to see someone go through the budget and see where our money is going. exactly, that s why it s so important to have a budget and so bad we ve gone now four years without passing a budget. the last time in the united states senate, there was no such thing as the ipad. no one heard of it, it wasn t on the market. greta: i don t know if the viewers know what profound waste is. i remember during the president s stimulus bill we spent 20 million dollars on signs that these were stimulus projects. 20 million dollars on signs, do we really need signs and sort of figure it out, there was construction on the road maybe stimulus money, do he we need to spend 20 million on signs? probably not and probably don t need to be spending 1.5 billion dollars every year paying for government subsidized cell phones. we probably don t need to be spending 200 million dollars a year on rural air fare. and these are just two examples of many that we can point to where the government wastes money. gret
although you said you oppose the stimulus package, you signed a couple of letters asking for stimulus projects and therefore, you were against it while you were against it and for it while you were against it. can you leer that up? sure. my office sends various letters to several agencies. it was treated as a case work request. i take full responsibility for it. it wasn t my intention to send letters supporting stimulus. but this doesn t change the fact that the stimulus was a bomb. it didn t work. it was a boondoggle. borrowing and spending, spending money on things like solyndra, that does not create jobs. i want to make sure i understand the distinction. in the past, there have been republicans who said i m against earmarks, but if this passes with them, i m gog bring home some for mine. i didn t know about those letters until very recently until they were brought to my attention because they went through our constituent case work system. i take full responsibility for that.
you said you opposed the stimulus package and asking for stimulus projects and were you against it, for it while were you answers it, can you clear at that up. sure, so my office sends tens of thousands of letters to versus federal agencies and this goes through what we call a case work system and we treat it as a case work for constituents and i take full responsibility for it, whether it s my intention to send letters supporting stimulus, this doesn t change the the fact that the stimulus was a bomb, it didn t work, it s a boondoggle and borrowing and spending, spending on things like solyndra, that doesn t create a job. in the past republicans said i m against ear marks, but if this is going to pass with ear marks i didn t know about the letters until recently and they were brought to my attention, they were to the case work system and i take full responsibility for that and the plan i m trying to make is stimulus was a failure
actually you receive part of your coverage but not all of it and that s the best way to actually look at this and in one respect like the 401(k) defined contributions save you a lot of money but you have a weaker benefit. let me switch quickly to what i think we talked about a lot this vetting of paul ryan by the media now from his assertion over the stimulus. it turns out he did seek funds for two companies to what we call the tough talk on china s currency manipulation which you point out in your first read as well. right. one of paul ryan s greatest strengths is he isn t seen as your average politician. he is someone who is going to speak the truth no matter how uncomfortable that might be. he has credentials of being a budget hawk. each time those things are dented a bit i do think that hurts his political aura just a little bit so for example on the stimulus where he voted against the stimulus, rails against it, but when he is actual aide mitting i was seeking stimulus
governor paul la page. and records smashed from the midwest to the east coast. and now a new record. this past year has been the warmest ever for america. so turn up the ac, grab a cold drunk. cnn newsroom begins right now. good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. i m carol costello. right now, president obama is just about to head to the heartland. he is visiting the battle ground state of iowa and reaching out to middle class voters. that s who would most benefit from his plan to extend the bush era tax cuts. here s what s going to change. basically if we don t do anything, everybody s taxes go up at the end of this year. now, understand what i m proposing is 98% of america, 98% of american families, won t see their taxes go up according to my plaque. plan. the only folks who would see their taxes go up would be the top 2%, folks like me who don t need those tax breaks, are doing just fine without them. republicans will seize the spotlight first in