i need this, you know. i need this. i m going to take this. and no, no. i m the old person. i need this. you have to take care of me. is that wrong? is wrong? he s not wrong. he has it exactly right and you do. once again washington has let down the american people. i think loretta s comments are absurd to say, of course it s not the president who makes the decisions, it s congress. what has president obama been saying for 16 days? he s saying it is his decision. it s his way or the highway. he s been saying he wanted a clean c.r. and she joined him. he didn t want congress to have a say to cut back some of the spending. so we are in this situation now where the u.s. senate is over there on both sides of the aisle high fiving each other as if we have done something tremendous. we have done nothing tremendous.
mike, what are they doing? well, they are talking it out in the house after the senate passed this with strong bipartisan support, 81-18. many i have talked to seem worn out from the fight, ready to re-open the government and fight about the issues another day. they know they will do plenty of talk about the debt in the weeks and months ahead. meanwhile, top democrats recognize this is only a short-term fix. the proposal that will be before us shortly does just that and no more. re open the government. we pay our bills. and then we can sit down and negotiate. republicans continue to say they will fight on issues of spend ing and debt. some conservatives who have led the fight from the beginning sound frustrated with the way this town works. this is washington at its
uh you heard trey gowdy say he would not and many others do not. they don t believe in raising the t debt ceiling without cuts in spending, without conditions from the other party. they don t believe in funding the government without a discussion, without even a discussion on the state of this country s finances. yet that s exactly what they are doing. the republican party took hits in this context the t of this negotiation. its approval rating and when it comes to how it is handling the nation s finances, the it is 74% of americans now disapprove of the way they are handling washington s budget crisis. the president took a hit with his approval ratings sinking to 37% according to polls. that s the status of things in washington tonight. we can see it one more time. the nation s debt continuing to roll up as the numbers roll in. there you have it. almost $17 trillion. no one s talking about what we
which wasn t dealt with. you say the debt wasn t being paid down. it s getting worse. it uh s growing especially with the long-term entitlement programs and unpaid for promises known as liabilities. that $17 trillion number scratches the surface. that s the official number on paper. when you take those extra promises that we have already made to the american people and have no way of paying for, the number is closer to 90 trillion dollars. according to to several member s of president clinic top s debt commission from the early 90s. there is going to be a conference committee. one of the elements of the deal that passed the senate is the house and senate will both appoint conferrees, sit together for the first time in four years and try to actually hammer out some agreement that deals with the spend ing and debt issue. we ll see how it goes.
is automatic or entitlement spend ing. as long as he s president is only way to repeal or defund his signature law is with his signature. we are not going to give up. we are always, always going to have it on the table. last question. i will throw it at both of you. you can answer at will. a lot of conservatives are concerned that republicans are neg t yating too much with themselves and at the end the democrats are united and don t seem willing to give. do you feel they are willing to hold the line, stand on principles? i absolutely do. we know what it sounds like back home. we know the importance of the decision upon us as a country. that s why you see the president agreeing to have a conversation that may lead to negotiation. he knows we are serious because the problems are serious.