the report identified these senators as possible defectors from the party s position on taxes. the ed show was contacted by senator jay rockefeller of west virginia today and his office issued this statement. they are saying, as deficit reduction talks continue, i m squarely focused on making sure the middle class and the most vulnerable aren t left to shoulder the burden, and that the very wealthy pay their fair share. coming up, papa john s ceo changes his tune on obama care after a public backlash. stay with us. you re watching the ed show on msnbc.
that means borrowing becomes even more expensive, ed. and that means that our fiscal problems get even worse. and you said it a moment ago, going back to the affordable care act. the affordable care act reduces the deficit. so the question is, what games are being played? and, basically, what i m saying to the speaker is, please don t play games. exercise the leadership that i know you re capable of. and stand up and let folks know that we ve got to move forward. okay. congressman elijah cummings, great to have you with us tonight. good to be with you, ed. appreciate your time here on the ed show. we have an update on our report on debt negotiations from last night. we told you about a bloomberg news report on seven democratic senators from solidly red states who were up for re-election in 2014. the report identified these senators as possible defectors from the party s position on taxes. the ed show was contacted by senator jay rockefeller of west virginia today and his offi
system to end these overpayments. but we don t support the republican approach of transferring the costs on to seniors. that doesn t solve the problem. we need to contain health care costs throughout the system, not just pass those costs on to seniors. can you keep social security off the table? we have said and we have been very clear about this. social security cannot be part of the deficit reduction talks. we are willing to consider social security on its own merits to strengthen social security. remembering that social security can pay 100 cents on the dollar until the year 2034. after that, you do have a shortfall of 25 cents on the dollar. we should plan sooner rather than later, but that should not be part of the deficit reduction equation. the republicans want to privatize it. they re going to go down that road. when they say reform, they are talking about cuts. so that s something we re going to have to follow.
save money by improving the incentives in the medicare system to end these overpayments. but we don t support the republican approach of transferring the costs on to seniors. that doesn t solve the problem. we need to contain health care costs throughout the system, not just pass those costs on to seniors. can you keep social security off the table? we have said and we have been very clear about this. social security cannot be part of the deficit reduction talks. we are willing to consider social security on its own merits to strengthen social security. remembering that social security can pay 100 cents on the dollar until the year 2034. after that, you do have a shortfall of 25 cents on the dollar. we should plan sooner rather than later, but that should not be part of the deficit reduction equation. when they say reform, they
roll call, a transportation bill that would create 2 million jobs across america and a lot of business opportunities. the house of representatives refuses to even raise it for a 1r0e9. now we have the conference committee coming forward. we need to make this the highest priority to be done before july 1st. there are talks, secret talks we understand going on on the hill. you ve been involved with the gang of six, involved with all of the deficit reduction talks, are you involved in definite at this time reduction talks to try to come up with legislation that would at least be ready to go in november? yes, we are. it s a bipartisan group, some 32 senators. i think it would encourage a lot of people across america to see we re a lot way from an agreement, but there is a common feeling, if we can work together in the senate on a bipartisan basis, we can produce a starting points for this conversation the day after the election. does this include entitlements, changes in medicare,