the 2 million people who have really fallen over this human cliff, who deserve an extension of their unemployment compensation? they want to work. where are they in this overall equation? secondly when you talk about cuts, you know, quite frankly the most vulnerable they ve already paid an extreme price. they ve been our senior citizens, the disabled, veterans, we ve had over $1 trillion in cuts that have automatically taken place. and so when you talk now about moving forward with the deal, that does not at least put a suspension on sequestration, these huge budget cuts to our domestic program, and defense, then what are we talking about? we need to come together and come up with something that s real. the american people spoke quite frankly. elections have consequences. they want tax fairness. they want the wealthiest to pay their fair share. the most vulnerable, our senior citizens, our veterans. low income people, the middle class. we paid an extreme price and so
gimmicks. i think we have seen the president move forward and negotiate in good faith, and the speaker needs to stop playing games and come back and begin to negotiate in good faith. i think it s very important to recognize, martin, that this is a human cliff. today we talked with people who will be unemployed excuse me, they will not receive any more unemployment compensation after the 29th. we have 2 million who will be left hanging, no income to pay their bills, to pay their rent, to buy food. so this is a real human cliff we have to address, and we need to address it now. i hope the speaker understands that this is a human cliff, that people are feeling the pain, and that he needs to come back and negotiate in good faith. are you suggesting, ma am, that this is a charade, that what s been going on between the president and speaker boehner has actually just been for, i guess, public consumption?
be part of the game that s being played to get to some kind of an agreement. we need to make sure that they are not a pawn in this and we do not balance the budget or, you know, move forward on this cliff. i call it a human cliff with them being at risk. so we have to make sure that the millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share and make sure the most vulnerable are protected. let me play devil s advocate here. a lot of things are ending up off the table here. the democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. you don t want to hit social security, medicare or medicaid. where are you willing to give up? if unemployment benefits, if the weeks aren t going to be reduced, where would you suggest going? well, i have to tell you first of all, we can t go into cutting those who have already paid a big price for the last deal. we need to look at defense, ed. when you look at where we can e cut, there s billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse at the pentagon. when
not balance the budget or, you know, move forward on this cliff. i call it a human cliff with them being at risk. so we have to make sure that the millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share and make sure the most vulnerable are protected. let me play devil s advocate here. a lot of things are ending up off the table here. the democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. you don t want to hit social security, medicare or medicaid. where are you willing to give up? if unemployment benefits, if the weeks aren t going to be reduced, where would you suggest going? well, i have to tell you first of all, we can t go into cutting those who have already paid a big price for the last deal. we need to look at defense, ed. when you look at where we can e cut, there s billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse at the pentagon.
billionaires, we need to make sure we do not extend those tax cuts. when you look at the oil subsidies that oil companies received, there are many ways to move forward and stop this human cliff from occurring, but we do not need to go with seniors, we do not need to do this on the the backs of low-income individuals and the poor. it doesn t make any sense. it s not fair and it s morally wrong. i think it s morally wrong and it s not fair. there is a moral obligation to help the poor and those trying to recycle back into the economy. but do you feel confident that the democrats will hold the line for the less fortunate? i feel very confident the democrats will hold the line for the least fortunate. when you look at what s happening in our districts, we have people who are unemployed. we have the long-term unemployed. and we have people who want to work. we need to create jobs and