first, peter welch from vermont.ood evening, sir. >> good evening. >> greta: could the co-chair of the president's chair on debt and deficit was very critical of the president's speech for failing to take on debt and deficit. in fact, he says, where's the guts? are you satisfied that the president addressed those issues? or are those issues not worthy of the state of the union? >> no, they definitely are worthy of the state of union. and the president signaled a willingness to restart those talks. i think the president had two fundamental points. one, he challenged congress to stop being the dysfunctional institution that it's been. that can be pointing the finger to republicans and democrats. whatever the problems we have to face, we won't make progress unless we do it signature. and secondly, he identified the big challenge, reviving an economy that works for the middle class. >> greta: do you think anyone at home is part of that 8.5% national unemployment listening to the state of the union tonight would feel insp

. >> greta: both sides and kevin mccarthy and peter welch and michele bachmann in her first interviewng the presidential race. first, is peter welch. >> good evening. >> greta: co-chair of the president's commission on debt and deficits, alan simpson was very critical of the president's speech for failure to take on debt and deficits. where is the guts on our companion network. are you satisfied or is it not worthy of the state of the union? >> they are worthy of the state of the union and i think the president signaled a willingness to restart talks. i think the president two fundamental points, he challenged congress to being dysfunctional institution it's been. that really is something that can be pointing a finger of republicans and democrats. whatever the problems that we have to face, we're not going to make the progress unless we do it together. secondly, i think he identified what america knows is big challenge and that reviving an economy that works in the middle-class. >> greta: do you think anyone sitting at home 8.5% national unemployment listening to the state of the unio

come join me in recognizing the great work of senator patrick leahy, senator bernie sanders and, peter welchtners at fema. [applause] there are two lessons we must seize from our experience over the past four months. the first lesson is clear. if after irene which can rebuild over 500 miles of damage to roads and 34 bridges for a fraction of the normal cost with dwindling federal resources in the future we must apply the same lessons to maintaining and rebuilding firm of's transportation infrastructure from this point forward. we will build faster, smarter and more economically. [applause] instead of having to state workers and their individual agencies processing paper, we broke down the silo, formed a partnership between aot, anr, private contractors and as the levees, contracting procedures were modified, access to stone and gravel was expedited, dangerous debris was removed from the streams as the engineers work together with environmental experts to get the job done. projects that would have taken years, gotten done in months, environmental quality was preserved, taxpayer dollars were s

peter welch is chief democratic whip and returned from the middle east where meet with leaders there start there, congressman? what was the rook an shun and conversation in the -- reaction and conversation in the middle east about the movements by iranian regime?. >> three things. there is widespread concern despite political differences in the region that iran is dangerous and having a nuclear weapon is extremely dangerous. provocation and other countries like syria are dangerous. there is strong support for sanctions but three there is great reservation and caution when it comes to the question of using military force with some apprehension about what that would unleash in the middle east. jenna: can you be more specific about that apprehension? what specifically are the countries worried about? i assume they're worried about a strike coming from the united states or israel? is that kind of the concern. >> that's right. well, and, yes. they don't rule out military force but if you're qatar where you're 50 miles across the strait of hormuz they feel they will be on the receiving end

come join me in recognizing the great work of senator patrick leahy, senator bernie sanders and, peter welch and the partners at fema. [applause] there are two lessons we must seize from our experience over the past four months. the first lesson is clear. if after irene which can rebuild over 500 miles of damage to roads and 34 bridges for a fraction of the normal cost with dwindling federal resources in the future we must apply the same lessons to maintaining and rebuilding firm of's transportation infrastructure from this point forward. we will build faster, smarter and more economically. [applause] instead of having to state workers and their individual agencies processing paper, we broke down the silo, formed a partnership between aot, anr, private contractors and as the levees, contracting procedures were modified, access to stone and gravel was expedited, dangerous debris was removed from the streams as the engineers work together with environmental experts to get the job done. projects that would have taken years, gotten done in months, environmental quality was preserved, taxpayer do

i was just with peter welch last night on another program. we agree that congress has a low approval -- a high disapproval ratings. one of the stories that is not told is there is much more in common that you might imagine. host: where are the areas of compromise? guest: i think there are going to be -- i read one account. our formal meetings have not started, although the republican conferees have met a few times. on $150 billion worth of cuts, there was a dispute involving something like $10 billion. there are provisions in terms of receiving unemployment insurance, certain types of benefits that may be contentious between democrats and republicans. host: back to "the new york times." there will drop the most controversial provisions. host: is that true? will those provisions be dropped/ ? guest: the rest been no discussion -- there has been no discussion. i am one of eight. our discussions have been preliminary. issues of how we approach the task of being in this conference committee and looking at the scope of the issues that we're facing

peter welch was sitting here.ork in reference to powerlines on some land he subdivided in heartland and i've known him. after i left cv, it was because of lack of ability of customers to go on the front door and order anything. it's all like the phone company has been for years. i hit the ground running, building residentially, commercially, had met construction business. by 92 i had an issue with a divorce yet my ex-wife happened to be come -- with the u.s. postmaster of our community. two years later i found she had diverted by irs mail and multiple other pieces of mail and i requested of a u.s. federal postal are assigned to my issue out of manchester, new hampshire, to get me at a given general store to pick up i.d. numbers of two certified trackable items that i desperately needed him to go see because it was attested to in a legal environment that i signed for, which i never did. he sat in his chrome office overlooking the manchester airport and wrote to me quote on postal team letterhead and signed in ink t

peter welch was sitting here. i've done work in reference to powerlines on some land he subdivided in heartland and i've known him. after i left cv, it was because of lack of ability of customers to go on the front door and order anything. it's all like the phone company has been for years. i hit the ground running, building residentially, commercially, had met construction business. by 92 i had an issue with a divorce yet my ex-wife happened to be come -- with the u.s. postmaster of our community. two years later i found she had diverted by irs mail and multiple other pieces of mail and i requested of a u.s. federal postal are assigned to my issue out of manchester, new hampshire, to get me at a given general store to pick up i.d. numbers of two certified trackable items that i desperately needed him to go see because it was attested to in a legal environment that i signed for, which i never did. he sat in his chrome office overlooking the manchester airport and wrote to me quote on postal team letterhead and sig

peter welch was sitting here. i've done work in reference to powerlines on some land he subdivided in heartland and i've known him. after i left cv, it was because of lack of ability of customers to go on the front door and order anything. it's all like the phone company has been for years. i hit the ground running, building residentially, commercially, had met construction business. by 92 i had an issue with a divorce yet my ex-wife happened to be come -- with the u.s. postmaster of our community. two years later i found she had diverted by irs mail and multiple other pieces of mail and i requested of a u.s. federal postal are assigned to my issue out of manchester, new hampshire, to get me at a given general store to pick up i.d. numbers of two certified trackable items that i desperately needed him to go see because it was attested to in a legal environment that i signed for, which i never did. he sat in his chrome office overlooking the manchester airport and wrote to me quote on postal team letterhead and sig