mr. toomey and mr. sessions have shown for our work. we will continue to do the best to give you the information you need in making the important decisions the country faces. i'll refer to the charts in front of you. let me begin and senator toomey said our projections on based on current law, not because we expect will will be no changes in law, but this provides a benchmarks against which potential changes can be made. we are presenting a bench mark. not a forecast. that is important in reading our projections. what is our assessment of the economic outlook? the pace of the recovery has been slow since the recession ended two and a half years ago. we project it will continue to be slow for the next two years. reflecting both the lingering effects of the financial crisis and recession and the fiscal restraint that will rise under current law. current law fiscal policy will reduce the growth output in 2012 and 2013 through a large combination of tax increases and spending cuts. our

toomey. senator warner. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your support for the notion of going big and recognizing we need a comprehensive deficit reduction plan. i personally believe that we should confound conventional wisdom and not pump this until after the next election cycle. i still find as a business guy it would be hard to explain to this my shareholders if my company was in dire financial straits and i said to them we got a plan and i'm going to get back to you in the summer of 2013. you made the point they have os terty plans. i believe every one of the countries, while they've had cut backs have ls included increased rev news in the mix. that's correct, isn't it? >> yes. and what we've seen as somebody personally who has been very interested, for example, if what's gone on in the uk, do you have any advice for us, lessons learned, if we were to put a plan in place, on a phasing in of whether it's revenue increases or dramatic cutbacks in spending. there are metrics to look at that should be phased in over a time fram

mr. toomey: i thank the senator from maine. i disagree with the andment. i think it worse than it was characterized by my friend from ohio, worse in the sense that as i read the definition of the securities that would be covered and as the securities attorneys have advised us on this, we would be required to divest ourselves even of our investment in a small family-owned business, a business that perhaps has absolutely no market whatsoever for the equity. and we would nevertheless be forced to sell that where there is no buyer. i think that's a very unreasonable standard, and so i would urge a "no" vote on this amendment. mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: mr. president, i rise to oppose the amendment. this amendment would take congress from where we have always been and are going to be better after this bill passes in pursuit of disclosure and transparency, sunshine as the best guarantee of integrity. this will be the first time that i'm aware of that in the legislative branch we would require

toomey? >> thanks, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. zients, for being here. you have a tough job and i appreciate your time. a couple of quick questions here. the president's talked about fairness, obviously. in your judgment, in the interest of fairness, what percentage of the american people should pay no net income taxes at all? >> i think that's a hard thing to put a percentage on. we want to grow the middle class as -- >> it's about half right now. this budget would increase that number. so i can only infer that the belief is that a fairer system is one in which more than half of all americans pay no income tax at all? >> we have a situation where wealth is concentrated in a few people and we're asking for them to pay their fair share. which is a share consistent with the share they paid -- >> that's not all you're asking for. do you agree with white house chief of staff jack lew it takes 60 votes to pass a budget in the senate? >> it takes 60 votes to pass the -- >> you know it's a budget resolution. >> it's 51 votes. >> okay. so the clear and unambiguo

toomey. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i think one of the problems with the solution along the lines of what you have described arises from the fact that, of course, the only congress we control is the one we are a member of. >> we're not so sure about that. >> we're not so sure about that. the idea of widening the deficit on the promise it will be narrowed in the future is one that would be challenging for me to accept. that we have a good reason to believe it will actually be carried through. having said that, statutory changes in the architecture of the programs driving through this and bipartisan support and signed into law, those would tend to be enduring. i think we have reason to be confident that the changes in effect not tomorrow, but years down the road, could, in fact, solve the problem and be credible if they were done that way. just quickly on this vain. in this discussion that you had with the chairman, i think sometimes there is a suggestion that from the point of and lower taxes are somehow equivalent becau

mr. zients. >> thank you. >> and tonight on the kudlow report, pat toomey will respond to the president's budget proposal. that is coming up here on cnbc later. >> wall street has been high on cloud computing, we will explain why the hot stock could come back to earth. >> all the after hours movers, >> i have a company that increased the dividend 300%, i'll give you the name and news on dow component dupont wheeeeeeeee! ah heads up. wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. our machines help identify early stages of cancer and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life, matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor, i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. [ jocelyn ] my name is jocelyn, and i'm a cancer survivor. [ mimi ] i had cancer. i have no evidence of disease now. [ erica ] i would love to meet the people that made the machines. i had such an amazing group of doctors and nurses, it would just make such a c

mr. president, today i'm -- i understand that senator toomey is going to be introducing an amendment that will -- it is quite an oversimplifying to say it that way, but it would make permanent the temporary ban on earmarks. and i think this is something that we have talked about and talked about and talked about on this floor. in fact, the last time we talked about the amendment to do -- to put a moratorium on earmarks, my conservative rating of number one in the united states senate moved to number 20 because i was telling the truth, not demagoguing an issue. the problem we have is this: when the -- when we -- the house of representatives first of all came up some time ago -- two years ago -- with doing away with perms, putting a moratorium on earmarks. then they define what had that moratorium was and defined an earmark as ash i -- in a certaie rule and said, it is any kind of an appropriation or authorization. here's where the problem is, because everybody is upset with the process that's taken place by democrats and republicans on the floor of the senate. and i won't name names, but i

mr. toomey: reserving the right to object. if the gentleman will grant a minute on his amendment, then i will not object. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: first of all, i appreciate the opportunity to be heard. i agree with what the author, senator toomey, is trying to do here in terms of what most people think of as a -- as an earmark. the problem is this, you can vote for this if you're voting for and against all earmarks. as it is defined, it depends on how do you it. in the house, it's defined under their rules and it has been defined here as any type of appropriation or authorization. i suggest to you, if you get the constitution and look up article 1, section 9, it says that's what we're supposed to be doing here. and so if you would -- if i knew that my next amendment would pass, which defines a -- an earmark as an appropriation that has not been authorized, which i know senator tomb toomey and sel others agree that would be a good idea, then i would be in wholehearted supp