one of us is in his 50s. and the other isn't, ladies. >> tonight you're on my show, mr. lopez. old man. we'll see what happens, shall we? is it a good thing being single at 50? or is it fraught with pit falls and potholes? >> well, i'm 50. so i think i'm fraught with pit falls and potholes. if you look at my face, i'm a little indian. a little sanjay gupta but then a little mexican as well. i'll not native-american enough to get a casino but do i black out when i drink occasionally. >> good evening. if washington can't get its act together and soon, this country runs a risk of unprecedented national default. it would lead to rising interest rates and the rising karla. you might not get a car loan and your 401(k) could take a hit. what is your government doing about it? the white house presecretary jay carney joins me now. i can imagine the white house is pretty busy right now. how are you seeing the next few days playing out? it seems to neutral observers that we were watching a high stake game of brinksmanship last night. somebody has to blink, don't they? >> wshlg look, piers, the reason the president spoke to the nation last night. he fell it was very important that the american people understand what is happening here in washington. a lot of times the debates we here sound like food fights. and people go about their business and just assume that in the end, washington will do the right thing to make sure that the government continues to function and that we maintain the full faith and credit of the united states. that go to the heart of the matter. as you mentioned, we are moving fast toward a deadline beyond which the united states will no longer have borrowing authority. if that were to come to pass for the first time in our his trirk interest rates would go up. a lot of bad thing would happen. we believe, we are optimistic that congress will eventually document its senses if you will. come together and create a bipartisan compromise to raise the debt ceiling and also to significantly reduce the deficit. >> what is concerning the experts down in washington is the kind of implacable nature of this debate right now. and the suspicion, a lot of is it geared toward the fact we have an election year coming up. the republicans are taking a bit of a punt, some of them. if there is a default. that could back fire on the president. the poll would suggest us not necessarily the case. if there was a default, the public may blame the republicans. either way, one thing the public are definitely getting very, very angry about is what they see as political posturing. how confident can you be to the american public that a deal will get done? >> well, we are confident the president is confident, if you will, sanity will prevail. while there are certain members of congress who seem to think that defaulting on our obligations for the first time in our history wouldn't be such a serious thing, we couldn't disagree more strongly. and those folks, we believe, are in the minority. most of the elected member of congress understand that there is no option here. we have to take the necessary action to ensure simply that we pay the bills that we've already run up. this was not about when we talk about raising the debt ceiling. this is not about giving money to the government to spend on future obligations. this is simply about paying the bill that congress has already put on the credit card. and we have never defaulted on our obligations, the united states of america, in our past and we cannot start now. the consequences would be grave for every american. that's why we have to move. congress has to put aside the partisan rituals and come together and accept a compromise that nobody likes 100%. but is good enough to get through congress, to get support from democrats and republicans. land on the president's desk and be signed into law. >> this word compromise is the key word here. everyone is using. the president used it numerous time last night. you yourself suggested that we were pretty close to compromise between the preand speaker boehner. they both talked in a very long way about each other and they shared this golf course in a long way. what went on here? it seems to everybody we were very close to a deal. and these two men were getting on very well. then boom, it all seemed to splinter. what happened? >> well, there were as you said, serious negotiations between the president and the speaker of the house. the republican speaker of the house. obviously, they don't agree on a number of issue. their big differences and principle differences. each gentleman was convinced there was a way to reach compromise. we came very close. that involved tough political decisions. it included a willingness to cut deeply in our discretionary spending. a willingness to reinform our entitlement programs and a willingness by republicans to find savings in our pentagon budget and saving tlus tax code to raise revv neufville that is what was on the table. we came very close. and we never walk away from those negotiations. we never issued any ultimatums and we believe that that grand compromise is still available if there is political will to do it. the reason why it ended, we brief, it is politically painful for everybody. the president realized he would take a lot of political heat if we got this grand bargain from his own party. certainly the speaker of the house might have. the president was willing to do that because he thought it was the right thing to do. we implore the speaker and other republicans to be willing to do that as well. look. if a grand bargain isn't possible now, we can still achieve something significant. and whatever we achieve in temperature of deficit reduction, even if it doesn't include entitlement reform and tax reform, it has to include one thing. it has to remove the cloud hanging over our economy right now and causing all this uncertainty. the uncertainty about whether or not we will continue as the united states of america to honor our obligations and pay our bills. that has to happen and it has to happen before august 2. >> jay carney, i wish you all great good luck with this. i think you owe it to the american people to get this done and i hope that you do. thank you for joining me. >> thank you, piers. it is increasingly possible that congress will not make a deal to raise the debt ceiling by august 2. so he is pushing to build the interest on the debt. send out social security checks and pay active duty military. and senator toomey joins me now. you clearly believe we are headed for a default. >> there is no situation on which we'll defall on our debt. the treasury won't admit that publicly but they are making private phone calls to big investors acknowledging, they'll make sure they don't default. it is not something i am hoping for. i have said from the beginning, i hope we can find a solution that will allow to us trays debt limit and aroid the disruption that will occur. but nobody can guarantee that. that's why i think the only responsible thing to do is to have a plan b. one in which we would priority ties most vital payments. make sure they are made in full on time. the service of our debt so we don't have a catastrophic default. social security payments to seniors so they can know they'll get the payments they've earned through their own contributions and payment to active duty military. the men and women who are risking their lives for us deserve that insurance. >> senator, it is very laudable, what you're saying but there is a contradiction there. if there is no risk of a default in your eyes, why are you wasting time making the provisions? >> you're putting words in my mouth. i didn't say there is no rick of a default. there is no rick. there is a risk that we won't be able to pay all the obligations. we would pay our debt service. we would pay social security, active duty military. there are departments in this government that wouldn't be fully funded. until we reach a solution and raise the debt limit, we would have this awkward period which is why i'm not advocating it. i still think we ought to differentiate between really vital items and the thing we have to wait on until we have a solution. >> most i'm i've talked to think that although it is a catastrophic situation, it is unlikely we'll end in default and we're seeing political posturing at its most ferocious. much more worrying for the long material economy of america is the possibility of america's credit rating being brought down. if that was to happen, and we are hearing this could happen even before august 2. that would be very serious, wouldn't it? >> i think it would be. and it is very problem attic. the rating agencies have been clear. they will downgrade our debt if we don't do enough to fix the fundamental structural problem with overspending and massive deficits. one of my biggest worries is that we'll raise the debt limit without the spending cuts and structural reforms that we badly need. if we do that, we'll have a downgrade of our debt despite having raised the debt limit. >> you are one of the people who signed on to the pledge. no tax increases whatsoever under any circumstances. surely when you get to a situation like this with all the doomsday scenario that's could unfurl, you have to consider the unthinkable, don't you? he didn't last nature on my show. i would think all right-minded republicans have to be open to the possibility that you have to raise taxes. >> that i think will do doog our economy. in time it will move to us a second-tier tower. we have double spending since two thoufl we have increased spending. spending that was at or below 20% of gdp is now almost 25% of gdp. the rate structure, the tax regime we have had us in 2007 with a nearly balanced budget. a deficit of only 1.2% of gdp. the problem isn't that we're undertaxed. we are spending way too much. if we don't come to grips with that, any number of debt increases won't be the problem. >> the president spoke strongly of compromise. compromise means that the people on both sides of this argument to have give a little waffle do you think they will have to give? >> i've argued from the beginning that we ought to be willing to raise it by the full amount the president asked. even getting him past his election as he is very insistent on if he will do just one thing. agree with us to put our federal bougt a path to a balanced budget. when bill clinton was president in the 1990s, he accepted the premise we ought to go for a balanced budget. we argued for a while about how long it should take to get there. together the republican congress they got there. it happened because president clinton was willing to accept that premise. president obama rejects that premise. doesn't think we need or ought to have a balanced budget. and i think that's the fundamental disconnect. if he would agree to this, there would be a great deal of compromise on how quickly we get there. >> thank you very much indeed. >> thanks for having me. coming up next, a man who is as opinionated as he is funny. ♪ let me entertain you ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] with beats audio and flash, you can experience richer music and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad with webos. i don't know. the usual? 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[ blower whirring ] [blower stops] the safety was off. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive. unlike fish oil, megared softgels are small and easy to swallow with no fishy smell or aftertaste. try megared today. george, welcome. >> piers, i'm very excited to be here. >> how do you like being interviewed? as a man, you interview so many other people. >> i don't have a problem with it as much as some of the people i work with. i try to be honest. so i do. it's been interesting for me. i've exceeded my own expectations, seriously, of what i had planned out when i first started in the business. so it is all fun. >> don't you find as you get more famous and successful, being very honest and candid is problemattic? >> you're your own boss. you are in an enclosed area i try my best to curtail people using there cameras or video cameras some things are just meant for that particular room. it has chase someday very good comedians out of clubs. >> your stand-up routine has pushed boundaries. do you find constant conflict between those two roles? >> it is interesting. as a child growing up, and a lot of our great sitcom come from british shows. carroll o'connor created a character that you could probably not do today. everybody is so safe. but in a sense, social comary has, from comedians has been what people look forward to. dick gregory, lenny bruce, there has been, chris rock, there has been a huge list of comedians that have fallen into that. and you need to think as you progress further in years, that window shuts. >> a new world now on this tv late night war zone. urn very gracious in welcoming conan. you describe jay leno as the biggest two-faced dude and a back stabber. >> was that me? >> i'm afraid so. >> you know, i will say this. i do not have a personal relationship with jay leno. we are not friends. nor have we ever been friendly. i've heard some things said about me by him that i took exception to. >> like what? >> you know, there were things that he said that i was not appropriate to people of my own color. which i found disingenuous from somebody else. that's a pretty big chip to pull out. and i disagreed with that. >> what did he mean by that, do you think? >> i think when you understand the material, you understand it. when you don't get it, you might think i'm negative toward my own people. >> it struck me as strange. he's always been unbelievably core just. he has a chat, a cup of coffee. yet he seems to attract from all his competitors extraordinary amount of anti-pathy. >> there is not a union of super heroes among late night talk shows. i just met david letterman for the first time. i've known conan for a whifl i know jimmy kimmel, i know craig ferguson. and to a man, i think the one thing that we all agree on is we're all not crazy about jay leno. >> why is that? >> i have no idea. >> fascinating. i think in our own personal dealings with him, some people get along and some people don't. >> is he. more competitive than people realize? >> i don't know if competition is the right word. i think he is more interested in e else than he should be. >> do you think he sees you as a threat? >> no, no. listen, i'm struggling to maintain my -- >> doesn't everybody in the end in this game, don't you all aspire to "the tonight show"? isn't that the holy grail still? >> if you ask me personally, you didn't ask me, who i thought should have been the host of tonight show. when johnny carson left, which i was fortunate enough to do that show with him in 1991. i thought the heir apparent was david letterman. >> how did you feel when conan and jay had their huge split? >> well, you know, personally in my opinion, i don't think that "the tonight show" should have been offered to conan o'brien. i think they probably should have kept jay in there. he was doing well. the ratings were great. when they made that move, and conan was happy at 12:30 and he was doing all right. i think they messed with a formula that was already fine as it was and then it shook up everything he will. as a result, neither of them talk to each other at all. >> that at all. >> complete silence. it a shame. >> it is. this business is a game. when you're done with the show, you take your uniform off and you go home and you may again tomorrow. >> i want to may a clip from when i was on. >> i'm not sure they're all here for juror. >> i will see you on your show. i'll taping your show on friday. to air at another time. >> you are. >> i love it. >> and nothing is off limits. >> you're going to to get it, lopez! >> so george, nothing is off limits. >> that was apparently said. i think i was misquoted. >> i deliberately replayed that. going to the first break with you now feeling like there is a sentence you wish you had never said on air. see you in a moment, george. thanks to the venture card from capital one, we get double miles on every purchase, so me and the boys earned a trip to dc twice as fast! oh hi! we get double miles every time we use our card. and since double miles add up fast... one more chariot please. ...we can bring the whole gang! i cannot tell a lie. he did it. right... it's hard to beat double miles! read my lips -- no new axes! 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[ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ we're going to do something my mother never did for me. >> you're going to breast feed him? >> we're going outside the family and get somebody to help. we're going to get him a tutor. >> you don't need a tutor. you know, having a dumb kid, is nothing to be ashamed of. i was not. >> that was the george lopez show. your life is completely fascinating. i had no idea about most of your life. and when i met you a few time, let's find out more about george lopez. i read up about you and i was quite shocked, actually what you had been through. you talk about troubled comedians. your life was beyond that. i read this quote here. i was never encouraged or congratulated by anybody or included in anythingism didn't come from a home where people asked, did you have a good day or cared what i was doing or what i wanted to be. i fill that void with the laughs and adulation from doing comedy. i have other comedians talking about a lack of love in their early lives which led them to seek applause and affirmation from an audience. never quite as stringing as you seem to have done. >> of all the comedians i've met, i don't think any had the situation i had. i never knew my father. my mother was epileptic and illiterate. >> they both left before you were like 10 or 11 years old. >> yeah. and it was difficult for her to be around. mentally she was probably like an 8-year-old. and when you have a child like, that it didn't matter to her what i did. and if i would have been raised by her, i'm not sure what would have happened to me. there are a lot of stories about me being neglected and left at my grandmother ended up