he said that only coburn reallyments to raise revenues. i've had several republican senators say to me, hey, i signed grover's pledge. but as part of this deal i know we need to raise rates and i'm going to go back on it. and it would be good for the country. it would be bad for grover's interest group, but it's absolutely-- coburn is absolutely right. >> what about the republican party? would it be bad for the republican party? >> i was thinking as we watched that piece with judy, vin webber represents the district, was reasonable and thoughtful it struck me, and reflective, and very problem solving. that district is now represented by michele bachmann so--. >> lehrer: in minnesota. >> it tells you how minnesota republicans may have changed in that time. no, i think, jim, what we see here is that over the last 60 years, 60 years, really, since the truman administration, the highest percentage of gross domestic product that the government has spent is today, all right. the highest percentage, 26.6% of the gross domestic product, which is h

coburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: thank you. i have had a good time listening to the debate on the amendment i filed and visiting with senators. i think there is an important distinction that needs to be made in the arguments that have been brought forward. the first is we have a mandated level of ethanol that has to be produced and blended into gasoline, and it grows from now on. there will be zero job losses if this amendment is improved. the second thing is my colleague, and i love him to death, from south dakota says we're going to save $1 billion. we can save $3 billion. if we eliminate the vtec blending subsidy. now, why should we do that? here's a subsidy that goes to all the blenders of gasoline in the united states, all of them, and they all have called and written and said, we don't want the $3 billion for the rest of the year. we don't want it. we actually have a letter here from the national petrochemical and refiners association, which they're all members of, saying we don't want this money. so the best way to get m

that's why i voted for senator coburn.hen they can also say the following week i voted for senator thune. one of these should work. we've got it both ways. we should make a distinction between which way we want to go and what we want to do. i happen to choose for, i think, valid reasons that we ought to transition out of this because the enormous financial commitment that has been made on the part of ethanol producers in my state, because of the enormous benefit that, yes, has come to our agriculture sector that has grown a lot of corn and benefited from it and has paid a lot of taxes -- it's one of the few industries in america right now that is prospering, earning revenue and paying taxes on that revenue and helping our economy grow, as is the ethanol industry. but to just yank it away from them right away because we say this has to be done right now without transition i don't think is fair to those who have made that commitment. does ethanol need to be economically viable to compete with other forms of energy? yes. did

the feinstein-coburn amendment is precipitous. again, as i said, i'm more than willing and hopefully before the end of the year -- now the, the ethanol tax credits are going to expire at the end of the year. hopefully before the end of the year, we will reach some agreement, work out something where we have more access to the marketplace. and then we can do away with the tax credits. but we should not take an action that will slash the value of the ethanol industry's primary product by nearly 20% overnight. think about it this way. we have a one-year extension of the ethanol credits that go to the end of this year. we did that, the congress did that, we said that to the industry. investors have come in, modifications to plants have been built. plants have been built. yet, in the middle of year, we're going to say no, we're going to take it away? all my friends over there that keep talking about the private sector and how we need the private sector and don't need the government, you're going to pull the rug out from underneath the

coburn: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: thank you. i've listened to the debate all morning, as an original cosponsor with senator snowe on her bivment i want to track about the e.d.a. first and then i'll talk about other things. what moves us don't realize, because most of us haven't taken the time to look, there's 80 economic development programs in the federal government through four agencies, and it spends $6.6 billion a year. not one of them has a metric on it to see if it is successful. we have heard all morning em $3,000 per jofnlt no oversight on it novment committee oversight on it. no hard work to see -- there's not a metric on within of these programs to see if it is working. now we have a bill on the floor to spend another $500 million a year on something we have no idea what -- we have anecdotal evidence. but what does the o.i.g. say. they say, first of all, this program has been used as congressional slush fund to direct money to friends of members of congress. that's what they say. fully one-third of the projects in thi

tom coburn on this program. welcome. >> thank you, charlie. good to be with you. >> tell me where y think it is, this negotiation now that the president has evolved directly and not just leaving it to vice president biden. >> well, i think it all depends on whether or not we approach the very real problems that our country's facing in terms of our debt and our fiscal situation, whether or not you're approach that in a meaningful way that doesn't just pass the test of congress, it passes the test that says the people that are interested in loaning money for sovereign debt think we'vedone enough to deserve their confidence. >> you have been unilaterally said that you are opposed to some reducing some of the reductions in corporations and others get, in order and help on the revenue side, correct? >> well, yes. but my motivation isn't just revenue, in fact you he a lower flatter curve and a more predictable tax system which u'll get is bigger investmen with great growth and revenues of the federal government. when we have 20% of the people in 200

tom coburn, an iconoclastic, courageous republican said at let's eliminate the ethanol subsidy paid at a time people are hungry, we are growing grain to make it for gasoline? he is told by grover norquist, who is, in fact, the enforcer of the republican party that this would be a tax increase. what happened to the republicans? in they ran like a so many black birds of a telephone wire. they scattered, day or terrified. this is the reality we are dealing with. it is not the question of courage on one side and cowardice on the other. it is a question of a coming together over a national problem and, as evan said and nina acknowledge, it does in all boats tax increases and serious -- and of both tax increases and serious -- >> the democrats have proposed neither. >> propose schmose. if either side is not willing to do something that is painful, there is not going to be a deal. in the short run, we are in the middle of a possible rerecession, and you don't want to do something that would fizzle tod -- that would facilitate that happening. >> yes, is gaddafi an evil man? certainly. but wher

>> i want to ask senate coburn to answer that question.e wanted them offset. so should taxes be off the table? >> no, i don't think so. look, there's two answers to your question. how have we fixed our problems without agreeing that we'll have to give something to get what we want? and growing the economy that markedly enhanced the revenues shouldn't be an anathema to republicans. if we want to do all these spending reductions -- and i'd love for us to have time to really talk about because i can give you eight out of the 9 trillion i'm going to propose, but if we're going to do it, for those who are locked in politically to those programs, you're going to have to give up something. so we're at historically low values as far as the percentage of the gdp that comes from revenue from american taxpayers. that's part of our problem. we're also at an historical high in terms of spending. that's a bigger part of our problem. what we have to do is pull those back together if we're going to get back to them. 18.8% is the max you're ever going to c

senate is gaveling in on senator coburn's bill. later, senator marco rubio of florida is expected to give his maiden speech. and now live to the senate floor. by the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn. who yields time? no one has yielded time. time will be charged equally to both sides. ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, speaking on this amendment, i oppose this amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same. there is going to be a change with biofuels in this country. we're going to see phasing out of the support for biofuels in terms of federal policy, but the time to do it is not in the middle of the year, after seven years of federal support, with five days' notice. senator thune and i have an alternative bill that actually takes the rest of the year -- the last six months of this year -- the funding and puts $1 billion into deficit reduction, and then allows the industry to keep its footing so it can actually compete with oil. i would remind my colleag

coburn, proposes an amendment numbered 521. mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent that it be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator is recognized. mr. coburn: mr. president, thank you for the recognition. about three months ago one of the results of the last time we raised the debt limit was a report by the government accounting office. 97 senators in this body voted to put that in the last debt limit extension. and what was that? that was a requirement for the government accounting office over the next three years to list every program for us in every area so we knew what we were doing. and the purpose for that amendment, that happened to have been my amendment, was because when i went to the congressional research service and i went to the government accounting office, i said i want to know every program in education, i want to know every program. i want to know every program. and what they told me is it's impossible. we cannot do it. we cannot give it to you. so we collectively as colleagues said

economic town hall that aired on cbs early show earlier this week, your colleague republican senator tom coburn said that the reason that democrats and republicans can't get together is because people in both parties are simply more interested in their own political survival than they are in doing what needs to be done. he said you just don't have the courage to step up to the plate and do it. do you believe he's right about that? >> i sure hope not. i mean we're going to have an opportunity here very soon in connection with raising the debt ceiling to see whether both sides can come together and address this enormous problem. you know, when the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are taught military guide when asked what is our biggest national security problem says the debt. when the co-chairman of the president's deficit reduction commission and former bill clinton chief of staff says this is the most predictable crisis in history, when you have a $14 trillion debt as big as our economy plus over $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities on popular programs like medicare, medicaid and social se

senator coburn and i are not going away on this issue. this is something i would like to resolve during this congress. i am determined to do that. i am grateful to my colleagues and our staffs in preparing for this. i am grateful to you for the work that you have done and that is being done. let's continue to work together. we have to figure out how to deal with this. we need to stop spending that kind of money and to save it instead. this hearing in is a-include- -- this hearing is concluded. we are adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> during the hearing today, you heard a lot of references b.r.a.c., the base realignment commission. we have covered a lot of those commissions. senate is the only body in session this week. the senate, earlier today, rejected an amendment as part of thereauthorization -- of the re authorization -- reauthorization of the -- the vice president has been meeting with a bipartisan group. their sixth meeting on the debt and

we're at 9.1. >> schieffer: it was coburn who may have won the prize for candor. >> i'm convinced that washington's main focus is short-term political expediency. and the reason our country is at risk is because we think short term and about the next election rather than thinking about the future of our country. you know, the reason i'll stand up as a conservative republican, one of the biggest in congress and say i'll negotiate on taxes because our country is in trouble. >> schieffer: scott, that is not the first time we have heard someone offer that analysis but it may be the first time a member of congress has been willing to admit that congress simply lacks the courage to do what everyone knows needs to be done. you can hear all of it on the early show tomorrow. >> pelley: thanks, bob. unemployment has hit baby boomers especially hard. for those 55 and over, the jobless rate has doubled since the recession began, to 6.8%. that's more than 2 million workers. we asked byron pitts to go to north carolina ahead of the president to tell us about the people behind the numbers. >> reporte

coburn: mr. president? i would ask to call up my amendment number 500, and then i would also tell the senator from maine i will very much consider your recommendation in terms of trying to put it in on the second half of this. i would like to call it up now and ask that maybe we withdraw it. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn for himself and others proposed amendment numbered 500. mr. coburn: i ask that it be considered read and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. durbin: unanimous consent that marie and -- be given privilege of the law during the presidential appointment efficiency and streamlining act. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. deutsche deutschmr. durbin: mr.i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will call the roll. quorumquorum call: quorum call: mr. kerry: mr. president? the pre

now whether senator coburn will accept it or not, i don't know. but i know these discussions are going on, and all i can do is pledge you my best effort to trf to get to something that youome satisfies a tree betty. i understand if you come from a large ethanol producing state i understand what this means. on the other hand, i also that s understand that this is going to be the first of many coming dowy the line that we have to change, the way we do business. but if we are going to carry oue the mandate of a prudent a government, we have to make a ae lot of changes and none of it io going to be easy so we might aso thll get used to it now. wor for wherever it is worth to hav. my word we will continue to try to be the . coats: >> the senator from indiana.ad >> i accept that having had the opportunity to work with senatoe feinstein on the intelligence committee. i don't cities for its second ta accept.k it's been a pleasure to work on that committee and we spent many hours behind closed doors discussing issues of greatue importance to this country,

president, first of all, i appreciate the cooperation of senator snowe, senator coburn and others. it's important we move pal long with this legislation. so for the next three hours we will be able to debate the snowe amendment. the time will be equally divided during that period of time. we have a number of amendments others want to offer. we already have four in addition to hers that have been offered. we have time agreements on those. i appreciate everyone's help in moving forward in this regard. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the time until 2:15 be equally divided between senators snowe and boxer or their designees, and at 2:15 the senate proceed to vote in relation to the snowe amendment. no amendments or points of order be in order to the snowe amendment prior to the vote other than a budget point of order, and the applicable motions to waive. the amendment not be divisible, the amendment be stoubt a 60 -- be subject to a 60-vote threshold. i would also say before the chair rules on this that we have senator mccaskill that wants to offer an amendment on the same subje

. >> senator coburn has worked on this for many years. we will make some progress. thank you for being here today. >> i was going to reply to senator begich. it is not simple because you have every roadblock in the world. there are 70,000 properties. the $1.2 billion that comes close to maintaining that is -- we have billions of dollars. the question i would ask miss foscarinis, should we use cost-benefit analysis, we have a building we could sell for $5 million that the homeless could use and it is not the appropriate structure and for $1.5 million we could get the ideal structure. why not do that rather than say we do this because we have title 5 and actual good sale of a building for real purpose one we can take profits from that and put it into homes. what would we not do that? >> there are examples of groups. >> most of the time we don't do that. most of the times, is an inventory factor. it is not just title 5. when we are sitting $14 trillion worth of debt and we are drowning in debt and we are saying instead of making smart moves the right appropriate econom

coburn: thank you. it's interesting days in our country. we find ourselves in a very deep hole, and it's not the american people's fault. it's congress's fault. we continue to spend money that we don't have on things that we don't need. and when we do that personally, we end up filing bankruptcy. pretty soon we run out of new credit cards to take on, and we get to the point where we can't pay our debts. and that's a question that's in front of our country today, as our economy is struggling, we have this massive debt, and we ought to be about every small, medium and large thing we can do to solve the problem. not to solve the problem to say that we can't pay our bills, but to solve the problem so we create a prosperous future for our kids and those that follow us. there's a lot of controversy over the amendment that i offered and its claim by the majority leader inaccurately that this amendment was rule 14. it wasn't rule 14. according to the procedures of the senate, you can file cloture on any amendment at any time. that's a privilege tha

take vo ---el senador independiente joe lieberman y el republicano tom coburn presentaron hoy una propuestaacer recortes al medicare y de esa forma reducir la deuda nacional... ----bajo este plan, la edad para recibir "medicare" aumentara de 67 a 69 aÑos, y obligara a las personas con mas recursos a pagar mas. ---segun los legisladores, esto ahorrara al pais mas de 600 mil millones de dolares en una decada. cu ---se realiza un dramatico rescate en las aguas de la bahia. take vo ---varios elementos de la guardia costera respondieron esta manana poco despues de las siete a un llamado de auxilio ya que un hombre estaba en el agua cerca de la orilla "oeste" del puente. ---se envio un bote y un helicoptero y poco despues lograron rescatar al individuo quien no sufrio ningun tipo de lesin. ---todavia se desconoce porque el sujeto brinco al agua. topvo ---la policia de san jose se encuentra en alerta al reportarse 4 robos a mano armada y con violencia dentro de un plazo de 16 horas. ---esta racha comenzo el lunes por la maÑana. take fs deko ---el primer robo ocurri a las 9 de la maÑana en el centr

tom coburn, who also is a doctor, and joe lieberman, who typically votes with democrats.n giving this proposal they realize that it's a plan that nobody is going to like. democrats are pouncing on it. there is agreement on free trade. the white house and capitol hill have worked out agreements on colombia, panama and south korea that includes aid for american workers that are displaced when companies go overseas. we'll hear more about that and medicare when those all-important deficit talks when president obama gives a news conference later this morning. >> tracie potts, thank you very much. >>> in afghanistan, the taliban is planning responsibility for a rare nighttime attack in the capital of kabul. a four-hour standoff between militants and police saw at least 11 afghan victims killed, mostly hotel workers, along with eight attackers. nato helicopters brought the siege to an end by firing rockets at gunmen on the roof of the intercontinental hotel. >>> here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. surveillance video in massachusetts show that alco

senator coburn has said that part a is solvent until 2014 and part b until 2016. host: senator sanders will be joining us tomorrow morning on the journal at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. he will follow senator chuck grassley, the iowa republican and joining us spent 7:45 eastern time. we switched our focus to the mission in libya and a afghanistan. we will be right back. >> after 4.5 years and two president, secretary gates will retire this week. you'll be replaced by leon panetta. you can watch the defense secretary's retirement ceremony later this week on c-span. because well as c-span.org and online in the c-span video library. you can also look back at both men's careers. it's washington, your way. >> every saturday in july, historic supreme court arguments on c-span radio. 14th amendment cases on equal protection, including sexual orientation and gender and race discrimination. this saturday, single-sex admission policy in a 1982 case, mississippi university for women. c-span radio. and online at c-span.radio.org. >> corporations undermining the original intent of

take vo ---el senador independiente joe lieberman y el republicano tom coburn presentaron hoy una propuestacortes al medicare y de esa forma reducir la deuda nacional... ----bajo este plan la edad para recibir medicare aumentaria de 67 a 69 aÑos, y obligara a las personas con mas recursos a pagar mas... ---segun los legisladores, esto ahorraria al pais mas de 600 mil millones de dolares en una decada... cu ---se espera que hoy, ambas camaras de la legislatura californiana con mayora democrata, voten para aprobar el nuevo presupuesto estatal... take vo ---el nuevo presupuesto incluye una serie de recortes a varios sectores incluyendo la educacin.... ---asi mismo, a partir del primero de julio se reduciran los impuestos de las ventas en un centavo y los cobros por la matriculacin de vehiculos tambien bajarn medio punto porcentual... ---ademas, bajo este plan se preve que habra un incremento de recaudacin de impuestos a personas mas acaudaladas de unos 4 mil millones de dolares... stop open roll open cu ---ahora para hablarnos mas a fondo sobre lo que este nuevo presupuesto significa para la g

senator coburn and i proposing today. it will save over $600 billion in medicare costs over the next decade. it will extend the solvency for american seniors by about 30 years, maybe more. it will reduce the the 75 year unfunded liability by about 10 trillion dollars. our plan contains some strong medicine. that is what it will take to keep medicare a life. we believe our planet ministers the medicine in a fair way. it asks just about everyone and to give something to help preserve medicare. it asks wealthier americans to give more than those who have less. for the first time we will offer to protect seniors from paying more than $7,500 out of their pockets for health care in any one year because of a serious medical crisis or long-term illness. here are other details of what we propose. we are going to require hiring americans to pay more for their share of medicare part a, b, and d. we'll ask wealthy americans to pay 100% of premium costs. we do not believe tax dollars should be used to pay premiums for those who can af

i am pleased to be working with tom coburn on this. he has a long time record of thinking about the next generation and not the next collection. he has built up tremendous expertise in the area of government financing. after i voted against the reihan plan when it came to a vote in the senate, i said to myself, okay, i have done that. but the alterative now is not to do nothing. because if i do nothing more, medicare is going to go bankrupt. i set out to find out how we could change medicare to preserve it as a government system. i wrote an op-ed in the washington -- "washington post" and tom pulled me aside and said, i appreciate what you are doing and i think we can work together. if we did work together and we came up with this program, which i hope, and i believe it doesn't create a bipartisan beachhead, if you will, around which perhaps the gridlock and breakdown in discussions in dealing with the debt ceiling and our debt overall can occur. senator? >> let me say what a pleasure it has been to work with bill on this. the time to

senator joe lieberman and tom coburn announced their proposal today to cut medicare to get the ballooning national debt under control. their plan would raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67 and make everyone pay more, especially the rich. the savings would be $600 billion in a decade. the plan would have been political suicide in normal times. >> nobody's going to like this plan. we understand that. but nobody wants the present medicare advantage, and those that are absolutely dependent on it to not have anything. >> our plan contains some strong medicine, but that's what it will take to keep medicare alive. >> the governor projects medicare will run out of money to pay full benefits in 2024. house minority leader nancy pelosi calls the proposal unacceptable. she released this statement saying, "it is unfair to ask seniors to get less in benefits and wait longer to get medicare all while republicans back tax breaks for beiig oil and corporations that ship jobs overseas." >>> up next, what's behind the fed's push to take one drug off the market and why thousands of women aren't letting g

res. 116, it be in order for senator coburn to offer his duplication amendment to the resolution. that there be up to one hour of debate on the amendment equally divided between senators coburn and the majority leader with their designees. that the amendment be subject to a two-thirds threshold, that the amendment not be divisible and no amendments, motions or points of order be in order prior to any vote in relation to the coburn amendment other than budget points of order and applicable motions to waive and all other provisions of the previous order with respect to the motion -- with respect to the resolution remain in effect. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator tennessee. cork coirk rise to speak a cork quark i rise to speak as if we're in -- i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: i would like to speak as if ware nay morning business. the presiding offi

i was coeditor of counterpunch and contributing writer to the nation magazine alexander coburn and that's going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered with r.t. dot com slash usa check out our you tube page at youtube dot com slash r.t. america and christine for sound. culture is that so much of an oldish music is on the fence is it all about libya now with understanding the ongoing changes often violent in the arab middle east what makes yemen in syria different from what's going on it's. a charmer in here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. looks. at. wealthy british scientists. like. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our cheap the emission free cretaceous three cents for charges free. arrangements free risk free. free. the old free blog counseling videos for your media projects a free media tart teton tom. more news today is once again flared up. these are the images go girl has been

and history has ever been resolved by bombing according to american political journalist alexander coburn he also believes that there's no legal justification for nato as attempts to kill the enemy. has absolutely no no possibility the security council resolution one nine seven zero and one known so. the resolutions as you well know were to try and ensure the safety of civilians how this is transferred into an assassination attempt which they've been trying for weeks now of course is beyond any reason the fact of the matter is that no war in history is over and no conflict has ever been shortened by bombing cities from the air it just doesn't happen you infuriate you first of all kill people innocent people secondly when a fury at the end happens at the city you aggravate tensions the other day the international crisis group which is a independent fairly reasonable group of. diplomats and so forth said that the entire nato exercise that where it's been conducted is ensuring the prolongation well what is it internationally illegal enterprise and is making it far more difficult to have any

record it's called ernest an example coburn says the west clearly doesn't want to expand sentiment in the process. the other day the international crisis group which is the independent fairly reasonable group of. diplomats and so forth said that they entire nato exercise where it's being conducted is ensuring that prolongation or what is a comedian internationally illegal enterprise. is making it far more difficult to have any settlement which is obviously true but he is just a symbol is to see the collusion of the international criminal court which the day after the accelerated their race last tuesday immediately came forward with these new accusations of his crimes against humanity and international rape program which has been denounced as almost certainly untrue by amnesty international just now but what it really is is testament to the futility of the entire military operation it's clear that the the rebels have no military cloak whatsoever but i decoration on the nato enterprise which is to overthrow the government of libya. website i think dot com we're asking how you think that

enough to think about the attitudes towards us decisions on meantime our independent journalist james coburn believes that the escalation shows that nato's real motives in libya are questionable. be surprising on one end if he has held out this long especially given the extent of the onslaught against him and the the attempts to assassinate him and the killing of his son and grandchildren and i think that was perhaps not foreseen in the original action it was a part of the idea of protecting civilians by bombing civilian populations it's on its face ridiculous and in itself exposes that this is not about humanitarian intervention and that lie has been has been it fairly exposed i think by the fact that the initial no fly zone turned pretty much overnight into a bombing campaign which turned into a campaign which we were promised was not to overthrow the regime and to get gadhafi out of there so i think it's just been a lie after lie and i think that pretty adequately exposes the fact that this is not intimately about humanitarian intervention the nato powers will not stop until gadhafi has b

editor of counterpunch and a contributing writer to the nation magazine alexander coburn and that's going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered go to our team dot com slash usa check out our you tube page you tube dot com slash r t america and christine freeze out how to great night. sure is the same or different if you choose it is your. take. is it all about libya now with understanding the ongoing changes often finally to leave here middle east and what makes yemen in syria different from what's going on in. hey tom our been here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. looks. at. wealthy british. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report. download the official anti allocation chobani phone called touch from the i.q. saps to. life on the go. video on demand all season long cold calls an r.s.s. feeds in the palm of your. question. call. the emission free couldn't take three hours for charges free. arrangement t

republican senator tom coburn released a statement saying: just one short decade ago only about 10% of america's corn went to ethanol. now the number is closer to 40%. that's nearly half of all the corn we grow in this country going right into the gas tank. oil analyst phil flynn says after 30 years of taxpayer help it is time for the ethanol industry to stand on its own. >> this industry is big enough to take the training wheels off. you know, why do they need a new 45 to 50 cent a gallon credit just to do their business? >> reporter: michigan congressman mike rogers agrees. he applaud the senate action and expects to see similar legislation brought up soon in the house. >> i believe ethanol is a viable fuel source but it can't continue at the way we're doing it. it may be, in fact, bankrupting the country. we can't allow for that. >> reporter: one alternative that could save billions is to reduce the subsidy and paul taylor says farmers could live with that. >> the short answer is yes we're willing to play ball. we want to be at the table. we want to be players. we want to talk about

coburn is a very impressive guy. i ran into him a few months ago and said jokingly, why don't you run? he said no, no, i wouldn't do it. if on the conservative side, if bachmann looks like she does not work out if rick perry does not -- coburn is a real deficit hawk, but it talk -- budget hawk. they need someone with credibility and the anti- spending side. huntsman gives in this week. -- gets in this weeksenator cockburn seems not to want to run -- coburn seems not to want to run. these people are patriots. i think if they were needed for the country, they might take a shot at it. i do not think the viewers 6 textsuggestion is entirely out of the question. this will be a huge issue in 2012 with size and scope of the federal government how to reform the programs that are bankrupting us. i have to than that one of them will take a look and think maybe i should be in there. host: one of our viewers saying please ask the get about ron paul he won at that event. in guest: i do not agree with him on some things, on many t

to get more on the analysis on turbulent situation in the middle east i'm joined live by alexander coburn an american political journalist he joins us from a live in washington state thanks for being with us we're getting reports today that colonel gadhafi is now officially a legitimate target and nato does a to kill him do you think they have the authority to do that. so there's absolutely no no possibility that security council resolution one nine seven zero and one nine seven three. the resolutions as you well know were to try and ensure the safety of civilians how this is transferred into an assassination attempt which they've been trying for weeks no cause. is beyond any reason that it's. to claim it but if i were to ask you to go into further detail about how you would describe the alliance's methods for regime change in libya what would you say . well they've. been trying to kill khadafi they've flown think it's ten thousand missions nato missions. which about three and a half to be in bombing actually. what it really is is testament to the futility of the entire military operation

hard that's a hard position to be but the day to day is also in a tough position at home senator tom coburn called it a quote most worthless organization and a federal government full of people who know nothing about media or foreign policy and don't employ frank the worst government agency to work for tim shamble is the union representative for b.g. employee it's like a one strike policy and you're out. and also the feeling is the v.g. has declared war against their own employees they don't support them they don't support the voice of america blocking stickley fighting on employees who leave early or make personal phone calls and political interference in the newsroom are also something shamble says he's fought against he tried to shield themselves from any kind of congressional oversight. and it's pretty been they've been able pretty much to to run the agency any way they see fit. regardless of what congress thinks there's also a battle as to whether the b.b.c. admission is to influence abramoff we have radio for your pretty liberty and i know now who are television. because i believe tha

senator coburn and i have been working on this. i think he was working on it when he was a house member. i've been here in the senate now for 10 years and focus for the last half dozen. i'm determined that will make real progress than happy to have an administration that shares that conviction. talk to us about how we meet both the moral imperatives. to the taxpayers of this country. please, mr. werfel. >> it's an excellent question. one of our objectives out of creating this board is to drive a decision, not necessarily to exclude viewpoints and exclude perspectives and stakeholder interests. we're not getting around the stakeholder interest problem by saying you shall deploy with one stakeholder interest in mind, and that would be savings, or deficit reduction. i think that's an incredibly important when. and for some of these objectives i think deficit reduction will shine through as the primary objective. but i also believe that there are a lot of legitimate stakeholder interests, homeless groups being one of them. other commun

mean a little bit but this is one that's getting support from all sides earlier i spoke to alexander coburn he is the coeditor of counterpunch as well as a contributing writer to the nation magazine he told me he why he thinks several notable senators were willing to line up behind this resolution. well you saw how. netanyahu was received in the u.s. congress not so long ago he was interrupted what twenty eight times by rapturous applause that should give you a clue when the members of the u.s. congress the issue of israel funds and they think political survival they think campaign money that's it i mean the congress is fairly often by territory so this time lieberman of course has been the u.s. senator from israel prime u.s. senator from israel for many many years no surprises there because no surprises in the whole spectacle which is why i have to expect any political movement to get ever past the u.s. congress beneficial to the situation in the middle east is totally impossible but let's talk about this i mean you mentioned that a lot of these senators politicians really across the board

from holding a normal day job after hearing about this one republican senator wasn't too pleased tom coburn wrote a letter to the social security administration's inspector general asking them to look into the matter a letter read even as the thorn is able to determine what is appropriate attire and actions in public and drive himself to complete errands designing cars to make babies. sure to support a three hundred fifty pound adult and run it in a support group it is possible that he has been improperly collected does a benefit disability benefits for a period of time in response to his benefits possibly being cut off stanley or threaten to kill himself saying i have no problem killing myself take away the last thing keeping me here and see what happens next time you see me on the news it'll be in a body bag so given our deficit problems in america should probably should people like stanley florent be cut off from receiving social security payments just because their disability manifests itself in some bizarre way for more on this i'm joined by a man to carry reporter the deal you call hi