he called the republican-controlled congress the do-nothing congress and called on that do-nothing congress to return to washington to a special session to finally do its job and pass legislation, thank you very much. after that fiery convention speech, congress did come back for a special session and they still did nothing. and president truman, therefore, continued to call them the do-nothing congress. and he railed on them about it on the campaign trail. and that campaign trail led him all the way back to the white house for a second term. 1948, harry truman talking about and criticizing the 80s congress. this congress, the one in washington today is the 102nd congress. here's what has happened since the time of truman's do-nothing congress. that is truman's congress there, the red arrow there, the one that couldn't get anything done, so terrible and hapless and unpopular that truman was able to run an otherwise hopeless campaign against them and win. the graph shows how much legislation was passed by that congress. right? that was history's do-nothing congress. here's our current congre

this congress, one in washington today is the 112th congress. here is what has happened since the time of truman's do-nothing congress. here, that is truman's congress there, the red arrow, the one that couldn't get anything done, that was so unpopular that truman was age to run an otherwise hopeless campaign against them and win. the graph shows how much legislation was passed by that congress. here is our current congress. ah-ha. the good old 112th. truman's congress passed a meager 900 or so bills. our congress passed fewer than 100. the weakest most anemic record on record for any congress ever. since the congressional clerk started counting the number of bills passed, no congress accomplished less than john boehner's congress. you know what? turns out people still care. just like they did in truman's time. the esteem the american people have for congress right now is mired in the low double digits. so there are still a few more days left in the 112th congress. they have set a new mark for congressional uselessness. the good news is, nowhere

is headed off the fiscal cliff after talks broke down last night congress is headed home for christmas vacation so tonight will shine a light on the one hundred twelfth congress one that's being called the worst ever . and you're usually up tight in a little nervous any time you check into the hospital for surgery but a new study looks at how common medical mistakes are here in the u.s. some of the details in that report might surprise you. and are you one of the millions of people flying over the holidays get ready to be frisked and felt up at the airport but is the t.s.a. really keeping you safe or is this government agency only worried about securing their own jobs. it's friday december twenty first eight pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you're watching r.t. . well as official we survive the so-called end of the world that is the end of the mayan calendar but while we might have avoided the fireballs in the earthquakes the u.s. is still barreling toward economic calamity with relentless fiscal cliff talks and things didn't improve much last night in fact talks moved back t

congress is an recess. the senate will be attending many funeral services for the senator who passed away earlier this week. we will have live coverage on c- span 2. the nra with a scheduled conference. we will have live coverage of that also here on this network. robert is on the phone from oklahoma on the democrats' line. caller: good morning. thank you and t why by angels for c-span. my comment is simply about something simple, we can do better than this. the better is, we live in one place. we live in one place called the united states of america. we can agree to have balance. my final comment is, we can all be winners. what is so hard with that? i am from the east. i have lived here since 17. what is wrong with this place in terms of why we cannot do better? host: how would he respond to your own question? caller: we know about the very poor, the very rich. i love the fact i can make a lot of money, but the other side is i work as a social services person with food banks, being part of housing and home

congress needs to take care of that point. in some areas, congress has stepped up. there are members of the oversight committee who joined together despite disagree on many issues, they joined together to get the data at passed through the house. senator mark warner and a republican joined together a few months ago to configure b data act on the senate side. the-configure -- configures the data act on the senate side. they will be counting down doors on the hill in the 113th congress to get that leadership. >> that is the question. the plumbing is stopped up, to extend your metaphor. who do we need to call in to unstop it? i will change metaphors. looking into the crystal ball, what is likely to happen over the next two ha 4 four years to make these things move -- happening -- what is likely to happen in the next two or four here's to make these things move forward -- years to make these things move forward. >> we need new legislation. this is an administration talking the talk about transparency and openness. it came after administration that was open about its sec

in the last congress, the congress presently leaving washington, 238 representatives and 41 senators signed the norquist pledge. that's a total of 279. in the new incoming congress, 219 representatives and 39 senators signed it, a total of 258. that's a little over half the congress has taken this pledge, which means deadlock in the next three weeks is inevitable if they honor that pledge. >> yeah. so, what they need to do is to say, "i have two pledges here, two pledges side by side. one is to grover norquist. one is to the constitution of the united states. which one am i going to honor?" and that's the choice they have to make. and you have to be honest about the conversation. because on the tax raising side of it, you know, the argument is, "we're going to tax the multimillionaires." but actually, the proposal is $250,000. it's not millionaires and it's not multimillionaires. and so, there's dishonesty coming from both sides and both sides digging in their heels and saying, you know, "we're just not going to budge." and you can't operate that way. that's why i say they should act

into the 113th congress. one of them is the farm bill. there is a threat that their prices could as much as double. you come from a part of indiana that is very diverse. what are you hearing in terms of those sorts of issues that are not necessarily in front of the headlines on newspapers or cnn or c-span about issues like that? >> this is an example of a washington has changed. they used to be certain issues, national security, transportation, agriculture that tended to not be partisan and all. you could come up with a solution that both sides could live with. this is another example of something that has historically not been a political football. there are some reasons for that. the bill used to be about 50-50 agricultural issues and 50% food stamps. now 80% of this bill is food stamps. it is not even aptly named when mcauliffe the farm bill anymore. we call it the farm bill anymore. i think it is an approach to helping the industry that makes more sense than the old school grants were they paid people not

and i think that that's true for congress as well. and i think it's also important for americans to remember that politic has always been messy. people have been asking me a lot about the film "lincoln" and you know -- >> is this your "lincoln" moment? >> well no, look. a, i never compared myself to lincoln and b, the obviously the magnitude of the issues are quite different from civil war and slavery. the point is that democracy has always been messy. we're a big, diverse country. that is constantly sort of arguing about all kinds of stuff. but eventually we do the right thing. and in this situation, i'm confident that one of two things are going to happen when it comes to the fiscal cliff. number one, we're going to see an agreement in the next 48 hours in which case, middle class taxes will not go up. if that doesn't happen, then democrats in the senate will put a bill on the floor of the senate, and republicans will have to decide if they're going to block it. which will mean that middle class taxes do go up. i don't think they wo

guest: it is kept up with a number of congress can be paid. -- it is capped at what a member of congress can be paid. they do have flexibility from the numbers perspective on what they do. is a negotiated process. people who go to work for congress are not doing it for the money. the staff member in the house or senate is being paid 25% less than they would get in the private sector. the higher you go up, the bigger the differential. a chief of staff could make 100% more in the private sector. the benefit levels are much like you would see the federal employee would get. you have the 401(k) and health care. you do not give a lot of benefits you might get in the private sector like professional development opportunities. they recognize they are under the public eye. they have a great deal of scrutiny. that means they make fewer investments in professional development and other things the private sector might do. it is a challenge. they recognize they are under scrutiny. they try to recognize that by being as frugal as they can. the house representatives have cut the personal office budget

. >> congress may be taking t time off. but mcdonalds had earnings that are down . staying up on christmas to me is something they should do. >> numbers are there. malia . aolt of mcdonalds that opened on thanksgiving day booked profits and that was a lot of revenue for the mcdonald's franchise. does that mean they should bring in the revenue and for e company? >> it is better for the company, but i agree that time and half, giting an extra shift as much as we would like everyone to enjoy the holiday season, i think that a lot of the workers they know are excited to get the extra hours and don't really mind ging up a holiday . also hopefully we'll see it short term where moving away from being a traditional christmas type of holiday . people who don't celebrate would like to work as well >> we have had discussion about the black friday and walmart workers were protesting that. do you think it is fair to the workers wh want the holiday off are asked to come n it is family time. >> i don't think it is it a quep of fair or unfair. if they are worried about it legality

but we're hopeful that congress can get it done. but it's not done. and so, part of the reason that i wanted to speak all of you here today is to make sure that we emphasize to congress and that members of both parties understand that all across america this is a pressing concern. >> well, this is what's going on the last 24 hours. vice president joe biden taken the lead in the talks. negotiating with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. they spoke and narrowed down the differences. among the points with headway, the tax hike threshold, the estate tax and extending unemployment benefits. the remaining sticking point is rumored to be the automatic spending cuts. collectively called the sequester you have been hearing about poised to kick in tomorrow. let's get to nbc white house correspondent kristen welker there for us. what was the point here? the president decided to come out and that bully pulpit can be a powerful weapon. >> reporter: certainly can be. good afternoon to you, t.j. the president using the bully pulpit. this is a part of the pressu

bills that republicans and congress have blocked this year. a bill that would have increased the minimum wage, a buffet rule bill, the employment, nondis crimination act that would have prohibited hiring people on the basis of sexual orientation. a u.n. treaty to protect the rights of disabled people around the world and the paycheck famous act so that women don't get paid less than men for doing the same job. i mean, there's been a variety of bills that they have seen not go past. they have actually stopped in a variety of ways that would have helped the american people. >> yeah, and you can throw the violence against women act, reauthorization onto that list. they're letting that one languish. it's not that they don't know how to pass bills or they don't like passing laws. they voted to repeal obama care more than 30 times. >> yeah, 33 times. >> 33 times, as if there's some type of rule that if the house passes a bill more than two dozen times. so they know how to bring a bill to florida and they know how to vote on it. but i think clarence

to force congress to act and is now acting against congress so much so that it could potentially cause the us to spiral into a congressional mandated recession so are you prepared for that or do you think this whole thing will blow over in a last minute deal lorie harshness of the resident dot net took that question to the streets of the financial capital of the world to find out. america is about to go over the fiscal cliff are you worried what should we do about it this week let's talk about that do you know the fiscal cliff. do you think a lot of americans do so then why is the media talking about it incessantly well so go there i guess i'm not as informed as they should be but i just kind of figure it might work out do you think most people feel that way you know even most people are worried i think they are and i think that if i ignored it all go away do you think calling it something like the fiscal cliff minimizes it yes or no i definitely agree that it's a complex problem i don't think it simplifies it though i think it adds an element of panic or fear looming. doom and the med

and even the people who serve in congress don't like congress, they hate congress. they are embarrassed by it. just listen to them. >> we have lacked the courage to face up, to deal with these issues. we here in washington are going to hurt the american economy. we're going to hurt americans at every level, and to me, it's just a travesty that we've not been willing to deal with this issue. >> americans believe congress is broken. the american people know, democrats and republicans, that this place isn't working and there need to be some changes. >> america people should not countenance this deal made in this gridlock. we're here to do our jobs in washington, and we're seeing this failure demonstrated time and again because of ideological and political and philosophical stubbornness. what about the entire country? what about the good of the country? >> and yet, any time anyone tries to change anything about congress, any time someone tries to make it a little bit better, the forces of the status quo mass together and quick. right now, the filibuster was meant to be

to force congress' own hand. so if something passes at the last minute, it's a case of sort of at least that part of the system working out. congress sort of doing what it forced itself to do. i would also add, i think cornell is right about the problems facing republicans right now, the insecentives for each individual member of the house of republicans, every republican member, are in a sense to oppose president obama as strongly as possible. the incentive for the party as a whole is, you know, look, the legislative landscape is tilted very strongly against republicans right now. taxes are going to go up in some sense no matter what. for the long term future of the party, it's probably better to sort of retreat and find new ground to fight on. you have those sort of dueling imperatives at work. >> ross and cornell, thank you both, and we'll see what happens on monday. >>> more breaking news coming up. a rare case of lawmakers over on the senate side actually getting something done. something that the hard-hit s

this is something he wants congress to deal with. i think it's still to be seen whether there's an appetite to deal with it in congress because the rhythm of the stories is it's a tragedy but the motivation of it goes away over time. i think we have yet to see e that. but i think president obama is going to try to go to battle on this issue. >> that's very interesting. thank you for that. brianna keilar at the white house. >>> happening now on capitol hill, senators are releasing a special report on the attack that killed the ambassador. what they are saying, next. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please? gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone...but he

and even the people who serve in congress don't like congress, they hate congress. they are embarrassed by it. just listen to them. >> we have lacked the courage to face up, to deal with these issues. we here in washington are going to hurt the american economy. we're going to hurt americans at every level, and to me, it's just a travesty that we've not been willing to deal with this issue. >> americans believe congress is broken. the american people know, democrats and republicans, that this place isn't working and there need to be some changes. >> america people should not countenance this deal made in this gridlock. we're here to do our jobs in washington, and we're seeing this failure demonstrated time and again because of ideological and political and philosophical stubbornness. what about the entire country? what about the good of the country? >> and yet, any time anyone tries to change anything about congress, any time someone tries to make it a little bit better, the status quo force together and quick. right now, the filibuster was meant to be a majority ru

pressuring congress to act. chris. >> and kristen, if the sticking point, as you already suggested, the sticking point is when do these automatic cuts, the sequester, as it's called, and inside washington speak, whether do the cuts go in? do we expect president obama to say anything about that specific issue, or is this kind of a broad strokes we need to get this plan done, month specific urgings to congress? >> well, the one thing i would say is that this has been so fluid. not only the negotiations on capitol hill, but how the white house -- how the president has been responding. the president planning to speak in broad strokes. could that change within the final few minutes before he gets to that podium? it certainly could. these negotiations are so fluid. at this point in time i am told that this is really going to be more of a pr event. president obama standing there with middle class americans standing behind him to make the case that actual people will be impacted if congress fails to act in this instance

lots of congress people talk about local issues and congress people being partisan but to just be involved what is going on in. the contract of america, wins issues of minorities or immigration and in a lot of ways we are connected. politics was interesting to me and to i was surprised. i know it is supposed to talk about politics but i was surprised how local politics still is and we talk members of congress are supposed to represent what does that mean? but to within that i was impressed how members grave able to put their stamp on what they we're doing. it mattered to a representative was this they differed from their predecessor by which issues they focused on and that seemed to do for of before they came to congress. those faced by congress all across the country and the findings that the constituencies are so different influences say members choices and the background will play a role that generalizes across the 10 jury and i think when i interviewed 10 members of congress but to get the holistic perspective to add so much depth breyer appreciate the things that the members do at the

congress. we really have to decide who we are as a nation. we are spending more and more money for wars, more and more money for interventions abroad. we are spending more and more money for military buildups. we seem to be prepared to spend less and less on domestic programs and on job creation. this whole idea of a debt-based economic system is linked to a war machine. it is linked to wall street's concerns rather than main street's concerns. we need to shift back and get -- give the government back the ability to create jobs. the private sector is not doing it may, let me ask about the economist, as we had on a few weeks ago, dean baker. he said the whole fiscal cliff issue is way overblown, that come january 1st, yes, we will be subject to higher tax withholding rates but not a lot of people are paid on january 1. if a deal is worked out in the first or second week of january, we will probably not see any extra deductions from our paycheck. and if we do, you'll get it back in the second pay

>> well, you know, this is something that only congress can solve. congress put it on itself. we've had 100 years of experience with it. and i think only once, last summer, did people decide to use it to threaten default on the american credit for the first time in history as a tool for political advantage and that's not a tenable strategy. >> is now the time to eliminate it? >> it would have been time a long time ago to eliminate it, the sooner the better. >> i don't think the debt ceiling has a place in all of this. i think that we continue the mcconnell rule, which says the president sends it over. if two-thirds of the congress objects, than that is overturned. >> okay. so the mcconnell rule isn't exactly the super awesome trillion-dollar coin idea that i kind of love, but it's not half bad. the president has the power to raise the debt ceiling in order to pay for the things that congress has already agreed to pay for, and if congress wants to stop it, they need a two-thirds majority to do it. i am generally pretty wary of increases in congressional authority and decreases

harry truman had a congress that he accused as being a do-nothing congress. well, the 112th congress just ending is probably worse. >> and that's searching through history with a keen eye. let's not forget last year's debt ceiling debacle, which president obama has vowed never to repeat. >> if congress in any way suggests that they're going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, which, by the way, we have never done in our history, until we did it last year, i will not play that game. >> won't play that game. never done in history. will the president stick to that and not allow another debacle, a debacle, if we want to be british or american, of the debt ceiling vote to be tied to budget cuts like it was last time around? >> whether it's a debacle or a debacle. we'll find out very, very quickly. the president is standing his ground so far, he is saying that he is not going to compromise on what was essentially a very central issue in the campaign. that is, are we going to see b

allow guns in congress? >> the thing is polls are mixed on gun control. a majority favors stronger gun control, but a majority also says we shouldn't ban assault weapons. so how does the president frame his case to voters so they support him? >> i think, first, he's got to do like what he did with david gregory is subtly acknowledge the fact the discourse is moving in wrong guards. if we're talking about arming teachers, that's the wrong conversation to be having in the wake of newtown and aurora and the other incidences over the last six owe eight months. we need to sort of reorder and redirect the conversation. the president tried to do a little bit of that here but at the end of the day, if we're talking about armed guards and arming teachers, we're not talking about common sense gun safety. that's the conversation we have to have going forward. we have to have victims' families and survivors coming into congress. we have to have moments and people protesting. but we also need a congress that's actually c

i'm the 430th youngest member of congress. and i just want to make sure you get that straight in the record. thank you, george. i'm honored and i'm particularly honored to be part of this great bay area delegation. and 10 districts surrounding the bay area, we have the finest legislative group in the united states. thank you very much. and i yield back. mr. miller: thank you very much. as we all know in this life, members leave the congress, don't leave public life and i expect we will be hearing from them as they leave the congress in their future endeavors. mr. bilbray wants to clean up the sea and dan lungren would like to take down -- and i know wally herger is concerned about the watershed of the parks of our state. their advocacy goes on and that is true on both sides of the aisle. ms. woolsey, if you would like to say anything. ms. woolsey: thank you, george, for doing this. thank you for honoring us that have been here and are now leaving. i arrived feeling very green and feeling very good 20 years ago. i had no idea h

member of congress. and it was by quite a lot, by a couple 100,000 votes. overall, more michigan voters wanted to send a democrat to congress to represent them than wanted to send a republican to represent them. guess who is actually going to congress to represent them? ah, yes, republicans. michigan's congressional delegation will include almost twice as many republicans as democrats, even though more people in michigan picked a democrat when they voted for congress. republicans got nine seat and the democrats got five. what has happened in michigan is not some sort of miscounting of the votes. it is not a mistake. it is weird quite deliberately, and weird by design. elected officials draw up new districts for electing members of congress in state legislatures every ten years after the new census. well, republicans were in charge this time around in michigan, so it was the republicans who drew up the maps. and so republicans got themselves pretty good advantage. they got to decide how to clump voters in

and even the people who serve in congress don't like congress, they hate congress. they are embarrassed by it. just listen to them. >> we have lacked the courage to face up, to deal with these issues. we here in washington are going to hurt the american economy. we're going to hurt americans at every level, and to me, it's just a travesty that we've not been willing to deal with this issue. >> americans believe congress is broken. the american people know, democrats and republicans, that this place isn't working and there need to be some changes. >> america people should not countenance this deal made in this gridlock. we're here to do our jobs in washington, and we're seeing this failure demonstrated time and again because of ideological and political and philosophical stubbornness. what about the entire country? what about the good of the country? >> and yet, any time anyone tries to change anything about congress, any time someone tries to make it a little bit better, the status quo force together and quick. right now, the filibuster was meant to be a majority ru

he called congress the do-nothing congress and he called on the do-nothing congress to return to washington for a special session to do its job and pass a legislation, thank you very much. of that fiery speech, congress did come back for a special session and they still did nothing. and president truman, therefore, continued to call them the do-nothing congress. and he railed on them about it on the campaign trail. and that campaign trail led him all the way back to the white house for a second term. 1948, hafry truman talking about, and criticizing the 80th congress. this congress, one in washington today is the 112th congress. here is what has happened since the time of truman's did-nothing congress. here, that is truman's congress there with the red arrow there. that's the one that couldn't get anything done. so terrible and hapless and otherwise running a campaign against them and win. that was history's do-nothing congress. here is our current congress. the good old 112th. here is our currently republican-led congress. truman's congress passed a meager 900 or so bills. our congress pas

as members of congress. indeed, it's not what we do for the rich and the middle class, but the basic question we all have to decide is, what did we do for the lesser among us? the vulnerable, the sick, the aged, and the poor. certainly emanuel cleaver provides a conscience for all of us that are privileged to serve in this august body. i turn back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until the hour of >> against the so-called plan b proposal by speaker boehner. we'll hear from the president in about a half-hour. we'll take you live to the white house. west going to be introducing vice president biden to head up a new guns task force. in the meantime we are going to take you live to the capitol as representatives nancy pelosi, carolyn mccarthy, and others talk about the gun violence in connecticut last week and the reintroduction of the assault weapons ban. live coverage here on c-span. >> any americans want to see the high

congress is chasing the wrong rabbit. raising taxes on small businesses is no worse than cutting social worthy programs. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke admitted that the spending levels of this administration are unsustainable, just as president clinton declared years ago, the era of big government is over. this congress needs to man up and declare the era of taxing, spending and borrowing is over as well. now is the time for the president to provide leadership and level with the american people and set aside the campaign rhetoric of class warfare division and envy. small businesses cannot and should not be painted with the same broad brush as millionaires, billionaires and wall street executives. we must protect our small businesses and stop promoting the treatment of their income the same as the wealthy. at the same time, this administration needs to admit that raising taxes on small businesses will not help small businesses. we must prioritize our fiscal negotiations by putting spending reductions before address

put push through the through congress the buy american act which requires the federal government to look for american manufacturers first when buying things for government use nobody ever imagined that a german or japanese or mexican or chinese corporation could force our congress to kill the bill f.d.r.'s law passed and still part of our laws at least for now but if the big transactional corporations get their way in the trans-pacific partnership talks to t p p most by american laws here could be neutered or killed outright we used to think we could regulate our banks toure's since the reagan era we haven't done a particularly good job of it but at least we still have some regulations on the books was loaded with war on the banking committee in the senate hopefully will be more on the way but the t p p and the eleven nations of make up that partnership good and that to. we used to think that we could require corporations to not pollute our air and water or poison our food transactional corporations don't like rules like that because they reduce profits and so they're working to do away

what has congress been working on and still need to do before this congress actually ends? >> it's kind of fascinating how these very modest measures that wouldn't get a vote gotten one because there's so much time on the clock still as they wait for the marquee legislative event of the year. there were changes to drywall standards. there was discussion there of the world war i commemoration which is coming up. two nominees confirmed over in the senate. two of obama's nominees. going back a few weeks, even just before christmas, there were some changes in policies at the tsa and screening baggage and judges confirmed and actually are some things that have gotten done but certainly not the big issues like you mentioned. certainly there's the fiscal cliff. a question of whether or not the deal is a fix on dairy prices and so that milk prices don't go up and or they might pass a temporary measure and solely of milk prices and also the aid for new jersey and new york, the communities affected by hurricane sandy. the house is reportedly looking at a plan that would only provide

i like to tell congress, congress is a mano kolinsky for the lobbyists. we have to deal with that. -- monica lewinsky for the lobbyists. we have to do that. they are putting money in their pockets so they can take vacations and revitalize their homes. host: do you think this fiscal cliff nonsense is to make more members of congress money. caller: yes. anytime you can say that corporations are people, you have already gone against -- i am talking about what the forefathers said. when they said that liberty and pursuit of happiness -- the two- party does not -- the tea party does not want to make the pursuit of happiness for everybody. that is why we have a problem. the two-party -- tea party was put on the americans, the same thing in the native americans. making somebody else look like he did something that you did. you either stand up and make this country what the forefathers said it was supposed to be, or we need to take it -- we need to take this thing down under the ocean and drown it. put a bullet in it. host: john from georgia this morning. i want

member of congress. and it was by quite a lot, by a couple 100,000 votes. oorm, more michigan voters wanted to send a democrat to congress to represent them than wanted to send a republican to represent them. guess who is actually going to congress to represent them? ah, yes, republicans. michigan's congressional delegation will include almost twice as many republicans as democrats, even though more people in michigan picked a democrat when they voted for congress. republicans got nine seat and the democrats got five. what has happened in michigan is not some sort of miscounting of the votes. it is not a mistake. it is weird, quite deliberately, and weird by design. elected officials draw up new districts for electing members of congress in state legislatures every ten years after the new census. well, republicans were in charge this time around in michigan, so it was the republicans who drew up the maps. and so republicans got themselves pretty good advantage. they got to decide how to clump voters in c

he was so in awe of -- he served in congress he served with these giants in the congress. he was a new deal congressman then became mayor of ball mother when i was in first grade. when i went away to college he was still the mayor of baltimore. speaker of the house that was really very important to him. he'd be wondering. how this all happened. but he did -- it was interesting that i would be the first daughter -- many fathers and sons who have served but the first father and daughter. >> pelosi has represented california's 8th district in in congress since 1987. she won a special election after her good friend, congresswoman burton who had terminal cancer asked her to run for the seat. pelosi was 47. the mother of five. a mother of five to member of congress, only woman in the room a lot of times you talk about in the book. was it just her saying to you, you're the one i want to say my seat? how did all that happen? >> it's pretty much that. people had asked me to run for office over time, i had five teenagers -- it was completely out of the question. once they were by an

that's part of what we can do here in congress. members and representatives can hold the hearings and dig deeper and try to better understand what happened and what drives individuals to take the lives of the nbt -- innocent this way. i think it is very important that we ask those questions and get the answers so that we can prevent these types of situations from happening. >> congresswoman, we will have to leave it there. thank you for your time and for joining us on "newsmakers." >> thank you. >> and we return to our two reporters here for a quick wrap-up. let's return to the talks that we heard. >> it does not sound like progress is being made. congressman boehner is headed home to ohio today, or this weekend, and so he will be there. the president will be in washington. it doesn't sound like communications are going to be going on in the next days. we're 10 days out from christmas, two weeks out from the end of the year. it seems like the clock is ticking, but there doesn't seem to be any signs of progress. >> the president and

guest: congress -- >> congress share some responsibility. congress has the power of the purse. we use it for any number of things. it is our responsibility. for years we ask our state department to operate with increasingly less resources to conduct a central missions. and because of the gridlock and access is in the senate and congress itself, we have not even been able to pursue the regular order of authorizing legislation. that must change. and in the next session of the congress i hope it will. host: the statement by senator john kerry. he did not ask any questions. guest: john kerry is in a little bit of a unique position because he is about to be the head of the department he is currently overseeing. he is trying to play it very carefully and not exacerbates the conflict of interest and i think he actually hit the mark pretty well. what we are talking about is the fact that congress has been cutting funding from the state department or this of what -- diplomatic security in recent years. it has been a bipartisan effort. it is not clear had they had more funds that would h

very difficult relationship with congress. people come up to me all the time and say, don't they realize, all of them, the president, republicans and democrats, how frustrated we all are? >> well, i think we're all frustrated. you know, the only thing i would caution against, david, is i think this notion of, well, both sides are just kind of unwilling to cooperate. that's just not true. if you look at the facts, what you have is a situation here where the democratic party, warts and all, and certainly me, warts and all, have consistently done our best to try to put country first, and to try to work with everybody involved to make sure that we've got an economy that grows, make sure that it works for everybody, make sure that we're keeping the country safe. and, you know, the democratic party still have some knee-jerk ideological positions. and are there some folks in the democratic party who sometimes aren't reasonable? of course. that's true of every political party. but generally if you look at how i've tried to govern and

john avalon said, congress is raising to diffuse a time bomb that congress wired. >> reporter: that's true. the thing is, and we will continue to be in this process. now the expectation, obviously, is that dealing with the long-term fiscal health, that will now get into the mix with the debt ceiling, which we're looking at in february and march. we'll be talking about these issues for a long time to come. >> for another metaphor, we're in the second inning of another long and painful process of how to have a skbugt how to stick to it. thanks, brianna keilar. >>> we'll take a closer look at the cliff and what failure to reach a deal could do to your paycheck and when. we'll also look at the hit that you're going to take even if they do reach a deal. >>> first here's a look at other top stories we're following. secretary of state hillary clinton is in the hospital because doctors discovered she had a blood clot. it was found during a followup exam for the concussion she suffered earlier this month. she was suffering from a virus and was dehydrated at that time. doctors say they will kee

the 112th congress only passed about one-fifth congress. making it the do way less than the do nothing congress. it is this ces

the congress could object. and mitch mcconnell put that bill forward on the floor this week, thinking he was going to embarrass democratic leader reed, and reed said let's go ahead and vote. it and so then mcconnell filibustered his own bill because he got afraid the democrats had the votes for it. so that's the kind of maneuvering that is going on. childish. >> yes, childish. very childish. former republican majority leader trent lott told cnn's anderson cooper how he had a working relationship with his democratic counterpart tom daschle. the two did something called compromise. a concept that facilitates law foreign in today's congress. watch. >> i had a red phone where when i picked up that phone, it rang only one place. on tom daschle's desk. and when he picked it up, i knew i was talking to tom daschle. not his staff. not my staff. sometimes he and i lead when our conferences were not ready to move. i remember i called one time i called him, i stepped out from a conference meeting and tom you know we need

this was designed by congress to force congress's own hand. if something passes at the last minute, it's a case of at least that part of the system working out, congress doing what it forced itself to do. i think cornell is right about the problem facing republicans right now, right, which is that the incentives for each individual member of the house of representatives, everybody republican member, are in a sense to oppose president obama as strongly as possible because most of them represent safe seats where the biggest danger is a primary challenge from the right. but the incentive for the party as a whole is the legislative landscape is tilted very strongly against republicans right now, taxes are going to go up in some sense no matter what and for the long-term future of the party, it's probably better to retreat and find new ground if fight on. so much you have those sort of duelling imperatives at work. >> thank you both and we'll see what happens on monday. >> more breaking news coming up. a rare case of lawmakers over on the senate si

congress voted some laws to be tough. congress always does this. they're so tough, for those that were sorry about a massacre, they voted no guns in the hands of criminals or drug addicts or psychiatric problems, people with psychiatric problems or minorities. and then, of course, they don't fund it they don't fund the enforcement so they can say to both sidesness don't worry about t i'm with you babes, but both sides. 40% of the guns that are sold in this country are sold either over the internet or at gun shows and the federal law-- the federal laws don't cover that, so you have to change that law. that is one thing that congress should do. and that's this gun check act. second, they've got to pass a ban on assault weapons. you know, the founding fathers never thought about assault weapons. they were talking about a militia, the founding fathers never thought-- i will give you a good example. they, you can go into a gun magazine and see advertisements for armour piercing bullets. now i don't know if you are a hunter but when is the last time you

congress, the administration, absolutely. we have spendo-crats and klepto- crats running washington. we have $16 trillion in debt, a deficit of $1.20 trillion, and they still cannot get enough money to balance a budget. guest: i don't really have a role to play in that other than to say that the way you need to be raising money needs to be as understandable and transparent as possible for the taxpayers said they know what is going on with their money. what of it -- one of our recommendations is that when people file their taxes that the government sent back to them and itemized receipt that shows them here is what you paid and here is where your tax breaks camp from. -- came from. then here is where your dollars are going in the federal budget. in the instructions for the form 1040, they have a pie chart that shows this goes to defense, this goes to social spending, paying interest, but i really think it could be much more detailed. i think that kind of education, letting taxpayers know where their money is going, will make a