and lori montgomery of the "washington post." we thank you both. lori montgomery, we heard that the talks just wrped up about 15 minutes till 6:00. so what do you know about where things stand? >> well, i think where things stand are pretty much where they stood earlier with mitch mcconnell and harry reid trying to develop a fallback strategy in the event that these talks do not lead to a compromise of some sort. i think what was expected at the talks tonight, i have not yet heard a report, was that the two sides were headed towards a final meeting in the morning. and an agreement that it was time to perhaps start looking at other alternatives. >> in other words, they haven't accomplished anything in these discussions? >> well, i'm not sure that's true. i mean the biden talks earlier in the month, the spring reached -- developed a consensus around a certain package of cuts. and i think that that consensus is forming the basis for you know where this might go as leader reid attempts to add spending cuts to the mcconnell package. so you can't say not

lori montgomery from "the washington post." thank you both. leaders come up with plans that can pass both houses, are esolve the crisis and what is the political fallout then? first to you, bob, do you think that the house democrats and the senate can craft something that involves john boehner's two-step approach that could actually get through and get the president out of this mess? >> i'm not sure and i think anybody who predicts what the ultimate outcome of this is is a very brave person. the markets clearly from the reaction today think that in the end something will be cobbled together. what happened here is john boehner the speaker was reduced in some ways to being a kind of reluctant ventriloquist for the tea party because he was on the verge of a historicç deal with the president. both sides were having to give up things they didn't want to give up. he was forced to back away from that. i think the reason we'll probably get to a deal is baa he and mcconnell feared huge political repercussions of not making a deal. the president now ap

host: lori montgomery, thank you for the update on the debt ceiling and budget talks that are happening over capitol hill and all over washingtonl. ori montgomery is a reporter for "the washington post." democrats only for the first hour or so. the numbers are on the bottom of your screen. do you approve of president obama's handling of the debt talks? allow 30 days between your calls. tweet orlso send us saa an e-mail. you can go on facebook and continue the conversation there. the question is there just as it is written on your tv. you can make a comment and we will be reading some of those comments. we begin with a call from maryland. hi. how is the president doing as far as you are concerned? caller: i think he is doing the best that he can. he does not have the support from the republican party. i am 82. this is my first time calling. host: welcome. caller: i am making the bed every morning and watching you all. i get $611 per month and i can barely live off of it. host: are you worried about not getting a check in august? caller: yes, i am. i cannot pay my rent. if i do not get my

. >> lori montgomery it's been an italian themed menu this week on capitol hill.za last night, spa getty for lunch. all good thins. maybe the only good thing out of the hill. >>> and this week nbc's brian williams takes us behind the scenes with unprecedented action to all the players in the debt showdown. as president obama said today he wants a compromise. what does majority leader reid really think about mitch mcconnell? >> how do you get along with mitch mcconnell? >> mitch and i are friends. we talk every day. i consider him a fine man. he's a good saturday. he and i have a different political philosophy. we both believe the country needs some help and we're trying to do that. it's not easy. we have two distinct caucuses. but the problem is not mitch mcconnell. >> it's skonk as you have never seen it. trust me. don't miss the "dateline" special. taking the hill inside congress this sunday 7:00 eastern. you're watching "andrea mitchell you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal com

lori montgomery. >> i wanted to ask about the two trains that seem to be rolling down the track down the hill. leader mcconnell has laid out an elaborate plan to raise the debt limit. he says it will be paired with the new committee that would be tasked with coming up with the big solution you talked about by the end of the year. your comment on that proposal. meanwhile in the house, you are saying we can be flexible in our demands of we could get a balanced amendment. is there any way that could be part of a solution? >> first of all, bba means a balanced budget amendment. i think i already addressed this question earlier. constitutional amendment to do our jobs. the constitution already tells us to do our jobs and make sure that the government is living within its means and making responsible choices. this notion that we are going to go over a multi-year process instead of seizing the moment now and taking care problems is a typical washington response. we don't need more studies. budgett need a balanced amendment. we simply need to make these tough choices and be willing to take o

i wantto turn towo other experts we have here, lori montgomery, thchief econic poli reporter for the "washington post" who's been following this day and night and juliana goldman, bloomberg news white house correspondent. laurie do you see any reason for opt name they'll come up with a $4 or $5le from deal? >> it's a murky picture. speaker boehne came out of the white house sounding optimistic. he went and talked to senate republicans and indicated that a deal if it's going to happen is likely to emerge within the next 24 to 48 hours and we'll know very quickly whether or not a deal will happen. but, boy, you talk to some of these other factions in the capitol and it is hard to find anybody who sees how this is going to all coasce. >> hunt: y had a story today that said that they were putting... the white house was willing to consider social security, medicare, and other things. big pushbackrom the white house on that. is it just because you revealed something they didn't want reveald? >> well, i think they... i don't think that they've found anything inaccurate and th story. >> hunt

it says -- host: joining us on the phone is lori montgomery from "the washington post." where are the two sides right now? what are the chances of even a short-term deal getting through the house? guest: [laughter] i think that is anybody's guess at this point. it's hard to see how the two sides come together. we're all waiting to see what the contingency plan is that mitch mcconnell suggested that he had up his sleeve on sunday. host: do we have any details on that? guest: not a clue. this is playing out much as they have suggested that it might. the grand bargain is not flying. senate republicans along with democrats, frankly, who have said for several days that we are turning to the biden talks and that's not such an easy solution -- host: are you talking about the mini-deal? guest: no. the medium-sized deal, aiming for about $2.5 trillion in cuts. that would get you through the election. biden is enough to solve the problem and avert the crisis through the election. in the biden talks, they had not gotten to $2.5 trillion. cantor is trying to argue that we were reall

lori montgomery. >> thank you, mr. president.you about the two trains that seem to be rolling down the tracks on the hill. specifically, leader mcconnell has laid out an elaborate plan to raise the debt limit. he said last night that it looks like they are going to pair that with a new committee that would be tasked with coming up with the big solution that you talk about by the end of the year. your comment on that proposal. meanwhile, in the house, they are saying well, we could be flexible on some of our demands if we could get a balanced budget on the amendment and know vice president biden voted for a bba in 1997. is there way that could be part of a solution? is there any version of a bba that you would support? >> first of all, for the consumption of the general public bba meaning a balanced budget amendment. i think i already addressed this question earlier. we don't need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs. the constitution tells us to do our jobs. and to make sure that the government is living within its means and

lori montgomery is an economic policy reporter for "the washington post" and has been deeply involved in the coverage. a front-page story for the paper. your story contains some reporting about meetings that reporters were not privy to, discussions. what can you tell us about what is going on behind the scenes. what -- guest: what happened is how speaker boehner came over to the senate to brief republicans there. along with obama, boehner has become somewhat of a cheerleader for this grand bargain. our understanding there were no details discussed at the white house meeting yesterday. what seems to be on the table is the concept of a grand bargain. the idea of it. if people can wrap their heads around that and agree, i think they will still have to begin the hard work of cobbling it together. host: what do you know about the mechanics of the dealmaking between now and sunday when the president calls people back to the white house? guest: the white house staff are meeting with boehner's staff and they say they are also meeting with aides to mcconnell, senate minority leader, and democr

this is lori montgomery and paul kane reporting. we will get to your calls in just a few seconds.gain, republicans only. first, we want to check in with russell berman of the "the hill" to get the latest update on the talks between the president and congressional leaders and whether any progress is being made toward that deal. russell berman, welcome to the "washington journal." you have the headline here, boehner, a big deal no longer operative. he told house republicans on tuesday -- between what speaker boehner is saying and what minority leader mitch mcconnell is saying, where are the negotiations at this point? guest: the prevailing milled -- mood is pessimism. the negotiations now that the congressional leaders have gone to the white house for three straight days, the of not made a whole lot of progress. each side has retrenched. ideologically, the democrats are leery of making any cuts or changes to entitlement programs without some revenue increases, tax increases. and republicans have been consistently opposed to anything that smacks of tax increases. so you had the mccon

lori montgomery. >> i wanted to ask about the two trains that seem to be rolling down the track down the hill. leader mcconnell has laid out an elaborate plan to raise the debt limit. he says it will be paired with the new committee that would be tasked with coming up with the big solution you talked about by the end of the year. your comment on that proposal. meanwhile in the house, you are -- they are saying we can be flexible in our demands of we could get a balanced amendment. is there any way that could be part of a solution? >> first of all, bba means a balanced budget amendment. i think i already addressed this question earlier. we don't need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs. the constitution already tells us to do our jobs and make sure that the government is living within its means and making responsible choices. this notion that we are going to go over a multi-year process instead of seizing the moment now and taking care problems is a typical washington response. we don't need more studies. budgett need a balanced amendment. we simply need to make these tough choi

this article by lori montgomery in "the washington post" on may 1 indicated the fundamental reasons that instead of paying off the debt, we have a debt that is mushrooming. this one paragraph says it all. the biggest culprit by far has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts. together, the economy and the tax bills enacted under former president george w. bush and to a lesser extent by president obama wiped out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. that's nearly half of the the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt. federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years. the point that i just made. so, mr. president, when democrats on the senate budget committee approached this problem, we looked at it in historical perspective. now did we get into this problem? half of it is on the revenue side. and so we chose to deal with a solution that deals on both sides of the ledger. yes, to cut spending. absolutely that must be done. but we also cut so-called tax expenditur

this article by lori montgomery in "the washington post" on may 1 indicated the fundamental reasons that instead of paying off the debt, we have a debt that is mushrooming. this one paragraph says it all. the biggest culprit by far has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts. together, the economy and the tax bills enacted under former president george w. bush and to a lesser extent by president obama wiped out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. that's nearly half of the the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt. federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years. the point that i just made. so, mr. president, when democrats on the senate budget committee approached this problem, we looked at it in historical perspective. now did we get into this problem? half of it is on the revenue side. and so we chose to deal with a solution that deals on both sides of the ledger. yes, to cut spending. absolutely that must be done. but we also cut so-called tax expenditur