if congress does something, then i can't run against a do- nothing congress. if congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them. i think the american people will run them out of town because they are frustrated, and they know we need to do something big and something bold. >> reporter: the confrontation pits the president squarely against republicans, who now control the house and have the votes to block his proposals in the senate. they went toe to toe with mr. obama last summer over raising the federal debt ceiling. and later, over extending the payroll tax break and long-term unemployment benefits. those measures passed, but much of the rest of the president's agenda has languished. and the battles have taken a toll on congress' public approval rating. it stood at just 13% in a recent "new york times"-cbs news poll. the senate's democratic majority leader harry reid says it is no surprise. >> i understand why the american people look at congress and shake their head, what is this all about, because we have not been able to accomplis

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but it would be a lot easier if congress helped. this is an area that should receive bipartisan support because making our government more responsive and strategic and leaner, it shouldn't be a partisan issue. you know, we can do this better. we can provide taxpayers better value. so much of the argument out there all the time is, you know, up at 40,000 feet, the abstract arguments about, you know, who is conservative or who is liberal, most americans and certainly most small business owners, you guys are trying to figure out how do we make things work? how do we apply common sense? and that's what this is about. i'm going to keep fighting every day to rebuild this economy so that hard work pays off, responsibility is rewarded, and we have got a government that is helping to create the foundation for the incredible energy and entrepreneurship that all of you represent. i'm going to keep fighting to make sure the middle class families regain the security that they have lost over the last decade. i've said before, i believe there is a

they both served in the congress and the congress of the confederation. they had almost exactly the same resumÉ, but they had two different conclusions about this, and that was true for a lot of the countrymen as well. the second question, jefferson's in paris as a minister to france during this time. he does receive the most complete post-election analysis from both madison and monroe. jefferson was the dear mutual friend. he referred to them as the twin pillars of his happiness. jefferson invests times in the founding rivals in trying to convince madison to move next to him. they already got monroe. if we could live together, we'll hang out and retire from private life, and we'll be happy reading books, talking about books, the big ideas of the day. they were the twin pillars of his happiness, and he was pleased to get messages from both of them about their friendship, felt bad about running against my friend, and this is what happened, but we're still friends. jefferson is in france, and washington wanted madison to win the race. one of the first lett

congress. i mean, literally, you know, something that can happen, you can have two or three lines in a bill -- i'll give you one example, the health care bill, obamacare. there were two or three lines in there that said biopharmaceutical companies were given this that bill a 12-year exclusive patent rather than five years which is what other drug manufacturers do. that's a huge gain. can you imagine what that did for the biotech sector? that was actually a member of congress that bought a large amount of biotech sector funds at the same time and saw those pop 25% because once the bill passed and everybody realized what a boon it was going to be to biotechnology, everybody suddenly wanted to buy those companies. so, yes, i think it is a problem at the state level, but i think more so here because there's more power here. yes, question right there. >> hi. i'm david with the heritage foundation. that was an excellent talk, and i'm frustrated listening to you asking myself why have i not heard of t

congress on a bit there. it was a subtle way to sort of distance himself from congress without actually taking them to task while he's standing right in front of them tonight, wolf. >> dana bash inside the chamber as we see the president getting ready to leave. >> that's right. he's doing some gripping and grinning before he heads out. i just want to say this morning that john boehner told a few of us that he and most republicans and the president and most democrats are from different planets, and you definitely saw that tonight, just even in the dynamics of this room, the house chamber, the president making clear that his solution, for the most part, is to invest public money. every time he said that, you saw republicans basically sitting on their hands, stone cold, no applause at all. one thing i definitely want to point out, though, there was a very interesting dynamic when you're talking about bipartisanship, and that has to do with gabby giffords. she was sitting next to jeff lake, a republican congressm

congress. when he arrived in congress, he found an absolutely ruinous state of affairs. i know it's nothing like you could imagine today, but -- [laughter] the congress had already taken an enormous, crippling national debt. when congress had exhausted its revenue and sources of credit, they simply started printing money and giving it out to people. [laughter] thank goodness our leaders today are too wise to do this. [laughter] i think it's really telling that madison served on something called the board of admiralty. this is the committee that ran the naval affairs of the united states during the war. one of the first things they do is to deny a three-month-old request for a sea captain for bread and flour. it was not that this request was unreasonable per se, it was simply that they had no bread or flour or means to plo cure it to give him. they did sell him a note, however, telling him to keep up the good work. [laughter] an 18-gun boat named the saratoga was sitting in the dock for a want of simple rigging. the triumph l, ready to go to sea and fight the british, was

folks in congress have advance knowledge of which bills and issues congress will consider. they know how those bills will affect basic services, and often the legislation we pass impacts how well a company does on the stock market. good men and women work for congress and i have the deepest respect for my colleagues. i would say all come to the senate with good intentions, carry out their daily responsibles without thinking about using information that they learned for personal financial gain. and that's why banning insider trading should be an easy move. the fact that members of congress and their staffs are allowed to buy and sell stocks based on privileged information is incredible to me. congress has historically low approval ratings from the american people. they believe many in congress don't represent them. and have forgotten what it means to be a normal american. most folks assume that congressmen and senators already can't trade stocks based on information they get in their jobs, but it turns out this may not be true, and that's just one more example why northweste

>> members of congress want to clarify to the public that they aren't above the law. there are some experts saying that there hasn't been a member of congress that has gone to jail or prosecuted for insider trading. people are wondering, are they really accountable to the s.e.c.? this is basically the members saying, yes, we are accountable. >> we're talking with rachel bade covering this story for cq/roll call. by all accounts, the bill is expected to pass the senate. it then goes to the house. eric cantor said that this needs to apply to the executive branch as well. >> today he came out and said that he wants to expand a disclosure requirement included in the s.t.o.c.k. act zit would include congressmen and their staff to disclose on an online database within 30 days. right now the bill -- that closure bill only includes the bade, writes for cq/roll call, her work is available online. thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. >>> this is "washington today." c-span. >>> on the what street, dow fell 20. >>> new budget report from cbo predicting that government

both houses of congress. there's a sense that you see that even when things were rocky sometimes, things continue. >> and we have members of the security, now, who are greeting the president. we don't have a full supreme court there tonight. we have four members who are not there. >> you see justice kagan, justice breyer, justice ginsberg. justices scalia, alito and sotomayor are not there tonight. >> the joint chiefs will be showing up. they will not be applauding tonight. we will measure between those who applaud and those who do not feel they are part of the political process. >> and many of the justices have spoken about how uncomfortable they do feel. especially that moment two years ago, when the president called them out on the supreme court decision. and there you have it. [ applause ] >> a hug from gabby giffords, representing so much, just standing in that room. and when she smiles. and now, the president of the united states. handing his speech to the speaker and the vice president. and is about to

(laughter) >> jon: let me tell you something, oliver, this congress makes me so angry, this congress, this do nothing bunch of mother [bleep]. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. jon, you take that back! they do not do nothing. they are mother [bleep] but do you know, jon, do you know the amount of work it takes to perform this level of mother wlooep blooep -- [bleep]ery. sure are, you aren't seeing in on c-span but look behind the flaps to the actual office of our capitol building. these good people, jon. >> jon: oh my god. >> who dedicated public servants work tirelessly, jon, night and day to make sure that nothing gets done. this, jon, they-- do not look away, stewart, you need to see this look at it! look, directly at it! this, jon, this, this right here, this is how the sausage doesn't get made. >> jon: all right, look t takes alot of effort. >> yeah t does take a lot of effort, jon. you turn your back on this for 1 second and who knows what could happen. a program that works to educate young people emerges. or a bridge gets built to somewhere. and you say that these people don't work, s

congress returns tomorrow. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> the south carolina primary saturday, january 21. since 1980, the winner has gone on to be the republican presidential nominee. c-span's wrote to the right house coverage takes you to the events. -- road to the white house coverage takes you to the events. >> he is over his head. >> we have a message that can appeal across this nation and in particular, in the state's that are necessary for us to win this election. >> as candidates get their message out and meet the voters -- >> yet another war or we do not know why we are there. >> if we're going to use our national security act, we need to make sure it is in our national security interest and that we're not spread so thin we cannot do it right. >> want to hold her? >> take a picture. >> perfect. >> find more resources on c-span. >> i believe it is important to emphasize that one is great to have this memorial to his memory and is great to have a national holiday and it is gre

while the congress has hit a new low. the latest polling from the right wing firm rasmussen shows only 5% of likely voters approve of the job congress is doing. "the times" reports the president will spend less time fighting congressional republicans and focus on economic justice for ordinary americans instead. white house deputy press secretary josh earnest confirms, "in terms of the president's relationship with quocongress i 2012, the president is no longer tied to washington, d.c." what does that mean? the only legislation on the white house's must-do list is a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut. according to "the times" the president will showcase measures he is taking on his own to revive the economy. "associated press" reports he will unveil at least two or three directives per week. the president will continue to take the populist tone he adopted late last year. gosh, that was just a few days ago. in his weekly address, president obama tapped into middle class frustrations over the payroll tax fight and in

let's make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for congress can't lobby congress and vice versa. an idea that has bipartisan support-- at least outside of washington. some of what's broken has to do with the way congress does its business these days. a simple majority is no longer enough to get anything-- even routine business-- passed through the senate. neither party has been blameless in these tactics. now, both parties should put an end to it. (applause) for starters, i asked the senate to pass a simple rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple upper down vote within 90 days. (applause) the executive branch also needs to change. too often it's in efficient, outdated and remote. that's why i've asked the congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bur rock soy that our government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the american people. (applause) finally, none of this can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. we need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campa

not just true for ted stevens, in congress. it's true for congress more broadly. they have shown themselves to not understand how the internet works, you can tell that from their previous attempts to lasso the internet like it was a way-ward calf. if we had no reason to believe congress understands the workings of the internet, after today, we can be sure that congress at least understands the power of the internet. google, wikipedia, flicker, word press, read it, wired, many more either blocked their websites entirely today or used their websites to make a big can't-miss it visual statement of their discontent with the legislation. more than just going dark, many sites included operator instructions for how you too could reach out to congress and tell them to these proposed laws. just one example, progressive change committee says craigslist visitors alone, 30,000 people today called congress through website that linked them with the way to do that. we cover all kind of of protests on this show, all kind of non-violent direct action, all kind of way people try to

let's make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for congress can't lobby congress. and vice versa. an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of washington. some of what's broken has to do with the way congress does its business these days. a simple majority is no longer enough to get anything, even routine business, passed through the senate. (scattered applause) neither party has been blameless in these tactics. now both parties should put an end to it. ( applause ) for starters, i ask the senate to pass a simple rule, that all judicial and public nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days. ( applause ) the executive branch also needs to change. too often it's inefficient, outdated and remote. that's why i've asked this congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy, that our government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the american people. ( applause ) finally none of this can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. we need to end the notion that the two parties must be

is says if you are a member of congress and the executive position is creed of your in congress or the salary is increase in you cannot take the position.pp and ordered to stop a member if you would be appointed so you vote to raise his salary by $100,000 if the that was a bad idea so they put the ineligibility cause but now it has come up several times over history and there is a move the government had used to get around this and the idea is if the person who is a congress takes a the executive office that congress passes a billab reducing the salary by thei original amount then there is no violation.vi they actually did not get anan increase so there's a problem. 1987. lewis powell retires from the supreme court and the question ronald reagan had to face who'd asea point*? orrin hatch is in the senate. the supreme court salary went up. that was a violation of the eligibility clause. other people discover this could be used the saxby 62 put him in any way? they ask the office of legal counsel and they said no. this clause means any time the salary is wait -- raise to cannot be put in

to congress there. has to communicate with their local representatives and i think also just you know exercising their voting rights and exercising their rights it's rooms are being involved in the political process it's two thousand but we need issues are going to go away courts are still trying to figure out how to grapple with technology so i think the best way for citizens to be actively involved is to use a creativity like they used yesterday and find ways to be involved in the political process on a day to day basis why i think i guess today might help in the sense that at least gave people this feeling that maybe they can actually make a difference if they do go out and vote or call their congress members or write to them and that's not always going to be big money and big industries and lobbyists that we're now at least that was my takeaway christina thank you so much for joining us tonight. i still to come this a day after the online world came together to fight so but the d.o.j. continued thei

pedia are blacking out their web pages for the entire day they're protesting an anti-piracy bill in congress a defiant protest today several web sites including wicked pedia literally shutting down their sites they have gone dark today as a protest of a new bill that many critics say could lead to censorship that's just the latest in a widening base of high profile sites protesting a pair a pair of them of anti-piracy bills making their way through congress the bills would force us internet providers like comcast or eighteen t to block communications to offshore sites that steal content this is a really dumb precedent and step for internet companies in the united states to use their home page to protest a very bad very bad public policy. all that i have to say about this is welcome mainstream media and welcome to the world that you've been ignoring for so long where opposition to these two anti-piracy laws has been growing for months welcome to the world where the biggest companies were online communities like reddit where blogs and think tanks the legal scholars far and wide have all been v

it also wasn't delivered before joint session of congress. more now on the interesting history. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. with it rhetorical flourishes, the state of the union is a uniquely american tradition having been delivered either in person or in writing 220 times in our nation's history. it's more than another speech. it's a constitutional requirement. article 2 section 3 states the president from time to time give the congress information on the state of the union and recommend to their consideration such measures as she shoultd judge necessary and expedient. the first one by george washington in 1790 on the contained 1,000 words. thomas jefferson abandoned the speech, submitting his in writing. a practice that was followed for more than a hundred years until 1913 when woodrow wilson spoke before congress. calvin coolidge was the first to have his over radio. harry truman was the first to have his delivered on television. ronald reagan invited special guests to join the first lady in the gallery. in recent t

can we set aside that newt was a member of congress and used the skills he developed as a member of congress and went out and devised temperatures. he worked hard you see guys leave that alone and focus on the answers. >> what is your reaction to that? >> yeah. (applause) >> what advice? what are you telling these candidates? >> we want somebody to step up do the job and tell us what they are doing and work hard for us. >> david he's also controlling the dialogue letting the moderators control it. he kept it to a point that it is important to all of us. let's talk about the issues we care about and not what they are trying to put in their corner if you will. >> need to ask you a tough question you did incredibly well exceeded expectations with performances like that why aren't the numbers higher? >> if you look at the debate they have had a huge impact on this campaign. in the last couple of debates where the fields have been small enough, i have been sitting out on the end of most of these debates and not getting a whole lot of time. people are asking me why didn't you take on mitt romney b

, we can't wait for congress campaign. an earlier indicator of actions to come was his controversial pumpkin of several new so-called czars. the president is well within his rights to choose advisors, we all agree to that. which is what these positions now termed czars were supposed to be, just as advisors. however, it became clear that many of president obama's new high-level czars like the climate czar, for instance, were involved in crafting regulations and other roles normally reserved for senate-confirmed officials. why? because then they could be called to the senate committees to respond and have us operate our proper oversight funding. another example of president obama's disregard for congress is his administration's unilateral pursuit of climate change regulations. the house and senate have considered various proposals to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, but these have proved very controversial and very harmful to the economy. when the alignment legislation backed by president obama could not achieve sufficient

congress. today i want to announce some additional steps that we are taking. first, i've directed the establishment of a dod sexual assault advocate certification program. it will require our sexual assault response coordinators and victim advocates to obtain a credential aligned with national standards. this will help insure that the victims of sexual assault receive the best care from properly trained and credentialed professionals who can provide crucial assistance from the moment an assault is committed. second, i've directed the department to expand our support to asalt -- assault victims to include military spouses and adult military dependents who will now be able, this was not the case before, they will now be able to file confidential reports and receive the services of around victim advocate and a sexual assault response coordinator. in addition, we're going to insure that dod civilians stationed abroad and dod u.s. citizen contractors in combat areas receive emergency care and the he

congress returns to session next week. this morning, "washington journal" talked to a two reporters about what to expect from the point of commerce. -- 2012 congress. this is about that will be several popes on raising the debt limit. basically, congress has agreed to raise the debt limit last summer. this is a political vote of disapproving of the president's authority. the last time, partisan vote, democrats mostly voted for it, republicans against it. there will also be a boat in the senate on this, but it will not lead to anything because the president has the power to veto it. that is the main thing that will be happening on the house this week. host: kick sherman, the president will make his state of the union address next week. what kind of milestone is that, what will the big debate to be as congress looks at the agenda? guest: it will be a legislative preflight the year. the biggest thing they would deal with is a payroll tax cuts. obama likes to draw distinctions from republicans. that is what we expected to do i

every day. >> congress refuses to act. and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk. and i had an obligation as president to do what i can without them. >> eager to pick a fight with congress as part of his reelection strategy. president obama bypassed the confirmation process this week and installed richard cordray as the protection bureau and named three members to the national labor relations board and the white house is calling them recess appointment, even though the senate isn't in recess. so, kim, why are republicans so upset about this and they are? >> well, just as you said. the president has appointed these people to the very important agencies and the senate is not in recess. the issue here, they've been holding what are called pro forma sessions and a few senators meet and only briefly. now, the suspects pioneered this process to keep president bush from appointing any recess appointees, they would hold the brief sessions. now that the republicans are doing the same to president obama, preside

we will miss him when he leaves congress. we have a lot of things happening in the house of representatives. i do not pretend to speak authoritatively to the senate. we do not have two better advocates than the ones here. they work hard to focus attention in the senate. they worked hard on economic development issues and began to issue their colleagues on a bipartisan basis on the areas in which we can move together. we have a strong bicameral as well as bipartisan partnership in native american affairs. i would be remiss not to mention the administration as well. many of the personnel are here. i see it secretary echohawk here. also, secretary salazar. they've shown sustained interest and commitment to the movement of important legislation and administrative decisions for indian country. the administration has put in place advisors at senior levels in cabinet positions so that members coming in to those positions have immediately available advice and counsel from those who understand indian country. the presidential initiati

can we set aside that newt was a member of congress and used the skills he developed as a member of congress and went out and devised temperatures. he worked hard you see guys leave that alone and focus on the answers. >> what is your reaction to that? >> yeah. (applause) >> what advice? what are you telling these candidates? >> we want somebody to step up do the job and tell us what they are doing and work hard for us. >> david he's also controlling the dialogue letting the moderators control it. he kept it to a point that it is important to all of us. let's talk about the issues we care about and not what they are trying to put in their corner if you will. >> need to ask you a tough question you did incredibly well exceeded expectations with performances like that why aren't the numbers higher? >> if you look at the debate they have had a huge impact on this campaign. in the last couple of debates where the fields have been small enough, i have been sitting out on the end of most of these debates and not getting a whole lot of time. people are asking me why didn't you take on mitt romney b

i hear the senator saying that with the public's opinion, that congress at a -- with congress at a low point, we need to take action to restore public confidence. i think our amendment does that, closes loopholes in the laws of a lot -- to allow corruption to escape accountability. i believe we have to provide investigators and prosecutors the tools to provide officials the -- to hold accountable when they act corruptly. this agreement will strengthen and clarify key aspects of federal criminal law, to help investigators and prosecutors attack public corruption nationwide. i should note, mr. president, the senate judiciary committee has reported this bill with bipartisan support in three successive congresses, and i would note that the house judiciary committee under a republican chairman repeatly reported a companion bill and did so unanimously. every republican, every democrat voted for it. so i believe it's time for congress to pass serious anticorruption legislation. we have demonstrated that this is something that could bring both republicans and democrats together, and we ought t

the letters authorizes congress, tells congress it could authorize private ships to fight pirates. the titles of nobility clause says the government can't make you a duke government says the government officials of the united states can't accept a duke shih. the bill prohibits legislative punishment and the third amendment says the soldiers, the army cannot order their soldiers in private houses without consent. a practice that in 18 centuries led directly to the tea party. the real tea party, not our tea party. i got the idea for this book about 10 years ago. i was working at the office of legal counsel which is a small office in the justice department, which gives constitutional advice to the executive branch. it's the office which made the news when long, long, long after i left the road the torture report. and even though in law school i learned about account the constitution of you study in glasgow, you only study certain parts of the. you study the first of them, the fourth amendment, but as an office of legal council i to deal with lots of these little odd clauses that nobod

understand that these are members of congress who have completed enough service in the congress to qualify for a pension. it's my understanding that is about six years. at a minimum ox years of service members of congress receive some pension benefits. certainly those benefits increase the longer they've served. this bill would disqualify them from pensions that they have been credited and earned as members of congress under three conditions. first, should they decide after they have served in congress to serve as a registered lobbyist, that in and of itself is breathtaking, to think that if a person should decide after service in congress to become a registered lobbyist with or without compensation, i might add, for perhaps a nonprofit organization, they would forfeit their federal pension. that in and of itself is inexplicable. it gets worse. this goes not to on to say a member of congress retired forgets his pension if he accepts any kind of remuneration which could be a salary, a consulting fee, even an honorarium for giving a speech from any company or other private entity that employ

let's make sure that people that bundle campaign contributions for congress can't lobby congress and vice versa. an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of washington. some of what is broken is the way congress does business these days. a simple majority is no longer enough to get anything, even routine business passed through the senate neither party has been blameless in these tactics. now, both parties should put an end to it. [ applause ] for starters, i ask them to pass a simple rule, that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days. [ applause ] >> the executive branch also needs to change. too often it's inefficient, outdated and remote. [ applause ] >> that is why i asked the congress to granted me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy so it's more responsive to the needs of the american people. [ applause ] >> finally none of this can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. we need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction,

this corporate takeover of our congress that i was just referencing in that room. pseudo state of the union address is not accidental it was put into motion back in one thousand nine hundred six by a group of robber barrons railroad actual robber barons claiming that the fourteenth amendment which was passed in eight hundred sixty eight to free the slaves also freed the corporations because want to reference the word persons it didn't have the word natural before it which would be humans the supreme court pick this up dozens of times over the years most recently was citizens united but the fact of the matter is that no congress has ever passed a law saying that corporations are people or that money is speech. and the money is speeches that are probably no president has ever pushed for it on the contrary many presidents have condemned it and going all the way back to grover cleveland in eight hundred eighty seven the year after the santa clara county decision in the supreme court where he said that corporations had become the masters of the people and that their iro

and from the congress, to and from their work. what a weird thing to put in the constitution, right? a fundamental law of the government and your choice is to put something in about how the president for example cannot arrest a member of congress going to and from work. how paranoid must they have been in order to think that if they had to specifically prohibit that and so i think if you read the whole constitution you get a sense of what else well as a lot of the things. second point is that a lot of them and do very important work even if the average person or lawyer has never heard of them or the media never talks about them when it never, it never makes it to any court of third amendment is one example when the army asked to order some soldiers in your condo. but i want to give another taste that's more important and it's a little complicated but the payoff is worth that. there's something called the an eligible because. television is a visual media and so i brought this. this is the ineligible equals i wish i had a mirror and

listen for the tone he takes when he talks about congress and his relationship with congress, wolf. >> jessica, stand by. kate baldwin is over at statutory hall where all the members will be going through before the enter the chamber. kate is there with a special guest. >> reporter: i am here with a special guest. we are here at statutory hall, where all the big players come before heading to the house chamber. i'm here with senator john thune of sandusky, the number three n incoming senate republican, if i'm correct, newly elected to the chair of the senate conference committee. >> that's correct. >> reporter: that is correct. senator, we've all heard a lot about the themes of tonight and seen excerpts of the president's speech. what are you hoping to hear from president obama this evening? >> i think this is largely a campaign oriented speech. the president will talk largely about things he wants to talk about on the campaign this year, a political year. you will hear him talk about fairness, to us, code for class warfare and code for tax increases. the president will try and put th

it would have to go to congress. congress would have to pass it. this is a president who is campaigning against a do-nothing congress. he's saying if you could get those underwater homeowners a way to try to get -- to take advantage of low mortgage rates it would be helpful to the tune of $3,000 a year. who's underwater? one in four, kyra. you could very well be underwater, my dear, and i could be underwater, too. anybody who's bought in the last five or six years probably is. that means you owe more on the mortgage than the house is worth. if you're underwater, you can't take advantage of the super low mortgage rates because the bank says you're underwater on your loan, you don't qualify. the president saying that he has a new plan that would help people be able to be eligible for refinancing and we're going to learn more about it in the days ahead. >> i'll tell you. we need it in this country for sure. we need some type of new plan to help folks. >> haven't been able to fix the housing market. >> christine, thanks. >>> i'll tell you what, it was

let's make sure that people who bundle campaign contributions for congress cannot lobby congress, and vice versa. an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of washington. host: from the baltimore sun, the president tarp it's the economy. these and the issues that will dominate the 2012 election. john on our twitter page says democrats are hilarious. only tax cuts for their baser good for the economy. all others are bad. ron joins us from illinois, the democrats' line. caller: i cannot believe my fellow democrats are still drinking the same kool-aid. it is ridiculous. anyone out of work, on on employment, or welfare should not even be considering this administration. he is leading us down the path and these democrats in love with our president, which i was at one time, are going to follow him and chop off the cliff, just so they can keep him in office. host: what changed? caller: his speech, when he became president, i thought it was one of the great speeches and i thought that is where the country should go. but then, let me tell you this, when he first came into office in

the letters of mark clause authorizes congress, tells congress that this can authorize private ships to fight pirates, we'll talk more about that later. title. s of nobility clause says that the government of the united states cannot accept a dukeship. the bill of attainder prohibits legislative punishment l, and the third amendment -- [laughter] says that the soldiers, the army can't porter their soldiers in private houses without consent. a process, rather, that in the 18th century led directly to the tea party. the real tea party, not our tea party. i got the idea for this book, i got the idea for this book about ten years ago. i was working at the office of legal counsel which is a small office in the justice department which gives constitutional advice to the executive branch. it's the office which made the news when long, long, long after i left it wrote the torture memo. and even though in law school i learned a lot about the constitution, you study a lot about the constitution in law school, you only study certain parts of it. you study the first amendment, the fourth amendme

not because it may not be a good idea because it's an election year and right now nobody in congress wants to have something which happened yesterday happen closer to the election it's just not going to it's just not going to fly you know after the election is over that's a different story but right now this whole issue is really just just is not so so it was similar but already the dollars tax reduced the new open bill in the house so you know i think they are moving forward with ok i want to change gears a little bit here just jason if i'm going to do an ad also ok go ahead jason jump in. i was going to say on the open act an important distinction is that there is the there is available of independent review before any of this censorship actually happens which is something that i think is very important for protecting freedom of speech in which is one of the principal defects of so far in the protect id act one of the things that the white house has zero going on ok if i can ask you and i think was pretty impressive this seven thousand maybe more sites when i went dark on wednesday

you are expressing his views to the congress. there are 535 other people who think they ought to be president of the united states and spent a great deal of time communicating their views back to you. i like the analogy that prince phillip told me when barbara bush came to me. oh, you're the ping pong ball. that is the way i felt. i looked at it more like crystal ball gazing. we had to put together the numbers that we needed to be able to have success with the president. a look at the 1988 elections. 260 to 175 split in terms of democrats and republicans. the senate was a 54/46 split with democrats and republicans. although george bush won 53% of the vote, that was the situation we faced as we began service in 1989. we probably were the victims of our own success. i served for a couple of years on the senate legislative team for president reagan. during a period of time when we had control of the united states senate. from 1980 to 1986. at that point in time, i say we were products of our own success. it was sort of the beginning

congress and u.s. house of representatives. more members of the congress walking in. jessica yellin is there. what is the most important thing the president of the united states needs to accomplish tonight? >> reporter: he needs to convince the american people he has a vision for improving the economy that can work and already started to work. he will not only lay out that vision but tout his accomplishments. he'll start ticking off data to convince people he's gotten the economy going even though it's not where it needs to be yet. the person at that speech, very important to making this case is debbie bosanek, if that's how you pronounce it, warren buffet's secretary getting a tax rate higher than her boss, warren buffet, the billionaire and going to make the case she is an example of an unfair society she has to get a different tax rate. it's the same day mitt romney released his tax returns, wolf. this is an important contrast, sort of subtle. he's make this case over and over throughout the speech, he stands for a fairer society where people like her will get a fa