all congress would do at present was request the states to contribute money. 1782 congress asked for 8 million. on april 1st when the first $2 million was due the superintendent of finance collected nothing. a week or so later, $5,572 trickled in from new jersey, my native state. it was enough to keep the federal government running for a quarter of a day. the years 72 ended with a shortfall of $6 million. only to loans from france and holland enabled morris to dodge toole bankruptcy as for paying the army it was beyond the realm of the financial possibilities. soon anonymous broadsides began circulating around the new windsor can't. the officers abandoned their milk and water study with mcdougal's plea to congress but the army did not act now declared these compostable the officers were condemned to growing old in poverty and wretchedness and content. peace would benefit everybody but them. it was time to confront the gratitude of their fellow citizens who br me courage had made it dependent. there was only one option left. moreover, they should suspect a man who would advise them to

look at any member of congress. they carry laminated card that are broken out in 15 minute intervals. there is time for committees but not a whole lot. there are fund-raisers in the evening. they don't have a lot of control over the time they spend doing things and that has had an impact on what we are talking about. another question i would love an answer to. if you look at the percentage of staff resources how much is that hiring and retaining staff that knows something about policy as opposed to staff that can man a war room that are very good with their thumbs and text in or tweeting or establishing networks. i remember a conversation with a man who was regarded until he was let go as one of the most effective pr people in congress. i have to ask, you send me e-mails constantly giving response to issues of the day. how can you get back to him that quickly to get his response? he said i don't do that. i said what do you mean? you are sending your own thoughts? he says yes. i know him very well and how he thinks a

people in congress. -- p.r. people in congress. i said he semi-is mills -- i said he constantly sending e- mails. etc is sending me your own thoughts about these things? >> said yes, i know him well and how he would think about this. i used to work for a member of congress and had to see everything i sent out under his name. it was ridiculous. we kept missing the google waves. [laughter] the google wave is serious. it is the first thing i look out in the morning. what is cresting and how quickly can write something to catch the google wave? everyone is trying to survive in the current media environment. when you talk to members of staff, what is motivating them? i was interested in the oversight function. there are members of staff that are superb at oversight. they have done it for years. they are like treasures. when one member leaves the congress, this treasure is passed on to someone else who continues the excellent work. these people are feeling kind of like dinosaurs these days. the young staffers kind of want to get out. the

people in congress. you send me e-mails congress -- constantly. how can you possibly get back to him that quickly to get his response. he goes, i do not do that. i said, what you mean, you are sending me your own thoughts? he says, yes. i know him very well. i know how he would think. i used to work for a member of congress to head to see everything as sent out under his name. it was ridiculous. we kept missing tghe google wave. the google wave is serious. i get it every morning. it is the first thing i look at. what is cresting on google. how quickly can i write something to attach to that wave? another question. when you talk to members' staff, what is motivating them? where did they see their career? i was very interested in the oversight function. and there are members of staff who are super bit oversight. they have done it for years. they know a lot. and they are like treasures. when one member of it -- weaves the congress, this treasure is passed on to someone else to continues their excellent work. these people are feeling like dinosaurs th

congress sends them to the states.y become part of the constitution. so that means 13 states, and there are easily 13 red and 13 blue states in our country, could block any amendment. so we don't have to worry about one side or the other running away with the game. but there's a way then to get congress to focus on the kinds of issues that congress itself won't focus on. it's an intervention. >> what do you think would work as a constitutional amendment to make a real change -- to make enough of a change in money and politics that the problem wouldn't just come back? >> i think an amendment has to have three parts. number one, we've got to have publicly funded federal elections. and there are lots of ways to talk about it. and i talk about it in the book. i think small dollar funded elections where the money essentially is the people's money. so when congress is focused on the funders the funders happen to be the people. so there's no gap between the two and that focuses them the right way. that's number one. number tw

people in congress. -- p.r. people in congress.nstantly sending e- mails. thoughts about these things? >> said yes, i know him well and how he would think about this. i used to work for a member of congress and had to see everything i sent out under his name. it was ridiculous. we kept missing the google waves. the google wave is serious. it is the first thing i look out in the morning. what is cresting and how quickly can write something to catch the google wave? everyone is trying to survive in the current media environment. when you talk to members of staff, what is motivating them? i was interested in the oversight function. there are members of staff that are superb at oversight. they have done it for years. they are like treasures. when one member leaves the congress, this treasure is passed on to someone else who continues the excellent work. these people are feeling kind of like dinosaurs these days. the young staffers kind of want to get out. they are carrying college loans that would stagger anyone. they cannot afford to

are spending thirty to seventy percent of their time raising money to get back to congress for to get their party back into power of course it's hard for them to keep focused on what their job is supposed to be about and when they do that they lead most americans to the conclusion that money buys results in congress which is why only nine percent of us have confidence in them and you know we should put that in context there are plainly more people who believed in the british crown at the time of the revolution then who believe in this congress today so yes there's a question when is the combs when is the government actually bankrupt and want to just have to admit that it's lost the faith of the people or do you think though that it's just a perception that the people have that you know that money buys congress or isn't that the plain old truth. it is a great question to ask but i think it is pretty overwhelming that the money is distorting and bending what congress does it's not fine congress in the old quid pro quo bribery way nobody is alleging and i don't believe that this congress

congress created this problem, and congress can fix it. >>> clyde "the glide" drexler. earl "the pearl" monroe. william "the refrigerator" perry. and now joining them in the pantheon of awesome nicknames, comes the president of south korea, aka "the bulldozer." best new thing in the world today, it is not what it sounds like at all. ladies and gentlemen, the bulldozer. that is coming up right at the end of the show tonight. i had a heart problem. i was told to begin my aspirin regimen. i just didn't listen until i almost lost my life. my doctor's again ordered me to take aspirin. and i do. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ mike ] listen to the doctor. take it seriously. >>> president obama's re-election campaign announced today that it raised more than 70 million bucks this summer for his re-election. what does that mean really, that he raised that much? in absolute terms it means nothing. i mean, yes, that is a lot of money, but the campaign and its money don't do anything alone. it's a competition, right? and the

>> no, any congress can reverse the actions of the previous congress. >> i appreciate your response to a question to m senatorurrray that you believe that your projections on gdp growth are too generous and you believe vick would be lower which means our deficit is worse than you have rejected and in the past. under your projections, you are assuming a 30% cut two positions in medicare and you are assuming the taxes go up $3.80 trillion. that would have a detrimental effect on the economy and you are assuming there is a cut in discretionary spending. as you project that deficits will decline as a percentage of gdp, is based on all of these assumptions which, frankly, what impact that number in one way. >> it is not our assumption. we are following current law about these are baked into your proposals and your testimony. >> under either of your long- term fiscal projections, spending on entitlements or mandatory health programs like social security will increase between 15% and 17% of energy paid a net interest cost will increase to between 4% and 9%. under either of those scenarios, th

lost how money corrupts congress and a plan to stop it or as i want to thank you so much for joining us tonight and you know we will get into what's happening right now in terms of populist movements are people rising up but first let's just start with what we're seeing our government do and our congress do or do you think that they have that they forgotten that they're actually supposed to rule by consent of the government of the governed excuse me do you think that they really represent the needs or the interests of the people anymore. when members of congress are spending thirty to seventy percent of their time raising money to get back to congress for to get their party back into power of course it's hard for them to keep focused on what their job is supposed to be about and when they do that they lead most americans to the conclusion that money buys results in congress which is why only nine percent of us have confidence in them and you know we should put that in context there are plainly more people who believed in the british crown at the time of the revolution then who believ

congress. congress is totally against anything he does. he can put the blame on them. i do not think he has been more tougher toward congress, but that does not want to change my vote. i am voting for him. it does not matter to me. if anybody is a true believer that it will get better and stop dividing, give him the opportunity. if you do not give a person the opportunity to show what he can do it instead of saying no, no, no, he will never get a chance to do it. my thing is being open-minded. you have people who come on and say they will not even use the word "president barack." that shows you a lot. the republicans are doing a real good job blaming everything on him. if congress are the only people who can pass legislation, you have got to have them do this. if they are not doing everything -- anything, do not just blame him. the republican congress is planning a major role in making him look bad. host: thank you for the call. guest: i think you are right in many respects. president obama is

if congress does something, then i can't run against a do-nothing congress. if congress does nothing, then it is notsomething, i can't run against a do nothing congress. if congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them. i think the american people will run them out of town. because they are frustrated. and they know we need to do something big. and something bold. now, the american people are also concerned about making sure that we have a government that lives within its means, which is why i put forward a plan that would also reduce our deficit and our debt. in a more aggressive way than what the special committees been charged with. folks want to talk about corporate tax reform, i've already said, i'm happy to engage with them on corporate tax reform. i'm happy to engage with them working to see what we can do to streamline and simplify our tax code, eliminate all of the loopholes and eliminate the special interest carveouts and potentially lower rates in the process while raising more revenue. i'm happy to negotiate with them on

does it's not buying congress and the old quid pro quo bribery where nobody is alleging and i don't believe that this congress is corrupt in the sense that rod blagojevich or randy duke cunningham were corrupt but it is buying or bending congress in the sense that as these members dance to figure out what flushes the most money into the system that then it's just doesn't happen to be the sort of appearance that makes the people have any confidence because surprise surprise the funders of the campaigns are not the people and that's the fundamental fact that makes this government so untrusting so what do you think is going on right now if we look at this deficit super committee right there only has a couple of weeks couple of weeks left until they're supposed to try to minimum of one point two trillion dollars and they've been doing it pretty secretive fashion terms of all those questions that they've had but every report that has come out shows that they're not getting anywhere but the main breakdown right now is over taxes republicans absolutely refuse to budge when it comes to rais

congress. as members of congress. that means making tough compromises on both sides. you will not get this done through finding common ground alone. it will have to be a process of give-and-take. you'll have to see if everybody adopts that spirit as we move forward in the weeks ahead. >> it sounds like it has not happened yet. you have not had a conversation in those back rooms, you have not had a situation like this. not had a situation like this. >> the answer is that just as we have had public hearings that go over the big issues, we have been grappling with just getting the facts straight. i think it is important that people agree on a common set of facts before they began to try to put together any particular compromise. this is an ongoing process. again, i think people are working through it in good faith. whether or not the effort to get an agreement is strong enough to overcome some of the political constraints, some of which you just mentioned, only time will tell. >> you talk about co

congress does nothing. when you talk about our children, you're not talking about america's children. you are talking about republican children. a lot of american children out here are struggling, suptry to t an education. host: william, let me jump in. we are running out of time. guest: you have a lot you want me to work with and i'm not sure i have time, but let me go to the issue of medicare. and what will happen for medicare. medicare trustees tell us that medicare will go broke in eight years to 10 years. we do have to fix medicare. we have a plan, the plan for prosperity. 55 years or older, they would stay in the plan does as the plan is today. but for those 64 years and young girl, the plan is not going to be there for them if we don't change it. the plan gives a choice. choice.want cho it gives us a choice through program like federal employees have where you have a group of programs from which you can choose and it does help them to put parameters around medicare so that medicare is sustainable. ma

>> congress might.mply suggest that during the financial crisis you acted very, very boldly, $16 trillion in revolving loans. i would urge you to try to do the same, give the same line of thought to the unemployment crisis right now. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator sanders. representative campbell. >> thanks, mr. chairman. i'll stay on the same two topics i was on before. during 2008 we talked about two big to -- too big to fail but also too interconnected to fail. getting back to the european con tage on. the risk to us is due to interconnectist. i presume of our -- if they had a disorderly, i believe, as you described it, default of greece or some other thing there, is it international financial interconnectist that puts us at risk and if so, is there anything -- obviously not in the short-term, but that we ought to be think being that in the future? obviously it's frustrating to you and frustrating up here as well that here's this thing going on over which we have no control. but which

and to shame congress into acting.k" question today, should the president bypass congress to help the economy? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your responses later on in the hour. >>> still to come, first michele bachmann new hampshire staff quit. this morning thamp letting everyone know why, and we're going to share those kernels of information with you when we come back. it's 22 after the hour. i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. >>> welcome back. "minding your business" this

members of congress spending between 30% and 70% of their time raising money to get back to congress.icans believe, quote, money buys results in congress. 11% of americans ha confidence in congress. 11%. just think what that means. there were more people who believed in king george iii at the time of the revolution than who believe in our congress today. >> joining us tonight for the interview is professor at harvard law school and author of "how money corrupts congress and a plan to stop it. "professor, i've been nervous and excited to talk to you. thank you for being here. >> great to be here. >> i'm a fan of yours. >> me, too. of you. >> let's just leave that alone. the process of raising money, the amount of time that it takes, the proportion of a member of congress' life that is taken up by the pursuit of campaign money in order to stay a member of congress. is the money process, itself, what corrupts or is it specifically about where the money comes from? >> i think it's both. the first thing to recognize is this corruption is not the kind of blagojevich corruption. this is not

the numbers of congress are as low as any congress has been but it will not be the foil for him when the campaign gets going. >> chris: panel, we have to take a break here. up next, the republican presidential race rolls on and both mitt romney and herman cain have to walk back some campaign misstatements. when we return from the texas state history museum in austin. daddy, come in the water! somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to theool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. >>> i believe based on what i read that the world is getting warmer and humans contribute to that. it is important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be contributors. >> my view is that we don't know what is causing climate change on this planet and the idea of spending trillions and trillions o of dollars to try d reduce co 2 emissions is not the right course for us. >> chris: mitt romn

cut the result of the census congress would have to reapportion and decide the congress was growing. now it is fixed in the early 20th century. it was decided to congress would be fixed but at that time the number of representatives was increasing and after each sentence conagra's would have to decide how to apportionment the representatives and figure out the ratio of people represented. initially after the first congressional election there was one representative for 40,000 people. today it's more like one to every 670,000 so i think they've changed a lot, but the basis is a number of representatives in portions of the population which forged a the constitutional convention. >> professor zagarri the subtitle is representation in the u.s. 1776 to 1850. deutsch as referenced 1850. what happened? >> guest: it was decided they were sick of fighting every ten years and is in the past and law that required that the people to the representative -- to and that the remainder of after you divided the population by the number of representatives would be a sign to the states on the basis of th

politics will shape what congress does in foreign affairs. and congress influences foreign policy, directly and indirectly. my first point is that congress operates at a disadvantage in foreign policy and will as long as we have this policy. if you look at the constitution, it is important foreign-policy powers to congress and the president. they say the constitution is an invitation to struggle over

so when that program was exposed, congress again agreed, the president went to congress by which youd in first place. congress is okay, and they didn't even a little more power than he claimed. so what about the courts? i think we are accustomed, cut our teeth during the civil rights era, to think the president and congress are doing something unconstitutional, the courts will be there to save us and uphold the constitution. so the aclu brought a lawsuit challenging the national security agency, claiming that it was a violation of the fourth amendment. and the plaintiff in this case were a lawyer who was representing a detainee in guantÁnamo put relatives in yemen. the relatives would no longer talk to her on the phone or in the winter because they weren't afraid the government might be listening and you might end up on the no-fly list, or the new? they didn't want to attract attention. there were scholars were try to talk to moderate around the world. that i do. the employer has to fly to human to interview witnesses and spent a lot of money. so we won that case in the district cour

people in congress. -- p.r. people in congress. i said he semi-is mills -- i said he constantly sending e- mails. etc is sending me your own thoughts about these things? >> said yes, i know him well and how he would think about this. i used to work for a member of congress and had to see everything i sent out under his name. it was ridiculous. we kept missing the google waves. the google wave is serious. it is the first thing i look out in the morning. what is cresting and how quickly can write something to catch the google wave? everyone is trying to survive in the current media environment. when you talk to members of staff, what is motivating them? i was interested in the oversight function. there are members of staff that are superb at oversight. they have done it for years. they are like treasures. when one member leaves the congress, this treasure is passed on to someone else who continues the excellent work. these people are feeling kind of like dinosaurs these days. the young staffers kind of want to get out. they are carry

congress has extensive foreign- policy powers, and historically, congress has treated offices in the executive branch that have not been attended to in the more recent ones, with the concern that the administration is not paying enough attention to this. and likewise on trade policy, this is mandated with the executive branch, as it develops the policy. and the procedural legislation. and to has a say in the making of this decision. and the foreign policy and directly trying to change the climate of the country. the speeches and the television appearances, and even dramatic stunts like going out on the ground of capitol hill with a sledgehammer to break the imported goods. there is a cost overruns and things like that. if you want to be less charitable they are trying for political grandstanding but at the end of the day, they're trying to shape the terms of the public debate to make some policies more likely and other policies less likely. at the end of the day actually passing the law is so difficult. this is aimed at trying to shape what the white house is going to do, and what is

title. >> congress resurgence. it was runner came out i guess in the mid 1990s. at a time when congressional interest, or congressional activism of foreign affairs began to search. i think the dynamic that jordan appointed to exist. and that is, you think of sort of the ebb and flow of power, across pennsylvania avenue is more or less tight to the country's perception is under threat, and secondarily to the expectation that the president's policies are working. so after world war ii, you more congressional involvement in foreign affairs. by the time to get to the early 1950s there's a growing sense of the soviet threats and you begin to see much less criticism of the white house from capitol hill. this is the to the arthur schlesinger later referred to as giving birth to the imperial presidency. and indie imprint a presidency stub its toe so to speak over vietnam where we became convinced that the president's policies had made the country less safe and that the country was actually over the international if i'm a w

when congress won't act i will. >> chris: president obama launching his new campaign to work around congressnd take executive actions to help the middle class. time for our sunday group back in washington. brit hume, fox news senior political analyst. plass lass of the radio. and dana perino and fox news political analyst juan williams. the president took a series of actions in the west coast swing . he announced a plan to help people who are in danger of foreclosure and helping students or exopportunities having trouble paying off their loan and tooks credits and try to get veterans hired. brit, it is reminding me of the bite sized initiatives that bill clinton took in 1996 to give him a sense that he was looking out for the middle class. can this help barack obama. >> yes, i think it could. it is clear how much it will make. he will make adjustments on the programs and benefit. and a lot of people may appreciate that. i don't think they are large enough initiatives to make a difference. that will not have a burden on the high unemployment rate. when clinton did those things, the economy wa

the same goes with congress.ed to gradually increase the members of congress as the population increase and then in the 50's it stopped. hasn't been increased since. so you have unrepresented, and representative representatives.

congress again agreed the president went to congress which he should have done in the first place and congress said okay and they gave him more power than he had claimed himself. what about the court? i think we are accustomed, those of us during the civil rights era, to thinking it is a president in congress doing something unconstitutional the courts will be there to save us and uphold the constitution. so the aclu brought a lawsuit challenging these in the national security agency claiming that it was a violation of the fourth amendment and the plaintiffs in this case or a lawyer in guantanamo who had a relative in yemen and they would no longer talk on the phone or e-mail because they were afraid the government might be listening and they might end up on the no-fly last to attract government attention. they were scholars to talk to the moderate islam and around the world that dried up. so the lawyer had to fly to yemen to be witnesses spending a lot of money so we actually won that case in the district court despite the administration are doing the state secret privilege nobody co

how does this apply to congress?roblem with getting congressman for insider trading is who employs them? who would they be misappropriating information? morally they are employees of the united states people, and i agree. a law professor has argued this that they have a fiduciary duty, but it is not clear. it is not clear they would violate the rules we have surrounding insider-trading. host: our guest with us until 10:00 to talk about insider trading. as a member of congress ever been found guilty of insider trading? guest: as far as i was able to ascertain, no one has ever gone after a congressman for insider trading. anecdotally, i tried to talk to people who prosecute these cases. i did not get a lot of interest in talking to a journalist about this. i take this to mean there's not a lot of interest in pursuing the issue, because not only is your boss and who wants to go after your boss for insider- trading, but also because it is inherently political. it is very difficult to decide who goods targeted by ethics i

president obama attacked congress today with some of the harshest language yet. then he did an end run around then e s house and the senate. he offered relief to some homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, and he did it with an executive order that does not need the approval of congress. the president is beginning a n caern campaign tour, which includes a stop here in los angeles tonight. but he made the mortgage relief announcement today in nevada and for one very good reason. bill plante is traveling with the president. bill? >> reporter: scott, nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in the country, and that's why the president unveiled his new program here in this neighborhood of modest, underwater homes, but there is also political reason. the president needs to win this state next year, so he says that congress is... he's doing what he has to because congress won't. >> i'm here to say to all of you and to say to the people of nevada and the people of las vegas, we can't wait for an oncreasingly dysfunctional congress to do its job. >> reporter: becau

if congress does something, then i can't run against a do-nothing congress. if congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them. i think the american people will run them out of town. because they are frustrated. and they know we need to do something big. and something bold. now, the american people are also concerned about making sure that we have a government that lives within its means. which is why i put forward a plan that would also reduce our deficit and our debt. in a more aggressive way than what the special committee has been charged with. folks want to talk about corporate tax reform. i've already said, i'm happy to engage with them on corporate tax reform. i'm happy to engage with them working to see what we can do to streamline and simplify our tax code. eliminate all the loopholes, eliminate these special interest carve outs and potentially lower rates in the process while raising more revenue. i'm happy to negotiate with them on a whole host of issues, but right now we've got an emergency. and the american people are liv

he needs a cop -- he need a partner in congress. he has 80 party-controlled -- a tea party-controlled house. >> we are learning that florida might move up its primary. what is your perspective? that impacts the republicans. what do you make of that? iowa and new hampshire -- >> you are seeing the constant battle among the states to go first. iowa and new hampshire will always protect their place at the head of the line. i do not know how that will play out in terms of the republican primaries. i would like to see the state of maryland go first. >> could that have an impact one way or another on the primaries? are there lessons learned? >> clearly, if florida succeeded in moving its primary ahead of everybody else, that could have an impact because whoever wins the first primary does -- provide some momentum. it does not always mean that you win at the end of the day, but it provides momentum. the question will be whether or not they are successful. it could certainly have consequences. >> do you have a republican presidential candid

the numbers of congress are as low as any congress has been but it will not be the foil for him when the campaign gets going. >> chris: panel, we have to take a break here. up next, the republican presidential race rolls on and both mitt romney and herman cain have to walk back some campaign misstatements. when we return from the texas state history museum in austin. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call no

if congress does something, i cannot run against a do nothing congress. if congress does nothing, i do not think it is a matter of me running against them. i think the american people will run them out of town because they are frustrated and they know we need to do something big and something bold. now, the american people are also concerned about making sure that we have a garment that lives within its means, which is why i put forward -- a government that lives within its means, which is why i put forward a plan that would reduce our deficit and debt in a more aggressive way than what the special committee has been charged with. folks want to talk about corporate tax reform. i have already said, i am happy to engage with them on corporate tax reform. i am happy to engage with them to see what we can do to streamline and simplify our tax code, eliminate all the loopholes, eliminate the special interest carve outs, and potentially raise more revenue. i am happy to work with them on a whole host of issues, but right now we have an emergency. the american p

numbers are lower that were any congress that has ever been. it won't be the foil for him once the campaign gets being. >> we have to take a break here. up next the republican presidential race rolls on involves mitt romney and herman cain have to walk back campaign misstatements. when we return from the texas state history museum in austin. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil no and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to theool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. [ woman ] welcome to learning spanish in the car. you've got to be kidding me. yeah, this is good. vamanos. vamanos. vamanos. gracias. gracias. gracias. ♪ trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. mira entra y c

that's the attitude in congress. it needs an attitude adjustment. if russia and lithiana do it. >> you have a prosperous economy even washington gets more. >> jim, if poverty is less than 37,000 and the first 37,000 exempt from taxation how does it hurt the poor. >> you live in the bay area and you make less than 65,000. your idea of poor is more than the official definition. >> it is if you live in a big city. >> california has a 10 percent state income tax that kicks in at 40,000. >> we have 13 percent unemployment here. >> the point is, two point of views. 15-20 percent will yield the most money for the least amount of damage to prosperity . we thant economy grows fastest when the federal take is somewhere between 15 or 20 percent. you have the verification and 15-20 percent. and flat taxes get the best result. >> we know that the government is spending too much money. but can't you separate the tax issue from it is spending issue. and isn't a flat tax the best way to go. >> can i raise's counter intuitive question to steve? look at russia as the

congress just need to act. congress will not even take up the provisions of the american people. >> why not say, stop taking of the bills about coins? >> -- about baseball coins? >> the american public believes the president and others need to pull up in a room together -- >> [unintelligible] >> i disagree. i think the speaker would say they passed the 3% withholding provision, which is something that was part of the jobs act and the president supports. republicans supported free trade agreement. patton reform, we will be passing it to the senate, and hopefully if they see the light in the house, an opportunity to vote on those. we remain hopeful and we hope that congress will act where it has acted. >> there was an interview with george stephanopoulos in which he said that the american people are not better off than they were a few years ago. does that suggest to you that things are turning around? >> 2.5% growth may be better than the previous quarter, but not good enough, absolutely not good enough. we all s

to do its job where they won't act i will but we're not going to wait for congress. i've told my administration to keep looking every single day for actions we can take without congress steps that can save consumers money make government more efficient and responsive and help heal be a calm and we're going to be announcing these executive actions on a regular basis so i will all of these new moving parts function when it comes to job creation and how we affect the coming election in two thousand and twelve for more on this i'm joined by jim dean chair of democracy for america and david wolman contributing editor to the daily koz welcome to you both thanks very much to do and will with a thanks thank you jim for joining us jim the president has this new initiative we can't wait she even pushing these kind of executive orders in the beginning i think he's really finally getting. well i certainly wish he had been pushing this from the beginning and i wish he had also followed through on his executive order on the disclosure bill or disclosing making corporations disclos

-- and i say congress broadly. obviously we have a republican-controlled house, we have a democrat-controlled senate. >> right. >> don't people expect congress to do something, because the cbs/"new york times" poll came out, congressional approval 9%, congressional disapproval 84%. i think the only people that you're better than at the moment are journalists and used car salesman, so i can't really speak, but don't they have an expectation that congress does something? >> and they absolutely should have an expectation. >> doesn't some of that fall on democrats or not? >> well, i don't think it does in the house, i mean, i truly don't. i think if you look at what was accomplished in the 111th congress, numerous bills were passed, there were numerous bill signings, a lot was done. in the 112th congress not much has been done because you have leadership that says their number one goal is to make sure that he only serves one term. >> let's me talk to you quickly about 2012. >> sure. >> this is obviously, and the presid

if congress does something, then i can't run against the do-nothing congress. ifdo-nothing congress. if congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them. i think the american people will run them out of town because they are frustrated and they know we need to do something big and something bold. now the american people are also concerned about making sure that we have a government that lives within its means, which is why i put forward a plan that would also reduce our deficit and our debt. in a more aggressive way than what the special committees been charged with. folks want to talk about corporate tax reform. i've already said, i'm happy to engage with them on corporate tax reform. i'm happy to engage with them working to see what we can do to streamline and simplify our tax code, eliminate all the loopholes, eliminate these special interest carve-outs and potentially lower rates in the process while raising more revenue. i am happy to negotiate with them on a whole host of issues but right now we've got an emergency, and the america

we are not waiting for congress. we can't wait for congress to do its job. congress to help small businesses. ou card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take thibridge over here. the it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] write your story with the citi thankyou premier card, with no point caps, and points that don't expire. get started at thankyoucard.citi.com. martha: there is an anesthesia expert testifying. michael jackson's doctor did not follow standard of care they are saying. he said he never heard of a case where propofol was given to a pay strength in the their bedroom to help them sleep. president obama ordering the food and drug administration to step in on the drug shortages we have reported on. it would require the reporting of shortages and speed up the regulatory reviews of those drugs. thailand's capital city dealing with dealing with the flooding in 6 decades.