does boehner get to 120? a job-killing default, that is the new term coming from boehner to his conference. will they buy it? we'll not know that for some time. we'll gauge reaction, obviously, afterwards. but there's a lot of strength within those newly 87 elected members. half of them have never held elected office before. they came to washington saying they were not going to play by the rules. boehner has to try and convince those guys, along with his -- chuck calls them the old institutionalist. hey, i need some of you to come on board with me here. we've got to get to 120. if this goes down in the house, chris it will be like t.a.r.p., and nobody wants to see that. so this is on the shoulders now of the man from reading, ohio, john boehner. can he deliver 120? >> it does sound like as luke goes over some of his power point presentation of john boehner that he's giving them the talking points. he's giving them what they can take home and say, here's what we got. we won. >> well, they got a lot. there's no

so the questio is, chris, can john boehner get to that 120, 130 number? the words in the conference call are making the point of look, we don't want a job-killing and debt default. he is trying to bring in the idea that they have won, and this going to make the changes that they came to washington to pursue. it's going to be a real tough sell job, and no one knows how is it going to turn out. now, as far as timing, we know that both the senate democrats and republicans will meet tomorrow, and it is presumably out of the senate, and chuck todd said that the more republican senators that supports this makes it easier on john boehner to sell it to the conference, because if it comes out with 75 or 80 senators behind it and over 40 republicans or 35 republicans o whatnot, it will make it easier for boehner the say, look, the entire team over there is going forward with this and get on board, you know, don't let us own this type of default which would be very, very politically damaging, and quite frankly, chris, you know, with the president thanking the americ

the key is for boehner, does that message resonate with his conference? and that's unknown right now because last week we saw firsthand that speaker boehner is not able to get 216 republican votes for his original plan which was further to the right of this one. he's going to need to get between 120, 130. it's not known if he can do that. on the democratic side you mentioned some groups upset with this deal. specifically the progressive caucus, black caucus. the general consensus from what i've heard with democratic aides is that nancy pelosi will do her absolute best and try to corral these groups together and rank and file democrats and say we need to get to 95, 100 votes because the president needs us for his re-election. they got the debt limit issue off the table until 2013. we need the president's back on this. that's what i'm being told her message is going to be. nancy pelosi is also the most prolific fund-raiser for the democratic caucus, so she has some power in that regard. so the question now becomes, chris, can john boehner get to that 120, 1

the boehner plan achieves a lot of the republican goals. it has no taxes, all cuts, and it establishes a principle of cutting spending if you want to raise the debt ceiling. you have achieved that. there is no way you can achieve more, holding only one house of the congress. take it because otherwise the republican chances in 2012 will be deeply damaged, and that is the only way next year's election in which republicans can change the structure and the ideological trajectory of the country. >> media folks for the past few days have spent a lot of time on boehner's problems with house members who refused to budge, but an unnamed operative is quoted as saying that ever offered a four liberals is a loss at this point. we may win on the politics, but the policy battle is lost. do you agree? >> yes. the move has been totally to the republican position on taxes. the fact that we have a better plan -- boehner plan that is the centerpiece of deficit reduction that continues to tax a firefighter in new york and emergency nurse at twice the rate as a

the key is for boehner, does that message resonate with his conference? and that's unknown right now because last week we saw firsthand that speaker boehner is not able to get 216 republican votes for his original plan which was further to the right of this one. he's going to need to get between 120, 130. it's not known if he can do that. on the democratic side you mentioned some groups upset with this deal. specifically the progressive caucus, black caucus. the general consensus from what i've heard with democratic aides is that nancy pelosi will do her absolute best and try to corral these groups together and rank and file democrats and say we need to get to 95, 100 votes because the president needs us for his re-election. they got the debt limit issue off the table until 2013. we need the president's back on this. that's what i'm being told her message is going to be. nancy pelosi is also the most prolific fund-raiser for the democratic caucus, so she has some power in that regard. so the question now becomes, chris, can john boehner get to that 120, 1

it is speaker john boehner. >> greta: not to take away from speaker boehner. i have a slightly different -- i think it is the tea party that has shaped the national agenda. who knows what speaker boehner would have done. the tea party and the people they've elected that have held the feet to the fire of the republican party. i'm curious, would the -- would speaker boehner have done the same, but for the influence of the tea party within his party? >> i think he would. boehner's insphinxes -- for example he's never been in favor of earmarks. he considers them corrosive, corrupting never accepted, sought or want an earmark for his district. that is being tea party before tea party was cool. i think the tea party has at times stretch ed boehner's hands and at times weakened his hand. -- a testament to his leadership that he has taken the voice of the caucus and embodied it in the policy. i was struck by a comment that boehner made nay private dinner a tended in texas last year. boehner, a couple from ft. worth and me having a steak with boehner in a restaurant on

>>shepard: i'm looking forward to hearing speaker boehner in a moment. thank you, mike from capitol hill and ed henry at the white house we will rely on you for analysis. the speaker was to have begun five minutes ago. it has been delayed throughout the day. the moment it begins we will take you there live. the lawmakers who hammered out the deal in washington, dc admit it is far from perfect. a sticking point is proposed cuts to the military and critics say that could put american troops in harm's way. and now to the pentagon. i spoke with the chairman of the armed services committee about the cuts and the hope is to reduce waste. >>guest: and i spoke to him when the gang of six plan and senator harry reid's plan included $800 billion of defense cuts over ten years and this bill being voted on is talking about $350 billion being cut during that period. house armed services committee chair carry as card in his pocket and on it it shows how the military has shrunk in the past 20 years. the army has 76 brigades in 1990 and now just 45. there were 546 navy

we're going it listen to john boehner again. one mohammed. >> -- signed into law to solve this debt crisis and help get the american people back to work. >> there we are, michelle. that was speaker john boehner saying he's getting the debt crisis behind him and wants to get on with creating jobs, and getting the economy going again. but is this deal going to make any difference to the economy? >> well, this deal isn't going to put the debt crisis behind us on some level. what they're doing is punting. we're going to have a super congress come in. we're going to debate this, and they'll be talking, and nobody's still dealing with things like entitlements. as we've heard, tax increases will be on the table going forward. the idea that this has solved anything in the big picture is completely just bizarrely optimistic. >> indeed. strange, historical revisionism from some member. for mow, michelle cottle, thank you very much. >>> we'll be right back. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available o

so the question is, chris, can john boehner get to that 120, 130 number? the words in the conference call are making the point of look, we don't want a job-killing and debt default. he is trying to bring in the idea that they have won, and this going to make the changes that they came to washington to pursue. it's going to be a real tough sell job, and no one knows how is it going to turn out. now, as far as timing, we know that both the senate democrats and republicans will meet tomorrow, and it is presumably out of the senate, and chuck todd said that the more republican senators that supports this makes it easier on john boehner to sell it to the conference, because if it comes out with 75 or 80 senators behind it and over 40 republicans or 35 republicans or whatn whatnot, it will make it easier for boehner the say, look, the entire team over there is going forward with this and get on board, you know, don't let us own this type of default which would be very, very politically damaging, and quite frankly, chris, you know, with the president thanking the

let's pause and listen as john boehner walks by. >> speaker boehner, are you confident you have the votes tonight? >> all right. you saw kate balduan, our congressional correspondent, asking the question, gave a little smile, gave a little nod. he seemed confident that he has the votes, even though he didn't really say anything, gloria, you could see the body language. >> he's got at walking by the cameras and kind of nodding. he's been around the block a while. >> he knows what he's doing on this one. you know who is one of the -- if this passes the house tonight, the senate tomorrow, mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, sort of an unsung hero in the united states avoiding going into default potentially. >> to some a hero to. some not so much. >> those who didn't want the united states to go into default, those who wanted the debt ceiling raises. >> but also conservatives got very angry at senator mcconnell because his original plan came up with kind of a gimmick to get around voting on the debt ceiling the second time. >> the final plan has a little gimmick, too. >> a v

i think they overestimated john boehner's leadership. i think they thought they had more how far a counterparty that john boehner would be able to deal with them. as it rns out they were able to deal withthem the problem was he was the able to deal with his own caucus. if they had appreciated how deadly serious the tea party people were pushing this alter to the extreme and risking the full faith and credit of the united states for the first time in history, i think the president would have pushed for something he did not push for during the negotiations of the lame do you recollect session, extending the bush tax cuts he should have been negotiating for a clean debt ceiling then. there are some people in the whitehouse saying we tried to get that. i think if they really had understood, a, how boehner would prove to be with this caucus and b how serious how the tea party was, he could have gotten that deal. >> charlie: would he be weaker with his own party if he didn't have eric kantor there. >> if you think back to the reality, thinking

and john boehner is not going to be in a position to say, that what we are learned about boehner, he is not in position to deliver anything. he could not go along with the grand bargain and he had to go with the tea partiers and even then he had to vote with them. >> this is historic and at the end of the day they have incentives to find more spending cut, and otherwise a pox on programs and that is not what anybody wants. and this has to be done by christmas. >> everybody will abide by the rules? >> my bet it works out. >> all right. margaret hoover and dean, thank you for being here and thank you for joining us "in the arena" tonight. and good night from new york. piers morgan starts right now. >>> tonight, beat the clock. >> the deal negotiated with the leaders of congress is a victory for the american people. >> but is anybody in washington really happy now? >> this process has been messy. it has taken far too long. >> we have been operating under a balanced budget amendment that we never would have gotten ourselves into the mess we are in. >> no one got what they wanted. >> wuli

and in fact it was but apparently three four days ago he thought he had a deal john boehner and then eric cantor apparently came along and put a little knife point john boehner skinny and said you don't yeah we're going to my misreading i think boehner got taken by surprise for sure but which means the president getting it was yeah yeah sure. and you know what it is a little bit crazy i guess i can sort of sympathize with him you know who would do that you know it is a little bit crazy to say well we'll think the entire economy if we don't get our policies or oh movies moment yeah into the movie but you know on the other hand you know there was no reason why they couldn't of go with a gazzillion crease you know in that compromise that they were going out there in a lame duck session you know i actually there was a lot of stuff on the table that the and the and it was a lame duck session still had he still had democrats and he the vice president reportedly called republicans in the house terrorists and you brought this up today at the white house here's a clip of that. it's interestin

i would say it's 75% of what boehner wanted. i think would have preferred to force another vote on the debt ceiling before the 2012 election. and i think he wanted to see more entitlement reform. but boehner struck a deal with no tax increases, significant cuts to government spending and more cuts planned on the way. 98 is a little high. i would say 75% what they wanted but it's still a good deal. bill: the "new york times" editorial page, they are killing white house on this. 98% for boehner? >> look, i have never seen a bill that so many people -- you have had one congressman on and senator after another and they all hate it. nobody got entirely what they wanted. no taxes, that was the key to all this. but in the end andrea is exactly right. they wanted another vote on this and they won't get it. obama will control what cuts they get unless this committee comes through. i think we are all dismissing this committee too easily. i think there may be a shot here. i think the question is not any longer is there a long-term crisis.

we are waiting for house speaker john boehner. he was supposed to speak live here on cnn about 1:30. we're told that that has been pushed back to 3:30. we'll bring to it you live here in the "cnn newsroom" at 3:30 eastern time. the talks are delayed, we're hearing from kate bolduan, it's a bit of a frenzy there. maybe he's working to get some more votes. maybe there's a little bit of talking, negotiating still under way. we expect to hear from him at 3:30. and who knows who will step to the podium? we have a lot of folks on the hill at the white house watching all of this play out. it's a bit dramatic, i must say. whoever does come to the podium, whoever wants to speak, wants to come to our microphone, we'll bring to it you here to talk about the debt ceiling as it happens. we won't let you miss a moment. >>> let's get to the white house where our dan lothian is standing by. what is the late tles at this hour? >> reporter: what's happening here at the white house behind the scenes is the hard sell job making sure they can get the

i think boehner tried very hard. but i have great respect and even love for the tea party because they've done something that nobody has been able to do. the tea party people made us realize we cannot continue on this path. what's really happening is the country is doing very poorly. the unemployment rate is going through the roof. if you look at what's going on, other countries are eating our lunch between china and opec and so many other countries. and our country is becoming a very, very -- let's call it, a very unsuccessful country. and the tea party made people realize some of these things. and i have great respect for the tea party and i know many of the people that are really leaders of the tea party. and i like them a lot and i respect them a lot. >> donald trump, thanks for taking two seconds out of your day to call. appreciate it. offering up his perspective. so big question, do we have a debt deal today? will we? let's check in with wolf blitzer. the man who never sleeps. they gave us a consumers digest be

and an hour after the vote, speaker john boehner was also notified. take a look at this. that is congresswoman gabrielle giffords, six months ago when she was shot in the head at point blank range and there were questions if she would survive and questions if she would ever recover to the point to return here at the house of representatives and look at smiling and hugging with her colleagues, and gloria borger a big vote, but a personal moment. >> i kept thinking after a rancorous few weeks and it was so great to celebrate something the triumph of the spirit of gabrielle giffords and seeing the members standing there to applaud their friend and welcoming her back. it was just a wonderful, wonderful moment. >> and to that point, david gergen, you know, the d eas hav been arguing with the rs and to see the entire house as this dramatic vote was finishing up, it was a giant surprise to most of them and pretty remarkable. >> oh, gabrielle giffords provided the most heartwarming moment we have had in months in washington and lifted our spirits just when we needed it and remind

that's what boehner and the republicans want. you remember that when boehner and the president a couple weeks ago were negotiating a deal that raised the medicare age and increased medicare cautionary charges, medicaid cuts affected social security cost of living adjustment, all those things combined produced about $650 billion in entitlement cuts. this committee is supposed to come up with 1.5 trillion. if boehner will not allow -- if the republicans will not allow any revenue to be on the table for the joint committee and they say they won't, there's no way the democrats on the committee will agree to 1.5 trillion of entitlement and a deeper domestic cuts. the joint committee will fail, and we will be set up for these big across the board cuts to kick in in january 2013 and we will fight about this throughout the entire election year in 2012. the outcome is in doubt at this point. >> there is nothing stupidier than indiscriminate nature across the board cuts. jared, take us to the larger economic impacts of this. here we are in

how certain is boehner he will get the numbers? >> more certain tonight. there are no votes obviously. there was a bit of a pickup in the defense cuts really stared some folks. half of the defense cuts in the so-called trigger. let me explain this quickly again. before thanksgiving a joint committee is set up. 6 lawmakers democrats 6 republicans. they come forward with the deeper cuts bigger cuts. if they are not able to do that and they are not able to pass in an up or down vote this punishment goes into effect these triggers. as it is set up now half are defense department cuts. that is a real problem for republicans. the other half is medicare cuts in these triggers but they are provider cuts for hospitals and doctors not on the beneficiary stuff. republicans said this is not a great deal on the cut thing. it tripped a few head count before speaker boehner today. >> the plot thickens. >> indeed. >> republican senator jeff sessions from state of alabama good evening, sir. what do you think? you like it or not? >> i haven't seen it yet. we have seen a lit

what did we learn about speaker boehner? he presides, he doesn't necessarily lead that republican caucus. he has a hard time trying to corral these folks. it always has been joked it is the senate, it is like herding cats. that's not the case. he presides over a coalition. while they may be closer than they realize, they don't act that way. whether it is a tea party conservative or some of these more mainstream conservatives. they're a lot closer on the issues, but they don't act that way and it makes it very hard for them to govern. they may have won the policy fight, but they did not necessarily make the case they're ready to govern. what did we learn about the republicans and the tea party? this is an uneasy coalition. you see some mainstream republicans who had quietly been griping about the tea party for months and showed some of that fresh, lets that frustration show. does it do collateral damage or create problems down the road in the presidential primarys? we'll be watching for that. in the house, republicans and dem

>> i think boehner strengthened himself. he got everybody on board. he got almost briefing he wanted and he did well. -- got everything he wanted and he did well. i think the big loser was obama. in terms of the process, he was out to lunch. seagate four p he gave four -- he gave four appearances on washington and people were scratching their heads. the big winner, the biggest cliche in american history, the american people. you write that down. as you admitem -- it, mark, and it allows it to increase water present -- the goal is to increase 100% or 50%? it has been and always a ratcheting up of the size of government brought now we are actually having a debate, discussion and we will have real action on cutting. >> the big winner, the american people. >> there you go. >> if there is a winner, it is the tea party. tea party right now is in the position that if they and threaten even the suggestion of a primary challenge for any republican member, they are terrified and will do anything that the party wants. -- anything in the tea party ones. this is w

and a lot of this seems to be very much based on john boehner's plan. so i would assume that he's gotten some kind of assurances from his democrats that they're going to deliver the votes. as he said, it's not over yet, but he clearly came out to reassure the markets and i don't think he would have done that unless he felt reassured himself. >> because we've already heard some leaders of the congressional black caucus, of the progressive caucus, they don't like this and i assume some of the tea party activists on the other side won't like this. the question will be -- and we'll be checking this thoroughly if john boehner the speaker, and eric cantor, the majority leader, if they can get their republicans on board and vote yea, vote in favor of this. richard quest is here as well. i assume when the markets in asia hear the president of the united states say deal struck, this is going to reassure them, we're not going to see any major collapse of the markets. >> i don't think the timing is accidental. it is quarter to 9:00 in the morning, monday morning,

both voted against the boehner bell and they join me now from capitol hill. i'm going to call you tim and tom, and i know both of you, rather than being more formal and call you congressman, let me start, tim, with you, you have not voted for even the boehner bill. you said you do not see yourself coming to grips with one of these proposals that are out there. tell me why not. >> well, i don't think it does enough. we have a very deep problem and it's not the problem that we don't borrow enough, but it's that we spent too much. with the outside credit rating agencies indicating we could suffer a down grade unless we make enough cuts and make them soon, i'm very concerned about the direction we're headed. we could have a possible downgrade easier, if the plans finally passes. >> tom, on your side. is it a fact that you have committed that you would not vote for anything that looks like this deal? or is it just unacceptable to you? is this a commitment to your voters? help me understand why it is, nothing is going to make you say yes to this? >> actually, i mea

how certain is boehner he will get the numbers? >> more certain tonight. there are no votes obviously. there was a bit of a pickup in the defense cuts really stared some folks. half of the defense cuts in the so-called trigger. let me explain this quickly again. before thanksgiving a joint committee is set up. 6 lawmakers democrats 6 republicans. they come forward with the deeper cuts bigger cuts. if they are not able to do that and they are not able to pass in an up or down vote this punishment goes into effect these triggers. as it is set up now half are defense department cuts. that is a real problem for republicans. the other half is medicare cuts in these triggers but they are provider cuts for hospitals and doctors not on the beneficiary stuff. republicans said this is not a great deal on the cut thing. it tripped a few head count before speaker boehner today. >> the plot thickens. >> indeed. >> republican senator jeff sessions from state of alabama good evening, sir. what do you think? you like it or not? >> i haven't seen it yet. we have seen a lit

boehner did not completely control his caucus as we saw. and of course in the senate, the minority party has filibuster power so that gave both of them enough power to have some negotiating ability. at the end it came to two big issues -- would thereby tax increases? president obama repeatedly said there had to be new revenues. those in the end were not in it. the other thing was there going to be a two-part debt increase? president obama was adamant that this not happen and he won on that point. those were the two big concessions. once those two things got settled, the last minute was a minor haggle about the pentagon and they were done. gwen: there were several moments where they felt like they had a deal. at one point, senator reid and congressman boehner seemed to have figured it out. at one point the president seemed to have figured it out. what happened between the next to almost final deal and the final deal because the details didn't change that much? >> you're right. the details didn't change that much. really, it was a matter of t

i heard speaker boehner act like he won. he said, we've got spending cuts equal to the debt ceiling. no tax increases. what didn't you win on here? >> well, we didn't get a real spending cut, and what we're really looking for is something that gets to a ball,ed budget. something that satisfies markets. something that actually a real. this is a political band-aid. it actually cuts less than one-half of 1% of the total federal budget in 2012. that's not enough to satisfy markets. i don't think that's enough to get the burden of red ink off -- off the businesses that need to create jobs. >> so you want member of congress to kill the bill? kill the debt ceiling bill tonight? >> yeah. i would vote against it. >> no. you're being political here. do you want them to bring it down tonight? defeat it? >> yes. they should defeat it because i think on august 3rd, question do a much better job. we can actually put real spending cuts on the table. >> so you think it's better to go into august a couple days, a couple weeks? how long would

secondly, i listened to speaker boehner and his comments. this appears to be a deal which he introduced and i voted against. thirdly, i'm not sure how medicare, medicaid and social security would not be up for grabs. i have to see that and be assured of that. fourthly, i don't know where the cuts will take place. who will get hurt? obviously if you are talking about discretionary spending it's the poor, low income individuals, working poor and middle income people. i would suggest if the facts are accurate we will see more people falling into poverty and we'll see this create more job loss. we should see a bill to help us keep from going off the brink in terms of economic disaster looming. we have to have a bill. however, i want to remind you the debt ceiling has been raised many times under democratic and republican presidents. we should have raised the debt ceiling. i think it was a fundamental mistake to engage in negotiations around lifting the debt ceiling. we have to create jobs. >> with only a day left you can look back and say the pr

kate bolduan is getting details on what the house speaker, john boehner, just briefed the republican caucus. he had some talking points on how good this deal is for the republicans, kate. >> actually, i just dropped the paper so let me grab it real quick, wolf. this is actually a power point presentation that speaker boehner was going through with members on this conference call and it's really ticking off exactly what this deal is and also trying to make the case why they need to support it. what i'm seeing in the notes that i'm reading here in this power point presentation and from the excerpts i'm reading from speaker boehner's remarks, he's really trying to make the case this is not far off from the deal they've been working on themselves that they eventually agreed to with a little bit of an added sweetener, if you will, to get more conservatives on in the end. what i'm just seeing briefly the top line of this deal says that it cuts up-front spending at $917 billion over ten years. that's just up front. that there are multi-step process then for the president to request to raise

is i think boehner got taken by surprise for sure but which means the president yeah yeah sure . and you know what it is a little bit crazy i guess sort of sympathize with you know who would do that you know it is a little crazy to say well we'll take the entire economy if we don't get our policy or oh i'm always moment yeah in the movie but you know on the other hand you know there's no reason why they couldn't of go with the debt ceiling increase you know in that compromise that they were going out there in the lame duck session you know i actually there was a lot of stuff on the table and that the and the and it was lame duck session still had he still had democrats and he the vice president reportedly called republicans in the house terrorists and you brought this up today at the white house here's a clip of that. i guess an artist in a different missing universe. why these terrorists inappropriate but obviously there's not i mean. i just dig. you know it's so it's up to the what. i you know i'm just kind of getting a gauge in i think that in general was important is that eve

john boehner did a great job. >> i take it you are voting yes? >> i am not sure if you can hear me. >> i lost you there for a moment. look, i think that that the republicans have done a great job of getting the best that they can. and they have had a difficult time dealing with what i would say is another side that just hasn't been serious to the problem. i was one of 22 republicans, though, a couple days ago who voted against the boehner plan, and this plan isn't even quite as bold as that. >> let's not read the tea leaves here, and i don't mean to say that in gist. are you voting for this or against this? >> no, yeah, i can't vote for this. again, i give leadership great credit forgetting the best they can. it very well may pass out of the house, but there's just too much of a deal here when i really believe we needed a big, bold, solution. we're talking about maybe 2 to $3 trillion cuts in two years, and we'll borrow another 10 to $12 trillion regardless. we're bankrupting the future. this does nothing to change the fiscal disaster that we're

that man very happy, john bay they ar boehner. when we come being about a, we'll watch the chavez workout. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. >>> the tentative deal on the deficit will give president obama the chance to increase the debt limit, something he's done three times since taking office. it's a move just about every president who has had the chance to do it has done during his time in office. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends since the first federal debt limit was set in 1939, harry s. truman the only u.s. president not to raise the debt ce

at one point he said when he was sitting with boehner and cantor who am i dealing with? he should have known better the dynamics of his foes. number one. number two, he should have put out and committed to if he wasn't demanding just a clean bill, should have put out a more specific program. at least that's what the democrats said, had it scored, had it buttoned up, and take that to the american people. now, he survived to fight another day and it is true he won't have to at least in theory deal with debt increase again until after 2013, after the presidential election. but i think he lost a lot. i think his party is divided. i think a lot of people are disappointed in him, that we're already concerned about him. i think he conceded the point about taxes yet again, he has now done it twice, he is going to have a hard time doing it a third time. the one thing about barack obama, he is a terrific situational politician who always seems to benefit from comparisons and from his surroundings. so he'll live to fight another day, but i don't think this was his best or strongest

and is this obama-boehner debt deal the right path? and i must conclude that it is not the right path. and i conclude that for four reasons. the first is the impact on jobs. we are facing a gathering storm on the job front. we have five million to eight million additional foreclosures that are suppressing success of our construction market, driving down the value of houses and having a devastating impact on the attempts at recovery. second, the unemployment benefits, extended unemployment benefits expire this year. and the rough estimate is that that will result in the reduction of around 500,000 jobs. that's a tremendous blow in 2012. and then we have the termination of the payroll tax holiday and the estimates that may well produce losses of jobs of more than 900,000 across america. add them up together, and you're talking nearly 1.5 million jobs we will face. and that's in 2012. so on top of this gathering storm comes the obama-boehner debt deal that is estimated to produce another job loss and by varying estimates tpr-rbgs 100 -- f

will speaker boehner gets his will speaker boehner gets his bill on the new deal next. purina cat chow helps you well-being. we're all striving for it. nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. challenge that with olay regenerist night elixir. its gentle glycolic formula resurfaces at night for the smooth skin of a light chemical peel. sleep ght. regenerist, from olay. excuse me. him? he's helping me get back to normal. hey, i don't even live in a floodplain. but i've got flood insurance, so i'm covered. how's that? nice. flood insurance, it helps make your home a home again. or, your me a me again. ooh, check it out fred, new foundation. got any of those in my size? [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen. >> tlooegs a deal on the table but only on the table. no one knows if it will pass in the house and the senate. meanwhile the world is watching our economy has an impact on the entire world. yes it has an impact dire

it was tough for speaker boehner to get the votes. and john mccain on the floor of the senate quoted an op ed. host: there is an op ed piece in the "washington post" today. he says what a difference a week and makes. he says it is winning the battle of ideas. how does the white house fight against that? guest: they have gone in full fighting mode. they have their officials out. look at the record. he looks at the detai of the agreement. the social safety net not being damaged, so security, medicare. democrats have had an issue with the way this debate has developed. the economy is fragile. it is sputtering along. state governments will be hit hard as the stimulus retracts. it will only get more gramm in the view of democrats, now that we have this package in place. host: florida, independent line. caller: i am 77 years old. i was a lifelong democrat. i am an independent now. i am wondering why the writers and even c-span, but when they re tobama's speech on thei support this and not one reporter went behind that with his speech he mad

was speaker boehner bold enough in his efforts to get it done? >> no, this is probably the best deal washington could get right now. my argument is that we don't need a deal. i mean, we are bankrupting future generations and we need a solution, and this is not big and bold, but the best deal that the speaker could get, but we need something profound to change the way that the town spends money or our kids and grandkids will never forgive us. >> and i watched the press conference when the leaders came out, speaker boehner and others and they talked about the change of the tone at least in washington, and they wanted more, and this was not a perfect deal. but is there a lesson of compromise here, because if you ask someone on the left, they will say that the right is not compromising and if you ask someone on the right, they say that the left is not compromising, so is this a lesson of compromise and how things happen henceforth in washington? >> well, ultimately, what was passed tonight and what will be passed tomorrow in the senate is a compromis

>> i will be supporting this bill like i supported the boehner bill. the reason for that is there was no way we were going to get everything we wanted. this is far from perfect. am i happy over this? no but it is a still in the right direction. for the first time, we are getting serious about cutting our spending. for the first time in history, i think it is historic. it is historic, we are going to increase the debt ceiling, yes, but we are going to have more in cuts than we are increasing the debt ceiling. that's never been done in our history. that is a step in the right direction. >> sir, you were ushered into your seat through tea party support. do you think that the overall reaction to what's happening with the tea party, their representation in the house as it is, is going to be something that people look upon favorably when they see a deal like this going through or is there sort sort of backlash when they say the tea party held the nation hostage? >> i think you will have mixed reviews. we live in the most diversified country in the world. tha

mean for house speaker john boehner of ohio. he defined the terms of the debate in ways that were unusual for in the house speaker. it was a rocky road along the way. the questions that remain -- what is the lingering effect? yesterday, 66 house republicans voted against this. we will be looking at whether we will be looking at whether the house republicans can move beyond this and there have been some differences in approach among republican leaders with speaker boehner. that is something that we will see how it moves forward. host: is the speaker vulnerable to the threat to that post? guest: no. last week, there were such questions about what would happen to boehner. last week there were questions if whether the house would even pass the bill. for now, given that this is about to be enacted, and the healthy votes yesterday, i think this is pretty positive for him. the one question they will be looking at in august is the political impact of all of this. how it will play out at home for members of congress. the polls have shown

(laughter) are you kidding me, boehner? you think comedians enjoy fiscal incompetence and bureaucratic paralysis? let me show you something. see this right here? (laughter) the guy in the tiger costume is congressman david wu of oregon. apparently he resigned today because of inappropriate sexual contact towards an 18-year-old. did i mention that's a real picture of him dressed like tigger? (laughter) so let me explain something to you. you really think i'm going to stimulus stuff. (bleep)ing with this guy would be... how do i put this? grrreat! (cheers and applause) we'll be right back. (cheers and applause) welcome back. every so often a news anchor end up becoming the story. dan rather being roughed up on the floor of the '68 democrat quick convention. marv albert having a sex scandal. barbara walters causing the destruction of the hindenburg. (laughter) why? why barbara? why do you kill? lately watching cnn i've noticed something newsworthy may be brewing there as well. >> one group calculated how much it would cost to