senator tom coburn is recovering from a procedure to treat prostate cancer. a spokesperson says he is expected to recover fully and be at work later this month. he was also a physician and has survived two other forms of cancer serving a second term in the senate. >>> coming up next, a major milestone for the cell phone industry. how they seem to be invading the country. >> major changes in the weather on the way. steve rudin has a look at the rainy forecast. >> redskins gearing up for the eagles. the terrapins may have a quarterback controversy. and the capitals still one last night. i will show you the goal everybody is talking about. [ female announcer ] this is trish. trish uses aetna's personal health record to track her kids' immunizations, get lab results, see her family medical history and when she's at the doctor'r's office, she uses it to remember what to ask before she leaves. it helps trish keep everyone in her clan healthy. even on the go. see for yourself, aetna.com. ♪ ♪ aetna. know more. get better. >>> we continue with finalizing the name

tom coburn is an extremely conservative republican. he was on that committee. in the bowles commission, you would have had $1.10 trillion stripped out of loopholes, but returned only $1 trillion in tax cuts, meaning he would have a surplus in the treasury of $100 billion. coburn signed on to that. any republican offered a deal like that would do it. the problem is, you need a president to appoint the commission, says he waits until the recommendations to do anything -- you'd need a president who will embrace it and present 8. you would have republicans agree to that. he never even attempted it. >> it is too bad that mitch mcconnell is holding the reins. talk about a tactical i list -- tactical nihilist. >> charles has rewritten history. before the congress was the kent proposal.judd gregg five republicans who co- sponsored that in the senate were pulled off of it by mitch mcconnell. we had to get 14 votes on simpson-bowles to even make it 8 serious recommendation bid that was put in by republicans. this is not all virtue, all vice -- >> the vote bowles-simpson

tom coburn is an extremely conservative republican. he was on that committee. in the bowles recommendation, $1.10 trillion strip out of loopholes, meaning money in the treasury, but returned only $1 trillion in tax cuts, meaning he would leave a surplus in the treasury, a tax increase, of $100 billion. coburn signed on to that. any republican offered a deal like that would do it. the problem is, you need a president who appoints a commission, says he waits until its recommendations to do anything -- you need a president could will embrace it and present 8. he would have had the republicans agree to that. he never even attempted -- >> mitch mcconnell -- talk about a tactical nihilist. his idea is to do nothing. >> charles has written history, all right? -- rewritten history come alive? before the congress, the kent gregg-judgd proposal. five republicans who co- sponsored the at in the senate were told of it by mitch mcconnell. we had to get 14 votes on simpson-bowles to even make it a serious recommendation. that was put in by republicans. this is not all-virtue

senator tom coburn, we are dealing with colossal problems. we were talking to the ceo of dow chemical, andrew liverus a couple of days ago about the need for a meaningful global debt restructuring, not piecemeal, and a path to explosive growth. why are we not seeing more provocative or diverse thought from the super committee? >> oh, dylan, i'm not sure you're not. i think the only thing you're hearing is what they want you to hear, as they get closer and closer in toward their cutoff date, i think you'll see a lot of movement. the hope would be is that they do something very big, that they would restructure our tax system in this country to promote growth, to direct capital in the way it should go, based on what's the best return for our economy as a whole. i'm going to cut them a little slack, because all the public statements they're going to make now belie the fact that they're going to have to compromise if they're going to come up with something. and my hope would be that they would come up with something. whatever it is, if it's small,

some word today that senator tom coburn of oklahoma may look to get in. but this is basically it. the republican nominee is most likely in the field right now. >> what is the bottom line tonight on what all that shopping around meant? >> reporter: well, chris christie says it has something to do with him, that's partly true. but this is really about president obama. look at this graphic right here. the president's job approval has dropped to 42%, the lowest of his presidency and that is the real danger zone for incumbents. and there's one other poll finding that has the race so unsettled and why romney should be feeling pretty good, and that is the fickle tea party. look at their support. michele bachmann in july, rick perry in september, herman cain right now. but romney has been basically the steady second choice all the way around. so, as long as that vote is still split, he's in decent shape but he wants to get some of them. >> all right, george stephanopoulos and the field apparently set tonight for the big race. thank you. >>> and now we want to show you an amazing scene in

coburn. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ horn honks ] hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits

some word today that senator tom coburn of oklahoma may look to get in. but this is basically it. the republican nominee is most likely in the field right now. >> what is the bottom line tonight on what all that shopping around meant? >> reporter: well, chris christie says it has something to do with him, i think pathat' partly true. but this is really about president obama. and his political strength. look at this graphic right here. the president's job approval has dropped to 42%, the lowest of his presidency and that is the real danger zone for incumbents. and there's one other poll finding that i think sheds some insight into why this race is so unsettled and why romney should be feeling pretty good, and that is the fickle tea party. look at their support. they were for michele bachmann in july, rick perry in september, herman cain right now in our latest poll. but romney has been basically the steady second choice all the way around. so, as long as that vote is still split, he's in decent shape but of course he wants to get some of them. >> all right, george stephanopoulos an

senator tom coburn of oklahoma. his spokesman says that he's expected to make a full recovery after undergoing surgery yesterday for prostate cancer. the 63-year-old senator is expected to return to his full- time duty later on this month. he was treated previously for two other forms of cancer, malignant melanoma and colon cancer. >>> the economy takes center stage today. this morning president obama travels to pennsylvania to put his jobs bill -- to push his jobs bill and to talk about it destructor project. >> and tonight the republican presidential candidates will focus solely on the economy. john hendren has a preview. good morning. >> good morning. the presidential debate tonight could get interesting. it is supposed to be all about jobs and the economy. for at least two candidates is likely to be all about attacking each other. get ready for a full frontal assault. >> mitt romney as a flip-flop on so many issues. >> as a republican presidential -- as the republican presidential candidates prepare for debate,

senator tom coburn of oklahoma has a problem of that and accused him of defrauding the government. he said if stanley here was capable enough to build large cribs, build himself large high chairs, then he was capable enough to work. >> i know some people that are perfectly fine with it and i've had others that are just angry. like they think it's an automatic that you're a pedophile, because you're into it. >> i knew you guys would have a lot of questions, i've got todd on the line. todd is similar to stanley, he has the same fetish, he likes to wear diapers. >> for some people it's a fetish. for some people it's not. for some people it is a lifestyle choice that might be different from others, obviously. it basically boils down to a role-playing. rather than for sexual or not. >> how old were you when you realized you liked to wear diapers? >> i knew i liked wearing diapers before i knew i was gay. and i knew i was gay when i was nine. >> stanley's live-in roommate passed away earlier this summer during the height of the controversy and stanley has cleared up fraud and has demande

oklahoma senator tom coburn expected to make a full recovery after having surgery for prostate cancer. doctors say yesterday's surgery in tulsa was a success. the republican lawmaker who is also a doctor has already survived past battles with both skin cancer and colon cancer. he's expected to be back to work lath former predent george w. bush showing his unwaivering support for america's wounded warriors. yesterday, he hosted a golf tournament for veterans hurt in iraq and afghanistan. >> the purpose of the warrior open is to celebrate those who have served our country and to remind our fellow citizens how fortunate we are to have men and women volunteer in the face of danger. >> the president coming out and saying, you know, thank you for your service, thank you for going over and fighting for your country, and under my command and he opens his home up to you. it's really an awesome feeling. >> that was army vet justin bond who had his left leg amputated. bond received a purple heart and says playing golf with the former president is an honor in a totally different category. and tho

tom coburn on the spending side. tom has put a white paper out called back in black. i want to say it is mine gillian dollars with the productions. the answers are all there. it is just going to take a courageous administration working with some courageous members of the united states congress and the senate to say do you know what? we have got to do this. america's future is at stake from an economic standpoint and if we don't stop the spending, and we don't get the relief on the tax side if we don't reduce the regulatory burden than this country every day is going to get closer and closer to becoming more like our friends in europe where we have a sovereign debt crisis. a serious sovereign debt crisis. >> probably the main goal was to access the health insurance so if you repeal obamacare, if you take away -- so what would be a perry plan for saying we want to make health insurance more accessible to people? >> i saw an interesting sign today when we were signing our paperwork and it said keep your hands off my medicare. this administration to tie -- $500 billion aw

i would have tom coburn on the spending side. he has put a white paper out to called"back in black" which is $9 trillion worth of reductions. the answers are there but it will take a courageous administration working with the greatest members of the united states congress and senate to say that we have to. do this america's future is at stake for an economic standpoint and if we don't stop the spending or get the relief on the tax side and don't reduce the regulatory burden, this country will everyday get closer and closer to becoming more like our friends in europe where we have a sovereign debt crisis, a serious sovereign debt crisis. >> probably the main goal with access to health insurance -- if you repeal obama care and take away its incentive to do that -- what would be a parity plan. you say you want to make health insurance more accessible to people. >> i saw an interesting sign today that said"keep your hands off my medicare." this administration took $500 billion away from medicare to help pay for obama care. they are t

tom coburn has a piece of work back and black. nine trillion worth of reductions. let me give you one example. take the department of education. you can put the elementary and secondary programs together. and cut those in half and send half of it back to the states. save 25 trillion -- excuse me 25 million. that is one of the examples. we have so many program in government that are not creating jobs. all they are doing is creating government jobs and americans are sick of that. they want someone to stand up and say listen, we'll cut the size of spend these programs. anybody who stands up and said this is going to be painful. consider them to be suspect. it is hard. in texas the last session of the legislature, we cut spending first time since world war ii. and people saying oh, the world is coming to an end. you have to have a president that has the courage to say, the future of the country demands that we have less spending going on and i will do that. >> chris: the purpose of all of this is to put america back to work and create jobs. no question about t. you hav

>> one place to go to get a broad menu of that, tom coburn has a piece of work called backing mckinley black. in black.right backback i believe it is $9 trillion in cuts. put the elementary and secondary programs together and cut those in half and send half of that back to the states. save $25 trillion right there. >> chris: $25 trillion? >> excuse me, $25 billion. >> you asked me for an example. there is one of the examples. we have so many programs in government that aren't creating jobs. all they are doing is creating government jobs and americans are sick of that. they want someone who will stand up and say listen we are going to cut the size of spending, we are going to cut the size of these programs. anybody stanford university this is going to be painful, you might want them to be suspect. in texas we cut spending the first time since world war ii. the fact it you have to have a president that has the courage to stand up and say the future of this country demands that we have less spending going on and i will do that. >> chris: the purpose of all of this, of course, is to put am

and yet you and tom coburn have both taken what i consider to be a courageous stand. and that is to say to our base what you just said. we're not going to do this without cutting entitlements, cutting spending, and generating more revenue. and doing that by closing tax loopholes. what has been the response in georgia? what's been the response from conservative special interest groups in washington? what's -- how much pain has it caused you politically? >> well, obviously you've got folks on the right who done like any change in the tax code unless it's just purely reducing taxes. we are reducing tax rates, and we're going to stimulate the economy by doing so. people did not understand what bowles/simpson did, so therefore they did not understand what we were doing in adopting the basic philosophy of bowles/simpson. >> but your goal is to bring more revenue to the federal government. >> sure. we've got to. and here's why, it's not rocket science. based on the year ending september 30, 2010, spending relative to gdp was at 25%. revenue relative to gdp was at 14%. that's

>> one place to go to get a broad menu of that, tom coburn has a piece of work called backing mckinley black. in black.right backback i believe it is $9 trillion in cuts. put the elementary and secondary programs together and cut those in half and send half of that back to the states. save $25 trillion right there. >> chris: $25 trillion? >> excuse me, $25 billion. >> you asked me for an example. there is one of the examples. we have so many programs in government that aren't creating jobs. all they are doing is creating government jobs and americans are sick of that. they want someone who will stand up and say listen we are going to cut the size of spending, we are going to cut the size of these programs. anybody stanford university this is going to be painful, you might want them to be suspect. in texas we cut spending the first time since world war ii. the fact it you have to have a president that has the courage to stand up and say the future of this country demands that we have less spending going on and i will do that. >> chris: the purpose of all of this, of course, is to put am

. >> i think it was senator tom coburn wouldn't it be nice to give a number for congress, the tax code will expire. march 31st. find something to put in its place. is now the moment to do that? we talked about real tax reform. is it really now the time to do it? >> now would be the best possible time. >> which means they won't. they will not. >> you don't know. i'd much rather we channeled all this anger with the tea party, with the occupy wall street, channel all this anger to something constructive. i'm worried if we don't we're going to get a game changer, a trade blocking regulation. something. >> we did this in 1986. that's the amazing thing. we had a total bipartisan consensus for cleaning out the tax system and lowering rates. that bill passed 97-3. >> it's not as radical as this. >> it was a big directional change. >> it depends on the white house. the president has said it's okay with me to be a one-term president if i can get big things done. so this is a moment when he could really roll the dice on this. another game changer i think is essential, which he tried to do is heal

you were elected i think with tom coburn, one of the finest guys in the congress. he's an honest, ethical, decent guy. what he was trying to do by closing the tax loop hole with regard to the ethanol, that was viewed as a taxing increase. we have well -- >> that is ridiculous. >> we have well over $100 billion of tax. they're really tax earmarks and as you know i think you served on ways and means they're in perpetuity not just from one year or two years and to say that we can't close the loop hoel for ethanol or we can't make ge pay its taxes or we can't close the loop holes for all of these industries that are out there, the special interest lobbies in washington. >> right. >> to say that's a tax increase, so i believe you are going to have to reform the entitlements. you got to do that as difficult as it may be they all came before your committee. you have to do it and then you also have to close these tax loop holes and do pretty much -- >> you have to do it on both sides. no doubt about it. and harold right now you have a republican party where you have the pr

but they're the chairman is tom carper are tom coburn, datacenter singular focus and continues to be. working together with partners such as gao, i went beek inspector general and other watchdog groups, try to maximize server site. i believe we begin to make a real impact. we chilled down on how the federal government waste millions annually, maintaining properties and buildings we neither want nor need. we've examined the billions that agency is based on 125 billion avoid improper payments to contractors to ineligible programs to participants anything dead people. we focus like a laser and federal information technology projects that have gone billions of dollars over budget without ever delivering any real benefit. one issue we spent a lot of time taking a look at recently is the enormous amount of fraud and waste and abuse that perpetrated within medicare and medicaid. the progress to read may saving benefits to millions of the nation's most vulnerable citizens. unfortunately, too often criminals figure out how to use medicare and medicaid for their own gain. roughly two years ago

. >> if i could come as you know i work with tom coburn senator coburn and others on the committee to try to write legislation aimed at curbing waste and fraud in both medicare and medicaid we've introduced bipartisan legislation to s1251i mentioned earlier in my statement medicare and medicaid fighting fraud and abuse save taxpayer dollars that's a mouthful, isn't it? the is no good acronym for about one will be pleased to know. but the legislation contains a number of ideas i think that the directly impact the diversion of drugs from medicare prescription drug program for example the legislation aims to help states is the bush and strength programs and also helps to stop identity theft of physicians to prescribe control of the substances and one of the terms of third this year it is a master that final. people say what is the master def 50 and i say that is a list you need to appear on because it does, it means that you are dead. we have doctors whose names appear because they are dead and writing prescriptions and we have beneficiaries whose names appear in the master the final and

among republican senator, tom coburn of oklahoma, did not vote. there are other news reports this morning that the next strategy in the senate will be to break up the president's job bill, tried to pare things up that the democrats like with things that the republicans like. guest: i am concerned that the part that republican do not like is creating jobs and putting people to work, doing things that we need. this is one of the issues that i do not get. don't republicans drive over a creaky bridges as well with kids in the car? don't they want to see these things done for their own families, as well for the country? i do not understand why there is not support for direct job creation. these would be construction jobs, union jobs, teacher jobs, all kinds of good work in our community. i am a little concerned about breaking up the package. i would like to see it all as one piece, but we will see as we go forward, what we can get done. host: fred is next. democratic caller. orlando, florida. caller: i would like to know if that jobs proposal does not

i see that they need to work out of $8 trillion cut on the debt, which tom coburn came up with. it is not stimulus. they need to reinvest in american jobs. i come from greenville, south carolina, squared textiles moved out of the country in the 1960's. so the 1% did not want to pay the rest of us $3.50 an hour in the 1960's. host: you can also send us e- mail at journal@c-span.org. this is the scene from times square. that is the nasdaq symbol, not far from broadway and became crown zero and the new york rallies go across the globe. here is a story, that the world wide protest were not court netted but not quite spontaneous. -- coordinated but not quite spontaneous. that essentially summarizes what happened over the weekend inside the "new york times" and robert joins us from of rhode island. caller: where it should be heading is that we have all of these people unemployed due to jobs being sent overseas. they should bring them back for the same about money, and i can almost guarantee you -- i am an accountant -- they could manufacture those jobs here in the united states, give

it's like tom coburn said the other day and i think we can agree. medicare and social security, mike, cease to exist five years from now. >> we've got to raise the age on eligibility to begin with. >> i ask mike a question, you're so rude. just because he's a man. >> get in here, mike. >> no, it's because it's me. >> actually, that's it. >> mika doesn't like anybody over 65. >> to john's point and to the question you asked, i don't understand why the president of the united states in running for reelection doesn't behave the way bill collectors do in this country with people. they've done them every day over the phone. why doesn't he every day go to bat and say, every day i'm going to do this. i'm going to put a bill up there every day. >> i love it. i think he should. hammer the republicans every day. but talk about social security, medicare, the big issues. tax reform. >> he had the opportunity when bowles/simpson first came up last december. >> absolutely -- >> because they went to the party base in both parties. >> you shouldn't have passed on s

when senator tom coburn eliminated an ethanol tax subsidy, who led the opposition? mr. norquist. unlike an earmark included in an annual appropriation bill, tax earmarks are far worse because once enacted they typically exist in perpetuity. have we really reached a point where one person's demand for ideological purity is paralyzing congress to the point that even a discussion of tax reform is due as breaking and no tax pledge? i understand that some may not agree what i say. i understand many are not aware of mr. norquist's association, but my conscious compels me to speak out today. reasonable people can differ on the merits of pledges and i respect those difference. but on the issue is with the interpreter and the enforcer of the pledge. william wilbur told his colleagues, quote, having heard of all this, you may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know. i urge my colleagues to read my full statement in the record. which will also be posted on my webpage going into greater detail on the issues i have raised. i yield back the balance of my time.

tom coburn on the spending side. tom has put a white paper out called "back in black." i want to say it is $9 trillion worth of reductions. the answers are all there. it is just going to take a courageous administration rking with some courageous members of the united states congress and senate to say you know what? we've got to do this. america's future is at stake from an economic standpoint. and if we don't stop the spending, if we don't get the reli from the tax side and reduce the regulatory burden, then this country is going to every day get closer and closer to becoming more like our friendsn europe where we have a sovereign debt crisis, a serious sovereign debt crisis. >> one of the goals of obama care, probably the main goal, was t broaden access to health insurance. so if you repeal obama care, then you take away its incentiv to do that. what would be a perry play for saying we want to make healt insurance more acceptable -- accessible to people? >> i saw an interesting sign today when we were signing paperwork, and it said keep your hands off my medicare. thi

host: one republican, senator tom coburn of oklahoma, did not vote, by the way. there is other news reports this morning that the next sfrat gee will be in the senate -- strategy will be in the senate, that they will try to break up the president's jobs bill, will try to pair things that they like with what the republicans like. guest: what republicans don't like about the bill is the jobs part, actually creating more jobs and putting people to work doing things that we need. and, again, this sun of the issues i really don't -- this is one of the issues i really don't get. don't republicans drive over squeaky bridges as well? kids in the car, don't they want these things done for their own family as well as for the country? so i don't understand why there's not support for direct job creation. these would be construction jobs and union jobs and teacher jobs and all kinds of good work in our community. so i'm a little concerned about breaking up the package. i would like to see it all as one piece, but, you know, we'll see as we go forward what we can get done. ho

tom coburn on the spending side. tom has put a white paper out called "back in black." i want to say it is $9 trillion worth of reductions. the answers are all there. it is just going to take a courageous administration working with some courageous members of the united states congress and senate to say you know what? we've got to do this. america's future is at stake from an economic standpoint. and if we don't stop the spending, if we don't get the relief from the tax side and reduce the regulatory burden, then this country is going to every day get closer and closer to becoming more like our friends in europe where we have a sovereign debt crisis, a serious sovereign debt crisis. >> one of the goals of obama care, probably the main goal, was to broaden access to health insurance. so if you repeal obama care, then you take away its incentives to do that. what would be a perry play for saying we want to make health insurance more acceptable -- accessible to people? >> i saw an interesting sign today when we were signing paperwork, and it said keep your hands off my med

reid: i -- my friend senator thunderstorm coburn -- my friend senator tom coburn has undergone treatment for prostate cancer. he is expected to make a full recovery. his cancer was in the early stages and is expected back in a few weeks. senator coburn has faced cancer twice before and beaten the disease twice before. those of us who know tom coburn know with certainty this fighter will be with us again. my thoughts are with him and his family and i wish him a complete and speedy recovery. i understand how difficult a cancer diagnosis can be on the patient as well as the family. the entire senate community is wulg for senator coburn -- is pulling for senator coburn, his wife and three children and five grand children. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i want to take a few moments before we have a vote this afternoon to discuss a concern i have about the original stimulus package, and i want the senate to consider my remarks and my research as we consider the president's latest modified so-called jobs bill, in actuality stimulus bill number two. i want to ensure