used as pawns in this process as we move forward so as to scare the american people. martha: i guess the question for you, senator, is how dug in are you, and how dug in are your colleagues on the house side on this issue of, you know, cut, cap and balance? and are you willing to go along with john boehner s plan? fred thompson, the former presidential candidate, just said moments ago crossing the wires, he said, you know what? the tea party should claim this as a victory, and they should get this deal done and get the american people out of this peril. well, martha, this isn t about claiming victory or not. this is about putting america back on a path toward fiscal responsibility and economic prosperity. and we can t do that. as i explain in my book, the freedom agenda, we will not get back on that path until we adopt permanent structural binding reform, and that can happen only through a constitutional amendment because this is a problem that will affect multiple generations of a
so it s bad for him from the left, it certainly has always been bad for him on the right. we ve always, two years we ve been saying there s no leadership, so it s bad for him. martha: here s the big question now, you know, we re a long way away from a presidential election. the president has a long time to get right with his base if that s what s going to happen here. but, you know, what are the signals about where he s headed in terms of that? and you ve got bernie sanders, the socialist from vermont, he s a self-proclaimed socialist senator from vermont, he s saying, you know, it would do the president some good if we, if he had a challenger for the primary. well, that d be a nightmare because i think he s already in campaign mode, so if he ramped that up, heaven forbid, you know, it d be obama the politician, you know, squared. that would be a disaster. but, you know, i don t think it s as long away as you think it is. the american public is as engaged on this issue martha: i do
that s more money for the military than all the rest of the countries put together. so you would think in this debate that we have that the pentagon could chip in a few bucks, cut some spending. reporter: the plan offered by reid includes over $2.5 trillion in cuts over the next decade, raising the debt limit by 2.4 trillion. also no tax hikes. martha: all right. here with me now, republican senator mike lee from utah. good to talk to you again. thank you. good to be with you, martha. martha: the wanier proposal the boehner proposal, can it pass both houses of congress, do you think? in speaking with some of my republican friends from the house of representatives this morning, they were saying as of late last night they did not think there were enough republican votes in the house of representatives to get to 218, the magic number you need to
we don t want those people to be used as pawns in this process as we move forward so as to scare the american people. martha: i guess the question for you, senator, is how dug in are you, and how dug in are your colleagues on the house side on this issue of, you know, cut, cap and balance? and are you willing to go along with john boehner s plan? fred thompson, the former presidential candidate, just said moments ago crossing the wires, he said, you know what? the tea party should claim this as a victory, and they should get this deal done and get the american people out of this peril. well, martha, this isn t about claiming victory or not. this is about putting america back on a path toward fiscal responsibility and economic prosperity. and we can t do that. as i explain in my book, the freedom agenda, we will not get back on that path until we adopt permanent structural binding reform, and that can happen only through a constitutional amendment because this is a problem that will
11th hour, and i think president obama has to face the music, and so it s bad for him from the left, it certainly has always been bad for him on the right. we ve always, two years we ve been saying there s no leadership, so it s bad for him. martha: here s the big question now, you know, we re a long way away from a presidential election. the president has a long time to get right with his base if that s what s going to happen here. but, you know, what are the signals about where he s headed in terms of that? and you ve got bernie sanders, the socialist from vermont, he s a self-proclaimed socialist senator from vermont, he s saying, you know, it would do the president some good if we, if he had a challenger for the primary. well, that d be a nightmare because i think he s already in campaign mode, so if he ramped that up, heaven forbid, you know, it d be obama the politician, you know, squared. that would be a disaster. but, you know, i don t think it s as long away as you think it