time here to avert the fiscal cliff. was this the intended effect of the president s first offer? what we re trying to do is to make it more likely. we come together on a good agreement for the american people that extends tax cuts to the american people. brings our long-term deficits down. tough spending savings is part of that, and invest in things that matter to the american economy, like infrastructure, and getting americans back to work. we think we can do that. we have a good chance, and it s very important. and i think we ll get there, david. do you think we ll get a deal by the end of the year? i do. because the only thing standing in the way of that is a refusal by republicans to accept that rates have to go up on the wealthiest americans. and i don t really see them doing that. the idea that they have signalled something significant for them, which is what is that? putting revenue on the table. it s welcome that they are recognizing that revenues are going to
i want to come back to taxes. grover norquist, who will be back in just a minute on our roundtable. he has said pointedly, you wouldn t have been elected senator had you not signed that pledge not to raise any taxes. are you prepared to break the pledge now? i was just elected to the senator 3 1/2 weeks ago with claire. everybody in the state of tennessee that cared about pledges knew that the only pledge i was going to honor is the oath to office. so that s just categorically not true. you will vote to raise taxes if that s what it takes to get a deal? i am not obligated to any pledge other than my oath. i want to solve this problem. and where republicans are today, we can look at a $5 trillion tax increase with nothing on entitlement reforms by just being passive and not but you did sign it in the first place. you understood the importance of getting elected. well, i understood the importance of getting elected the second time. and everyone was fully aware before any vo
roundtable in just a bit. but first, i m joined by two key voices calling for compromise. tennessee republican bob corker and missouri democrat claire mccaskill. welcome to both of you. senator, what s changed in washington? where is the room for real bipartisan to avert this fiscal cliff? does it exist? i think it does. i think we understand that this is about our country first. and it really is a time we need to put politics aside, and it s going to be painful. none of us are going to get the deal that we exactly want. but we have to keep talking to one another. and bob and i have talked this week. i m talking every day with my republican colleagues. what has to happen, though, there has to be a realization that if we do nothing, the republicans are going to have to live with the fact that they are willing to stop a deal all over a tax rate for the top 2% of this country. and, frankly, i m really hopeful that doesn t happen. and i know bob feels the same way. senator, lindsey gra
both sides are digging in. based on that interview, it looks like the president is digging in and that s unfortunate, because it doesn t seem like we are looking at compromise right now. as far as the economy is concerned, we will see a hit to the economy if in fact both sides continue to dig in. and the markets right now are expecting a deal. the markets have been trading fine. if we don t get a deal, we re going to see a sizeable decline in stocks. we are going to get a big disappointment. jim, let s talk about it. when we go over the fiscal cliff, what happens? the bush tax cuts expire january 1, so they automatically go up to clinton era levels. the 2011 payroll tax holiday expires. the alternative tax kicks in. and then you have $1 trillion of cuts, half of which is in defense. how is the president doing in his pitch so far, both in his first offer and how he s going to the public to sell this? i think he s doing pretty well. i think he is calling for compromise.
views on the merits of that proposal by disapproving that, and then the president would have to decide if a bill came to his desk about whether to veto or sign it. and the virtue of that mechanism proposed by senator mcconnell, a man of impeccable conservative credentials, is to make sure that the country is not left at risk of pure default. it s a very good idea. it s a republican idea. and we re suggesting they extend it. let me come back to the idea of, what is the pain point for democrats here? what is the pain that democrats are going to have to be willing to live with to get the kind of deal that you re driving with republicans on taxes when it comes to both spending cuts, particularly spending cuts to programs like medicare? well, i think that it s true that both sides are going to have to do things that are difficult for them, uncomfortable for them. and the american people have already been asked to adapt to $1 trillion in spending cuts in defense and nondefense that touch