coming up, we're going to talk to senators claire mccaskill and pat toomey. also niall ferguson will be here. and in a few minutes donny deutsch. but first, let's go to weather channel meteorologist todd santos for a check on the forecast. todd? >> hey there, mika, very good morning to you. we have 340 days to go till the election, let's start with sunshine. all the way into the southeast, does make for a cool morning for many of us. a lot of areas, upper 30s to low 40s, back down towards d.c. at this hour. there's a look at it for this afternoon. cool down into portions of florida. 55 in miami right now. and i should mention the southwest if you're flying in that direction, we could see gusts in los angeles upwards of 40 plus miles per hour today that will elevate the fire danger, bigger winds in the mountains. some of these high-wind warnings into the daytime on friday. we'll check in again with the winds and the forecast of the rest of the country coming up. you're watching "morning joe." we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported

senator clara mckaskell and senator toomey.d jet pack. >> a jet pack again? >> good for you. >> details on the luxury toy. if your wife is listening, that's what you want. >> i would really like that. i would like to fly away and not know how to land. [ male announcer ] if you're giving an amazing gift, shouldn't it be given in an amazing way? ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. but also a caring touch. you learn to get a feel for the trouble spots. to know its wants... its needs.its dreams. ♪call 1-800-steemer. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. >> 16 minutes after the top of the hour. the nation's debt $16 trillion and counting, new records show that members of the house and senate are trying to pack their bills with pork. those pet projects for their home communities. they're asking for millions of dollars in earmarks for their constituents. this

senator toomey brought forward some revenue ideas that would have raised revenue. i supported what his efforts were. revenue is on the table in these discussions. you do need to take a look at the big items, medicare, medicaid, social security, and how to deal with that. talk about people working together. just yesterday, paul ryan came out with ron wyden on a new proposal on medicare. there are things we can do. some of these things and ideas that came out of the simpson- bowles commission, they picked up on an advance. i met with alice rivlin one week ago, five or six of us. i talked to p diminishing by phone about the proposal -- another senator by phone about the proposal. you need to deal with these big entitlements if you are really going to get our fiscal house in order. the numbers are so large when you talk about a $15 trillion debt. you borrow $4 billion a day. the numbers are so large. we are borrowing $3 million every minute to keep up with the spending. >> do you think there is any possibility of a big deal or a mini deal in 2012? >> this past year wou

. >> toomey, it has to be in the microcosm, in a way.casino," for example, was a political film. in the opening image, you have robert denair walked out on the screen in -- to have roberts deniro wanted the street in patent leather shoes, gets into his cadillac, turns the key, and the car blows up. it is true story. the amount of excess, the amount of -- there's nothing that is never enough. until finally, it explodes. this was 1995. it was a concern of mine that -- and that is why i am making the george harrison film. harrison said i had everything at the age of 19 to 21, but he said, there has to be more to being alive. and i said, how much more do you need of this? and look at this. they're tearing down the old las vegas, where it was like an old western where you had gunfighters or gamblers come in, and they would gamble. that is what they do, they gamble. here, the new las vegas at the end of that film, it is in las vegas where they bring the family, because we have a theme parks there and they are gambling away the money for us, be

perry's by mike toomey, his former chief of staff. the president's was created by a former spokesman, bill burton. >> as much as i love my friends in the white house and president obama, me and the people who i work with are taking a break from seeing those people and talking to those folks, and there is no coordination. >> reporter: today the pro- romney super pac bought $3 million worth of ads in iowa without consulting the campaign. but they did this exactly when romney needed the most help against newt gingrich. scott, this is just a preview of how the big donors behind these super pacs are trying to sway the 2012 campaign. >> pelley: a big change in the campaigns. >> reporter: yeah. >> pelley: wyatt, thank you very much. the unemployment picture is showing more tentative signs of improvement. the labor department reported today that the number of americans putting in their first claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to 381,000. that's the smallest number since february. congress grills jon corzine about a billion dollar

. >> in a few moments senators pat toomey and claire mccaskill talk about banning spending earmarked and in 20 minutes a hearing on how nursing-home is is anti psychotic drugs to treat patients with the mention of. >> several live events to tell you about on c-span3. the senate foreign relations committee will hear from representatives of the departments of treasury and state and u.s. policy on iran at 10:00 a.m. eastern. at 2:00 eastern the ceos of fannie mae and freddie mac testified before the house financial services subcommittee on oversight. >> within 90 days of my inauguration every american soldier and every american prisoner will be out of the jungle land out of their cells and back home in america where they belong. >> george mcgovern's pledge it the 1972 democratic convention came nearly a decade after being one of the first senators to speak out publicly against the vietnam war. the senator from south dakota suffered a landslide defeat to president nixon but his groundbreaking campaign changed american politics and the democratic party. george mcgovern is featured this we

republicans in the senate voted in favor of it, including tea party favorites marco rubio and pat toomey. 39, including tea party favorites. in the house, 229 republicans vote against it. i mean, what's happening here? >> well, reverend, i think the congressman's take is basically correct, and, of course, what -- i was in that session earlier today with john boehner and the other conferrees, they would like to make this a dispute, just another bit of partisan bickering with the democrats, but this is a whole other ball of wax. their fight isn't with the democrats. it's with republicans in their own parties and conservatives. john boehner is a relatively weak speaker. you've got to understand, you mentioned the whole braveheart thing. ten people got up in this private meeting of the republican caucus the other night and started talking about their favorite moments from the "braveheart" movie. they see themselves as the skots fighting is the noble. >> so they're in the meeting talking about the movie, which by the way, the guys got slaughtered. >> exactly. >> we're talking about 160 millio

you know you got to start somewhere. >> reporter: senators mccaskill and toomey want a new enforcementhat would allow any senator to raise a point of order against any spending they see as earmark. the lawmaker proposing would have to publicly justify it. it would take 67 votes to keep it in the bill. that would make earmarks very, very difficult, if not impossible. back to you guys. jon: easier than getting a line-item veto out of the white house. >> reporter: quite possibly. jon: jim angle. thank you. >> reporter: you bet. jenna: we're less than five weeks until the first contest in the presidential race. newt gingrich has been surging in the polls. we talked a lot about that. we're seeing a battle between him and mitt romney and a few others. it is getting a little feisty out there. we're live with that story and more. >>> egypt -- egypts first election since ouster of angelo mozilo. -- hosni mubarak. we're live from cairo next. [ male announcer ] medicare... it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp medica

so i think ultimately in a much more macro sense, a guy like senator pat toomey has the right idea.ify the tax code and you can arrive at a fair system where everybody gets justice. >> okay. erin mcpike, joe watkins and goldie taylor. we're going to be right back. we'll take a short break and come on back more as we await herman cain's announcement. congratulations. congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire businesses to conserve energy and monitor costs. making communities greener... congratulations. ... and buildings as valuable to the bottom line... whoa ! ... as the people inside them. congratulations. because when you add verizon to your company, ♪ discover something new... verizon. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for trav

pat toomey created a budget we supported as republicans that balanced the budge net ten years withoutial security or medicare and without raising taxes. all we have to do is keep spending at today's level, we don't have to raise taxes on those creating jobs and that's what the president is talking about. business people know that he's all politics and no real policy right now. and this is a debate we're going to have to figure out how to win with the american people because promising more money is something that most people want. it's a battle that we have to take to the american people and hope we can win. >> a battle that begins four weeks from tonight in iowa, 45 days from the primary in your state. listen, senator, to a conversation we had the morning after the election back in 2010. you're a tea party favorite, conservatives follow your lead. back then you were quite high after the republican victory. let's listen. >> i think everyone who campaigned and won as republicans this time understands that we've got to do what we promised and that means less spending, less borrowing, les

i think it's going to happen multiple way ss, whether you take the over that toomey made, which was what like and you add plus plus to it or take the bowles-simpson report and reduce it to legislative language, whether you have two groups -- i think it's going to be difficult to have a large negotiation over that and try to get it where it needs to go.ç bowls simpson there's a lot of detail that needs to be added. i plan on talking to erskine, yes, it's balance the but there's a lot of details left out. once you get into the details, that's when you start pulling people apart. but i think you'll see tremendous efforts over the course of the next several months towards that end and the type of tax reform that the two of them and the commission put out is exactly the kind of thing that to me would stimulate this economy in huge ways. here we are dealing with little thing, it's a political issue, we all know that. and i know it matters and it's more than just political. it does matter. but it's not the kind of thing that we need to be doing for a country that's this in debt at this time to

do you remember senator pat toomey, pennsylvania, during the super committee?asically put in writing on the table something that would have wiped out a lot of those special interest tax breaks. you know, the special lobbyist carveouts. and he put it in writing, as a conservative republican. and what happened? the special interests, and i'm sorry, even the special interests on the left, crushed him. and it's one of my great frustrations. if you want a banking system that doesn't bleed us, then get rid of any perception of federal guarantees to that banking system. make them risk their own capital. you want a tax system? design a tax system that doesn't choose winners and losers and is simple to understand. >> and i guess the only barrier is we're so dysfunctional and we have no capital, we have none of those things that in order to get where you and i might say, we also have to have the compassion to understand how far from there we are, so that we can actually make those transitions. congressman, i look forward to having you in new york the next time to talk mo

toomey put a proposal on the table which offered $300 billion in additional revenues. of course that was offset by an $800 billion increase next year in tax cuts or a net reduction of $500 billion in revenues for next year. excuse me, for january, 2013. let me ask the gentleman, in reaching that, the gentleman mentioned entitlements, i agree with him on entitlements, but the gentleman said he's not for any increased revenues. all three of the bipartisan commissions, the two commissions and the gang of six, all three have said that revenues must be part of that picture. that's taxes. fancy word for taxes. does the gentleman agree with that because that certainly was the basis for bipartisanship in all three of those? i'd yield. mr. cantor: again, i say to the gentleman, i think our side demonstrated. we put together plans both in the processees ending with the joint select committee and in our budget. i think we come from the perspective, mr. speaker, that let's fix the problem. if you don't fix the problem and then you want to raise taxes, especially on small business

pat toomey, who was on the super committee to work out long-term deficit problems, which everyone knows was not successful, was elected very narrowly. in the state legislature, the republicans regained control of the state house. here is how pennsylvania sets. the delegation to congress -- falls republicans, seven democrats. the house of representatives -- republican. the senate -- republican. the governor -- republican. one of two senators is republican. the republicans really had one of the biggest sweeps in our state in 40 years. host: the first call comes from allentown, pennsylvania. richard, you're on with terry madonna. go ahead. caller: hello. glad to see you are on. guest: hi, richard. caller: isn't this argument all sort of premature in that the republicans have not put up a candidate yet? the choices over there are not attractive. guest: i think you do raise a good point. the way political scientists think about this is the election is 80% about president obama. do the voters of our country look of his presidency and say he deserves another term? there are all kinds of aspect

toomey put a proposal on the table which offered $300 billion in additional revenues. of course that was offset by an $8 billion increase next year in tax cuts or a net reduction of $500 billion in revenues for next year. excuse me, for january, 2013. let me ask the gentleman, in reaching that, the gentleman mentioned entitlements, i agree with him on entitlements, but the gentleman said he's not for any increased revenues. all three of the bipartisan mmissions, the two commissions and the gang of six, all three have said that revenues must be part of that picture. that's taxes. fancy word for taxes. does the gentleman agree with that because that certainly was the basis for bipartisanship in all three of those? i'd yield. mr. cantor: again, i say to the gentleman, i think our side demonstrated. we put together plans both in the processees ending with the joint select committee and in our budget. i think we come from the perspective, mr. speaker, that let's fix the problem. if you don't fix the problem and then you want to raise taxes, especially on small business peop

toomey put a proposal on the table which offered $300 billion in additional revenues. of course that was offset by an $800 billion increase next year in tax cuts or a net reduction of $500 billion in revenues for next year. excuse me, for january, 2013. let me ask the gentleman, in reaching that, the gentleman mentioned entitlements, i agree with him on entitlements, but the gentleman said he's not for any increased revenues. all three of the bipartisan commissions, the two commissions and the gang of six, all three have said that revenues must be part of that picture. that's taxes. fancy word for taxes. does the gentleman agree with that because that certainly was the basis for bipartisanship in all three of those? i'd yield. mr. cantor: again, i say to the gentleman, i think our side demonstrated. we put together plans both in the processees ending with the joint select committee and in our budget. i think we come from the perspective, mr. speaker, that let's fix the problem. if you don't fix the problem and then you want to raise taxes, especially on small business