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Legislation and where we are? >> well, if they are going to pass it, bret, they will have to do it with a whole lot of democrats because as i am looking here tonight and talking to republicans in the house caucus they are not happy about this. they don't like this. this is a to them they have been jammed. and they don't like it. and they have been left over to the last minute. and they knew this when the president rejected the idea -- if we think about it this way, the president rejected $800 billion in new tax revenue from tax loophole closures and said that it had to be a rate increase and h...

He was elected president, not prime minister. he can't dictate to the house the way he would in england. >> as we look forward here, i heard you mention the debt commission and that's come up a couple times, that we've been down this road before with congress kind of bringing us to the brink but they always do a back deal. that has a longer lasting effect on the economy because every time we go through this, the markets react. people pull back. talk to me a little bit about what's forecasted for tuesday? we're get to hit the debt ceiling. >> a perfect storm. >> yes, but maybe it's one we need ...

Didn't the clinton era economy differ some of the best numbers we had seen as a country on wall street as individuals that we're all watching our 401(k)s, also delivered to you when you came in to take over your speakership, a surplus budget that then went away under the bush years. >> well, we didn't have a surplus budget until i became speaker. one of the reasons we did, we stuck to the spending levels. i remember negotiating with clinton, funny, the first time we had a budget, he happened to be in a limousine in turkey. i had to call him at 2:00 in the morning to get him in the morning. thi...

December 31st, 650 billion in cuts to the pentagon and domestic programs and tax increases automatically go into effect. after the meeting, the finger-pointing came quickly. republicans say democrats aren't bringing to the table a plan that include significant cuts to medicare and entitlement programs. >> revenue was only on the table. if they were serious. spending cuts. >> the white house drew its own line in the sand and said tax rates must go up on the top earners, but -- >> the middle-class tax cut should be made permanent. >> president obama stayed out of the fiscal cliff discussions and...

May mean breaking a long-standing pledge on taxes. >> reporter: the senate's back in session, and the countdown to the fiscal cliff now stands at five weeks. if congress doesn't act, $650 billion in spending cuts and tax increases automatically go into effect on january 1st. there are now increasing signs that republicans may be willing to deal on the most controversial issue -- taxes. but for many republicans, doing just that would mean breaking a pledge to not raise taxes and taking the political risks that come with it. the "no new taxes" pledge is the brainchild of grover norquist, preside...