mr. boehner. it tells you, though, how they're doing at governing. the other republican in the nation who may not be as important as john boehner, is mitt romney. the party's front-runner for the presidential nomination. and today, in the hopes that mitt romney's campaign will at least write me a stern letter disagreeing with me, i hope that you would forgive me if i tell you it's time to start testing another hypothesis. the hypothesis that mitt romney is also bad at his job. mitt romney's job, of course, is trying to get the nomination of his party so he can try to get elected president. again, i do not mean this as a slight against mr. romney. i'm just trying to assess whether or not he's good at what his job is right now. i think he might be bad at that job. this, for example, was the mitt romney's campaign's major event. this is billed as a major policy address though no new major policies were announced. this is what it looked like. the stadium is ford field, has a 65,000 seat capacity. it's where the detroit lions play. the campaign put mr. rom

mr. boehner's own conference." "the turmoil is the latest in a series of embarrassing errors for mr. boehner it was intended to be his signature legislative policy" the beltway report is problems have nothing to do with the minority democrats in the house, it's john boehner is bad at his job, he can't get his own side to agree to his own stuff. he is bad at his job. and that is the latest data in our ongoing now year-long test of the hypothesis that the most powerful elected republican official in the country is bad at that job. that i thinkism important are tant to understand about the republican party, not a slight against mr. boehner, it tells you how they are doing at governing. the other republican in the nation who may not be as important as john boehner, is mitt romney. hoping his campaign will write me a letter, i hope you would forgive me if i tell you it's time to test another hypothesis, that mitt romney is also bad at his job. mitt hromney's job is trying to get nomination trying to get elected president. i don't mean this as a slight i'm trying to assess whoo he's good at

mr. boehner -- >> well, let me add that part of the keystone pipeline that we are getting, the president has nothing to do with it. it does not require his approval to build the pipeline from the gulf, and we know that we want to be aggressive in moving ahead and we know it has been studied for four years and the nebraska issue has been solved and no reason to kree can yat tho-- re can't wait to create those jobs. >> and that is house speaker john boehner and minority leader john mcconnell, and one aide to speaker boehner telling the reporters that the speaker of the house and the congressional republicans remain hopeful that the democrats would finally consider republican discussions on job creation, and that is what was discussed in part at the white house today at a luncheon. and follow up by jay carney, the white hou white house aide. >> speaker boehner said he would be happy to work with the president on a true energy policy. your read out there, pretty upbeat, too, and was there a specific agenda that came out of the agenda that the american people can say that will likely be done?

mr. boehner implied this morning that he really wanted this voted on by friday.nd senate aides have implied they want to take it up shortly after. people want to clear this off their plates before the recess next week. for that to happen, it looks like it's going to be a very, very late night and it's not clear when we're going to see that paper. >> an update on the payroll tax cut discussions. shivon hughes with down jones news wires. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> you're listening to "washington today" on c-span radio. >> one freshman republican dennis ross from florida's 12th congressional district indicating he will not support this compromise being put forth by speaker of the house john boehner. we spoke with congressman ross in our last hour. >> i'm principally against it. i think it's disingenuous to the american public and hard-working taxpayers. it offers no real long-term relief. more importantly it takes $100 billion out of the social security trust fund that's already $2.5 trillion insolvent. we need to talk real tax reform. not this -- this

mr. boehner and mr. cantor have been wart with each other.uess that does really explain why nothing gets done. >> i heard some years ago a great philosopher, rodney out of california saying can we bull get along. i just simply want to get to work. i can give you a whole litany of why pots on both of their houses. i don't want to engage in relationships between members. i hope they get along and become friends. this may be a question about divided government. the 111th congress was one of the most productive congresss we had. we talked about issues whether than we were friends. we have the difficulty of passing of the payroll tax for working americans. working american who is are unemployed or engineers or doctors, lawyers, teachers, firefighters the, i think are well qualified to work. then we add insult to injury, i'm rushing to the floor to discuss budget amendments that are not a budget, about shortchanging so we can do taxes and not do revenue. isn't that a dream? i believe that divide government is now being put to the challenge. i belie

mr. boehner weighing in. we will talk about this iigor, and we bring back betsy.sy, let me begin with you, i want to ask, what i guess is a really dumb question since everyone is revolting against the bill. mcdonald's can get a waiver and 1470 states and corporation and unions can get waivers how in the world did the obama care not give the catholic church a waiver for a matter of conscious. >> no one should have to go to the white house to get a waiver in order to practice religion. it should not depend on the discretion at the executive branch, it should be in black in white that all religious institutions are exempt from this kind of interference. the framers of the conconstitution but it in the bill of rights. the government cannot enter fear with the practice of religion. >> this is what happens when individual free people, citizens and consumers lose their choice. for example, igor, i know you disagree. for example, let's take a catholic hospital and say the hospital doesn't want to offer health insurance that has the morning after drug and other contracepti

mr. boehner and the gop that wants to repeal roe versus wade and set women back.e would be much better off if we had a single pair health care system where the benefits would be available including contraception. >> i could not agree more so. that's not what we have. >> that's right. so the white house is doing the right thing here where it's acknowledging that we have to make certain that women who want access to contraceptives have it, and they try to work out an arrangement where that can be done without asking some bishops and prelates to violate what they regard is a doctrinal matter. >> peter welsh from vermont, thanks so much. coming up, dylan rhadigan takes his 30 million jobs tour to the lone star state. but first, courtney reagan has the cnbc market wrap. >> let's take a quick look how stocks are doing right now with the just about 15 minutes till the closing bell. positive territory across the board. though the that dow jones has been fighting to stay there all day long. the nasdaq, that tech heavy nasdaq doing the best of the bunch. that's it the from

mr. boehner and the rest of his group? guest: first of all, we will not have the same players. president bush had many strengths, but keeping spending down was not on his to do list. the purchase he took were driven by some of the interests that he had -- no child left behind -- not those of the republican house and senate. we have a dramatically different group of people in the republican party, in leadership. look around the country. chris christi, that is someone with decades of overspending and over pension promises and bankrupt pension system and a teachers union that spent time raising pension teachers dues and not teaching kids. bobby jindal in louisiana breaking through bureaucracy taking one of the most corrupt state in the nation and turning it around in very helpful ways. rick. texas tech $15 billion out of overspending in the last two- year budget moving forward. in pennsylvania, reducing spending not raising taxes in the last budget. scott walker and rick scott in wisconsin and florida reforming education, getting rid of the tenure system which says that you cannot

mr. boehner of ohio said, "we're prepared to act small businesses of the economy from the business of washington bureaucrats political gains." in other words, now, the republicans are prepared to extend the payroll tax cut without paying for it. it would be easier to take a shot at the speaker because he changed positions, but i won't. i remember this the week of celebrating abraham lincoln's birth, 203rd anniversary of his birth, and lincoln was criticized for changing positions on the issue. lincoln said, yes, i did change my position, but i'd rather be right some of the time than wrong all the time. i think speaker boehner is right. let us extend the payroll tax cut, but the last point, the extension of unemployment benefits is of equal value to the economy and of major value to those out of work. make sure if we get this done with the payroll tax cut, we don't give up on extending unemployment benefits, benefits that will allow people to get back to work. i want to see these blue lines growing, mr. president. i want to see us move in the right direction, creating jobs in america. if presiden

mr. john boehner and the rest of this group? host: grover norquist. guest: keeping spending down was not on his to do list. the no child left behind, not those of the republicans of the house and senate. there is a dramatically different group of people in the republican party in leadership, house senate and the governorship. if you look around the country, chris christie, decades of overspending and over pension promises and bankrupt pension systems, not educating kids in new jersey. he is wrestling with that. bobby jindal in the louisiana taking one of the most corrupt states in the nation and turning it around in very helpful ways. governor rick perry of texas took $15 billion out of overspending in the last two- year budget moving forward. the governor of pennsylvania reducing spending, not raising taxes in the last budget. scott walker and rick scott for that reform, reforming education, getting rid of the tenure system, which says you cannot fire teachers to do not teach and putting students and parents in the center, not the teachers' union in

mr. boehner has actually been able to break through both on the faa, which the senate will take up today,which it's been eight years since we've done a bill. we've had to do eight extensions. obama came in and killed the democrats' chance of passing a long-term bill. so we've had short-term employment. >> steve: regarding the faa bill, which i think would run for four years, it would create this bill that would run for four years, you really kind of tweak some unions and i know the united auto workers and the communication workers of america are upset because one of the provisions is until recently, it has called for 35% participation to vote on whether or not to unionize. you're going to up that to 50%. now the unions are steamed. >> that's true. you know, when obama packed the board, they changed the rules, 70 years of rules where you had to have 50% of the workers actually show up and vote. we weren't able to change that. the reduction, i should say, was lowered to whoever shows up. but we were able to put in this bill that we have 50% of the workers sign up to go to election. we have

mr. boehner voted for tarp. with that, i yield three minutes to my friend from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. how much time are you requesting? mr. andrews: three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. andrews: i thank my friend from new york for this opportunity. we got some welcome economic news last friday that companies added about a quarter of a million private sector jobs. it's long overdue and we hope and pray to it continues for many, many months to come. the country is coming back but we have a very long way to go. and i think one of the reasons that the country is coming back is that at the beginning of 2011, everybody learned a -- who earns a wage in this country got a fairy substantial tax cut so they'd buy more in the stores, maybe eat a little in restaurants and buy more goods and services. it and some other things, i think, started to work. the worst thing we could do

mr. boehner and also ms. pelosi to go read the national intelligence estimate on afghanistan that came out in december. if they would read it they would be better informed and better understand those of us who want to get out, and i had emailed the commandant of the marine corps that's been my advisor, he's retired now, and right before the burning of the koran in afghanistan, so one i'll share for the record, mr. speaker, happened -- the email happened before the burning of the koran. and i quote the general, attempting to find a true military and political answer to the problems in afghanistan would take decades, not years, and drain our nation of precious resources with the most precious being our sons and daughters. simply put, the united states cannot solve the afghan problem no matter how brave and determined our troops are. we need to bring our people home and prepare for the real danger that is growing in the pacific. mr. speaker, i read that today in the conference, as you know, mr. speaker, we only

mr. boehner to negotiate. as in before, if the civil rights movement had been called the tea party movement. host: i am not sure any of us understand your question. i apologize if this is not what you're asking, but bill tweets in -- guest: you can talk to the rev. peter cynne in south-central los angeles who runs the tea party there which is not 99% white, clearly, this and the demographics of the area. you can talk about the dinner i had. talk to the national director. he worked on the million man march. this idea that it has anything to do with race is just ridiculous. frankly, the tea party movement is not interested in race. they really do not think about the issue of race. it is about every american in every state. it is a post-racial movement. host: florida, gordon, tweets in -- guest: i was active in the republican party prior to the to party movement. we were very upset and frustrated. on a personal level, i can tell you that when the tarp bill passed, my husband and i had huge problems with it. he ha

mr. boehner of ohio, said we are prepared to act to protect small businesses and our economy from the consequences of washinon democrats'olitical games, close quote. in other words, now the publicans are prepared to extend the payroll tax cut without paying for it. it would be easy to take a shot at the speaker because he changed his position, but i won't. i remember this, the week of celebrating abraham lincoln's birth, 203rd anniversary of his birth. he was once criticized for changing his position on an issue. i ask consent for one additional minute. lincoln said i did change my position, but i'd rather be right some of the time than wrong all of the time. i think speaker boehner is right. the last point i will make, the extension of unemployment benefits, is of equal value to the economy and immeasurable value to those out of work who are struggling to find a job. make sure if we get this done on the payroll tax cut we don't give up on extending unemployment benefits, benefits that will allow people to get back to work. i want to see these blue lines growing, mr. president. i want to see us mo

mr. boehner, our speaker, and the leadership controlled by the democrats in the senate. and in fact, it is fair to labor because it does require a certain number of people to sign up to have the election. i think it's a good compromise. the house voted to do away with the provision that the gentleman spoke about. republicans are concerned and want to help labor. . the vice chair of our subcommittee, mr. cravaack, is a union card carrying member of the union. that's bogus. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i rise of course in support of the conference report of h.r. 658. to begin with i think i recognized our chairman gave accolades to all those he worked with and i think we owe accolades to him and his staff. the word transportation indicates travel and he's traveled all over this country to bring this bill together. i don't think he's turned anybody down that's asked him to come to help them with their area and give them due consideration. the committee on science, space, and technology w

mr. speaker. speaker boehner, leader pelosi. members of the oregon delegation, new colleagues from across this great country, friends and family. this afternoon i'm honored to accept the responsibility and opportunity to represent the people of northwest oregon and the united states congress -- in the united states congress. i want to start by thanking my family for your love, encouragement, patience and sacrifice. my husband, michael simon, my children, andrew and sara, thank you. . . and thank you also to my mother for giving me the first job in your small business and instilling in me the values i hold today. and thank you to all the individuals and organizations who stood by me and worked so hard over the past several months to help me reach this day. timely, and most importantly, to the people across the first congressional district of oregon, thank you for giving me this honor. it's great to be back in washington, d.c. i started my legal career here more than 27 years ago as a consumer protection attorney at the federal tr

i went to see speaker boehner today and he wasn't happy that i met obama. >> mr.i don't mean to cut you off, but thank you. it's always an honor to have you. >> the president of fa go. we'll have more. grandfather -- georgia. we'll i have unlike rdy. dolr for doar, nobody protects you like allstate.

mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comment. am i to take it, therefore, he disagree was speaker boehner when speaker boehner said a few days ago we are not making the claim that spending taxpayer money on transportation projects creates jobs. we don't like that claim. so this would not be a jobs bill from that standpoint, am i correct? mr. cantor: again, the gentleman, if he wants to play gotcha -- mr. hoyer: i want to figure out whether this is a jobs bill. mr. cantor: mr. speaker -- mr. hoyer: i yield. mr. cantor: the gentleman just heard what i said. we can create jobs if we open up the ability from our energy exploration. we can create jobs if we provide some certainty to the industries and the state agencies as well as the federal agencies that are involved in planning and in charting the course for infrastructure maintenance, repair, and expansion in this contry. growth requires infrastructure that is at topnotch. we know we are a far cry from that in this country. so the gentleman understands my point. growth comes from better infrastructure. growth comes from expanding the ability to explore our natural resources off o

boehner and majority leader eric cantor are in a private war with cantor constantly maneuvering people. even president obama joked about it. according to the white house release, the president quipped, "mraker, it's good to the see you at the head table. i know how badly eric cantor wanted your seat." boehner was asked about that relationship with cantor today. >> we are teammates and have been teammates. and i can tell you, i don't think there's been a disagreement between eric and i over the course of the last year. as you're clearly aware, there's been a couple of staff rumbles from time to time, but you know, that's to be expected when you're doing big things. >> joining us now is politico's editor in chief, john harris. you've got a story today in politico about this tense relationship. it's not a staff relationship, this is a relationship between the principles and everyone who is on that payroll tax call in the house caucus reported out of that that there was some noticeable friction. >> well, right, and my colleagues, jake sherman and john do have great story on politico this morning, detailing the efforts of the two sides to say, look, we've got to move past this, it's becoming

mr. president, as you know milkinguck mucking things up is what they do best starting with speaker of the house, john boehner. >> while we welcome the positive news today, i think our point is very simple: we can do better? >> to no one's surprise house majority leader eric cantor agreed. >> as my colleagues have laid out, you know, we could do a lot better. >> and g.o.p. front-runner mitt romney chimed in saying form these numbers cannot hide the fact president obama's policies have prevented a true economic recovery. we can do better. it took former house speaker newt gingrich the president might benefit from the rising job numbers. >> the truth is, if it gets better and better and better between now and the election he will get some credit. on the other hand, if this is a lull before it starts getting worse, his re-election will be in enormous trouble. >> if employment gets better and better, the one thing the g.o.p. fears worst will happen president obama will get credit. newt, you have plenty of problems with your own starting with tomorrow's nevada caucuses. the latest poll shows romney with 50%, doubl

mr. romney, would have no interest whatsoever in considering that. there are employment implications. if you listen to john boehner he says 50,000 jobs will be created. cornell university did a study. they think a total of between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs. the fantasy that newt gingrich beautifully uses that term is theirs and not this president. >> alan west attacked the president on facebook. he said it took $70 to fill the tank of my 2008 h3 hummer. what does it cost you and what does it cost the president to fill his gas tank? richard, what's wrong with this statement? >> the guy should get a smaller car. something more efficient and up to date. there are a number of options out there. but his bigger problem is his party's problem, right? this is a party that says we understand the private sector. we understand business. this president is clueless. we could be producing any amount of gasoline and crude oil in this country and it would not affect the price of crude oil around the world. it is so much of a bigger market. saudi arabia has more direct impact on the price of oil and it struggles to influence because de

think a lot of people in washington would say that is right, not that speaker john boehner is not powerful, but that actually mr. eric cantor is wielding power in interesting new ways and deploying new tactics in the face of saying no to president obama. in our view, that deserves the number one. it is all of course subject of. host: when you talk to the insiders inside the beltway about eric cantor, you mentioned whether or not he becomes house speaker -- does he wait for john boehner to step down or does he try to oust power from him? is that something you heard from the sources that you talk to? guest: yes, but you have to keep in mind everyone wants to seem like they know what is going on. i cannot personally say whether that is true. i heard a lot of people -- i have heard it from a lot of people. having that things said about you can be power in it of itself. host: speaker john boehner makes the list, but he is number 12. why? guest: when you look around, there are a lot of different power centers. certainly, the house is one of them. something tells me i do not think speaker john boehner is not that upse

mr. chairman, this hearing comes at an opportune time. i urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle not to allow another year to go by without action. i read the comments that speaker boehner was to use to putted obama administration on trial. i hope speaker boehner's comments have a commitment, rather, to oversight and that we will be able to work together in an effort to grow our economy and to create new jobs. the american people aren't interested in another year of politics and political fighting and congressional inaction on jobs. there is nothing wrong with political differences and policy differents. sometimes we disagree with these and we agree on the other side of the aisle in cases. but sometimes we don't agree. that's the nature of the democracy. that's why we have different political parties. but during tough times, we should at least try to work together to develop consensus, not roadblocks, and that's the case at all levels of government. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. pursuant to committee rule 7-c, all committee members will be permitted to submit written statements into the permanent hearing record. the hearing record will

on the republican side especially in the house who said to john boehner the speaker of the house i can't go along with you our leader mrave been saying that barack obama is blowing up the deficit in this country and here you have now we are approving a tax cut that has nothing to pay for it. so it is going to blow up. exactly what is our argument against the president here. and even in the senate there were senators republican senators who were saying we have. been involved in this deal. we don't underand it what is going on and john boehner cut us out of the action. looks like a lot of long nights knives on the republican side for each other. >> the harshest criticism of the president on this deal came from democrats. tom harkin went to the floor of the senate and let the president have it on social security. harkin who has been long a defender of social security says we can't have a payroll tax cut like this because it makes it more likely that we will be unable to raise the rates, the rates from 4.2% on the employee side back to 6.2% on the employee side down the road and that threatens he argues social security. i

mr. upton tie himself in not. banner was opposed to it. -- boehner was opposed to it. then they thought, how do you pay for its? -- for it? >> the real damage is to the debt. the trust fund will be paid. that will be fine. that is the real issue. do republicans want to go on record to grow in the debt. ? >> we will have this conversation again. thank you for being part of "newsmakers." >> i have a list of all the chemicals in cigarette smoke. i had a hunch one of them might be an addictive drug. i will ask one of them a simple question. >> i believe nicotine is not addictive. >> cigarettes and nicotine do not meet the classic definition of addiction. >> i do not believe nicotine is addictive. >> they had a program in the 1970's when they were going to remove nicotine from cigarettes and replace it with a drug that would be equally addicted. they had all these molecules they indented, but they had no way to test them. that was my job. my job was to find a molecule that a rat's brain would say, i like its. . >> tonight on "q & a," a discussion of "addiction incorporated." >> on tuesday the 2013 budget request was

maxine waters never wants to see cantor and boehner on her screens, her tv screens. i got a suggestion. mreaker, cut off her cable. or -- >> cut off her cable! and you woint be on her screen, you demon. >> this is also the same congresswoman who a year ago said that president obama should line up the gangsters and tax the bankers out of existence. >> great. >> that sounds like barack obama regarding the gas companies a couple of years ago. >> she points out that if the democrats take back the house and barney frank is going to retire, she's the senior most member. she apparently could be leadership in financial services. >> sure. >> who thinks that we should tax the bankers out of existence? what? >> what is going on in california? how's this? congresswoman, you saw what happened to whitney houston. step away from the crack pipe. step away from the -- >> oh! >> it's going to get you in trouble. >> how would she explain those kinds of comments? >> oh, man. >> i'd only say -- >> theater in the morning. >> boy. what do you think? e-mail us, 13 minutes after the hour. straight ahead on this th

washington would say actually that's right, not that speaker boehner is not powerful, and he is, and he's on the list as he should be, but mr. cantor has interesting ways of deploying new tactics in the leading phase of saying no to president obama. in our view, that is, you know, that deserves the number one, but it's all, of course, subjective, and it's meant to be a subject of discussion. >> host: talking to the insiders inside the beltway folks about eric cantor, you mentioned in the piece whether or not he becomes house speaker or wait for speaker boehner to speak down or get power from him? is that something you heard from the sources you talked to? >> guest: yeah, well, ofng, you have to -- of course, you have to keep in mind, particularly when it comes to the hill, everybody wants to act like they know what's going on. they say, i'm hearing, x, y, z, i can't say that that's true. i heard it. people around here heard it. it may or may not come true, but, as you know, in washington, just having that thing said about you can be power in and of itself. >> host: boehner makes the list, not in the top 10, but number 12. w

mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comment. am i to take it, therefore, he disagree was speaker boehner when speaker boehner said a few days ago we are not making the claim that spending taxpayer money on transportation projects creates jobs. we don't like that claim. so this would not be a jobs bill from that standpoint, am i correct? mr. cantor: again, the gentleman, if he wants to play gotcha -- mr. hoyer: i want to figure out whether this is a jobs bill. mr. cantor: mr. speaker -- mr. hoyer: i yield. mr. cantor: the gentleman just heard what i said. we can create jobs if we open up the ability from our energy exploration. we can create jobs if we provide some certainty to the industries and the state agencies as well as the federal agencies that are involved in planning and in charting the course for infrastructure maintenance, repair, and expansion in this contry. growth requires infrastructure that is at topnotch. we know we are a far cry from that in this country. so the gentleman understands my point. growth comes from better infrastructure. growth comes from expanding the ability to explore our natural resources off o