we have jeffrey zients joining us from the white house. good to see you, welcome, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> any budget is a balance 20 spending and revenue and a lot of people are saying, you cannot cut your way to growth in the economy right now, with the tax initiatives that are in this particular budget, is this administration suggesting that the economy is strong enough to absorb the tax increases that are proposed here? >> he has put out a first priority of extending the payroll tax cut. that is important for 160 million americans. he has put forward initiatives to spur the economy and continue job growth that we have seen. including money for infrastructure and modernizing the schools. at the same time, we have to bring down the deficits and stabilize debt as a percentage of gdp and we have to do that through a balanced approach. it's a balanced approached to deficit reduction. >> i'm sure you are not surprised about the chatter about the proposal to raise the tax treatment on dividends to ordinary inco

jeff sessions, republican of alabama and acting director of office of management and budget, jeffrey zients. a new poll out showing rick santorum and mitt romney essentially tied in the race. this the latest from the abc news/"washington post" poll. also showing rick santorum is increasing his popularity, all coming a week and a day before the next debate that will take place in two weeks before the next round of primaries in arizona and in michigan. a couple of new ads on the air in michigan. meanwhile the hill newspaper reporting negotiators could close the deal tonight that woks tend the payroll tax cut and extend emergency unemployment benefits and the medicare reimbursement rate for doctors. the sources according to the hill newspaper saying lawmakers on both sides of capitol hill showing, quote, real signs of progress on a package that woks tend the payroll tax cut without paying for it. that was a huge concession from house republican leaders and the negotiations that include senate republicans as well. let's turn our attention to the budget. among those testifying on capitol hill, d

acting omb director, jeffrey zients is talking about the president's budget and why it calls for a morehan doubling dividend of the tax rate for some americans. here is how the dow is shaping up. we are up 70 points on the dow. >>> big day at the nasdaq, genron leading, up 2.5%. as it's raised their out look for their ilia, that is the aging blindness drug that they have. and expedia which is up 84% and now, apple is only up 42%, but of course, we are watching to see if tit closes above $500 today but the bigger milestone could be when it hits $500 billion market cap. and believe it or not, analysts say it could be the cheapest $500 billion tech stock ever. >> it's not what it used to be. >> not at these multiples. >> thank you, see you later. 17 minutes left. time for a stat, check the comp osite, the volatility index is ba back below 20. the yellow flag, no longer being waived by the fear indicator. sue? >> at least not today, anyway. thanks bill. markets are continuing to climb higher as bill mentioned and our next guest, he is keeping an eye on the piigs yield for indicate ors of wh

the house budget committee will hear from acting white house budget director jeffrey zients on c-span23. also on c-span 3 at 2:30 p.m., the head of homeland security, jan napolitano, will testify about her department that a budget request before the house homeland security committee. in a few moments, today's headlines and your calls live on "washington journal." and then the house of representatives will be in session at 10:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches, returning at noon to begin work on the surface transportation bill. and in about 45 minutes, we are focused on chinese vice president xi'trips to washington there are guest will be the cochairs of the u.s.-china working group, democratic representative rick larsen of washington and louisiana republican representative republican representative charles boustany

then acting office of management and budget director jeffrey zients. >> we are talking with fred upton, a republican and chairman of the house energy committee. two rick -- two reporters. michael lillis and sean lengell. michael, you can go first. >> a long tough week and a drag out fight over the payroll tax extension. this has been perceived and written about as a political victory for president obama and the democrats. this is an issue that he wanted to get done, part of his jobs agenda. as one of the authors of the final package, what do you think the republicans got out of this deal? how can you go back to your district and say this is good for the country? >> you remember the date that we had. the president did not act for a one-year extension on the payroll tax. we pay for the whole thing. the senate only did two months and they left town. at the end of the day, the vote we had on friday, a majority of republicans votes for it in the house. it passed better than 2 to 1. for a little while, it looks like lucy with the football. here we go again with the super committee. there wer

the comments of the acting office of management and budget director jeffrey zients, questions from congressman mike sim soon, republican from idaho. a fellow westerner, alan simpson, no relation, from wyoming, joining us friday morning. he of course is the former co-chair of the simpson bowles commission which looked at trying to rein in the federal debt and deficit. he'll be with to us take your calls and comments. friday morning, the washington journal, heard every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span radio. we're asking the question, is washington paying enough attention to the year to year-deficit and the overall debt now approaching close to $16 trillion. give us a call here at c-span radio. it's our listener feedback line. here's the number. 202-626-7962. we ask that you leave a message, tell us where you're calling from, we'll use some of your comments tomorrow and friday on "washington today." 202-626-7962. >> more "washington today" in just a minute. first, other news. on wall street the dow fell 97. nasdaq down 16. s&p down 7. federal officials plan to kill a private company's pla

testifying before the house budget committee, acting director jeffrey zients said it includes infrastructure and other programs while also taking steps to reign step to rein in the long-term budgetl matters. >> welcome all to this importann hearing. and mr. zients i do not envy your task today, you are new to the job and got thrown into the breech and you came late with respect to preparing this budget and you have got a very tough dt job ahead of you. with the departure of jack lou, you got thrown in at the late moment.ch i want to tell you first bring g you into this.go thank you for serving our country. you came from a successful private sector career back to government and we applaud that. i think that these things go d without saying but they are -- they bare repeating. an problem is, you're in the position of defending a budget that dodges the most difficult he challenges that our country ecuy faces.on's the new york times reported that this is more a budget than it is this is more a budget than it ih for the campaign.lity for it's hard to disagree with thist the associated press quote

sessions a republican of alabama and the acting director of the office of management and budget jeffrey zients. one of a number of hearings today and all week as members appear before various presidential committees outlining the 2013 spending plan. you heard senator sessions go after the omb director on the issue of this spending package that does increase spending and the ongoing debate about taxes. well, while that was happening, there's also the ongoing discussion on capitol hill about the payroll tax cut for middle class families and individuals. the deadline is the end of this month, quickly approaching february 29th. if congress fails to approve the extension, it means the taxes for many americans will go up meaning that if you earn about $50,000 a year, you would pay an additional $40 per paycheck. the president using that argument as he spoke to reporters over at the white house about the need to keep the payroll tax cut in place through the end of this year. we should point out discussions continue tonight on capitol hill, and there appears to be a compromise between democrats and re

acting white house budget director jeffrey zients will be back on capitol hill testifying about the plan. the white house budget committee begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern time here on cspan 3. later on in the day, homeland security secretary janet napolitano will be announcing. the homeland security gets started at 2:30 eastern. >>> five u.s. banks have agreed to pay $25 billion to end the nationwide investigation of abuse of mortgage foreclosure practices. we spoke to massachusetts attorney general martha coakley about the settle on this morning's washington journal. this is 40 minutes. >>> we're back with martha coakley. she's the state attorney general for the state of massachusetts, a democrat, and joining us from boston this morning, talk about that $25 billion mortgage settlement that we heard about last thursday. ms. coakley, let me get into it a little bit and ask you first, who will this benefit. >> it's going to benefit, frankly, from my point of view, the whole economy. but where it's focused right now is real relief for two kinds of homeowners who have loans with the five banks

then, the senate budget committee questions congressional budget office director, jeffrey zients, and a review of the nato commission in libya with the commanding general. >> defense secretary, leon panetta, talked about president obama's defense budget at a hearing of the senate arms services committee today. it would spend $525 billion in fiscal 2013. secretary pa panetta joined by martin dempsey at this four hour hearing. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everybody. the committee this morning welcomes secretary defense leon panetta and chairman of the joints chief of staff, general martin dempsey for the hearing on the department of defense's fiscal year 2013 budget request. the associated future years defense program and the posture of the united states' armed forces. the committee also welcomes under secretary defense controller robert hail joining the secretary and the chairman at the witness table. let me start by thanking all of you for your continued service to our nation and to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines here at home and in harm's way around the glob