senator tom coburn. the acclaimed author of breach of trust talks about long-term deficit reduction, health care, the future of the republican party in more. the second term senator from oklahoma is latest book is the debt bomb. a bold plan to stop washington from bankrupting america. >> senator tom coburn, who is ross "kelberg? >> i'm trying to recall. >> the case in the 1940's. >> short. a chicken farmer. also a wheat farmer. and roscoe sued the federal government when they told him that he could not raise the adequate amount of we that he wanted to because the government had decided there were going to control replanting. what he said was a okay, but i can raise we for my chickens. he took it all the way to the supreme court and lost that battle. >> what you recount the story? >> because it is a great example on the enumerated powers and what -- what we find ourselves in the place we are in now? how do we get here? what do we do about it? what other ramifications. the greatest way for the government t

so i commend tom coburn. of course, joe manchin is the hero in this.rom the very beginning, joe has been talking about sensible gun regulation. he's in west virginia. he's catching a lot of flak from it. but joe's not in favor of gun control. joe, like me, believes that americans have a right to keep and bear arms, to have handguns in their homes, shotguns, hunting rifles to protect their families, to go hunting. joe just doesn't believe that there should be no regulations. and i think tom, with this universal background check approach, i think we're going to see this moving towards passage. and that's a good first step towards sensible regulation of some of the most, i think, most extreme weapons and high-capacity magazines. >> willie. >> and as joe says, it's incredibly popular. the american public, 90% of americans favor some kind of a background check. that chicago story you read, the city is such a fascinating case study in gun control because gun rights advocates say you have the toughest gun laws in the country. handguns were outright banned unt

we have tom coburn coming up.reat to have hat least one conservative in the dubliner this morning. we'll be right back. keep it here on "morning joe." >> you better hurry up. el el el elloise, charlotte and olivia have taken your place. i'm jennifer hudson. the reason i'm still in this body feelin' so good isn't because i never go out and enjoy the extra large, extra cheese world we live in. it's because i do. introducing the new weight watchers 360 program. join for free and expect amazing. because it works. has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. >>> good morning joe. beautiful morning on washington d.c. we're in dubliner where i've been surrounded by left wingers the last hour and 45 minutes. i found a fellow conservative. >> that's nice. how does he look? >> he has a beard and wears cowboy boots and unlike al hunt, they actually look like they belong on him. t

. >> the no-votes so far, senator corning, senator in hof, senator wicker, tom coburn, pat roberts, dan coates. but going back to the television ads and, for example, the one ad i have seen a lot that tempted to put pressure on chuck schumer for coming out and supporting hagel basically alluding that some secret deal made with the president so that schumer would give i guess the thumb's up to chuck hagel and other democrats would come along but you heard wicker on just now say how he believes that hagel is anti-israel. i believe he said the most anti-israel nominee that he's seen or something to this extreme extent saying he was out of the mainstream here. so the fire continues, jim. >> yeah. definitely. and i don't want to say that these ads having zero affect but they were as you noted directed at people like senator schumer so far standing by him and left himself an out, right? going to watch it carefully and make sure that he stays consistent on israel. i haven't seen him double back on this, stated support he's been asserting a lot recently but, you know, some of the guys could cha

ask ron reagan to weigh in after the senate passed an earlier version, senator john mccain and tom coburn talked about questionable things. $2 million to repair damage over mumps in washington, d.c. $15 million for nasa facilities, though nasa itself has called damage minimal. all of the provisions were stripped from the bill that the house approved today. it was pork free. what do you make of this? >> as far as provisions being in there in the first place, unfortunately, that's how sausages are made in washington, d.c. let's remember, we're talking about an appropriation that is some 10,000 million dollars. you cited less than $200 million out of the $10,000 million questionable. it was stripped out. even if it wasn't stripped out. even if that was the price you would pay for greasing the skids of government to get needed aid to people, i would argue it is necessary that you must do that. it's unfortunate, but we must do that. you want to have a discussion about flood insurance or what fema does, how it does it, how effectively it does it, that's fine. but you don't do it when have you t

ron, after the senate early passed its version of the sandy aid bill, senators john mccain and tom coburn put out a list of what they call questionable spending in it, including, for example, $2 million to repair damage to the roofs of museums in washington, d.c., while many in hurricane sandy's path still have no roof over their heads. $150 million for fisheries as far away from the storm's path as alaska. $15 million for nasa facilities though nasa itself has called damage from the hurricane minimal. all of those provisions were stripped from the bill the house approved today. i want to underscore that. it was pork-free. ron reagan, what do you make of this? >> well, as far as those provisions being in there in the first place, unfortunately, that's how sausages are made in washington, d.c. let's remember, we're talking about an appropriation that is some 10,000 million dollars. you cited less than $200 million out of that that is questionable. it was stripped out, but even if it wasn't stripped out, even if that was the price you pay for greasing the skids of government to get needed a

schumer has delayed releasing his legislation on background checks in hopes to make tom coburn part of this legislation. >> but not necessarily on magazines or assault-type weapons? >> reporter: correct. just on background checks. still sources high up in the democratic party here in the senate say that they simply do not think that those high-capacity magazines or, more importantly, an assault-weapons ban, that that has any chance. they think the background checks has the most realistic of any passing. >> dana, thanks very much. a short time after the hearing ended, gabrielle giffords and her husband, retired astronaut, mark kelly, visited president obama over at the white house. you see a picture that has just now been released. mark kelly is in "the situation room." come on in, mark. we're going to talk about what happened today and where you stand on all of this right after this commercial break. ...tax time can ofbe...well...taxing. so right now we'll give you... ...$10 off any turbo tax deluxe level software or higher! find thousands of big deals now... ...at officemax. delicious

. >>> joining me now oklahoma senator tom coburn. welcome back and happy new year. >> happy new year to you, sean. great to be with you. >> it is pretty obvious here. every one of these examples -- i love the sidewalk to nowhere. mine pretty basic, isn't it? >> well, i think the thing that is disturbing we only listed hundreds i could have listed thousands. we have had hundreds of billions of dollars every year that is wasted on things that don't fit with common sense and prudence but we are spending money on. we are borrowing money we don't have to spend on things we don't need. >> we have sidewalks to nowhere we have bridges we are rebuilding that we certainly don't need. we have airports that nobody lands at. they are going to fix the lighting on an airport that doesn't have electricity. the question is i have been following you following this for years. citizens against government waste they have been chronicling this for years. the country has $16 trillion in debt and it never gets solved. why does it keep going on? >> a couple

senator tom coburn as always sir, if we are going to throw over the see quester, i get that, but the thing that bothers me the most. if we are going to substitute tax revenues instead, i think that leads us down the wrong road. i agree. look, cutting $1.2 trillion over the next ten years was hard one to battle hard for the country to go through. what is being proposed now is $600 billion in tax increased with about a fifth of it to be spent to buy down things. with $480 billion to decrease the deficit. we had our choice we wouldn't be doing it that way. the government is too big and in effective we could take most of the money by decreasing spending. the 11th hour and there are a lot of people who shouldn't be having tax increases if we don't reach a compromise. so those are two different questions and i'm not about to give up the $1.2 trillion. we haven't cut a penny yet. so, that is not something i'm willing to give up. that is the thing. let start there. your book, your work, your speeches, you have identified hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of waste that the governme

strategy dinner in the caucus room with eric cantor, jim demint jon kyl tom coburn, and minister of propaganda frank luntz plot out exactly how they'd sabotage every part of the new president's agenda. well, this year they have not been able to schedule a new meeting and now some of the top dc restaurant are making pitches to host their year's all you can obstruct dinner. the dc tgi fridays is so eagle for book this year's strategy supplier that they'll change their name to thank god it's fridays and by god we mean one nation under god who is the one true god and not allah who is a false godfreys. or the g.o.p. agrees to meet at the dc denny's then for one full month every time a senior orders the grand slam breakfast they'll alet paul ryan come to their table and deny them medicare and then applesbee's wants you to know that for a limited time all chicken hawks get a free plate of chicken wings, and if you might consider meeting at the georgetown chili chili's where the valley pinot poppers are so deliciously undocumented. and hey, for all you southern conservatives, all you patriots who defe

a comprehensive bill by tom coburn and chuck schumer on the left. the same one who joined general and marco rubio on immigration. watch your back there. to kickoff the coverage, we bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell with developments on guns. we heard a portion of gabby giffords's statement at the top of the show. i want to play the rest right now. >> violence is a big problem. too many children are dying. too many children. we must do something. it will be hard, but the time is now. you must act. be bold, be courageous. americans are counting on you. thank you. >> kelly, obviously that was a gripping way to start the hearing. where do we go from there? >> it is rare you have something so emotionally and politically charged and have a witness like gabby gifford that is the panel can relate to so personally. that made today more compelling. key issues, democrats and many of them are supporting the idea of universal background checks to expand how they would know the background mental history and that sort of thing. also what to do about ammunition and sh

republicans tom coburn and mark kirk, along with democrats charles schumer and joe manchin are working together to do that. and yes, that's joe manchin, joe "'a'" rating from the nra, i'm so proud of the nra" manchin, now working on a proposal to extend background checks. we spoke with both senator kirk's office and senator manchin's office tonight about who else might be part. both offices independently stressed that this truly is a bipartisan effort, that is realistic. republicans are thinking they might want this too. is public pressure on this one issue, is public opinion on this one issue so lopsided that this finally is a no-brainer policy, no matter how cynical the beltway feels about it? join us now is senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, who has introduced the ammunition background check of 2013. senator blumenthal, it's really nice to have you here. thank you for being here. >> thank you, rachel. >> at today's hearing was there a moment when you felt like the politics were moving, that we're actually making progress on the issue? >> certainly gabby giffords' appearance

on friday oklahoma republican senator tom coburn told a tulsa radio station he's working on a bill with senators chuck schumer and jove mansion to keep guns away from criminals and the mentally ill. think about that, a rural republican senator from essentially the south signing on to a bill with a new york senator on background checks. that would be a big deal. in that "new republic" interview, the president weighed in on something gathers of fathers of young boys weigh in on every week, trust me. how do you square your love for football with the growing evidence that the effect head injuries have on players? here's what the president said. "i'm a big football fan but i have to tell you, if i had a son, i'd have to think long and hard before i let him play football. i think that those of us who love the support are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence," putting the onus on the ncaa. it's the last thing the ncaa needs right now but the fact is somebody has to take a leadership position in college football. it'

top conservative congressman eric cantor, paul ryan, senate power brokers jim demint, jon kyl, tom coburn, event organizer frank luntz. >> they decided that they needed to begin to fight obama on everything. this meant unyielding opposition to every one of the obama administration's legislative initiatives. they all talked about this and they began to get more and more optimistic and they left feeling practically exuberant. >> count, count them ten official inaugural ball. >> stunning crowd of people. >> the new president had no idea what the republicans were planning. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and first lady. >> surrounded by supporters at the inaugural balls, the mood was hopeful. ♪ at last my love >> didn't have a full sense of what washington was going to be like for him. he had not been in the middle of these kind of down and dirty fights. the ugly reality of governing in washington today. >> that really did end up being a hallmark of president obama's first term in office, right, what happened that first night, that first night of his inauguration,

ron, after the senate early passed its version of the sandy aid bill, senators john mccain and tom coburn put out a list of what they call questionable spending in it, including, for example, $2 million to repair damage to the roofs of museums in washington, d.c., while many in hurricane sandy's path still have no roof over their heads. $150 million for fisheries as far away from the storm's path as alaska. $15 million for nasa facilities though nasa itself has called damage from the hurricane minimal. all of those provisions were stripped from the bill the house approved today. i want to underscore that. it was pork-free. ron reagan, what do you make of this? >> well, as far as those provisions being in there in the first place, unfortunately, that's how sausages are made in washington, d.c. let's remember, we're talking about an appropriation that is some 10,000 million dollars. you cited less than $200 million out of that that is questionable. it was stripped out, but even if it wasn't stripped out, even if that was the price you pay for greasing the skids of government to get needed a

senators john cornyn, lindsey graham, tom coburn ted cruz and -- >> he is profoundly wrong on a number of the most important national security issues that face our country today. >> chuck hagel is sticking up for himself rebutting any suggestions of anti-secmitism. yesterday he told his hometown paper "the lincoln journal star" there is not one shred of evidence that i'm anti-israel, not one vote against israel. hagel voted for close to $ho 40 billion in military aid to israel. further, as richard cohen notes in "the washington post" nothing hagel has said about israel is not said in the israeli press on a daily basis. trust me, by the "wall street journal" standards israeli media would be deeply anti-semitic. lost perhaps in the discussion over hagel's position on israel is one of the main reasons he was nominated in the first place. >> most importantly, chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. he knows that sending young americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary. >> a decorated war veteran reportedly requested to b

tom coburn had seven amendments to cut this or cut that. most were defeated. but we will have to start over. i don't think we'll have to start with the whole process. because of the way we handled it in the senate, i think we'll be able to handle it rather quickly. it's the house you got to be more worried about. >> why do you think this happened? i tried to make the distinction there between this being a fight over the policy. certainly there will be some concerns about various aspects of this. but this wasn't a policy fight. this was just an unexpected abandonment of something they said they would do. do you understand why it happened? >> well, there are two reasons why it happened probably. the first is that -- and this explains a lot of the other failures of this congress that you mention, failure to pass a farm bill there is a new group here in the house. there are maybe 50 to 75 house hard right republicans who really don't believe government should be involved in things that have traditionally been involved in. they're way out of the mainstream. now, th

ron, after the senate early passed its version of the sandy aid bill, senators john mccain and tom coburn put out a list of what they call questionable spending in it, including, for example, $2 million to repair damage to the roofs of museums in washington, d.c., while many in hurricane sandy's path still have no roof over their heads. $150 million for fisheries as far away from the storm's path as alaska. $15 million for nasa facilities though nasa itself has called damage from the hurricane minimal. all of those provisions were stripped from the bill the house approved today. i want to underscore that. it was pork-free. ron reagan, what do you make of this? >> well, as far as those provisions being in there in the first place, unfortunately, that's how sausages are made in washington, d.c. let's remember, we're talking about an appropriation that is some 10,000 million dollars. you cited less than $200 million out of that that is questionable. it was stripped out, but even if it wasn't stripped out, even if that was the price you pay for greasing the skids of government to get needed a

. >> and new york senator chuck schumer is an gres bely working tom coburn trying to get him to sign on to schumer's background check bill. does the nra's line in the sand on universal background checks end up scaring coburn, a republican from oklahoma, away? politics of this though, of course, are tricky for democrats. a new quinnipiac poll shows the new york governor andrew cuomo is still very popular but his rating dropped a whopping 15 points in one month. the one big change, gun control effort. the committee includes staunch conservatives like at the time cruz of texas and jeff sessions of alabama. late yesterday, cruz and lindsey graham revealed they wanted to bring in firearms to demonstrate to members how to use them, but "it appears the requirements to secure the weapons at the hearing are so impractical as to be unworkable." one more point on the assault weapons ban. it's going to get brought to a vote in the senate. here's why. there are a lot of senate democrats. probably enough to prevent even a majority supporting the bill who want the ability to show their constituents

tom coburn supported it, representatives, not the senators. this is a real fundamental problem.to rhetoric of bipartisanship but not the followthrough when the proposals are put on the table. we see it over and over again. >> i was trying to get beyond just debating about spending and taxes so i asked cantor about establishing a national infrastructure bank that would use a little public money but really leverage private money to rebuild the u.s.' crumbling roads, bridges, and electrical grids. >> i'm all for leveraging private capital. we need to do a lot better job at that. in my home state virginia we do a very good job-leveraging private capital for infrastructure projects. the problem with creating an infrastructure bank at the federal level is the opacity that comes with that. >> it's interesting. i said can't we deal with the opacity? he was in favor of the concept of an infrastructure bank but at the state level. he said the minute you take it to the federal level it takes it out of the oversight of congress. he's not interested in that. i can't make sense if he liked th

. >> senator corker was echoed by senator tom coburn of oklahoma who explained why after weeks of no movement in congress there is a sudden push to get a deal done. here is with cnbc's larry kudlow. >> let me ask you, sir. do you think tonight there will be a senate vote on some kind of deal? >> well, i think there should be very late tonight or early in the a.m., even if this gets enacted in the next couple of days, it's all going to be retroactive to january 1st. but the very point of it is when you have a deal of this nature, you need to get it passed before you start having all the interest groups start finding out everything they think is wrong with it and giving people excuses not to support it. >> and that tax deal was reached after intense negotiations between senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and vice president joe biden. here are some of the highlights. the proposed deal is set to raise over $600 billion in revenue through new tax increases on the wealthiest americans. the bush era tax rates would be extended for all single americans with income below $400,000. and cou

senator tom coburn, the debt bomb and robert draper has written a book about congress. do not ask what good we do inside the u.s. house of representatives. do either of you look for these books when they come out by members of congress or politicians? >> guest: i certainly know them but i feel as if at least from my standpoint that these books are way too entrenched the members of congress not only in their positions but also potentially to position them for future runs, be it within their current offices or maybe something different. so, it seems as if it's more of a calling card then it is furthering their career as authors. certainly, being authors of books is yet another feather in the cap of politicians so it's just a way of announcing to the larger public that they are part of the larger comp or station. >> guest: i am going to sound a little cynical and may be skeptical but i also wonder how much of the book is -- given their schedules and their time. they need to raise money. >> guest: so you are you're looking at brand management. >> guest: i don't know. who wa

in our commission we've got five democrats, including dick durbin, five republicans, including tom coburn, and one independent -- how do you do any better than that? and the president ignored it, and the congress has ignored it, because they won't do the big stuff. and the big stuff has to get done. this other stuff is nothing. and as erskine says so beautifully, we're the healthiest horse in the glue factory right now. the trajectory of debt, deficit, and interest right now, the trajectory of debt, deficit, and interest will match any of the piig countries -- portugal, italy, spain -- match it, but, of course, we're lots bigger. and let me tell you, we know everybody out there in the congress knows exactly what we have to do. and when erskine and i travelled around for that whole year, we knew they were in congress, because i could see their button, i didn't know any of them, and they said, save us from ourselves. how's that for courage? >> well, but mr. bowles, i asked the president last week, there's so much frustration out there. there's a pox on both houses. and he and other democrat

conservative congressmen eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, paul ryan, senate power brokers jim demint, jon kyl, tom coburn, and event organizer frank luntz. >> the room was filled. it was a who's who of ranking members who had at one point been committee chairmen or in the majority, who now wondered, out loud, whether they were in the permanent minority. >> the 44th president of these united states, barack obama. >> many of them had attended obama's inauguration. they had seen that breathtaking spectacle of a million and a half people on the mall. and it felt like a wholesale repudiation of the republican party. >> they walked into that dining room as depressed as i've seen any elected members of congress. they lost every senate seat they could lose. they lost all these house seats. the numbers were so great that they thought that they weren't coming back again, not for an election or two, but maybe a generation or two. >> narrator: as the night wore on, the talk turned to the future. >> three hours, some of the brightest minds in the republican party debated how to be relevant. >> the point i made was th

senator tom coburn of oklahoma talked to cnbc's larry kudlow earlier tonight and explained why there seems to be a sudden momentum to get something accomplished in the senate. >> let me ask you, sir. do you think tonight there will be a senate vote on some kind of deal? >> well, i think there should be very late tonight or early in the a.m., even if this gets enacted in the next couple day, it's all going to be retroactive to january 1st. but the very point of it is when you have a deal of this nature you need to get it passed before you start having all the interest groups start finding out everything they think is wrong with it and giving people excuses not to support it. >> of course, no plan can go into effect without being passed in the house there is a concern that house republicans might stall that process. here is kansas republican tim huelskamp on cnn earlier tonight. >> near as we can tell it increases taxes on certain americans and it would probably increase spending as well. and there might be a debt ceiling part of that as well. and it doesn't anything about entitlement