Sunday show highlights

STATE OF THE UNION HIGHLIGHTS:

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) Maryland, on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“Oil prices are set on the international market and there’s absolutely no justification to ask American taxpayers to provide these big subsidies and windfall profits to these oil companies w hen they are already making record profits.  What the president has said, let’s not invest that in giving it to oil companies, let’s invest in our nation’s future energy supply.  I would say with respect to price, we’ve seen a supply disruption as a result of Libya, which has helped feed a speculative bubble and the only way to address that in the very short term is to consider releasing some of the oil from the strategic petroleum reserve.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R) Wyoming, on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“The strategic reserve has oil in it for about 66 days of what we use in this country.  It’s t here for specific emergencies and this isn’t it.  Prices are up now because there’s increased global demand for oil.  The dollar is weak right now internationally and it’s because of the economic policies of this administration and our incredible debt and also there is turmoil in the Middle East which is why we need to become more American energy dependent as opposed to foreign energy dependent.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R) Wyoming, on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“I’m not ready to give what the president wants and what he’s asking for is a blank check and a new credit card.  That’s absolutely irresponsible.  We need to put the spending – cap the spending.  There are a number of things we need to do.  No one wants to default on the debt but that doesn’t mean we have to raise the debt ceiling at this time.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) Maryland, on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“Let’s be clear about what the Republican plan does with respect to Medicare.  It ends the Medicare guarantee.  It requires seniors to go into the private health insurance market where they are going to get a double whammy according to the Congressional Budget Office.  Number one, prices are going to go up.  The whole reason we have Medicare for seniors is the private insurance market couldn’t provide affordable care in the first place.”

Stephen Hadley, former National Security Adviser, on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“In a military operation the command and control elements are a legitimate target.  And in Libya the command and control goes up to Gadhafi.  But I think we have to focus on the narrative we want to come out of this.  The narrative that we want to come out of this is that the Libyan people overthrew a dictator, not that we came in and toppled a despot.  That’s the problem with going after command and control.  If it results in the death of Gadhafi because what we really want him to do is for him to leave or to die at a Libyan hand, not an American hand.”

Jane Harman, President and CEO of Woodrow Wilson Center, on CNN’s “State of the Union” on the political transition in Egypt
“The transition should occur and we want an opening up of these societies and we want public participation.  That’s the way to get stability.  We want the people to have a say in their own governments.  On the other hand, I think these moves by this Egyptian transition are very concerning in the short term.”

SOUND OF SUNDAY

With the federal government a couple of months away from blowing through the debt ceiling, Congress returns this week to do battle over where and how much to cut federal spending and/or raise revenues.  For some time now, a Senate group of three Democrats and three Republicans have been looking for a deal to break the partisan standoff.  But now time’s-a-wastin.

Sen. Kent Conrad, (D) Budget Committee Chairman, on “Fox News Sunday”
“We’ve made enormous progress.  I hope we are able to announce an agreement soon.  If we don’t we’re simply not going to be relevant because this debate marches on.”

On the international scene, as NATO continues to insist its bombing of government sites in Tripoli are not designed to kill Moammar Gadhafi, no one on the Sunday morning talk show rounds seemed uncomfortable with the idea that it could happen anyway.
 
Sen. Marco Rubio (R) Florida on NBC’s “Meet the Press”
“If he’s involved in military ops and command centers he’s gonna find himself in the line of fire.”

Sen. John McCain (R) Arizona on CBS’ “Face the Nation”
“We should be taking out his command and control.  If he’s killed or injured because of that, that’s fine.”

And in the political arena, some subliminal political advice for Donald Trump.  Should he decide to run for president, save some money and skip the South Carolina Republican primary.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) South Carolina on “Fox News Sunday”
“There’s a lot of things Mr. Trump can be proud of but some of his rhetoric – and this focusing on the president’s birth – I do not think is a way for us to win the White House.  Most Americans don’t want their president going around saying the f-word.  So Mr. Trump has a lot to offer but he’ll have a tough sell in South Carolina.”

Watch State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sundays at 9am ET. For the latest from State of the Union click here.