up next, republican senator rob portman of the senate budget committee joining us.d the politicians of the debt ceiling. send me your thoughts on twitter. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. this is larry. whose long day starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol arthritis and maybe up to six in a day... or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. happy chopping. he needs some gellin'. yeahhhhhhh. gellin' is like having a teeny tiny foot masseuse in your shoe. you like ? nice ! dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. outrageous comfort, all-day long. >>> in the debt ceiling debate, how are senate republicans dealing with their brothers and sisters in the house caucus? that could be an interesting issue for senator rob portman who serves on the smath budget committee and was the budget director under president george w. bush. thanks for joining us today. the debt ceiling was raised when you were budget director presumably it's been raised so many types over the past couple of years. it was never done with all of this fuss.ç why now?

let's get an assessment from rob portman of ohio.a former budget director during the bush administration. senator, thanks very much for coming in. >> up bet, wolf. >> it sound like mitch mcconnell is optimistic that a deal is close. harry reid very pessimistic. he says there's no progress been made today. where do things stand from your vantage point? >> well, i just left the floor of the senate where mitch mcconnell talked about his discussions with the president and vice president biden today. he believes they are close. i think there's an agreement now that there has to be real and credible reductions in spending. if you look at the boehner proposal compared to the reid proposal there's some similarities. i'm hopeful we can come together. it's important we extend this debt limit but absolutely critical that while we do that we also deal with the underlying problem and if we don't, wolf, we'll still have some of the same economic problems that moody's and fitch and standard & poor and accorrectedation agencies are warning about. >>

i'll ask senator rob portman, republican from ohio. >>> what happened to celina cass?e mystery that now involves every single person in her small new hampshire town. >> we are marshaling all resources available to us. >> and the search moving beyond borders. >>> the heat brings out a bumper crop in texas, but not the kind they want or need. >>> look out! we're like a dog with a bone -- or a pool with water on a very hot day. the news starts now. >>> welcome back. thanks for staying with me. i'm brooke baldwin. and let's begin on the city with that beautiful capitol dome here over my shoulder, washington. let me fill you in again on the race to head off a political and potential default of the government. we are now four days away here from that deadline. and at this very hour, house speaker john boehner has bent to new demands by hardline republicans. and as a result of that, the house will vote today on an altered version of boehner's debt reduction plan, you know, the original plan he couldn't quite pass yesterday. this new plan calls on both houses of congress to ag

it's just the right thing to do. >>> we're back now with senator rob portman.enator, thank you for joining me. you ran budgets for president c bush tax cuts and expensive wars. isn't it time you guys took one for the team, the team being america? >> well, if the team is america, the issue is how to get the economy moving again and that's what republican have been focused on. if you take the president's own words of about eight months ago where he said we shouldn't be increasing taxes on a weak economy, that's basically what republicans have saying today, deal with the yununderlying problem, which is the debt and the deficit. the president seemed to be talking past the congress, because as senator schumer said a moment ago, there are now two proposals in congress, both deal with the spending side, and the president, instead tonight, chose to rehash and relitigate old arguments about tax increases. we're focused on the right thing, which is not hurting the economy by increasing the burden of taxation, moving immediately with cuts, moving to tax reform, which is n

joining me now from the republican side, to rob portman. ] this...is the network.ing, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ >>> we're back now with senator rob portman. senator, thank you for joining me. you ran budgets for president crisis on bush tax cuts and expensive wars. isn't it time you guys took one for the team, the team being america? >> well, if the team is america, the issue is how to get the economy moving again and that's what republican have been focused on. if you take the president's own words of about eight months ago where he said we shouldn't be increasing taxes on a weak economy, that's basically what republicans have saying today, deal with the yuntd underlying problem, which is the debt and the deficit. the president seemed to be talking past the congress,

rob portman of ohio is a member of the senate budget committee.ood morning, senator. >> good morning, allison. thanks for having me on. alisyn: reportedly, the white house has agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars from medicare and medicaid, but there's a catch: they want republicans to agree to some tax hikes. will republicans agree to that? >> well, what makes sense is to be sure we're not hurting this weak economic recovery more by raising taxes, so i don't think we should be raising taxes. we should be looking at deductions and credits and exclusions that don't make sense. we should be reforming taxes, and that could be part of this agreement. so i would hope we would move toward smart tax reform to make the economy work better which is, ultimately, how to get out of the problem we're in. one, to restrain spending, but, two, we've got to grow this economy. alisyn: look, you're obviously at an impasse. in fact, we had a little bit of nudes from our own stu varney this morning that maybe senator john cornyn among others had agreed to some so

republican senator rob portman is standing by now. bag can hol. tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls. not a single pocket to hold the stress of the day, or the to-do list of tomorrow. only 14 clubs pick up the right one and drive it right down the middle of pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ look at that car, well, it goes fast ♪ ♪ givin' my dad a heart attack ♪ [ friend ] that is so awesome. ♪ i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. ♪ >>> joining us now, rob portman, ohio republican, and as you are well aware, senator, the jobless rate just ticked up to 9.2%. but here's something we're wondering about. i want to take a look at the graphic. there's pretty good job growth february, march, april and then the last two months, it just dropped. it just dropped away. what's the explanation do you think for that? >> well, the president today, e.d. talked about uncertainty. and i agree with him on that. he focused

also rob portman the new senator from ohio, he served in the bush administration.ed in. we'll speak with them live. we'll get their sense of what's going on. our chief political analyst is here. all of our reporters. we're not leaving this story because as you know and as i know, what happens today, tomorrow, monday, it's going to be critical. critical for the entire country. dare i say even for the world. >> yes. you took the words out of my mouth. wolf, we'll be watching. coming up at the top of the hour. special live edition of the situation room with wolf blitzer. >>> tragic tale of accused cult leader with multiple wives and a little boy that died in their home. plgist sect leader warren jeffs on trial and acting as his own attorney. you won believe what he's been saying about the jury coming up. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, man: good job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repai

senator and former office of management and budget director rob portman says it could be a step in the direction. he joins us live now to talk about whether that plan is going to be the one to lead to some type of consensus on capitol hill. thanks for coming in today. >> shannon, thanks for having me. >> shannon: what do you find to be the most positive about the gang of six plan. >> it's bipartisan. republicans and democrats coming together. both acknowledging we need to deal with our spending issue and it does, i think, do a good job in terms of laying out some of the parameters. also, it has tax reform in it, which is important not just to deal with the revenue issues but mostly to get our economy going. so, the devil is in the details. i have not endorsed the plan. it does have some elements that i'm a little concerned about. including i think on the revenue side it raises revenue on the economy relative to where we are today. but i'm encouraged by it i have tried to encourage the process. i also think some of the gang of six proposals for the longer term because they also have a t

a short time ago i spoke with a sensible voice, republican senator rob portman, about the toxic tone for consensus on a debt plan before it's too late. >> senator, thank you for joining us this evening. >> you bet. thanks for having me on, eliot. >> it is so clear that the rhetorical heat in washington has hit new levels, and i just want you to listen for a moment. you probably already heard what your colleague, senator cornyn, of texas said about the president's performance yesterday at his press conference. take a listen. >> this is a grand opportunity for democrats and republicans to come together to do the nation's business. to be serious, not to be reckless, not to give demagogic speeches like the president gave yesterday as part of his re-election campaign. absolutely disgraceful. he should be ashamed. i respect the office of president of the united states, but i think the president has diminished that office and himself by giving the kind of campaign speeches that he gave yesterday. >> look, senator, i certainly don't want to suggest the rhetoric has been coming from one side

he sees it as destroying the republican brand and you have other players like rob portman trying to talk some sense into their colleagues in the house and say, let's avoid this cam lamb tea and live to fight another way and resolve this. >> we've got all of this political drama but no plan to raise the debt limit and also cut spending. here's a quick reminder of the plans under consideration. president obama wants the so-called grand bargain, $4 trillion threw savings and spending cuts and potentially raising taxes. republicans oppose any tax hikes. senator mitch mcconnell has suggested a fall back plan that would give the president the authority to raise the debt limit to keep the country from defaulting on its bills. and now we have congressman can for, he's proposed a short-term hike in the debt ceiling. president obama has already said no to that proposal. >>> well, here's a rundown on some of the other stories that we're covering first. how a lower bond rating will affect your child's college fund and education. that is up next. >>> then, an accused child molester watching child por

with a senator who brings a great deal of experience to the table for a couple of reasons, senator rob portman is a republican from ohio but also the former director of the office of management and budget under president bush. senator, thanks very much for being with us. >> jon, thanks for having me on. jon: the boehner plan which is what seems to be the big argument of the moment, would cut about $900 billion from the deficit over ten years. it would allow an additional $1.6 trillion increase as i understand it in the debt limit but only if congress votes to reduce spending by that amount, at least that amount over the term in which it is raised. does that have -- does that sound good to you? is that something you would vote for? >> well, jon, you're right it's about 917 billion right away and another 1.8 trillion actually through this joint committee which would report by the end of this year. so the total amount is about $2.7 trillion. i just heard the white house spokesperson talking about the fact that those cuts are somehow less than the cuts that they are supporting. that is actually no

marine corps for rob portman to the grid of general and nominated to be commander of the nato international security assistance for u.s. forces in afghanistan. thank you all for your many years of great service to this nation and your willingness to serve once again let me extend our thanks to your families to support. i would invite each of you to introduce any family members or friends who may be here with you when you make your opening remarks. the general thurman nomination as the next commander of u.s. forces in korea comes at a time of significant change would simmering tension on the korean peninsula. our commitment to peace and stability in the region remains steadfast. our alliance with the republic of korea is as strong as ever. the strength of that alliance will be particularly important over the next few years as we embark on an ambitious realignment of our forces in the peninsula and the to do with the unpredictable and aggressive behavior of a north korean regime that continues to fall of the destructive path of an international pariah. general thurman's long experience in pos