mr. mcconnell: one further question. in addition, how would you feel if two years from now i have your job and my members are saying let's get rid of the filibuster altogether with 51 votes? mr. reid: i think that would be wrong. we're not trying tpo get rid of the filibuster. what we're doing is changing this tiny aspect of what goes on around here so people would have to do a couple of things. one, not file a filibuster simply getting on a bill. also, if they want a filibuster, stand and talk about it. not be in your office someplace. senator durbin reminded me of one senator, a republican senator, who forced us to be here over the weekend, and he left. went back to a wedding in his state. mr. president, i repeat for the third time, the only people that think the senate's working really well right now are the republican leader and the republican senators, because it's not working well. they've abused the process. they've abused something that was set up to help legislation get passed. the filibuster. they've abused it.

mr. mcconnell does not see it that way. on the political wire the romney's campaign would have could have should have transition website today. surely, this was not supposed to go live until mr. romney actually won the election. the campaign did not wait. they presumably accidentally put it up, a transition website for president-elect romney, how to apply for a job with the new romney administration. looks like because they screen shot it before they finally did take it down, looks like the romney folks had a transition motto all ready to go, a slogan, repeated slogan on the website is smaller, simpler, smarter. when republican speaker of the house john boehner gave his first post election press conference what he thought should happen in this country given the results of the election almost like he thought he was speaking in the context of president-elect romney and smaller simpler smaller branded transition. >> by working together and creating a fairer simpler cleaner tax code, moving to fairer simpler system energized by

mr. mcconnell: one further question. in addition, how would you feel if two years from now i have your job and my members are saying let's get rid of the filibuster altogether with 51 votes? mr. reid: i think that would be wrong. we're not trying tpo get rid of the filibuster. what we're doing is changing this tiny aspect of what goes on around here so people would have to do a couple of things. one, not file a filibuster simply getting on a bill. also, if they want a filibuster, stand and talk about it. not be in your office someplace. senator durbin reminded me of one senator, a republican senator, who forced us to be here over the weekend, and he left. went back to a wedding in his state. mr. president, i repeat for the third time, the only people that think the senate's working really well right now are the republican leader and the republican senators, because it's not working well. they've abused the process. they've abused something that was set up to help legislation get passed. the filibuster. they've abused it.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. cconnell: yesterday i came to the floor to discuss what's known as the fiscal cliff, a mix of automatic tax hikes and defense cuts that are set to hit at the end of the year jeopardizing our security as well as our economy. my message was pretty simple. a solution is possible. republicans have been reasonable and president needs to lead. he is the only one who can get us to a solution. if that's what he wants, we'll succeed. so it was with some concern that i read this morning that the president plans to hit the road next week to drum up support for his own personal approach to the short- and long-term fiscal challenges we face. in other words, rather than sitting down with lawmakers of both parties and working out an agreement, he's back on the campaign trail, presumably with the same old talking points that we're all quite familiar with, but we already know the president is a very good campaigner. we congratulate him on his reelection. what we don't know is whether i has the leadersh

mr. mcconnell very well.o me and his viewers how he believes he and not the president has a mandate, despite democrats increasing their number in the senate, winning the presidential election and not winning the house, mostly because republicans jerry manneded so many districts. >> primarily i'm not sure he believes it but he's saying it because he's talking to a different audience than we are and most of the country is. i think he's in a very difficult spot. i don't think he really faces a serious threat from thinks right in kentucky but he doesn't want to do anything that's going to invite one. meanwhile, his real vulnerability is if he's the one seen blocking a deal that everybody in the country and everybody in both parties wants. so, i think he's trying to negotiate this, sounding tough for his right flank but also i think the important thing to watch is what he does. and if he lets his members, the other 44 republicans in the senate kind of do what they're going to do, make the compromises that everybod

mr. mcconnell, the senate minority leader, represents. good afternoon, sir.y what will it take to get republicans to play ball on this? do you have any idea, sir? you're there. what do they want? >> obviously it keeps changing. what's really clear right now is that they're trying to throw in all sorts of ancillary issues in this fiscal cliff debate and they have nothing to do with it. medicare, medicaid, social security, don't have anything to do with the fiscal cliff and neither does the debt ceiling. this is strictly a matter of statutory provisions that go into effect on january 1st, but they want to burden up this and muddy the water to basically, i think, to refuse to do a deal. >> right. because over in the senate, as i was saying, mitch mcconnell is refusing to even consider the president's proposal to maintain the bush tax cuts for those earning less than $250,000 a year, but to raise taxes on those earning more. now, today short of a sol solution, he offered a series of ideological insults. >> only reasons democrats are insisting on raising rates is

mr. mcconnell obviously failed in making him a one-term president now he faces reelection two years from now in 2014 and he is afraid of palm... he will have more pressure to be more conservative now but at the same time he is the republican leader he has to produce something some of the t partiers are not going back like joe walsh in the house and others are really at a point where these people ask what are you doing down there? i think we're going to see some changes. to think things may change >> he was harking back to his lovely days of no rights states no blue states we knew that wasn't true when he said it bought it sounds good he is aspiring once again and he can be very inspiring. he needs people to watch his back i think. with the election over wall street today the dow jones industrial average 313 points we are left wondering how the president is going to negotiate the biggest issue facing the u.s. economy as clarence pointed out the fiscal cliff tax hikes automatically go into effect january, should politicians not agree on the nation's fiscal matters and get them under contro

mr. mcconnell has to know that, but the tea party folks back in his state will hang him if he does that.o he's got this irreconcilable conflict between his responsibilities as senate leader and his responsibilities -- and his own ambition to be reb elected in kentucky. >> wow. "the new york times" reports democrats may be receptive to mitt romney's idea to cap income deductions as part of a bipartisan trade-off. be honest, is that true, or are democrats just having fun at mr. romney's expense? >> no, that's true. that could be part of it. in other words, if what romney was talking about was putting a cap on deductions that would apply for folks say over $250,000 -- >> i think he described it in terms of a bucket, a bucket theory. >> it wouldn't get us to where it would need to be, so there would still have to be going back towards those clinton rates on folks above $250,000, but limiting deductions for people in the really high brackets could be part of it. in fact, that would deal with the hedge fund rip-off really where folks who claim that their income is all capital gains, pay 14%, t

mr. mcconnell. paul krugman wrote "the new york times," don't do a deal, mr. president. that will hurt the republicans more. his word was crazy. do you think people are going to do this? that this is a strategy? go off the cliff and just see what happens and i'll get more than that i thought before? >> i respect mr. krugman, but there are two things we should say. if we want to head off the cliff, taxes will go up not just on the rich, but on every american paying for income tax, including work k families. that's not a good result. if we go off the cliff, it will push us back to a recession. let's find a way to avoid those two outcomes. >> and we talked about the revenue side, which is important, but i know this is a dicey way of saying it, might be 40, 60%, but you get what i'm saying. cuts have to be made to entitlement programs. are we going to be able to get that done in time? >> i think we can. now, we've already cut $1.1 trillion in spending in the last two years and that should be part of our total. i think we've got to make some enhit mment reforms which will not

mr. mcconnell thought reporters would stand there silently and take their picture after he gave those brief remarks. it got much, much worse when the reporters decided not to just take pictures. they were going to speak. >> the election is behind us, and we're ready to get started. thank you, everyone. >> senator mcconnell, are you comfortable with the investigation that is taking place in the petraeus affair and do you believe that the fbi should have notified congress earlier about this matter? >> thank you everybody. thank you, everybody. >> senator elect flake, do you agree with senator mcconnell? >> did you get your official result, senator flake? is it senator flake? >> we're comfortable. >> are you going to compromise. >> come on guys, go. come on. >> can you not push me and push everybody else. >> yup, push it along. >> push it along. nothing to see here, even though we invited you here to watch us sit here in these chairs. we didn't want you to speak to us once we stopped talking. meanwhile, over at the white house the president spent his congressional orientation day meeting with

mr. mcconnell, your constituents are going to having to pail $3,000 more in taxes because you want to protect donald trump? i don't know how they sell that, e.j. >> it's very hard to sell. that's why the president pulled out that pen, that picture you're going to see a lot, which is why i think they are eventually going to give way. michelle is absolutely right. there were a lot of republicans who still don't want to give the president anything. but i think the signal was that john boehner was re-elected as speaker by this republican conference, and they knew that boehner was going to be a dealmaker with the president. so even the hard liners may have read the election returns, and i think even the hard liners don't be responsible for a tax increase. >> not only boehner, even mcconnell. let me show you this, michelle. mcconnell and boehner had a different kind of sound, different tone today after the meeting. watch this. >> obviously the president won re-election. the republicans were basically unable to get any seats in the senate. more people voted for democrats in the house than republican

mr. mcconnell said. and i just left the president.the things that he said to us, he said, don't pack up your bags. in other words, he's determined to get this deal done and get it done before the end of the year. the fact is, the president is very much engaged but he also understands that one of the things he's got to do is get a balanced package done. he's got to have revenue and he's also got to have some very targeted cuts. so -- and he also is trying to get across the point that republicans and democrats agree that those folks making less than $250,000, their tax cuts should be extended. so, again, we've got a situation now where the republicans can stand on the sideline or they can adhere to what the public has said in this election. they want us to get the deal done and move forward. at least we can get done what we already agree on. >> would you agree, auwould you and other house democrats agree in some ways that the cpi is calculated, which almost every economist believes ought to be fixed which would save a lot of money? and

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. cconnell: throughout the week i've raised questions about the president's level of seriousness and engagement when it comes to resolving the short- and long-term fiscal challenges that we face. i've done this because, as i've said repeatedly, the president is the key to success in all of these discussions. so i'm hoping that when secretary geithner comes up to the capitol today, he brings a specifics plan from the president that the two parties could agree to for the good of the country. i hope to hear the administration's specific plans for protecting jobs and promoting economic growth for middle-class americans while reducing the debt by strengthening entitlements, reducing washington spending, and preventing a tax hike on every american taxpayer. up until now the white house has preferred talkingpoints and an appeal to the hard left to a serious discussion about how we fix the economy, reduce the federal debt, and return the country to a path of growth and prosperity for all. they'r

mr. mcconnell, a laugh as opposed to a concrete, specific counteroffer. and they have got to come forward and show the president the money that they're willing to put on the table, and they haven't done it. and until they do, we're just going to have this circular talkfest. >> congressman peter welch, it's great to have you on the program again. thanks so much. >> thank you. >>> you know, there was all this talk and buzz, and it was among us and the chattering class about this meeting yesterday. a big white house lunch between mitt romney and president obama and somehow would there will be a role maybe in these talks about the fiscal cliff. we don't know a lot about what they talked about. the meeting was about an hour long. they had white turkey chili and southwestern chicken salad. but molly, this is the first time they've seen each other since the election. what do you say beyond congratulations, mr. president? >> goodness knows. it's pretty telling that the most newsworthy item out of that meeting was the lunch menu. the readout we got from the white

mr. mcconnell was virtually blocking people for assistant saebs of all kinds of jobs, which is kind of unprecedentedgton, and which democrats are really very worried about. >> ari, the hill reports that as of this week, democrats don't have enough votes for reform. so is this idea actually dead on arrival? >> i don't think it's dead on arrival at all. i do think it's true that these issues are often treated initially as partisan matters there is something different going on. there is a big conversation as we know in the republican party about what kind of party they want to be, how they bounce back from this election, and how they continue to integrate the tea party, which i think is less committed to some of these old traditions as compared to the establishment. perry hit on it. having new senators isn't the issue. the issue is the coalition of the new and getting other people to change their minds. it's really key to have that kind of reform. and i think there is an opening here for some republicans to actually say they want full floor votes. they don't want congress to just be blocking. >> peter,

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. connell: over the past few weeks americans have rulely started to focus in on the debate we're having in washington about how the two parties can work together to prevent a short-term economic crisis in january and an even bigger january crisis later on. so it may come as a surprise to many to see that with just a few weeks to go before a hard deadline on solving the short-term issue, president obama has decided to hit the road -- hit the road this week to drum up support for his favored approach. it's hard to believe really. i mean, every week he extend spends campaigning for his ideas is a week we're not solving the problem. it is completely counterproductive. the election is over. he won. congratulations. we've got a hard deadline here yohowever and he is he's still t on the campaign trail kind celebrating. this is a problem. if the president really wants to reach an agreement, he needs to be talking with the members of his own party right here in washington trying to broker an agre

mr. mcconnell -- >> this is not so much focus on my plan.plan can be improved and norah threw something out a minute ago. what i hope that all of you who influence our country and influence the decision-makers is is i hope you will not give us a pass. people are saying this is too difficult to do this year. the fact is again we have all the information we need. no congress is more informed. we created this fiscal cliff. we should solve it. i'm seeing a willingness on behalf of the white house and speaker boehner to sit down and as long as we have two parties that it are willing to do this and have the courage to address these issue, we can do this over the next three, four weeks with ease, and i hope that's what's going to happen. >> thanks, senator. >> thank you, senator. we hope to have you back. thank you so much. >>> now to the holiday shopping rush. today's is cyber monday in case you haven't heard, which has become the biggest online shopping day of the year. internet sales will jump 20% over last yooshgsear. the prediction. seth is wi

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: as most americans know by now, the next few weeks are clinton cally important in the life of our nation. unless -- are critically important in the life of our nation. unless the president leads and congress acts, a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts could go into effect that would have a devastating effect on our national defense and on an already painfully slow economy. what's more, the nation's finances are teetering on the edge and threatening even greater hardship for literally millions unless we bring federal spending into balance. the question is what are we going to do about all this? how do we face up to fiscal irresponsibility and the can kicking that got us here and finally to what's right for the country. well, i don't think it's a secret that for our part, republicans have shown a clear willingness to make tough choices in order to find the solution to the trillion-dollar deficits of the last four years. we have been open to revenue by closing loopholes a

mr. mcconnell: i'd just like to engage in a conversation with my colleague, the distinguished chairman. is it our intention to continue to consider amendments following this amendment? and i don't whether there is a possibility of votes or not, but isn't it correct to say that we consider amendments and will try to dispose of them, given the limited time that we have to consider the bill? mr. levin: it would be my hope that after this vote that we would be able to clear amendments perhaps and to have senators debate amendments, and i know that senator coburn will be here between now and 6:00 to debate the leahy amendment, and we don't need to protect him further since the time is equally divided and he can have part of the half-hour time. but it is my hope that people who want us to dispose of amendments will come here after the 6:00 vote and bring these amendments to our attention, see if our staffs can make progress, clear amendments, maybe package some votes for tomorrow morning. we can make progress after this vote if our colleagues will cooperate with us. mr. mccain: thank my frien

mr. mcconnell say that he would not support raising tax rates at all. mr. said similar things. the administration seems to be open to perhaps tax rates not going up quite as much as they initially proposed but they're still absolutely insistent on those tax rate increases of some size. there's a lot that has to come together in a short period of time in order to get a deal. it's not impossible. but i think the risk of at least temporarily going over this cliff is significant. >> so, zanny minton-beddoughs says it's not a cliff. it's like a blue slope on a ski slope. christine says it's a cliff like a black diamond. >> big black diamond. >> other people have said it's a gentle slope like a sunny day slope down the hill. what is it, do you think? >> the problem is we're going to start going downhill and not know exactly whether it's a blue slope or a double diamond. you don't know exactly what's ahead of you, because we don't know how quickly a deal will come together. that's the problem. if on january 2nd the leadership of the congress and the president say,

mr. mcconnell: i want to welcome all the members. it's not as terrible a job as some say it is. we welcome our ideas, your energy and your enthusiasm. and we wish you every schedule in your time here. mr. mcconnell: i also want to congratulate the president and the vice president on their hard-fought victory last week, and i'd like to say a brief word of thanks to our own nominees as well, governor romney and congressman ryan. they may not have won the race, but they earned our respect and admiration in the all and a stronger social safety net that's there when people need it most. in short, they fought for the kind of constitutional conservatism so many americans believe in so very strongly. and their loss does nothing to diminish the importance of these enduring principles or our commitment to keep fighting for them. so we thank them and we thank their families for making the sacrifices any presidential campaign demands. and i want to assure everyone the cause goes on. now, on to the task at hand. in politics, there's always a temptation among those who win office to think tha

mr. mcconnell and his senate republicans play in achieving a so-called grand bargain? >> our colleague, major garrett, did some great political sleuthing a few weeks ago. he talked to some leadership aides in the senate and identified a dozen or so republican senators that could be relied on to vote for some kind of revenue package. the fact you now how a couple more votes toward the magic 60 number on the democratic side will have a little bit -- well, scott brown was one of the republicans that was being counted on. my personal instinct is that the senate is doable. it is eric cantor -- you know who could play tremendous role is paul ryan. he is a champion of the conservative side of the party, but his voting record shows that he will vote for smart compromises. he will moderate his views. and he is someone who could really sell a deal to the republican right. the question is, is this the first step that he was to take toward being the nominee, cutting a deal with obama? or does he want to be the champion of, no way, we will stick with the ryan budget to the last man

mr. mcconnell and his senate republicans play in achieving a so-called grand bargain? >> our colleague, major garrett, did some great political sleuthing a few weeks ago. he talked to some leadership aides in the senate and identified a dozen or so republican senators that could be relied on to vote for some kind of revenue package. the fact you now how a couple more votes toward the magic 60 number on the democratic side will have a little bit -- well, scott brown was one of the republicans that was being counted on. my personal instinct is that the senate is doable. it is eric cantor -- you know who could play tremendous role is paul ryan. he is a champion of the conservative side of the party, but his voting record shows that he will vote for smart compromises. he will moderate his views. and he is someone who could really sell a deal to the republican right. the question is, is this the first step that he was to take toward being the nominee, cutting a deal with obama? or does he want to be the champion of, no way, we will stick with the ryan budget to the last man

mr. mcconnell has to make is, do we ask millionaires and billionaires to pay little bit more in taxes oro we cut benefits for elderly people and disabled veterans. it will not solve our long-term problem. it will help us bring in $1 trillion over the next 10 years which is not chicken feed. host: mike, welcome. caller: good morning. i am puzzled about the values of modern progressivism. you are an excellent spokesperson. wathere was an eight-hour filibuster against the bush tax cut. it amounted to about $100 billion a year. there was a similar demonstration that is being squandered in our so-called war on terror. it is greeting our drone war and killing innocent people in pakistan. 100 nuclear bombs in the country. as long as present press is caring that our -- as long as president obama is carrying that out. about if we're serious deficit reduction, we have to end the absurdity of one out of four operations stopped paying a nickel and taxes and make sure that the wealthy and large corporations are not stashing their money in tax havens, costing us about $100 billion a year. i have conce

mr. mcconnell is up for reelection in 2014. so what likely role would mr. mcconnell and his senate republicans play in achieving a so-called grand bargain? >> jack, what do you think? >> our colleague, major garrett, a great political sluicing a few weeks ago, talked to republican leadership aides innocent and identified a dozen or so republican senators that could be relied on to vote for some kind of revenue package. the fact that you now have a couple more votes towards the 60, the magic 60 number, the democratic side will probably help a little bit. although scott brown was one of the republicans that was being counted on. so again, my personal instinct is that the senate is doable. and it's eric cantor. who could play a tremendous role is paul ryan. paul ryan champion of the conservatives side of the party, and yet his voting record shows that he will vote for smart compromise but he will moderate his views, and he is somebody that really could sell a deal to the republican right. the question is, is this the first step your cutting a deal with obama or

mr. mcconnell, is to advance the common good.hese issues that we have to face both foreign policy and domestic policy and to advance the common good. i think that's what president obama should do. president bush won i believe -- eric can correct me -- with 284 votes in 2004 and determined he had political capital. the american people right now are more interested in the president, members of congress and others sitting down to advance the common good. >> let me go to ari to weigh-in on that. go ahead, ari, what do you think? >> well, let's look back a little bit. partly let's learn from mistakes. if you remember obama care and on cap and trade or what republicans refer to as tax and trade, those proposals from the president were so polarizing he was deserted by many in his own party. cap and trade became so lethal that they couldn't even get democrats in the senate to take it up. i think the trick to be successful now that we have a republican house, democrat senate and a country hungry for things to get done is to govern in a wa

mr. mcconnell taking a back seat and a gai eight taking more of a role. are there any members that you think are now back benchers and could rise to that role over the next six weeks? >> it would almost certainly involve senators who are involved in the budget negotiations. therefore, that have experience in the gang of six and eight and 40, but i do not see any individual in particular one could imagine doing it at this time. if you look at this sort of leadership ranks of cornyn, those are likely candidates. it would really have to come elsewhere. >> lamar alexander is one who has not been a formal member of the gang of eight, but endorsed the plan. he was the seventh to endorse it when it first came out. and i think is in particular wanting to -- wanting the final stages of his career to be a grand bargainer or a problem solver. i mention bob corker coming back. keep an eye on john kerry, who may be at the end of this senate career. we do not know yetkerry may be an influential player who carry some weight with his own partisans. and also the two udall

mr. mcconnell: skilled to modify that, immediately followed by an amendment by senator collins. -- by senator kyl. a procites vice so that it is -- a proviso that it is clear by the majority. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: we just concluded a presidential campaign. who could have missed it? there were a lot of issues that were discussed, but one of particular interest to me was one that involves a personal effort that i've made to pass a piece of legislation known as the dream act. i started the dream act 11 years ago. things move slowly but this has taken way too long. it has been heartening to watch the support of the dream act grow among the american people and it has been interesting to me that in the last presidential campaign one of the issues asked of governor romney as well as president obama is, are you for the dream act? i guess that says a lot about this legislation and the idea of the principle behind it. when i introduced the dream act 11 years ago it

mr. mcconnell taking a back seat and the gang of eight taking more of a role.here any members that you think are now back-benchers and could rise to that role over the next six weeks? >> it would almost certainly involve senators who are involved in the budget negotiations. therefore, that have experience in the gangs of 6 and 8 and 40, but i do not see any individual in particular one could imagine doing it at this time. if you look at the sort of leadership ranks of cornyn, those are likely candidates. it would really have to come elsewhere. >> lamar alexander is one who has not been a formal member of the gang of 8, but endorsed the plan. he was the seventh to endorse it when it first came out. and i think he in particular is wanting the final stages of his career to be a grand bargainer or a problem solver. i mentioned bob corker coming back. keep an eye on john kerry, who may be at the end of this senate career. we do not know yet if kerry may be an influential player who carry some weight with his own partisans. and also the two udalls, who i think are we

. >> you always ask that question, except to mitch mcconnell. >> you, mr. foyer and all of you it is needed for younger leadership. >> so you are suggesting everybody step aside? >> no, the need are for younger leadership. >> i think you will see, and let's for a moment honor it as a legitimate question, although it is quite offensive , but you don't realize it i guess. >> anyway, this went on for another three hours before she finally answered no. i don't even remember what the question was. russert defended the question saying while pelosi laughed off fie cues, many say it hurts the caucus that all three leaders are 70 plus. the longer the top three stay the longer it takes to infuse with mu glued like the gop -- new blood like the gop did. as a 74-year-old woman, what is your take on this? >> i think it was an inappropriate question. i don't think any woman wants to talk about her age, nor do men really for that matter. young or old. especially in a position of power and leadership and the head of a major political party. so i think his question was vali