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Bitter for the gop to follow because of sledgehammer approach cutting all discretionary programs including defense. on the eve of its taking effect the president slammed plan his own team had crafted. >> these cuts are not smart, they are not fair, they will hurt our economy. they will add hundreds of thousands of americans to the unemployment rolls. >> reporter: today as we all know sequestration is the law of the land. the only budget-cutting mechanism that managed to block congress's access to the all-you-can-eat bar of government spending. >> sequestration is better than sliced bread. it i...

Exempt? got our attention. gerri willis, anchor of the "the willis report", good morning. >> good morning, bill. bill: is there a little end around here? >> these folks may be cutting off their nose to spite their face, because they will not be exempt, they can get cut, too. that's the way this thing is going to work, it's going hit almost every federal program, mandatory programs, discretionary programs. the only programs exempt, social security, some of the programs for the poor, and there's one other category, veterans' programs cannot be touched. bill: that's a good point, they're going to...

I want you to take a listen to what senator jeff sessions said on our show yesterday about entitlements and discretionary spending. >> i have to tell you, almost every or dollar of that 1.5 trillion is not coming from entitlement shortfalls, but it's coming from discretionary spending. entitlements are only slightly in deficit right now. they'll get worse in the out years. jenna: so we hear sometimes spite elements -- entitlements are the evil enemy, then we hear discretionary spending is the evil enemy. which is worse? >> it's all of the above. they differ if in the following important way. i...

>> there is paygo. for discretionary programs, there are spending caps. let's look at paygo first. >> i have long been an advocate for paygo. if someone is going to propose a tax cut, they have to pay for it. if someone is going to propose an increase in mandatory spending, they have to find a way to pay for it. >> our fiscal challenge is too great to be solved with any one step alone. last week, i signed into law the pay-go bill. it says that the united states should pay as we go and live within our means, as responsible americans do. >> this is a weak version. a strong pay-go would not exemp...

So cut spending or raise taxes, both very unpopular choices in washington where there is an election cycle around every corner. the last time we cut the debt was in the '90s under former president clinton. that was the last time we actually had a budget surplus, and some say the economy was going in the right direction to help that along. the reason tough spending rules also require congress to pay for things as they go, also known as paygo. >> there are two different types of categories and budget tools that can really help fix the situation. there is one category that helps fix budget rules....