united states has a pair of austerity evangelist of its own their names are alan simpson and erskine bowles appointed by president obama to head a commission tasked with finding solutions to the american budget crisis simpson and bowles here concluded that the federal government needed to make hefty cuts to social security and medicare if it wanted to head off fiscal disaster under the guise of bipartisanship in centrism simpson bowles and their followers in the beltway elite have been pushing their own version of european austerity since the commission disbanded back in two thousand and ten and they've been collecting a pretty penny in speaking fees doing it too. in february we just need more money for speaking fees they announced a second version of their cat food commission plan that calls for even more cuts to vital social safety net programs with president obama announcing his support for or at least unveiling a budget this week that will likely call for social security cuts and changes to c.p.i. then simpson bowles is pushed for this european style austerity well it seems to be workin

it erskine bowles is a millionaire. their commission is very easy for them to sit back and be completely out of touch with people who have $3.71 left in their bank account. it's very easy them for say hey i push the reset button and asked the rich to pay a little bit more. best easiest thing for them to do. it's horrible public policy. they are frankly illegitimate actors in our political dialogue in making these recommendations. it erskine bowles is a big corporate giant manner. [inaudible] we shouldn't cite them as the authorities and again the fact they didn't even put on the table asking that romney to pay 14% tax and put on the table the tax which would raise $1 billion shows the sku of their worldview. and finally you mentioned president obama. this gets to something that i call, we call -- what is your theory on winning the fight and engaging in the fight? if you start with a compromised position you'll need more than that in this case putting social security benefit shouldn't be the compromised position. he has

democrats in congress are joining republicans and embracing cat food commissioners alan simpson and erskine bowles and actually floating the idea of cutting social security and medicare to programs created by democrats to programs that have don't exist democrats really can't say they did much so it's another raw deal for working americans so good why well because apparently asking the billionaire class to contribute to reduce. our deficit which is actually shrinking faster than any time in recent history is just well it's too much to ask and since the billionaires have lobbyists and working people don't the billionaires make out like bandits literally they make out like bandits while the rest of us get pink slips the rest of us get medical bankruptcies and delayed retirements but this isn't just happening in the united states it's happening in europe too as austerity deepens in places like greece and spain in their economies sink further into debt and stagnation in their peoples sink into desperation and suicide rates spike the austerity mongers push it even further and the tiny nation of cyprus k

she was a deputy to chief of staff erskine bowles. and for the last two or years of the clinton administration she was deputy o.m.b. director. so -- and she had a pretty good experience there. she finished up there. where did she 0 go from there she ended up working for mackenzie and company, one of the top consulting firms in the world. she helped stand up the bill and linda gates foundation and has helped run the walmart foundation. what the, what the, what great cree hedentials. i said tell me about this sylvia burwell who's been nominated to head o.m.b. towed me a great story. here's the setting. we're in the oval office of the president. bob ruben, sylvia mathews and the president is having a conversation. erskine notices sylvia and ruben looks at the note and answers the president's requests to great effect. brilliant response. the president was kind of looking at the response. man, i have broken a code here on ruben. he is not that smart. it is sylvia. if inside sylvia, wooing for me, they had think i was as smart as ruben. i w

erskine bowles is a big corporate bill adair an mp -- a big corporate millionaire. we should not cite them as the authorities. askfact that they did not mitt romney to pay more than 40% in taxes aunt for the millionaire's tax which would raise $1 trillion, that shows their world view. finally, you mentioned president obama ringgold. this gets to something we call it fight theory. winningyour theory on the fight? if you start with the compromise position, you will lose. what we've seen in president obama's second term on other issues its boldness. not cutting a bad deal behind- the-scenes, asking the gun manufacturers what you would accept, but instead figuring out what has to be done and proposing it and then barnstorming the country and making republicans free out because they are having to be held accountable to their voters -- freak out. reason,issue, for some he has gone back to the weakest part of his presidency when he had the least leveraged and republicans had a fresh mandate in 2011, when he was willing to cut back deals. people like us have to say, no, we

as i understand, he asked erskine bowles to lead an effort to see if we can't produce a budget deficit -- see if we can balance the budget. erskine was asked to lead an effort within the administration to see if we couldn't find common ground to get us to a balanced budget or more balanced budget. would you go back in time, walk us back, i think you were in the white house at that time, walk us back in time the dynamic that existed then, why were we successful? we had a very strong economy. we don't know. it's strengthening, i think. what was the dynamic for us to move from substantial deficits, $200 billion, $300 billion, to a balanced budget four in a row? what lessons are transferable to today? >> one of the things i think happened at that period in time is that when we saw that you actually could achieve -- that it was within reach, you started understanding that when you saw the numbers that it was within reach, a balanced budget was within reach and how one thought about what to do. and that conversation was put in terms of the long-term commitments that we had, thinking about th

erskine bowles is a big corporate bill adair an mp -- a big corporate millionaire. we should not cite them as the authorities. the fact that they did not ask mitt romney to pay more than 40% in taxes aunt for the millionaire's tax which would raise $1 trillion, that shows their world view. finally, you mentioned president obama ringgold. this gets to something we call it fight theory. what is your theory on winning the fight? if you start with the compromise position, you will lose. what we've seen in president obama's second term on other issues its boldness. not cutting a bad deal behind- the-scenes, asking the gun manufacturers what you would accept, but instead figuring out what has to be done and proposing it and then barnstorming the country and making republicans free out because they are having to be held accountable to their voters -- freak out. on this issue, for some reason, he has gone back to the weakest part of his presidency when he had the least leveraged and republicans had a fresh mandate in 2011, when he was willing to cut back deals. people like

were willing to do $800 billion in revenues if it followed the offer that the compromise that erskine bowles put out to the committee. senator mcconnell says if you have a deal with revenues, this was as recent as january 6 on "meet the press" one of the things they felt was needed for giving revenues was the c.p.i. so when they've gone to us and said this is one of the things you need to do for us to be willing to do a comprehensive package, obviously, it doesn't feel right. or it is not in the spirit of the bipartisan compromise to say if the president is willing to put that on the table, something

erskine bowles, his own fiscal committee chairman -- commission chairman, has told us. i thank the chair and i would yield the floor. mr. reid: mr. president, i appreciate my friend yielding. my time on this floor is going to be very brief. i would ask unanimous consent that at 4:00 p.m. today, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 59. that two hours debate equally divided in the usual form, upon the use or yielding back of that tiernlg the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on the nomination. the motion to reconsider be made and laid on the table, that no further motions be in order, statements be printed in the record and president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate return to legislative action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. murmur i asmurmur i askmr. murpe quorum call be dispense

host: erskine bowles and alan simpson, part of the commission working on a deal, writes in "the washingtonost" yesterday -- do you support their plan? thet: not in all but not bad.s we are not opposed to revenue, on its face. we do not think all revenue is created equal. increased revenue through economic growth is a good thing. we believe in the laughter curve, which says, if you have a pro-growth policy, the pine grows. even if you are taking a smaller percentage, the not bad. we are not absolute dollars or greater. we are advocates for lowering the rates, making them more competitive and pro-growth by eliminating the tax rolls, -- tax breaks, loopholes, and deductions. we are not opposed to federal revenues. if they do pro-growth tax policy, revenue will go up. we do oppose increases through taxing. we think it is anti-growth and will not lead to more revenue because they have a stockpiling affect on the economy. host: when will the debt ceiling vote take place? if there is some kind of grand bargain that you approve of, tied to the debt ceiling vote, you would say yes to house and sena

as i understand, he asked erskine bowles to lead an effort to see if we can't produce a budget deficit -- see if we can balance the budget. erskine was asked to lead an effort within the administration to see if we couldn't find common ground to get us to a balanced budget or more balanced budget. would you go back in time, walk us back, i think you were in the white house at that time, walk us back in time the dynamic that existed then, why were we successful? we had a very strong economy. we don't know. it's strengthening, i think. what was the dynamic for us to move from substantial deficits, $200 billion, $300 billion, to a balanced budget four in a row? what lessons are transferable to today? >> one of the things i think happened at that period in time is that when we saw that you actually could achieve -- that it was within reach, you started understanding that when you saw the numbers that it was within reach, a balanced budget was within reach and how one thought about what to do. and that conversation was put in terms of the long-term commitments that we had, thinking about th

in those roles she worked very closely with jack lew, erskine bowles, robert rubin and the rest of president clinton's economic team to help produce three out of the four budget surpluses in a row. during her tenure, our government took a fair and credible and a sustainable approach to our federal budget. that gave businesses the confidence to hire new workers and invest in their growth. her leadership and hard work in the 1990's helped to create broad-based economic growth that worked for the middle class and turned our debt and deficit problems around. madam president, sylvia's firsthand experience creating a balanced and responsible approach to deficit reduction makes her uniquely qualified to lead o.m.b. at this important time for our country. since the 1990's, sylvia has dedicated her life to helping people all over the world. as the president of the global development program and the chief operating officer at the gates foundation, she worked to improve the lives of millions across the globe. under her leadership, the foundation invested in important programs to help combat poverty and