joined again by senators dick durbin and lindsey graham. r durbin, you mentioned the debt commission, the president's debt commission on which you serve and you supported its findings. they are out with an op ed in "the washington post" about the president's budget. to be sure the president's budget doesn't go nearly far enough in addressing the nation's fiscal challenges. it goes nowhere close. this was a president, senator durbin, who said during the transition we can't kick the can down the road when it comes to entitlement spending. the biggest drivers of our nation's debt yet he chose not to do so in this budget. why? >> let's give credit where it's due. the president's budget will freeze spending and over the course of five years is going to reduce our deficit by some $400 billion. we'll see domestic discretionary spending at the lowest level as a percentage of gdp since president dwight d. eisenhower. ate step in the right direction. it's consistent with the first two years the deficit commission recommended. we went beyond that. we s

. >> that is senator dick durbin. a judge said that the law is unconstitutional. 26 states including florida filed a lawsuit against it. which white are the supremes going to go on this one, nina? >> oh, i wouldn't begin to guess that, but it is unlikely that they would hurry it up. next year sometime, perhaps, we will get to the court. but this is a very complicated bill, and they will want the lower courts -- justice ginsburg said this on a thursday night at a forum in washington -- they will want to lower courts, the best minds in the country, to weigh in on this, and there will be different conclusions. >> the attorney-general of a virginia is trying to get to go directly -- >> he can ask. that does not mean he will get. >> it is a flawed bill. it as a fundamental flaw in it, which is that it doesn't deal with the underlying problems with the health-care system. congress docked on the big issue -- >> the question is, is it unconstitutional? demanding that people buy health insurance? >> i am not a lawyer and i wil

host: what you make of senator dick durbin's comments? guest: that is why we need a supreme court decision. there is a really important line decision.udson's he says, "in closing, i will simply conclude that my concern is based upon application of the commerce clause as it exists, pursuant to the supreme court's current interpretation and definition." only this record or a constitutional amendment can expand that. -- only the supreme court or constitutional amendment can expand that. he has concluded that the supreme court has never extended the constitution -- the commerce clause to say that someone must buy a private product, to regulate in activity -- inactivity. that is the crux of this and why an hink it is such n important constitutional issue. host: democratic caller, hi there. caller: to your guess i say, nonsense. not said anything useful or convincing -- you haven't said anything useful or convincing. we have a plan in massachusetts and it is working wonderfully. people are all on insurance, some people who let not seen the doct

if dick durbin had come to make and not wanted to vote for it, harry reid has not been on obstruction. in the house, you have the three archconservative, wonderful young man, paul ryan, dave camp, and jeb hensarling. they did not vote for this package. we went to them an edge to if they were scared arab grover norquist. grover testified for us. he said his ear was ronald reagan i said so was mine. ronald reagan raised taxes 11 times in his head ministration he said i did not like that. i don't care if he liked it or not. why did he do that? he did it to make the country run. they said we are not frightened of grover. we fear that if you get rid of these tax expenditures, one of the big one is employer deduction of health-care premiums for employees. they fear that the employers will flee to obama care. that is a valid fear. we agreed. i said we have to sort that out. at least they are not cewed by the pressure of the groups. we have supporters out in the world. you have to have compromises but that does not mean you are a wimp. you can compromise an issue without compromising yourself

middle east protest and the battle over the budget with assistant majority leader in the senate, dick durbinraham. >> that will do it for us on this sunday morning. jeff rossen, thank you so much. janice huff, thank you. it's the oscars next week. we'll have a preview. >>soon lg, everybody. thanks for watching.

dick durbin, democrat of illinois.lican member of the budget committee, lindsey graham of south carolina. then more on the budget battle and what it says about leadership in washington after the president unveils a budget that fails to address the largest drivers of the country's debt. >> why did you duck? why are you not taking this opportunity to lead? >> this is not a matter of you go first or i go first. >> our roundtable weighs in. former governor of michigan, democrat, jennifer granholm. former congressman from tennessee, democrat harold ford. republican strategist and former white house counselor to bush, ed gillispie and cnbc's rick santelli. the very latest on revolution sweeping the middle east. after egypt protest and violent crackdown have spread to the gulf states. how will the administration balance u.s. interest with interests in supporting democratic reforms? our guests, the president's ambassador to the united nations, susan rice.

if you look at the people in the senate, people like dick durbin, mark warner, tom coburn, others, bipartisanup of senators. right now there are ten of them. they're getting serious and taking some political arrows right now because they're republicans willing to look at tax increases, there's some democrats willing to look at social security reform. an they're actually out there. you're beginning to see something really hopeful start there, but you've got to show the leaders in the house and in the white house a politically viable root and you need -- >> mayor reed, on the one hand you cut pensions in terms of when they vest but you're also lobbying for more money for the port of savannah. so how do you accomplish both? >> because i think that's consistent with investing for the future by deepening the port of savannah, georgia, we're going to create an economy and have the port ready for the panama canal ships that come in 2014. it's consistent with the president's message on infrastructure investment and job creation. >> how does it affect -- some of the cuts that will definitely come down

in the meantime more news from espn room. >> and the news stories being >> senator dick durbin.ublican senator lindsay gram and the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice. hear a re-air of cyston only on pore and hillary clinton. today chris wallace hosts with republican governor scott walker. lieutenant governor and missouri democratic senator claire mccassical. then hear the state of the union re-air. donald rumsfeld talks about his new memoir then chuck schumer of new york and republican senator dick lugar of yanina wickmayer. then finally at 4:00 it's face kind of do too. >> and paul rine and the ranking deafment than to committee, the five-network the talk shows are brought to you by as a public service of company. those programs begin with nbc's feet in press and 1:00 abc's this week. 2:00's fox news sunday and at 4:00, face the nation from cbs. listen to them all on c-span radio. 91.1 f.m.. you can down led to station as an iphone ap or listen online at c-span radio.org. >> what we face today is that the american dream the under attack. but we are fighting back

democrats frank lawsuiten burg and dick durbin are teaming up. >>> city officials in san francisco are saluting desmond right there. he's the linebacker for the green bay packers. yesterday, supervisors held a city hall ceremony honoring him for his accomplishments on and off the field. he's a graduate ofle a he holds an annual youth football camp as well as conducts other activities to help. >>> going bald at able 20 could be a red flag for prostate cancer later in life. french researchers found 20- year-old men who have gone bald are more likely to get the disease. >>> diet pepsi has a new look and they are choosing to show it off at this week's new york fashion week. the drink itself is not changing but the can is. pepsi says it's celebrating beautiful, confident women who drink diet pepsi in the new skinny diet pepsi can. it almost looks like those energy drinks we talked about yesterday. >> it does. >>> the father of the ma -- of the man known as the american taliban. >>> it's an ad for parents to keep an eye on their teenaged drivers. the moment you feel run down or achy nip flu-

you had dick durbin, your good friend from illinois. democrats.nswer to ben just happened. why not grab it? >> well, the notion that it's been shelved, i think, is incorrect. it still provides a framework for part of the challenge. you guys are pretty impatient in this town. if something doesn't happen today, then the assumption is it's just not going to happen. all right? i've had this conversation for the last two years about every single issue that we worked on. whether it was health care on or don't ask, don't tell, on egypt, right? we've had this monumental change over the last three weeks. well, why did it take three weeks? so i think that there is a tendency for us to assume that if it didn't happen today, it's not going to happen. well, the fiscal commission put out a framework. i agree with much of the framework. i disagree with some of the framework. it is true it got 11 votes and that was a positive sign. what is also true is, for example, is that the chairman of the house republican budgeteers didn't sign on. he's got a little bit of j

dick durbin, your good friend from illinois, democrats, everything you described in the answer to chipened? why not grab it? >> the notion it's been shelved is incorrect. it still provide ace framework for a conversation. part of the challenge here, this down -- let's facial it. you guys pretty impatient. if something doesn't happen today, the assumption is it's just not going to happen. right? i've had this conversation for the last two years about every single issue that we've worked on. whether was health care, or "don't ask, don't tell," on egypt? right? we've had this monumental change over the last three weeks? why did it take three weeks? so, i think that there's a tendency for us to assume that if it didn't happen today, it's not going to happen. well, the fiscal commission put out a framework, i agree with much of the framework, i disagree with some of the framework. it is true that it got 11 vote, and that was a positive sign. what's also true is, for example, that the chairman of the house republican budget eie are concerned. i'm going have to have a conversation with him, w

even if tom coburn and dick durbin and all these giles get together and say this is what we do, there's this house that has nancy pelosi led republicans and john boehner led republicans it would be like no thanks. we'll shred it. >> we're actually starting to h kumbaya. austin and i are going to be holding hands with our bosses as we walk down that beautiful path. i like to share your optimism. i tend to be an optimist. i've been staff director of the budget committee for 14 years and on capitol hill longer than that. i think the problem is this. i think the problem is many americans like the idea of cutting spending in general. the concept that government spends too much is something that i think many americans agree with. but when you get into the specifics. when you get into specific benefits then all of a sudden people go south on you. many people believe, for example, that all we would need to do is cut foreign aid and we could balance the budget. it turns out of a budget of $3.7 trillion, foreign aid is about $50 billion. it's very small. i shouldn't say 50 billion is small, but r

you have dick durbin, the majority whip in the senate, a democrat from illinois. in addition to him, the second ranking senate democrat, the group includes budget committee chairman kent conrad, and one of the senate's most conservative fiscal hawks, tom coburn, republican of oklahoma. that is "the wall street journal" this morning. front page of "the washington post" -- "on national debt, interest is the monster." that is a little bit from "the washington post" this morning. tennessee, jane on the line for republicans. what do you think? is the house on the right track on spending? caller: yes, and i think the 200,000 new government employees need to go. the 44 million people running around with these food stamp cards -- they cannot spend all the money. they just throw stuff in their basket without even looking. it is free to them. they do not care. these agricultural subsidies -- all that is driving up the cost of food. people out here cannot even live. host: jane, could i ask about defense? what about defense spending, which is the largest component of -- calle

they were speaking, i think, erskine said yesterday it took them six hours to discuss this plan dick durbin who is a democrat from the illinois who is the assistant majority leader of the senate, a job i did for 10 years under bob dole. he voted for this plan. to the terrible consternation of many democrats that he would do this and at the end of his beautiful remarks on the day of the vote, he said best thing to happen that day -- his son called him and said, thanks, dad. and that's again what this is all about. this isn't about gray hairs. it's about young people. your children, your grandchildren -- all the rest of it is babble. so anyway, on the floor of the senate and then you've got warner of -- a democrat from virginia, a wonderful young man and then you have sax by and they are working on this measure. a week, two weeks ago 47 u.s. met to talk about this, just this and how to get into legislative language and how to move it. that's an inconspiracilation harry reid whenever he said you know very well he would not have ever described to allow durbin to vote for this vote for this pack

one is dick durbin, a democrat from illinois who is the assistant majority leader of the senate, a job i did for 10 years under bob dole. he voted for this plan. to the terrible consterination of many democrats. he said best thing to happen to him that day is his son called him and said thanks, dad. that is what this is all about. it is not about gray hairs. it is about young people. your children. your grandchildren. all of the rest of it is babble. you have warner, democrat from virginia. wonderful young man. you have the other two guys working the system on this measure. about two weeks ago 47 u.s. senators met at 8:30 in the morning to talk about just this and how to get a lot of it into legislative language and move it. that, to me, is an inspiration. harry reid, whatever he said, you know very well he would not have described to allow durbin to vote for this package as his assistant. if dole came to me and said al, that is a nice piece of bait. if you go for that it reflects on me. harry hasn't been instructionist to us in our personal dealings. over in the house you have the thr

you had dick durbin, your good friend from illinois, democrat -- everything you just described in the answer to chip and the answer to ben just happened. why not grab it? >> the notion that it has been shelved i think is incorrect. it still provides a framework for a conversation. part of the challenge here is that this town -- let's face it, you guys are pretty impatient. if something doesn't happen today, then the assumption is it's just not going to happen. right? i've had this conversation for that last two years about every single issue that we worked on, whether it was health care or "don't ask, don't tell," on egypt, right? we've had this monumental change over the last three weeks -- well, why did it take three weeks? [laughter] so i think that there's a tendency for us to assume that if it didn't happen today it's not going to happen. well, the fiscal commission put out a framework. i agree with much of the framework. i disagree with some of the framework. it is true that it got 11 votes, and that was a positive sign. what's also true is, for example, is, is that the chairman

one is dick durbin, a democrat from illinois who is the assistant majority leader of the senate, a job i did for 10 years under bob dole. he voted for this plan. to the terrible consterination of many democrats. he said best thing to happen to him that day is his son called him and said thanks, dad. that is what this is all about. it is not about gray hairs. it is about young people. your children. your grandchildren. all of the rest of it is babble. you have warner, democrat from virginia. wonderful young man. you have the other two guys working the system on this measure. about two weeks ago 47 u.s. senators met at 8:30 in the morning to talk about just this and how to get a lot of it into legislative language and move it. that, to me, is an inspiration. harry reid, whatever he said, you know very well he would not have described to allow durbin to vote for this package as his assistant. if dole came to me and said al, that is a nice piece of bait. if you go for that it reflects on me. harry hasn't been instructionist to us in our personal dealings. over in the house you have the thr

commission when you had tom coburn, your conservative friend, sign on to the deal, judd gregg, dick durbinnswer to chip and ben, why not grab it? >> the notion it has been shelved, i think is incorrect. it still provides a framework for a conversation. let's face it, you guys are pretty impatient. if something doesn't happen today then the assumption is it is just not going to happen. all right? i have had this conversation for the last two years about every single issue we worked on, whether it was health care or don't ask, don't tell, on egypt, right? we've had this monumental change over the last three weeks, well, why did it take three weeks? so i think that there is a tendency for us to assume if it didn't happen today it is not going to happen. well, the fiscal commission put out a framework. i agree with much of the framework. i disagree with some of the framework. it is true that it got 11 votes and that was a positive sign. what is also true, for example, the chairman of the house republican budgeteers didn't sign on. he's got a little bit of juice when it comes to getting an even

one of the indications was that a liberal, dick durbin and a conservative, both voted on this bill.bridged a damper that we thought was unbridgeable predict bridged a gap ga-- it that we thought was unbridgeable. we hope something like this will eventually get past. host: the president declined to endorse a of the fiscal commission's proposals court if he does not sign onto this, do you think an alternative will surface, or is this a dead in the water? about le's talk politics. this is one of those jam tomorrow issues. the deficit to more is always the right day. -- the deficit tomorrow is always the right day. it is going to pay less money and tax people more of their money and make spending anges. i would like to see them get be highness. main parts of the proam, parts of the deficit plan, but i'm not optimistic. in houston,ld texas. caller: we are celebrating the eisenhower anniversary. there should be -- cuts should be in the budget. is an hour talk about that. lockheedartiand all those people in big lobbies. he cut the military budget. if democrats would be strong enough to do

durbin is there from the leadership to make sure that they know what's going on but i served with dick, and he went through that commission. he's frustrated, and i hate to say this, but it's possible that a major breakthrough may actually come from the senate. [ laughter ] and when i end on the note that our hope for a major change is placed in the united states senate, you know how desperate i am. [ laughter ] thanks a lot. >> okay, thank you very much, bill. we now, i know looking around the room we've got some very knowledgeable people here so i want to give you a chance to put your questions to the panel here, to anyone, and i'm looking at you, bill. okay. where is the microphone. yes, right here, it's in the front, please. and please identify yourself and make your question as short as possible. >> bruce smith, brookings. i just wonder if the colleagues would address the question of i think chairman thomas got at it a little bit, what can you do, short of legislation, can the medpac actually combine the part "a" and "b," are you going to be able to do some sorts of things by being