reform is a part of that discussion of the permanent committee, and it certainly can be, it ought to be with an eye toward broadening the base, lowering the rates, and getting the economy growing again. tax reform can be a very useful tool in terms of economic growth, but i don t think tax increases are on the agenda of any republican in the house or senate. can you vote for what s taking shape right now, as you know about it? it s hard to say because we haven t seen the details. i don t like where this is headed. i m not a big fan of the joint committee. but remember, this is probably going to be as good of an outcome as we can get, and most of us will have to accept things we don t like in the final product. senator mccaskill, you were in your office yesterday. we have pictures of you on the phone talking to constituents. and you sent out a tweet during the day that caught my eye just spent a couple hours answering the phone in my office. dominant message, don t cut social s
compromise on? well, we ve come down from the $4 trillion of cut, cap and balance. which realistically was never going to happen. you knew that going in. well, that s the unfortunate thing because the american people sent us to washington in 2010 i was elected in 2008 but as you point out, 87 freshmen were brought in, republicans, conservatives, many of them tea party members in 2010 to turn this government around. and they re saying many, in fact, tell us, don t raise the debt ceiling at all. so we feel like that we re making a compromise even to be doing that. but having said that you re not suggesting that the minority of the american people think because the polls don t reflect it, that it s a bad idea to reflect the debt ceiling? there s a significant number if you look at the polls. i ve done polling myself on my facebook which has 28,000 friends on it. a significant number of people, not half, but a significant number would say, don t even raise it at all. we
and coming up, deal or no deal? has the damage caused by the debt deadlock already been done financially, fiscally? has washington s attempt to come up with a deficit-cutting deal exposed a deficit of leadership in washington? our roundtable weighs in. nbc s tom brokaw, former governor jennifer granholm, cnbc s jim cramer, and tea party-backed congressman raul labrador.
a similar plan. right, but there d be no balanced budget amendment, which is how you got to 218. but i think you will just lose a few votes and i think it will get out of the house of representatives. okay, so, would the tea party caucus vote no but will it survive? i m not a member of the tea party caucus. i m here to represent my constituents and the people of the united states. can i ask you a question about idaho? here s an example. i m looking at numbers across the country about what states are the beneficiaries of federal aid. you re obviously a big beneficiary for a lot of reasons. you ve got the national forest land. the last numbers i saw, you get $1.28 back for every $1 you send to washington. that 28-cent premium, what would you be willing to give up, how much of it? if we got rid of that premium, what we would start doing is controlling our own destiny, and it costs us 30% more to use federal money, so i think it would be a wash. if you look at the schools, if y
so again, what will the president accept as a consequence to force the congress hand? again it might be more enjoyable to negotiate this with you this morning. i can t get into a great amount of detail, but i think that, one, we have to make sure that you can agree on the initial set of spending cuts. the process for the committee, it s essential we think that the debt ceiling get extended off into the future so it doesn t hurt the economy. then we want to make sure whatever enforcement mechanism is something, one, that if it were triggered, you know, you think the country could live with, but secondly, strong enough to compel folks to act. i think you ll see this has been a healthy debate. i think the country s learned a lot about our debt and deficit problems, i think there s been some education here in washington, and i think what s clear is, you know, where the president stands is where the american people stand, that if we re going to do another set of deficit reduction, over