the law that raised the debt limit and created the debt reduction super committee also created something else. a mandate that congress must vote on a balanced budget amendment. our next guest says that bill must contain four things. what are they? mike lee, the author of the new book why a balanced budged amendment is essential to government. he s at the desk today. good morning. good morning. it s mandated and you have to vote on it. there s two competing versions. one you say is perfect and the other that s being offered up is not. correct. the bill that s being offered up by the republicans, the balanced budget proposal would require congress that it balance its budget each year and would restrict spending to a fixed percentage of the economy. and it can t be circumvented without a super majority vote and the other one, not the same. it doesn t do that. and so congress can get around
salon s joe walsh on how herman cain s latest bombshell affects romney and gingrich. and tonight an ed show exclusive. we will have the latest petition count for the walker recall in wisconsin. the number of signatures is shocking and you ll hear it here first on the ed show. good to have you with us. hope you had a nice thanksgiving. good to be back with you. in less than five weeks time unemployment benefits will expire for more than 6,000 americans. that s a big number. in less than one week, congress may raise taxes on 120 million families. republicans, well, looks to me like they are ready to let both of them happen. the debt reduction super committee happened because they want to protect the wealthiest americans from any tax increases. that s the bottom line and today they tried to turn the tables. republican leader in the senate blamed the tail your on the democrats. i know for a fact that republicans wanted the committee to deliver and the good news is
listen to the chair last night on cnbc about the tax issue. we have come forthwith a very good faith offer of putting some tax revenue on the table. but only if we do it in a pro base, bring down rates which is what every, frankly, other bipartisan effort has done. reporter: what he is talking about here is there is a plan by republican senator patrick toomey. it would bring the top tax rate to 28% as well as the bush tax cuts permanent. democrats say that s not a good offer because look, you re going to extend the bush tax cuts. not nearly enough deficit reduction we need and that s not enough revenue we need. we re back at this go ahead. i want to ask but this washington post report. the obama administration is quietly preparing that this debt reduction super committee will fail.
2004 are putting their money on mitt romney instead of rick perry. federal election data through september shows that two members of bush 43 s immediate family have donated to romney, and none to the current texas governor. washington post says bowles offered a blunt warning yesterday to the 12 members of the debt reduction super committee. i know most of you, i ve worked closely with you on both sides of the aisle. i have great respect for each of you individually. but collectively, i m worried you re going to fail. fail the country. and that brings us to the top story in the politico playbook. with us now the chief correspondent for politico, mike allen. good morning.
majority of nutrition aid to somalia and refugees in kenya say the supplies are running out, so is the money. three weeks left or less. we re going to talk to folks on the ground. reporters that have been covering it for weeks. we begin, though, with the breaking news out of washington that may affect a lot of lives at home. senate majority leader harry reid to be one of the first to name members to the debt reduction super committee. patty murray of washington state, max baucus of montana and perry of massachusetts. wall street began to climb out of the smoking hole it dropped into after standard&poor s lowers the credit rating on friday. part of the reason, squabbling over the debt. tonight lrks the supercommittee end the squabbling or create a whole new opportunity for it. john king is sticking around for us working his sources. gloria borger has been working her sources. john, what are you hearing from folks in washington about the names that have been given to the democr