. >> joining us now is democratic congressman, peter welch of vermont, congressman welch voted no on the debt ceiling bill that passed the house last night. thanks for your time, it's good to have you here. >> good to be here. >> why did you vote no on this deal? >> this is a job-killing budget deal. plain and simple. two problems, one is policy, one is politics. on a policy level, what we've done is absolutely gone into contraction. this is all cuts, it's no revenues association the capacity to build jobs to get our economy moving is limited very dramatically by this agreement. secondly on to politics, we've passed the rubicon, given a tool to the willful minority in the senate or willful majority in the house to hold hostage our aaa credit, aaa bond rating. >> what's the way back across that rubicon as it were? what's the way to take this, i guess this tactic, this sort of brinksmanship off the table? do you think now and when this comes up again in 2013, democrats should take steps to avoid this type of stand off again? >> we have to. we made a big mistake, rachel, in december. th

. >>> for more on the market let's bring in congressman peter welch, a democrat from vermont, and joining mess live from burlington. thank you for joining us. we realize there's bad weather in the area, so we really appreciate you being there. could you work with the republicans? >> i want to. in fact, we have to. we're getting smacked by a 2 by 4. that's the market reaction to the brinksmanship and the budget plan that basically was all cuts, no revenues. if we're going to restore confidence, we have to have a balanced plan that requirements democrats to make some concessions, and for republicans to make some concessions. you know, you saw the beginning of that with a gang of six. we have to work together. it's the only way people get the sense we may be moving in the right direction. >> let me show you some stunning numbers. 82% of americans now disapproved of the way congress is doing its job. the highest numbers since the times started polls way back in the '70s. are they right? >> they are right. >> as opposed to a practical problem to be solved, people see us as being totally discon

we're traveling right now with the secretary of transportation and meeting up with congressman peter welch right near one of the historic bridges that is now lost. >> we've been seeing the video of one of the bridges. that video amazing to see. there's the video right there from bartonsville, vermont. that bridge has been there i believe you said more than a century washed away. nine retd cross shelters are open across the state. >> that's right. we had a number of people in the center of vermont area and barrie he was over 100 people there last night. many mobile home parks that are being abandoned at this point. a lot of fuel oil tanks have turned over. so there's some environmental concerns obviously at this point and they're trying to rectify that and pump tanks as they can. >> state offices, they were closed today. how long do you guys anticipate keeping the state offices closed in vermont? >> i'm pretty sure i'll talk with the secretary of administration and the governor later on, but i'm pretty sure that we will be coming back on tomorrow. >> one person was killed. what can yo

. >> congressman peter welch is a member of the caucas that was undecided on the bill. he joins us now. one of the co-chairs of the progressive caucus says. >> sir, do you echo that sentiment? as you say, you are undecided right now? >> this bill is a baby only its mother can love. the positive in this, of course, is that it resolves the debt ceiling crisis and puts off the question of another debt ceiling debacle until after the next election. that's the good news. the bad news is that as a long-term fiscal blueprint, i think it comes up short, particularly on the question of balanced revenues. the president and many of us have been arguing that we have to clean up the tax code. revenues have be to be a part of the solution. it is theoretic cli possible but practically unlikely. the defense cut trigger is going to be opposed by mr. mccann, the chair of armed services committee. there are many democrats opposed to that. so that threat may end up being a gun that's not loaded. >> i want to play for you a sound bite from gene sperling who directs the president's national

can see gary miller are richard hannah, paul tonko, nell watts, peter welch all saying they will vote against the legislation. this continues to be updated. you can check it out on line at thehill.com. the vote is expected sometime this evening. john boehner is expected to brief reporters. it was supposed to get underway about 11 minutes ago. this is what it looks like from the gallery. we will have live coverage on c- span unless the house comes back before that. in the meantime, your phone calls. silver springs, md., on the republican line. good afternoon. >> i am in strong opposition to the debt ceiling being raised. i definitely fear my social security checks could be eliminated or drastically cut. the reason why is because i am on ssdi, a disability program by the social security administration. i am afraid any cuts will deeply hamper my budget as far as paying my bills is concerned. this says speaker boehner is trying to thread a needle to get this passed. the vote is expected sometime tonight. george from georgia is joining us on the democrats' line. >> i have a serious problem