>> so i think it was a genuine enthusiasm by tom coburn and mike crapo, the idea scrubbing the deck, broadening the base, dramatically slowing the rates, and generating economic growth, that overtime would allow us to stave off future rate increases and maybe eventually cut taxes further. >> donald, is it your sense that we can sort of productively look at tax expenditures and address them in this same way? >> i think in general, yes. i think we need at some point to draw distinctions come as rudy was saying, people have different reactions. this is one of these topics were depending on the audience and the mood of the speaker, you can characterize it in different ways. when i want to be a little more risky about i call them tax breaks. and i want to be risky i called him loopholes and special interest positions. when i want to be honest i refer to them as the mortgage interest deduction come and charitable deduction and the state and local tax deduction. [laughter] >> then there are a set of issues about some of these things do look like spending programs run through the tax code. t

nuclear energy to the finish line as part of the future of america's energy supply, along with mike crapo, jim risch, lamar alexander and others. i also recall the passage of the landmark pro-i.p. bill, a bill to protect our intellectual property. by the way, the last bastion of our competitive -- global competitiveness. it was a multiyear process that wouldn't have succeeded without the work of the business community and my friend evan bayh who i first met when we were governors of neighboring states. as many of you know, i have been an ardent champion for my brothers and sisters in eastern europe, the baltic states and the countries of the former yugoslavia. as such, i am proud to have led the effort to expand nato and increase membership in the visa waiver program. these two accomplishments would not have happened without the bipartisan leadership of dick lugar and joe biden on the senate foreign relations committee and the help of joe lieberman and susan collins on the homeland security and government affairs committee. i pray that the bipartisanship that i have witnessed and enjoyed

responsibility and reforc supported the recommendations of the chairman, and putting tom, coburn, mike crapo, judd gregg, kent conrad and dick durbin. as far as i'm concerned, they are true patriots. they are true patriots. as our colleague tom coburn said just before the commission voter the time for action is now. wai we cunan't afford to wait for te next election to begin this process. my before the skyrocketing cause our national debt to triple attacks or to double, our economy may collapse under this burden.we arer we are already near precipice. in the near future we could understand a collapse in value e per dollar, hyperinflation or dw other consequences that would force congress to face a setre t choices far more painful than those proposed in this plan, and the quote. so here we are in a situations where we are on an unsustainable fiscal quarters, caused byy explosive and unchecked growth in spending and entitlement obligations without funding. an we've got an outdated tax code that does not sufficiently encourage savings of economic growth. a skyrocketing national debt that puts ou

. >> mike crapo and tom coburn announced they will vote in favor of the report released wednesday by the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform. the plan cuts the deficit by almost $4 trillion over the next decade. 14 of the 18 commission members need to vote in favor of the vote for it to be especially -- officially endorsed by the group. >> everybody ready? all right. tom and i have put out a statement which i think you all should have now, and we are both going make brief remarks. our purpose are being had to do is to announce that we are going to support the debt commission report and encourage its adoption by congress. as we stayed in our announcement, our debt crisis is a threat not to our way of life, but to our national survival. and the threat we face is so real and so close that we do not have further time for gridlock or inaction. if necessary that we take strong, aggressive action now. in the near future if we take no action we can see it collapse and the value of the dollar, hyperinflation or other consequences that would force congress in this country t

senator gregg, tom coburn, mike crapo, senator dick durbin of illinois. opposing the commission proposal will be paul ryan, and dave camp, democrat of missouri, and the stern, and another. we still do not know about some of the other congressmen. here is a treat. -- tweet. we are talking about the proposals to address the nation's debt and deficit. we have our next caller from montana. caller: i am in the extreme western end of the state. thanks for taking my call. i have a question. since america is no longer on the gold standard, why don't we take the gold and pay down the national debt in fort knox? we are sacrificing our economy. i hear this talk about the jobs. you sent them all overseas. all of our manufacturing base has gone overseas. we are not consumers but customers. when they realize that we are customers, maybe things will change. spendthrift, wasteful, but we are not consumers. i object to being called that. host: here is some of the reporting in today's papers about the commission. here is a front-page story from a boston newspaper. also in

when you have a strong conservative like tom coburn and mike crapo and others joining with dick durbin to sign on to a proposal that you just read some have aelementals of, you new kind of conversation. >> democrats have to appear tough on defense in political season. is it conceivable that you have republicans who go along with your kind of proposal? >> a lot would say is, because i think alice and bob framed it well, the specifics matter. you need to ask, if defense is part of the plan is to do something like i have tried to outline, are those risks acceptable? are the ones we should be willing to run or not? another example would be, can we keep the national security industrial base, the defense sector, healthy with a 10% at smaller budget? people have to wrestle with those issues and see the implications of these kinds of alternative plans. if they feel comfortable with them, then i think it is possible. maybe this is a naive thought, but i think the substance matters. people have to digest a bit of the detail, not at the nitty gritty defense planning level but at a strategic level

while we wait for the senate to return, republican senators mike crapo and tom coburn announced they will vote in favor of the report released wednesday by the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform. the plan cuts the deficit by only 4 trillion over the coming decade. fourteen of the 18 commission members need to vote in favor of the report for it to be officially endorsed by the group. >> everybody ready? already. tom and i have put out a statement, which i think you all should have now and we are both going to make brief remarks. the purpose for being here is to announce that we are going to support the commission report and encourage its adoption by congress. as we state and our announcement, our debt crisis is a threat not just our way of life, but to our national survival. and the threat that we face is so real and so close that we do not have further time for gridlock or inaction. it is necessary that we take strong aggressive action now. in the near future if we take no action, we can see a collapse in the dollar, hyperinflation are there consequences that wou

earlier republican senators mike crapo and tom coburn announced they will vote in favor of the report released wednesday by the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform. the plan cuts the deficit by almost 4 trillion over the coming decade. 14 of the 18 commission members need to vote in favor of the report for it to be officially endorsed by the group. >> everybody ready? all right. tom and i have put out a statement which i and you all should have now and we are both going to make brief remarks. the purpose for being here today is announce we are going to support the debt commission's report and encourage its adoption by congress. as we stayed in our announcement, our debt crisis is a threat not just to our way of life but our national survival, and the threat that we face is so real and so close that we do not have time for further grid lock or inaction. it's necessary that we take strong, aggressive action now. in the near future if we take no action, we could see a collapse in the value of the dollar, hyperinflation or other consequences that would force congress a

when you have a strong conservative like tom coburn and mike crapo and others joining with dick durbinposal that you just read some have aelementals of, you new kind of conversation. >> democrats have to appear tough on defense in political season. is it nceivabl that you have republicans who go along with your kind of proposal? >> a lot would say is, because i think alice and bob framed it well, the specifics matter. you need to ask, if defense is part of the plan is to do something like i have tried to outline, are those risks acceptable? are the ones we ould be willing to run or not? another example would be, can we keep the national security industrial base, the defense sector, healthy with a 10% at smaller budget? people have to wrestle with those issues and see the implications of these kinds of alternative plans. if they feel comfortable with them, then i think it is possible. maybe this is a naive thought, but i think the substance matters. people have to digest a bit of the detai not at the nitty itty defense planning level but at a strategic level of what the implications are

when you have a strong conservative like tom coburn and mike crapo and others joining with dick durbin to sign on to a proposal that you just read some have aelementals of, you new kind of conversation. >> democrats have to appear tough on defense in political season. is it conceivable that you have republicans who go along with your kind of proposal? >> a lot would say is, because i think alice and bob framed it well, the specifics matter. you need to ask, if defense is part of the plan is to do something like i have tried to outline, are those risks acceptable? are the ones we should be willing to run or not? another example would be, can we keep the national security industrial base, the defense sector, healthy with a 10% at smaller budget? people have to wrestle with those issues and see the implications of these kinds of alternative plans. if they feel comfortable with them, then i think it is possible. maybe this is a naive thought, but i think the substance matters. people have to digest a bit of the detail, not at the nitty gritty defense planning level but at a strategic level

earlier today republican senators tom coburn and mike crapo talk to reporters about the recommendation. this is about 25 minutes. >> everybody ready? alright, tom and i have put out a statement which i think you all should have now and we are both going to make reef remarks. our purpose for being here today to announce that we are going to support the debt commission report and encourage its adoption by congress. as we stated in our announcement, our debt crisis is a threat not just to our way of life but to our national survival. and the threat that we face is so real and so close that we do not have further time for gridlock or an action. it is necessary that we take strong, aggressive action now. in the near future if we take no action we could see a collapse in the value of the dollar, hyperinflation or other consequences that would force congress and this country to incur consequences and to take actions that are far more serious and far more painful than anything in this proposal. as painful as some of the provisions in this proposal are. i want to talk for just a moment about wh