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Issue one. It is a deal. I am happy to report senator murray and i have reached an agreement. We have been talking all year. And this week that hard work of the two of us sitting down and talking to each other all year has paid off. We have broken through the partisanship and gridlock and reached a bipartisan budget compromise that will prevent a Government Shutdown in january. Done deal. Shutdown averted. A 2member Conference Committee headed by republican representative paul ryan and democratic senator murray this week reach an agreement on the federal budget for the next two years. Heres what is on the revenue side of the table. Item. New fees for air travelers. Instead of tax hikes, revenue would be raised on Airline Ticket purchases. Travelers will see a hike for an average round trip ticket from 5 to 10. Item. Federal workers pay more. Government employees hired after january 1, 2014 will make bigger contributions to their retirement funds. A 1. 3 boost. Heres whats on the spending side of the table. Item. Spend be cap. Overall spending is set at 1. 012 trillion for the current fiscal year, up from 967 billion, slightly higher than what the house wanted, and slightly lower than what the senate wanted. Item. Relief from sequestration. I. E. , automatic spending cuts that affect both defense and domestic spending. They will be reduced by 62 billion over o twye ars. It u no entitlement spending cuts. Medicare and Social Security are off limits. Question, does this budget deal spend the end of fiscal gridlock between now and october 2015 . It may deal it for two years john but this was a republican capitulation. You have increased fees on airline travelers, the sequester broken, caps have been lifted off 70 of the sequester, more spending, more taxes. I think ryan brought it home, and the house stood by him, because he is one of their own but the republicans in the senate and conservatives and everyone else feel this is a capitulation, they have given up and i think paul ryans president ial prospects have been hurt badly. 16 republicans and 162 democrats. I presume you approve of that . It was overwhelming libi partisan and basically the empire is vic striking back. Is striking back. The Republican Leaders have said they have had enough of being driven around by the right wing group. This is not a far reaching deal and boy they should have closed some corporate loopholes instead of raising fees on travelers. But, having said that, it is compromise and this congress has been unable to do that for the last two years. And what you hear now is that the sound of gridlock breaking up, and it opens the possibility that they can get Immigration Reform next year and other things. I think it is a very positive development. Sometime between march and june the level has to be lifted again. Are you aware of that . Oh yeah. Yeah. And hopefully. So you know, it is a temporary fix. Well it is an important fix. It looks like they have finally gotten the lesson if they want to win elections, they actually have to govern and do the things the American Public has elected them to do. The fact that the every supercommittee has failed and we had to get a sequester because no one on congress on the democratic or republican side would do their job is pretty pathetic. So i look at this as a positive happening in washington. The Airline Ticket fee is going up 100 . What do you think of that . I think it is one of the few issues in which you would have an agreement. The people who fly airplanes generally tend to be the wealthier part of the population. But i also disagree with you, pat. If the republicans hadnt gone along with this, having had the experience of shutting down before, which was devastating, they never would have had a chance to do well in the president ial elections or the general elections. They may have irritated the tea party, right of the party. Fine, they have no other place to go. But they would never have held the center of americans. It did a great job for two years, painful, not the nicest way to do it. What did they get in return . A 5 increase in Discretionary Spending in the next year. They are going the wrong way. They actually showed they could govern. Which was not exactly the image they had projected in the past. We are governing in the wrong direction. They are governing in the direction of the center of the country. Nobody lick the sequester. You have some defense hawks on the republican side. They didnt want the been pentagon cut more and you have a lot of people on the democratic side and some on the republican side too, they dont want head start taken away from little kids. Boehners blast. A feud between House Republicans and institutional conservatives, many tea partiers exploded on wednesday. Speaker john boehner, an outside conservative group, traded barbs over the ryan murray budget deal. It escalated. When the leader of the Republican Study Committee forced out its executive director for leaking strategy from private conversations. Republican leaders have repeatedly criticized such groups, americans for prosperity, Freedom Works and others, of having only one objective. To object pose Republican Leaders. They called Speaker Boehner and the Republican Leadership team quote unquote squishs, who have sacrificed principal for compromise. Speaker boehner finally lashed out on camera. They are using our members and they are using the American People for their own goals. This is ridiculous. Listen, if you are more for deficit reduction, you are for this agreement. Yes. What about Speaker Boehners outburst . Why is he so. Reporter ed . Pat . He won this battle. When you win a bottle, you are magnanimous. Why didnt he disregard the fact these groups were angry . He should have said i know we have disagreements, i think this is a necessary and right deal. Instead of going after them, he is appealing to the washington establishment, they are going to lacquer him all up for what he did. This is a message to these groups that their day is over and that the Republican Leadership is fighting back. And he wouldnt be doing that if the republicans hadnt come to the conclusion that the Tea Party Fever has finally broken. You look at the challenges coming up in the senate, you look at the challenges, i want to finish this point. You look at the challenges coming up in the senate races to these republican incumbents, maybe there are one or two. They are weak candidates and all they can do is damage the. I will watch, definitely. I watched and i think a large number of the American Public was thinking where has this john boehner been for the last two years . Thank you for actually being the speaker of the house and showing the American Public who is governing in the house. It shouldnt be heritage or Freedom Works, it should be john boehner passing legislation on a bipartisan level. The house is acting like grownups and the senate isnt. And pat makes a good point. The senate still has to vote. And if republicans can corral all the pat buchanan, ted cruz. Why is boehner so. Reporter ed at the conservatives why is boehner so. Reporter ed at the con serve tis . It is Business Community and the chamber of commerce and all those groups have said thank god there has been some demonstration that the government functions. Because it was affecting the whole economy. This was one of the few breakthroughs that indicates there may be a positive future in making progress. Boehner is thinking about the primaries and he knows he is going to get independents and conservatives of winning the primaries and he thinks he has a real chance of taking over the senate. We are talking about november. The way the states breakdown is distinct from the way individual congressional seats breakdown. John you started a war. I didnt like it. When you win you are magnanimous to the people that lost. He stuck it to them and he is going to get great press here in dc. He got smart. He wants to win elections. The war was already going up. The speaker just picked up some weapons. Watch how they vote on this deal. Almost to a man i bet they vote against him i dont the candidate could be too far right. People like you. Will the murray ryan budget deal pass the Senate Next Week . Yes or no . Pat buchanan . Eventually i think it is going to get by by it is going to be a bloody mess. After a lot of discussions about cutting military pensions, yes it will squeak by. It will get by, by a little bit more than a squeak. Dont forget the Mclaughlin Group has its own website. You can watch us on the web from anywhere in the world from mc mclaughlin. Com ish other two. While still a student i learned of Nelson Mandela and the struggles taking place in this beautiful land. And it stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities to others and to myself and it set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today. And while i will always fall short of my divas example, he makes me want to be a better man. President obama addressed the crowd the tens of thousands in the stadium in south africa who were at the service for the former leader Nelson Mandela. Mandela passed away last week at the age of 95. But mr. Obamas rousing speech was overshadowed by his simple gesture, not just with anyone, but with the leader of cuba. Raul castro. The u. S. And cuba have been estranged for 54 years since rauls brother, fidel, overthrew the u. S. Regime and the u. S. Subsequently imposed sanctions on cuba. This cold war embargo on cuba remains in place and many exiles were angered by the handshake. When the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like raul castro it becomes a propaganda coup for the tie rant. Observers have noted a warming up between the two countries. Item. Travel restrictions. One year ago castro dropped the requirement cubans obtain exit permits before leaving cuba. And the u. S. Extended the duration of visas for cubans from six months to five years, admitting return visitors from cuba without visa reapplication. Item. Direct mail service. Talks to resume the flow of letters and packages resumed this year after a long stall. Question. Was it only good fellowship that his motivated president obama to shake castros hand . If you believe that i have a bridge to sell you. Of course not. Besides he veered to the left to specifically shake hands with him. By the way, i support that. In my judgment it is counterproductive to the United States interest. These things do not happen by accident. Wait a second. He shook the hands of all the speakers as the president was making his way to the podium and mr. Castro was there. So if he hadnt taken his hand this would have sent a message much louder. Lousy staff work. No it isnt. It is fine. This president has shaken hands of the chinese leaders who are communists too, the vietnamese leader, and the embargo. John this is lousy staff work for this reason. White house staffers should know exactly who is sitting in what chair. That is why i tend to agree with mort. This must be deliberate or those guys were clueless in saying look there is a fellow named castro sitting here as you go by. All the all gists, all those who gave a eulogy. There is more to the story. In bali, there was a w t. O. , trade talks in bali and cuba softened its opposition to it that obama wanted i dont this was a mistake though. If he wants to deal with castro, fine, they want diplomats, behind the scenes dealing, fine. But to step up there and do that was a mistake. Allen growth a u. S. Development worker has been in jail in cuba for four years and the u. S. Government wants him out. Also if you listened to the president s words when he was speaking about the life of mandela and he made a poignant comment about all the countries that believed in the symbolism Nelson Mandela stood for and had horrible human rights records at home. It is ridiculous to criticize someone for shaking hands at a Memorial Service for an icon who brought people together who was supported by the so far yes sir and the russians and the u. S. And this the people he associated with at that funeral. That would not have been the police. I think it was politeness. But beyond that i think it would be terrific if this administration did take steps to lift the embargo. I dont expect that to happen, because it is a law, you would have to get congress to go along with it. I dont see that happening. The cubans are having trouble resolving their passport problems and the president is facilitating, gingerly, a bank that will assist them and lawyers that will assist them. What do you think of that . Look i think it is a positive step, my own view of this. This whole idea that we think we can isolate cuba and not have anything to do with them, in my judgment doesnt make sense. There are many things we can do that are positive. I agree with you and you are the soul of wisdom mort. At the mandela funeral during president obama and other dignitaries impassioned speeches, the sign Language Interpreter on the stage seemed to be equally impassioned. There was only one problem. He wasnt communicating anything. It was pure gibberish. Outraged deaf people in south africa and around the world say the man was a fraud. A South African official now says his hiring was a mistake and has launched an investigation. The man has been identified and he says he has schizophrenia. There is an acronym widely used in africa for those times when things go wrong. It is aw a, africa wins again. This was a clown act on the part of the government but this is deadly serious. This guy is standing one foot away from the president of the United States. He could have had an underwear bomb, a shoe bomb. A vest on. Where was the secret service . Quite frankly, to let somebody get that close to the president. They should have vetted everybody near the president. People are saying the secret service did a fantastic jobs in view of the ties of the size of that audience. Where were the advance men . It was a clown act all the way around. There were press reports this person once had been arrested in south africa on suspicion of murder charges and he was one foot away from the president of the United States. There is more to the story. Im sure the secret service will be investigating itself about it and the South African government. Apparently telegot him at a bargain rate. They got him at a bargain rate. Well that explains it. Now i understand. Seriously that is what the South African government says. Nothing happened. Lets remember that okay . You think the secret service ought to adopt Something Like that. After wins again . Exit question. On a political probability scale, 100 meaning met physical certitude what is the likelihood president obama will attempt to lift the trade embargo in cuba in 2014 . Zero 2014 but 2015 or 2016 i would see him trying some sort of engagement. I would agree with that. You need 218 votes in the house and 60 votes in the senate. I say zero 2014 but 15 and 16, who knows . After the election in florida, in 2014, with a very large cuban community, then i think this will be introduced and in my judgment, will be passed. Zero probability. He is not going to do anything that is is anyway going to queer the elections. Well be right back with predictions. I would like to wish a happy holidays to my friends and family back home no rockville, maryland. Currently debloyed on board uss Harry S Truman in support of Operation Enduring freedom. I want to say happy holidays to all my family and hope to be home soon. Predictions, pat . 33yearold north korea dictator kim jong un has just murdered his mentor and uncle and he is moving ships and planes to an area disputed with south korea. I think we could have real problems on the korean peninsula. Eleanor . The Republican House will come back after the holidays and vote an extension of Unemployment Benefits for the longterm unemployed retroactivelily. Michelle . Our Development Worker who finds himself jailed in cuba is going to find himself released. Mort . This administration is going to completely reorganize and recognize our relations with cuba. Fulltime. Well stated. I predict that next years sticker shock over Health Insurance premium price hikes will move president obamas job Approval Rating to below 35 . Eleanor, do you agree with me on that . Certainly dont john. I demand equal time. Cheers to the Current Issue of the nation magazine. Bye bye

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