it recognizes that there is general value in protecting the minority s right to be heard. but in order to protect that right, you don t need to make every vote a 60-vote supermajority. this proposal would in one fell swoop end the 60-vote senate, but it would preserve the interests of lengthy debate. the idea doesn t come from outside group or some young radical. it comes from a long-standing highly respected senator. he chairs an important committee. and to his credit, he proposed this idea back in 1995 when he was in the minority. and so it would have hurt him and his party first there is no hypocrisy here. that senator is democratic senator tom harkin from the great state of iowa, and he very kindly joins us tonight to explain his proposal. senator, thank you very much for being here. hey, ezra, nice to be with you. thanks. so tell me, how does your proposed reform work? well, basically, my proposal is, again, as you said, it would still allow the senate to slow things down a
highly respected senator. he chairs an important committee. and to his credit, he proposed this idea back in 1995 when he was in the minority. and so it would have hurt him and his party first there is no hypocrisy here. that senator is democratic senator tom harken from the great state of iowa, and he very kindly joins us tonight to explain his proposal. senator, thank you very much for being here. hey, ezra, nice to be with you. thanks. so tell me, how does your proposed reform work? well, basically, my proposal is, again, as you said, it would still allow the senate to slow things down a little bit. but it would not permit the minority to actually stop something. my proposal is very simple. that on the first vote you would need 60 votes. if you didn t get 60 votes, you would have to wait three days. you could offer it again. then you would need 57 votes. if you didn t get that, you d have to wait three more days, during which time you could be filibusters. and then after that,
can t vote on that. you actually have to go down and hold the floor and talk and talk and talk and talk all night and for days and for weeks. you need to work for it. there is merit to this idea. it would make filibusters harder on the minority. it would make them more transparent to the public. it would make them less likely on popular bills, but it wouldn t reverse the transformation of the senate into a place where 60 votes required to get anything done. so there is a proposal that personally i like better. frankly, it s kind of an ingenious proposal. it recognizes that there is general value in protecting the minority s right to be heard. but in order to protect that right, you don t need to make every vote a 60-vote supermajority. this proposal would in one fell swoop end the 60-vote senate, but it would preserve the interests of lengthy debate. the idea doesn t come from outside group or some young radical. it comes from a long-standing highly respected senator. he chairs an impo
that s how we got the tax, right, that the cigarettes are at now in the state. this time around, even fewer californians are smoking. and when they first started polling on this subject this year, when they first started polling on the i hate cancer bill, people if california loved it even more than they loved the idea back in 1998. the idea of a new $1 a pack cigarette tax was winning by more than a two to one margin in the state. 67% of people in california saying they were in favor of this new cigarette tax. that is a slam dunk. the poll was released by the public policy institute of california in march. march. march of this year. march of this year is not that long ago. march is a number of weeks ago, that is small enough that you do not have to take off your shoes in order to count that number of weeks. it was in march, march that californians were for the new cigarette tax at a rate of 67%. but also in march, the tobacco companies started their ad campaign against the tax. and bo
deaths of pakistan soldiers, u.s. forces made a cross-border attack in pakistan. officials say american soldiers only responded after pakistani soldiers fired first after using information given to them by pakistan. new today, house budget committee chairman paul ryan defending his budgets plan that s drawn severe criticism from democrats. we think we owe the country solutions. we think we owe the country a path to prosperity to get the american idea back, get people back to work and get this debt under control. the president is making it worse and the senate hasn t passed a budget for 1,000 days. representative ryan went on to say that he believes mitt romney supports the plan and a president romney would see it passed. joining me is myia mcginness, president for a responsible budget. myia, nice to see you again. i know you ve run the numbers, is the ryan budget the