what's the condition for rob portman supporting the debt ceiling? >> what disappointed me in the budget agreement that i reluctantly supported, because i wanted to avoid another shutdown and for the other reasons we just talked about, is that it did not address the underlying problem. and it's so obvious. the problem is that two-thirds of spending, as you know, is on autopilot. that part of our spending goes to 76% in the next 10 years. it's where all the growth is. if we don't address it, it will bankrupt the country. these incredibly important programs, like medicare and medicaid and social security, are not sustainable in their current form. we've got to get at those. the only time we've done it in the last three decades, al, has been through a debt limit discussion. >> right. >> so let's use the debt limit, not to spook financial markets in fact, to give them more assurance we're actually going to do the right thing. >> but you have to do something to get republicans on board? >> i think we have to do something to deal with the underlying proble

. >> this week on "political capital," rob portman. on the debt ceiling. bloomberg news talk nsa and president obama. tapering.r on fed and margaret carlson and lanhee chen debate paul ryan's ultimatum. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us. you were one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe something -- some kind of collaboration? >> you know, it's been analyzed both ways, al, and i hope what it is, is a first step toward further collaboration, because our country's in trouble. you know, we have a fiscal crisis looming. we still have an economy that's too weak, and we need to work together to solve these problems. so i like to view it as a very small step, a baby step in the right direction. it did reduce the deficit a little bit. it did it without raising taxes. it kept us from going into a government shutdown in januar

. >> this week on "political capital," rob portman. bloomberg news talk nsa and president obama.aret carlson and lanhee chen debate paul ryan's ultimatum. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us. you were one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe something -- some kind of

first up, senator rob portman, george w. bush's former budget director, recently ate a cheese burger and came up with this bogus conclusion. >> i went to a burger place, and there was a digital display to buy a ham burrer, and there was nobody behind the counter except the cashier. and you go to these fast places now and often there is a drink dispenser. that's the concern. if you raised the minimum wage too high, you're going to have not more jobs but fewer jobs and fewer opportunities, particularly for these young people. >> you know what this is? that's an elitist view, a complete lack of vision. republicans claim raising the minimum wage would kill jobs? but let me underscore, there are no facts to back that up whatsoever. academic study after study shows raising the minimum wage would not kill american jobs. even if the costs of raising the minimum wage were passed along to the consumers. it still wouldn't be very much. here's what senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts had to say during a senate help committee heari

senator rob portman flew back to ohio.ormer director of the withe of budget sat down political capital's al hunt. me that isappointed reluctantly just -- supported because i wanted to avoid another shutdown. it didn't address the underlying problems. thirds of the spending is on autopilot. it will bankrupt the country if we do not address it. incredibly important programs like medicare and social security are not sustainable. we have to get at those. the only way we have gotten that those is with the debt limit discussion. limit, not todebt spook financial markets, but to give them more insurance -- assurance. , let's addressd medicare. obama has been receptive to that in a general way. would you be receptive to closing tax loopholes? >> let's look at the logic. to say that we need to close tax loopholes, which is generally viewed as raising taxes on the wealthy, to do something that actually reduces benefits for the wealthy doesn't seem to be logical. why would we have to raise taxes at a time when the economy is ?wo-week

. >> this week on "political capital," rob portman. bloomberg news talk nsa and president obama. and margaret carlson lanhee chen -- debate pall ryan's ultimatum. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us. you were one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe

. >> this week on "political capital," rob portman. talk nsa ands president obama.te paul carlson ryan's ultimatum. >> we begin the program with senator rob portman of ohio. senator, thank you for being with us. you were one of the republicans who voted for the small compromise on the budget, although you said it wasn't nearly sufficient. let me ask you this to start. was this a one-off marriage of convenience? or is this the start of maybe

>> rob portman is a first-class gentleman. but he's wrong on this issue. if you are someone who the fortunes have turned against, and you do not have a job, you are absolutely needing that economic cushion as the economy is now stoking up, and you just referenced the numbers that were just put out on friday. the economy is getting a lot better. all the forecasts are, it's going to be a lot better. you just need that cushion to get you over to where you can get a job. >> now -- that makes sense to me. give us a view of the politics here. a lot of people were skeptical when this deal, of course, came out of the shutdown that we were setting up more deadlines that wouldn't work. as you know, as you just mentioned, the senate and the house don't have a great record here in the immediate past. what do you think accounts for the desire to get this done now, and have republicans backed off the idea of having a shutdown every couple months? >> well, i think it's exactly that. the gop got so burned in the last shutdown, and all of the economists and the ceos of cor

rob portman believes a deal will come soon. while not trying to rock the boat. >> the key is that we not have another government shutdown, that we do keep the spending caps in place. that we don't raise taxes at a time when the economy is still weak and i think we can accomplish that the next couple of days. >> congressman chris van hollen says he puts the chances of a deal at 50-50 and that any cuts to federal employees' pensions would be a deal breaker, at least for him. >> you cannot be asking federal employees to bear the share of the burden that they're asking for here as part of an agreement when you're not asking, for example, agribusinesses that get huge taxpayer subsidies to have a contribution. >> of course he has a slew of federal employees in his district. joining me now dnc congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of florida. thanks for being here. now, the "washington post" quotes the head of a bipartisan think tank that this could be declared a victory is an indicator of how low the process has sunk. they haven't r

. >>> rob portman says he's optimistic there will be a short-term agreement. >> the key is we not havenother government shutdown and do keep the spending caps in place and don't raise taxes at a time when the economy is still weak and i think we can accomplish that over the next couple days. >> one issue still being debated extending long-term unemployment benefits. last week house mortgage leader nancy pelosi said any deal must include an extension but dick durbin said that is not the case. >> i don't think we've reached that point where we said this is it take it or leave it. what i hear from patty murray, i spoke to her the other night negotiations are making progress, moving in the right direction. >> congress has scheduled to begin its break this friday and not return until january the 7th. >>> well, a week after that deadly commuter train wreck in new york officials are upgrading signals. the new signals are expected to be up and running this morning. of course, four people were killed last sunday when a metro north train hit a stretch of track at nearly three times the speed lim

appearing on abc, gop senator rob portman acted as if helping unemployed was some kind of strange exotic government activity that didn't belong in normal funding discussions. >> $25 billion no one was talking about until the last week, so it's an additional cost within this budget agreement. i think the thought was this would be handled separately. >> but as usual on the subject of fairness, no republican can out-republican kentucky senator rand paul. >> i do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks they are paid for. if you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers. when you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy. >> joining me today, "washington post" columnist jonathan capehart, former white house press secretary and founding partner off-almost said founding father -- founding father and partner of inside agency robert gibbs, congressional reporter for buzz feed and political reporter and white house correspondent at the "huffington post" sam stein. we talke

now with the number two democrat in the senate, dick durbin from illinois, and from ohio, senator rob portmanr portman, will a deal get done this week? and can you guarantee no government shutdown? >> george, i certainly hope so. i think there's an obvious solution here. it was just alluded to. we can shift some of the savings from the part of the budget that congress appropriates ever year to the part of the budget, the two-thirds of the budget that is called mandatory spending. keep the budget caps in place. not raise taxes. which is important in the weak economy. and actually avoid a government shutdown. i'm hopeful by the end of the week we can come together and achieve it. >> one of the sticking points, the extension of the unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. senator durbin, nancy pelosi saying there is no deal without having those benefits extended. are the democrats united on that? no extension, no deal? >> i don't think we have reached the point where we have said this is it, take it or leaf it. i spoke to patty murray the other night. negotiations are moving in the ri

. >> let me play what rob portman's take on this was. >> the key is that we not have another governmenthutdown, that we do keep the spending caps in place, that we don't raise taxes at a time when the economy is still weak and i think we can accomplish that over the next couple of days. >> let's go over what's on the table. cuts to federal pensions, military pensions, airline security fee hikes, unemployment and selling more of the broadcast spectrum. even those things aren't flying with some democrats, particularly the cuts to pensions already. what are the chances, ron, that any one of those things could derail a deal? >> well, i think there's a chance that just about anything in this town could derail any deal. i think the fact that we're -- you know, you're even asking if this can be considered a deal or success just shows you how pitiful this city has gotten right now. this is outrageous that the best they're going to be able to do is a stopgap measure that punts the problems down the road. i know one thing for sure, they're all going on vacation on friday. meanwhile the debt won't

when i work with specific people, there are a lot of different folks and i have talked with rob portmanknows about the irs. he's a manufacturer who is elected to the senate in wisconsin and that's a good example and mike burgess was a medical doctor in carrying this around and he has a smart phone. but his smart phone has an application that does cardiology. you can really put it up when he gets us with his smart phone and he gets where we are going. and tim griffin is a great congressman from arkansas and he knows the general direction we are going. and there's enough to be hopeful about. >> mr. speaker. we are taking questions from youtube and we have been online all week so we have some that people have e-mailed to us and we will start right now the first one. since you cannot see the screens, i will read it to you. how would you rate president obama's foreign policy compared to that of richard nixon? system kevin jacobsen and red buttons. [applause] [laughter] [laughter] >> without getting myself into much trouble, it's like how would you compare a bunny rabbit and a german shepherd

specific people in congress, a lot of different folks in the last couple days, been talking with rob portman who knows a lot about the irs. ron johnson who is a manufacture was elected to the city in wisconsin would be a good example. mike barr just as a medical doctor who served in the u.s. house. carries around bashing his a smart phone, but a smartphone has an app that does cardiology. so he can cash in your getting an electrocardiogram on his smartphone. he forgets where he going and what we're trying to college. tim griffin is a great congressman from arkansas. florida knows the jump direction where to go when. there's enough to be hopeful about. >> mr. speaker, we are taking questions from youtube. we've been online all week so we have some that people had e-mailed him and we will start now with the first one. because you can't see the screen, i will we get to you. how would you rate the president obama's foreign policy compared to that of richard nixon? this is from kevin jacobsen. [laughter] >> i don't know. without getting myself into much trouble, it would be like how you compare a

this weekend ohio senator rob portman talked about the prospects for a government budget deal and to avoid a government shutdown. let's take a listen to what he had to say and then, bob, i'll get your response. >> can you get an extension if it's paid for? can the republicans live with that? >> it's not $25 billion no one was talking about, george, until the last week, so it's an additional cost within this budget agreement. i think the thought always was that would be handled separately, so i'm glad to hear my colleague, dick durbin, say that's not necessarily a sticking point in this, because i think there are different ways to look at it. look, the key is we don't have another government shutdown, that we don't raise taxes at a time when the economy is still weak, and i think we can accomplish that over the next couple days. >> host: bob bixby, your take. >> guest: well, what senator portman was talking about there was the extension of unemployment benefits which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year finish not all unemployment benefits, but the extension of sort of an em

in the house and the senate, but we have to look at players like other senators like from ohio, rob portman who was a budget expert having controlled the budget for president bush. one of those things you have to look for is in the tax rules and regulations, will there be an offset in taxes versus revenue? that is where the democrats have their sticking point is they love to spend money that we don't have and republicans are insistent if we have any spending constraint it has to be found in tax savings or tax increases but you cannot have one without the other, that is the real sticking point here. you have immigration. adam: the business community wants some sort of immigration bill to get through congress. any chance we would see this happening or would this be continued delay, delay, delay? >> this would be after the congress in january because it is too big. in order for immigration to succeed it will not be an ominous bill like we had with obamacare. we need incremental bills on immigration talk about security pathway to citizenship, taxation and those type of things in order for immig

congress, there are a lot of folks in the last couple of days, i've been talking, for example, with rob portman who knows a lot about the irs. ron johnson who is an manufacturer elected to the senate. mike burr guess who is a medical doctor who serves the u.s. house. he has a smartphone but his smartphone has an app that does cardiologist. so he put up and you are getting a electrode. so there are enough to be hopeful about. >> mr. speaker, we are taking questions from youtube. we've been online all week. so we have some that people have e-mailed in. we'll start now with the first one. because you can't see the screen, i'm read it to you. how would you rate president obama's foreign policy compared to that of richard nixon. in is this from kevin jacobson in redlands. [laughter] um -- [laughter] i don't know. without getting myself in too much trouble, you would be like how do you compare a bun any rabbit and a german shepard. [laughter] [applause] i really do worry for the country forment next three years. because if you watch the syrian fiasco, you watch what is happening in libya. there were

. >> so alex, of course there you have republican rob portman, democrat dick durbin. and you heard senator durbin talking about unemployment insurance. that is still the main sticking point. democrats, the president want unemployment insurance extended for 1.3 million americans. that's expected to expire at the end of the year. they say if that's not continued, it would be bad for those workers and also bad for the economy. republicans say look at these latest job figures. they're an indication that we don't need more stimulus spending. but the key there, alex, is that democrats are not demanding that be a part of a budget deal. so that likely won't derail these budget talks. it's possible that we won't have a crisis situation here in washington for the first time in several years. alex? >> okay. listen, you're hopeful, so i'm going to be hopeful. thank you very much, kristen welker. >>> new today, reaction from key lawmakers following reports from state tv in iran that u.n. nuclear inspectors have started their visit to the iraq heavy water plant. inspectors were all

chambliss of georgia, isakson of georgia, collins of maine, mccluskey of portmanron johnson, ron -- rob portman of ohio. we want to point out to you that we mentioned at the top of the segment is the panel recommendations on the nsa's data collection programs. that is the lead story in "the new york times." panel of outside advisers urged president obama to employ major oversights and restrictions on the national security agency. the most significant recommendations was that mr. inma restructure a program which the nsa systematically collects logs of all american phone calls and a small group of agency officials have the power to authorize the search. you can read more on that story in several of the papers today. left inabout 15 minutes this segment to talk about ben bernanke's legacy at the federal reserve. steve from haymarket, virginia. republican line. caller: the bottom line is that these ridiculous games we have been watching -- the poor have gotten poorer. andunions and the tea party two or three other groups need to get together and form a second party. with this budget deal, we now kn

republican senator rob portman said he's optimistic there will be a short term agreement. >> i agree. shutdown, we keep the spending cuts in place, we don't raise taxes and we can accomplish that over the next couple of days. >> joe, is a deal in the works? >> i understand it is and i under it will be short term. not more than two years. i guess that's the best we're going to get. we need to sit down and come to grips we need at that long term deal, a long term solution. the bowles-simpson, it started bipartisan, stayed bipartisan and grown bipartisan. we know it's difficult but it will fix our financial problem. >> sam stein what are you hearing? >> i'm hearing about the short term deal. can they close it? they are looking at spending a trillion dollars in the next fiscal year an elevation from the 967 billion that they were supposed to have. the question is how do you pay for that difference. that's why they are struggling to mind common ground. the latest proposals is to take pension money from federal workers and from military personal to help pay for that difference and i can't i