the president says he will issue a more ambitious deficit reduction plan aweek from monday which will call for reforms to medicare and tax revenue increases. joining me now is the washington post columnist and msnbc contributor ezra klein. thanks for joining me. good evening. did i hear the president say i m going to have the super committee do the pay for side of this bill and then let, you know, the bridges and all of the infrastructure stuff, the teacher stuff, let all of that stuff be done by the other committees of jurisdiction? i think he said he would like them to do it. i don t think he is saying the only ones that can do it. my understanding from them is what they would like to do is show they are serious about getting this paid for. not just by saying it and not just offering up a plan but adding to the super committee s trigger a equivalent equivalent to the plan and american people who pay attention to triggers which is all of them will understand that they need t
be paid for, this supercommittee has been told by the president of the united states, have at it. start cutting. i told the country i m on record that we re willing to make more cuts. you pointed out earlier not the specifics of exactly what kind of tax increases are going to come along. we do know that boehner never had any appetite whatsoever when it comes to shared sacrifice asking the wealthiest americans to do something about it. i thought the president tonight hit a home run in asking the country and asking the congress who are we and what do we stand for and are we going to do anything for the american people in the next 14 months because there s a lot of people hurting. that s a general message that will ring across the country in a populist fashion. let s listen to what the president actually said about possible medicare and medicaid changes. i realize there s some in my party who don t think we should make any changes at all to medicare and medicaid and i understand their
that s an important step to take. as for what the president said about his vision for long-term deficit and debt control, i was on your show talking about it. the president believes that we have to make tough choices. he will put forward when he does his specific proposals for the so-called supercommittee in congress and to congress generally for long-term deficit and debt reduction that will include adjustments to medicare and medicaid. he said tonight he understands that s not always popular with every member of his party nor is what he absolutely thinks is essential the need to overhaul tax code and close loopholes and ensure that wealthiest among us pay their fair share. everyone has to take a step toward the center to get essential things done on behalf of the broad swath of the american people. jay, before you go, what do we need to know about the terror threat that s just been revealed? well, what i can tell you, lawrence, i said the other day here in the briefing room to th
the president believes that we have to make tough choices. he will put forward when he does his specific proposals for the so-called supercommittee in congress and to congress generally for long-term deficit and debt reduction that will include adjustments to medicare and medicaid. he said tonight he understands that s not always popular with every member of his party nor is what he absolutely thinks is essential the need to overhaul tax code and close loopholes and ensure that wealthiest among us pay their fair share. everyone has to take a step toward the center to get essential things done on behalf of the broad swath of the american people. jay, before you go, what do we need to know about the terror threat that s just been revealed? well, what i can tell you, lawrence, i said the other day here in the briefing room to the white house press corps is that the president chaired a meeting two days ago of his senior homeland security team going over all of the preparations for the
covers the full cost of the american jobs act. the president says he will issue a more ambitious deficit reduction plan aweek from monday which will call for reforms to medicare and tax revenue increases. joining me now is the washington post columnist and msnbc contributor ezra klein. thanks for joining me. good evening. did i hear the president say i m going to have the super committee do the pay for side of this bill and then let, you know, the bridges and all of the infrastructure stuff, the teacher stuff, let all of that stuff be done by the other committees of jurisdiction? i think he said he would like them to do it. i don t think he is saying the only ones that can do it. my understanding from them is what they would like to do is show they are serious about getting this paid for. not just by saying it and not just offering up a plan but adding to the super committee s trigger a equivalent equivalent to the plan and american people who pay attention to triggers