>>> our members believe strongly that raising tax rates will hurt the economy. closing loopholes especially on those who are wealthy is a better way to raise this revenue than raising rates.
>> i believe 26 reasonable republicans willing to put their promise to serve their constituents ahead of their pledge to norquist. i say to my friend john boehner you control matters on the floor, no one else does. you have the ability and you're the only one that has the ability to put this on the floor for a vote. he should do that. that would be the american way .
>> house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid on the fiscal cliff standoff. "the new york times" reporting gop leaders are considering extending tax cuts for the fiscal class to avert the fiscal cliff but if that is the case republicans are staying very tight lipped about it. joining me is senator ben carden from maryland a member of the budget committee and the committee on finance . good to have you here and you have said one thing you want from these talks is to show the markets and to show leaders, that leaders have the situation under control there, in your estimation, how would you say that's going so far?
>> well predictability is very important. i think the first step is exactly what leader reid said. if we can get predictability on the taxable income below $250,000, everyone knows that's under current rates and also give us the additional revenue we need on that income above $250,000, it shows us that we are moving towards a balanced way to deal with the fiscal cliff. it would be an incredible lift, i think, to confidence in the markets.
>> so with raising revenue also comes along with that what the right would like to see, you know, in terms of raising revenue to the spending cuts and president obama says he is flexible on entitlement reform in the past we have heard he might be open to raising the medicare eligibility age even possibly reducing cost of living increases for social security benefits, where do you stand on this, assuming that republicans let go of tax cuts for the wealthy?
>> well, i think we need to do both. i've said we need to raise revenues, we also need to reduce spending. we started this debate after the simpson-bowles commission came in with the recommendations, we've already done $1 trillion in spending cuts on the discretionary side. we need the revenues and additional savings. we understand that. i think the easiest next step is let's pass the bill that's in the house, that gives confidence and a good deal of the revenues we need, doesn't give us all the revenues, we'll look for revenues and speaker boehner talks about closing loopholes we need to look at that and we need to look at ways we can bring down health care costs that could save medicare, medicaid and private sector expenses.
>> the white house communications director dan pfeiffer said this is a choice of the republican party if they are willing to do higher rates on the wealthy there say lot we can talk about. if not they'll push us over the cliff. do you think it would be okay if the middle class tax cut could go through the end of this year and talk about the big issues on the other side in 2013 .
>> first, no one wants to go off this fiscal cliff. that would be a self-imposed damage to our economy. number two, the next step is the enactment of the bill that's in the house, dealing with the tax relief for all income below $250,000, providing the revenue base to have that type of confidence and discussions between the two sides. the next step let's get that bill passed. i'd like to see us go further before the lame duck is over and be able to have a framework in place to get additional deficit reduction.
>> you were part of this emotional appearance from bob dole on the floor yesterday voicing his support for the u.n. disability treaty yet even his presence there and the emotional images as we see him on the floor there in a wheelchair was not enough to get some republicans to vote for it. senator kerry calling it the saddest day he's seen in decades. the measure failed. what is your reaction to that and what is the excuse to the american people ?
>> i am a member of the senate foreign relations committee , we added to the treaty ratification there would be no changes in u.s. laws required by the ratification of this treaty. this was acknowledged by america that other countries have to come up to our standards helping americans when they travel abroad. i don't understand why after our leadership with the americans with disabilities act we have shown the world that we believe that people with disabilities need to have the same rights. now we've sort of backed away from an international treaty that said that.
>> senator ben cardin , always nice to have you on the hour. quick programming note, senator
>> i believe 26 reasonable republicans willing to put their promise to serve their constituents ahead of their pledge to norquist. i say to my friend john boehner you control matters on the floor, no one else does. you have the ability and you're the only one that has the ability to put this on the floor for a vote. he should do that. that would be the american way .
>> house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid on the fiscal cliff standoff. "the new york times" reporting gop leaders are considering extending tax cuts for the fiscal class to avert the fiscal cliff but if that is the case republicans are staying very tight lipped about it. joining me is senator ben carden from maryland a member of the budget committee and the committee on finance . good to have you here and you have said one thing you want from these talks is to show the markets and to show leaders, that leaders have the situation under control there, in your estimation, how would you say that's going so far?
>> well predictability is very important. i think the first step is exactly what leader reid said. if we can get predictability on the taxable income below $250,000, everyone knows that's under current rates and also give us the additional revenue we need on that income above $250,000, it shows us that we are moving towards a balanced way to deal with the fiscal cliff. it would be an incredible lift, i think, to confidence in the markets.
>> so with raising revenue also comes along with that what the right would like to see, you know, in terms of raising revenue to the spending cuts and president obama says he is flexible on entitlement reform in the past we have heard he might be open to raising the medicare eligibility age even possibly reducing cost of living increases for social security benefits, where do you stand on this, assuming that republicans let go of tax cuts for the wealthy?
>> well, i think we need to do both. i've said we need to raise revenues, we also need to reduce spending. we started this debate after the simpson-bowles commission came in with the recommendations, we've already done $1 trillion in spending cuts on the discretionary side. we need the revenues and additional savings. we understand that. i think the easiest next step is let's pass the bill that's in the house, that gives confidence and a good deal of the revenues we need, doesn't give us all the revenues, we'll look for revenues and speaker boehner talks about closing loopholes we need to look at that and we need to look at ways we can bring down health care costs that could save medicare, medicaid and private sector expenses.
>> the white house communications director dan pfeiffer said this is a choice of the republican party if they are willing to do higher rates on the wealthy there say lot we can talk about. if not they'll push us over the cliff. do you think it would be okay if the middle class tax cut could go through the end of this year and talk about the big issues on the other side in 2013 .
>> first, no one wants to go off this fiscal cliff. that would be a self-imposed damage to our economy. number two, the next step is the enactment of the bill that's in the house, dealing with the tax relief for all income below $250,000, providing the revenue base to have that type of confidence and discussions between the two sides. the next step let's get that bill passed. i'd like to see us go further before the lame duck is over and be able to have a framework in place to get additional deficit reduction.
>> you were part of this emotional appearance from bob dole on the floor yesterday voicing his support for the u.n. disability treaty yet even his presence there and the emotional images as we see him on the floor there in a wheelchair was not enough to get some republicans to vote for it. senator kerry calling it the saddest day he's seen in decades. the measure failed. what is your reaction to that and what is the excuse to the american people ?
>> i am a member of the senate foreign relations committee , we added to the treaty ratification there would be no changes in u.s. laws required by the ratification of this treaty. this was acknowledged by america that other countries have to come up to our standards helping americans when they travel abroad. i don't understand why after our leadership with the americans with disabilities act we have shown the world that we believe that people with disabilities need to have the same rights. now we've sort of backed away from an international treaty that said that.
>> senator ben cardin , always nice to have you on the hour. quick programming note, senator