. >> the commitment that he made to the people of georgia was not to me. it was to the people of georgia that he would go to washington to reduce government spending and reform government, not raise taxes. if he wants to change his mind and become a tax increaser so we don't have to reform government, he needs to have that conversation with the people of georgia. >>> >> and new today, congressman peter king on the controversy. >> i agree with chambliss. if i were in congress in 1941, i would have signed al declaration of war against japan. i'm not going to declare war against japan today. the times have changed. ronald reagan and tip o'neil recognized that in the '80s. everything should be on the table. >> joining me, ed and david. thank you for joining me.

megyn: [laughter] >> carl levin, very experienced man.it at that. >> leave it at that. megyn: general, great to see you. all the best, sir. >>> coming up, the senate homeland security committee holding a hearing, we will speak with one of the senators in on that hearing. >>> plus a woman on trial accused of befriending and killing a lottery winner. >>> and new technology offering parents a window to their child's future. we'll show you how you can figure out if your baby is at risk of becoming obese. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, now is a good time to think about your options. are you looking for a plan that really meets your needs and your budget? as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to req

this weekend senator carl levin, democrats and chairman of the senate armed services committee says presidentstrig mall strong concerns about this power grab. the white house has to be listening to that to some extent. what should president obama do? >> i think he should stop any debt reduction that we have been talking about with egypt. he should put on hold the imf agreement they recently signed with egypt. if i would suspend economic aid. i would not us extend military aid because we are talking about a divided the egyptian government with the military more responsive to the united states. this is a very complicated situation inside egypt. there are different political factions, military, the muslim brotherhood. other supporters of mubarak. a small band of no democracy people. there is a lot here we have to be aware of as we try and press american interests. i would rely in this case mostly on the military. they are the ones we have given the bulk of the assistance to and if they are not responsive to it then we'll cut them off, too. megyn: ambassador bolton, thank you, sir. new developmen

i think you can see from both what dianne feinstein said today, what carl levin said, the way that president obama treated the issue at his news conference, he's making the point you want to go after somebody on benghazi go after me and i think that's where republicans will end up and see to what extent they want to drag it out. i'm not sure the administration would mind, for example, if susan rice were to be nominated by the president for secretary of state i'm not sure they would mind that fight. the president might embrace and challenge republicans to oppose her. >> during the campaign, the republicans you could argue lost pursuing this line on benghazi. how far do you think republicans will take this? and will it be perceived as a political attack? >> that's right. people may have already forgotten, the election seems like a long way in the past for some of us, but mitt romney tried to make an issue of benghazi in the hours after the attack. he jumped on the administration before we knew that four americans had been killed and that obviously backfired on him. because the information was

senator carl levin says such a committee is not necessary. also troubling why the fbi did not alert congress about the petraeus's extramarital affair. they say they have protocols when it notifies the legislative and executive branches. jenna: good information for us doug, thank you. we have more on this now. rick: more on benghazi and the testimony we're expecting to hear from general petraeus. we're joined by charlie hirt, a columnist at "the washington times." this will behind closed doors as doug was reporting. i wonder how much of this information is going to get out? certainly the public wants to hear if general petraeus is going to change his story at all? >> certainly i can understand why they chose to make it behind closed doors because it would be the most watched testimony of any hearing i think probably in the last couple years on capitol hill. but it is curious. i don't know what their the real explanation they're going to have to give for why they would put it behind closed doors because in addition to all the sordid and tawdry

carl levin, for example, came up with a proposal that's much more modest than what many of the democratsment, mostly focuses on the motion to proceed, but that includes a couple other areas where you might find a bipartisan buy-in that would take the issue at least take the temperature down. if that does not happen, the senate, next year, becomes a more unruly and more partisan place, and that, i think, is entirely possible, and it would make governing in the next couping years more of a challenge. >> asking about the house against the senate. all these gangs in the senate on the moderate side, but any chance to form itself at some point? they tried over the years, as you know, and i think that matt doud or somebody mentioned they are trying to organize something. can you comment on a rod rat organization to help boehner in the house? >> they mentioned moderates elected, but there were 44-something blue dogs, and rahm recruited many reportedly moderate democrats elected in 2006 and 2008. they are almost all gone, and, you know, the rules of the house tend to give control as long as there's s

but yesterday senator, democrat senator carl levin suggested that the biggest challenge is bringing muhammadsi to the west's side. and perhaps that is something that has to to be looked into. what do you see, how do you see this might work and what the west can do with regards to egypt? >> well, that's a big question. i have actually written about egypt's nuclear weapons program, they had a weapons program under nasser, so it's a question i spent time in, not in a while. you know, i hope that -- this is a question that comes at a point of great confusion and no clarity about the future of egypt, is are morsi's decrees a power grab or a temporary set of arrangements to help a husband or nurture an egypt pollty that becomes democratic and strong and more legitimate? because mubarak was not he psychiatry mate at the end. i hope that it is a strong democrat, that egypt returns to it rightful place as the leader of the arab world, as the most popular country, that it goes down that path towards democracy, that it's seen as legitimate which means it's going to have different policies, and it's goi

carl levin, for example, has come up with a proposal that's much more modest than what many of the democrats want. it mostly focuses on the motion to proceed but could include a couple of other areas where you might find a bipartisan buy-in that would take the issue, at least take the temperature down. but if that doesn't happen, then the senate next year becomes a more unruly and more partisan place, and that i think is entirely possible, and it would make governing in the next couple years even more of a challenge. >> okay. anybody else? >> just wanted to ask norm about the house versus senate. you have all these gangs in the senate on the moderate side. is there any chance for a moderate house gang to form itself at some point? they've tried over the years, as you know, and i think matt dowd or somebody mentioned that he's trying to organize something. can you comment on any sort of moderate organization to help boehner in the house? >> well, norm mentioned earlier the, you know, a couple moderates that got elected, but the number of -- what were there, 44 or something blue dog, and rahm

on me to the press, carl levin, peter king, and gregory meeks. we will also see the chairman and chief executive of honeywell international. our next call joining us on the independent line. we have pat from tennessee. caller: you made the statement a few minutes ago, exactly my thought. when you have senators and representatives of their in congress, then they are representing the states. that is how the states have a say in the budget talks. i noticed a while back they talked about reducing your marks. that is when they put things in that they want to add to the budget, things that the one for the states. that is how they are represented already. thank you. host: thank you. what you were quoting was eight tweet that came in that said states already have a say by sending members to the house and senate. democrats line. caller: i think today pose the question is interesting. this was one of the first questions addressed by congress back in the summer of 1787 at the constitutional convention. the convention had only originally begun to address som

you have carl levin. you have mary lender prior in arkansas. you have kagan in north carolina you have a seat that can be contested. to me, what that argument says is the senate, i don't think is going to be the obstacle to the grand bargain. it is the 140 republican votes that speaker boehner will have to get together. and actually, how does barack obama help boehner? >> and another seat in 2014, mitch mcconnell's seat. whether in the primary or the general election, he is really concerned. he has been raising some the like a million dollars a quarter in the off-year for the last year-and-a-half or so. he hired rand paul's campaign manager. he is seriously preparing for the contest. >> he made the comment to our colleague, major garrett, that our top priority is stopping barack obama. and they did it, and congressional approval rating went on to historic lows. talking about statements being made when television cameras are on, one thing about this polarization that we have where all we do is we only watch msnbc or with only watch fox and we on

on "this week," peter king and arms services committee chairman carl levin. chris wallace sits down with saxby chambliss, the vice chairman of the intelligence committee. also, republican governors bobby jindal and scott walker. "state of the union" follows with roy blunt of missouri and carlos the terrorist. at 4 p.m., john mccain and olympia snowe. the sunday morning talk shows re-airing on c-span radio. they began at 1200 eastern. listen to them all on c-span radio on 90.1 fm in the washington, d.c. area. listen on your but very, enjoyed -- blackbeerry, an droid or iphone. >> they are using a mobile phone to access facebook because they do not have a laptop or pc. in a lot of cases, there is not an infrastructure of media and communications. a lot of americans will meet me and say, facebook is great for costing and seeing with my friends are meeting for lunch. -- great for gossiping and see what my friends are eating for lunch. in the middle east coming up access to people who have unique information they would not be able to get otherwise. you get a much

robert byrd and ted kennedy and carl levin led the opposition to it but for the most part, it was a rush in judgment . host: our line for republicans is next. caller: good morning, good morning -- host: turn your television down. it will help. caller: good morning, i would first like to say that i feel sorry that mitt romney, a man of great moral and president obama had to go through so many difficult during the time of campaigning and they will have set the standard to work on. i really want to know -- we know this country is divided and when the senators come with an issue, are they informed on both sides well enough to make a decision? one of the things that is coming before us is that tax on the people making the most money. will they have to take a look at that? some say it will work and another side says it will not work. the american people don't know which side will work. guest: i think the senators will be well informed. i think the caller is certainly right about the divisions in the country. i think that's why the restoration of the senate, the senate becoming, again, and effe

committee chairman carl levin says he hopes to have a vote on the nomination shortly after the thanksgiving recess. german eleven and other committee members also expressed their support for current afghanistan commander john allen who is being investigated for allegedly misconduct relating to the scandal that forced the resignation of cia director david petraeus this is just over 2.5 hours. >> good morning, everybody. we are meeting to consider the nomintation of general joseph dunford, jr., to be the next commander of the u.s. forces in afghanistan and commander of the international security assistance force. this morning's meeting was originally scheduled to cinsider general john allen to be supreme allied commander. general allen currently holds the positions that general dunford is nominated. however, earlier this week, the department of defense requested general allen's hearing be put on hold pending a department of defense inspector general review. we have agreed and we hope the review can be completed promptly. general dunford is a distinguished military career with over 25 years of

you'll see efforts to make it a partisan, diluted approach to the filibuster coming from places like carl levinou could have it quiet and dormant until after these negotiations reach an end. if you get that happening in december, they will come back in january and do it and then have those lines hardened again. you got to keep in mind that the way in which the filibuster is handled now could create some real dynamic in terms of the willingness of the two parties to work together. >> questions? >> you mentioned the farm bill. could you talk specifically about the likelihood of a farm bill passing during the lame duck? >> the house leadership has been very reluctant to bring up a bill, because this was another one of those instances where it would only pass with as many democrats as republicans. there has just been this really hard line, a line that cuts across many areas. the farm bill is in part about which commodities gain and which commodities lose, and so you pit one group against that. given that they are on record that there will emerge during this lame duck and the problems up there with

president, ask unanimous consent at this point that a statement from senator carl levin, the senior senatorfrom michigan, be included in the record. it speaks to the wind energy industry in michigan. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. udall: we've seen improvement in the nation's economy, but many families and businesses across our country are still struggling to make ends meet. and this has been especially true in michigan, a state that has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates and a sluggish manufacturing base. and this is all a result of the tough economic times that we've experienced over the last four years. but if you look at michigan, mr. president, the wind industry saw an opportunity in michigan. michigan is known for its highly skilled workforce. and so the wind industry took root in michigan, took advantage of this workforce, and now we see that in michigan there is significant manufacturing of wind turbines occurring there. and that's reinvigorated michigan's industrial base and it's aided in the recovery of the state's economy. you think about it

but yesterday democrat senator carl levin suggested that and bringing mohammed to the west side and perhaps that is something that has to be looked into. what do you see in this process? how do you see this might work and what the west can do with regards to egypt? >> that's a big question. i have written about egyptian's nuclear weapon under nasr. you know, i hope that -- this is a question that comes at a point of great confusion and no clarity about the future of egypt. are the decrees the beginning of the muslim brotherhood down the path of a power grab or is this a temporary sort of arrangement that helps a husband or nurture an egyptian policy that becomes democratic and strong and more legitimate? mubarak was not legitimate at the end. i hope that egypt will be the leader of the arab world, it's the most popular country, and goes down that path toward democracy. it has different policies and disagree with the u.s. on some things and agree with others but if it goes down that path then i think it will be very important for the u.s. and for israel and for others to embrace that egypt i

carl levin has come up with a proposal that is much more modest in what democrats want. it could include a couple of the areas where you might find -- that would take the temperature down. that does not happen, the senate becomes more unruly and a partisan place. >> i wanted to ask about the house versus senate. you have all of these gangs in the senate. is there any chance for a moderate house gang to [unintelligible] they have tried over the years appeared at think matt dowd is trying to organize something. can you comment on any modern organization to help boehner in the house? >> 44 blue dogs and rahm emanuel to the brilliant job of a -- they were almost all gone. the rules of the house tend to think -- give control to the dominant party. i am not sure john boehner has committed himself to -- he has not brough many things forward. there are not many mo derate democrats. mikee ne republicans -- castle. unfortunate results for him. correct the problem for john boehner who is a legislator is he did not have a leadership that is behind them on that. there are no more mod

now we have one proposal on the table by a democratic senator carl levin, one of the most respected seniorembers, which is basically we will provide opportunities for timely and relevant amendments and a process for getting those and it can be lots of them on the table and in return we will cut off filibusters on the motion to proceed and clean up the process a little bit more. if i had my druthers, i would say a few steps further. i think some of the options for using the filibuster as a tool of destruction, including the 30 hours debate, i see no reason why you cannot at minimum say 30 hours, divided between the majority and minority, and you have to be on the floor debating if you are going to take the 15 hours that you have. i see no reason why you cannot expedite action even further, so if you want to raise the bar to 60, you can do it, but you have to move further. then i would do one of two things, because i think what has happened here in particular and what has made this the tool that becomes particularly attractive to use on a more regular basis is that since 1975, basically the