for instance tom coburn's amendment on how to pay for it. this amendment is expected to fail.led. that coburn amendment on paying for unemployment benefits failed in the senate. they are expecting a vote on the whole tax cut compromise to happen in half an hour, maybe 45 minutes. >>> wanted to give you an update on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. there is a proposal to read the whole law concerning the arms reduction with russia on the floor. it would take 12 to 14 hours. some say it is a political stunt that puts politics ahead of national security. #. >>> right now in u.n. security council lifted a sanction barring iraq from pursuing a civilian nuclear program. >>> a border patrol agent was shot and killed in arizona last night. at least four people are in custody. >>> the justice department will join a civil lawsuit against bp and its partners over the gulf coast oil disaster today. >>> and facebook founder and ceo mark zuckerberg was named "time" magazine's person of the year. >>> we are watching the senate floor now for the movement on the tax cut compromise. again, there's been a

. >>> when we come back, another senator who would have to vote on the issue, tom coburn.no. he has a message to all of his colleagues, democrat and republican. news online check the wife, check the kids check your email messages check the money in the bank check the gas in the tank check the flava from your shirt make sure your pits don't stank check the new hairdo, check the mic one two 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you you check a lot of things already why not add one more that can help your situation for sure check your credit score free-credit-score-dot-com free-credit-score you won't regret it at all! check the legal y'all. anncr: offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage. into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. yeah. aww...that oj needs alka-seltzer plus. fast powder packs are a taste-free fizz-free way to transform your dri

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we'll discuss america's balance sheet with the senate's leading fiscal hawk, republican senator tom coburn. then, with the christmas season upon us, we'll talk about religion an politics with cardinal donald wuerl, archbishop of washington. also, the 2011 political landscape. from the white house, to capitol hill, to the presidential campaign trail. we'll ask our sunday panel what to expect. all right now on "fox news sunday". and hello again from fox news in washington. we hope you had a wonderful christmas. and are enjoying the holiday season. a top priority for the next congress with republicans in control of the house and with more clout in the senate will be to cut spending. joining us now with his ideas for getting our fiscal house in order is senator tom coburn, known as "dr. no" for his opposition to government spending. he joins us from the home state of oklahoma. senator, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> well, good morning, chris. >> chris: i want to start with the lame duck session of congress you just finished. you blocked the democratic omnibus spending bill with $8 billi

. >>> oklahoma senator tom coburn is going after the grateful dead. they say uc santa cruz should not have received 5* $600,000 federal grant to help fund the grateful dead. they say it was a waste of taxpayer money. but they say coburn is missing the point. the archive showcases a major institution. >>> a santa monica video game company has running up $1 billion in sales. activision released call of duty black ops and it is the fastest $1 billion has ever been made in the gaming industry. in this game which can be played on-line, they assume the role of a foot soldier in the cold war. >> things are blowing up, yes. speaking of shootouts snatching victories from the jaws of defeat. it is an over time thriller. >>> good evening. right now the warriors will take a win anyway they can get it. as it turned out it was in spectacular fashion. the warrior fans made the trip up i-80. and a nice shake and bake move. dare i say jordan esque? they blow the lead and the kings are taking over. warriors make a late charge fueled by, guess who, monta ellis hanging a

when you see everybody from a liberal like dick durbin on the left to a conservative like tom coburnhe environment, that is political momentum. there is some momentum behind it that needs to move forward. but i think you cannot talk about the debt, chris, without also looking at what another piece of news that came out friday which was the unemployment. unemployment statistic. 9.8%. at a time when the economy is rebounding and retail sales and real estate, corporate profits are up. we have to start asking ourselves why is there a long-term unemployment. add to the debt extending unemployment benefit, fine. are we hitting our head against the wall constantly? job vacancies surged by 37% and up employment continues to go up. there is a mismatch between skills, training and the jobs that are open. a small disincentive on the part of some people to find jobs that aren't necessarily the jobs they want. we've got to start looking more long-term, because when you create one way to go after the deficit is to create more revenues, as we talked about that. means creating more taxpayers. we've

even in public if you looked at the deficit commission you had dick durbin and tom coburn both embracing that commission. and that is reflective of a lot of stuff that is happening below the surface. in the last couple of days on npr and elsewhere, the president has talked about doing some tax reform. well, that, those conversations i think are pretty serious, maybe more serious than he let on. and i'm not sure they made any decisions. i take them at his word at that. but i think there have been pretty serious decisions about exactly how to do some big tax reform among republicans and democrats. there have been some other really big conversations that are going on. about really fundamental welfare state reform. no big decisions but the atmosphere has totally changed for your basic public policy if are you sitting out there in the brookings institution this is like a superexciting time. because things are being fundamentally talked about, the question will be can the president force these private bipartisan conversations beyond the crust of partisanship so it actually comes out in public

for days, oklahoma's tom coburn stood in the way. he was concerned about cost. and he was vilified. >> he shouldn't be a senator and shouldn't be a doctor, if he's going to go out there and attack this bill. >> reporter: the way you've been hammered on this. >> i'm used to being hammered. >> reporter: you're standing up against the heroes of 9/11. >> no. i'm standing up -- i'm not standing against them at all. i'm standing for us, as america, the realization that we have to do things efficiently and economically. >> reporter: the bill appeared to be on the verge of dying. we found majority leader, harry reid, coming out of coburn's office. do we have a deal on the 9/11 bill? >> i don't do deals. >> reporter: but the deal was struck. coburn dropped his objections after the bill's cost was reduced. the victory capped what may be the most productive lame duck congress ever. passing the extension of the bush tax cuts, the repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy, a major overhaul of the way the government protects the food supply, and the ratification o

senator tom coburn today released a report on the top 100 examples of wasteful government spending in 2010. it's quite a list. $28 million spent to print the congressional record. the record of everything said in congress that's already available online. about the only thing the congressional record is used for these days is filling up recycling bins on capitol hill. also, $1.8 million for a museum about neon signs in las vegas and $436,000 spent by the census bureau on a totem pole in alaska to encourage alaskans to take part in the census. we could have a final vote on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty as early as tomorrow. this is the top remaining priority for the white house. and despite the fact the republican leadership is against this, democrats are increasingly confident, diane, that they will get the 67 votes they need to ratify the treaty. >> why that increased confidence, john? >> reporter: well, it's one vote at a time, diane. in fact, we just heard a little while ago, scott brown told us that he will vote yes. that's another republican yes vote. even with just the declared votes, th

for days, oklahoma's tom coburn stood in the way. he was concerned about cost and he was vilified. >> he shouldn't be a senator and he shouldn't be a doctor if he's going to go out there and attack this bill. >> reporter: the way you've been hammered on this -- >> i'm used to being hammered. >> reporter: you're standing up against the heroes of 9/11. how could you stand in the way? >> i'm not standing against them at all. i'm standing for us as america, the realization that we have to do things efficiently and economically. >> reporter: just hours ago, the bill appeared to be on the verge of dying. that's when we found majority leader harry reid coming out of coburn's office. so, mr. leader, do we have a deal on the 9/11 bill? >> i don't do deals. >> reporter: but the deal was struck. coburn dropped his objections after the bill's cost was reduced. the victory capped what may be the most productive lame duck congress ever. passing the extension of the bush tax cuts, the repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy, a major o

. >> concerns like that brought two more yes votes with the commission plan as senators tom coburn and mike cray poe announced their support, not because they like the details, but to avoid a disaster. >> i am scared to death at the potential that could unwind this country far greater than anything we've ever seen before and far sooner than anybody imagines. >> because we depend on other nations to loan us money, almost 40 cents of every dollar we spend is now borrowed. so by 2020, the u.s. will be spending $1 trillion a year just in interest on the debt. by 2025, every single tax dollar will be consumerred by interest, medicare, medicaid and social security, leaving nothing for anything else. >> building roads, educating our kids, national defense and securing the borders, there is no money for that. >> and being that far in debt sends us down a dark economic road. >> we do face a future that looks like stagnation, high unemployment, low wage growth, real problem with inflation and high interest rates. >> if you ask people if they're willing to give up benefits or tax breaks or not, n

i do think a very significant tipping point happened last week when both tom coburn and dick durbin signed up to the report of the president's bipartisan commission on the deficit and the debt. that, i think, is going to represent a very significant inflection point in the political conversation going on in this senate of ours? >> senator, a treaty, as you know, is the highest vote threshold you have to clear. it requires 2/3, a vote of 67 to be approved in the senate. if you can get it to a vote, do you think 67 votes are there? >> i think 67 votes are there. i had a chance to hear dick luger, the republican from indiana on the floor yesterday going through the arguments against the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. he was pointing out again the soviets line of negotiation were never our negotiating position. the soviet position was being held out as reasons why we shouldn't approve this treaty. there's no question in my mind there's 67 votes to pass this. >> senator michael bennett, democrat of colorado, thank you for your time tonight. . >> thanks for having me. i appreciate it. happy holidays. >> tha

>> so i think it was a genuine enthusiasm by tom coburn and mike crapo, the idea scrubbing the deck, broadening the base, dramatically slowing the rates, and generating economic growth, that overtime would allow us to stave off future rate increases and maybe eventually cut taxes further. >> donald, is it your sense that we can sort of productively look at tax expenditures and address them in this same way? >> i think in general, yes. i think we need at some point to draw distinctions come as rudy was saying, people have different reactions. this is one of these topics were depending on the audience and the mood of the speaker, you can characterize it in different ways. when i want to be a little more risky about i call them tax breaks. and i want to be risky i called him loopholes and special interest positions. when i want to be honest i refer to them as the mortgage interest deduction come and charitable deduction and the state and local tax deduction. [laughter] >> then there are a set of issues about some of these things do look like spending programs run through the tax code. t

tom coburn is one that at least had the courage to say i don't want to raise taxes but if it's a way mind. >> russ feingold was largely thought having an open mind and one of the more bipartisan. that didn't help this election cycle. >> reporter: it did not. worked with john mccain on campaign finance legislation in the past. also a fierce and proud liberal opposing the war in afghanistan and iraq. a very interesting guy who lost his election. a young guy. we'll see what happens. >> good to see you as always. have a good show tonight. >>> cnn is committed to keeping you informed on all the political news. the next update an hour away. >>> we've heard plenty bihybrid and electric cars. s why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software that can simulate head injuries in an accident and helps make people safer. then they shared this technology with researchers at wake forest to help reduce head injuries on the football field. so, you know, i can feel a bit better about my son playing football. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world?

for a number of years, john mccain, tom coburn and a few have been shouting in the dark about how we had to defeat bills that included earmarks. didn't work for a number of years. didn't work last year. this year, it collapses. it is possible just by shouting loudly enough and getting taken seriously to shift the reality of the senate. it is unique in that way. it takes this long and this push pressure to do it. i don't want to sound like i'm depack chopra or something like a pipe dream. they need to make it attractive to enough senators to get one vote on january 5th or a discussion that takes a couple of days. it's risky, but having this discussion is making it more likely to happen. >> dave weigel, msnbc contributor. >>> mike huckabee's curiously morphing stance on something he insists he only has one stance. also, debunktion junction and something about veterans and something that made me very angry. one thing at a time...? consider this: drop & go charging for up to 4 devices at once... the duracell mygrid™. simple and smart. it's mygrid™. from duracell. trusted everywhere. it's

i don't like everything, alan doesn't like everything, if tom coburn votes for it he won't like everything but he will find we're on the right path and this is the path you've got to get on if you're going to reduce this debt. >> woodruff: senator simpson, final word, are you seeing the leadership from president that is needed in your view? >> i have been are accused of being a republican toadie covering the president's fannie so he can save the president's -- i don't know where the president will go with this but i will tell you one thing. the only people that will get us out of this black pit are legislators, members of the house and senate, and nobody else. >> woodruff: on that note, we will thank you both. senator alap simpson, erskine bowles, gentlemen -- senator alan simpson, erskine bowles, gentlemen, thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> ifill: now, two takes on the mexican drug war. first, a report on how the drug trade is spreading far north of the u.s. border. "newshour" correspondent tom bearden reports from colorado springs. ( siren ) >> reporter: the violence of the mexican drug

i would plead with my colleague from oklahoma, tom coburn. he's a friend. he's a good man. he is very meticulous about legislation. please don't stop this bill. we all know what it is and what it stands for. we all know if it doesn't happen now, but it's very unlikely to ever happen again. it is all too easy to say i'd like to start the idea and let's start over. but when you have cancer, you can't start over. and so, all these heroes are asking for is an up or down vote before christmas waiting until next year would be a lump of coal and we will not stand for it. enough, enough, enough with the delays. these are american heroes. this is a matter of life and death. they didn't wait a minute before rushing to ground zero, but their government has been waiting nine years and they cannot wait any longer. again, a plea to every member of the house and senate, democrats and republican, please don't delay. don't put obstacles on the track to derail know the votes are there and the american people are behind us. thank you. [applause] now i'd like to introduce my colleague, frank l

>> on the senate side right now tom coburn of oklahoma is talking to his colleagues and he is trying to make some changes to this tax cut package that is not likely to be successful but three senators will talk about things they like to do to tweak this. coburn's view is that it needs to be paid for. they have to find cuts somewhere else. on the house side they are talking this morning, too, some with a bit of resignation and frustration towards their own democratic leadership. the president and leaders in the house about being pushed in their words to vote for some things in this they do not like. others are saying it needs to be done because their constituents are waiting for those unemployment checks or the extension of the current tax rates. there are strong feelings on all sides. a big move forward today when we expect some time after probably 12:30 or so these things always slide a bit. after we get through a few procedural votes, the senate will take a vote on the final conclusion of its view of this tax package. we expect it to pass overwhelmingly. chris, you know, that only

on the senate side, senator tom coburn, republican of oklahoma is trying to get some amendments there is a little bit of procedural stuff to get through with that, to be could happen late today to get a final passage vote, a couple of smaller hurdles still to go. late tonight, the house democrats, about 6:30, the end of the business day, they will all get together and meet behind closed doors. we know the last time they did that, they came out with a unified message of no to this plan, see if they revise their views a bit it is definitely moving forward. one of the things that has been pushing it along is the involvement of the president and he appeared in the briefing room yesterday, talked about it, but he also did something we don't see often and he talked to local supporterses who have invited and invited from states and markets look like a road map of 2012, colorado, ohio, iowa and florida. here is what was said to a local reporter from a florida station about having to give up some things to get this done. >> this package require node take some thing also didn't like t requires

. >> reporter: republicans negotiated the deal with president obama, but some such as tom coburn of oklahomaon cost is not offset by cuts elsewhere. >> we're going to run trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see right now with no grown-ups in the room saying it's time to quit doing that. >> reporter: still, party leaders touted the tax cuts and the extension of jobless benefits through 2011. the spirit of cooperation in the senate did not$,tend to aç mammoth bill funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year. democrats and a handful of republicans want to wrap $1.2 trillion worth of spending measures into a single appropriations bill. but republican leaders objected to that approach. among them, john thune of south dakota. >> i mean, it's inexcusable to think that we have to pass a $1.2 trillion bill, 2,000 pages, which we just got less than 24 hours ago and that's the way you're going to fund the government. and, they're going to load it up with all this special-interest stuff to boot. >> reporter: the house already passed a bill to fund the government through next septe

it includes people like paul ryan, judge gray, tom coburn. it also features some allies of congressional leaders like javier burris sarah and labor leaders, like the former chairman of the seiu. host: it seems that a few of the numbers are accounted for. everyone else is either formally or informally moving in a direction. what do you know? guest: we know that at least five members have said they will vote against it. what that means is this will not pass. it will not advance. it will fall at least one vote short of the 14 that it would need to go to congress to get an up or down vote. that said, some of the proponents of the plan, kent conrad and others. -- and others, have said that a majority vote is a strong show. indeed, it may be even stronger than some conservatives have expected. and host: what seems to be interested -- host: what seems to be interesting is when you look at the breakdown of the members id seems to be house conservatives and senate conservatives. house conservatives saying a no vote, but the senate conservatives saying

road is not going to suffice any longer, to quote our colleague from oklahoma, snow showe--senator tom coburn. the preamble goes on to say, the contagion of debt that began in greece and continues to sweep through europe shows us clearly that no economy will be immune. no economy, not even the united states's economy. if the u.s. does not put its house in order, the reckoning will be sure and the devastation severe. the title of the report of the commission, mr. president, is "the moment of truth." and i think we're here on the floor of the senate today on the 14-g9s of december, 2010, to say that there is a bipartisan working group that believes we have arrived at a pivotal moment of truth, and we intend to get down to the business of rectifying the problem of national spending and our national debt. and i yield to my friend from montana. a senator: snrp. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i would like to thank senator wick for his remarks. i tries share a few words about the debt and about the bipartisan tax cut compromise that we will vote on this evening. before

oklahoma senator tom coburn is one of the lawmakers slamming the deal saying it simply costs too muchdisgusted people in this country with our actions that we continue to borrow and steal and beg from future generations, but the world financial markets. >> we worked hard to negotiate an agreement that's a win for middle-class families and a win for our economy. >> the president urged democrats in the house to pass the bill as-is so it could reach his desk quickly for signature. >>> border patrol agents in arizona will get a visit from homeland security secretary janet napolitano today just as they are mourning the loss of one of their own. he was killed in a shoot-out with bandits who are still on the loose. mike von fremd has more details from arizona. >> reporter: a manhunt is under way, in the air and on the ground. the search, for a suspect in the murder of a u.s. border patrol agent. brian terry was shot and killed in a firefight when his four-man team came across five armed individuals. the shoot-out was with bandits who prey on illegal immigrants. robbing them as they attempt t

tom coburn gets it. jim demint gets it. voipvich gets it. who am i leaving off? gets it. this isn't that difficult. we've got examples of greece, ireland, closer to home, california. what don't they get on the hill that awe keyou can't keep borro trillion dollars? >> what should have been done? what was a better option? >> well, there's no question we should not be raising taxes on anybody. i think we can all agree on that now during an economic downturn. but there's new taxes in this bill, there's spending in this bill that should have been offset. we should have at least said to the world, we're serious about deficit reduction. well the's do a couple hundred billion dollars in offsets, spending cuts. go back to the 2008 levels. tom wcoburn and i have co-parre legislation, we're hoping -- co-sponsored legislation, we're hoping to get an amendment, programs at the bush administration and the obama administration, waste programs. there's literally over $100 billion in cuts that we can make. wasting government spending. you all hear about wasteful government spendi

as our colleague tom coburn said just before the commission vote -- and i quote -- "the time for action is now. we can't afford to wait until the next election to begin this process. long before the skyrocketing costs of entitlements costs tax traoeuts double, our -- tax rates to double our economy may collapse. we are near precipice. in the near future we can experience collapse in the value of our dollar that would force congress to set a -- face a set of choices far more painful than those tphroepd this plan. -- proposed in this plan." here we are on a fiscal course caused by explosive and unchecked costs in spending. we've got an outdated tax code that does not sufficiently encourage savings and economic growth, a skyrocketing national debt that puts our credit rating in serious jeopardy and should give all of us, all of us great pause. farid zacharia posed questions that should haunt us in monday's "post." "when will we get serious about our fiscal mess? in 2020, 2030 when the need in spending hikes gets much harsher? if we cannot inflict pains now, who will impose pain later? what

but to senator tom coburn, it's one of the top 100 most wasteful government projects. a report first seen here on "good morning america." >> i will tell you that there's hundreds of billions of dollars every year that if the american taxpayer could go down through it, they'd say, wipe this off, wipe this off. we don't think any of this is important. >> reporter: the cow burp study cost less than a million dollars but consider this. the federal government spends an estimated $930 million on unnecessary printing. even thousands of unread copies of the mammoth budget of the united states. >> how many people actually read the printed budget of the president? the printed one? >> reporter: right. >> maybe one or two. >> reporter: and the congressional record. a daily chronicle of every word uttered in congress. about the only thing the printed version of the congressional record is used for these days is filling up recycling bins on capitol hill. the government spends $28 million a year printing it. >> it's all online. >> reporter: so why are we still printing it? >> because

as our colleague tom coburn said just before the commission voter the time for action is now. wai we cunan't afford to wait for te next election to begin this process. my before the skyrocketing cause our national debt to triple attacks or to double, our economy may collapse under this burden.we arer we are already near precipice. in the near future we could understand a collapse in value e per dollar, hyperinflation or dw other consequences that would force congress to face a setre t choices far more painful than those proposed in this plan, and the quote. so here we are in a situations where we are on an unsustainable fiscal quarters, caused byy explosive and unchecked growth in spending and entitlement obligations without funding. an we've got an outdated tax code that does not sufficiently encourage savings of economic growth. a skyrocketing national debt that puts our credit rating in serious jeopardy and should give all of us -- all of those great cost. paris took a rare post questions that should haunt all of us in the eighth post. quote, so when we all -- so when will

tom coburn of oklahoma and mike crappo say they will back the proposals. that puts half of the members in support. could he burn did not minimums words when he spoke about the urgency of doing something now. >> the real disease is we've abandoned the concepts of our founders. we've created reliance instead of depending on selfreliance. we've created government programs that are unaffordable, abandoned limited government, we've abandoned theee number rated powers, now we are in trouble and nobody is looking at what the real problem is. and the real problem is us. alexander tyler said all republics fail. they all fail over fiscal issues. they are not conquered from without before they rot from within. we are rotting. we are rotting as we sit here and speak today. megyn: well they need several more votes from that commission in support of the plan in order to force a vote in the congress. the debt commission will vote tomorrow on a plan. we'll bring that to you as it breaks. fox news alert, we are waiting a moment that rarely happens on capitol hill, the cens

megyn: senator tom coburn out of oklahoma came out and sauled in this a trojan horse to fund the health care overhaul. look, you told us the health care overhaul cost a certain amount, that was the amount you give to the american people, now you want billions more. if they're forced to the deal with it piecemeal during the new year, i guess we'll see that debate criticallize. we'll see grow tonight at 6 p.m. >> reporter: sounds good. megyn: you can bet this topic will likely come up at 6 p.m. bret's show runs monday through friday, 6 p.m. eastern time. tonight it's especially important to watch because look who he has on, the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. he doesn't usually do the live report thing unless it's very fancy, very important. and senator mcconnell will be his fancy, important guest tonight at 6 p.m. eastern time. >>> we've got an extreme weather alert for you now. the last shopping weekend before christmas. are you as behind as i am? and a big portion of this country is facing a winter mess. a massive storm bringing snow and freezing rain to a number of states in

you see right now a motion from republican tom coburn to pay for the unemployment benefits which cost56 million in this large tax cut package. they need all of these motions need 67 to pass. we don't expect any of that to happen. once you get through the three motions, probably in about three quarter of an hour or less. >> what happens after the senate vote? >> that is the question. the house is probably going to take this up in their so-called rules committee, meaning start the process to take it up as soon as this afternoon, tony. it is possibly that the house could even try to take this up tonight. we're hearing more likely tomorrow, but the question is, how are they going to do that. that has not been decided. we know the big issue most house democrats are going to want to change, the estate tax provision. how they actually craft that, that's being worked out as we speak. >> thank you. >>> a poignant look behind the scenes as soldiers prepare for battle. a soldier's story. >> what is going on? >> what are you doing? >> let's go, let's go. >> in this cnn original documentary, we ta

cuts on employment with a 2% payroll reduction and estate tax and first we'll see a motion from tom coburn, this morning, that could essentially pay for the extension of unemployment insurance, by cutting spending. and that will be defeated. because any changes will scuttle the deal and another one from jim demint to make all the existing bush tax cuts as well as the nonexist tenxiexistent e permanent and that will not go and there will be a motion from bernie sanders that would take the tax cuts for the two highest brackets frt country and leave them at the clinton level, let taxes go up in january in order to pay for a host of spending and that will be defeated and, conservatives and democrats, see the changes, they like, but they can't do that or the whole deal will collapse. >> we'll finish the tax bill within the next couple of hours. whether you agree with all of the contents of the bill or not, everyone should understand, this is one of the major accomplishments of any congress. martha: that is harry reid, carl, what about on the house side? >> reporter: it is difficult, over there.

oklahoma's tom coburn blasted it for including more deficit spending. >> we just want to take our shot of morphine and go on down the road, have another martini on the deck of the "titanic." >> reporter: and erskine bowles, the chairman of the president's deficit commission, said he was, quote, deeply disappointed with the plan because it failed to deal with the debt. the vice president spent almost two hours talking to house democrats last night. i am told that about 20 of them rose to speak. almost all of them against the deal. some of the most pointed comments came from congressman anthony weiner, who said the president just has to show stronger leadership in taking on the republicans. george? >>> and joining us now is the congressman jon just mentioned, anthony weiner of new york. thanks for getting up early this morning, congressman. so what did you say to the vice president and what did he say to you? >> well, it was a closed-door caucus, but apparently some information was leaked out. look, what it basically came down to was i urged the vice president and the president to fight

senator tom coburn out of oklahoma is making his list and checking it twice and working a database to earmark and others call it pork. a database that senator john mccain is paying close attention to. here's john mccain. >> people are hurting badly and we could be helping people through difficult times instead of pending $1.1 trillion, $8.3 billion in earmarks, $8.3 billion, one of my favorites, $1 million, for a sewer pipeline in north pole, alaska, population, 1700. 425,000 to restore the boon bill hardware building in boonville, mississippi. population, 8,000. martha: santa and the elves need a new sewer line, eric. this is, you know, unbelievable. the outrage in people's voices when you hear them talk about this as bill and i did on the radio is really palpable. >> it is. here's the omnibus spending bill, 1924 pages, of course, i wouldn't waste 1900 pages. these are all blank but, the top 15 or so are printed on it and i didn't want to do that but i went to colburn's te. and bill referenced it. names the earmarks and what they are for, outrageous stuff going on, martha. in boonvil