of the democratic party going forward. and that is to make sure that our average middle class families who have lost their jobs, who are worried about the economic future, who are the consumers that we know need to feel confident again to get this economy going, have what they need to make that happen. and that s the priorities we will be fighting for over the next two years. senator murray, i know next year, i want to show quickly you are the head of the dsec. it s a tough road to climb because of so much success democrats had in 2006. you have 23 democratic seats that you re in charge of defending. i go the to ask you was it because of that tough climb that made you a little reluctant to say yes the first time harry reid came acalling? i have never taken on a challenge because it s easy. i have accepted this challenge because it s the right thing to do. i ka irabout care about my country, i care about the families that are trying to get
can t deal with the debt problem? no. look, i think you have to be extremely careful of something that i have talked with you guys about before and that s not to conflate our long run deficit challenges with the short-run matters of the deficit that are related to how the economy is doing right now. even the fiscal commission, which was criticized by some for being too focused on austerity, they made totally clear that our long-run fiscal challenge has no implication for what we need to be doing right now. this will not increase the long-run deficit in any way. so long as we don t make these high income tax cuts permanent when this thing is going to expire in two years. all right. austan goolsbee, one of the chief economic advisers at the white house to the president. sans whiteboard today. we want to whiteboard. you invented the whiteboard. you come here, we ll break out the ivenlt pipad we ll do ic
it s the right thing for our country and i think all of us want to help get our families back on their feet. we re disappointed that the senate republicans have given the price of that as a giveaway to wealthy appearance. senator, you sound like you re a reluctant supporter. do you believe this is the best deal that can be had given the time limits, the expiration, the moment in time that you have, the fact more republicans are coming in. do you believe as the white house does, probably the best deal you can get under the circumstances ? well the reason it s a challenge is senate republicans made it very clear that they will not allow tax cuts for middle class americans to be given to them unless they get a tax cut for the wealthy americans. so that being the case, do you think this is the best deal? it makes it very hard. well, i think it s a real challenge and i think as we move forward that s a choice each one of us will have to look at as we