our guest is grover norquist, president of americans for tax reform. joining us in our studio to talk with grover norquist for this next half-hour are jonathan allen, a congressional reporter for political and eric wassen, budget reporter for the hill. before we get to the other guest, we wanted to bring up today's q &a. one of the headlines from there is says you are a committed tax opponent but you see a new dynamic in politics. what are you seeing out there? >> there are two things. in d.c., there is gridlock because the republican- controlled house of representatives don't have to pass a legislation that president obama doesn't like. present obama doesn't have to sign a thing that the republicans wish to enact and the senate is divided against itself. there are 41 democrats willing to filibuster anything reasonable and there are 41 republicans willing to filibuster anything unreasonable. each has their own definition of what is reasonable. there is a certain limitation to what can happen in d.c. obama can get new spending programs and the republica

guest: the gang of five are -- bill kristol, ralph reed, david mcintosh, grover norquist and clint bullock comprise my gang of five. c-span: and who are they? guest: well, what i tried to do in this book was look at what i call the flip side of the baby boom generation. these are folks who ar --o emerged on campus in the 1970s -- social pariahs, really on campus, to be a conservativen at that time -- came to washington with ronald reagan, came to washington behind areag victor. buthey were part of e baby boom generation, so they have the same personality qualities that you find among 1960's leftists. contraryianism. they remain so today. who they are specifically, bill kristol i'm sure most of your viewers know. he is frequently giving opinions on major networks. he's a publisher of "the weekly standard" an influential conservative magazine. grover norquest is an anti-tax lobbyist. but that's only part of it. if you think of this mythical right wing conspiracy we hear so much of from hillary clinton and others, it would probably be taking place every week in grover norquest's conference ro

grover norquist head of the conservative group americans for tax reform says what you are talking about means that you're still breaking your pledge. he is obviously going to hold this against all republicans who support it. breaking your pledge not to raise taxes. >> let me just say we're joined on my side in these discussions by senator tom coburn of oklahoma, and mike craipo of idaho. the three of us have just been designated by national journal as three of the most, if not the most conservative members of the united states senate. we don't believe in raising taxes. but let me tell you, chris. this is such a massive problem, as senator mcconnell just stated, a $14 trillion debt that if we don't get our arms around it now, then we're going to become a second tier nation. and we cannot allow that to happen. so it's imperative that we put everything on the table for discussion. i don't know where we are going to wind up. we're not there yet. but if you look at the debt commission report, you have to address spending. we have to reduce spending in a major way. you've got to address entit

back to our guest, grover norquist, president of americans for tax reform. >> john hulsman advises businesses about the political and financial risks of the world today, and tonight his insights into the intersection of money and policy on c-span's "q & a." >> michele bachmann, new hampshire republican state committee. she says she will decide by early summer whether to pursue the 2012 presidential nomination. from nashua, new hampshire, this is just over 40 minutes. [applause] >> you lovers of liberty unite. three of our five biological children are here today. our brother, his wife, our three nieces and nephews. we thank you for the warm welcome you have extended to our family. we feel we are one of you today. thank you. thank you for welcoming us. [applause] >> we talked a lot already this morning about your great state model, live free or die, and it causes me to think about the motto of the state of west virginia -- "death to tyrants." you get this, these state mottos. we have been pretty proud in minnesota. we're known as the gopher state. we're proud of that. actually, our state motto

institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> next, love, "newsmakers" with grover norquist. then the house hearing on the extent that radicalization among u.s. muslims. after that, committee chairman peter king talks with the news media about that hearing. the gridiron club was founded in 1885 and is washington dc's oldest journalistic organization. it held its annual dinner last evening and among the attendees was president obama. the white tie affair brings together washington dignitaries for it evening of comedic speeches and gets that satirized the political establishment. although the event itself is closed to the media, here's a look at some of those who attended.

back to our guest, grover norquist, president of americans for tax reform. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> potential republican presidential contenders have been making stops in key primary states. this weekend, minn. congresswoman michelle bachmann in nashua, new hampshire at a fund-raiser for the republican state committee. that is today at 6:00 27:30 p.m. eastern and pacific. >> 1/3 of americans have no savings of any kind. 1/4 of mortgages are under water and 1/5 of our wealth is wiped out in the great crash. >> john holsman advises governments and businesses about the financial risk of the world today and tomorrow. tonight, his insights into money and foreign policy on cspan's "q &a." >> on thursday, new york republican congressman peter king held the first of a series of hearings examining the threat he calls the radicalization of american muslims. over 50 democrat sent a letter to him, chairman of the house, and security committee, warned that the hearings will jeopard

they argue grover norquist says it's not a tax increase. they say democrats have, and i quote, decided to dance the washington two-step, unquote, claiming this bill contains a new income tax on working families. well, hearing all that i have one simple question. if the republican plan is not a massive new income tax increase, then why did the republican majority refuse to allow a vote on my amendment which i offered? my amendment simply said that no section of this bill would take effect if it raised taxes on any american family of four earning less than $110,250 a year. that's all it said. it just makes it clear you can't raise taxes on the middle class. that's all it said. it is a straightforward and simple amendment. if republicans actually believe their own rhetoric of cutting taxes, they would have accepted my amendment and allowed a vote on the amendment on the floor. let me say we took joe crowley's amendment and accepted it because we believe this bill will not raise taxes on the middle class. that's what my colleagues could have sa