which we watched clustered around a small television that was perched on the desk, ted kennedy, judd gregg and i walked out to the reporters my briefing had been postponed. i said you heard from the president this morning and senator kennedy and senator gregg and i joined his statement in saying that our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of this act of terrorism and our support goes to the rescue workers and all of our prayers are with everyone there right now. as i turned to exit, lawrence mclaughlin asked a question. you know children are struck by all this. is there a message you could tell to the nation? i didn't wait for him to finish but began. parents need to reassure their children everywhere in our country that they are safe. as we walked out of the briefing room the cellphone of my advance man john myers rain, cnn was reporting an airplane had crashed into the pentagon. within minutes the order given to evacuate the white house and the capital. the secret service decided to take me temporarily to their headquarters located in the federal office building a few blocks from t

republican senator judd gregg sits on the commission he went on the record.to see you. >> thank you for having me on. >> greta: where do we stand on this debt commission and the report? are we going to get 14 out of 18 so there will be a single report being issued? >> first, it is really important. my view is the last best hope now of putting in place something substantive that will get our deficits and debt under control. the proposal was a serious effort. i don't agree with all of it but it was a serious effort. it is going to be hard to get 14 votes. everybody is trying hard, serious and sitting around the take and engaged. there's a lot of differences of opinion as to how to do this. there's unfortunately, not a lot of time. >> greta: can you live a serious effort? if you are not getting everything that you think is right and i suppose the same is true to the other 17 members of the is there enough that you can all agree and it is worthwhile? there's are dramatic enough steps they could reduce the debt? >> in my opinion we should be able to do that. we kn

martha: meanwhile, retiring new hampshiregen toroo senator judd gregg says the u.s. economy is on an unsustainable track. >> the problem is very simple, we're on an unsustainable tract, we're going to double debt in the next three years, the damage vet will be tripet the next ten years. we're not greece but we are on the exact same track. martha: that's cheery news this monday morning. airing bolling from follow your money -- eric bolling from fox business news joins us. we are heading towards financial disaster in this country. >> in fact, senator gregg was offered a job in the white house, also commerce secretary, and he said if i take that job i'll have to give up my senate seat. it's important to get fiscally responsible in the senate and now he's retiring but he's on to something. in two years, in less than two years, mr. obama has managed to rack up $3 trillion in debt, 670 days that, equals, $3 trillion, from george washington's inauguration through ronald reagan's last day in august, 200 years, the velocity at which we're adding to the debt is out of control,

senator judd gregg weighs in on the latest proposals to slash the deficit ap.e done and what happens if it isn't? those stories and much more at the top of the hour. jon: well the session of congress in residence right now is a lame-duck session but senate majority leader harry reid plans to push votes on a couple of controversial issues. he wants to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military and also vote on the d.r.e.a.m. act, a bill that would offer young illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. let's talk about it with fox news contributor and democratic consultant bob beckel and kevin madden, former national press secretary to mitt romney's presidential campaign. bob, put on your harry reid hat for a moment and tell us why he chosen the two bills which have certain amount of controversy with each of them, why he wants to push them? >> i can tell you why he is pushing the dream act. he got his margin of victory to get back in the senate from hispanics in nevada. jon: that is pay back. >> that is pay back, sure. jon: i took the words right out of

senator judd gregg, thanks for your time today. >> thank you, shannon. appreciate it. >>> investigators are hot on the trail of the man they he believe shot and critically wounded a utah park ranger. investigators say they found the suspect's rifle, backpack, and a bloody shirt they believe he used to stop a bleeding wound. the park ranger was shot three times while patrolling a bike trail on friday. he's listed in critical but stable condition. >>> some folks who want to get an early start on thanksgiving travel are heading out today, but is weather going to be on their side. chief meteorologist rick reichmuth is at the fox weather center. how does it look, rick? >> sha shannon, we've had a coue couple weeks. all of that is changing when people start to do their travel. big winter storm across much of the west has winter storm warnings in effect from colorado back to california, up to washington, northern rockies. some areas are seeing another two to three feet of snow, and especially across the sierra nevadas, we've already seen two to three feet of sn

there is no better united states senator than judd gregg on either side of the aisle. one indication of that is the last three leaders in the republican senate have asked him to sit on the hearings to get his wisdom and advice. he's been the voice of our party, and we believe the voice of americans who are concerned about fiscal responsibility, about spending and about too much debt. senator blanche lincoln has been a pioneer throughout her career throughout public life as a staff member, then as a senator, occupying senator carraway's seat, the first woman to be elected to the senate. blanche was the youngest would be to be elected to the -- woman to be elected to the senate. arlen specter from pennsylvania, the word to describe arlen is courage. the or word is survivor. and they both go together. arlen has had a distinguished career from his youngest days. he was a member of the warren commission investing president kennedy's assassination. his work has spanned the entire mark. one of the things i appreciate both about senator specter is work on constitutional law in

idaho, senator dick durbin, covered majority whip in to the senate, and fudge, former ceo, senator judd gregg, representative jeb hensarling, alice rivlin, at representative paul ryan, presumed to be the new budget chief on the house side, representative jan schakowsky of illinois, representative john spratt, just defeated, and andrew stern, head of the service employees international union. those are the members of the commission who will have to vote on what senator simpson and erskine bowles have proposed. richard in new york city on the independent line. caller: there is a simple answer for that. one of the biggest problems i see i for example, if you increase the social security retirement age, we have enough problems employing our youth at the present time. insisting that people work longer to have adequate social security if there is such a thing is detrimental to employing others. the only thing that i think would be really directly approachable is the fact that i have yet to understand why there are multi-billion there's in the world. what are they going to do with their money. the o

then you still have some of the older, retiring senators, republicans -- voinovich, judd gregg, who might be open to supporting this. they will be pretty close to having two-thirds. it is a big, massive, international arms treaty. the time it takes to handle that, as well as dealing with tax cuts, dealing with unemployment insurance benefits, and a few of the other things, including defense authorization bill which has the don't ask- don't tell issue, no one is sure if they have enough time to take up of the start treaty and give it its full time it would require. it may get squeezed out just on the timeline. host: how long are they in session for? guest: they would like this to be in essentially two weeks. in now, break on friday, go home for thanksgiving, come back a week after thanksgiving and stay just one week. it is possible, if they do decide to take up the start treaty or defense authorization bill in the senate, it is possible we could stretch this out a little bit longer. they do not want to be here christmas eve the way they were last year at 7:00 a.m. casting votes on health c

democrats could lose and the republicans have been shut out of congressional seats except for judd gregg in new england. >> let's suppose you are all correct and the house goes republican. do you think nancy pelosi will stay as the leader of the democrats? if so, how long will she stay as leader or not stay? >> i think she will retire in six months. >> i think she is starting to tell people that she would make sure she would be allowed to hand off the power. there is no underestimation on how much she controls. and then set the stage for what happens in her own district. i do not think mainly because he will win mostly moderate democrats. i do not think there are enough liberals who will live with him. i think there will be -- if democrats lose 60 seats or 70 seats, you will have an entirely different complexion of the democratic party and they will want change. >> i think the other reason people like him is because he effectively rejected the aside. i think that will be on most democratic minds. >> one of the variables that none of us can speak to with any certainty is the dynamic that

judd gregg, the same thing, conrad comeau trusted each other. so it's a tough order.in the coin of the realm in legislating and here is trust, not more career or bs. that's it. that's where we are. so erskine and i will only ask for your honest participation, your intelligence, your wisdom, your honesty, your goodwill. and as corny as it sounds, your patriotism. no one will ever do this fateful exercise again because it seriously messes up what we, you and me, politicians were trained by her handlers to do. and that is to get good at all cost and whatever caused. there is no easy answers that we will be better served. we will be better served by our better natures as each and every one of us knows deep down in our gut that this might be the last best hope to write this listing ship state of ours. and i thank you, each and every one of you for your willingness to pitch in to see if we can make a difference. and i believe we can. and i feel we must. thank you very much. >> thank you. i want to make a couple of suggestions. why do we care about deficits? obviously when d

democrats could lose and the republicans have been shut out of congressional seats except for judd greggn new england. >> let's suppose you are all correct and the house goes republican. do you think nancy pelosi will stay as the leader of the democrats? if so, how long will she stay as leader or not stay? >> i think she will retire in six months. >> i think she is starting to tell people that she would make sure she would be allowed to hand off the power. there is no underestimation on how much she controls. and then set the stage for what happens in her own district. i do not think mainly because he will win mostly moderate democrats. i do not think there are enough liberals who will live with him. i think there will be -- if democrats lose 60 seats or 70 seats, you will have an entirely different complexion of the democratic party and they will want change. >> i think the other reason people like him is because he effectively rejected the aside. i think that will be on most democratic minds. >> one of the variables that none of us can speak to with any certainty is the dynamic that wi

judd gregg, the same thing, conrad comeau trusted each other. so it's a tough order.in the coin of the realm in legislating and here is trust, not more career or bs. that's it. that's where we are. so erskine and i will only ask for your honest participation, your intelligence, your wisdom, your honesty, your goodwill. and as corny as it sounds, your patriotism. no one will ever do this fateful exercise again because it seriously messes up what we, you and me, politicians were trained by her handlers to do. and that is to get good at all cost and whatever caused. there is no easy answers that we will be better served. we will be better served by our better natures as each and every one of us knows deep down in our gut that this might be the last best hope to write this listing ship state of ours. and i thank you, each and every one of you for your willingness to pitch in to see if we can make a difference. and i believe we can. and i feel we must. thank you very much. >> thank you. i want to make a couple of suggestions. why do we care about deficits? obviously when d

then you still have some of the older, retiring senators, republican-- voinovich, judd gregg, who might be open to supporting this. they will be pretty close to having two-thirds. it is a big, massive, international arms treaty. the time it takes to handle that, as well as dealing with tax cuts, dealing with unemployment insurance benefits, and a few of the other things, including defense authorization bill which has the don't ask- don't tell issue, no one is sure if they have enough time to take up of the start treaty and give it its full time it would require. it mayet squeezed out just on the timeline. host: how long are they in session for? guest: they would like this to be in essentially two weeks. in now, break on friday, go home for thanksgiving, come back a week after thanksgiving and stay just one week. it is possible, if they do decide to take up the start treaty or defense authorization bill in the senate, it is possible we could stretch this out a little bit longer. they do not want to be here christmas eve the way they were last year at 7:00 a.m. casting votes on health car

she will take the seat of republican judd gregg who is also retiring. the senate is in recess. democrats and republicans are meeting separately to discuss strategies for the current lame-duck session. before recessing senators voted to begin debate on a food safety bill. that debate will begin in about 25 minutes from now when senators return at 4:00 eastern peco we will have live coverage. in the meantime a look at some of the debate that took place this morning. bri >> food safety modernization act ant as it is called is very similar in cr to bring bringing our nation's into t antiquated andhe inadequate food inspection service into theomprehen 21st century. apprch to it takes a comprehensivehe approach to reforming the current system. and i'm pleased to report that the product this bill is a product of strong bipartisan collaboration on the health education labor and pensionsain, i wt committee. again i want to particularly thanks senator durbin and senator gregg who have worked together over many years toproduce ts exc fashion and to produce this excellent bill.king i also

this adds $19 to the federal deficit -- $19 billion to the federal deficit and i yield my time to judd gregg. mr. gregg: this is not the proper way to address this issue to add $19 billion to our deficit. that has to be paid by our children and small businesses affected by this 1099 proposal. let's do this the right way. let's do it the way that the senator from nebraska has suggested, paid for and it should be corrected that way, not by adding $19 billion to our debt. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. the question is on the motion from the senator from montana. the yeas and nays having been ordered, the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 44, the nays are 53. two-thirds of the senate voting having not voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to. mr. coburn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: the senate not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: mr. president, we have -- the presiding officer: please carry your