. >> coming up here on c-span3, senator tom coburn of oklahoma speaks on a forum about the future of medicare. that's o followed by national security advisers discussing how u.s. policy in the middle east has changed. coming up at 10:00 a.m. eastern, a forum on religious from georgetown university's berkeley center for religion, peace and world affairs. scholars will discuss the arab spring, religious extremism and the baum administration's policy for dealing with religious issues. you can see it live starting at 10:15 a.m. eastern here on c-span3. oklahoma republican senator tom coburn says medicare is fiscally unsustainable and tough changes must be made to preserve it future generations. he talks about the senior choice act that he co-sponsored. this is about an hour. >>> good morning and welcome po the betsy and walter stern conference center here at hudson institute. i'm ken weinstein, president and ceo of hudson. i'd also like to welcome our live viewing audience at home on c-span and thank our friends at c-span for covering today's event. hudson institute was founded 51 years

here's republican senator tom coburn. >> my name is blair. i'm an economic development consultant here in washington and also a member of the no label citizens movement. i appreciate your remarks senator and emphasis on the importance of the budget. informed decision-making choice, accountability and the importance of a robust representative government. and i think those of us in no labels feel particularly that not only are some of our systems broken as you've alluded to some of the problems with medicare, but congress is broken now too and not really -- we wish that members of congress were all about the importance of the budget and informed decision make accountability and representative government and i wonder if you could share with us your thoughts. you've seen how sausage is made there on capitol hill and we as taxpayers certainly have some skin in the game not only on what happens to medicare but many other important issues. what can we do and that could help fix congress so that some of these same principles you've talked about today

don't make a difference, but a lot of talk about the two that romney picked up. >> that's right, tom coburn of oklahoma and eric cantor of virginia. and both are those two states are super tuesday states. the and both men are feisty conservatives and in coburn's, one of the most conservative u.s. senators in washington and comes from a state that is rural and conservative and he has washington insider status as a consequence of being a senator. in the case of eric cantor, he is a house republican leader and one of the most partisan and feisty and often criticized or complimented for being to the right of the house speaker john boyehneboehn and some have been suspicious of mitt romney's conservativism and maybe behind him. >> harris: with all that said, carl, where does it leave newt gingrich and rick santorum. >> newt gingrich is strong in georgia, where he began his political career and a double digit comfortable lead and rick santorum strong in oklahoma and they're all going to get delegates, but in the the case of gingrich versus santorum, both men are shadow boxing and wishing almost no

off to become a senator, tom coburn was in the gang of six. i have always found him, to be very honest, straightforward, he has a good relationship with barack obama and has always tried to be honest and work on the deficit and cares a lot about deficit reduction they he is not running for reelection. he has announced that. >> host: of freedom comes from the sense he is retired. >> he is freed to do and say what he once in the republican party cannot do anything to him. >> host: skip ahead to the solutions. they are hard to come by. the chapter is brief but i don't blame you it is hard to figure out. two categories of solutions. thinking of the deadlock system is a third-party presidential candidacy from the center you devote some time to that. is that the solution? could such a person when? >> lazard two separate questions spin 98 expend their energies? >> i will say we will hear more of the intended challenge as it gets going. group preissing $20 million, on the ballot in all 50 states to collect signatures without a candidate. it is alphabe

oklahomaasenator tom coburn lined up behind rrmney today too because he says he's served with the other candidatee and too often they've - quote - diiplayed political expediency rather cantor and coburn have ácompanyá n congress when it &pcomes to backing romney. 16 u-s senators ncluding 2008 nominee john mccain have done the same. the only other candidate with any support there is conggessman paul, whoois backed by his son, kentucky senator rand paul. over in he house, 67 members have endorsed mitt. gingrich has one-sixth as many. santorum and paul combined only have half aa dozen. at the state level, new jersey's chris christie is one of the ten goverrors supporting romney. gingrich has texas govvrnor rick perry on his side. but áromnnyá is also leaaing theeppck with the presidents. he's got one.. former president george h-w bush. cindy crawford s also in his corner. gingrich boosts odd palin and chuck norris. santorum's got iowa'' secretary of state and the ddggar family, which might help in the popular vote. and ron paul has former governnr jesse ventura and snoop dogg. doocy says:

chairman paul ryan, tom coburn, democratic senator michael bennett will be here to give you details about the budget. this is an incredible opportunity for the american people to challenge their elected officials. elected officials. stay tuned living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living th joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to helrelieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if y

but keep the rest of the bill intact. >> we have tom coburn standing by.bout that. >> oh, good. >> yesterday's argument focused largely on whether the rest of the law could actually survive if the government requirement that americans buy medical insurance is ruled unconstitutional. and we'll just maybe play one sound bite to show what happened, because judge antonin scalia suggested without the mandate, there's really nothing left to stand on. >> once you cut the guts out of it, who knows which ones were really desired by congress on their own and which weren't? my approach would be if you take the heart out of the statute out, the statute is gone. what happened to the eighth amendment? you really want us to go through these 2,700 pages, and do you really expect the court to do that? or do you expect us to give this function to our law clerks? is this not totally unrealistic that we're going to go through this enormous bill, item by item, and decide each one? >> with us from capitol hill now, our friend, republican senator from oklahoma, senator tom cobur

senator tom coburn today coming out and endorsing mitt romney.ay do you think that will have with voters there? >> it matters not so much in oklahoma as it does nationally and in washington. today the endorsement of senator tom coburn one of the rock ribbed and uncompromising conservatives in the senate means a lot. and it is bicameral. the endorsement of eric cantor. a staunch conservative in the house and a staunch conservative in the senate means a lot to mitt romney who has got a problem with doubts in the republican establishment whether or not he can be a reliable conservative to have their endorsements matter. romney has momentum coming out of michigan and washington state. there is a little bit. the thing that troubles santorum and newt gingrich the most is that mitt romney has an established four-year-old organization across the country from his run in '08. that experience, that satisfactory and that knowledge of what needs to be done like getting on the provisional ballot in places like, ohio, for the delegate count really matters and a

tom coburn shares his thoughts on this case with cbs this morning. later today our bruce leshan will be back inside the courtroom to hear the arguments. you can see his reports live on 5:00 and follow us on twitter or go to our website wusa9.com on your computer or startphone. >>> -- smartphone. >>> the woman accused of shooting a gay man at an ihop in northwest d.c. heads to court hurs. the 27-year-old is charged in the crime. a 31-year-old gay man was shot. he is now recovering. the march 11 incident is being reviewed as a possible hate crime. >> in the beginning of the whole incident before this incident happened, there was some epitaphs that were used by people involved in this group. all of those things will be considered going forward as to whether they fall under the enhanced penalty for the statute. >> the woman is charged with aggravated assault while armed. >>> the maryland senate is willing to roll the dice on expanding gambling in the free state. they pushed the idea toward a vote sometime in the spring and it would allow prince george's

chairman paul ryan, tom coburn, democratic senator michael bennett will be here to give you details about the budget. this is an incredible opportunity for the american people to challenge their elected officials. stay tuned for super tuesday special. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every rchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. kiss those lines goodbye! discover juvÉderm® xc, t

tom coburn was in the gang of six and i think, i have always found him a republican. you asked for a republican. i've always found him to be very honest, very straightforward and worked in the gang of six. i think he has a good relationship with barack obama. i think he respects him and i think he has always tried to be honest and work on the deficit and cares a lot about deficit reduction. he is not running for re-election. he has announced that he is not running for election. >> host: some of this has come from the sense that he is retired. >> guest: that's right so he is free to say and do what he wants. the republican party can't do anything about it. >> host: let's skip ahead a little bit and talk about solutions. they are hard to come by. i will be honest with you, it's a little brief but i don't blame you because it's hard to figure out what they have to do about this. let me talk about two categories of solutions. the first one that occurs to most people when they think about are deadlocked system is they think about a third party presidential candidacy from t

tom coburn threw their support behind him.his as today's nbc news "wall street journal" poll has romney leading doesn't look like much, but it's very consistent. 38% over 32% over santorum. paul and gingrich at the bottom at 13% at this point. the money has long been on romney when you look at the capital markets and their views and how they express them. then at the bottom of that chain, you look at intrade where people can put their money behind their opinion. they have had mitt romney's chances of being the nominee 80 to 90% for months. let's bring in the mega panel. imogen lloyd webber, tim carney, and mr. cedar. he will be the nominee according to the math. and there's a lot of denial about the fact that that's what's going on. this is a very close race. but it's a consistently close race that breaks towards romney all the time. >> two things we have been waiting for. can romney break above 50%. he hasn't really done that. if newt drops out, santorum could beat him. but ron paul is not going away. that's not as relevant.

tom coburn, oklahoma senator who is very conservative, respected for oklahoma and d.c. then you have eric cantor, very conservative virginia congressman where romney is going to win big. she definitely looking to capitalize on all of this and watch conservatives coalesce around him. romney is not paying attention to santorum. he took a break from ohio to go to georgia. in a sense tweaked newt gingrich for him to keep gas prices under 2.50 a gallon. >> i'm not going pander and here is what your gasoline price is going to be, if we develop energy here in the united states we'll help hold the prices down. >> reporter: so romney just a little bit music for santorum and gingrich both last night and today. romney is in a dead heat in ohio. this is most important state on super tuesday. gingrich will win the biggest state. georgia has 76 and among the ten it will come down to the delegate count, romney has a bit of advantage. there are already beginning to be rumblings whether santorum or gingrich should yield the field to the other to let conservatives could a less around an

tom coburn was in the gang of six, and i think i have always found him a republican. have always found him to be very honest, very straightforward. he worked in the gang of six. i think he has a good relationship with barack obama. i think he respects and. i think he has always tried to be honest and work on the deficit. he cares a lot about deficit reduction. he is not running for reelection next time though. he was announcing that he is not right for reelection. >> host: some of it comes from the sense that he was retiring. >> guest: that's right. and so he is free to say and do what he wants. the republican party can't do anything to him. you know. >> host: let skip ahead a little bit and talk about solutions. because they're hard to come by. i'll be honest with you, it's a little brief, but i don't really blame the because it's just hard to figure out what the heck to do about this. let me talk about two categories of solutions. the first one that occurs to most people when they think about our deadlocked system is that they think about of third-party presidential

then after that, senator tom coburn speaks at a forum about the future of medicare. then former national security advisers discuss how u.s. policy in the middle east has changed. >>> our system is fundamentally undemocratic in a number of ways. one of the ways is closed primaries. in half the states in the country, 40% of all the voters can't participate in the primaries. so, they have no say in who gets nominated. and as a result, we get more and more extreme candidates on both ends. >> saturday night on after words, linda killian writes that independent voters have decided the election since world war ii. also this weekend on book tv, david brock talks about "the fox effect." and sunday night at 10:00, mark levin and his thoughts on the current state of politics in "ameritopia." book tv every weekend on c-span 2. >>> this senate arms services committee heard testimony thursday on the president's 2013 navy budget. navy secretary ray mabus was joined by the chief of naval operations at the hearing. the navy budget request is for $155.9 billion. a decrease of $1.4 bil

senator tom coburn joins us now from washington.g. >> i wanted to start with a quote from your new book "the dead bomb" and you say, quote, we'll be greece in two years. and i want to understand why you believe that and given interest rates and where they are today, it's not necessarily clear that that would indicate we're headed in that direction so quickly. >> well, i think things continue right along as they are until they don't, andrew, and our interest rates are based on confidence that we, in fact, in washington will address the significant debt and deficit problems that we have. do you see any evidence of that? do you see anybody on the campaign trail or the president for that matter talking about the serious nature of what is in front of us? if you take total debt in this country, including private debt, public debt, state debt and federal debt, you know, we're at a level greater than what greece is as a comparison to the gdp. so, right now everybody is calmed down because they think ecb has handled the greece situation. how

establishment now seems to be coalescing around romney and house majority leader leader eric cantor senator tom coburn and former attorney general john ashcroft all endorsing mitt over the weekend they see what we all see primary season is doing considerable damage to all the candidates and republicans want to unfortunately for them it might be too late as mitt romney has the highest negative ratings of any republican nominee for president since bob dole in one nine hundred ninety six and that didn't turn out so well for the grand old petroleum party back then so how might all this play out and who or what else should we be keeping an eye on heading into super tuesday. joining me now from ohio is syndicated columnist and progressive p.r. strategist with liberty to us l.z. cliff schecter cliff welcome thanks so much tom how are you great so what's your take is a absolutely pivotal state to the best of my recollection i think it could be correct me if i'm wrong no republican nominee has ever won the white house without winning ohio or at least not last century or so have not and i think you can easily d

terrific support from some of the most conservative leaders in our party, john ashcroft, eric cantor, tom coburn. we're getting the kind of support i need to become the nominee so i'm encouraged. >> you're hearing all the murmuring. what's your plan to energize the whole party, all the different factions of the party, if you become the nominee? we do of course have some other candidates in the race that have great qualities and are out appealing to their respective constituencies and ron paul for instance has a very strong team of people that support him. newt gingrich, and of course rick santorum. but you know, when we have a nominee, we will come together. because barack obama has organized a conservative community. let's put it that way. the community organizer has organized us in a big way. we're going to come together because we believe that he needs to be replaced, that he's over his head, that the debt he's amassed, the jobs he's not created, suggest this is a guy whose time has come for early retirement. >> from "squawk box," mitt romney taking questions on that cable program. the lawren

appointed the simpson bowles commission. 60% of those members, including some of the republicans like tom coburn, voted for it. the president never embraced his own commission's proposal. it's not in any of his budget. we don't know what he's willing to do long-term. i think the failure to lay that out is a failure of leadership. >> if you'd like to join the conversation and speak with representative tom cole, republican of oklahoma, here are the numbers to call. republicans 202-307-0002. first up is anthony. independent line from valdosta, georgia. >> caller: good morning. i thought it appropriate that the representative is on discussing the budget after we talked about education. my question for him is, why don't we use the tax code to incentivize everything else but parent involvement in their children's education? why don't we utilize the tax code, say the child tax deduction, to incentivize parent involvement? have that tiered out for the performance of the children in schools? and i just listen for the representative's response to that. >> actually, it's a good idea. and it's done quite of

romney picks up conservative endorsements one from eric cantor and another from senator tom coburn from oklahoma. ohio will be the state to watch, guys. no republican has ever won the presidency without winning ohio. real clear politics an average of several polls shows rick santorum ahead of mitt romney by about 3 points. >> this will perk you up, ainsley. you have seen vladimir putin riding horse back, even killing a tiger, but here's a side of him you may not have seen until this morning. putin at his victory rally in moscow after winning the presidential election. he declared himself a winner after less than a quarter of the vote were counted. according to exit polls he took 59-percent of the vote. >> a heartbreaking end to a child case. they found a little boy's body at the bottom of a well. they thought the 4-year-old might have been kidnapped but they discovered a child's body at the bottom of a 30-foot well. that well is near the boy's home. they are still working to identify the child at this point. they believe the death is a tragic accident. >>> brand new video out of florida

. >> and tom coburn. >> coburn. >> so now republicans have basically three choices. they can vote for a guy that basically drafted obama care, something that they have campaigned against for three years, a guy that wants to debate about contraceptives, or newt gingrich who is newt gingrich. and that's all i've got to say. and then there's ron paul who maybe should just run as an independent. >> and doesn't want to help hurricane victims. >> don't want to help hurricane victims. >> can we just turn the lights off? it's over. >> you know what -- >> let's go to barbados for a year. >> the -- >> i can't believe that republicans are left with these choices. >> it's going to be okay. someone will emerge somehow. don't worry. >> the white knight scenario is over. do we agree on that? the white knight's not coming. >> i guess. >> it's over. didn't we decide that after michigan? >> i don't know. this individual mandate stuff is such a killer. >> so then it's a question we've talked about a lot. will republicans swallow the pill in saying mitt romney, i don't like mitt romney

i remember right around that time when they were deadlocked over the debt negotiations, tom coburn said if we send him a bill much like boehner wants he'll sign that puppy. he didn't mince words. he was sure, that's how sure he was. >> that's really interesting. another part of this is in that washington post piece, which was not kind to either side in the sense that like they weren't trying to make a case for either side. they were just -- and they had quotes from both sides. i thought they laid it out in terms of getting the actual details of the story right accurately. they had quotes from the white house almost bragging about this. dan pheiffer said: >> you see that mindset there mike? it seems to the white house thinks it doesn't matter what's in the deal. it doesn't -- oh, you want to cut social security and medicare. who cares as long as i get a political benefit out of it. they just care about hey is it a political benefit or not. >> he's looked like a moderate to me from the beginning, and i remember a lot of the things he said on the campaign trail promises to cut taxes and wh

former attorney general, john ashcroft, oklahoma senator, tom coburn. >> that's the best man to leadeporter: and it's running robocalls in ohio from former first lady, barbara bush. >> give credit to governor romney and what he's been able to put together. an enormous amount of money. but this race isn't going to be won or lost in the fall on money. >> reporter: but rick santorum is warning republicans to slow down. >> that's why i ask the people of ohio to think hard and look deep. look into the ideas of the candidate. >> reporter: his campaign is hitting the mandate of romney's health care law for the president's health care plan. they blasted this column entitled "mr. president what's the rush?" it states there's a better way. the lessons we learned in massachusetts could help washington find it. no other state has made as much progress in covering their uninsured as massachusetts. a radio ad for a pack raising money for santorum says romney should be on the democratic ticket. >> not too much difference between these two. obama swlsh romney, 2012. i love it. >> a subject that conc

> and finally, there's the really stupid vote of the senate this week to kill a bill by senator tom coburn which would have implemented a government accounting office recommendation that would have eliminated $10 billion of duplicative government programs. sounds real simple. a government agency finds $10 billion of pure waste of your money, and recommends we turn off the leaky faucet. the senate's response? defeat the bill and turn the spigots on full, and that is stupid. comedian ron white has it right when he says this. >> you can't fix stupid. >> that's right, ron. you can't fix stupid. and you know, in most cases, you really can't, but when stupid gets elected, you can fix it. you can vote stupid out and send him home. there is an election coming up, and i think it's time to fix stupid. [ cheers and applause ] >> well, that's my view. and i welcome yours. you can get a hold of me. contact me at mikehuckabee.com. click on the fox needs feedback section. you can sign up on my facebook page, post your comments on the wall. follow me on twitter. all of that information is at mikehuckabee.

senator tom coburn made essentially the broccoli argument during justice kagan's confirmation hearingsf i wanted to sponsor a bill and it said, americans, you have to eat three vegetables and three fruits everyday, and i got it through congress and it's now the law of the land, got to do it, does that violate the commerce clause? >> sounds like a dumb law. >> justice kagan pointing out to senator coburn precisely why the broccoli law is silly because it's hard to imagine congress passing the amendment. and it worked its way to the popular venacular, if it can force you to buy insurance, what can it do and lo and behold was the supreme court. >> so you define the market as food, therefore everybody is in the market and therefore you can make people buy broccoli. >> it wasn't just brock col i. it was the length in pages, the idea something so long is terrible and horrible has been one of mitt romney's favorite tropes this campaign season. >> this obama plan is a 2,700 page massive tax increase medicaid cutting monster. it's 2,000 page bill that takes over health care for all american peo

and there's the stupid vote in the state this week to kill a bill by senator tom coburn which would have implemented a government accounting office recommendation that would have eliminated 10 million dollars of duplicative government programs. sounds simple. a government agency finds 10 billion pure waste of your money and recommends we turn off the leaky faucet. the senate response, defeat the bill and turn the spigots on full. that's stupid. median ron white has it right. >> you can't infix stupid. >> that's right, ron. you can't fix stupid. in most cases you can't, but when stupid gets elected you can fix it. you can vote stupid out, send him home. and there is an election coming up. and i think it's time to fix stupid. [applaus [applause]. well, that's my view and i welcome yours. contact me at mike huckabee.com and sign up for my facebook page and post your comments on the wall and follow me on twitter. all of that at mike huckabee.com and reminder paper back edition of my book "a stupid government-- i mean, "a simple government" i'm writing about the one we wish we had not the one

>>governor huckabee: tom coburn said this failed because of incompetence, classic washington insiderompetence. if there is anything the public would aplot on a bipartisan way, which this is something the senate did by 64-36 vote a year ago and got rid of some of the programs and this is the gao accounting office so they don't have to take heat and say we targeted the program. they simply accepted the recommendation of a government agency that had some objectist and they would have killed the duplications of programs but they veto keep them and continue to spend $10 billion which in senate terms is chump change but to americans out of work, that is a heavy duty. >>neil: there is no harm to either side voting for it. i said, well, am i missing something, say you are harry reid how would this look bad for the president, you are bringing in new programs or armies that you argue will be leaner and more efficient and more productive and you get rid of the ones that you have argued are not. >>governor huckabee: the fight was who would get credit and the democrats do not want a republican to

> and finally, there's the really stupid vote of the senate this week to kill a bill by senator tom coburn which would have implemented a government accounting office recommendation that would have eliminated $10 billion of duplicative government programs. sounds real simple. a government agency finds $10 billion of pure waste of your money, and recommends we turn off the leaky faucet. the senate's response? defeat the bill and turn the spigots on full, and that is stupid. comedian ron white has it right when he says this. >> you can't fix stupid. >> that's right, ron. you can't fix stupid. and you know, in most cases, you really can't, but when stupid gets elected, you can fix it. you can vote stupid out and send him home. there is an election coming up, and i think it's time to fix stupid. [ cheers and applause ] >> well, that's my view. and i welcome yours. you can get a hold of me. contact me at mikehuckabee.com. click on the fox needs feedback section. you can sign up on my facebook page, post your comments on the wall. follow me on twitter. all of that information is at mikehuckabee.

former attorney general john ashcroft and eric cantor and tom coburn endorsed romney over the weekend. fox news is doing their part. chris wallace hammered rick santorum in a wide-ranging interview, pressed santorum for saying president obama thinks everyone should go to college. >> we looked back the president never said that. we looked back at your 2006 website when you were running for reelection in 2006, weren't you then right where barack obama is now? >> well, all i can tell you is that i support people being able to go to and have the opportunity to go wherever they want to go. >> that is what the president said as well. >> maybe i was reading some things that i've red some columns where at least it was characterized the president said we should go to four year colleges, if i was in error, i'll certainly if you say you have not found that i've red that. if it was an error, then i agree with the president. >> so much for the snob comment. the republican establishment has settled for mitt romney but it's not going to be an easy sell to voters. the latest nbc news poll shows 28% o