[laughter] senator dick durbin. the senator from illinois.

[laughter] senator dick durbin. illinois.. [ h0lr announcer ] als ne(b to perform pwand essuree!ann!se qw]eyone's d8'dorapá tfail. at the source. esq4dor w) qwhelp eliminate odor, don't just coverr$t up. ♪ ♪ >> jon: thank you very much. that's our show. in the web version of the interview with the senator, i mentioned grover norquist was the head of the club for growth. he's actually the head of americans for tax reform, although in my defense, same [bleeped] difference. join us next week at 11:00. here it is, your moment of zen. ♪ hey hey ♪captioning sponsored by

my gust tonight, senator dick durbin from the gang of six, the gang of six. yo yo. you know, to get into the gang of six, they beat you inch i don't know if you knew that. saxby chambliss just gets up, come on, let's do it. anyway, special day. it's our president's 50th birthday, and i am no ingrate. i got him a little something that i think he's going to really enjoy. >> a massive 500-point sell-off dousing wall street in a sea of red. >> and the bears are mauling wall street. >> watching it fall now like a rock in a swimming pool. >> the 14th-worst point decline for the s&p 500. >> extreme fear and panic. i don't know what happened. [laughter] >> jon: ♪ happy birthday to you [cheering and applause] by the way, i don't have a receipt for that. [laughter] you know, america's recent fiscal troubles and stagnating economy shouldn't take away from the fact and shouldn't let us forget that we all hate each other. [laughter] a quick reminder of that in our new segment "culture war update: the dividening of america." our first dispatch comes from a veteran culture warrior

please welcome to the program senator dick durbin. sir, nice to see you again.applause] >> how are you doing? >> jon: all right. that was nice. you saw the show back in the green room. >> yeah, i did. >> jon: i apologize. normally that's the kind of stuff we would show someone from the house of representatives. you are more obviously esteemed. how are you holding up? you've been at the senate how long? >> 15 years. >> jon: 15 years. is this the worst it's been? do you sense people's upset with congress? >> jon, they say the approval rating of congress is between 6% and 19%. i don't believe we have that many relatives, so... >> jon: it's getting ugly out there. >> the numbers are inflated. [laughter] >> jon: is it... do you... do you believe it is understandable that people might be frustrated with, for instance, this debt ceiling issue and the deficit reduction plans and those things? are the american people being incredibly unfair, or can you understand their upset? >> oh, i get it. i understand it. here we have an economy with too many people out of work. we'r

early on "american morning," senator majority whip dick durbin told me he believes they will.e demands of the tea party. >> the alternative was to let the economy crater. that's what the tea party said they were willing to accept. you have some of these republican presidential candidates praying for a default. let me tell you, that would have been totally irresponsible. "the new york times" and other papers wouldn't like to see that either. of course it is. it's political extortion. if you say that you're prepared to call somebody's bluff using other people's chips, that's what we're down to. a lot of innocent people would have suffered if we would have gone into this default. we avoided that and that was something that we had to do. >> we also heard from republican senator john mccain from arizona a few minutes ago. here are his thoughts on the debt deal. >> i think that this agreement we reached is very -- is pretty much a success. but it's also compromise. but the fact we're not going to hike taxes, the fact that cuts in spending will be larger than the increase in the spen

illinois senator dick durbin, the senate's number two democrat, spends his afternoon shuttling between suite. durbin seems to know how all this looks to the american people. >> it looks like we're not acting as grown-ups. ♪ >> together again. the band. >> reporter: there are three senators that are proud of their grown-up relationship. they jokingly call themselves the three amigos. john mccain, joe lieberman, and lindsay graham. two republicans and a democratic leaning independent from connecticut. they thoroughly bonded over the years, and they bemoan the sorry state of this place. tell me why and what we've seen today and what we've seen in this debate over the debt ceiling this city, this institution isn't flat busted broken? anybody want to make that case? >> well, it is, but here's what happens. you get here, you got to raise money, sign pledges. if you're not independently wealthy, you wind up signing your discretion away, and when cc1: you get here and reach across that aisle, you'll come back with a nub. >> reporter: with only six day togs go before the deadline, these three m

listen to this remarkable exchange earlier today on the senate floor between democratic senator dick durbinn senator john mccain. >> i'd like to respond to my colleague through the chair. does he remember what happened with the reagan tax cuts? what happened was we tripled the national debt during that period of time and president reagan came to congress 18 times to extend the debt ceiling. he holds the record. so to argue the reagan tax cuts led to great long-term prosperity is i think seriously in doubt if you're going to use the deficit as a measure. >> if i could say, we believed, and reagan believed, if cutting tax cuts would restore our economy, which was in the tank, thanks to the practices of the previous administration, before him, and we, reagan presided over probably one of the greatest job creation periods in the history of this country and those are numbers that i would be glad to insert in the record. compare that with what has happened since this administration took office. with the promise that if we passed obama care, if we passed t.a.r.p., if we passed all of these others

. >> reporter: the family's lawyer says it took hundreds of letters even a call from dick durbin to take another look at the case of this father and son who pays taxes and had never been in trouble before. >> reporter: these deportation papers ordered arturo and his son to leave by tuesday. >> my family, my school, my girlfriend. my job everything just, it's really devastating. >> reporter: but immigration officials granted them a 30 day extension. >> in spanish benfrito sr. says i feel comforted because we finally got the news we wanted. while renfrito's wife won a stay in court, he and his son were denied. >> a father and a son away from a mother and a son. >> reporter: despite being just hours away from leaving the u.s. for good, benfrito sr. never packed a single bag he said out of faith of god that there would be a resolution. his son calls it a miracle. >> to have the chance to live an american dream, but it's all in god's hands. >> reporter: a family's attorney everyone pointed to president obama -- even pointed to president obama's reform. if they can't make the case, the renfrit

i don't see him. >> barney frank will be here and senator dick durbin. this is good.ning joe." [ man ] behind every business is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. >>> dav

to the degree that it suits moody's or s & p or the left or the right, the tea party or dick durbin and crowd, i don't care. the fact is it, we're going to start the process, everyone's got to understand, this is the beginning of a process toward taking control of this government and this country's future. >> mike: lou dobbs, thank you very much for joining us, i see the rain is starting to come down upon your head. you weren't kidding about needing the hat. [applause] >> you know what, lou. >> i'd take it. >> mike: there are a lot of places in the country having a great drought. i hope you get much needed rain there. thank you, lou dobbs for being with us. >> appreciate it, thank you. >> mike: coming up the conclusion of my exclusive interview with israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu and later, you're going to hear why paul williams is one of america's greatest song writers and he'll be singing some of his hits. stay with us. [applause]. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪ geico, saving people

. >> reporter: democrats like dick durbin reluctantly supported the bill. >> i will vote for this measure and obviously with a heavy heart. >> reporter: majority leader harry reid who also voted yes made no effort to disguise his outrage. >> the riches of the rich have contributed nothing to this. the burden of what has taken place is on the middle class and the poor. >> reporter: tennessee's lamar alexander was among republicans who hailed the agreement. >> this is a change in behavior. from spend, spend, spend to cut, cut, cut. >> reporter: as minority leader mcconnell claimed a victory, congratulating his party for holding the line against new taxes. >> while the president may not have particularly enjoyed this debate we've just been through, it was a debate that washington very much needed to have. >> reporter: and will continue to have, so while the president said today that everyone needs to chip in and pay their fair share, there were a number of republican senators who said today they are comfortable that their leaders will not appoint senators to that super committee that will ra

congress is disapproval rate is now eighty two percent last night of the daily show jon stewart asked dick durbin about this and he had this to say. john is say that the approval rating for congress is between six and nineteen i don't believe we have the undergrowth which so. i did not leave out the numbers are inflated or the numbers are and it's not easy to present the it turns out republicans are mostly to blame for this john boehner disapproval has jumped up sixteen points a republican disapproval overall seventy two percent democrats sixty six are we seen the classic the reagan republican strategy of the bill bennett strategy of same government as bad governance terrible i'm going to run against government and when you get in government you basically break it and then when it's broken use point out. it's broken and then you run against government how did they break it when they cut a deal on the debt limit increase they cut the deal in the continuing resolution we're not talking about bills not being trillions of dollars out of it which is going rightly drawings of mean guys lots of ok let's

dick durbin, the democratic senator from illinois, the majority whip, announcing the official vote. 74 in favor, 26 opposed. gloria, that's sort of the number we anticipated. i assumed it was going to be more than 70. >> yeah. there's a little bit of padding there. i'm curious to see who the 26 are and how that breaks down. >> some republicans who are seeking re-election. >> and how many of them are up for grabs, right, or facing challenges. we'll have to take a look at that. in terms of your last question to john about the relationships, it's interesting because from my vantage point, i think senator mitch mcconnell, who is clearly key here, really preferred to deal with joe biden more than anybody else, because they had a previous relationship in the senate and i was told that the senator believes that joe biden could close a deal, where barack obama might not have been as able to do that. >> all right, guys. the senate has just formally gone into recess. we expect the president of the united states momentarily to walk outside of his office in the west wing into the rose garden. let'

>> yeah, i was surprised that dick durbin or senator schumer was not selected.ou don't have a liberal fire brand that was selected. senator john kerry was criticized in 2004 in his presidential run for not having huge legislative accomplishment. this could be kerr -- kerry's moment to shine, but i was surprised you didn't see a vocal person on see that you see a lot from the left. reid liked this idea, he wanted the supercommittee, he wants to get a deal done and his picks suggest that he wants a compromise. jon: we'll see what happens. hard to believe anything will get done in this congress but we'll see. thanks. jenna: we continue to watch this happening on wall street you see the dow down 423 points. that's the level so far. rick, you've been hearing what folks have to say out there, and what's happening on wall street. >> reporter: we asked folks in the chat room whether we think the country is going in the right direction or bad direction, gwen said with over 9 percent unemployment how could anybody think we're in the right direction? >> gregory says our le

i rely on dick durbin who is a part of the working group. conrad, chairman of the budget committee knows the budget inside and out. and former governor of virginia who is business savvy. those were the three democrats part of the so-called gang of six. i would highly recommend their continuing in this constructive role so we don't go back to ground zero. my hope is that the leadership in both houses will appoint constructive folks who are eager to get something done. because the conscious consequences of the so-called sequester which kicks in at the end of the year if we don't pass a bigbie partisan package would be very difficult. >> it's to nice to have you on this morning. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> complete coverage live in the rose garden. nbc political director chuck todd will host our special coverage at the top of the hour. >>> 430 members of congress voted on the debt deal last night but only one of those casting members united the entire chamber. [ applause ]. there she is. as we mentioned, congresswoman gabrielle giffo

dick durbin hinted that this is historic to work together on something of this manager any tud and set up the framework for possibly having substantial spending cuts and deficit reduction and possibly reworking the nation's financial system -- tax code, rather. all that being said, this is not a glorious moment. i think really that reflects upon what the debate was. it turned very ugly toward the end. this culture of dysfunction really permeated through i think not only here in the capitol hill, buttal the white house to where a lot of folks around the country, talking to folks who came and visited the capitol here, what is heck is going on here? no one really wants to embrace this in the sense we avoided default. that's great. this is not our finest moment as a nation. >> at any point do you get the sense that certain senators are being allowed to vote no because they need to politically. i saw orin hatch is a no. >> it's interesting. that will be for guys like us the 2012ers where they fall. orin hatch is very interesting. he said i'm a tea party guy. the other nos are fairly predict

we've got one of the finest senators in the united states of america dick durbin in the house.] we've got one of the greatest members of the congress and the country in the house. we've got the ageless jesse white, the secretary of state, in the house. a great friend of mine, somebody to i would not have been elected to the united states without him, the former senator of the illinois state senate jones is here. got a lot of've other important people like you in the house. ow, that's warm and it's hot, and you just listen to some good music. i have a long political speech. but i just want to first of all say i could not have a better early birthday present than spending tonight with all of you. i love you back! [cheers and applause] that i turned 50 tomorrow. which means that by the time i wake up i will have an email from aarp asking me to call president obama and tell them to protect medicare. [cheers] when i look out at the this crowd, i think back to that incredible night in november. i am still trying to figure out how the weather was over 60 degrees in november in grant p

senator dick durbin, democrat of illinois, surrounded by reporters as he's going through the capitol hill. so there must have been a sense of a lot of interest. and how are you getting information about what was going on? was it when people were coming out of meetings? how were you learning about deals or tngs happening and in the works? guest: well, it wasn't all that different from any kind of reporting. it was just faster and more condensed. i was talking to aides or getting reports from the meetings, grabbing lawmakers as they came in and out so. people were let i tight-lipped about what exactly was going on, and i think it's for the reasons that carrie was pointing out, that they were all waiting until things were finalized. because i think this is a high-stakes political game for both parties, and i think both democrats and republicans knew that there would be a bit of a backlash from their own members, and they want to make sure they had all their ducks in a row before they confronted that wave of anger. host: lisa lerer has this piece today, party leaders confront skepti amon

. >> senator dick durbin from illinois as you look at the white house, and we're awaiting the president to come out and offer his remarks about this debt deal. we should point out that republican senators will come out after their policy lunch, probably around 2:00, and we'll see that on fox news channel as well. here's an interesting tidbit, shannon. this vote was 74-26. my friend jonathan martin from politico points out that the vote for the t.a.r.p. in the senate was almost exactly the same, 74-25. then-senator kennedy did not vote there. but it goes to show you where things line up as far as votes go. you've heard in that, those statements a lot of talk about the joint committee, this committee that's set up. there's an expectation by democrats that tax increases will be a part of that committee. there's a big pushback on that from republicans. and you heard senator reid mention again the corporate jet owners. i can't really remember how many times corporate jet owners have come up in various speeches throughout washington. and we likely will hear it again as we get ready to set up

dick durbin quoted shakespeare. >> at the end of the day i will vote for this measure, and obviouslyh a heavy heart, there are parts of it that i will struggle to explain and defend, but i can't let this american economy descend into chaos if we fail to extend the debt ceiling. >> reporter: tennessee republican senator lamar alexander says the count lee is finally taking responsibility for spending money he doesn't have. we'llee hear from the president on this at 12:15 eastern time. fox news channel will carry it live. alisyn: we will be looking forward to that. bill: are we ready to talk about winners and losers? and what do you get out of this debt deal. a terrific panel right now, mary katherine ham a fox news contributor. john fund, seniore editor. bob cusack. bob, i know you've been working this story. how does a guy like john boehner looks today. >> he looks a lot better than he did late last week when he had to pull a debt limit bill that didn't have the votes amid a rebellion of conservatives. a low point last week, what a turn around. in a simple amount of a few days john bo

but senator dick durbin also came out and had a very interesting comment.nd get your take on it. >> i still think that has merit. and i still think it should be actively considered when we talk about the long-term reduction of debt. it is bipartisan, it is honest, it achieves real debt reduction and it does it in the fairest possible way. it puts everything on the table, everything. there are no sacred cows. everything is on the table. it means it goes beyond spending cuts to the entitlement programs which make those of us on the democratic side particularly nervous. but it also goes into revenue, new revenue to reduce our deficit which makes those on the other side of the aisle nervous. but what we should be nervous about is a continuing deficit and a weakening economy and a debt left to our children. >> wolf, what do you make of that? >> well, when we says new revenue, he means tax increases which many democrats right now, moderate democrats, especially in the house, some in the senate, they don't want that either. so -- but they're punting. this super co

[applause] we've got one of the finest senators in the united states of america, dick durbin, in theng] we have one of the greatest members of congress jan schakowsky in the house. [cheers and applause] we've got jesse white, secretary of state. [cheers and applause] a great friend of mine, somebody elected former state senator is here. [applause] and a lot of other important people, like you, in the house. [cheers and applause] [inaudible] [cheers and applause] i want to first of all say i couldn't have a better early birthday present than with all of you tonight. i love you back. the [cheers and applause] and i turned 50 tomorrow it seems every time i wake up i have an e-mail from aarp asking me to call president obama for medicare. [cheers and applause] when i look at this crowd - i'm still trying to think of the grant park back in 2008. [cheers and applause] it was the culmination of the incredible journey you people have put together, the campaign that drew on the hard work and support of all of you, people across the country, men and women who believed in change, in the face of

senator dick durbin, democrat of illinois, surrounded by reporters as he's going through the capitol hill. so there must have been a sense of a lot of interest. and how are you getting information about what was going on? was it when people were coming out of meetings? how were you learning about deals or things happening and in the works? guest: well, it wasn't all that different from any kind of reporting. it was just faster and more condensed. i was talking to aides or getting reports from the meetings, grabbing lawmakers as they came in and out so. about what exactly wast-lipped on, and i think it's for the reasons that carrie was pointing out, that they were all waiting until things were finalized. because i think this is a high-stakes political game for both parties, and i think both democrats and republicans knew that there would be a bit of a backlash from their own members, and they want to make sure they had all their ducks in a row before they confronted that wave of anger. host: lisa lerer has this piece today, party leaders confront skeptics among the ranks in the debt d

it is difficult to take somebody like dick durbin and tom coburn, who are at the ends of both spectrum's, and negotiate, make hard decisions and hard compromises, because anybody that is against what you're doing will be critical of it. we are not there yet, so any comment on what and how we are doing is inappropriate, and also handicaps' the ability to come to something that will really help our country. host: we want to get your take on this bridge to the super committee hold public meetings, or is it better for them to be able to come to a deal in private? daniel is a republican from wilmington, delaware. caller: i definitely agree with the first person. it should be out in the public. remember the stimulus that was not out in the open and the health care bill, and look what we got from that. i think it is terrible. i have to agree with -- i have burn.sagree with mr. cockbu thank you. host: not concerns about how -- you're not concerned about how the public responds to it when it is out in the media, in front of cameras? caller: this is supposed to be the most transparent presidency e

that is why illinois senator dick durbin is calling in federal law enforcement to help out state andans to assign the patrol the city's drug infested public housing complex. >> east st. louis is on the east side of the mississippi so it's in illinois. >>> kids as young as 11 have joined groups wreaking havoc and attacking people. starting tonight, a citywide curfew is enforced. philly's mayor says he is really to punish mob participants and, by the way, if they get fined a second time, the parents get fined as well. >> like 500 bucks. >> yeah. >>> they lost the fastest plate in the world. the pentagon law firming the hypersonic fastest plane. they lost contact and it crashed into the pacific. it is designed to reach any military target in the world within an hour. it can fly from new york to l.a. in 12 minutes hypothetically. obviously, it's a huge experiment. it's a big experiment. >> it's not meant for commercial. >> no. >> but very. >> caller: science in there. >> it goes suborb bittal, it does and comes back down. >> the question is what happens to your face when you're going mac

impossible today which is the power of money, more powerful today than two years ago, and i quote dick durbin in the book saying of the banks, frankly, they own the place, talking about the senate, and, of course, the power of the conservative media to distort and make impossible a sensible discussion of our problems, so when you have a very difficult issue like the health care bill or captain-and-trade legislation, you discuss whether or not you want to kill your own grandma, is that a good idea, you know? [laughter] will the government arrest you if you put your thermostat over 72. i know you people don't have that problem here. [laughter] we have it in new york. so i have a great deal of sympathy for a guy trying to talk sense to the american people to treat us like adults and make these difficult tradeoffs in a concept where there's no respect for that thing in our society where he has to go after being asked about it by george on good morning america, he has to go and show his birth certificate because of the good majority of republicans don't believe he was born in this country. it's di

absolutely four square behind, not touching social security because they're worried about guys like dick durbinad, both powerful democrats who have in the past said they would be open to doing something about social security. >> and that's what we talked about, when they put this debt deal together that the far left was left out of the deal and if this super committee and whatever you want to call it, was -- was going to be funded or snapped, why since they were left out of the debt deal initially they'll make it up to giving seats to the super committee. if you have a far left left and a tea party right, that i would hope as a conservative would be on the right side, you're going to end up with the same thing we've had. the gridlock, gridlock, gridlock. >> and they're only going to come up with $1.5 trillion in cuts which is a drop in the bucket. so otherwise, those triggers go into effect. so last night, president obama was at two fundraisers. maybe he gave us a precursor to what he would put in that plan that he's going to hand off to the super committee. here's a quote on fixing the deficit

i quote dick durbin scene of the banks, frankly the own the place, talking about the senate.he power of the conservative media to distort and they can possibly sensible discussion of our problems. but you have a difficult issue that the health care bill or cap-and-trade legislation can you discuss whether or not you want to kill your grandma. is that a good idea? or will the government come to your house and arrest you if you put your thermostat over 72? i know you people don't have that problem here, but we have it in new york. i have a great deal of sympathy for a guy trying to talk sense to the american people to treat us like adults and make these difficult trade-offs in a consequence but there's no respect, where he has to go after being asked about it by george stephanopoulos on good morning america, hasegawa shows for certificate because a good majority of republicans don't believe he was born in this country. it's difficult to govern in that context on the one hand. on the other hand, another project i've been working on a fleet as the series of columns i've written f

we have one of the finest senators in the united states of america, dick durbin is in the house. we have one of the greatest members of congress in the house -- we have the ageless jesse white, the secretary of state in the house. a great friend of mine, someone who i would not have been elected to the u.s. senate without them, the former head of the senate, -- i know we have a lot of other important people like you in the house. [applause] it is warm, hot, and you listened to some good music and you don't want to have a long political speech. [cheering] i want to say, i could not have a better early birthday present then standing with all of you. i love you back. [applause] it is drpic that i turn 50 tomorrow. -- it is true that i turn 50 tomorrow. that means that by the time a wake-up i will have an e-mail from aarp asking me to call president obama and tell him to protect medicare. [applause] when i look out at this crowd, i think back to a bit -- to the incredible night in november in 2008. it was the culmination of this incredible journey, this long journey that we to togeth