third, the president must effectively leave congress -- lead congress. since the nation began its been a perennial conflict between the executive and legislative branches of government. most presidents will extend their authority to the outcomes. congress, on either hand, generally seeks to -- limit the president's freedom of action. it's understood however that from time to time setting of such limits may be needed. fourth, the president must employ the spirit of invincibility. it might cause the president to lose touch with the political realities. the president must exercise influence over and effectively communicate with the nation to be able to communicate persuasively. six, the majority of the american people must believe in the president's integrity and have substandard substantial level of pride throughout the eight years in office despite out cummings. he must have balance by his actions. the president must leave a legacy to the nation. the list of those in the second term and would george washington, james madison, andrew jackson, theodore roos

congress over the jay treaty and. he had won approval only after considerable effort working directly with members of congress, compromising and cajoling. that was with the congress having a majority of right thinking federalists and a president who is revered as a national hero. when the democrats won a majority in congress eisenhower worked quietly behind the scenes with the senate majority leader lyndon johnson to gain approval of his legislative agenda. ronald reagan developed a close relationship with democratic speaker of the house tip o'neill. somehow fulfill his legislative goals, compromise as they were. it might be cynical to postulate some of nixon's liberal legislation was prompted by his desire to get along with a democratic controlled congress. woodrow wilson was a target of the republican party that wanted to even many a squabble with the president. he defeated william howard taft and theodore roosevelt. and the league of nations. that would vent republican party hostility to wilson. the treaty was neve

when one of the reasons they're saying it is because you know basically congress or not congress but the white house and government in the military are acting without you know would be able to act without sort of vote taken or approval given that's how that's what kind of distinguishes that makes it a battlefield or a war exactly and i think it's the operation between congress acting in the president acting have been very interesting the president has said he cannot go as far as congress can go so all of the the different things that are included in one of these bills he has he has publicly said we cannot do all of this but some of it they can do they think by executive order a presidential directive that they can implement some of these measures without having to go through congress and we have to assume that some of that is what's included in the secret directive the stuff that's more geared toward the n.s.a.'s actions another executive order is in the works supposedly a draft to spend really step would give more power to d h s to do cyber security operations and these two based on

congress shouldn't be playing catch-up. that's obviously something congress hates but again to put this in perspective, dave petraeus has resigned. there are issues about whether he had to resign. i assume that was his personal decision. it was the recommendation of jim clapper that he do so. there will be an orderly transition at the c.i.a. i am on the.i.a. external board. i'm also a personal friend of holy and dave petraeus. i have to say that. but i think before this happen happened, dave petraeus brought a different style to the c.i.a. but was doing a very good job of formulating strategic directions for the c.i.a. and staying on top of the world hot spots, something he's very good at. our intelligence products are better and better. there are obviously lapses. we'll have to learn more about the benghazi situation but by and large the c.i.a. is doing an excellent job as we speak there are c.i.a. employees working around the world to keep us safe. they should know that this what i would call a media circus will end soon.

representatives of the ruling communist party have hoped their congress. over the next week, they will debate, discuss, and make deals. when it's all over, the next generation of leaders will take power. the 18th congress of the chinese communist party opened thursday at the great hall of the people of beijing. the meeting happens every five years. delegates will approve new policies and appoint new party leaders for the five years to come. nhk world's james tengan is our guide to the congress. he joins us from beijing. james? >> reporter: yes, gene, it's a brisk 7 degrees celsius here in beijing, and the city is now abuzz that the congress is under way. signs and banners bearing slogans are everywhere. some read "cheers to the great chinese communist party," for without the communist party, there would be no new china. this is a major political event, and authorities carefully orchestrate every detail. i went for a tour of beijing to see what they've done. signs of the congress are everywhere in beijing -- flowers, elegant decorations and banners. when i

if you selected by congress, he is dependent upon congress.trying to get an independent executive. a rousing round of disapproval. all the other states are voting it down. so, so much for that idea. .. so that of course is the on june 2nd 1787 was the very genesis of that idea, what we now call the electoral college. so on june 4th, they stop the debate and that's what they have geared every single executive. they decide on serving a single seven-year term and removal by malpractice by congress. six salary and that's it. and they also determine he does have a veto that can be overridden. what are his powers? not stated. they are to execute the law and do anything else that congress wants them to do. so was first in line here? obviously still totally in charge. now we fast forward through debates over large state, small states, seven weeks forward to mid-july. they're going to invite time and this site once again, james wilson and a cohort of his named veneer morris, not governor morris, who is from new york who is serving as a delegate from pe

i was surprised at how partisan congress was. saw it in some foreign policy questions where i didn't expect to find it, and i would say over the years congress has become more partisan. the last two years probably the most partisan and the least productive. the clean air act, that entitled feel to live longer. during the 1990s, a lot was done under president clinton. well fir reform, aept crime bill, and most significantly when we looked back at the balanced budget amendment. the same was true during the bush years. very partisan conflict. a lot of people have voted with it and somehow front of they voted for it. the bush administration's first round of response to the fiscal collapse was broadly supported because it was necessary. >> more by democrats than republicans. >> more by democrats than republicans. in my opinion the last two years, 2011, 2012, have been the least productive and most partisan and uncompromises in my 24 years here. the public seemed outraged at the status quo that produced so it is, and, yet, what results

. >> he is also the greatest karaoke sing their -- singer and all of congress. -- in all of congress. [applause] >> he just told me i had five minutes. what do you think of this program? [applause] it is about time. i want to thank francis and fong. i think this is the very first statewide heritage month held with the mayor of san francisco. let me say something about heritage month in san francisco and your mayor. in the old days, you remember san francisco was known for passing all of these anti- chinese ordinances to limit the movement, the productivity of chinese in the city. we know two things. change happens. maybe the state of california is the state of golden opportunities, where we have a chinese-american mayor of san francisco. 35 years ago, congress members passed similar resolutions in both house and the senate to formally recognize the first 10 days of may as asian-pacific heritage week. one year later, president jimmy carter signed into law a joint resolution to officially designate the annual celebration. 11 years later, president george bush extended the weeklong celeb

what is triggered about informing the congress in any event, just talking about congress, does it haven impact on our national security? >> and you think this did not rise to that level? >> from what we know so far. but it's really also important to note that our founders had to do this, and that was at a time when a message could travel only as fast as a horse could gallop or ship could sail. that's how fast or slow a message could travel. with the blessing of telecommunication, we know in realtime true or false about what somebody might be saying about somebody else and i think we, in the interest of everyone in our country, have to respect privacy rights unless it falls into a realm of something of a person of that stature. i mean, that's such a sad thing. such a sad thing. and personal indiscretion is unfortunate. but to have a personal discretion e-mails is stupid. >> to have this scandal touch on general allen, commanding general in afghanistan, today was the confirmation hearing for the man who would be his successor, general dunford in afghanistan. that sex scandal, personal be

representatives of the ruling communist party have opened their congress. over the next week, they'll debate, discuss and make deals, and when it's all over, the next generation of leaders will take power. the 18th congress of the chinese communist party opened thursday at the great hall of the people in beijing. the meeting happens every five years. delegates will approve new policies and appoint new party leaders for the five years to come. nhk world's james tengan is our guide to the congress. he joins us from beijing. james? >> reporter: yes, gene, it's a brisk 7 degrees celsius here in beijing, and the city is now abuzz that the congress is under way. signs and banners bearing slogans are everywhere. some read "cheers to the great chinese communist party," for without the communist party, there would be no new china. this is a major political event, and authorities carefully orchestrate every detail. i went for a tour of beijing to see what they've done. signs of the congress are everywhere in beijing. flowers, elegant decorations and banners. when i g

in the lame duck congress it's still the same congress and boehner still has to message to those peopleecause he still has to gets the gavel back in january. i get the sense that he's dragging his dead weight of the tea party behind him to this day and i don't see how he can move off the same rhetoric, same talking points. what spending do you want to cut? republicans don't want to say because they have to still -- >> most hilarious part of this whole thing. >> there is no -- well now they can actually present a counteroffer. we talked about this before. it's a question of what they're actually going to put down. >> just a quick point on whether this is going to sour future relationship and possibility for doing things in the years to come, the parties will act out of their self-interests. if we have an immigration reform bill, republicans are terrified they're facing a demographic disaster. >> talk about gray beard. >> not feeling they got the short end of the stick on this deal. i think obama should get the best deal he can and let the other things take care of themselves. >> we have

. >>> together, they served in congress a quarter century. he is the behind the scenes arms dealer, 26 years on capitol hill. >> this is not about the president, his agenda, how many skal ps on the wall in terms of legislative achievement. >> he is a trail blazer for gay rights, a lawmaker with an acid tongue, 32 years in the house. >> it is a tribute to the first amendment this kind of bio contemptible nonsense is freely propagated. >> she's the fourth woman elected to senate and first republican, 20 years in the senate. >> the first ones don't see their success, but what they do does prepare the way for the next generation or the next woman to move to the next level. >> and he for good or bad always goes his own way, 25 years in the senate. >> what, after all, is a democrat like me doing at a republican convention like this? >> at the end of his term, they're leaving for good voluntarily. >> i yield the floor. >> i yield the floor. >> i yield. >> i yield the floor. >> today farewell to congress with arizona senator john kyl, massachusetts c

will congress get the message? >> last september i sent congress a detailed jobs plan full of the kind of bipartisan ideas that would have put more americans back to work. >> of course that will did not make it through congress. who creates jobs next? a jobs plan from washington or is it the private sector snr ? so, what happens if i'm in an accident and need to get my car fixed? progressive makes it easy, because we give you choices. you can pick where to get your car fixed, we can cut you a check, or, at our service center, we take care of everything for you. [ relaxing music playing ] [ chuckles ] -whew, so many choices. -take your time. -the service center. -okay. giving you choices -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. . >>> president obama is now a job creator. the economy has made up every job lost on his watch, but the jobs coming back aren't equal to the jobs that went away. we're seeing lower wages, less long-term employment, things like benefits and retirement plans are harder to find. preside

this congress, seems like the last congress, we got 38 votes. what that says is maybe for somebody making $2 million living on a $5 million house, maybe you don't need the full home interest mortgage deduction that someone making $50,000 or $60,000 needs to be in the house. there is a way to get to it. look at chirtible contributions. if you look at them, simpson bowls tagged that to 2% of income. that's reasonable. it doesn't dry up the charitable giving in this country. it also says to the wealthy you can't shelter and avoid paying income tagses. if people are willing to have an honest discussion about this, it can be done. if people retreat to their corners and say we are going to make bumper stickers, it's not going to work. host: you just mentioned that you introduced legislation along the lines of simpson-bowles. you only got 38 members voting for that. but it sounded like you had more who expressed support early on. what was the problem? can that be a framework in the new incoming congress? guest: it can. the gang of 38, or eight in the s

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you have seen in congress right now, including some of the republicans returning to congress in the house they still control, a real softening of attitudes on the issue of how long the afghanistan war should go on. i feel like if there's anybody who wants to push on this door, they will find it's an open door and there could be political support for leaving sooner than we're planning. >> i think so. i thought it was true before the election. i felt romney was giving signals and even at times almost stating that it's good we're getting out. that shows that kind of softness. who really in this country is pushing for extending it? lindsey graham, john mccain and the departing joe lieberman. i don't know of any other voices in the national political scene who are saying we can't leave. we have to do as long as it takes and stay there forever. there's no public support for it. >> because of this scandal, i just -- i mean, one of the things that you hear from veterans groups, that people outside the military i don't think seem all that comfortable talking about is the personal toll of these lon

on an ongoing basis their acquirement for members of congress to swear an oath to our country is in the constitution itself it's an article six says the senators and representatives shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution so starting with the first congress and seven hundred eighty nine members were sworn in by saying i do solemnly swear or affirm that i will support the constitution of the united states during the civil war president abraham lincoln supported in congress asked on july second six eight hundred sixty two legislation requiring an oath that added the members of congress had not previously engaged in any quote criminal or disloyal conduct and quote which would have included pledging a will to the confederacy was called the ironclad test because it was designed to keep confederate sympathizers out of congress the members swore it and it was later discovered previously violated it by swearing an oath to the confederacy you could be prosecuted for perjury after the civil war that oath was replaced with one that didn't specifically exclude former memb

they are taking part in the communist party's congress. between now and next wednesday delegates will work out the details of china's transition of power, then will get official confirmation of who will be among the next generation of leaders taking control of this economic superpower. the 18th congress of the chinese communist party opened thursday. it happens every five years. between now and next week representatives will be approving new policies and appointing new party leaders. delegates from each of china's provinces held regional discussions friday. they went over the issues they're concerned about and talked about the ways to fix the problems they face. nhk world's james tengan is covering the congress. he joins us from beijing. james? >> reporter: gene, this process is carefully choreographed and controlled. chinese authorities are generally restrictive. but the bamboo curtain really comes down during the congress. that makes the job of jury roomism that much harder. still china's political transition is one of the biggest storie

complement each other but they would work outside of the guise of what congress is doing and congress could always come in and say this is the. procedures that we're going to put into place talk about some of the timing regarding this process i mean you mentioned that you are still involved in the lawsuit to get information released that was issued under president bush so that's more than four years ago and now you filed this request i mean during those five six years however many years i mean a lot can happen that the american people don't know about. so talk a little about that that's i mean that's why we're filing this we filed our first two thousand and nine obviously that's been three years ago since we filed it furthermore since the documents been released and then that time we believe that the public hasn't been able to involve themselves in the cybersecurity debate and the reason they can involve themselves is because they don't have the right amount of information and they don't know what sides to be on and debate when you can't watch the debate bakley and supposedly there ha

the question of who testifies before congress, that's congress' decision. the house intel committees, you just interviewed peter king. they will decide whether petraeus can opt out of this. it seems to me when he was the one who testified before congress and in that time period after the benghazi attack and by all accounts he said this was a result of a spontaneous attack. he has to answer for that statement, if there are questions the committee has about that. i don't see how morrell at first blast glance can be substituted in when petraeus was the head of the organization when this attack took place. megyn: he will testify about what the cia knew and when they night, but there is another question here with respect to benghazi that i don't know whether morrell can testify to and that is whether petraeus was in any way compromise in his initial assessment and reports to congress and so on about what happened in libya. according to the congressional sources who received his briefing, he was talking about a video. some have questioning openly whether he was m

they engineered a strategy of gridlock in congress.ing to compromise even on ideas that democrats and republicans used to support in the past. what they're counting on it now is that you'll be so worn down, so discouraged by all of the squabble, so tired of all dysfunction, you will just walk away and leave the powers that be in power. >> it is not based on promises and rhetoric, but on at solid plans and proven results. unshakable faith in the american spirit. if anyone fears the american dream is fading away, if there is anyone who wonders whether better jobs or a thing of the past, i have a clearer message. with the right leadership, america is about to come roaring back. >> watch live election coverage on c-span tuesday night. president obama in chicago and mitt romney in boston. about the night, your reaction by phone, e-mail, facebook, and twitter. live coverage starts at 8:00 on c-span, c-span radio, and c- span.org. next, a program previewing tomorrow's election. on c-span2, "the communicators." on c-span2, "the communicators."

tell members of congress what a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. call your members of congress, write them an e-mail, post it on their facebook walls, you can tweet it using the #my2 k, not y 2 k, my2 k. we figured that would make it easier to remember. i'm doing my part. i'm sitting down with ceos, labor leaders, i'm talking to leaders in congress, be you know, i am ready and able and willing and excited to go ahead and get this issue resolved in a bipartisan fashion so that american families and american businesses have some certainty going into next year. and we can do it in a balanced and fair way, but our first job is to make sure the taxes on middle-class families don't go up and since we all theoretically agree on that, we should go ahead and get that done. if we get that done, a lot of the other stuff will be a lot easier. [ applause ] so in light of just sort of spreading misses theyage, i'm going to be -- spreading this message, i'm going to be in pennsylvania to talk to folks of a small business there that are trying to make sure that th

to reform congress, congress has to play along. that seems unlikely to happen. >> you had 52 congressional districts in california. they have this system. another are 10 districts that have republican versus republican. >> it is forcing them to the center. it would seem they're doing this. >> i do think though some people have pointed to the example that this is proof of a flawed means of reform, it still strikes me as a palatable the form. >> compared to what? >> do you see any evidence to support this claim? is it just wishful thinking? >> which will thinking. -- wishful thinking. it seems like every month and a half there is another many movement amongst the largely conservative opinion leaders. they start writing stories about how the tea party movement is dead. the most recent evidence is that if mitt romney when such a move to the center. bt party has never been proved that we are a hard right nation. i think if rodney peete obama it will be because he has won a lot of independent -- @ romney beat obama it will because he has

congress and three quarters of the states are needed to pass a constitutional amendment instead we're proposing legislation that would do many things one it would severely curtail how much money lobbyists can actually give to politicians down all the way down to five hundred dollars it would limit the amount of money that can be given to super pacs to the same amount that's currently for regular pacs five thousand dollars it would it would change the revolving door so that you can no longer have politicians moving right off of capitol hill and within one or two years going on the k. street lobbying make it five years seven so these are these are major changes that are buttressed by probably the biggest provision in the act which is citizen funded elections a tax rebate of one hundred dollars per person in the united states that can be given to any politician of their choice oss at this huge power of pacs because the reality is without a constitutional amendment you can't stop taxing independent expenditures you have to try to count your way and then finally the last part of what we're

it should be deferred to the new congress that the people are now collececting and the new congress ouldn-bowles proposal which is a terrific straw maman on how toeal with the deficit in a lanced manner. ththat is the ly way to deal with the deficit, in a balanced approaoach. i would put that upor the congress and work with that proposal. >> you would be partners with a popular maryryland democrat who also has a position sitting as he does in the ranking position on the budget committee e who was involved in all those negotiations behind the scenes at the white house, saying they did not want to go as far as sisimpson-bowles. whwhat do you say to chris van hollen? >> chris is a terrific member of congress and served the country beautifully. what the one to focus on is going forward. think however simpson-bowles is a great proposal. i am very supportive of it and i think is the blueprint we ne to follow. we cannot all agree on erything. >> i have to make evenadmit iis tough waiting. >> the d deficit situation is the central issue facing this country. the only way to fix it is througugh a

. 170 women ran for congress.cess rate basically just around 50%, little less for the house, 82%. 82 out of 170 won. this is obviously, a trend, there were some nervousness that the trend could go down. >> it did two years ago, 2010, we saw the first decline in the women percentage of congress. what we saw this year, particularly among emily's list candidates we went 9 for 10. 9 out of 10 women won which was incredible. >> wisconsin. >> massachusetts. >> only loss was nevada. >> that's right. >> the most underrepresented demographic in congress are pro-life women. >> it's interesting about this is the number of women in the house republican congress went down. this widens the perceptions that democrats are becoming the party of women than republicans. >> it goes with the democrats are doing more to recruit women. not surprising. >> stephanie, i'll let you go first. >> tomorrow, tomorrow emily's list is releasing research about women's voters. >> rames snshgs? >> jonathan martin has an interview with bobby jindal.

they have urged congress to reach a compromise. this is hosted by the "christian science monitor." >> here we go. our guests this morning are erskine bowles and senator alan simpson, co-chairmen of the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform and co-founders of the campaign to fix the debt, or as the "new york times" called them this morning, the debt duo. their last joint appearance with us was in november of 2010. let me thank them both for coming back. we are all trying to fix the nation's fiscal woes. erskine bowles is president emeritus of the university of north carolina. he also had a career in investment banking and venture capital. he came to washington in 1993 service director of the small business administration and was later named chief of staff to president clinton. alan simpson followed his father's footsteps into politics -- a u.s. senator. a law degree from the university of wyoming -- he was elected to the legislature in 1964 and the u.s. senate in 1978 where he served three terms and was elected as

the communist party's congress is now well under way. the political transition is both highry controlled and highly secretive. delegates discuss, debate, and make deals. and in the end, they unveil the next generation of leaders who would take power. the 18th congress of the chinese communist party opened thursday. it happens every five years. between now and next week, representatives will be approving new policies and appointing new party leaders. delegates from each of china's provinces held regional discussions friday. they talked about ways to fix the problems they face. nhk world's james tengan is in beijing covering the congress.

republican congress. he needs to do it. [laughter] i would hope he does it and i hope he has a regular coordination with them and conversation with them not just once. [inaudible] >> i have a question for -- yeah, i have a question for each of you. for tom davis, pessimism is probably well founded. how much leverage would a re-elected president obama -- [inaudible] two of the things at stake the defense cuts and the bush tax cuts, are something that the republicans want. and that has to be action or they won't get a they want. and for a martin frost, what chance do you think there is this the democrats will do something after the election in the house about their semijerry at rick leadership. every one of whom ten to twenty years older than the republican counter part. >> tom, start. >> martin, you better take this one over. you have to deal with the folks. look, i think if the president can satisfy the republicans, he can gate deal. he's dug in pretty hard on tax cuts for the higher income people at this

and congress gets to decide that but congress doesn't get the tax for constitutional purpose. in never quite explained why the standard was more rigid on one side than it was on the other nor did he make any effort to explain why the court should be so willing to expand congress's power. when done and continues to be a roller-coaster ride. continued to tantalize, taunt and torture conservatives by moving to the next step of the analysis, going to the medicaid expansion provisions, explaining to us that for the first time in its history the court had actually identified something congress had done that violated the anti coercion principle of the constitution, that congress had unconstitutionally coerced the states and that this was not tolerable. conservatives were buoyed up only to have the wind taken out of their sails again with the court's novel instruction with this very unprecedented remedy, a remedy that said this is unconstitutional but we're just going to order the government not to do that which the statute empowers the government to do. the affordable care act specif

. >> the new elected congress starts in january but the congress has to do work in a lame duck session and they have to work on the federal deficit raising the debt ceiling and by how much and planned cuts to domestic and military spending also known as sequestration. live coverage on c-span and c-span2. >> now a discussion on the impact of tuesday's election on the u.s. senate. host: ira shapiro is the author of "the last great senate." he is here to talk to was about the issues facing the senate coming up in the next edition of the senate. welcome to the program. guest: is good to be here. host: tell us a bit about the book. the title, the last great senate. what was it about the folks who were in that senate, the class of '62? who were the big guys in that class and what made them part of the last great senate? guest: i said in the book that america had a great senate from the early 1960's through 1980, a group of people who were focused on the national interests and were in the forefront of every issue facing the country. it is the senate of hubert humphrey, howard baker, robert an

it seems that congress members and two former congress members yourself, seem to be upset the fbi was this whole investigation or knew what he knew. and they weren't told. can you fill me in on the role of congress as a sitting body. might there be hearings into all of these e-mails between the top general in afghanistan and general patraeus and his biographer? what is the thinking there? >> sometimes members of congress get outraged for all the wrong reasons. the bottom line is the fbi was looking into something that could have been a national security risk. and i think until they finish their investigation, the question whether or not they need to inform congress depends on whether or not there's an intelligence breech. they found out there wasn't any. >> but there is a different standard for the people who serve on the intelligence committees and the congress in general. are supposed to be informed if there is a situation developing that could result in a national security breech. and this is a place where i think the chairman of the committee in the senate, in the house both belie

not the congress was really listening. [laughter] and it's a pleasure to be here and see so many people who kindly helped me over the years in my research, alex, tom, ed, tom staton, burt healy and others. thank you all. i recently looked up the electronic version of my book on itunes and itunes informed me that people who bought my book also bought winnie the pooh. [laughter] well, when he first appeared in 1926. fannie mae came along about a dozen years later and both have proven surprisingly durable. one turned into a disney franchise and the other became a national disaster. despite all of their troubles, fannie and freddie still are responsible for most new home mortgages in the united states, so we have nationalized a huge part of our mortgage industry. how did we get to this point? it was not on purpose. it was really more of an accident and it was a bipartisan accident. let's go back to the 19 30s. about a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. around half of all mortgage debt was in default. housing starts were

and by the way i think it would go through congress, but what won't go through congress are generalitieseeding to through congress is the specific plan. >> jennifer: thank you as usual. thank you for continue to go light the fire under everybody. up next we'll shift gears just a little bit. will durst will join us as we take down the climate change deniers. you will not want to miss it. and so is head & shoulders deep clean. [ male announcer ] with 7 benefits it goes deep to remove grease, gunk and flakes. deep. like me. [ male announcer ] head & shoulders deep clean for men. ♪ ♪ [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> jennifer: the 2012 election had plenty of funny moments and the absurdity has not let up in the weeks since. of course to catch us up on some of the more noteworthy events we have the author of "elect to laugh," welcome back inside "the war room." >> it's good to be here post election. >> jennifer: it is. we all continue to breathe that sigh of reloaf. tonight we spent a lot of time on climate change. everybody says climate change is happening, and scientists say it's happening. how can there st

also, those in charge of congress worried about congress's reputation.ow the american people view them. where we are right now as a baseline for how americans feel about congress is not -- there is not much further down to go. that is different. reaching the deal, was it easy? the answer is no, it was not. it was long and arduous. there was a lot of time that was wasted. the effort made when the president brought people, the leaders together and said, we have got to solve that. they were then months of meetings and -- on the senate side, 26 principals were participating. when you a 26 principals you have several multiples of that staff. in my view, having been staff, that slows down agreements. any good staff member should be able to provide 10 reasons why john sununu's latest proposal is lacking in desirability. this process went on and on and did not progress at all. it was an education for people who were not steeped in the budget minutia the way senators were, but there was a real progress. we then went out to andrews and if anything the situation wa

so unfortunately, you know, to reform congress talk congress has to the play along. that seems unlikely to happen. >> i guess where i was going was that you have 52 congressman, congressional districts in california. and they have reformed the system. you have, i think, tend to stretch out there now that have republican versus republican or democrat versus democrat. at least one this fight. they have gone after each other. but is forcing them to the center. it would seem like it's doing what you're -- >> well, that's right. and, yes. i mean, i do think that there's some people have pointed to the california example as being prove that this is a flaw that means of reform, it still strikes me as a and a possible reform. >> the tea party has peaked. may be starting to decline. to use see any evidence to support this claim? is it just wishful thinking. >> wishful thinking. you know, i have heard -- it seems like every month and a half or so there is a new, you know, sort of many movement amongst the large the conservative opinion leaders. they start writing stories, and

it goes back to congress. congress gives the authority to the epa to regulate.congress failed is disingenuous to me. the epa cannot work without authorization from the federal government. we have to put that in check so it does not impede the economy whether call or anything else let us they are trying to regulate. >> we have gone through all the questions. we have reached the closing statement. you have 90 seconds. >> thank you. i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. i will state the obvious. i am not a politician. i am not running to keep a party in power or looking for a new career. i know the collective future depends on a reasonable republicans and democrats to act as a statesman in great civility and solve our problems. we have not seen compromise for a while. i am running to restore trust in government to the american people. to ensure every kid can obtain their american dream as i did. i want to thank you for the opportunity to be here today. i ask for your support and but so i can have the privilege to represent as the next senator from arizona.