Page 24 - Debt Increase News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> i think there's no question the debt increase will have conditions, a foregone conclusion, you hear leiberman and moderate democrats. the question is how we go about that reduction. the public is overwhelmingly concerned with jobs and economic recovery. i think obama has won the debate on that. every major economic indicator is all in the right direction compared to what obama inherited. i think obama has won that debate, the more important of these two. on the question of debt reduction, obama will quickly occupy the political senter and republicans are looking as emstreami emstreamists....

The government, and shouldn't you all be embarrassed? >> well, we're here because the democrats didn't pass a budget last year. for the first time since 1974, the house didn't even bother trying to pass a budget last year, so that's why we're here. now, i feel like we had a pretty good outcome. we represented one-third of the negotiators, but we got two-thirds of the spending cuts we were asking for. this is really still a drop in the bucket. we want to move from talking about saving billions to saving trillions of dollars. >> and that's what's in the substance of your budget. >> budget, right...

Think the political equivalent of brain surgery, trying to negotiate cuts that are enough for republicans to take home to support a debt increase, but not so much that democrats just can't go along with it at all. >> and in talking to some republicans, i think the difference this time is that john boehner doesn't really control his own caucus. whatever you think of the job that he's trying to do, these preliminary run-up votes show that you've got new members in the republican caucus who aren't the same as the old-style members of congress. they don't seem to care if they aren't re-elected. an...

14 to 15 trillion. i think the governor is completely correct if you've got out of control spending and debt you don't just increase the federal credit card limit. you've got to get something in return for that, some path to a balanced budget. bill: what he said was put the interest and debt payments ahead of other federal spending. does that mean you pay china first. >> reporter: it means we honor our debt obligations first. i agree with that. if it comes to the point, bill where there is a standoff between the president and the congress, where the congress says we will only agree to a debt i...

Done. where they fell short. peter doocy? >> reporter: the 111th congress concluded with an 83% disapproval rating according to gallop. a 30-year record. even though they got a thumbs down from the majority of the american public, democrats are happy with the way things happened, while they controlled both houses. >> it was a congress that was tough and acted and changed things in america. >> reporter: democrats pat themselves op the back for getting several pieces of major legislation through during the congress, including the mass iver overall, the first responders bill, start treaty, food s...