possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 249, the nays are 169, the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen, on which further proceedings were postponed, on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. cohen of tennessee. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of t

possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 160 and the amendment is not agreed to -- the noes are the chair: the house will come to order, please. the house will be in order. members will please take their conversations off the floor and take their seats. the house will be in order. the chair would ask all present to rise for the purpose of a moment of silence. the chair asks that the house now observe a moment of silence in remembrance of our brave men and women in uniform who have given their lives in the service of our nation in iraq and afghanistan and their families and of all who serve in our armed forces and their families. the chair: without objection, two-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the request for a railroaded -- vord -- recorded vote on amendment number 2 by the gentleman from illinois, m

the house of representatives has said it will continue to defend that along with other rules of our country. my amendment would state that it's the opinion of the house that the defense of marriage act should be enforced. on april 13, 2011, the office of the navy chief of navy chaplains, in a memo titled, quote, revision of chaplain corps tyre 1 training directed that train -- tier 1 training directed that training be revised to incorporate same-sex marriage in states where same-sex marriages are reck thesed thises a change to a statute that said same-sex marriages are not recognized. they said, if it is conducted in the accordance with the laws of the state and if the chaplain is otherwise certified to efficient. this call into question the intent of the department of defense with regard to compliance with existing federal law under the defense of may recall act. congress should establish policy guidance on this issue that will cover numerous contingencies and unexpected situations in the future. it is irresponsible for the department of defense to dismiss all concerns about issues involvi

possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 170, the nays are 252. the amendment is not adopted. the committee will be in order. members, please take their seats. the committee of the whole will be in order. for what purpose does the gentlelady from missouri rise? ms. emerson: mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent to speak for a minute out of order. the chair: without objection. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. emerson: on behalf of congressman wasserman schultz and myself, we are proud to announce that the women's bipartisan congressional softball team beat the washington female press corps in our recent softball game by a score of 5 to 4. in the spirit of our u.s. women's soccer team won and on their way to the final world cup, we probably aren't in that category, but perhaps this was the world cup. and we are very proud an

they not go for tax cuts, rather, tax increases in the house of representatives. there is a plan supposedly floating around right new to cut $3 trillion over a decade and at the end of the day that could be the only deal but you have to remember, can you not change the rules of physics, the rules of congressional physics mean 51 votes in the senate and 217 votes in the house of representatives. >>neil: thank you, buddy. big money guys are begs these gives to get in. what does that say? will it be lights out when we plug in? ly. casey mears, driver of the number thirteen geico toyota camry. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. on a track that simulates the world's toughest roads. ♪ [ tires screeching ] ♪ if it can survive this drive... ♪ it can survive yours. the nissan altima. innovation that lasts. innovation for all. ♪ >>neil: an only podium in the house of representatives and the s&p, the credit rating agency that missed the financial meltdown a few years back, but that is just details, members of the s&p are meeting with at first what was

it was passed in the house of representatives with republican votes. and some democratic votes. but the democratic leadership of the house of representatives was not onboard with nafta. and so what happened was you put it together with republican votes and democratic votes, that's the way you always did these things. you were always capable in certain situations of reaching across the aisle in the house or the senate. there's no method. boehner has no method of trying to figure out how do you get a democratic vote? he's never tried to get a democratic vote. but that's where the votes are. it's sitting on the other side of the aisle. give up your craziness, john boehner. see if can you find, i don't know, 50 not insane republicans and then we can give you the resting democratic votes if you get the crazy ideas off the table. >> that suggests this is not just about painting the world purple and making things friendly and washington discourse more civil. it's a suggestion that reason we need bipartisanship is because otherwise we can't govern. that the state actually shuts down, tha

i am saying we need to have a work product come out of the house of representatives. the speaker of the house has tried to put the votes together. we all know the votes were not there yesterday. we met last night. that is the reason we're making this modification because there are members who were opposed to the measure who with this provision, that says we will in fact -- that we have to have a balanced budget amendment go from the two houses of congress to the states and the implementation of the recommendations of the joint select committee that by virtue select committee that by virtue of making this modification, they will support moving this process along so that we can, in fact, this measure to the senate. my goal right now is for us to have something passed the house of representatives so we can resolve this by tuesday to ensure our constituents get their social security checks on wednesday and so we will not see the nation default. >> i understand that. i understand what you're saying. i'm saying simply yet with this constitutional amendment on this today, inj

possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 237, the nays are 184. the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 238. the nays are 186. the resolution is agreed to. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the speaker pro tempore: rule 18 the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 2584. will the gentleman from illinois, mr. dold, kindly take the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 2584, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of the interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the chair:

we have in front of us something that achieved majority support in the house of representatives a few nights ago, 234 members of the house of representatives voted for this. it is a serious, meaningful effort to cut spending now, to cap it in future years and to put in place a balanced budget amendment that is long overdue and which, frankly, if it passed 15 years ago in the united states senate, we would not be in the position that we are today. it failed by one single vote in the united states senate back in 1997, and i can only help but think, mr. president, how much better off we would be today in terms of the spending and debt situation that is facing this country had we gotten the necessary two-thirds vote back in 1997. but it's never too late to do the right thing, and we have an opportunity to do that today. and i think to hear our colleagues get up on the other side and belittle the effort that has been made by a lot of people around here who are trying to do something about a problem, a problem that is going to wreck this country if we don't fix it, is not befitting of this

it has passed the house of representatives. kate bolduan is our congressional correspondent. ou will, of some of the drama as it unfolded on the floor of the house. >> from my colleagues in the house chamber coming in and out and we'll see some members walking past us as they are leaving the chamber. my colleague tells me that members were watching with high interest the vote board that's kind of above on the wall and it kind of keeps the tally of where the votes stand and you can see as things tick off and change and that a hush came over the crowd, if you will. it came over the chamber when they passed that threshold of 216. as we know, that held and it passed and they were able to squeak it by with 218 votes is where it fell. high interest in the vote as you can see. many people walking out now and of course the question lends to what's next and all eyes are now turning on the other side of the capitol behind me to the senate. >> you'll be over there pretty soon. stand by. i want to go to the democratic senator from ohio joining us live right now. senator, what's going to h

according to the constitution specifically it has to originate in the house of representatives. til the gang of six convinces the house leadership that is the type of program that needs to move forward and i do think we are headed in that direction, that is where the plan has to start. that is in the constitution. >>stuart: at this moment of crisis you do not think the president has a responsibility to get out front and push and propose this? >>guest: it would be unfirst to say the president hasn't been out front. how many press conferences has he had? >>stuart: i don't know what the plan is. i don't know what the president's plan is. period. i don't. >>guest: and we were not in the meeting at the white house and my understanding is they discussed a plan. >>stuart: you are for the gang of six plan? >>guest: i like the direction it is heading. we have to gill in the blanks because specifics need to be worked out but if you raise the debt ceiling can $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years that is a good offset. >>stuart: you met with your other colleagues is your impression that had

of house resolution 340. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 331, the nays are 83. the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 336, the nays are 87. the bill is passed. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on adoption of house resolution 340 on which the yeas and nays have been recordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: house calendar number 351, resolution 340, providing for consideration of the bill h r. 1309 to extend the authorization of the national flood insurance program to achieve reforms to improve the stability of the program and increase the role of private marks in the management of flood insurance risks and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on adoption of the resolution. lech lecked. this is

the majority leader in the house of representatives says if it passes the house of representatives and he hear kills it in the senate any chance of default is on harry reid's shoulders and, so, first things first, the house has to vote on the measure. it is clear the hurdles in two hours and we will necessity if the dinner plan is sent on to the senate. >>neil: thank you very much, mike, from the capitol hill. and more on the fox business network at 6:00 p.m., and speaker boehner needs these guys. how will this guy vote? he will tell us. and only us. look at the corner of wall and broad on the big board the dow jones industrial average down 6 2 1/2 points. we focus on the markets for good reason, we are led to believe they are sort of waiting to see what comes out of washington. but, are we making a mistake if we go the other way and conduct national policy, political long term debt policy based on the market? charles says "be careful." >>guest: be very, very careful. you have a couple of things going on. first the scare tactics that everyone is using in washington, you remember when t

if you look at the legislative branch, about 36% of the spending goes to the house of representatives. that's where we are tonight. and half of the money that goes to the house goes to what we call members representational accounts, the so-called m.r.a.'s. and so we thought that since we have asked every agency in federal government to rein in spending, we have asked them all to tighten their belt, to do more with less, to be more efficient than they ever have been before, we have subjected them to this kind of scrutiny. we thought it would only be fair to apply that same process to us. and that's why the m.r.a.'s in this house are reduced by 6.4%. all the committee staff, budgets, they are reduced by 6.4%. the leadership budgets are reduced by 6.4%. now, those m.r.a.'s, that's money that taxpayers money, we have it available to us to run our offices. we can hire staff, lease space, buy equipment. we can do a lot of things. we have a lot of discretion. now, some people will say, we shouldn't cut the m.r.a.'s. some people say we have cut them too much. that we can't continue to do our

the house of representatives and the senate? >> he says there is evidence the economy is already suffering because of the current debate. john? >> if the president doesn't like the house proposal what is the alternative? >>reporter: he is trying to marginalize the house which is being driven by a minority of the majority party and the president says the democrat and republican leaders of the senate have both offered plans and he is looking to them for a compromise. >> senator reid a democrat has introduce add plan that contains cuts agreed upon by both parties. senator mcconnell, a republican, offered a solution that could get us through this. there are plenty of modifications we can make to either of the plans in order to get them passed through both the house and the senate and would allow me to sign them into law. >> the president hopes he can get something he can sell to democrats in the senate and the house and get just enough republicans to get it to his desk to sign it but the problem is, while republicans have shown some

but first from fox at 3:00, a live look at the house of representatives in washington, dc, as lawmakers are started on voting to fix the debt crisis. the latest in a drawn out political showdown of their own making in which lawmakers cannot reach a deal to raise the debt limit. some be that cover has -- something that congress has done routinely. or we will default. the republican speaker of the house john boehner trying to overcome a revel to pass the plan and the white house is threatening a veto but there is little chance it will get to that. >> speaker boehner is busy twisting arms right now so try and get the bill passed through the house of representatives. but it is futile. that bill is net going to pass the senate. >>shepard: we are told the latest revision could pave the way for a compromise to which both could agree. >> i never said it was perfect and no one believes it is perfect in the caucus. but what this bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end the crisis in a bipartisan way, to send it to the senate to receive action. >>shepard: he is predicting his bill will pas

president, we are here awaiting the action of the house of representatives. we don't know whether the house is going to pass the john boehner proposal. but regardless of what they do, we have the solution right underneath our noses. there have been discussions today. i've had a number of discussions with our colleagues. i've had a discussion first this morning with my colleague from florida and have had discussions with others. and it seems like to me that the obvious solution, since we are now at the 11th hour and getting close to the 59th minute of the 11th hour, is that you take elements of both the reid proposal, the mcconnell proposal and the boehner proposal. and so i would suggest that our leadership consider, regardless of what happens in the house, because the senate's going to have to act on something to get 60 votes to meet the filibuster threshold here in this chamber and then send a package back to the house. and i would suggest that it be this. that we take the reid proposal of the larger amount of spending cuts. senator reid at first said that's

eastern, we are waiting for two hours when the house of representatives will take up the boehner measure. that is the measure that will include a balanced budget amendment to make it more palatable for conservative members who did not quite fine it their cup of tea. the tea partyers were not fond of it and even if john boehner gets the vote what happens after that? harry reid has all but said he will table it, and it is not going anywhere, and he has his own plan in the senate which will be introduced this weekend, which is not palatable to all of his members and may not make the 60 vote he needs and after the senate would not get any support in the house of representatives. so we are at loggerheads. reaction from republican from ohio, the congressman, a very crucial vote member for the speaker to persuade. are you persuaded? >>guest: look, this bill is better the fact that we are continuing to focus on the need for a balanced budget amendment, everyone has to live under that and the federal government should do the same thing. i like where that is moving and i like there are no tax incr

president obama suggest we put in place but has not been able to get traction, not in the house of representatives. >> it does appear that the vote for john boehner may pass the house but will not pass the senate. will the plan for senator reid, doesn't have a chance of passing in the house? >> think that it does. we are down to crunch time. we will see what happens. of course, there is a fail-safe that ultimately the president could in vote the fourteenth amendment. >> we will see what happens. everyone is, what happens. i represent in john garamendi. they can join us. six >> we are moving on to some weekend weather. heavy rains pounded parts of illinois prompting forecasters to issue flash flood warnings across the region. here is video of how what the street got. emergency crews conducted about a dozen and a half water related rescues. no serious injuries were reported. the national weather service reports up to 10 in. of rain have fallen in the region. it looks like a wet weather may stick around. >> it is reading this morning with a thick fog. james fletcher is watching that. warmup on the wa

. >> it is game day as the house debate begins right now on speaker john boehner's bill. members of the house of representatives gathering on the floor to debate a piece of legislation at the center of this historic showdown over raising the debt ceiling. the vote is expected to follow in the next few hours, and we plan to bring you the best of the day. the details of the debate, how the vote goes down, and what is next for capitol hill, and the american people economy. and don't think for a moment that today has been without the usual acrimony that has marked the last six months, indeed as the republican leaders met behind closed door to rally the magical 216 votes needed one tea party freshman, and former notre dame football player mike kelly of pennsylvania encouraged his fellow party members to join him in supporting the speaker. buckle up your chin straps, the locker room speech, reportedly went, and let's not let the you know what out of the democrats. and buckle their chin straps republican leaders did just before going into battle insisting that they are the ones behaving in a bipartisan manner. >> what

it's not the house of representatives. and state representatives across the country and every state and in previous senate races and future federal senate races, the 2012 races, people have been sending the message for two years. stop spending. cut programs. stop spending our money on programs that are not working. it's bigger than this. we are hyper focused on the debt ceiling, but not that the republicans need -- no one is worried about john boehner's cloud or control of a chamber. if this is not a significant and real and spending cuts and spending reform attached to raising the debt ceiling, there will be equal chaos with the markets and equal in the next election. that's what people have been saying for three cycles. >> it's fair to say at least for now, none of these proposals, the boehner and the harry reid proposal and tacks and increased revenue. no tax reform. the democrats have given up on higher taxes for wealthier americans or big business. >> we are going to live to fight that battle another day and i hope the

john boehner's plan is to fasz house of representatives wednesday and you could see john boehner's plan be the last one standing and the only one coming out of the house with reid's plan held nup in the senate. and then do they take boehner's plan and accept it or back to square one and then the president cave in and not veto this, because it is the only thing possible to avoid a default? the question now is does harry reid get to cloture in the united states senate and the aides feel that he can't, and they say he has supported it in the past and in a certain set of circumstances they would, but with mitch mcconnell and john boehner joined at the hip for this, you can see that republicans offering support for that with john boehner's plan being the last one standing, and what will the president do? >> well, will he hold the stance that he has said adamantly that he would shorten a short-term veto deal from the president? >> well, we have not heard from him today, so it will be interesting when we hear from him or the white house, but as of right now, they have taken a back seat in all

the republican budget that this same house of representatives just passed, a budget that slashes and burns away at the fabric of our society, that cuts off middle-class and working families from the health care and nutrition and education and housing support they count on, even that republican budget wouldn't meet the standards of cut, cap, and balance. and, madam president, you know who else's budgets wouldn't meet those standards? ronald reagan, george w. bush. it's truly unbelievable that they are playing these games with the clock ticking to a financial crisis. madam president, we don't need a so-called cut, cap, and balance bill to put in place sensible policies that work for american people. my republican colleagues may choose to ignore the fact these days, but we did some responsible cutting and balancing of our own here in america not that long ago, and we didn't need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs either. like many of them, i was here in 2000. i remember when president clinton left office we were on a course to completely pay down the $5.6 trillion debt by 2012. i

we have in front of us something that achieved majority support in the house of representatives a few nights ago, 234 members of the house of representatives voted for this. it is a serious, meaningful effort to cut spending now, to cap it in future years and to put in place a balanced budget amendment that is long overdue and which, frankly, if it passed 15 years ago in the united states senate, we would not be in the position that we are today. it failed by one single vote in the united states senate back in 1997, and i can only help but think, mr. president, how much better off we would be today in terms of the spending and debt situation that is facing this country had we gotten the necessary two-thirds vote back in 1997. but it's never too late to do the right thing, and we have an opportunity to do that today. and i think to hear our colleagues get up on the other side and belittle the effort that has been made by a lot of people around here who are trying to do something about a problem, a problem that is going to wreck this country if we don't fix it, is not befitting of this

tell me. >> in a moment at which the house of representatives has been unable to come up with another package z remember, they did pass a cut, cap and balance act a couple weeks ago. there are a number of representatives in the house i'm told are now refusing to join on to any bill that doesn't include a balanced budget amendment part of the package this, pleases me because this is what i've been saying since before i was sworn in to united states senate. we need a permanent solution before acquiring more permanent debt. and a balanced budget amendment is the only way to do that. >> greta: i spoke about that minutes ago. it's my guess would be that that is what the new language is going to be tomorrow. i don't know how, the one who's are objecting to it and speaking about it, they ran on that. a balanced budget amendment. so unless they hold their feet to the fire, they have got to go back to their constituents and say, well this, is why i didn't do it if they change their minds. so i think that it sort of is a tough political position for them. >> it is. it is. elections have consequ

possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. big 80%, the lowest level of funding for the program in 45 years. it threatens completion of the accusation of the rocky ford track in east tennessee and several treasures in north carolina that need protection. every member of this body should ask, how many accusation projects would this halt in my state? there is no reassuring answer. secondly, the environmental protection agency. the bill continues the republican majority's assault on the e.p.a. after imposing a 16% cut in the current fiscal year, the majority is now proposing a further 18% reduction in the agency's budget. that would push agency staffing to 1991 levels. the goal of the cut so massive is plain and simple to ensure that e.p.a. doesn't have the resources it needs to fulfill its core mission, including life-saving and life enhancing research based in my district at research triangle park. third, the clean water and drinking water state revolving fund, the s.r.f.'s, provide funding to states to fund water infrastructu

visit sprintrelay.com. >>> this is unsustainable. >> live pictures there of the house of representatives. the house budget committee chairman paul ryan giving his view of why washington has a debt and deficit crisis. the house to vote in just a few minutes on a significant house republican plan. that's on the house side. on the senate side today, these guys right here, a bipartisan group known of the gang of six, three democrats and three republicans, they've put out their proposals that they believe could help washington out of the debt and deficit crisis. let's look at some of the details. it would cut the deficit by $4 trillion over ten years. here's the immediate cuts, $500 billion, it would adjust how social security recipients get inflation adjustments and freeze congressional pay and sell unused federal property. that would start to get you to cuts of $500 billion. and it would make nearly $300 billion in medicaid savings, they are called reforms and others will call them cuts. and changes to medicare, reimbursements to doctors. here's the big part, three republicans are saying th

the question is what happens in the house of representatives. you have a lot of tea party people who won't like this deal, won't be happy with it. but you will have some republicans who support it, and i suspect the majority of democrats will support it as well. >> i suspect if the president of the united states says we need to do this that the democrats will vote with him, because don't forget, the republicans can make the case, wolf, that they've passed a couple of bills in the house of representatives. right? and they can say we passed a bill to raise the debt limit, where's your bill. and so, you know, the democrats are not without political liability here on their own. so i presume they would supply the votes. but again, i think john boehner might like to get more than 30 people on his side of the aisle to vote for this. >> he would definitely -- that would be embarrassing. >> very much. >> but in order to avoid disaster, economic disaster, stuff happens. we're just checking the roll call, gloria, right now. the democratic senator from nebra

the gang of six plan or anything that's being bandied about has a chance of passing the house of representatives>> i certainly hope something has a chance of passing the house of representatives. we're fiddling, frankly, while the debt and the default is about to burn us badly, and burn the american people badly. and we need get about doing our business. unfortunately, as you just observed, and as i just said, we're fiddling while rome is burning, in the sense that the piece of legislation on our floor now has zero chance of passage. it was introduced at the last minute last friday. it was printed just this weekend. nobody's probably fully understood what it does, and it can't pass and won't pass the senate. we're wasting time. we have 14 days until the secretary of the treasury tells us american will run out of its ability to pray its bills. that will have reverberations in this country for every single american in terms of interest rates, 401(k) value, housing values, ability to purchase cars and pay for college. it will have very serious negative effects. and what are we doing? a political ex

of the 67 necessary to send it to the house. at that time i was a member of the house of representatives. to the house, i believe we wo* have gotten a two-thirds majority in the house and been able to send it to the states. that was 15 years. what has happened since then? at that time the cumulative debt was $5 trillion. today it is $14 trillion. i can't help but thinking had we had a balanced budget amendment in place how much better off we would be today. the cut, cap, and balance approach, mr. president, strikes at the very heart of the issue. and that is that this is a fundamentally, a spending issue that needs to be addressed in the near term by cutting spending this year, capping spending in future years and putting in place that mechanism that enforces or requires congress to have the discipline that's necessary to balance the budget for future generations. mr. president, i hope we will get an he -- an affirmative vote when that time comes and my colleagues will join me in supporting a measure that i think will get this country back on a supportive future track. mr. president, i yi

that's exactly what the house of representatives is doing, consequently it's reasonable to say in thisrcumstance, not always, not generally, but in this particular circumstance, the president has the authority to lift the debt ceiling. >> in my reading of the only debt ceiling in which supreme court referred to this, 1945 decision referring to this clause, the court said while this provision was undoubtedly inspired by the desire to put in question of the obligations of the government incured during the civil war, the language indicates a broader connotation. isn't this the broader connotation that it includes? >> the broader connotation is don't play politics with the debt ceiling and the full faith and credit of the united states. don't invent a constitutional crisis, and that's what this is, lawrence, as you know, this is a fully invented constitutional crisis for republicans to get other policy goals they want that aren't related to the debt ceiling. that's unconstitutional. that's what the 14th amendment means when you cannot take the debt of the united states and question it. giv

it is a one-third of one-half of the house of representatives, just trying to bring everything to the furtherest part of the right side. and john boehner tried to compromise with the president. he mentioned in his speech he took his neck out. will acknowledge they are dealing with a very powerful force in the newly elected numbers that prohibited from doing some of the things you have seen in washington in a long time which is a big deal. >> i have to leave it there, luke. >> okay. sounds good. >> thank you so much. and check out that pizza for me. maybe he is sticking his neck out for the pizza. >> all right wp take care. >> joining me now former pennsylvania governor ed rendell now nbc news political analyst and bob shrum at new york university, thank both of you for being with us tonight. i mean, it seems to me, aside from the fact that this is dead on arrival at the u.s. senate according to senator reid and dead on arrival in fact, the move this all the way now to where we are talking about, the balance budget amendment has to be passed through both houses and states have to ratif

tell me. >> in a moment at which the house of representatives has been unable to come up with another package z remember, they did pass a cut, cap and balance act a couple weeks ago. there are a number of representatives in the house i'm told are now refusing to join on to any bill that doesn't include a balanced budget amendment part of the package this, pleases me because this is what i've been saying since before i was sworn in to united states senate. we need a permanent solution before acquiring more permanent debt. and a balanced budget amendment is the only way to do that. >> greta: i spoke about that minutes ago. it's my guess would be that that is what the new language is going to be tomorrow. i don't know how, the one who's are objecting to it and speaking about it, they ran on that. a balanced budget amendment. so unless they hold their feet to the fire, they have got to go back to their constituents and say, well this, is why i didn't do it if they change their minds. so i think that it sort of is a tough political position for them. >> it is. it is. elections have consequ

and over in the house of representatives, you've got the speaker of the house doing his job. speaker boehner has been doing the hard work of governing, working day and night to put together a bill that can actually pass the house of representatives and end this crisis now. and he should be commended for his efforts. what about over here in the senate? well, the contrast couldn't be starker. rather than working the last few days towards a solution to this crisis the way the republican majority in the house has, the democratic majority here in the senate has been wasting precious time rounding up no votes to keep this crisis alive. rather than being responsible and doing their duty and come up with a bill that can actually pass, they have been busy signing people up for the not-good-enough caucus and ginning up opposition to everything else. lawmakers should be working a solution to the crisis, not a blocking strategy. our democratic friends here in the senate have offered no solutions to this crisis that could pass either chamber. not one. instead all day long yesterday we got

if it passes, they will lead a majority in the senate and a majority in the house of representatives. a lot of democrats will vote for -- if president is for this, a lot of democrats, most of the democrats, will vote for it in the house, but they'll still need a whole bunch of republicans. i don't think they'll get a majority of the republicans. even if they get a third of the republicans i think they could pass this and the country could move on. >> you heard harry reid talk about a long-term approach through 2013, which is clearly what the president wanted. but also a committee that seemed very important to mitch mcconnell, and hopefully we can run some more of that, this committee that would provide fiscal restraint for the congress. in other words, forcing the congress to act eventually. >> major cuts, further cuts in spending, potentially cuts in entitlement spending -- medicare, medicaid, social security -- tax revenues potentially could be on the table. tax reform if not complete tax rate hikes. all of that could be on the table if this committee -- and they differentiate a com

house of representatives a national leader in resource stewardship in sustainable business practices. and we made significant progress. and one of the places where we made progress is we replaced the styrofoam in the cafeteria and used repsycheable dish wear. mcdonald's doesn't use styrofoam. use ago mcdonald's and other fast food restaurants replaced styrofoam with recycleable paper. polystyrene is not recycleable. most end up in landfills. in 1986 the e.p.a. named polystyrene the fifth largest creator of hazardous waste. we should adopt the moran amendment and do it the right way. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. mr. dicks: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from washington yields back the balance of his time. who claims time? for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. moran: madam chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the title -- designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 9 printed in house report 112-173 offered by mr. moran of virginia. the chair: pursuant to house reso

what we expect on thursday is the house of representatives to vote first on this issue come on the proposal put forward by the republicans who control the house of representatives. they should get their proposal through the house but there has been some opposition to it from rank-and-file republicans. we remain to see whether the republican leadership will get its proposal through the house of representatives and everything will continue from there. >> an operation to airlift emergency applies into somalia is under way. this is the first of 10 being carried out by the united nations world group program in response to the severe drought which is ravaging the horn of africa. tons of nutritional supplements are being transferred to my condition at -- mogadishu. >> the >> supervisor chu:, 10 tons of food for severely malnourished children in somalia. airlifting is expensive but it is a race against time. we will be bringing in a total of 100 tons within the next few days and i believe 80 will be going to mogadishu where it will be distributed at centers to malnourished children there. the world

tell me. >> in a moment at which the house of representatives has been unable to come up with another package z remember, they did pass a cut, cap and balance act a couple weeks ago. there are a number of representatives in the house i'm told are now refusing to join on to any bill that doesn't include a balanced budget amendment part of the package this, pleases me because this is what i've been saying since before i was sworn in to united states senate. we need a permanent solution before acquiring more permanent debt. and a balanced budget amendment is the only way to do that. >> greta: i spoke about that minutes ago. it's my guess would be that that is what the new language is going to be tomorrow. i don't know how, the one who's are objecting to it and speaking about it, they ran on that. a balanced budget amendment. so unless they hold their feet to the fire, they have got to go back to their constituents and say, well this, is why i didn't do it if they change their minds. so i think that it sort of is a tough political position for them. >> it is. it is. elections have consequ

but now this -- the house of representatives has acted in a meaningful and important way. they are cutting spending. they are raising the debt limit. there is no tax increases. so we have achieved a lot of the goals pretty much of what you can do bu with the controlg one third of the government and i think mcconnell's last option of a committee, bipartisan, remember, we only have control of one third of the congress and yet this would be 50/50 republicans and democrats and that committee report out, required up or down vote on what they find, i think and also a short-term increase in the debt limit so we can go back and fight this again in a few months. >> greta: let me tell you what i think some americans are thinking, the ones who really sent these members of congress to vote for balanced budget and to fight tooth and nail for it tonight is i suspect that some think that what is going on behind closed doors as someone who ran on it who now suddenly comes out and says i'm adon'ting your thinking of something is better than nothing is a little like when harry reid wanted t

tell me. >> in a moment at which the house of representatives has been unable to come up with anotherackage z remember, they did pass a cut, cap and balance act a couple weeks ago. there are a number of representatives in the house i'm told are now refusing to join on to any bill that doesn't include a balanced budget amendment part of the package this, pleases me because this is what i've been saying since before i was sworn in to united states senate. we need a permanent solution before acquiring more permanent debt. and a balanced budget amendment is the only way to do that. >> greta: i spoke about that minutes ago. it's my guess would be that that is what the new language is going to be tomorrow. i don't know how, the one who's are objecting to it and speaking about it, they ran on that. a balanced budget amendment. so unless they hold their feet to the fire, they have got to go back to their constituents and say, well this, is why i didn't do it if they change their minds. so i think that it sort of is a tough political position for them. >> it is. it is. elections have consequen