Polls give Obama the edge in sequester fight

>> let me bring in congressman adam schiff , california democrat. always good to see you. good morning.

>> good morning, chris.

>> are we going to to have to feel some serious impact before congress moves? ivities i'm afraid that's probably true. i think we will see serious impacts. this is more than a minute execute cut. this will result in real pain, real job losses, but i think the gop has determined they need to do this for their members. in the ideological fikt within the republican party , cutting is king. it's supreme over vehement in defense or anything else. so i think they need to do it to manage their own members, but i think they'll be surprised by the reaction. they thought in 1994 shutting down the government was a good idea. it didn't prove to be, but the fact that the president is going to win this argument doesn't give me a lot of satisfaction, frankly, because it's the country that is ultimately losing here. it could dampen or economic recovery and i think the nation is poised to recover from this lingering recession, but it won't be allowed to if we have they manufactured crises every three or six months.

>>> the other interesting thing that i found about this poll, congressman, is that the number one priority of the american people -- this is the " usa today " poll -- is cutting the deficits. do they need to replace the sequester with some targeted cuts?

>> democrats certainly need to embrace the need for spending cuts. frankly, we have. if you look at the $2 trillion in deficit reduction that we have already done. 2:1 it's been spending cuts over new revenues. this is part of the reason the president is winning the argument, that is the facts are plainly on his side. he's shown a willingness to compromise. democrats have put forward cuts, offered to do more, but it needs to be balanced. that's where most of the american people are. what the american people are not willing to do is embrace protecting hedge fund billionaires and their tax breaks , or protecting the oil industry and their tax breaks over providing health care to seniors. essentially that's what the republicans are offering. they're saying we're willing to cut benefits for poor and milled of had-class seniors, but not willing to do away with these limited tax breaks for the very wealthy among us. it's a losing argument. they can have all of the caucuses they want to figure out how to put a better face on the gop , but unless they put together a better set of priorities, they'll continue to lose this fight.

>> the president did a series of interviews with local tv affiliates yesterday. let mess play a bit of what he said.

>> i would like to get as much done as quickly as possible. even though i'm just starting the second term, i know that, you know, once we get through this year, people start looking at the mid terms. after that they start thinking about presidential elections.

>> so clearly he thinks, as a lot of analysts do, the clock is ticking before we get into even heavier political season next year. how should he prioritize? is he immediate effort on gun control ? immigration? the sequester?

>> he'll have to multitask vessel. he's right, he has limited time to act, but the most immediate priority i think is the economy. they're still struggling to keep a job or find a job. i think that is his top priority far and away, but he'll have to pursue other things at the same time. the good news is that is happening and i think it's happening successfully. we see is the congress coming together on immigration like it never has in my memory. we also see great progress i think on the gun issue with mushrooming of support for universal background checks. the good news is we'll be able to tackle many issues at the same time, but the president does have to prioritize the economy and that's what he's been doing.

>> joe biden has been his point man. he'll be in connecticut today, pushing some gun legislation, but realistically, looking at the way congress has been and the dearth of pleasurements they've had in any significant way, do you really think that they can deal with with the sequester and gun control legislation passed as well at the same time?

>> well, it's a heavy challenge. just the sequester, frankly, is the biggest because the gop is not of one mind but i think we will have to do it obviously. i think in terms of the gun issue, there's a real sense of urgency, and this is the time to act and a swelling of public opinion in favor of that. i'm optimistic, but you're right, the track record for the current congress is very poor, the most unproductive in history, so if you were a betting person, you would bet against the congress, but i think there's a lot of reasons and most compelling to indicate we will finally have immigration reform , we are going to take action on guns, and we're just going to have to deal with the sequester, because frankly we're facing another government shut jouj in a month. and i think the best-care scenario, the sequester resolution gets wrapped in with keeping the government open and a deal for a one-year period by the end of march.

>>> congressman schiff, to see you, thanks for getting up early there in california. you're shaking