erskine bowles knows those people and he knows what they do. he says the market will call the shots. "we want more money for interest." at that point you will have a rise in the interest rates. forget ben bernanke. he is trying his best and he get crucified. when the market's response and inflation kicks in, guess who gets hers to worurt the worst? the little guy. that will be the chain -- the market will call the shots. host: don from oklahoma city. caller: what would it take for him and erskine bowles to decide to run for president and vice president? we don't care which one gets first. just to get someone with some common sense. guest: i tell you, i want to be king. erskine bowles is one of the great guys. host: not going to happen? guest: king of the. a curmudgeon. host: this will be our last call from indiana. caller: good morning. i have a question on medicare. congress wants to cut medicare by 27%. i just kind of wonder about this. when the insurance companies follow suit? medical cost has gone so high. wouldn't they cut their payments t

work through the list and go through and say to clinton's people, and congratulations people or erskine bowles or whoever it was, and look, you can do these 100 or so, but these six, we have a problem. and this one in particular if you do it, the roof is going i blow off. and for the most part, we gc the ones needed done that way and one time he did that with the one we said don't do that and he did it, and all hell broke loose and it causes bad feelings, but i do, you know, there is a reason for that. i do think that advice and consent, and that would be interesting to how senator byrd would react, but a the senate does have a role. if the senate is abusing the rule, then calmer heads should sit down to say, how can we improve this process, but the main thing i would say about is get away from the constitution and the people and the personalities involved and it does really exacerbate the process. and we do need a hearing on how to exacerbate the process. >> and we are at the end of our rule time here, and we could talk a lot more, but i would like to thank senators lott and daschle for thei

our debt already presents a threat to our economy both as some sort of financial crisis that erskine bowles predicted in this room could happen within two years if we don't make major changes in our financial path? and as to the possibility that the current debt path we're on is lowering now the level of economic growth the country has? so if you have any concerns with regard to this, you would share with us how something might play out and could be playing out that would be damaging to our economy and/or a threat of economic crisis? >> senator, you just pointed out that it's very hard to forecast. now you're asking me to forecast. >> basically, you've had to forecast. you said we don't foresee any danger in the next few years. >> well, i didn't say that. >> what you would say? >> i would say the following. my sense, just my sense, of markets is that they're not reacting to the current level of debt. but they are comparable to the process. in other words, if you think about downgrade of s & p to the u.s. debt in last summer, what they cited was what they felt was the and built of congress t

and i would quote erskine bowles. president clinton's chief of staff. and allan simpson said this nation has never faced a more predictable crisis. quote. and what he was saying, if you don't change the debt course, we're going to have a financial reckoning. it's just a question of when. mary? >> senator if all these gimmicks were eliminated tomorrow, how much money would that save? secondly, what if any application does any of this legislation have to -- >> it's $350 billion we score over five years would have been saved had this bill been in effect. and it does prohibit what we call chimps, a manipulation of the mandatory spending. changes in mandatory spending. and that can create more integrity in that process, but it does not mandate any >> we'll take one more question. >> okay. one more question. over here, sir. >> congresswoman roby, have you reached out to any house democrats? are they against this bill? >> let me just say, i think what is represented here on this stage today is a huge first step as it relates to this bill that was originated in

and i would quote erskine bowles. and allan simpson said this nation has never faced a more predictable crisis. quote. and what he was saying if you don't change the debt course, we're going to have a financial reckoning. it's just a question of when. mary? >> senator if all these gimmicks were eliminated tomorrow, how much money would that save? secondly, what if any application does any of this legislation have to -- >> it's $350 billion. we score over five years would have been saved had thisll

erskine bowles knows those people and he knows what they do.e says the market will call the shots. "we want more money for interest." at that point you will have a rise in the interest rates. forget ben bernanke. he is trying his best and he get crucified. when the market's response and inflation kicks in, guess who gets hers to worurt the worst? the little guy. that will be the chain -- the market will call the shots. host: don from oklahoma city. caller: what would it take for him and erskine bowles to decide to run for president and vice president? we don't care which one gets first. just to get someone with some common sense. guest: i tell you, i want to be king. erskine bowles is one of the great guys. host: not going to happen? guest: king of the. a curmudgeon. host: this will be our last call from indiana. caller: good morning. i have a question on medicare. congress wants to cut medicare by 27%. i just kind of wonder about this. when the insurance companies follow suit? medical cost has gone so high. wouldn't they cut their payments to

erskine bowles, testifying last year before the budget debt crisis and it could happen as early as two years. we are in that second year now. this is not something that is just a normal dog and pony show around congress. it reflects the challenges that we would just a couple of things about, under the pronouncement that we are hearing from the white house, this budget reduces our deficit by $4 trillion. that is absolutely untrue. it does not reduce the deficit at all, virtually. it is just a stunning thing. morning that it would reduce give me a break. it increases spending $1.5 trillion. it increases taxes $1.90 trillion. would increase my $11.2 trillion over 10 years. increase. whereas the budget control act that we passed last year, and the federal deficit. dollars. it does not save a third of a trillion dollars, according to the best estimates we can come up with. it is under $300 billion that it would save over 10 years. it is deeply troubling thing to is a matter that should be discussed. we have now gone for years without anything occurring that would get us off the dangerous th

. >> don't let this turn into some erskine bowles. nobody pushes it forward. if you push it forward work with congress to get it done. secondly along the lines of what mr. rogers was talking about, 50% was introduced by coal and 40% by nuclear power. when i look at your budget and the increases in renewable energy which is a small part of the electrical portfolio and cuts in the other area producing most of the electricity. i am frankly disappointed that we're seeing reductions of small modular reactors. this was the new ground we're going to go on to and head down that road. there is an agenda when nuclear energy is green technology. if you are going to address global climate change and hydrocarbons, you had better adopt nuclear energy, this is the first time we have seen a retrenchment in this administration in advancing nuclear energy. the talk is there but the budget doesn't reflect it. >> i think you know very well i support nuclear energy and coal. we are trying to push what we can where we do this in this century. those things will play an important par

i don't want to take away from the great work that was done by senator simpson, by erskine bowles.he can down the road on health care. there was no structural reforms in medicare. there was simply frankly no dealing with the president's health care plan. which is a key division in washington. and so that in and of itself, i don't believe gets the job done. you know, to the extent it would help jump-start the process -- fine, bring it up for vote. until we deal with the key driver, which unfortunately simpson-bowles didn't, i'm afraid it just doesn't solve the problem. >> congressman hensarling, it's great seeing you this morning. >> thank you for having me. >>> oil backing off recent highs, but prices at the pump still affecting millions across the country, where oil and gasoline prices will be going, coming up just ahead. as we head to a break. take look at the futures right now. i love this song, by the way. dow would open up about 22 points higher. "squawk" coming back right after the break. >>> we're pack, oil closing lower over the past couple of days. but the crude reality re

if we don't change this course, we'll continue to see downgrades, and i would quote erskine bowles, president clinton's chief of staff, president obama chose to head the debt commission and alan simpson said this nation has never faced a more predictable crisis, quote. and what he was saying was if you don't change the debt course, we're going to have a financial reckoning, it's just a question of when. mary? >> [inaudible] >> um, it's 350 bill we score over five years would have been saved had this bill been in effect, and it does prohibit what we call -- [inaudible] a mipg of the hand -- manipulation of the mandatory spending, changes in mandatory spending, and that can create more integrity in that process. but it does not mandate any fundamental changes in mandatory spending. >> [inaudible] >> okay. one more question. over here. >> [inaudible] house democrats, are they against this bill? >> well, let me just say i think what is represented here on this stage today is a huge first step as it relates to this bill that, um, originate inside the senate and, certainly, we have made the appropr

erskine bowles, the man chosen by president obama to head the deficit commission with alan simpson, theyed a written statement to the budget committee last year, and they said the course we're on will lead america to the most predictable financial crisis in our history. so you can clearly see the path we're on. it's a path to financial crisis. we've got to realize we cannot continue to put this off. and i find it deeply disappointing that the president of the united states in his fourth year in office lays out a plan that does nothing to improve the financial status of our country, that does nothing to talk and deal seriously with our entitlement programs, and indeed what he's indicated is that anybody else in congress, whether it's congressman ron in the house budget committees or members of this senate, who have the temerity to make any suggestions about containing and saving social security, medicare, will be attacked by him. so not only is he not proposing a plan that would help the situation, he's lying in wait to politically go after anybody that seriously proposes changes that cou

erskine bowles, testifying last year before the budget committee, said we are facing a debt crisis anduld happen as early as two years. we are in that second year now. this is not something that is just a normal dog and pony show around congress. it reflects the challenges that we would just a couple of things about, under the pronouncement that we are hearing from the white house, this budget produced -- reduces our deficit by four dollars trillion. that is absolutely untrue. it does not reduce the deficit at all, virtually. it is just a stunning thing. i saw what tagline on cnn this morning that it would reduce spending by four trillion dollars. give me a break. it increases spending $1.50 trillion. it increases taxes $1.90 trillion. in his own budget, the total debt he projects in the documents he has given to us would increase my $11.20 trillion over 10 years. that is how much the debt would increase. whereas the budget control act that we passed last year, and the president basically agreed to, that is $11.50 trillion in the federal deficit. it does not save one trillion dollars.