the fact is john boehner the new speaker of the house in the first six weeks has not been able to rein the tea party element saying we want more cuts, more cuts. the people in the leadership of republicans in the house wanted a reasonable cut in the neighborhood of $30 billion and hall rogers the head of the appropriations said this is $180 billion indiscriminate, heavy handed. this will not come to any reasonable end. it will not lead to negotiations with the democrats. just making the democrats more fixed in their opposition. >> chris: i know you want to respond to that. we are running out of time. this will come down to a decision on march 3, boehner put a marker wayent to se markl cuts in spending. >> i think there will be real cuts. that is what the voters wanted and i think they will compromise on that. the idea this is draconian budget cuts back to 2008 levels or god forbid, 2007 levels, oh, that is brutal, that's ridiculous. and under paul ryan economied to entitlement reform. they are doing the right thing and not just cuts to the specialty spending. entitlement reform. govern

on the house side john boehner saying he thinks there's a six to eight-month window to have this conversation everybody's talking about. >> that's really interesting. john, mike allen, of course, spoke with paul ryan. >> right. >> he said that in april they are going to include entitlement reform in their budget. why do they want to do that? >> they want to show credibility and particularly want to show credibility on health care costs, which they think is politically safer. if you really look at the nuances of what paul ryan said to mike allen, he definitely said yes, we will be in talking about medicare and medicaid. when mike pressed on social security, he sort of glided past that and that reflects the republican calculation. he feels they have been burned many times in the past on social security. on the other hand they definitely feel there is consensus towards bringing health care costs under control. widespread belief particularly among independents that last week's health care was about expanding access, not really tackling costs. they're prepared to put their necks out further on hea

that's where john boehner is going to say the problem is, being sure that he can secure that. i don't think there's anybody on his side right now in a leadership position who says let's close down the government and we'll pin it on barack obama, and i think they've made the effort to reach out the olive branch. >> i agree with mark. i spoke to him before the program and he said they feel, that there are good vibrations in the senate. that the senate is moving also in the direction of some deficit reduction. and so at least for this, the next few weeks -- >> lehrer: they would agree to a $4 billion cut for two weeks. >> a lot of the cuts being proposed in the initial thing are some of the things the democrats want any way, so it's an easier deal now. the bigger problem is the next deal. i would say they are less certain about where their own members are. but i strongly get the sense that the leadership and even some of the freshmen, as long as they're moving in the right direction they'll consider it a job well done. >> lehrer: new subject. the president has caught some heat be

speaker john boehner's plan to slash $1 million from the budget could mean the loss of many jobs. >> i don't want anyone to lose their job, but come on, we're broke. >> boehner agreed to short term funding so the government doesn't shut down in two weeks, but so far, no deal. >>> the lawrence livermore national lab tonight is the subject of a different kind of drug bust. the lab is not adequately keeping track of its dangerous drug samples. tracking of the drugs were lax to the extent that some of of them were missing entirely. administrators say they've taken immediate action in response, among the drugs identified as not properly monitors are cocaine, methamphetamines, opium and black tar heroin. the drugs are used for biomedical research and forensic science. >>> san francisco police are hoping surveillance video will help them find a man who stabbed a teenager on a muny bus. it happened yesterday afternoon. the 18-year-old got into a fight with another man who pulled out a knife. the suspect jumped off the bus with another woman. the victim was taken to the hospital and listed in

the face of the budget argument is republican john -- john boehner. >> it's time for america to get serious and that's exactly what america expects of us. >> also testing the waters for 2010. >> we simply need to remind each other what made this country great and restore america's greatness by restoring american common sense. [applause] >> we need more common sense and less obama nonsense. >> we get a valentine's present next week which the president and the white house releases the budget. how is this going to sort itself out? >> when the president plays out its budget. we've had republicans coming up with a proposal to fund the government for the rest of the year and proposing $100 billion in cuts at least their describing it that way. democrats say if you look at reductions it's less than that. you're going to have a battlefield in washington. there are going be some things that the republicans and the white house are going to reach a resolution and there are some things that are going to be punted in the future. >> are republicans fighting themselves or the democrats? it seems to me it'

in fact, the house under speaker john boehner proposed $60 billion in cuts, which some say could lead to thousands of government workers being furlowed, losing time off the job. democrats are not serious, some say, and they have got to cut spending. there will be no extension at the current rates which they say are 24% higher than when president obama took office. ç extent the ma took office. current rates. republicans say no can do. bottom line, it's gridlock here on capitol hill. lynn. >>> tracie, thanks so much. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in texas, a group of bystanders came together to save a man from a fiery death, helping him escape from a car that was engulfed in flames. the driver was trapped until the group picked up the car to move it, giving him a window to escape through. he's expected to survive. >>> in arizona, a utility >>> in arizona, a utility truck driver was on his way to a service call and ran into an unexpected delay when he smashed his truck through a brick wall, coming to a stop inside a home. a mother and three c

we actually heard john boehner say that. we saw this picture of this issue of "national journal." in it you see on the left bob dole holding up a phone and smiling. on the right robert byrd, he was the senate democratic leader. dole was the republican. behind there are eight members of the senate. four republicans, four democrats. all of them grinning. that was 1988. all of them gone, right? gwen: not all of them. but the big mover is still there front and center. it wouldn't happen again that picture could not be photographed. >> you wouldn't see that celebratory bipartisan before. in the mid to late 1980's, there was an idea that bipartisan was not only effective but good and politically valuable. that is almost -- that concept is almost completely disappeared. in week's "national journal" we have this week's vote ratings. what we found is we compared to the first year of "national journal" back in 1982. you had some extravagant individuals people who were sort of out of this ideological main stream. ed zorensky was the most conservative republican. there were 58 senators in bet

. >> house speaker john boehner says if the president does not cut deeply, republicans will. >> for the last two years since the president has taken off as the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs. and if some of those jobs are lost in it, so be it. we are broke. >> so what? >> they are fighting over this 12%. it the whole game is elsewhere. but like the two political parties -- both the republicans and democrats, while the rest of the country is saying we have a problem with the dead but the two political parties -- >> they are fretting about -- >> maybe they will get to it but they did not show -- >> they are writing about subsidies for poor people and heating in the northeast -- fighting about subsidies. about women, infants, and children subsidies so we don't have kids who are intellectually challenged. they are fretting about stupid stuff that is 12% of the budget. >> house republicans are literally stealing the food out of the miles of babies. nutritional and pregnant women and their young children -- one of items on the cutting block -- so they can do >> let me e

. >> house speaker john boehner says the white house should instead being focused on creating jobs and cutting spending. the head of the national gay and lesbian task force calls today's move a tremendous step toward recognizing our common humanity. >>> we are getting a look at and video program. bay area women who have lost sons and husbands to violence. coming face to face with killers. the first public look at an unusual form of therapy for both the victims' families and the convicts. >> reporter: a mother's pain. >> i feel so cheated and robbed. my sons are cheated and robbed. >> reporter: a widow's loneliness and her children's heartbreak. they are the families who try to move past their loss and sadness. the healing circle supports them. it's not easy. they go to san quentin to find answers. >> when i went there the first time, i was so angry, i wanted to get in there and just literally choke somebody. i wanted to say you guys murdered my child. >> paulette brawn -- brown's 17- year-old son was gunned down trying to save someone else. >> things are not the same and they never wil

on friday, speaker john boehner weighed in on facebook, saying the president attacked governor walker for attempting to rein in state spending, then he said, call off th>> right on! look, the state governors are in fiscal disasters, just the way the federal government is? a fiscal disaster. they have to balance their budgets and that's exactly what this governor and and the new republican legislature in wisconsin were elected to do, just two short months ago. what this governor is trying to do is rein in the power of government unions and reduce the size of government overall. guess what, john? there is no money! there is no money in these states! the party is over. and the governor is calling -- [everyone talking at once] >> the other side gets to weigh in. >> he said there is no more money. >> the unions refuse to negotiate with the governor of a reduced compensation so the choice is -- >> not true, not true! >> or lose your job. >> wait a minute. >> the unions are willing to yield on how much they pay for the health care and pensions and so forth. what they don't want is their righ

boehner. that's tomorrow morning here on nbc. >>> when "nightly news" continues this saturday evening, a deadly explosion raises new questions about the safety of america's gas pipelines. we'll be right back. >>> there are new questions about the safety of this country's gas pipelines, millions of miles of them, after a series of explosions this week, including one in pennsylvania that left five people dead. nbc's tom costello has more tonight. >> oh, my god. this is beyond belief. >> reporter: the gas line explosion late thursday night shook the town of hanoverton, ohio, and sent residents fleeing. while no one was injured, it followed a horrific scene in allentown, p.a., wednesday. >> i heard an awful bang and i thought my roof fell down. >> reporter: the dead included children and the elderly after an 83-year-old underground gas main exploded damaging or destroying 47 homes and businesses. the cause, still under investigation. in san bruno, california, last september, eight people were kill

. >>> despite some hard budget choices ahead, president obama and house spoker john boehner say they can work together. boehner and two other top house republicans had lunch with mr. obama yesterday at the white house. both sides claim the meeting was constructive, particularly when it came to the economy, jobs and spending. >> we're able to find enough common ground. >> the economy so desperately needs us to work together for jobs. >> to jobs to cutting cutting spending. >> as for the spending cuts, republicans will propose $100 billion in cuts over the next seventh months for the fiscal year that will end october 1st. the reason for that, pressure from tea party conservatives, particularly that freshman class. >>> lawyers for tom delay, the former majority leader of the house, are asking for a new trial. they claimed the jurors in the case had made up their minds even before deliberations. or that they failed to follow the judge's instructions. delay was convicted of illegally funneling campaign contributions. >>> a terrible family tragedy has been unfolding overnight in the atlant

john boehner has said he would not do it at current levels. the question is how big of a cut from current levels will it take to move something through the house? my guess is that at the end of the day the house still is going to try to move something that cuts spending, not nearly as much as republicans have already passed. >> very quickly, let ask you a question of the budget drama in wisconsin. the governor there wants to limit the bargaining power of public employees. does this signal the weakening of public employee unions across the country? >> reporter: the decline of private sector unions have made public sector unions the most vibrant part of the labor movement and the most vibrant labor union contributor to the democratic party. but this is a potentially big blow. budget deficits across the country have put them in a very difficult spot. but one thing we know, lester, nothing in politics moves in a straight line. it will be a blow if they lose this fight in wisconsin but there are more chapters to go in this story. >> john harwood, g

. >> house speaker john boehner drawing a line in the sand. sure enough, yesterday, the house passed the biggest spending cut in modern american history. now it goes to the democrat-controlled senate. it sets up an epic clash of ideas over how to solve a massive budget crisis. it sets the stage for a possible government shutdown. joining me once again, george will, congressman steve southerland from florida. elected with tea party support. jonathan karl, and donna brazile. so you're our man on capitol hill. this was the first shot in the big battle over spending cuts. really, people like congressman southerland showed their muscle. >> this is the tea party's moment. imagine this. we're talking not only about cutting government spending. washington has never really done that. we're talking about how much. even the democrats. even nancy pelosi came out with a measure that would continue government funding temporarily, freezing it at last year's level. that is what democrats would traditionally call a cut. you're not going with inflation. this is

but house speaker john boehner has vowed there will be no temporary funding without serious slashing. and with the debt at record levels republicans think this time the public is behind them. with the clock ticking and either side ready to blink, we could soon find out. if there were a government shutdown, the military would stay active, government checks would still be issued but new applicants to social security could see delays. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, washington. >>> also new this morning, anti-government protests continue in libya's capital tripoli. new video was posted overnight showing the first pictures of anti-government protesting there. demonstrators have taken over the city's green square. now protesters could be heard chanting as you hear here, they walked past some sort of burning object. nbc news cannot independently verify the authenticity of this amateur video. as i said, it was posted to youtube and with do not have reporters on the ground there. it is impossible to get in. anti-government unrest continues to spread across the country. over the past six days some

. >> tom: responding to the president's remarks, house speaker republican john boehner said "president obama has retooled his rhetoric, but not his job-destroying policies." >> susie: here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: stocks closed higher on deals and acquisitions. we'll detail them in a moment. the dow rose 69 points, the nasdaq added nearly 15 and the s&p 500 up eight. as for volume, under 900 million shares on the big board and 1.8 billion on the nasdaq. >> susie: the week kicked off not only with monday morning quarterbacking, but it's also a big merger monday. danaher, the medical and industrial instruments maker, is buying beckman coulter, another medical testing instrument maker. it's a $6 billion deal. in another deal, ensco will pay $41.60 a share for offshore driller pride international. and aol is buying news blog service the huffington post for $315 million. tom will have more about all of those. federal regulators want top executives at large financial firms to wait at least three years before collecting their bonuses. the new rule is meant to discourage

he's going to meet with house speaker john boehner. eric captor and kevin mccarthy. it's the first big meeting since republicans took over the house in january. they are going to focus on the economy, spending and the president's proposals that he outlined in his state of the union address. >> students in a district are in danger this morning. someone is giving kids drugs disguised as dessert. the albany district is investigating four instances in two weeks, total of six students ate marijuana brownies. two had severe reactions that landed them in the hospital. parents who see albany as a safe district are shocked. >> kind of alarming, actually. how did it get there? what are they doing there? no, i think it's crazy. >> police are looking into who is supplying the marijuana brownies. the principal thinks a student is providing that potent dessert. he sent out a message, we plead with those students engaged in the sale or distribution of these drugs to cease and desist. the health and safety of our students are in jeopardy due to these actions. >> the hero of the huds

ready for the upcoming russian and european championships most introduced me to london twenty two will john boehner ships in twenty through team which will be held in moscow priorities the point is that the russian winter tournament but was just themselves with no big emotional pressure to cool with you don't be surprised if a number of records are set. in motor sport seven time formula one champion may have taken yet another new race out for a spin ahead of the upcoming season stablemate the girls but also aboard the seders g.p. a silver arrow as they german team aim to rebound from a disappointing twenty forty two yr old schumacher how will be hoping to improve on a nice place finish from last season while respect came closer to cracking the top five finishing seventh the silver arrow engineers have something to prove as well if he were just fourth overall in the constructor standings have to dominate in the field of the brawn g.p. monica. and as is always the case the spotlight shines brighter on the sports defending champions ahead of the season german sebastian patel winning it all las

. >>> president obama welcomes speaker john boehner and other top republicans to a lunch at the white house. we're all issues, foreign and domestic, are up for discussion. the economy and spending will be at the top of the agenda. >>> other news on this wednesday morning. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke will be on capitol hill. he'll be giving his latest assessment on the still-struggling u.s. economy. bernanke will probably be grilled by republican lawmakers about the fed's ongoing efforts to stimulate economic growth. >>> the first lady marks the one-year anniversary of her let's move campaign with an appearance on "regis & kelly." the goal of let's move is to end childhood obesity through exercise and better food choices. >>> big news for all the cell phone users out there. verizon begins taking online orders for its new iphone. orders placed today will be shipped to customers. the phone goes on sale in stores starting tomorrow morning. >>> and an arraignment is set today in los angeles for troubled actress lindsay lohan. the 24-year-old actress is accused of stealing a $2,50

[applause] john boehner is just a regular guy, second oldest of 12. he grew up mopping floors, waiting tables and tending bar at his dad's tavern just outside cincinnati in a blue-collar town. while working his way -- excuse me -- to pay his way through night school at the xavier university, she met his wife debbie and has been married 37 years by the way and started his own small business. john got involved in state and local politics after seeing firsthand how high taxes and red tape impact entrepreneurs. unlike president obama and nancy pelosi, who have never had to meet a payroll or sign the front of a check. [laughter] [applause] in 1990, voters in south boston lawyer sent on to congress and just reelected him for that time. he took a strong stand against pork barrel spending and is part of the gang of seven exposed corruption in the house establishment and forced politicians to live by the same laws as everyone else. he played a leading role in the republican revolution in 1994, helping draft the contract with america, a very bold agenda. went o

house speaker john boehner quickly countered saying a president shouldn't attack a governor for tackling the tough, budget problems. vinita and rob? >> emily schmidt, in washington. thanks, emily. >>> arabs are out in force today, despite a government ban on public gatherings in bahrain. protesters are defiant, saying they will bring down the 200-year-old monarchy. >> the white house is chastising the government's violent crackdown on protesters. and urging some restraint. >>> the obama administration is also reaching out to support democracy in egypt, redirecting funds once meant for hosni mubarak's government. >> marches are planned across that country today, to celebrate one week since the end of the mubarak regime. lama hasan joins us, now live, from cairo, by phone, with more. good morning, lama. >> reporter: good morning. tens of thousands have massed in tahrir square, liberation square, for what they're calling a victory march, celebrating hosni mubarak stepping down exactly a week ago today. and the idea is also just to put pressure on the army. the army is now in control. and re

house speaker john boehner says no. >> not without some cuts. >> read my lips. >> speaker boehner is on the course to lead to a shutdown nap is reckless. >> reporter: national museums, passport offices were closed the last time. >> no matter how you define essential, there are people who depend on services who aren't going to receive them. >> reporter: the president has warned a government shutdown could actually harm the economic recovery. how serious is this? no signs of compromise so far. but the latest word from the white house, officials there haven't yet planned for a possible government shutdown. >> david, thank you. >>> and we're going to turn now to the weather tonight and a powerful sign that winter is not over. highways are shut down across parts of the northern plains and the midwest today. these pictures from wisconsin, accidents all along the interstate there. flights also have been canceled. blizzard and winter storm warnings stretch from the dakota all of the way east to new york blizzard warnings are up in the midwest. >> reporter: david, it's a powerful system bring

house speaker john boehner led a debate this weekend, resulting in a $61 billion cut to this year's budget. the democrat-led senate is unlikely to follow suit. while both sides say they don't want a repeat of the 1995-'96 shutdown, the dialogue doesn't sound encouraging. >> we have said shutdown is off the table. speaker boehner, mitch mcconnell, other republican leaders have not taken it off the table when asked. and there are lots of people on the hard right clamoring for a shutdown. >> the only way we'll shut the government down is if democratic colleagues insist on keeping the federal government large and unsustainable. >> the clock is ticking. the senate will likely ask for an extension to keep the government afloat. but republicans are considering a filibuster. >>> budget problems in the state have led a parent organization based in san francisco to push lawmakers to allow voters to decide the fate of public education here. nbc bay area's kimberly tere has more on how the group is combining grassroots efforts and social media to pressure lawmakers. >> and if we do not educate them no

boehner by the way is flying commercial these days. oh yeah that's a good it's a new gate no matter how obvious always has a place in society but when realistic ideas too often get drowned out you cannot say that the doubling of the military budget in the last ten years has all been spent wisely and that there's not any waste in the job. you just be on you. r. t. washington d.c. . well whoever becomes the next u.s. president one of the main challenges they'll face is the growing budget deficit latest report show in january and rose to almost fifty billion dollars that's seven billion more than last year with a struggling. part of the end suffering its twenty eighth consecutive month in the red some wonder if the u.s. might end up going broke while in her show the resident lori harf an estate hits the streets of new york to find out if people really think america is on the brink of going bust. the u.s. has a new budget coming out can america ever go bankrupt this week let's talk about that well we're already bankrupt so it's like credit

part of the engine is made in republican leader eric cantor's district, another, near john boehner's. why is there nothing in here about cutting funding for the extra engine for the f-35, for example. i mean, isn't this a no brainer? the pentagon says they don't want it. >> i am sure we are going to see this bill soon and all the details that come with it. >> reporter: another no brainer, ethanol subsidies. $6 billion a year, not even talked about. and many of the stuff -- >> some of the things that you are mentioning are not in the discretionary spending pot. >> reporter: but shouldn't it be considered for cuts? >> remind you that we have been in the majority now five weeks. >> reporter: if you add up just those three examples that i mention, the ethanol subsidies, the oil and gas tax credits, the extra engine, it ends up about $35 billion in savings over the next five years. and that's just three programs, diane. what they have in common is they are not on any of the republican lists of cuts and they all have strong supporters in congress. >> okay, jon. hang in there and keep it com

. >> house speaker john boehner says the white house should be focused instead on creating jobs and cutting spending. a gay and lesbian task force calls the move a step toward recognizing our common humanity. >>> seaworld in florida says its trainers will soon be back in the water with killer whales for the first time since a trainer was killed. a woman was died when she was dragged into the water and killed by a six ton we'll. the seaworld plans to spend millions in upgrades at its three parks including one in san diego. >>> all right. we are looking at some very fascinating weather, folks. don't get to see this all the time. the possibility of snow in the bay area. haven't started with that yet but we have cold showers outside. 101 in san mateo, as well as san leandro, sliding southeast. there is plenty more to come and very cold air to go along with that. could be a wild day outside. mostly cloudy start to the day a chance of scattered showers. temperatures running in the 30s and the 40s. but the cold air is going to continue to slide in across our skies and as we head toward the afterno

ohio where the speaker of the house john boehner is in california where the head of the armed services committee. buck mckeon is in hawaii where daniel in a way the head of the appropriations committee in the senate his so it exerts an influence larger than its economic weight and what that means when they try to for example cancel a system like the f. twenty two fighter plane as was done they have to almost give a pay back to the company what they did was they cut the f. twenty two by four billion they added four billion to the f. thirty five another lockheed martin product so they basically kept the jobs base satisfied in the contractor base satisfied in the regions where the members were most concerned but as a result the military budget did not go down. i think in terms of foreign policy a lot of these sales particularly undemocratic regimes don't serve the long term interest of the united states and i think there was a good piece in aol dot com about what would have happened if those billions and billions spent on weapons had been spent on supporting schools supporting food progra

. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner said in a statement after the speech, president obama has retooled his rhetoric, but not his job-destroying policies. a chamber executive said there's simply too many regulations. >> if you're a business and you're deciding whether to invest, whether to expand, you just don't know what's coming at you. >> reporter: 20 months after the recession technically ended, economic signals remain mixed. the nationwide average for a gallon of gas is $3.13, the highest ever for february. and jobs are more secure if you have one. but harder to get, if you don't. yesterday, continental airlines and united announced their merger means 500 texans will be laid off. >> there's a little bit of feeling of betrayal from the top. >> reporter: the government says 13.9 million americans were unemployed last month, with just 36,000 jobs added across the country. president obama is set to release his budget next monday. and a white house spokesman is promising it's going to contain significant cuts and require some tough decisions. rob? >> a budget battle on the horizon. emil

house speaker john boehner says he will not consider another stopgap measure to keep the government operating, without spending cuts. >> when we say we're going to cut spending, read my lips, we're going to cut spending. >> all right. so that sets up a showdown with senate democrats, who bristled at boehner's remarks. >> we're terribly disappointed. speaker boehner can't control the votes in his caucus to prevent a shutdown of government. and now he's resorting to threats to do just that. >> the two sides have until march 4th to come to an agreement. that's when the current temporary funding bill expires. >>> president obama continues his west coast tech tour this morning, flying from san francisco to portland, oregon, to inspect an intel computer chip plant. mr. obama dined last night with a dozen tech industry leaders, including facebook's mark zuckerberg, apple's steve jobs, and google's eric schmidt. >> he doesn't really care how facebook works or how they're going to design the next iphone. he's here to see how these companies grow in the middle of the worst recession ever. we're having

boehner by the way is flying commercial these days. oh i think it's a new day no matter how obvious always has a place in society but when realistic ideas too often get drowned out you cannot say that the doubling of the military budget in the last ten years has all been spent wisely and that there's not any waste in the job. just be on you. the saucy r. t. washington d.c. . this week the u.s. treasury department reported that the country's deficit in january rose to almost fifteen billion dollars that's seven billion dollars more than last year well with a struggling economy and suffering its twenty eighth consecutive month in the red some wonder if the u.s. might end up going broke well in her show the resident laurie harshness hits the streets of new york to find out if people really think america is on the brink of going bust. the u.s. has a new budget coming out can america ever go bankrupt this week let's talk about that well we're already bankrupt so it's like credit card debt i mean. can you go at what point you hit the bottom

john boehner believes that, too, and said that they could lose hundreds of millions of jobs and said, "so be it." will you comment about setting the stage for the cuts that people might feel are necessary, beyond your own constituency? guest: right now, the comments by congressman jordan reflect the fact that they think the public understands that we are broke and that cuts are going to need to be made. when he said, "so be it," i think he also thought the public was with him. the public is ready to accept some pain, some sacrifice to get this deficit and this debt under control. and the democrats, so far, at least on the house side, are betting that that is not the case. they are playing traditional politics with social security and federal jobs and saying the voters will not go for it. host: what is the most interesting thing you have seen this week? guest: the vote on the second engine for the joint strike fighter. the pentagon and the white house are happy with the engine. there is one made by ge that members of congress have liked. the conservatives in the house and those that su

so it didn't go over big last week when republican leader john boehner proposed just $74 billion in cuts. fiscal conservatives took him to the wood shed. >> we just had a very active debate. >> reporter: under pressure in what passes for lightning speed on capitol hill, republican leadership carved bigger savings doubling cuts to the e.p.a. totaling $3 billion, adding $5.7 billion in new cuts to pell education grants. and making deeper cuts in foreign aid, more than $11 billion, all to come up with a magical number of $100 billion. republicans are also taking their first crack at using the budget to undercut health care reform. they don't plan to give the i.r.s. what it needs to enforce certain health care requirements. the chairman of the joint chiefs declared the soaring debt the biggest threat to national security. today, secretary of state hillary clinton said the republican cuts are just as bad. >> the truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to america's national security. >> reporter: in one twist on the theme, defense secretary gates said everyone ought to agree on on

boehner but the fact is that these are long term weapon programs they indicate billions of dollars of spending over decades in some cases and to use these defense programs as as as sort of a jobs program is just inappropriate there are other elements of the u.s. government that work on those issues and it's really not the defense department's role their role is to. you know take the resources and apply those to the threats that are actually addressing the country right now really interesting to hear what you have to say thanks very much indeed for joining us live from the u.s. capitol or economy from the national security center for american progress thanks. to kosovo and it's marking the third anniversary of its declaration of independence from serbia but the republican two news to suffer from huge economic and political chaos and the crisis has been further deepen by a recent critical report submitted by the council of europe it accuses some of course of his leading politicians including the current prime minister hutcheon touchy of being involved in horrendous crimes during the one

of john ash broke it is my great honor to present the award to the speaker of the house, john boehner. 2 ♪ [applause] >> thank you, thank you, thank you. let me say thank you to david again for his leadership over all these so many years that he has led the acu. congratulations, and good luck experience friends cleta mitchell for her leadership in this organization and always being there when i need her. and me also say a special thanks to my good friend and mentor, the former speaker of the house, newt gingrich. [applause] that me say to all of you that i am honored by this recognition, but as it is with the of with that i hold, it is not about me. i would not be speaker of the house if americans last year had not stood up and reasserted control over their government. and many people in this room were involved in helping to lead the uprising, i should be thanking you for a job well done. our new majority is intent on offering the commitments that we made to the american people. we pledged to the american people that we will listen. we pledge that we would do things differently if g

he will meet with john boehner, eric cantor, and the majority whip, kevin mccarthy. this is the first such meeting since republicans assumed control of the house in january. the meeting is expected to focus on the economy and spending. after comments by some officials were widely interpreted as diverging from the white house stan, the white house saw to dispel any notion it is loosening pressure on mubarak are backing off from supporting the protesters flooding cairo's square. demonstrators have been demonstrating a for 16 days. vice president omar suleiman said the protest movement does not enter negotiations, a coup could take place, causing greater chaos. the protests must stand. demonstrators continued to cite not until president mubarak leaves office. some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> this weekend, a voting discrimination in the south, and the kennedy administration's strategy to overcome ait. and senator daniel inouye on his military service in world war ii. experienced american history tv, on c-span3, all weekend, every weekend. have the schedul