'Gang of Six' budget talks founder in Senate

Video: Boehner: We have to be ‘adults’ on debt

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   >> republican speaker of the house john boehner traveled to pakistan , afghanistan and iraq. he joinses us in studio exclusively. it's a pleasure to have you here. thanks for coming in.

   >> good morning.

   >> we could do this interview on the things you and president obama disagree on. i don't want to do that so let's start with common ground. you and the president agree we can't walk away from the relationship with pakistan over what's happened, but you agree the pakistanis have to answer difficult questions. at this moment in time when you look at pakistan do you see a true ally?

   >> i see an ally. clearly there are questions that remain about what they knew or didn't know about bin laden being in their country. there are certainly questions about their willingness to pursue terrorists but maybe not others.

   >> do you trust them?

   >> i do trust them. but i think it's a moment when we need to look each other in the eye and decide, are we real allies? are we going to work together? if we are, you are either all in or you're not in.

   >> i hate to make it about money, but over the last decade the u.s. has sent pakistan almost $20 billion in aid, some of it to help fight the war on terror . have americans gotten their money worth when it comes to pakist pakistan ?

   >> pakistan has been an asset when it comes to fighting the war on terror . don't forget pakistan lost more troops and more individuals than we have here in america. so they have been an ally. they have been helpful. but there are questions and i don't think we ought to have questions. if we are going to be allies and fight the war together we need to be in it together all the time.

   >> after the news surfaced that osama bin laden had been killed there was a good feeling in this country. it was not between republicans and democrats. there was unity, a sense of shared accomplishment that i hadn't really seen since 9/11 when this country pulled together. but we know it's fleeting. these emotions are fleeting. will we see unity shattered in the coming weeks when we start to debate things like the death ceiling?

   >> i don't know what's happened to bin laden and the capture, which is a great tribute to president bush , president obama , the military and clearly the intelligence officials who took a small thread of information and were able to exploit it to determine where he was. but that's the war on terror . we've got formidable challenges here at home. listen, you and i are here because we live the american dream . we had real opportunitiese.. i'm concerned the opportunities available to us won't be available for our kids and grandkids.

   >> the debt ceiling is over $14 trillion. people at home can understand that with credit cards and mortgages. you have said and the president agrees it would be irresponsible to allow us to go into default. isn't it true the fight we are about to see over the debt ceiling will make the battles over the budget look like child's play?

   >> yes, that's right. this is a window of opportunity for us to address the big challenges that face our country. for the last -- 45 of the last 50 years we spent more money than we brought in. we cannot continue to do that without imprisoning the future for our kids and grandkids. this is the moment, now, to address the problems as adults.

   >> in a speech you said republicans would only agree to lift the debt ceiling if it is accompanied by larger spending cuts. without significant cuts 57b reforms there will be no debt limit increase and the cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given. we should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions. when you look at the gut-wrenching negotiations that took place to get $39 billion in cuts for the 2011 continuing resolution , how in the world are you going to get trillions in cuts?

   >> i think we need to work together. we've got really two big pots of money. we have the discretionary part of the budget, about one-third of the budget and then we have mandatory spend ein ispending, mostly entitlement programs . we know those programs won't exist in the future if we don't change them. they are unaffordable for our kids. we have to do what needs to be done.

   >> are you ready to negotiate? you're already getting heat from the right side of the party. this is from the tea party , we have been deeply disappointed. instead of a fighter, mr. boehner has been a surrenderist -- not a word, we looked it up. from michelle bachman , the debt ceiling vote will offer an opportunity that was squanlderred during the vote for the 2011 continuing resolution . you're in a tough spot.

   >> i'm a regular guy with a big job. i went to washington 20 years ago because i thought government was too big, spent too much and wasn't being held accountable. i don't feel differently today. this impending debt load on our kids has to be dealt with and it will be.

   >> why not use an increase in revenues? tax hikes to help with the debt problem? what's the evidence you can present that the tax cuts of the bush era have accomplished their goals?

   >> what some are suggesting is we take the money from people who would invest in our economy and create jobs and give it to the government. the fact is you can't tax the people we expect to invest in the economy and create jobs. washington doesn't have a revenue problem. washington has a spending problem.

   >> you talk about creating jobs. when the bush era tax cuts were passed in 2001 , unemployment was 4.5%. today it's at 9%, just down from 10%. why are the bush era tax cuts creating jobs?

   >> they created 8 million jobs over the first ten years they were in existence. we have lost about 5 million of those jobs during this recession. but you can't raise taxes. we can take all of the money from the wealthy and guess what. we'd hardly make a dent in the testify sit and do nothingi iabout the debt.

   >> raising taxes is a nonstarter?

   >> it's off the table? everything else is on the table.

   >> upcoming presidential election . with all the people thinking of running on the republican side , are you surprised the guy who seems to have gotten the most attention to date is donald trump ?

   >> there are a lot of good candidates out there. donald trump would be one of them, maybe. he hasn't said if he's running.

   >> would you endorse him?

   >> we haven't seen all of the candidates yet. i understand my good friend newt gingrich is about to announce. he brings a lot to the debate. but there are a lot of candidates in the process of going through presidential primary . we'll sort out the good from the bad and we'll end up with a good candidate.

   >> there is a lot of interest in the governor of new jersey , chris christie . some efolks plan to come to new jersey to ask him to run. do you think chris christie would make a good candidate?

   >> i do. he does a great job and he speaks english, plain talk , which the american people like. i think mitch daniels is looking at this seriously -- the governor of indiana . another person with a track record of reform in his state, the kind of reforms we need in washington , d.c.

   >> john boehner , speaker of the house , who is always up at this time of day watching the "today" show but doesn't want to be in front of the camera at this time.

   >> no.

   >> nice to see you.

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