erskin bolts. >> good to have you here. >> thank you, sir. i spent a long time trying to get here. >> twice. [laughter] >> i sometimes thank god for unanswered prayers. i want to thank senator conrad. and he's not here. but senator greg. without their leadership, none of us would be here today to talk about this. so i thank you for having the courage. you and the group that stood up some years ago and said, we're not going forward unless we have some commission to deal with this. it simply wouldn't have happened without you. senator sessions, thank you for meeting with us this morning, and thank you for your kind words. i also want to thank senators crapo, durbin and others for having the -- to do this. and trying to turn a 67-page plan into plain english to legislative language and bring together bipartisan group to make this happen. i'm not going to youzhny notes today. i'm just going to talk to you. i think we sface the biggest economic crisis in history. this one is easy to see. the physical path we are on today is simply not sustainable.

erskine bowles said that. right before obama reagan came in and started this experiment giving the rich tax breaks and trickling down and this is the end result. we get to the end result and they want to oppress us further by attacking the social to adjourn the an education system. why not put it back into the 70 percent into the conversation? ghost: under the plan, social security retirement age would increase to 69 but that would not take into effect until 2075. caller: that is a slippery slope. once they start cutting social security -- and that would affect my children more than myself. host: if you look at medicare, medicaid, and social security, that is 60% of the budget and part of the discussion here is discretionary spending is not going far enough or deep enough to make a real impact on what is approaching a $15 trillion debt. caller: admittedly we have a problem. and when the family has a problem we cannot take little susie school books or grannies oatmeal away from her. what we do is go back and ge

in other words, erskine and i didn't give all the bona fide of erskine bowles when i introduced them but this is a man who is chief of staff of the united states, head of the omb and head of the small business administration has been the administrator for the college system, the university system and the state of north carolina. a pretty good set of bona fides and every place he has served he has produced results. let me ask it again. what happens in your judgment to the united states if we fail to get an agreement in the range of what the commission concluded was necessary? speedy hearing what he said about me reminds me of when my uncle sam died in north carolina, and the obituary editor of the greensboro daily news called to ask about it and my aunt went on and on about all the things he had done. finally he said ms. bowles you do know who we now charge $5 award for every word be put in the paper. she said oh no i didn't know that. she said in that case just put it in there that sam died. [laughter] >> i thought you were going to say the one about look in a casket and see if that

implemented the recommendations of the erskine bowles, alan simpson commission today, or a package of reforms with the same fiscal impact, it would immediate move to number threend fiscal governance and become one the top 10 countries in the overall index. guest: that is correct. there is hope. the never take a country, new zealand, had its own currency crisis in the early 1990's. it ty made dramatic and fundamental reforms in what the government did, how did business, however measured success. they've reformed entitlement programs, put in fiscal constraints, reformed the tax policy, and now they are number two. if new zealand can do it, the united states can do it. host: can we do it without tax increases, in your view? guest: no. the simple truth is the government has grown too big, waited too long to restructure and, frankly, promised to much. in my view, to put us on a more prudent and sustainable path, it is about 2 to 3 to 1, spending cuts to tax increases. but w have to reimpose t top statutory budget -- we had it from early 90 through 2002, ones that expired in 2002 things hav

they need to be listening to someone like erskine bowles. we need someone like erskine bowles in charge of the o.m.b. when the president announced his budget that very day, he said it came nowhere close to doing what's necessary to get this country on the right track, nowhere close. we need somebody of seriousness who understands the threat this country is facing and not some young person. they say well, you -- you have objected to her because she is young. i -- i have never mentioned the word young. but she is young, but the most important thing is she does not have the kind of experience in business or accounting or budget or responsibility or management that you would look for in the second in command of the congressional budget office, the most central unit in our entire governmental structure committed to containing wasteful spending. we need somebody who will go after waste, fraud and abuse. being a federal prosecutor, former federal prosecutor, i see my colleague in the chair, former attorney general, a little experience in going afte

as erskine bowles said, this is the most predictable crisis we've ever faced. it's heading to a bad end. hopefully not as soon as they warned us it could happen, so we'll have time to get off this course, but that's important. so the president says in his state of the union that we'll be living within our means. he did a radio address after he submitted his budget, and he said that we're going to be living within our means. my budget puts us on a track to prosperity. we are going to continue to invest, and we'll be living within ash means and paying down the debt. -- living within our means and paying down the debt. and the key chairman or director of the office of management and budget, where all the money has to be managed inside any president's administration, mr. liu says that we're going to be living within our means and paying down our debt. basically they're saying don't worry; you guys are getting all hyped up. this is political talk. we can still invest. we can still spend. don't worry about it. well what do the facts say? we don't need political talk.

one of the things that erskine bowles and alan simpson said today is there is no silver bullet in this challenge we've got in front of us. it is going to take significant spending cuts. it is going to take looking at the revenue side through the aspects of tax reform. but those two things -- revenues and spending aloan -- won't get us out of this. the third leg is a growing economy. how do we grow an economy in a place where america while still is the world's leading economy does not drive the economy the way it did even 20 years ago? we saw 20 years ago where the world would have to wait on america to get its financial act together. the world is not waiting now. china, india, brazil, countries abroad are moving ahead. if we're going to remain competitive, we have got to remain to continue to invest smamplet the president has said that we got to make sure that we educate, invest in our infrastructure and be able to outinnovate. that means targeted research and development. unfortunately, the house proposal which not only focuses on domestic discretionary to the exclusion of other areas

in other words, erskine -- i didn't give all the -- erskine bowles, this is a man who was chief of staffof the united states, head of o.m.b., has been the administer for the college system in north carolina. pretty good thing. and at every place he has served he has produced results. let me ask it again, so what happens in your judgment to the united states if we failed to get an agreement in the range of what the commission concluded was necessary? >> here's what he said about me reminds me of when my uncle sam died in north carolina and the obituary editor called up to ask about him and my aunt kind of went on and on about all the things he had done. and finally he said, ms. bowles, we do charge $5 a word for every word we put in the paper. she said, oh, no. in that case she said, put, "sam died." >> look in the casket and see if that is your old man. >> you know, al said, and i used to say i got into this thing for my grandchildren. i have eight grandchildren under 5 years old. i have one more in a week. and my life is wonderful and it is wild. but this problem is going to happen long

erskine, and thank you courier service.when you were chief of staff at the white house -- thank you of for your service. when you were chief of staff at the white house, we did some work together. i recall your willingness to step aroun partisanship and come up with solutions, and that is what you have done in this report. thank you. i have three quic questions, just to get your thinking. two we have discussed briefly, a tax reform and social security. on tax reform, quickly, do you think from the testimony you have heard, that the proposal you have will not just have the impact that the committee would indicate from the scoring, but will also make our economy more competitive? >> yes, without question. >> that is an intangible that is really not represented in the numbers you are providing. on social security, we will hear later today, and we have heard all along, that social security is not adding a dime to the deficit and is in good financial condition. do you agree with that? >> is $45 billion cash-today and expected to

erskine, and thank you courier service.when you were chief of staff at the white house -- thank you of for your service. when you were chief of staff at the white house, we did some work together. i recall your willingness to step around partisanship and come up with solutions, and that is what you have done in this report. thank you. i have three quick questions, just to get your thinking. two we have discussed briefly, a tax reform and social security. on tax reform, quickly, do you think from the testimony you have heard, that the proposal you have will not just have the impact that the committee would indicate from the scoring, but will also make our economy more competitive? >> yes, without question. >> that is an intangible that is really not represented in the numbers you are providing. on social security, we will hear later today, and we have heard all along, that social security is not adding a dime to the deficit and is in good financial condition. do you agree with that? >> is $45 billion cash-today and expected

erskine bowles, the president's own director of the fiscal commission, says that we are facing the most predictable economic crisis in this country's history, and said it could happen within two years? are we making this up? the american people get it. they tell me what's going on in washington? you've got to get your house in order. that's what this past election was about. people understand we need some action and some leadership here, but we're not getting it. i just truly believe if we could get together, if we could get a bipartisan effort to look at this $61 billion, we could disagree on how to reduce that spending. maybe republicans have this idea and democrats have that. let's work all that out, but let's reach an agreement that actually reduces spending by enough to make a difference, that the world would say wow, the congress is beginning to take some steps. that was a nice, good, strong first step. now if they will stay on that path, maybe the united states will get on the road to prosperity again and stay out of this dangerous debt crisis area that we're in today and get on

testimony that was provided by former senator alan simpson and former presidential chief of staff erskine bowles about the consequences of our failure to act if we don't get our comprehensive deficit and debt under control. this is a problem that's not going to get easy. every day we fail to racquet, we add $4 billion -- every day we fail to act, we add $4 billion to our national debt. unfortunately, some of the proposals are coming -- particularly from the house at this point -- the house budget plan does nothing significant to address our long-term deficit and debt issues. mr. president, i travel around virginia a lot. yesterday i was down with our colleague from georgia, senator chambliss, where we met with literally hundreds of business leaders from across central virginia, and their message was clear: no more games, no more showmanship, get something done. and that "somethin something tht done is a comprehensive approach to our nation's fiscal challenges. that will mean, yes, cutting down on spending. that will mean, as we will, making our tax code more efficient so american business

erskine bowles testified, former -- president clinton's former chief of staff, a successful businessman himself, the head of the debt commission along with alan simpson, former senator, and he said we could have a debt crisis in two years, maybe a little less, maybe a little more on the rate we're going. thirty joint statement said this country has never been in a situation which we have such a predictable crisis. and senator simpson declared he thought we could have a debt crisis in less than a year. he said, i think it's less than a year, not two years. alan greenspan in january told the "wall street journal" there was a little better but not much more than a 50/50 chance that we would have a debt crisis in less -- in two to three years. these are ominous warnings. you can't -- you can't spend $3.8 trillion and bring in $2.2 trillion and think you can continue that any time soon. it's the largest deficit in the history of the american republ republic. and the president's budget he just submitted to us projects no budget in ten years, less than $600 billion. and the last three years of

of which i am the ranking member now, the testimony yesterday of allen simpson ander skin -- and erskine bowles, president clinton's chief of staff and a well-known business and democratic leader. this is what they told us yesterday in their written statement, both of them put this in to us. "we believe that if we do not take decisive action, our nation faces the most predictable economic crisis in history." close quote. they have spent months wrestling with these numbers. they reached a majority of the members voted for the reforms they proposed, and they gave a lot of time and effort to it. i didn't think they went far enough in some of the areas, but i would say they made a real significant attempt to deal with the crisis we face. and in their testimony yesterday, they went even further. why do we mean a crisis? we had a crisis in 2007 that put us in the deepest recession we've had in decades. greece has had a crisis. that's the kind of thing they're talking about. 40% of every dollar we spend is borrowed, and senator conrad, our chairman, our distinguished democratic leader asked the

i hope we follow the model of the deficit commission, which i served on with erskine bowles and alan simpson, appointed by the president. that reduces the budget in a sensible way. host: that same deficit commission also look at entitlements -- medicare, medicaid, and social security -- president obama, so far has not address specifics on that item of the budget. why? guest: he has not because this matter is evolving in the national debate between congress and the white house. first, let me make a couple of things clear. the commission addressed social security. social sector does not add one pay toward deficit. -- social security does not add one penny toward our deficit is not the problem. they do have a problem by the year 2037 if we do not do something before then. we will see it 22% reduction in the social security checks that are going out. until then, it is solvent, and will continue to be. what i believe the commission said and the american people will embrace is we have to look at the entire federal budget, from the mandatory entitlement programs, as to that tax expenditures

i hope we follow the model of the deficit commission, which i served on with erskine bowles and aland by the president. that reduces the budget in a sensible way. host: that same deficit commission also look at entitlements -- medicare, medicaid, and social security -- president obama, so far has not address specifics on that item of the budget. why? guest: he has not because this matter is evolving in the national debate between congress and the white house. first, let me make a couple of things clear. the commission addressed social security. social sector does not add one pay toward deficit. -- social security does not add one penny toward our deficit is not the problem. they do have a problem by the year 2037 if we do not do something before then. we will see it 22% reduction in the social security checks that are going out. until then, it is solvent, and will continue to be. what i believe the commission said and the american people will embrace is we have to look at the entire federal budget, from the mandatory entitlement programs, as to that tax expenditures, which means brea

erskine bowles, mr. bowles was president clinton's chief of staff. he was appointed by president obama and co-chaired the debt -- debt commission that did their report. this is what he said the day before wed. both of them -- yesterday. both of them. this was a signed joint statement to the budget committee the day before yesterday. "we believe that if we do not take decisive action, our nation faces the most predictable economic crisis in its history." close quote. are these extremists? they spent months studying the crisis the nation is in, what it takes to get us out of it. they proposed some substantial changes in what we are doing. and just yesterday they said, we're facing a crisis, the most predictable this nation has ever faced in its history. in other words, you can see it coming. people say, oh, i -- it won't happen us to. well, they should probably pick up the book, "this time it's different" by professor rogoff at rinehart, i believe, one of the great universities. their book proposes and shows how governments, sovereigns get into financi

erskine bowles, the democratic chairman of the fiscal commission stated the white house budget goes nowhere near they will have to go to restore our fiscal nightmare. mr. speaker, my constituents and i agree, despite the need to rein in our run away debt, the president's budget is more of the same. it's time we take the economists and constituents seriously and get serious on the debt and ask my colleagues to join me in heeding their call. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you. i ask unanimous consent here because i rise today to shed light on a very serious problem. skyrocketing gasoline prices. in new york the prices average $3.50 per gallon. nationally the average price is $3.38 per gallon and continues to rise. mr. tonko: due to the conflict in north africa and the middle east oil is over $100 per barrel and appears to be no end in sight. for the

implemented the recommendations of the erskine bowles, alan simpson commission today, or a package of reforms with the same fiscal impact, it would immediately move to number three and fiscal governance and become one of the top 10 countries in the overall index. guest: that is correct. there is hope. the never take a country, new zealand, had its own currency crisis in the early 1990's. it they made dramatic and fundamental reforms in what the government did, how did business, however measured success. they've reformed entitlement programs, put in fiscal constraints, reformed the tax policy, and now they are number two. if new zealand can do it, the united states can do it. host: can we do it without tax increases, in your view? guest: no. the simple truth is the government has grown too big, waited too long to restructure and, frankly, promised to much. in my view, to put us on a more prudent and sustainable path, it is about 2 to 3 to 1, spending cuts to tax increases. but we have to reimpose the top statutory budget -- we had it from early 90 through 2002, ones that expired in 200

erskine bowles and alan simpson came up with a good plan. that is what we have to do. this concentration on domestic discretionary -- let me put it this way. we can eliminate all domestic discretionary -- everything -- and we would have close to a $700 billion deficit. we could eliminate all domestic discretionary and defense and it would be $200 billion. everything has to be on the table. host: the senate banking committee will be holding a hearing today on t.a.r.p. with the special inspector general for t.a.r.p. and others. you can watch it today on 10:00 -- at 10:00 on c-span. ted kaufman is our guest. our next phone call is lawrence. caller: my problem is the debt that this country owes. i have been a professor of math for 20 years. i doubt if any of your listeners or guests at truly understand what $1 trillion means. the way the congressional budget office at figures it, that math does not work. you cannot set up artificial boundaries and bass lines around legislation and, not with an accurate picture. we 0 $15 trillion, and we are at a tipping point. since most p

erskine bowles, the president's own director of the fiscal commission, says that we are facing the most predictable economic crisis in this country's history, and said it could happen within two years? are we making this up? the american people get it. they tell me what's going on in washington? you've got to get your hse in order. that's what this past election was about. people understand we need some action and some leadership here, but we're not getting it. i just truly believe if we could get together, if we could get a bipartisan effort to look at this $61 billion, we could disagree on how to reduce that spending. maybe republicans have this idea and democrats have that. let's work all that out, but let's reach an agreement that actually reduces spending by enough to make a difference, that the world would say wow, the congress is beginning to take some steps. thatas a nice, good, strong first step. now if they will stay on that path, may the united states will get on the road to prosperity again and stay out of this dangerous debt crisis area that we're in today and get on the ri

erskine bowles, mr. bowles was president clinton's chief of staff. he was appointed by president obama and co-chaired the debt -- debt commission that did their report. this is what he said the day before wed. both of them -- yesterday. both of them. this was a signed joint statement to the budget committee the day before yesterday. "we believe that if we do not take decisive action, our nation faces the most predictable economic crisis in its history." close quote. are these extremists? they spent months studying the crisis the nation is in, what it takes to get us out of it. they proposed some substantial changes in what we are doing. and just yesterday they said, we're facing a crisis, the most predictable this nation has ever faced in its history. in other words, you can see it coming. people say, oh, i -- it won't happen us to. well, they should probably pick up the book, "this time it's different" by professor rogoff at rinehart, i believe, one of the great universities. their book proposes and shows how governments, sovereigns get into financi

alan simpson, former republican senator; erskine bowles, formerly the chi of staff to president clinton, appointed by president obama to cochair the debt commission, the fiscal commission, reported to us -- and jointly they submitted a written statement that said that if the united states fails to act, it faces the most predictable economic crisis in its history." this is a real warning. and they said that such a crisis could arrive as soon as or two years. people have been saying we're on the wrong track f. we don't get off of it if three, four, five years we're going to have a crisis. more and more peoe are warning us that that crisis is sooner. mr. bowles said give or take a little bit, we'll have a crisis. mr. simpson said i think within a year. the american people rightly expect their elected leaders to confront this threat with seriousness and candor. but the president has never once looked the american people in the eye and told them the truth about the financial crisis we face. has he ever discussed those kind of words with the american people that we face an actual crisis? we c

i hope we follow the model of the deficit commission, which i served on with erskine bowles and alanpson, appointed by the president. that reduces the budget in a sensible way. host: that same deficit commission also look at entitlements -- medicare, medicaid, and social security -- president obama, so far has not address specifics on that item of the budget. why? guest: he has not because this matter is evolving in the national debate between congress and the white house. first, let me make a couple of things clear. the commission addressed social security. social sector does not add one pay toward deficit. -- social security does not add one penny toward our deficit is not the problem. they do have a problem by the year 2037 if we do not do something before then. we will see it 22% reduction in the social security checks that are going out. until then, it is solvent, and will continue to be. what i believe the commission said and the american people will embrace is we have to look at the entire federal budget, from the mandatory entitlement programs, as to that tax expenditures, wh

erskine, and thank you courier service.when you were chief of staff at the white house -- thank you of for your service. when you were chief of staff at the white house, we did some work together. i recall your willingness to step around partisanship and come up with solutions, and that is what you have done in this report. thank you. i have three quick questions, just to get your thinking. two we have discussed briefly, a tax reform and social security. on tax reform, quickly, do you think from the testimony you have heard, that the proposal you have will not just have the impact that the committee would indicate from the scoring, but will also make our economy more competitive? >> yes, without question. >> that is an intangible that is really not represented in the numbers you are providing. on social security, we will hear later today, and we have heard all along, that social security is not adding a dime to the deficit and is in good financial condition. do you agree with that? >> is $45 billion cash-today and expected

we had a luncheon last week with some members of the budget committee, senator simpson and erskine bowles. they proposed 15 cents in gas taxes based in -- phased in to help deal with transportation. we are shoveling general fund money. $34 billion to keep this funding level afloat. there is a need to reform the system. i am absolutely convinced that with your help and with our friends secretary ray lahood and with the administration that we can have a leiter -- lighter federal touch. there was a time when every new fund was an experiment. gary thomas can keep track. the fact is, these are not experiments. people know what to do. if you have a response will agency with a track record, cut them loose, make them responsible for results, and we can fast track this stuff. there can be a leiter -- light touch. finally, it is important to make the local connection with people on capitol hill whatever their ideology, wherever they are from, whatever their party. as i work around the country, i am in a different community once or twice a month. i am struck how, at the local level, building and the

of which i am the ranking member now, the testimony yesterday of allen simpson ander skin -- and erskine bowles, president clinton's chief of staff and a well-known business and democratic leader. this is what they told us yesterday in their written statement, both of them put this in to us. "we believe that if we do not take decisive action, our nation faces the most predictable economic crisis in history." close quote. they have spent months wrestling with these numbers. they reached a majority of the members voted for the reforms they proposed, and they gave a lot of time and effort to it. i didn't think they went far enough in some of the areas, but i would say they made a real significant attempt to deal with the crisis we face. and in their testimony yesterday, they went even further. why do we mean a crisis? we had a crisis in 2007 that put us in the deepest recession we've had in decades. greece has had a crisis. that's the kind of thing they're talking about. 40% of every dollar we spend is borrowed, and senator conrad, our chairman, our distinguished democratic leader asked the

as erskine bowles, who was the democratic chairman of the president's fiscal commission said said that the president's white house budget request goes nowhere near to where they have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare. end of quotation. we cannot spend and borrow our way to prosperity. unfortunately that's what the budget request proposes to do. let me review a few refacts. under the category of it spends too much, the size of the federal government will nearly double since the day president obama took office. let me say that again. under the president's budget, the size of the federal government will nearly double since the day he took office. now, you can't claim with a straight face that that represents anything close to fiscal discipline. over the next 10 years the president proposes $8.7 trillion in new spending in this budget. with $46 trillion in total spending. spending in the 2012 fiscal year is projected to be a recor record $3.8 trillion or 25.3% of the gross domestic product which is the highest spending ratio to g.d.p. since world war ii. i'll note while the president h

i hope we follow the model of the deficit commission, which i served on with erskine bowles and alanon, appointed by the president. that reduces the budget in a sensible way. host: that same deficit commission also look at entitlements -- medicare, medicaid, and social security -- president obama, so far has not address specifics on that item of the budget. why? guest: he has not because this matter is evolving in the national debate between congress and the white house. first, let me make a couple of things clear. the commission addressed social security. social sector does not add one pay toward deficit. -- social security does not add one penny toward our deficit is not the problem. they do have a problem by the year 2037 if we do not do something before then. we will see it 22% reduction in the social security checks that are going out. until then, it is solvent, and will continue to be. what i believe the commission said and the american people will embrace is we have to look at the entire federal budget, from the mandatory entitlement programs, as to that tax expenditures, whic

erskine bowles, cochair of the president's deficit reduction committee, said "this debt is like a cancerhat will destroy the country from within unless washington acts." pete peterson, foirms secretary of commerce and financial executive said this about the national debt: "we need to ask ourselves not just is this sustainable but is it moral? what does it mean to burden our children to an unconscionable doubling of their taxes?" admiral mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of our military said, "i believe our debt is the greatest threat to our national security. if we as a country do not address our fiscal imbalances in the near-term, our national power will erode and the cost of our ability to maintain and sustain influence could be great." and finally, former u.s. comptroller general david walker, who served under both republican and democratic administrations, has said, and i quote, "what threatens the ship are large, known be, and growing structural deficits. habitually spending more money than you make is irresponsible." but that is exactly what washington has done. habitua