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in the crossfire tonight, senator jon tester and roger wicker. we expect the senate to approve the budget deal tomorrow. we know the old saying. i could have come up with a better deal myself, but there was somebody sitting across the table. you can tell how much the economic debate has moved to the far right when paul ryan, the guy governor romney chose to be his running mate, the guy who he showed, to show off his severely conservative credentials, well, let me just tell you, paul ryan is now seen as the reasonable moderate deal maker. the republicans keep moving the marker. senator wicker, you know, there's a little fight right now in the republican party. i'm giviing s.e. a couple aspirins. i'm going to move to something stronger as soon as jon tester will give me something. >> everybody voted for it over there except for about 40 votes. i admire paul ryan. i wanted to make him vice president. and i think he'll make a grade president. >> amen. >> i think john boehner's done a good job with a very tough crowd. here's what i don't think they th

martha: very strong words from senator ayote there and i am joined by mississippi senator roger wickerpublican who serves on the budget committee and the armed services committee as well. senator, welcome, good to have you here this morning. >> glad to be with you. martha: how will you vote and why? >> i will vote no for the very same reason senator ayote just outlined. i think when we did the, when we do a budget we know there has to be some pain. there is a little give-and-take everywhere. i expect ad fee to go up, an assessment, a maybe a little more withholding. i never dreamed though that we would take military retirees who have already done their part of the bargain, who already served their 20 years and tell them that retroactively we're going to cut their cost of living adjustment back by 1%. i can't imagine that we're doing this to the people who stepped forward to serve our country with a military career and we're, it amounts to $83,000 lifetime for the average enlisted retiree. over $120,000 lifetime for the average officer. a huge burden when we're supposed to be sort of sh

mississippi republican roger wicker is a budget conferree. >> i'm thinking about the end of the week we'll have a deal that gets us some sequestration relief and we'll there to pay for it. if it is just like the sale of spectrum, that won't be much of a victory. with were going to do -- we were going to do that any way. >> democrats have been hoping to restore funding for medical research and education. the pressure is on patty murray and republican congressman paul ryan to finalize a deal to fund the government beyond january 15th. a new push from democrats in recent days has been a $25 billion unemployment extension which is due to run sought december 28th. >> right now more than 1 million of americans are poses to lose a vital lifeline, a few days after christmas, if congress doesn't do something about it. >> unemployment benefits have been extended five times at a price tag of $226 billion and some conservatives argue more extensions are not acceptable. >> they are causing them to become a perpetual part of the unemployed in our economy and while it seems good, it does a disservi

republican senators kelly ayotte and roger wicker have been fighting cuts for those under age 62.6 billion cut after cost of living increases and the senators want it fixed. jean shaheen suggested a bill that would close corporate tax loopholes instead of going after military benefits. it's one of the ideas being floated and john cornyn says the issue should be addressed now. >> i don't have any doubt whatsoever if we were able to come up with an appropriate paid for and of substitute for this cut in military pensions, that it would pass like a hot knife through butter in the house of representatives when they reconvene. >> reporter: senator patty murray says including disabled retiree benefits in the cut was a mistake and she says it will get addressed after the bill is passed. >> mike emanuel, thank you. >>> breaks right now. the harvard university sophomore accused of making bomb threats to get out of taking his final exam is at this moment appearing in court. the feds say he faces up to five years in prison for this. investigators say he almost got away with it and would have

several republicans voiced opposition to that provision, among them mississippi's roger wicker. >> we find $6 billion elsewhere without breaking a promise to people who, during a time of the global war on terror, have stood forward, donned the uniform of the united states of america and volunteered time and time again >> woodruff: final passage on the budget measure is expected no later than wednesday. in afghanistan, six american soldiers died in a helicopter crash today. it was the worst single incident to hit nato forces there in months. the troops were aboard a black hawk that went down in the southern province of zabul. there was only one survivor. the cause is under investigation by nato. there was no enemy fighting reported nearby. the u.s. is moving to beef up security forces in the philippines amid growing tensions with china. secretary of state john kerry pledged more than $40 million in aid today. he met with his philippine counterpart and maintained the aid is not directly aimed at countering china. but he again criticized beijing for imposing an air defense zone over disp

co-sponsoring a republican amendment to restore the pension cuts, kelly ayotte, lindsey graham, and roger wicker, will bring military families to the senate to protest the cut. tennessee's lamar alexander told "business week" he is reviewing the bill. hasn't made a decision yet. when the senate closes the books on the budge net the next 36 hours it still has a raft of confirmation votes before christmas including the vote on janet yellin to be the next head of the federal reserve. last night the senate confirmed jeh johnson, the former general counsel for the pentagon. he's now going to be the next secretary of homeland security. overwhelming support, by the way. 78-16. but the senate is leaving a long to-do list for 2014. jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, not part of this budget bill. he wants to do that in january. democrats are expected to advance legislation to raise the minimum wage, $10.10, in coordination with a white house push that the president will kick off in his state of the union. house and senate negotiators have still not worked out a deal on the farm bill. then ther

person this morning -- the first person we heard from out on the floor was republican senator roger wicker who is a no. here's what he said. >> but my objection that moves me from undecided to a no is what this budget does to current and military retirees, and the fact that it breaks a promise that has been made to military retirees for years and years. >> so, dafna, here we are. we're just moments away from this cloture vote. is there anything we should be looking for over the next 24 hours or is chuck schumer right, this is a done deal? >> i think this is a done deal. the person you want to watch and who has been interesting to watch this entire session has been harry reid. i think he's done a tremendous amount of work. he's changed the rules, he's moved his people in one direction very strongly, and, you know, he hasn't had any problems in moving his own side in any direction, which i think is impressive, considering how incredibly contentious the session has been. i think, you know, people like lindsey graham, members on the republican side who are facing challenges, primary challenges

listen to what senator roger wicker told my colleague, chris jansing, earlier today. >> what i'm hearing is, we're going to replace about $65 billion worth of appropriation cuts. and we're going to do it sort of with a collection of cats and dogs, fees on airline passengers, spectrum sales and things like that. a real case of small ball, and nothing that makes me think we've bent the curve at all for the long-term debt. >> now, let me tell you, when i hear that from a liberal perspective, where people will be concerned, number one, about getting unemployment insurance into this, which he doesn't exactly mention, and number two, with the idea that we do need new revenues, you could argue it's good you're looking at revenues, even from the small ball stuff. where do you come down? >> well, it sure could be worse. they could be messing around with social security and medicare. and they're not. and they are planning to do something about sequestration, at least not jump into the next trough. on sequestration, which is worse than what we have now. but i always feel saddened and really sorry t

republican senator roger wicker told chris jansing he's confident in paul ryan, the lead republican, in negotiations, but isn't so sure the deal tackles long-term problems. >> what i'm hearing is we are going to replace about $65 billion of appropriation cuts and we're going to do it sort of with a collection of cats and dogs, fees on airline passengers, spectrum sales and things like that that don't amount to long-term savings in the next decade. >> join meeg riging me right no king. thanks for making time for me. we have heard that the budget does not deal with entitlement reform tax loopholes, major debt reduction or all of the sequestration cuts. you're on the special budget conference that's coming up with the plan. that's your feeling on how this is taking shape, and then what's your biggest linchpin of concern? >> well, first, thomas, i think it's really important to say that more important i believe than the numbers and the details are doing it at all. you've got to understand congress hasn't passed a budget in four years, and i think simply coming to a deal that can be passe

>>> in the crossfire, senator jon tester, a democrat who supports the budget deal and senator roger wickeronight on crossfire. >>> welcome to crossfire. i'm donna brazil on the left. >> i'm s.e. cupp. >> senators on different sides of the budget vote. this was a big week. thanks to paul ryan on the right and patty murray on the left, the budget deal cleared a major hurdle in the senate and the final vote comes tomorrow. it's not a great deal, it's arguably not even a good deal. i understand why some republicans are unhappy about this. voters would rather be angry with their representatives for doing something they don't like than for not doing anything at all. we'll see if our guests agree. >> after the fiscal cliff, the government shutdown, we have a bipartisan budget deal that everyone should be proud of. it's not perfect, but we should be proud of. >> there we go. >> in the crossfire, jon tester and senator wicker. >> we are joined by the mississippi river. senator wicker, i know you don't like this deal, but there are a lot of people in mississippi hurting right now. why are you going

looking at a presidential run in the case of ted cruz, marco rubio, kelly ayotte, rand paul, senator roger wickerority leader mish mcconnell is also expected to vote against this piece of legislation. he is facing a tough re-election battle from the right from a tea party republican. so that is how it is shaping up. having said that, alex, there's going to be a fair amount of pressure for the republican party to get the votes, to pass this procedural hurdle because of the government shutdown. the republicans still deeply wounded after the government shutdown and they, of course, bore a lot of blame for that. so it's expected this will pass, but there's certainly going to be back room discussions going on throughout the weekend leading up to the vote on tuesday. >> you are right about that, kristen welker at the white house, thank you. >>> if you're hoping to give your budget a real boost by winning that huge megawilmillions jackpot, you better try again. nobody won the big prize last night. it sends tuesday's jackpot to a whopping $550 million. why is a reporter telling the truth about a missing