and chairman max baucus and others democrats tore into the head of the government group overseeing the i mplementation of obamacare. and these are democrats questioning the senior on obamacare. >> mr. chairman, we have this kind of implementation we're not going to fulfill the goal what we said when we laboriously put together. >> and the affordable is based on the cost of the workers individual coverage not the cost of family coverage, so we're going to have millions of spouses and dependents in a kind of regulatory no-man's land. >> are you artificially raising the cost to all taxpayers by trying to lure people on to the exchange as opposed to giving them this option that is mandated by federal law implemented in 2014? >> no. >> you're sure of that? >> yes. >> so if this committee asked

. >> democrat max baucus chair of the senate finance committee told a local station back home the presidentrs some responsibility to fix this. >> the white house recommended it frankly. back if august of 2011. so now we are feeling the effects of it. i don't want to say the president solely is to blame. he is not. >> there is no sign of a deal. some officials say it's fait accompli that the cuts will kick in, or a couple weeks before they come together. >> bret: ed henry live on the north lawn. thanks. here is a minority opinion getting traction in d.c. what if the sequester isn't the end of the world? what if it's not a bad thing? chief political correspondent carl cameron looks at that argument. >> these cuths are not smart, not fair. >> six business days and counting to $85 billion in across-the-board federal spending reduction. defense faces 8% cut. other agencies have to reduce spending 5-6%. part of the $3.6 trillion federal budget for this year alone. the $85 billion sequester cut amount to a tiny slice. only 2.4%. since world war ii, government spending averaged 20% of the annual u.

mark begich in alaska, mark pryor in arkansas, mary landrieu, max baucus, kay hagan, and tim johnsonre all looking at potentially tough races in states mitt romney won as will the democrat who runs for jay rockefeller's seat in west virginia. nor is it a cake walk in the few blue states either. for example in iowa, minnesota where you have democrats running for the senate. conservatives see a big opportunity. they took a look at this front page story in the washington times today. quote, obama agenda is risky for red state democrats. guy cecil has good news for democrats. he pulled a rabbit, rather a donkey, out of his hat last year when the democrats gained seats. actually gained seats in a year that looked like a sure loser for democrats. that's his job, to pull off another miracle and hang onto the senate. maggie haberman is at politico, a senior politico reporter. this is important, although it's a year and a half off, people want to know how obama is going to make it. is he going to put points on the board, immigration reform, something on gun safety. he likes to talk about hims

. >> and max baucus, the finance committee chairman. >> and he spent a career basically attacking theman islands and tax havens and now for the president and m baucus to give mr. lew a pass, i suppose you could say now it's great news for the caymans off the hook politically. i think it ought to bother people that the standard has mr. obama said, gets pushed aside. >> in the phoniness of the kaymans issue and the phony outrage. what else have we learned about the-- what jack lew knows or thinks about taxes, finance, other things? >> well, a yes man, he believes in ethe president's policy eliminating deductions and raise taxes keep government spending. he doesn't support a skwes star, glass-steagall, this is the president's agenda. >> paul: why would we expect anything different? don't we expect that of the nominee. >> we expect that of this president which is to say usually treasury secretaries represent the american economy. this treasury secretary is going to represent the public sector, not the entire private economy and when he goes up there on capitol hill as mary suggests, he's

i think it's ironic and point out how ironic it is, max baucus of all people, the senate version of theacare was essentially called the baucus bill. he was patterning off massachusetts and the computers are not matching the archaic computers of the irs. how about figuring that out in advance. you go to these virtual universe and try to order a policy and it doesn't match with what the rest of the federal government is. that sounds like the postal service. >> because the expedia.com version of the exchanges, we're like, okay, i'm this age and blah blah. they're supposed to be linked up to social security and government agencies and this guy, the main backer is saying, they're archaic. how are you going to do it? why didn't we think of that in 2010. >> the cb. released a report that the subsidies to the exchanges are approximately 29% than they originally thought. that's as of right now. so, imagine what they're going to be a year from now. and where is the money coming from? >> there is a question whether some of these dems are trying to put distance between themselves and the law becaus

this morning the republican national committee emailed its supporters and introduced max baucus gavellings television station just yesterday. >> the white house recommended it, frankly, back in august of 2011, so now we're feeling the effects of it. i don't want to say the president is solely to blame. he is not. it's basically the president and the speaker who put together this deal. >> michael: sorry reince preibus, but to us it sounds like speaker baner is also involved. i guess the rnc figures their audience tunes out after ten seconds. a polling survey shows baucus in trouble among democratic voters in his state. he leads 54-35. between the sequester cuts and the gun safety debate firefighters and police officers are becoming common place at the white house for political purposes. i'm happy to report that is not the case with this story. today the vice president biden awarded the medal of valor to 18 distinguished men and women. four of the resipingents died in the line of duty. >> thank god for you. you are from different backgrounds but you are the glue that binds commune teas

. >> max baucus asked lew about investing in a fund based in well-known tax haven. >> why is the investthe cayman islands? >> i don't know why it was organized. i was not involved setting up the fund. >> did you pay taxes on that investment? >> i reported all income related to the investment on my tax forms. paid my taxes. >> lou lou lost money on the investment -- lew lost money on the investment. but they attacked him for sheltering of money in the caymans. >> on the second term priority, key republican said president obama must lead. >> to me if you get economic growth you get revenue. >> jeff sessions are angry about lew's testimony in 2011 when he served as budget director. >> senator, i think it's accurate statement that the current spending will not be increasing the debt. we have sat spending money we don't have. we can't wish the national debt away. >> sessions is so mad he sent a letter to colleagues. it might not be enough to stop the nomination in the committee but it could lead to fireworks on the senate floor. bret? >> bret: we will follow that. mike emanuel live on the hi

was about to say during that interview, before that piece petered out there at the end there, max baucusequester, so the republican party was e-mailing that out to reporters earlier today. but when pressed on this issue, wolf and kate, the white house has basically said that the congress should adopt what the senate democrats proposed last week, and that is basically a package that includes a lot of spending cut, but also some tax increases. that is something that the republicans have set up on capitol hill is a nonstarter and i asked a top gop aide earlier this afternoon whether or not there's been any new outreach from the white house, some kind of outreach to prevent this sequester from taking effect, and that top aide told me, wolf, there's been no old outreach, no new outreach, quote, no anything. so we're still heading towards the end of next week when these sequester cuts take effect, wolf. >> nine days to go. jim acosta at the white house, thank you. >>> so it looks like former democratic congressman jesse jackson jr. will have to do prison time. today both jackson and his wife p

. >> reporter: chairman max baucus asked about investing in a fund in a well-known tax haven. >> whythe investment in the cayman islands. >> senator, i don't know why it was organized. i was not involved in setting up the fund. >> did you pay taxes on the investment? >> i reported all income related to the investment on my tax forms. i paid all the taxes. >>>> he lost money on the investment, and nevertheless, the obama am cane attacked mitt romney for investments and shelters money. lew urged congress to stop the sequester suggesting cuts pose self-inflicted wounds to the economy. on a second term priority, one said president obama must lead. >> i hear the president talking about raising revenue through tax reform. to me, if you get economic growth, it's new revenue, but the old-fashioned way. that ought to be the goal. >> conservatives like jeff sessions are angry about lew's testimony in 2011 as budget director. >> senator, i think it's an accurate statement our current spending will not increase the debt. we stopped spends money that we don't have. we just can't wish the debt awa

. >> sean: first of all, it was max baucus and bob woodward that said that the president requested the sequester point one. point two my question to you is simple. barack obama because you said what he said isn't-- >> and by the republican party, sequester is a provision of the-- >> congressman, relax. >> the republicans are responsible for the. >> sean: rah, rah, rah, i've got it i know you're a broken record. let me get you my question. >> you're a broken record. >> sean: here is my question. barack obama said in 2008 when he was running for office that george bush was irresponsible and unpatriotic for when he became president we had 10 trillion dollars in debt. >> you want to ask me about-- >> we now have 16 trillion. and 16 trillion in debt, congressman. >> i'm had here to speak myself. you want to talk about-- okay. >> sean: i want to ask you, here is my question. >> i've got an answer for snu go ahead. >> you want to talk about the 16 trillion, let's close loopholes on large corporations and say that yachts and jets should not be something you can write off. say that exxon-mobile

. >> first of all it was max baucus and bob woodward who requested the sequester. point one., my question to you is very simple. barack obama you said what he said was-- >> here is my question, here is my question. >> by the republican party. >> sean: congressman. >> sequester was a republican-- the republicans are responsible for the-- >> rah, rah, rah, i know you're a broken record. let me give you my question. >> you're a broken record. >> sean: that was part of my heated exchange with congressman keith ellison on the program rlast night. and getting attention on the blogosphere. and he ranted and at times incoherent when i asked him about the looming sequester and pressed him on the president's role in the growing debt crisis that's when he started grasping at straws. take a look at this. >> is it immoral to-- >> you are immoral. >> sean: for 16 1/2-- i'm immoral, what did i do that's immoral? i didn't do anything that's immoral. >> you say things that aren't true. >> sean: give me one example, sir. >> well, to try to say that it is -- that it is the president's fault, th

the floor as an amendment to whatever comes out of the judiciary committee because people like max baucuss up in 2014, maybe people like michael bennett -- i don't want to put, but some of the red or purple state senators from pro-gun states want the opportunity. think mark warner in virginia. to vote against a gun control measure. so that they have some credibility in their eyes to tell voters i'm pro-gun. i'm just for the background check. >> cafeteria options. >> on foreign policy, we have a new secretary of state taking over today just as veep biden in his meetings with french president hollande in paris talk about the possibility of one-on-one bilateral talks with iran. let's take a look at what joe biden had to say. >> when and if the supreme leader and the iranians are prepared to discuss the essence of what is at the core of these embargoes, we're prepared to discuss. we're prepared to meet with them individually. >> iran, of course, a big topic in the chuck hagel confirmation hearings. a big source of dispute and wig conversations and negotiation with israel. john kerry over the

max baucus, mark, kay hagen, mary landrieu, and mark pryor.you talking to them about specific measures in trying to get them to really stand up for some of the safety measures? >> we just had several families who lost loved ones in newtown, connecticut, down here on capitol hill yesterday, and we took them around to every one of the offices you mentioned to meet with the members of time possible, if not with all of their stats, to talk about -- to put a human face to this, to no longer make it about statistics or data, which we do have, but to put a real human face, to understand the realities of this decision making process and what the implications are if certain votes go certain ways. this is a really life or death issue. you know, we want to take the voice of the american people and close that gap between what our elected officials are doing for us and we basically have to fundamentally change that paradigm and we're seeing it change now that they can make a vote for our public safety. they can make a vote on sensible gun policy, and we'll

kentucky, the republican leader in the senate, republican orrin hatch of utah, and democratic senator max baucus of montana. all cited by "the new york times" as suspects in that mysterious migration of half a billion dollars from taxpayers over to the bottom line of drug companies, especially the pharmaceutical giant amgen. would it surprise you to learn that over the past five years, amgen has been one of the top ten donors to mcconnell, baucus, and hatch? as for our president -- by attending a fundraiser on the average of every 60 hours during his bid for a second term, he once again broke the record for bringing home the bacon. although the money power that controls congress could thwart everything obama proposed in his state of the union address, there was not a single word in that speech about taming the power of private money over public policy. and so it goes. the golden rule of politics. he who has the gold, rules. can we do anything about it? my two guests think we can. they say that if anybody should own the politicians, we the people should. dan cantor is a former community and union

let's see, bob woodward, max baucus and go back to 2011, juan williams, and listen to the president speakingn what he now views in apocalyptic terms and he supported it. watch. >> already some in congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. my message to them is simple, no i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off rams on this one. >> i will veto, no easy off ramps and now if it happens, the world is going to come tumbling down. juan williams? >> well, the president wants a deal. he wants someone to negotiate with him. >> that's not what he said there. >> he wants speaker boehner. >> he said no easy off ramps and the reason that sequester was put in place and that republicans voted for him was 174-90 in the house. >> the president. >> republicans, republicans and democrats. >> true or false-- >> what was the question? >> the president proposed the deal. >> yeah, i think it came out of the white house and i think that jake and the president said, let's do this. speaker boehner said he got 98% of a

>> yeah, i think that max baucus and david kamp are working. as ours can says, to try to do something. and they know what to do. but the heat is on. i mean, you know, tax reform, mess around with mortgage interest deduction or earned income tax credit, blue cross blue shield, oil and gas, i mean, play the game. 180 of those babies out there, and they are solidly in the grasp of somebody who's going to go to their congressperson, this trip around, maxed out in every primary and do come to them this year and say we have never asked you for a thing. but hell, we are here to ask you -- but we are here to ask you don't let this happen. it took us years to get that into the tax code, and if you let that out, for all we've done for you, boy, that's where the hammer is coming this year. >> mr. boulton on the front page of the financial times there's a headline that says employers size up to avoid insurance to under obamacare. large employers, their tech laden whether it makes more sense to pay the fines and what it would cost to insure their employees.

and the democrats, would you encourage him to expose people like mark pryor down in arkansas and max baucusn montana? would you ask them to vote on an assault weapons ban? >> i think harry reid will give them the same advice i give them in private which is when you agree with the president, you should say so. and when you disagree with the president -- >> don't buckle from pressure from the white house. >> we have seen mark pryor has come out in opposition. i suspect you will see a couple others, but i would just juxtapose that against what's happening on the other side. the reason we're starting in the senate first is because john boehner and the leaders on the house side can't get anything done. they can't get a majority of their own party to support the speaker's own -- >> do you realize how their strategy could work. you and the senate will be the first cut. you are the first guys going over the top in world war 1 blowing the whistles, cutting through the con ser tina wire. you guys could get mowed down. i'm thinking about pryor, begich, landrieu, haguen, tim johnson. they all have to v

especially senate democrats up, will mary landrieu, max baucus, will they support a weapons ban. one of the reasons you talk to the american people outside of washington is when you have issues changing votes inside washington. will he be pushing the gun issue, six months, nine month, 12 months from now? >> i think he's going to end up taking half a loaf, i think. >> half a loaf? >> yeah. >> what does that mean? >> half a loaf on guns means that he'll accept universal background checks. >> he won't get -- >> he already had those. >> he'll take that. and he may not get the high capacity magazine proposal that he wants. but the question is what is the president going to be willing to compromise on, what is he not willing to compromise on? and my big question this evening was the president was trying to be part of a grand bargain on entitlements. let's see what he says tonight about whether that is stoinl table. >> he was going to try to speak to everybody trying to heal. in the second term he appears to have gone a different direction. in the inaugural address, he's being much more

. >> yes, i do, first of all, it was max baucus and it was boob woodward that said that the presidentthe sequester point one. point number two my question to you is very simple. barack obama, you said what he said is a-- >> here is my question, here is my question. >> by the republican party sequester is a provision of the republican party. >> the rah, rah, rah, i got it, you know, i know you're a broken record, now let me give you my question. >> you're a broken record. >> is it immoral, is it immoral-- >> you are immoral. >> i'm immoral? what did i do that's immoral? i didn't do anything immoral. >> you say things that aren't true. >> give me one example, sir. >> well, to try to say that it is the president's fault, that he is to blame is wrong and it's a lie. >> it's not his fault that we have 16 trillion in debt? >> wow, joining me now monica crowley, radio talk show host, and a democratic political strategist to served as an aide to former governor james mcgreevey, both are fox news contributors. representative ellison clearly came ready for a fight and didn't have to go on. it w

the white house is still scarred from the dramatic experience of watching max baucus spend months hagglingh olympia snowe in a room in a senatet office building and also derailed health care reform. that is the only thing that allowed it to drag out over the summer and the tea party started attacking at all the town hauls. the next thing you know scott brown wins the senate race. they think in hind sight that they should have done it much quicker and the republicans dragged it out. they don't see the point in replaying that months long negotiation. it is like we have been debating this since 2001 literally pretty steadily. everybody knows where everybody stands so let's have a vote on it. >> i want to play what john mccain said this morning. >> leaks don't happen in washington by accident. this raises the question that many of us continue to wonder about. does the president really want a result or does he want another cadgeal to beat up republicans to get political advantage in the next election. >> who and/or what do you believe is behind the leak? >> it is interesting what senator mccain

project, senator max baucus from montana. my friend from montana has said over and over again that the same thing t that all of us know and that is that keystone is about problems and that every day we delay the keystone pipeline is another day we delay creating american jobs. and so i want to thank not only senator baucus but all of the senators who have joined us here today. again, senator landrieu from louisiana; senator cornyn from texas; senator boozman from arkansas; senator manchin from west virginia; senator barrasso from wyoming; senator begich from alaska; and as you've just heard, senator murkowski from alaska. we've made the environmental case. the environmental case is stronger with the pipeline project than without it. every single state on the route is supporting the project. and i think, as senator murkowski so well concluded for us, it is about energy, it is about jobs, it is about tax revenue that we need to close the deficit and address the debt without raising taxes. it is about energy independence and ene

conservative democrats who are up for re-election in 2014, senators like mark baggage of alaska, max baucusntana. that's going to be the hardest sell. universal background checks i think is where the consensus is building, although the senate judiciary hearing on tuesday or wednesday, one of the things that happened was that the national rifle association said that is not something that they can get behind. so you know, they're definitely going to be scoring those votes. i think it's going to be a harder sell than maybe folks originally thought when it comes to universal background checks. >> let's take a look at what's happening in massachusetts. lauren, scott scott brown saying he's not going to run for the senate seat opened up by john kerry. wasn't that the best hope republicans had to get that seat? >> a poll came out showing he had a slight lead on the democrat's candidate, ed marquee. i think he really was one of the best shots they had. a senate seat has not been held by a democrat in the state of massachusetts before scott brown before 1972. so this definitely has a long history of