>> you say to t rid of the loopholes, but he does not say which loopholes -- >> does not say anything. >> do you believe that marriage should between a man and woman to enjoy a nice piece of fried chicken? >> i am supporting mr. cathy's biblical views, and i guess not necessarily his views, and it is god's views. >> it was the first chick-fil-a appreciation day. mike huckabee started it, and thousands showed up in support of the president's position on same-sex marriage. democrats are putting gay marriage in their platform. what idoes chick-fil-a appreciation day tell you about the state of our political conversation, evan? >> how silly we can get, obviously, but it does touch upon something that is deep in america. you may have moral values, but people perceive that people are telling them how to live their life, they resent i they lashed back at it. i support gay marriage, but i can understand why people feel that if washington or the elite are telling them how to live, they are going to resent that. >> like when a big city mayors say that we don't want chick- fil-a in their city, t

if you close loopholes, obviously, taxes are going to go on other people. for obama to turn around and make this an attack on romney for raising taxes on the middle class is outrageous. >> obama is quoting the brookings report, which is a respected -- an organization, the tax policy center, which was praised by mitt romney as recently as last fall. the point is that mitt romney has pledged for general tax reform, ok? everybody is for general tax reform, but against specific closing of tax loopholes. the reality is that he has pledged further to lower the tax rates on the richest people in the country, the top 5%, and to keep capital gains and dividend taxes on honored in, lower. where are you going to get the money after to have cut all the appropriations and all the programs? that is the question. where is it going to come from? he won't take any more out of the wealthy. >> mark, obama is at least initially for tax reform. it seems to me a cheap shot to be saying, oh, look at romney, he is raising taxes on the middle class. all he is referring to is that r

nobody likes loopholes. the word loopholes sounds awful. but they have to be specific.ut are they going to say nobody can deduct mortgages in excess of $20,000 a year? are they going to say that we're going to abolish a charitable deduction over $10,000 a year? are they going to actually close loopholes that have -- that provide -- for example, what mitt romney -- the carried interest deduction loophole is gigantic. if you are in the business that romney has been in in terms of private equity, that allows him to treat his income as capital gains. are you going to get rid of that carried interest deduction loophole? none of this has been specified. and until ryan and romney specify what loopholes they're talking about, it's a meaningless discussion. >> i want to thank you both for joining us tonight. that is one important missing detail, the plan so far. >>> up next, the pros and cons of paul ryan, politically. why one stance might cost the romney/ryan ticket a number of women voters. >>> also, iphones might be getting cheaper but there's a catch. >>> the stock market ha

they want to eliminate certain loopholes.t eliminating are the ones the working class needs. not the tax breaks for the millionaires. in paul ryan's budget is millionaire or someone who is extremely wealthy could have a tax break of over $300,000. so i believe that by eliminating the safety net and providing loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, fundamentally the ryan budget that romney has embraced is absolutely unfair. >> but there's talk in some circles of even running mr. ryan for vice president. i mean, given the power of the senior vote, can he run as a vice presidential candidate with his position on changing medicare? >> i would probably be in favor of that. since mitt romney has embraced paul ryan's budget, why not put him on the ticket? why not have him go around the country and talk about giving seniors a check and taking away medicare? why not talk about cutting the pell grants for college students. why not talk about slashing transportation costs when the infrastructure of our country is in bad need of rep

where is he willing to close loopholes? where is he willing to take away deductions? that has always been the criticism of the ryan budget. you can image you are going to hear a lot of that in the days to come. it's the democratic ad makers are already drumming up those ads. grandma falling off the cliff is going to look pretty in a minute. >> last thing his response to that. i pressed him pretty hard about the questions about taxes and specifics about taxes in his budget. he says he wants to do it out in the open, he wants to do it where people can see in committee hearings where everything is on the table and the tax reform in order to get it done requires everybody to be there in the game where everybody can see it. so does that not play as an asset? >> no. i think what people will view paul ryan as they come to know him. they don't know who he is yet. they will come to see him as a technicians. i think he's a brilliant man. as someone who watches congress i am impressed. i think he may be the future of the party. when people say you are saying you want everybody t

get rid of loopholes. lower tax rate. good for economic growth. but it's not president obama or harry reid. they want more loopholes to kill growth. >> bret: democrats cite and the president used in speeches that the cbo and medicare actuary say medicare is going broke and will become insolvent in 2016 under your plan with obamacare repealed. but 2024 under president obama's. is that true? what is the solution to that? >> no. the same experts also say you can't spend the same dollar twice. you can't take it from medicare and spend it on obamacare and then pretend to deep it in medicare. you can't have it both ways and the president is being hypocritical on this. we're saying to leave medy care intact today. we'll borrow money but we can do that if we put reforms in place for the next generation to guarantee it's sustainable and solvent for them. what we are saying is very, very clear. don't change medicare benefit for people in or near retirement. but to guarantee promise of medicare for current retirees and those about to retire we need to reform

specifically the loophole that i tried to address to the legislation passed by this board and vetoed by mayor lee. as you may be aware, on july 19 of this year, a few days ago, the civil grand jury released a report entitled "surcharges in healthy san francisco: healthy for whom?" owners are benefiting by surcharges on restaurant bills. the many -- money is pocketed by many of these businesses. the report calls upon the city and county to disallow the use of surcharges to pay for employer mandates on the health care security ordinance and paid sick leave loss and calls upon the district attorney to begin an investigation of possible consumer fraud by these businesses. the report concludes that a loophole continues with respect to the health and security ordinance in -- and that loophole continues to cause problems for employees attempting to utilize the healthy reimbursement accounts they are -- a health reimbursement accounts they're entitled to under law. the report found employers retain the vast majority of these funds, the vast majority of funds that were supposed to go to emplo

r referring to is that romney is saying that if you taxes in little but, you loopholes, and that willaise taxes. stop the presses, ids going to raise taxes on everybody. >> but romney did not say we would do something in thehe hope that. romney promised to reduce tax rates by 20%, end tax, all theins not in the warring revenue affecting revenue. what is going to happen? >> every economist who has says th youis lower tax rates in all but a close loopholes -- >> he doesn't say how. >> to be continued. if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. my fatr'hands didn't build this company. my hands didn't build this company. through hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. why are you demonizing us for it? it's time we had somebody who believes in us. someone who believes that achievemenent should be rewarded not punished. we need somebody who believes in america. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> i am supporting mr. cathy and , a biblicical views, and

state and local tax as loophole? municipal bonds a loophole? the health care provision a loophole? you keep using that word i think demagogically. i now yield four minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. mcdermott. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from washington is recognized for four minutes. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, the house of representatives is a wonderful body. it's one of the most amazing places in the whole world. it's where we make decisions for 300 million people. we make them for a lot of other places that we are going to influence around the world. and every once in a while you come here and think i have seen everything, and then, we got one more. here we are today, the last day of the session. with no debate whatsoever on this bill anywhere. just brought out here de novo, i guess it came from god or from the speaker's office or someplace. i don't have any idea where it came from. but it seems to me that the house of representat

. >>> lines of trucks pumping pollution into the air question mike csu learns of a loophole in the law that allows them to idle for hours. good evening this storm hit the southern coast of louisiana about six hours ago. many reporters are down there in an cbs reporter to 11¢ in new orleans tonight seven years ago. >>> as hurricane as it continues to move toward borland's right now to about 65 mi. south and in some places we're being told there are gas about to 100 mi. an hour. the effects of which are being felt all the way from florida to louisiana. strong winds up their powerful and upgraded treat for new orleans. gothic this is just beginning. did we we're in the heart of this fires bring the face. and floodwaters are rising mississippi. isaac is slowly turning over the gulf coast. flooding is the biggest concern. >>> stay off the roads have the water. if your summer save stay there. wednesday is the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina when floodwaters and borland's broke through levies. now surrounds the city. tonight is the system is being put to the test. >>> the new levies

and the philosophy that any time you close a tax loophole, it's a tax increase that will kill jobs. it's the lobbying dollars and that philosophy that hoses a huge obstacle and the reason why our tax code is so broken. >> dan, do you want a flat tax? what would you like to see? >> if we get rid of all of the loopholes, i think companies height be okay with that so long as they get a low tax rate. the problem in washington is a lot of the politicians, especially the class warfare want to get rid of the loopholes but keep the money and the tax rate high. since we currently have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, higher than france, italy, and greece, that's a huge competitive hindrance. even though the effective tax rate might be 9%, the marginal tax rate is 35% and that determines additional decisions to invest and credit jobs. >> absolutely, and this whole carried interest, low tax rates paid by some and not others, i'm really tired of hearing it. we keep under lining that the tax code needs to be changed and nothing is being done about it and these companies are operating

eliminating loopholes that you're talking. you're spot-on in terms of what is right and that would be good policies. i want to come back to the infrastructure and safety net the next time you're on the show which i hope is soon, but i got to ask you michelle bachmann said horrific things about you and others. suddenly there is an u-turn. is she extending an olive branch wanting to work with you on medicaid reform, what is going on? >> it has never been personal with michelle and i. it's not really between me and her at all. it may be between her and john mccain and john boehner and a whole host of others who said making allegations based on specious evidence is wrong. it's not me versus michelle thing, but look, i'll work with her. if it makes sense and i agree w i don't have any problem. but i'm not going to stand by and allow her to divide americans on the basis of religion and engage in some mccartyistic witch-hunt. i never told her not to ask questions about national security or the deep penetration that she alleged. i ask

john avlon, let's talk about loopholes.em to necessarily be on the same page when it comes to either closing or leaving loopholes open. >> this has been one of the big debates going on. you see a fundamental contradiction between the romney plan as he set it out so far and the ryan plan, far more specific. here's the crux of the debate, about the politics and the policy of it. romney said he would embrace something like simpson/bowles. paul ryan served on the simpson/bowles commission and voted against its recommendations. one of the key questions about if you're going to lower rates but keep the revenues basically in place is what loopholes they're going to close. where the simpson/bowles commission says we should close loopholes, mitt romney said, that's off base. and here right when erin interviewed paul ryan in the halls of congress earlier, he spoke about it as well. let's take a listen. >> it sounds to me like you're opening to increasing revenue by doubling revenue by getting rid of loopholes? >> and lowering tax rat

he wants to do away with those kind of loopholes, different tax rates for u.p.s. as opposed to dhl. he goes into some specific details. is that orthodoxy start that conservative base, which some of whom see any reduction in those loopholes as, in effect, a tax hike? >> it is becoming orthodoxies to the effect, flatter, simpler, fairer and some of these offshore tax shelters. even governor romney says, let's get rid of those. but some republicans draw the line, they won't take that if it brings more revenue to washington. paul ryan says, i'm not going to worry about that. if we simplify the tax code, if the end result is more money for washington, great. but he says it's to make it simpler for middle class families. but he says, the main goal for businesses, you take away those stacks of the loopholes, more money goes into the economy, more economic growth, more of a reagan camp supply-sider. >> and he repeatedly said to me, he would love to work with democrats, would love to find some compromise that hasn't happened lately, but maybe it will happen. >> with these issues front and ce

medicare considering the fact that they want to do away with it all together and thanks to absurd tax loopholes fourteen point four billion dollars a year in taxpayer money goes to pad the wallets of corporate c.e.o.'s what does this mean it means that corporations are having their way with washington and running the show and it means america may be witnessing the rise of fascism once again. so you think if you're mitt romney and paul ryan and you're running a campaign to end medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher program and pushing seniors off on to the private health insurance market where they'll pay more than double what they currently pay then you'd sort of want to keep it a secret right well paul ryan still hasn't got that memo here he was today in new hampshire talking about medicare again. we've heard a little about medicare lately from the president. we want this debate we need this debate and we're going to win this debate about medicare. all right well let's have that debate right now joining me is neil mckay columnist at human events american community democratic strat

there are loopholes we need to address. i could give you some. >> i think comprehensive is a large term. it sounds like, from what you are saying, to get to the rates chairman camp has laid out we will have to deal with almost every provision in the tax code -- all of those loopholes will have to go. all of the exemptions will have to go. i would -- what about the corporate side? that is an even larger challenge. >> the joint tax committee said that if you eliminate all of the provisions that stimulate manufacturing in this country, you would not get down to 25%. my criticism is simply saying that there is a figure without saying how you would get there is not any effective way to approach tax reform. >> i do want to make a comment about this joint study -- it was an incomplete analysis. there are 90 tax areas they then did not include. they said it was a preliminary study. they have not done a complete review on that. the reality is, if we can get comprehensive tax reform that creates jobs, we do not have to eliminate ever

and what we want to do is get rid of these loopholes. all of these loopholes in exchange for lowering everybody's and every business's tax rates to make us more globally competitive. >> he doesn't like the fact, for example, that a company like ge pays no taxes for whatever reason. he wants to do away with those kinds of loopholes, different tax rates for u.p.s. as opposed to dhl. he goes into some specific details. is that orthodoxy as far as that conservative base which some of whom see any reduction in those loopholes as an affect the tax hike. >> it's becoming orthodoxy as far as simpler and fairer. even governor romney who's been criticized, aha, is he hiding some of his money overseas says let's get rid of those. however, some republicans draw the line they won't take that reform if in the end it brings more revenue to washington. what ryan said is i'm not going to consider that. he says it's critical to "a," to make it simpler for middle-class families, but he'll be very honest. he says the main goal is for businesses. you take aw

she doesn't say there are not enough loopholes to do that in the case. most will cause people like you do not consider the mortgage interest deduction to be a loophole. unlike the deductibility for offshore. the recent past, congressional republicans refused to reveal even the egregious tax loophole in the corporate tax so the deficit claims are essentially fraudulent. yes, they consider all of you to be potentially rude. chapter five in the book describes the republican tax policy as follows. quote, although you will not find it in the party platform, the gop mission is to protect and further enriched if americans plutocracy. the party is counter walling about the deficit and debt is so much to blind the public. in reality, republicans act as bellhops for the corporate america and the super rich behind the corporation. in the calculus of the politics practiced by the gop, wealthy individuals and corporations are interchangeable. mitt romney may have said more than he knew when he pleaded if that corporations are people. they are indeed people in a very

he wants to do away with those kind of loopholes, different tax rates for u.p.s. as opposed to dhl. he goes into some specific details. is that orthodoxy start that conservative base, which some of whom see any reduction in those loopholes as, in effect, a tax hike? >> it is becoming orthodoxies to the effect, flatter, simpler, fairer and some of these offshore tax shelters. even governor romney says, let's get rid of those. but some republicans draw the line, they won't take that if it brings more revenue to washington. paul ryan says, i'm not going to worry about that. if we simplify the tax code, if the end result is more money for washington, great. but he says it's to make it simpler for middle class families. but he says, the main goal for businesses, you take away those stacks of the loopholes, more money goes into the economy, more economic growth, more of a reagan camp supply-sider. >> and he repeatedly said to me, he would love to work with democrats, would love to find some compromise that hasn't happened lately, but maybe it will happen. >> with these issues front and ce

today's votes changed that, came about after dana bash exposed that loophole in exclusive report two> i find out information, i tell my wife, she trades on it, what's the difference. bottom line, we're supposed to have that level of transparency and have us be treated like every other member of the united states. >> it specifically says that members of congress do not have to have their spouses or children file. >> i think it's wrong and i think it's unfortunate because the reality is the whole point of this legislation is that we should play by the exact same rules as every other american citizen, and when all of america looks at washington, they know it is broken. >> you said they were pointing out to them what was wrong in the bill, the loophole. tell us what happened today. >> reporter: what happened, because deirdre walsh, our incredible producer that found it and investigated it, all roads led to eric cantor because he was the one that ultimately wrote the legislation. we contacted his office, told him about this, took a little time, they came back and said this is inaccurate a

, and there are always loopholes, but barack obama was first to say i will not play by those rules. to g>> he was also the kennett o say the system should be in fundamentally reformed. >> i will not gain of any more. -- gang up any more. >> you are right to cite the loophole in the beginning, but the next campaign cycle you had george bush but senior to team 100, which was the loophole that came before. that was the europe soft money, which in some ways is what we're talking about in this election cycle is just a different version of the same thing. money is the mother's milk of politics. big money always find a way. it is courted ofs cordoned off. big bunny finds a way. -- big money finds a way. >> one of the nifty loopholes that we do not have transparency for is what union spend on their own membership. very much unexposed. it is hard to get those numbers. one of my unions constantly e- mails me telling me to give money to this or that to help save our industry by giving more money to nancy pelosi or something. the cost of those solicitations are not paid for by the people who ar

speaker, i brought a chart of who benefits from tax loopholes. who benefits from tax loopholes? we talk a lot about tax loopholes. i'm a co-sponsor of the fair tax, mr. speaker. a big believer in the fair tax, a fundamental tax reform proposal, it has more co-sponsors than any other fundamental tax proposal in the house or senate. it's h.r. 25 here in the house. and it proposes that we turn our tax system on its head to stop punishing people for what they earn and begin to tax people based on what they spend. if you're going out and you're buying a brand new mercedes, i don't care what kind of job you have, you can afford to pay the tax. if you're driving a used ford, i don't care how much money you earn, you're plowing that money back into the economy instead of taking it out. this is what we see. who benefits from tax loopholes? the bottom 20%, mr. speaker, get next to nothing from tax loopholes. the bottom 40%, mr. speaker, you see get next to nothing from tax loopholes. the bottom 60%, the bottom 80% get next to nothing in terms of tax loopholes. the top 20%, mr. speaker, th

the nra members say close the gun show loophole and the terrorist loophole. the nra say hell know.esent the members. they don't represent the citizens. they represent the gun manufacturers who make $6 billion who want that money to keep flowing in and flowing in to them. do you think the nra doesn't know that some of these guns like in the fast and the furious program, the real fast and the furious program where our atf tried to shut down the guns being sold in arizona to mexican dug cartels? who pushed those laws, the nra. do you think they don't know that those guns sold in arizona go right across the board into the hands of the mexican drug cartel? of course they know. they love it. they profit off of terrorists buying the guns, the mexican drug cartel buying the guns. they make money any way you slice it. in the next mass shooting, it was a lone nut job, an atheist i'll tell you, what is those who are making bills billions selling those guns for weaponry, sometimes to killers drug cartel, that's atrocious. that's reality. when we come back, speaking of atrocious. boy scouts hav

but they are very vague, deliberately so, on how they pay for it and what loopholes they will close. >> we will talk about medicare and social security and the fight for the senior vote. >> you know, the president, i'm told, is talking about medicare today. what i don't think he will be telling people is that the president took $716 billion from the medicare program, raided it to pay for obamacare. >> you hear about that number in line. for years on this program we have criticized elected officials from washington, evan especially, for their cowardice in shying away from the towethid rail of american politics. give this man credit, he has jumped on it. what do you think, mark? >> paul ryan is in and area were key is going to lose. he will make the election about medicare, and which party is more committed to strengthening medicare. the democrats by every measure of opinion when that debate 2-1 by 25 points. paul ryan, who talks about -- it is unsustainable, evan is absolutely right. we spent $540 billion last year. that number is going on. it has to be addressed, no question about it

-- whatever you want to call them -- these tax increases or these tax loopholes that you want to -- >> special deals. >> special deals for people, are there enough of those to balance out the cuts that would have to take place to bring democrats on board? >> in four months, there are plenty of them. there's $1.2 trillion a year we give away in deductions and exemptions, but here's the bottom line. the construct of sequestration is if politicians fail to do their job in the super committee, the plan was to destroy the military. we got this wrong. we should fire the politicians, keep the soldiers. so i believe the american people are going to be outraged when they hear what comes the military's way because we couldn't get our act together in cutting $1.2 trillion over a decade. >> our talking about a four-month deal. >> mm-hmm. >> do you have any reason to believe that the white house would be on board with it? i know you've talked to the vice president recently. >> if they watch cnn, and i'm sure they do, join us, send a representative from the president's office to engage the senato

and closing loopholes. but he doesn't say which loopholes because a lot of those loopholes are very popular, like the home mortgage deduction, the charitable did he tuck shun. so he is treating this just the way he is his tax returns. it's as though if he releases any details that would be worse than taking the heat for concealing them. >> let's see makes a difference. hollywood calling. >> clint eastwood, movie star and oscar winning director, has gone ahead and made mitt romney's day. eastwood is publicly backing a so said eastwood at a romney fund-raiser in california last week. six months ago eastwood was featured in a chrysler ad broadcast during the super bowl. >> people of detroit know there's something about this. they almost lost everything. but we all pulled together. now motor city is fighting again. >> mr. eastwood says the ad was about job growth, and the spirit of america, not an endorsement of president obama. >> question. is oprah's 2008 endorsement of obama the equivalent of clint eastwood'

>> i think about $22 billion. 1/3 from revenue, no tax increases, close the loopholes, and we can find them, 1/3 spending cuts to other parts of the government, 1/3 mandatory. get it done. mr. president, we need your help. you're the commander in chief. your secretary of defense says this is a navy without ships. a brigade without bullets. an air force without trained pilots. don't send a signal to iran and syria and the rest of the world that we're going to disarm. don't use the tax cuts. here's what omb director ziesz said. the only reason we don't have a deal so sequestration is because republicans won't ask the 2% to give their fair share. this idea of holding the defense department hostage to the tax debate makes me sick to my stomach. knock it off. find a way to avoid sequestration. let the next congress and the new president fix this, give them a little breathing room. >> i need a two-word answer from you, and that is what vice presidential pick would best help mitt romney? >> you know, i think pawlenty and portman are in the hunt. one last thing. you didn't ask me about harry r

the one thing they keep dancing around is loophole closing, because a lot of those loopholes benefit middle-class people -- market >>. deductions -- mortgage deductions, charitable deductions, and it has to be at some point honestly addressed. >> i have done so much cleaning up to do here i don't know where to start. >> give them and our room. > -- give that the man of our room. >> darwinism? give me a break. the budget he proposed, which was spoken of by erskine bowles, who you all know and like, the chief of staff to clinton, he said it was an excellent start. he has disagreements on details. in the medicare plan that paul ryan has come up with with ron wyden of oregon was agreed to by the bipartisan committee appointed by president clinton, late 1990's, on which alice rivlin, clinton's omb director, sat. it is the same idea of premium support. all of these attempts to say that it is a return to darwinism is simply complete hyperbole and exaggeration. >> joe biden's mouth got him into a lot of trouble again. >> he is going to let the big banks write their own rules. unchain wall st