American Morning
Rep. Van Hollen on super committee deadline: 'We know what is at stake'
Time is running short in Washington for congress to reach a debt deal. There's now only five days left for the so-called super committee to come to an agreement.
The bi-partisan group needs to shave $1.2 trillion dollars from the nation's deficit. But after two months of negotiating, the super committee still remains deadlocked over debt and taxes.
Today on American Morning, Christine Romans talks with super committee member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) about what's standing in the way of a deal.
Toomey: Debt deal is "still possible, [but] it’s not going to be easy"
The Congressional super committee has just five days left to put together a deficit deal. The bi-partisan group is currently gridlocked over taxes and entitlement reform. Now many are wondering if an agreement can actually be reached.
Today on American Morning, Sen. Pat Toomey tells Carol Costello that a debt agreement is "still possible, [but] it’s not going to be easy." See the entire interview above.
Dick Armey on the Tea Party's budget plan to balance budget, curb spending
With just one week to go before they reach their deadline, all eyes in Washington are on the so-called Super Committee – the task force responsible for producing a deficit cutting plan. But this morning, members of the Tea Party are putting forth their own budget proposal. They claim that it balances the budget in four years – without any tax hikes. The plan would cut spending by $9.7 trillion over 10 years.
Christine Romans talks with Dick Armey, chairman of Freedom Works and one of the architects of the plan, to comb the details of the Tea Party's budget proposal.
Warren Buffett isn't the only millionare calling for tax increases
Warren Buffett, who called for Congress to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in an op-ed published in the New York Times yesterday, isn't the only mega-rich person asking to be taxed to help improve the economy.
In July, the organization Patriotic Millionaires wrote a letter to Congress urging them to raise taxes on Americans with incomes of over $1 million a year. Garrett Gruener, co-founder and director of Alta Partners, also wrote an op-ed, published in the Los Angeles Times, calling for lawmakers to let the Bush tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest Americans.
Gruener joins Christine Romans on American Morning today to explain why he thinks top earners should pay more and to respond to critics who claim that raising taxes will deter businesses from hiring.
Looking at America's checkbook: What the U.S. makes and spends
This morning on American Morning, CNN's Christine Romans broke down exactly how much money the U.S. takes in every month, as well as how much money we spend and where.
Standard & Poor's Beers: 'We stand by our decisions' to downgrade U.S. debt
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) - Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency that lowered the grade on the federal government's credit worthiness, continued its defense of its move Monday, calling Washington criticism a "smoke screen."
"This idea that we made a $2 trillion error is simply a smoke screen for the unhappiness, in our view, about our decision," said David Beers, S&P's global head of sovereign ratings, in an interview with Ali Velshi and Christine Romans on CNN's "America Morning."
In talking to CNN, Beers took particular issue with criticisms made by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Sunday, when he told NBC that the agency they "drew exactly the wrong conclusion."
Beers pointed out that even Geithner acknowledged the harm done to the U.S. reputation, when leaders took until the last possible minute to come to a deal, and that the U.S. remains on an unsustainable path.
"So it seems that the Treasury isn't challenging the analysis both on the political side and on the fiscal side. They're just unhappy with the downgrade, but we stand by our decision," Beers said.
Beers talked to CNN about further downgrade possibilities, saying there is a 1-in-3 chance the United States could be downgraded again in the next six to 24 months.
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