. >>> back now with the leader of the democrats in the u.s. housemadam leader, thank you for being here again. is it time for the president and the republican speaker of the house to sit down together and work out some sort of deal to raise the debt ceiling? >> let me just say this. there won't be any agreement for such an agreement -- unless the house democrats are part of that. unless the speaker comes to the table with 218 votes. but i think the president has been involved. he's talked about bipartisanship, and balance and what we do. the obstacle has come because the leader cantor has walked away from the table because he doesn't want to deal with special interests tax subsidies and the need -- >> the republicans don't want any tax increases in the debt ceiling? >> it's not a question of tax increases. >> they don't want -- yes, right, they don't want changes in revenue. >> what we're talking about here, some of the things that leader cantor can't handle the truth when it comes to these tax subsidies for big oil, for corporations sending jobs ov

you know, the big news channel 36 the last few minutes, brian, the announcement from the house minort democratic leader nancy pelosi, that she will call for a house ethics investigation into this behavior. >> tom fitzgerald tonight. >>> wouldn't top what you think. should congressman anthony wiener resign? log on to www.myfoxdc.com and vote or text yes or no to 29 for 73. we'll have the results at 10. >>> the catholic diocese of arlington taking arlington county to court. the diocese filed a lawsuit over the athletic field at bishop o'connell high school. next.  today is not about finding the time to do your homework. it's not about logging on to this week's class. today is a celebration, a triumph of dedication, a victory for that little voice that urges us on. today is a day to recognize that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and to prove that not all heroes wear a cape. some wear a cap and gown. congratulations to the strayer university graduates of 2011. >> the news channel 36 edge in virginia where a high school custodian is accused of stealing from frie

. >> democrat and house on that at least -- democrats in the house are not at least -- >> oh, no, democrats are on record already apposition -- in opposition. they came again, just 11 votes two weeks ago, of really cutting the legs out. >> it gives the impression of a commander in chief who was indecisive and not sure which way to go. afghanistan is one example. he speaks about it as a war of necessity and talks about the strategic requirements. now all he wants to talk about is getting out. libya, no one even understand what the objective was. and then you have the constitutional issue. the president unilaterally doing this. area of all this is that dennis kucinich, very dovish liberal democrat who is suing over this, the libya war and the non- consultation, acknowledged that the bushes, father and son, had consulted and not approval from congress in advance. >> in decisive, but he did pull the trigger on osama bin laden -- >> what president would not have? >> excuse me -- >> come to you and said -- >> didn't president clinton had a chance to pull the trigger? >> the decisions he made a le

but debbie wasserman shultz, the chairman of the democratic party, and nancy pelosi, the leader of the house democrats, say he has to resign. we'll bring in steny hoyer, the number two democrat in the house, and republican congressman paul ryan, the architect of the republican economic plan, to talk about that, and whether the country is headed into another recession. senator lindsey graham is just back from afghanistan. we'll ask him, is it going to be possible to bring our troops home from there on schedule? it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspondent bob schieffer. and now from washington, bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning again. the number two democrat in the house leadership, steny hoyer; the republican chairman of the house budget committee, paul ryan, are in the studio with us. mr. hoyer, this thing with congressman weiner turned even worse, if that can be believed, overnight. now, new photos of weiner apparently which he apparently took of himself posing before a mirror in the house gym have s

today, both democratic house leader nancy pelosi and democratic national committee chairwoman calls for weiner to resign. a pole this week finds 56% of this district's registered voters think he should not quit. >> that voice is not being taken awayishing hard for him to gain people's trust after something like this. >> alan: spokesman for the new york congressman said in a statement that weiner left this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person this comes after weiner acknowledged he exchanged messages with a 17-year-old girl but nothing improper was discussed. >>> in special budget meeting at the capitol today, california lawmakers struggled to reach a comprise compromise on key measures thof budget. they're days away from the deadline to pass a balanced budget. governor brown has signed bills that closed over $11 billion of the state's deficit. most of those solutions were spending cuts to health and social service programs passed primarily by democratic lawmakers. democrats are now calling for sales and vehicle taxes to be ext

the housing market sunk even lower and the stock market tumbled. democrats are trying to explain. >> well, i think we have to take a careful look at those figures. >> reporter: republicans said it was all the fault of the president. >> when he took office, the economy was in recession. and he made it worse. >> reporter: in a busy week on the campaign trail, romney made it official-- he's in. as sarah palin took a vacation, went on the ultimate ego trip, or launched her own campaign-- no one seemed quite sure which. what did seem clear, at least according to the polls, is that republicans aren't all that enamoured with any of their candidates, which prompted mississippi governor haley barbour to say this. >> we are not going to have purity. we're not going to have a perfect candidate. >> reporter: we'll hear from both sides today-- from the left, house democratic leader nancy pelosi, and from the right, republican governor haley barbour. it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspon

be a more traditionally democratic, use entitlements and taxes on the rich as a cudgel against republicans moving forward. john boehner has a divided caucus of his own in the housemuch he will need democratic votes to pass a budget in the house. people like senator demint are saying no deal except for maximal circumstances. it's a balance for both of them with what they want to do in the environment. >> doesn't the president want the debt ceiling thing to go away? i don't think people look at this and go debt ceiling, jobs. it's clear american people want to talk about jobs. there are signals from the white house, let's get this done and move on. >> i think that's probably right. you can't talk about some of the other things you need to do in order to create jobs while you have the debt ceiling fight hanging over you. >> doesn't that indicate there might be some give there with the president, and he might say, fine, no tax, you know, no revenue enhancements or getting rid of subsidies? just do it the way you've got it. >> i don't think he will say just do it. he comes to table with a principal position and so does john boehner and the republicans. i think at the

and you said that it's actually to gain votes and he said it was a democratic house so sad it was and it's a sad result of democratic politics responding instantly and irrationally to some event halfway around the world to change the basic energy policy of europe's largest industrial economy it was certainly done according to democratic procedures but these democratic procedures produced as democracy sometimes does a highly irrational result i'm an american i know that irrationality can come out of a political system i've seen it many times in my life and american democracy democracy does not produce great results and sometimes it produces silly results and we've just seen one and in germany what about for christina what happened there and least you. you keep telling me that it's all safe i don't keep telling you that it's all safe there was an accident fukushima look what happened i mean how can how can that nuclear power be the future when it's still so incredibly dangerous for life well it's interesting that you would say that because we've just seen twenty four thousand japanese c

when you're the house republicans and negotiate white gold the democratic white house, does that pull the rug out from under them? >> yeah. next question. i mean, clearly it does. you take away the negotiating, giving the democrats their talking points as they sit down to negotiate with paul ryan. >> and who are republicans running over, themselves? this is their plan, almost unanimously approved. who would they be running over? >> he is a good debater, forced the debate. he challenged me when i had numbers not right. very good in that give and take. did he do what he needed to do to get people to say all right, his staff didn't like him, they ran away, let's give him a chance. >> no, he's a great debater. we all know this. same criticism they threw at barack obama, he gives a good speech, but is a bad manager. this with newt gingrich is the same. he had a two week sail around the mediterranean to come up with what to say. he's always been a bad manager. i would frankly be interested in the congresswoman, she was there with him awhile. >> yeah. >> to what people perceive of gingrich's

democratic leader nancy pelosi to the man in charge of house democratic campaign efforts who's also a fellow new york congressman steve israel, more and more high-profile members of congress, members of the democratic party saying it's time for anthony weiner to go. but political party can't just say that and then force a lawmaker to leave. the democratic source tells cnn that weiner doesn't want to make a decision about his future until his wife, a long-time aide to secretary of state hillary clinton, they return from a trip -- she returns from a trip from clinton in africa, scheduled we're told to be thursday. until then, according to a spokeswoman for weiner he is taking a short leave of absence from congress to, quote, get evaluated and map out a course of treatment at an undisclosed treatment center i should add. one thing is certain, house democrats did not want to come back from recess and go into a third week of having to deal with this scandal, rather than their agenda and why we're hearing they made the change over the weekend. >> ver

reporter: congresswoman swarts is significant because she is in charge for recruiting democrats to run for the house in the 2012 election cycle. her coming out with this public statement is part of a new step-up effort to force congressman weiner to resign. as one democratic source put it to me, a signal that represents the caucus. it shows the feeling among democrats that this is hurting them politically. it says quite a sfamt abotateme that. congresswoman schwartz, she is not alone. half dozen other democrats have come out calling for him to resign. this is very new from when we talked yesterday morning. we will be looking to see if these calls are growing louder for congressman weiner to resign. as a reminder to our viewers, members are still home in their home districts right now. we will see if they are feeling the pressure to make a statement, kyra. >> we will be following it as more people come forward. kate bolduan on the hill, thanks so much. >>> if he manages to weather this scandal, he may still lose his job. his congressional district will likely be eliminated because of recent u.s. cens

congressman wants to frame this as a personal failing that doesn't impact his personal work, democratic house speaker nancy pelosi called for an ethics investigation which will likely include talking to the women who received those sexually explicit e-mails and photos. >> we'll see you then. thank you, kimberly. >> 6:06 is the time. president obama will meet with angela merkel today. the chancellor will get a red carpet welcome, including a 19-gun salute. they are expected to discuss unrest in the middle east, the war in afghanistan, and the global economy. she will also be awarded the presidential medal of freedom later tonight. this is the first official visit by a german chancellor since 1995. >>> the public opinion that the president has been riding since the death of osama bin laden has been crashing down because of poor economic news. president obama's approval rating is back down to 47%. it's even worse when it comes to the economy. 40% of americans approve of the way he is handling the economy, economic recovery and only a third of the nation approves of his approach to the deficit. o

>>guest: the problem is that the moderate and conservative democrats are an ening dairied species in the houses. a couple of weeks ago democrats picked up a seat if a special election in western new york and what had been a republican seat historically, and steve israel said he is a democratic congressional campaign committees, and this could make it a watch with the retirement of boren. the reasons the democrats got control of the house of representatives and the majority in 2008 was by electing moderate chemicals and now they are also an endangered species with boren with a lot of problems with leadership and he spoke against the health care bill a couple of years ago and he did not support nancy pelosi to return as the minority leader after democrats lost the house and he supported his fellow blue dog democrat from western north carolina. >> what if something bigger is going on that will mean nothing goes on? in other words, democrats have increasingly moved to the left to join pelosi and republicans have moved harder to the right and nothing gets done because both are such extremes. >>gues

repuican senators, democratic senators, republan house, democratic house. metwith the leaders multiple times. at a certain point, they need to the job. and so this thing which is just not the level where we have meetings and discussions and we are working through the process and when they decide th're not happy at the fact at some point you got to make a choice they all sit back and say well you know the president needs to get this done. they need to do thr job. >> charlie: the president asked republicans to agree to end tax breaks for the wealthy. >> charlie: if everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and doive things in order to achieve the goals of relevant deficit reduction, then i think it would be hard for the republicans to stand there and stay that the tax break forecorporate jets is sufficiently important that we're not willing to com to the table and get a deal done. you can't reduce the deficit to the level that needs to be reduced without having some revenue in the mix. the revenue we're talking about isn't coming out of the pocke

democrats are -- house democrats in a pretty good place, aren't they? and the economy starts coming back. i think that will help the president and help us. i think people are pretty upset with the agenda that's been put forward so far by republicans or lack of agenda. i think nancy's right. obviously, as both of you know, i was the majority leader. i did control the agenda. i knew i could bring things to the floor, if i wanted to. in this case, we're not in that position. we've done nothing on jobs over the last five months. we've been focused on the ryan plan, the republican plan to cut the budget, cut medicare. clearly, voters of the 26th district thought that wasn't a good agenda. >> right. it's certainly an easy issue to demagogue. i wonder if you feel for your party it's your responsibility not to demagogue it and to actually come up with some ideas about medicare? i mean, it has to change, right? >> i think that -- i gave a speech a couple of times where i've said everything needs to be on the table, the deficit that confronts us, it's a crisis, no

congressman weiner's fellow democrats after all of this has kind of come out has now turned into really nothing less than a concerted effort to simply push him out. about half a dozen house democrats are now making it clear they can't ignore this scandal any longer. pennsylvania democrat allison schwartz, larry kissle, a democrat from california, maine democratic michael mish aud. even conservative democrat mike ross and niki tsongas. >> yes, this is very personal decision as an individual member of congress. but i was absolutely appalled when i heard about the behavior actions of congressman weiner. and i think that's inappropriate behavior. violates the katie and trust that his constituents should have in him and i call for his resignation. >> reporter: the list of members calling for him to go. congresswoman schwartz is interesting. she's the head of recruiting efforts for house democrats in the 2012 election cycle. we're told her public statement now is part of a new stepup effort to force weiner out. as one democratic source put to it me, it's a signal that represents a growing concern within the caucus. it seems that the scandal is not only a distraction from the i

democratic house minority bhip was in san francisco today and he said national debt is crippling the nation. >> this is clear we'll not be the kind of economy we want to be and will not be the kind of country we aspire to be and have been if we do not get a handle on the deficit and debt. >> the white house is warning congress if does it not raise the debt ceiling, the u.s. could default on the financial debt for the first time in history. >> still head on the news at 4:00 a top member of the president's administration speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage. >> and an arrest warrant for muammar gaddafi? the international criminal court said enough is enough. >> fog coming in at golden gate toll plaza. then, we'll talk to sandhya with travel weather plan autos if you're traveling out of sfo there is arriveals delay yeahed now. if you're picking someone up, you'll be slowed down there. and if you're traveling into jfk, there is rain come together bay area, possibility of thunderstorms tomorrow, i'll be back with a full forecast later on. >>> national parks service released drawings

the white house today, president obama will discuss budget issues and the national debt with house democrats. yesterday, house republicans met with the president. they told him they don't want to increase the debt limit without major spending cuts. mr. obama says any deficit cutting must include tax increases. another key sticking point is medicare, which the president is not willing to cut. >>> to the latest now on new york congressman anthony weiner. he's involved in a messy case involving his twitter account. weiner insists he didn't send a suggestive photo to a young woman in seattle. but he can't say for sure that the photo isn't of him. nancy cordes reports. >> i didn't send it. >> reporter: congressman anthony weiner was adamant. he did not tweet this suggestive photo of a man in gray underwear. but he was far less clear about the origins of the photo, sent from his twitter account friday night. congressman i think the main question that everyone has is, was that a picture of you? >> well, the main question that a lot of people are asking is, did i send the photograph. i did not. this

republican senators and republican house and democratic leaders and democratic house. at a certain point, they need to do their job. and so this thing, which is just not on the level where we have meetings and discussions and we're working through the process, and when they decide they are not happy with at some point they have to make a choice, they just sit back and say the president needs to get this done. they need to do their jobs. now is the time to go ahead and make some tough choices. that's why they are called leaders. and i've already shown that i'm willing to make some decisions that are very tough and will give my base of voters further reason to give me a hard time. but it's got to be done. and so there's no point in putting it off. or procrastinating. we've got to get this done. and if by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial improvement, we have got stay and get things done. they are here one week and out one week. then they are saying obama's got to step in. you've got to be here. i've been here. i've been doing afghanistan and bin laden an

house. the democrats still have the senate. we need to be clear about what it is we want. progressive people have not been as clear as they might be. tavis: you mentioned the banks and the house and the senate now divided. when the democrats controlled the house, the white house and the senate, they gave wall street what it wanted with no strings attached. now banks are sitting on a trillion dollars and will not lend. the president is begging home to reinvest it into the country. what do you make of the fact that we build a them out. they are sitting on a trillion dollars and they won't turn around and -- >> we build a them out and they won't bail us out. this is why it was so important to have someone like maxine waters on the banking committee that was pushing that stuff. the bottom line is those banks cannot do what they were lent this money to do. the money needs to be taken back in taxation through any number of ways. the banks have become our enemies, not our friends. tavis: the larger issue, yppingt to move now -- i want to move now -- we have been talking about the

they were talking about going further and actually kicking him out of the democratic caucus in the house. those two moves would have meant if weiner would have wanted to come back to congress, he would be coming back with virtually no power and no party, really. >> as you know, jon, he wanted to hold out against the system. didn't want to resign. this has been going on about three weeks now. started to break over the memorial day weekend. i remember well when you interviewed him. and the first round of interviews coming out of this one, saying he was the victim here. he had no intention of resigning. but this pressure has continued to build with more and more information. more and more photos, coming out. >> reporter: it has. every day, there was another element to the scandal. the latest, when we saw the photographs he had taken of himself in the members-only

he met with nancy pelosi and the democratic leadership of the house last week. he's talked to speaker boehner. so there is a lot of discussions gog, and at some point very soon the leadership of the congress has got to begin to come together and actually talk about what solution is possible. >> brown: it was interesting yesterday in the press conference, the president, even unprompted, expressed annoyance at some questions of his leadership in this matter. and i wonder because even the critics in that regard have not only come from republicans but even people friendly to the administration, a sense that the president did not get engaged in this early enough, did not talk to the american people, did not tell bus the consequences or the possibilities down the line. why does d he step in so late? >> first of all it was the president who created a fiscal commission last year. it was his head. he created it and they moved forward and raised the issue and the urgency of this. after the first of the year, the president has talked about this. he-- we-- had a very long,

three top democratic officials including house democratic leader nancy pelosi are now calling that weiner resign. one calling it a, quote, sordid affair that's becoming an unaccept only distraction. it follows new revelations that he'd been sending messages to a 17-year-old girl on twitter. but will he quit. tonight, congress simply says he wants a short leave from congress as he seeks treatment. we're with david kerley. >> reporter: he was adamant. he's determined to keep his job. >> i've made some serious mistakes. i have to redeem myself. and i'm going to try to get back to work. but these were personal failings, so i'm trying not to let them get in my way with my work. >> reporter: in a clear bid to hold on to congress, a spokesperson is saying weiner is taking a leave of absence so he can get treatment to become a healthier person. the gloves came off, cascading calls for his resignation. nancy pelosi who has never called for a democrat to resign saying if weiner needs help he should get it. quote, without the pressures of being a member of congress. the head of the democratic nation

house, waiting for democrats to return. when the gavel back in, the house is likely to resume consideration of the fiscal year 2012 spending bill for homeland security. they have worked on a number of amendments. there are still more ahead. there is still more work on military construction and the veterans' programs bill. they have just begun work on that. it will be approved for debate today. >> a live look waiting at the white house for possible additional comments for democrats -- from democrat to have been meeting with president obama. he held a similar meeting yesterday with house republicans. the house will gavel back in momentarily, and when they do, more consideration of the spending bill, homeland security spending bill for 2012. it is 3% less this year and 6% less than requested by president obama. the senate is out today. it is the first time in 30 years since they began coverage. looks like the houses gaveling back in now. consideration of h.r. 2017. will the gentleman from california, mr. dreier, kindly resume t

senate, both leaders in the senate minority and majority as well as the speaker of the house and leader of the democrats on the house side. it is not at that point. i think the president is meeting this week, that both leaders in the senate, in separate meetings, i hope they are meeting with the speaker, speaker boehner as well. they will come to some agreement and maybe, they will ask for us to vette v their agreement with our respective parties. this ought to be a by part stan vote. republicans and democrats the way we've always done it in the past. >> congressman thank you very much indeed for joining us. and, up next, the "roundtable" tackles 2012 as michele bachmann races toward the head of the pack in iowa. and later, michelle obama, on meeting a legend. >> nelson mandela. >> yeah. >> what was it like in that room? >> surreal, something i never thought would happen. >> what did you say to him? >> oh. >> abc's david muir's special interview with the first lady in south africa. coming up. anananthis...is the network. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in he

in the meantime, house democratic leader nancy pelosi sent a letter to the ethics committee calling for an investigation. weiner confessed yesterday to sending a lewd photograph of himself to one of his followers on twitter and then repeatedly lying about it. kristen dahlgren on capitol hill now with more on this story. >> reporter: hey there, jim and wendy. a lot of people with a throlot say about this. republicans calling for his resignation, while from his own party, nancy pelosi has sent that formal letter calling for an ethics investigation. one day after representative anthony weiner's shocking mea culpa -- >> i've exchanged messages and photos of an expleasive nature with about six women over the last three years. >> reporter: the question now, did he also violate house standards? within hours of weiner's admission, democratic leader nancy pelosi was calling for an ethics investigation to see if government resources were used or rules broken. >> we have a code of conduct that we have to -- that we have to follow. so it's a much higher standard than people realize. >> reporter: er

president, a democratic house and a democratic senate the basic tenets of bush's trickle-down economics theory, this was laying the groundwork for more bad decisions in the future. unfortunately, i was absolutely right and that takes us right to the ryan republican budget of today. second, more tax breaks for the very rich is only one symptom of an economic and political system that is grotesquely failing the average american. the simple reality is that the middle class of america is collapsing, poverty is increasing, and the gap between the very wealthiest people and everyone else is getting wider. how did this happen? why did it happen? what can we do about it? these are issues that had to be talked about and talked about in a way that is not often heard in washington. over the 20 years i have served in the house and the senate, i had examined these issues,ish from a wide variety of perspectives. now was an excellent opportunity to bring them together and to make the connections. what does it mean, morally and economically, that in 2007 the top 1% earned over 23

then remarks from president obama and house democratic leaders. later, statements from freshman house members. monday on c-span, our road to the white house coverage continues with former senator rick santorum as he made his official presidential campaign announcement. that is live from somerset, pa. at 11:00 a.m. here on c-span. >> the c-span networks -- providing coverage of politics, public affairs, nonfiction books, and american history. it is all available to you on television, radio, online, and on social media networking sites. view our content anytime at the c-span video library. we take you on the road with our digital content vehicle. it is washington your way. the c-span networks -- now available in more than 100 million homes, created by cable, provided as a public service. >> a bill that would you -- raise the u.s. debt limit by $four point to a trillion failed on tuesday. 318 opposed. now look at house debate on the issue. this is about an hour. >> the president ignored the advice and provided no plan to rein in deficits and debt. las

it's not up to members of the house democratic caucus to push him out. are certainly a lot more of them saying it's time. even, randi, the former house ethics chairman is saying that he should go. >> this is certainly a very tough, very confusing time, is the hope though, still, that when weiner's wife returns for her trip abroad with hillary clinton that then maybe he'll resig resign. >> it is the hope. that's what so many are saying. she is supposed to return now maybe in the early morning hours. she will find him and the two of them will talk. that's what weiner has told his colleagues. he wants to wait to look her in the eye and talk to her about it. a source told me that nancy pelosi was really expressing confidence that she does think ultimately weiner will resign because somebody asked about the possibility of the caucus taking other steps, like stripping him of his committee assignments. her response was he won't have any when he resigns. >> those are tough words there. dana bash for us there. thank you. >> thanks, randi. >> your next update is ju

many of the congressman's fellow democratic house colleagues also echoed that sentiment. but some stopped short of demanding his resignation. >> i think the president was absolutely right. i think he's going to have to decide in conjunction with his constituents. if it were me, i would resign but that's up to him and his constituents. >> i don't think it's appropriate for me to set myself up as the judge of others. i'm a voting member of the house i have a responsibility. >> i think we should send a strong message to him that he should resign and let's see what happens. >> sreenivasan: the democratic caucus has yet to consider taking action against representative weiner. the congressman is taking a two- week leave of absence, and so far has refused to step down. the chairman of the federal reserve urged congress to support raising the nation's debt ceiling and find a long-term deficit plan. ben bernanke said republican threats to block the increase could backfire and cause disruptions to financial markets. the u.s. is up against an august 2 deadline to raise the $14.3 tri

good morning america." >>> congressman anthony weiner's sexting scandal is what bring democratic leaders in the housether today. they're considering what can be done about ending what they're calling a distraction. more and more democratic members are calling on weiner to simply resign. >>> and the u.s. open golf championship begins this morning at the congressional golf club in bethesda, maryland, outside of washington and the game's this one out asplayer tiger he recovers from an injury. american phil mickelson is among the favorites. >>> in other sports news, more jubilation in the streets of dallas as they celebrate their first ever nba championship. 250,000 fans are expected to turn out for the parade to salute the mavs. >>> coming up later on "good morning america," the inside story on this hugely popular web video showing a lioness trying to maybe eat this cute little boy. what is really happening here. looks sort of frightening. >> it has a happy ending, we assure you. >> for some of you your local news is next. >>> it looks like a kid's book but this is just for frustrated parents. we've got

so it's republicans in the house are refusing to vote for a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling some democrats are offering up their own list of demands on a debt ceiling increase in budget for next year but congressman earl blumenauer from oregon a group of democrats penned a letter to the white house last week calling for any debt ceiling deals to include an expiration of the bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires letter points out that ending the bush tax cuts will quote stop the growth of the deficit over the next decade and quote on the other hand the enormous spending cuts that republicans are pushing for will as the letter notes quote risk plunging our economy into a double dip recession that will cost further jobs and ultimately worsen our fiscal situation so the republicans dead set against any new tax increases and seemingly willing to let the economy crash just to get their way in this proposal set forward by congressman blumenauer find any traction here to answer this quote. is congressman earl blumenauer and morgan's third congressional district who joins us now from capi