is there a prospect of some revival of simpson/bowles now? >> yes. i believe this is a contrarian view, but we have a good chance of actually getting the big package, big deficit reduction in 2012 for two reasons -- three reasons, really. first, the knives that i mentioned that were over our heads, the bush tax cuts expire in 2013. sequestration goes into effect in 2013. now that seems a year and a month away. but as we get closer and closer and closer, the pressure on both parties to come together in the middle, provided we don't remove one of those knives, like taking defense off the table, is going to be stronger and stronger. second, the republican primaries will end right now the republican primary the candidates and then their senate and congressional supporters to the right. you know, all of them said they wouldn't be for a dollar of revenue for $10, in return for $10 of spending cuts. but once you get a nominee, they have to move to the middle. that's where the american people are. and third, is people go home, they're going to hear from thei

recently, alan simpson sat down to tell us why. >> alan simpson is a wyoming truth teller. if you look in the dictionary, says saysinty 0-- it flinty and it has his picture. >> alan simpson and erskine bowles reported back from their commission one year ago. >> if we continue to say we can get this done without touching medicare, medicaid, social security, defense, just give them the course/. there is a tipping -point come- -- give them the horse lash. it will come from the market that says this is a dysfunctional political system in the united states. the guy who gets hurt the most is the one they all talk about and moan about, the little guy. >> as members of congress continue to deliberate, he looks further afield at other countries grappling with similar issues. this was before the debt crisis began to affect france. >> if they do not recognize the importance of just doing a plan, why is it that the markets germany or england or france. we do not have a plan. >> alan simpson spent 18 years in the senate, a time when things were done differently. he says he despairs of a

but alan simpson is a flinty, wyoming -- >> alan simpson is a flinty, wyoming, true tower. >> it has been 18 months since president obama asked alan simpson and errors involved to come up with a plan for cutting america's debt -- and erskine bowles to come up with a plan for cutting america's thdebt. >> if we continue to hear politicians say we can get this done without touching social security, medicare, defense -- just give them the horselaugh. there is a tipping public coming, not from politicians, economists, wizards, and thus and bankers -- investment bankers. it will come from the market. bam, but will go the interest rate, the inflation. the guy who gets first -- up will go the interest rate, the inflation. the guy who gets hurt first will be the little guy. >> congress continues deliberate without much sign of consensus. our interview was conducted before europe's debt crisis began to affect france. >> are the healthiest horse -- we are the healthiest horse in the glue factory now. germany and france have a plan. it may not be worth a --, but it is a plan. we don't have a pla

simpson has no use for norquist. >> simpson: he may well be the most powerful man in america today.omaniac, egomaniac, whatever you want to call him. if that's his goal, he's damn near there. he ought to run for president, because that will be his platform-- "no taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." >> kroft: simpson also wants to know where norquist and americans for tax reform, with its multimillion-dollar budget, gets its money. >> simpson: when you get this powerful, and he is, then it's, "where do you get your scratch, grover?" is it two people? is it ten million people? the american people demand to know where you get your money, grover, babe. >> kroft: but under federal law, "grover, babe," as simpson calls him, and americans for tax reform-- a nonprofit organization-- aren't required to disclose the identity of its contributors. so the finances of a group that demands transparency in government are opaque. norquist says the money comes from direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. but a significant portion appears to come from wealthy i

would you support that part of bowles simpson? >> my plan is not simpson boles. i took their tax reform measure which i thought was a good one but my plan for debt and spending is the ryan plan. i'm the only candidate that embraced in total the ryan plan. i think the super committee is a joke, they are targeting $1.5 trillion ease serri ten years. 2.5% of total spending over ten years. is not even a serious attempt at all. i think what ryan is talking about with $6.2 trillion cut out of the budget over ten years is exactly where this country needs to be. we have to get down to 19% spending as a percentage of gdp to get anywhere near a sustainable level. the simpson bowles report i thought represented a good body of work. i don't agree with the tax increase portion. i looked at their tax reform proposal and combined it with what i did. >> chris: governor, i hate to interrupt but we have limited time. their tax reform proposal, yes, it called for lower rates but also called for taking some of the eliminated deductions what they call tax expenditures and using that.

isn't that what alan simpson is saying? i think his conservative bona fides are pretty well established. and he's saying, look, times change. they're required a balanced approach, and in this kind of economy, after a financial crisis, revenues have to be part of the picture. >> no. raising taxes slows the economy. raising taxes kills jobs. government spending does not create jobs. the idea that if you take a dollar out of the economy and then -- from somebody who earned it, either through debt, or through taxes, and give it to somebody that's politically connected, that there are more dollars around, but if you stand on one side of the lake and put a bucket into the lake and walk around to the other side in front of the tv cameras, pour the bucket back into the lake and announce you're stimulating the lake to great depth, we just wasted $800 billion on stimulus spending that added to debt, that killed jobs. >> but the notion that tax cuts or tax increases somehow impact economic growth, we know historically that's simply no

would you support that part of bowels-simpson. >> guest: my plan is not simpson-bowles. i took their text tax measure. i am the only candidate in the race who embraced in total the rean plan. i think the super committee is a joke for the simple reason they are targeting 1.10 trillion and two and half of the spending and that is not a serious attempt at all. i think what ryan is talking about with 6.2 trillion is where the country needs to be. we have to get down to 19 percent spending to get near the sustainable level . the simpson-bowles report represented a good body of work. i don't agree with the tax increase portion. i looked at the tax and combined with what i did. i a flat tax. >> chris: i hate to interrupt but we have limited time. tax reform proposal calls for tax exenditures and using them. you are a truth teller or position as that on the stage and your rivals are engaging in political theater. isn't it political theater to say i want a solution that has no tax revenue increase in >> guest: what i am calling on tax reform is a phasings out of loop holes and de

her name is angela simpson. >> simpson i think is a very scary individual.'s probably the only one in there that i take every precaution in the world to make sure my staff and myself are safe. she is the one in this whole jail that creeps me out, for a better word. >> i was the first person on the crew to get introduced to angela simpson, and upon meeting her, the first things that came out of her mouth when i approached her, she pretty much told me to go "f" myself. for someone to say, go "f" yourself, it's like, all right, welcome to jail. >> simpson is a very scary person. she is just by the nature of her crimes and the way that she has been here and just her manners and that, she just doesn't seem to have a lot of those inhibition controls that most people would, and because of that she can be very much a threat to staff. so we have to keep her in a very controlled setting. >> simpson was accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering a man she believed to be a police informant. she has then said to have dismembered the corpse, set it on fire and throw t

ladies and gentlemen, senator alan simpson. [applause] >> our next guest, robert gibbs, has been an adviser and strategist for president obama since the area day0s of obama's senate race. he second as president obama's press secretary. a graduate of north carolina state university, gibbs began his political career threw an internship with former congressman glen brown of alabama. he went on to specialize in senate campaigns, serving as communication director for the democratic senatorial campaign committee and for four individual senate campaigns, including those of fritz holings in 1998 and senator obama in 2004. gibbs was communications director in the obama campaign and serve in that role throughout the presidential campaign until becoming senior strategist during the general election. members of the media often noted gibbs' quick wit and candid style as he presided over daily press briefings in his role as press secretary. having spent many years as a close adviseyear to the president, robert gibbs is able to offer a white

to paraphrase one of our former colleagues, i new bowles and simpson.d with them on the commit iand what was proposed by the republicans on the super committee was not even close to the bowles simpson proposal. what we have got to do is establish the basics. $2 in cuts for every dollar in revenue. now, let's do that in a thoughtful way that creates jobs now. does not handicap or damage medicare and social security and medicaid in the long run and creates the kind of approach that is balanced. we didn't get that out of the super committee. i thank them for their work but we have to really strive for that. >> chris: let me ask you directly because one of the big hangups is the bush tax cuts. simpson bowles said we are going to lower all the rates and the top rate maybe down to 28% but get a trillion dollars in tax expenditures. are you willing to say forget about ending the bush tax cuts we will lower rates dramatically if we get the tax expenditures? >> chris, you have to look at it in the total context. and i'm not dodging your question. the bush tax cu

we're expecting that simpson and bowles and alice rivlin and the others are going to give some reallyeither stand up and deliver by november 23rd and don't let congress delay the sequestration if you don't deliver, or this country's going to be in really sad >> reporter: yeah, they're going to deliver a very serious message, andrea. as one aide told me, they're really going to tell the members of the super committee to drink their medicine and really realize the monumental task they have before them and what exactly it would mean if they were to fail. it's expected that bowles and simpson will essentially say today that failure is not an option, something we've heard a lot here on capitol hill, but specifically suggesting that an type of failure would lead to a huge credit downgrade, possibly, and really could reflect badly on congress and the future of the united states economy. however, moody's, the credit rating agency, did release a report today that said if the super committee would fail to reach that $1.5 trillion target they want to hit, it wouldn't necessarily be grounds for

mike shuler and mike simpson. welcome to fox news sunday. with the letterr that your group. 60 democrats and 40 republicans sent to the super committee here and this is the key sentence. to succeed all options for mandatory and discretion spending and revenues must be on the table. congressman simpson will you support more revenues from raising tax rates or cutting deductions and closing loop holes as part of the plan o cut the deficit. >> you have to. you can't get to four trillion without revenue. we have didn't ideas. i think you could lower the tax rates and elimbinating the exemptions underneath and you would have a economic boom in this country and the revenue would come in the federal government. more revenue is key to this. >> you would take the money from closing the loopp holes and use that for deficit reduction and not make it revenue neutral. >> it has to if you are going to get to four trillion and everybody agrees we have to get to four trillion to stabilize our debt. >> >> chris: grover workwist. head of americans for tax refo

the democrats the republicans, starting with the very conservative the setor coburn who was on a simpson-bowles and approved and suppororted an increase in net tax revenues -- >> that was the g gang of six though. >> now, he voted in simpson- bowles to increase $1 tririllion -- i am in the middle of a sentence, and i am going to get to the end and i will let you kn with punctuation, all right? >> ok. >> comma -- >> [laughter] he supported a a $1 trillion in increase in net tax revenues, the same way tt on the super mmittee, sator toomey of the club for growth supported an increase in tax revenues. it seemso me that the myth that republicans oppppose higher taxes is sily not recognizing there is a difffference between the warring rates and increasing revenues. >> just to correct the recor yes, tom coburn to suppo t on simpson-bowles and he was excludedrom the committee did pat toomey was on the committee. he endorsed $300 billion in revenues over thet 10 years, $30 billion a year, under e condition, that the bush tax cuts nimply be retnened, but at the highest rate be cut to 28%. democrats think

what does senator simpson make of this?-commissioner of the tax group with all of the tough recommendation and is my special guest an hour and a half great now on fox business network. you do not get fox business network? demand it. the president blasting the "do nothing," congress. stay tuned. >> the republicans in the senate refused to debate it, 100 percent of republicans oppose it. >>neil: another president on another day, remember this? >> i recommend an increase not -- in the minimum wage. once again, nothing. absolutely nothing. >>neil: harry truman blaming a do nothing congress. and winning. karl rove on whether this president is following. >> why think so, he was running against a do nothing congress in 1948, a republican house and a republican senate that said, wait until after the election and we will work with dewey but we will it is on our hands and here we have a republican house and a democratic senate with a republican house passing initiative after initiative and beginning to die in the united states senate

and bowles, bowles and simpson. we'll decide who gets top billing when we get on set here. their grand bargain to solve the debt crisis is pretty much gathering dust on a shelf. will the super committee take their advice this time? >>> plus, money trouble. hundreds of millions of dollars disappeared from former new jersey governor jon corzine's company. and then another government-backed solar energy company goes belly up. first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. as i told you, it's that big tv row of sorts, the president doing ten separate interviews today with various local television anchors. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. ca

ladies and gentlemen, senator alan simpson.pplause] our next guest, robert gibbs, has been an adviser and strategist for president obama says the early days his senate race. he has served as president obama's press secretary. he began his political career through an internship with former congressman glenn brown of alabama. he went on a specialized campaign serving as communications director for the democratic senatorial campaign committee and for individual senate campaigns including those of fritz hollings and senator obama in 2004. he joined the cadet obama's senate campaign as sennott -- as communications director and served until becoming senior strategist for communications during the general election. members of the media have often noted his quick wit -- quick wit and candid style. having spent many years as a close adviser to the president, robert gibbs is able to offer an insider's perspective on current issues. ladies and gentleman, please welcome robert gibbs. [applause] karl rove as precedent of karl rove and -- ka

record, yes, tom coburn data supports that in simpson-bowles and he was excluded from the committee. pat toomey was on the committee. he endorsed $300 billion in revenues over the next 10 years. $30 billion a year. on one condition, that the bush tax cuts not simply be retained, but the highest rate be cut to 28% bid the democrats think they have a winner politically on this. they didn't it just let me finish if i could, charles, before you interrupt. this discredits government, it discredits congress, and the more than it does that, it helps republicans in 2012. >> what i don't understand is how you can say oh, yes, the republicans would have increased revenues, but because at the rates were lowered, it is not a good idea. who cares? do you think the chinese, who own our debt, care about the rates we have? what they care about is the revenues and the debt. if you lower the debt, and you can do it with lower rates, is a win-win-win. >> that is a big if. >> is there a silver lining here? >> they i'm not going to let the automatic cuts take place. they are going to find a way to wiggle

simpson bolls came out in the fall of 2010 and the president stiff-armed it. he attacked congressman paul ryan of wisconsin for suggesting indictment reform after a couple months earlier saying it was a serious effort. this summer when we got close to a big deal, the grand bargain, the president at the last minute backtracked and said he wanted $400 billion more in tax increases before he would agree to anything. then we've had the supercommittee, even a spokesman today said at the beginning of the process we laid out a proposal and that was the closest they got to being engaged. and i would add a six the one. the president did not address this except for less than one paragraph in his state of the union speech this year. you would have thought if this was a big pressing issue, the state of the union would have been devoted to it rather than high-speed rail, high-speed internet and count less green jobs that doesn't look particularly good in the aftermath of solyndra. >> karl you mentioned the boll-simpson commission. that was a committee created to find solut

i must say mike simpson said he would support it. would you support it? have to more sustainable -- and get rid of fraud and because. >> chris: do you think president obama going around the country blaming a do-nothing congress and making it sound as if all you need is get millionaires and billionaires pay more in tax do you that i is constructive? >> far often we've seen how politicsç played in washington especially the closer we get to presidential elections. the most important thing we can do is come together as mike and another 100 members and adding every single day to that list work together to make sure that our debt and deficit spending that we've been having over the last decade, doesn't continue. that we have a more sustainable path for our future. we put the nextç generation in a situation where they are not having to pay everything. every dollar we borrow is a tax on the next generation. >> chris: do you think what the president is doing these days is constructionive or not? >> it would be much more helpful if the focus was on what he could