there's a democrat that occupy this is building behind me. jeff sessions had the reply. he's the top republican on the budget committee in the senate. >> they balanced their family budgets only to find out that the united states senate on the democratic control will not even bring a budget plan to the senate floor. people should know that the republican-led house, on the other hand, met its obligations. most significantly it passed a budget to rescue america from a debt crisis. >> this is an election year. you hear a lot of hyperbole. you can't find one sane economist that doesn't say if they don't do something about that fiscal cliff, the raising of the tax rates, cutting of government spending it will not lead to something close to an economic catastrophe not only here in washington and in the united states but worldwide. here's another bit of good news. they're going to come back after the elections, after november 6 in a lame duck session and try to do something about that. thomas? >> michael, we talk about this