entitlements, savings versus additional spending i think has to be done with the understanding that at the end of the day if we don t make an agreement, the number is going to be $967 billion in discretionary spending. let me pick up on that with you, senator durbin. because as senator blunt suggested, republicans have some leverage here. if nothing happens the sequester spending cuts kick in on january 15 and discretionary spending is cut by $21 billion. paul ryan, the house budget chair, is proposing a kind of trade in which they would agree to some short-term spending increases, which you guys want, in return for some long-term spending cuts through entitlement reform. does that sound reasonable? well, i can tell you this. if this is the bargain that the republicans are now pushing for that we have to cut medicare to avoid cuts in the department of defense, let us step back and take a look at this. paul ryan couldn t pass his budget in the house of representatives. the republica
caved yet again to the president and senate democrats, the republican majority wouldn t exist if not for the freshman class of 2010. we were sent here with a clear set of instructions from the american people to put an end to business as usual in washington. yet here we are being asked to sign off on yet another gimmick. how do you address the right where people come out calling for up or down vote, sean duffy, calling for it to be done, and the other side coming out with a response like this. how are people supposed to take in the frustration of what s happening within the right itself, not just left and right. i don t think it is just the right, it is all the freshmen on both sides of the aisle. 87 new members. it is frustration. what you re seeing with the american people feeling is what i feel and other new members are feeling. the system is so broken. we are so used to short term fixes, budgetary gimmicks. that s what congress has done
you answered our questions. let s play a little montage. this is about raising taxes in the middle of a recession. we should not be raising taxes on anyone in the middle of a recession. we ought not to be raising taxes on any american in the middle of this economic slowdown. it is a bad idea to be raising taxes on anybody in the middle of a recession. you re known as somebody who stays on message better than anyone else. what s that all about? well, i think you have to decide what you re going say and in order to drive any message home, repetition is a good idea. speaking of being on message, are you endorsing john thune for president if he decides to run? you almost sounded like that yesterday. i wouldn t want to give him that handicap, but i think john is an extraordinarily impressive
country. i want to ask you about something not mentioned in the state of the union. egypt. you just came from overseas with afghanistan, but focusing on what s going on there this morning, obviously, it s unstable. the washington post this morning recommending to the president and secretary state clinton that maybe there shouldn t be knee jerk support for mubarak on this. where do you come down? all i think i can say is that egypt has been an extremely important ally of ours and we re watching these developments very carefully. beyond that, i will not comment. let s get back to one other item mentioned. i think you just mentioned. corporate tax reform. the president talked about working with republicans to lower corporate tax rates, but in the context of closing up other loop hoping that aides made clear it wouldn t result in a tax reduction.
passed a repeal of health care, senator reid and your chamber says he won t bring it to the floor and you ve talked about getting the repeal to the floor of the senate. do you still intend to do that and how can you being a member of the minority party? the bill came over last night. i did what s called holding it at the desk. i would say to my good friends on the other side, if you re so proud of this accomplishment, why would you not vote on it. when they say they ve already voted on it. could i finish my answer? only three house democrats voted to repeal it, so obviously, the democrats in the house proud of it. it s very high on the agenda of the american people. we ll have the vote one way or the other, but i don t understand why the majority wouldn t want to vote on it. they re proud of it. they re bragging on it. the president thinks it s an important accomplishment for the